title: Kinetics and transport phenomena in the chemical decomposition of copper oxychloride in the thermochemical Cu-CI Cycle

contributor:
Naterer, Greg F.
Gabriel, Kamiel

subject: Hydrogen Thermochemical Decomposition Kinetics Experimental

abstract:
The thermochemical copper-chlorine (Cu-Cl) cycle for hydrogen production
includes three chemical reactions of hydrolysis, decomposition and electrolysis. The
decomposition of copper oxychloride establishes the high-temperature limit of the cycle.
Between 430 and 530 oC, copper oxychloride (Cu2OCl2) decomposes to produce a molten
salt of copper (I) chloride (CuCl) and oxygen gas. The conditions that yield equilibrium at
high conversion rates are not well understood. Also, the impact of feed streams containing
by-products of incomplete reactions in an integrated thermochemical cycle of hydrogen
production are also not well understood. In an integrated cycle, the hydrolysis reaction
where CuCl2 reacts with steam to produce solid copper oxychloride precedes the
decomposition reaction. Undesirable chlorine may be released as a result of CuCl2
decomposition and mass imbalance of the overall cycle and additional energy
requirements to separate chlorine gas from the oxygen gas stream.
In this thesis, a new phase change predictive model is developed and compared to
the reaction rate kinetics in order to better understand the nature of resistances. A Stefan
boundary condition is used in a new particle model to track the position of the moving
solid-liquid interface as the solid particle decomposes under the influence of heat transfer
at the surface. Results of conversion of CuO*CuCl2 from both a thermogravimetric (TGA)
microbalance and a laboratory scale batch reactor experiments are analyzed and the rate of
endothermic reaction determined. A second particle model identifies parameters that
impact the transient chemical decomposition of solid particles embedded in the bulk fluid
consisting of molten and gaseous phases at high temperature and low Reynolds number.
The mass, energy, momentum and chemical reaction equations are solved for a particle
suddenly immersed in a viscous continuum. Numerical solutions are developed and the
results are validated with experimental data of small samples of chemical decomposition
of copper oxychloride (CuO*CuCl2). This thesis provides new experimental and
theoretical reference for the scale-up of a CuO*CuCl2 decomposition reactor with
consideration of the impact on the yield of the thermochemical copper-chlorine cycle for
the generation of hydrogen.


title: The modification of fuel cell-based breath alcohol sensor materials to improve water retention of sensing performance

subject:
Fuel cell
Sensor
Ethanol
Electrochemistry

abstract:
Fuel cell based breath alcohol sensors (BrASs) are one of the most important tools used by law enforcement today. While these devices are used globally, they all suffer from a common deficiency: reliance on water. The ability of the fuel cell sensor to manage water content is one of the greatest fundamental challenges facing this technology today.
A next-generation fuel cell was designed specifically for sensor testing along with a test station that allowed for rapid response and sensor characteristics of a given material. The in-house design was validated against a commercial cell to provide feedback on how materials in the in-house cell would behave in a commercial designed unit. The results showed that our cell with a commercial membrane electrode assembly (MEA) behaved identically to a commercial cell with the same MEA.
Membranes were for their role in senor performance. Membranes for power generation, such as Nafion, were investigated and while they showed good performance in high humidity, performance suffered in low humidity. This is due to the thin characteristics of the material. Poly-vinyl chloride (PVC) membranes showed improved performance over Nafion, while composites of PVC and sulfonated silica showed performance that matched that of the commercial PVC, whilst using significantly less water.
Finally, the catalyst layer and gas diffusion layer (GDL) were investigated. For the catalyst layer, platinum black and 20% platinum supported on carbon achieved similar results. The choice of catalyst was less of an issue than the choice of GDL. It was found that using carbon fiber paper GDLs lead to greater retention of water in the MEA compared to carbon cloth GDLs due to the lower air permeability. This came at a cost however in that with a lower air permeability, less ethanol vapour would reach the catalytic sites, reducing sensing performance.

abstract: University of Ontario Institute of Technology


title: Exploring Black-Canadian parent-youth sex communication

subject:
Youth
HIV/AIDS
Parent-child sex communication
Sexual risk behaviour

abstract: Black-Canadian populations are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. In particular, Black-Canadian youth are noted to be at a greater risk of HIV infection due to their sexual risk behaviours. Many international studies indicate that open parent-youth sex communication may counter the potentially negative impact of peers, mass media and inadequate sexual health education programs on youth sexual risk behaviour. However, there is a paucity of Canadian studies on Black-Canadian parent-youth sex communication and ways to enhance this communication. As such, a qualitative based exploratory study was conducted using a community based research approach to determine the state of Black-Canadian parent-youth sex communication in Toronto, Ontario. Data was collected through 17 Key Informant interviews; that is individuals who work in Black Toronto communities and are knowledgeable about the subject matter. The results noted several factors which affect Black-Canadian parent-youth sex communication such as religion and cultural taboos surrounding the discussion of sexual health. The impact of these factors along with potential implications of this study on Black-Canadian populations and recommendations to enhance Black-Canadian parent- youth sex communication are discussed.


title: The effects of money laundering on the Canadian real estate market

contributor:
O'Connor, Christopher
Smimou, Kamal

subject:
Money laundering
Canadian real estate market
White collar crime
Regulation
Suspicious transaction reporting

abstract: White collar criminals benefit from their status and positions. Further, they invest the proceeds of crime into the Canadian real estate market, driving up the price of home ownership for working-class Canadians. This thesis explores the relationship between FINTRAC financial transaction reporting in all sectors and suspicious transaction reporting in the real estate sector respectively with the MLS composite home price index. The findings suggest that greater action is needed by real estate representatives to increase the difficulty of elite criminals to profit from weak regulation and enforcement in the industry. The proposed recommendations include a commission incentive to encourage real estate agents to submit suspicious transaction reports, a national database of beneficial ownership identification, and improved public awareness of the occurrence of money laundering in real estate.


title: Enhanced knowledge distillation by auxiliary classifiers

subject:
Deep learning
Knowledge transfer
Knowledge distillation
Capacity gap
Intermediate representations

abstract: Deep neural models have shown promising results in various areas, e.g., computer vision and natural language processing, at the cost of high computation and storage resource consumption. These characteristics of deep neural networks have acted as a barrier in resource-constraint environments, e.g., smartphones. Among numerous proposed approaches to mitigate this limitation, knowledge distillation has gained much attention due to its generalizability and simplicity in implementation. This thesis introduces the enhanced knowledge distillation (EKD), a simple yet effective approach to outperform the canonical knowledge distillation using multiple classifier heads at various teachers’ depths. First, multiple classifier heads are attached to the teacher model in different depths. The mounted heads benefit from the fully trained teacher model and converge fast while the backbone teacher is frozen. The cohort of all classifiers supervises the student in the last step. EKD showed superior performance in comparison with some of the state-of-the-art distillation frameworks.


title: Experimental study of turbulent boundary layer flows over forward facing steps with different surface conditions.

subject:
Turbulent flow
Rough forward facing step
Proper orthogonal decomposition
Particle image velocity
Two-point correlation

abstract:
This thesis is a fundamental study that was conducted experimentally to investigate the
effects of different surface types on turbulent flows over forward facing steps. A particle
image velocimetry technique was employed to conduct field velocity measurements at
the mid-plane of the test channel at selected locations downstream to 68 step heights.
Three surface conditions were investigated. A reference smooth acrylic step and two
rough steps created using sandpaper 24-grits and 36-grits. Reynolds numbers based on
step height and centerline mean velocities of 1200, 3600 and 4800 were employed. The
results show that the mean reattachment length increases as Reynolds number increases
over the smooth step. However, the mean reattachment length decreases with increasing
surface roughness at a given Reynolds number. The mean velocities, Reynolds stresses,
triple velocity products and production of Reynolds stresses are used to examine the
effects of different surface types on the turbulent characteristics downstream. The results
reveal that surface roughness reduced the turbulent quantities in the recirculation and
early redevelopment regions. On the other hand, the effects on turbulent flow at
downstream locations show no consistent trends. In addition, proper orthogonal
decomposition (POD) was used to study the effects of roughness on the large scale
structures downstream and to reconstruct flow structure. Results show that low order
POD modes can capture up to 90% of the peaks of the Reynolds shear stress profiles
using only the first 100 modes. Furthermore, the two-point correlation was employed to
quantity the extent of larger scale structures embedded in the flow and how the
turbulence is correlated. The results indicate that surface roughness generally decreased
the extent of turbulence correlations in both the recirculation and redevelopment regions.


title: Experimental investigation and analyses of continuous type hybrid photoelectrochemical hydrogen production systems

subject: Exergy Hydrogen Photoelectrochemical Renewables Solar

abstract:
Hydrogen is a highly versatile energy carrier that may become one of the key pillars to support the future CO2-free energy infrastructure. When used in fuel cells, H2 is converted to water and it gives little or zero exhaust of greenhouse gases. For H2 economy to succeed, it needs to be produced in a clean, sustainable, reliable, and feasible way. The main objective of this study is to develop and investigate a continuous type hybrid photoelectrochemical-chloralkali H2 production reactor that converts the by–
products into useful industrial commodities (i.e., Cl2 and NaOH). This system maximizes solar spectrum use by taking advantage of photocatalysis and PV/T. Furthermore, by using electrodes as electron donors to drive the photochemical reaction, the potential of pollutant emissions are minimized. Four different processes are tested by using the present reactor: electrolysis, PEC,
chloralkali, and PEC-chloralkali. During all processes, the present reactor is tested under four temperatures (20, 40, 60, and 80°C) and three inlet mass flow rates (0.25, 0.50, and 0.75 g/s). Furthermore, PEC-based processes are tested under two light settings (600 and 1200 W/m2). These results are compared to the thermodynamic model outputs. Parametric studies are run by varying the operating temperature (0°C–80°C), inlet mass flow rate (0.01
g/s–1 g/s), and environmental temperature (0°C–40°C). The present experimental results show that PEC-chloralkali has the highest H2 production rate compared to other processes at all temperatures and flow rates. Under 1200 W/m2 irradiation, at 20°C and 0.75 g/s, Process 4 has a H2 production rate of 3.48 mg/h.27% and 26% are the highest energy and exergy efficiencies reached at 0.75 g/s inlet mass flow rate and 20°C operating temperature and under 600 W/m2 irradiation. A multi-objective optimization study is performed to find the decision variables for the highest possible production, efficiencies, and lowest possible exergy destruction, cost, and emissions. These parameters are 1°C operating temperature, 1.4 g/s inlet flow rate, 6
m2 total photoactive area, and 0°C environmental temperature. And overall exergy efficiency is 30%, and H2 production cost and emissions are 9.67 USD/kg H2 and 7.39 kg CO2/kg H2.


title: Synthesis and characterization of Pt/TiO2/C composite catalysts for fuel cells prepared using a glucose modifier

contributor:
Easton, Brad
Trevani, Liliana

subject:
Vulcan carbon
Glucose
TiO2
Photoelectrocatalysis
Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

abstract:
Catalysts in the electrodes of polymer exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) serve a critical function in reactions which can be used to generate electrical energy from chemical fuels. Pt nanoparticles are commonly dispersed on a conductive support and used as electrode materials in these devices because of their exceptional catalytic activity and electrochemical active surface area. The performance and stability of these electrodes strongly depend on the characteristics of the support.
Catalysts supported on high surface area carbon black are widely used in low-temperature fuel cells. In PEMFCs, these catalyst materials can be exposed to high potential and low pH values, resulting in irreversible loss of activity that will limit the useful lifetime of the cell, ultimately leading to its failure. Pt is a noble metal which has good intrinsic stability, but carbon is not thermodynamically stable resulting in the corrosion of the catalyst support under these conditions. The design of more resilient platinum catalyst supports to carry out the successful reaction in a fuel cell’s catalyst layer is required to extend the lifetime of PEMFCs degradation.
In this thesis, two approaches were used to synthesize robust catalyst support materials for fuel cell applications. In the first case, carbon surfaces were functionalised to enhance their interactions with the catalyst and secondly, stable metal oxide was combined with modified carbon substrates, to maximise contacts within the composite electrocatalysts and to prevent carbon corrosion of a single phase carbon support catalyst. TiO2 NPs, were first chemically bonded to the surfaces of Vulcan carbon to help anchor the Pt catalyst nanoparticles through strong metal-support interactions. Validation of a dual phase catalyst support is an important goal of this research. Each material phase offers a unique advantage that can only be recognized by the preparation of a composite electrocatalyst. Pristine Vulcan (PV) was functionalised with glucose hydroxyl functional groups that react with the base titanium metal alkoxide in a sol-gel reaction and then calcined to form a more chemically crystalline surface. This is followed by impregnation reduction process to deposit the nanostructured Pt catalyst. Material characterization data of synthesized materials were used to correlate the effects of support structure and composition on resilient performance. Advantages from the TiO2/C supports toward performance and durability were contrasted against a set of control samples and demonstrated ex situ. The prepared composite catalysts showed substantial enhancements toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) as well as improved stability of the Pt-TiO2 heterogeneous interface formed between catalyst and support. The enhanced performance and durability of these composite catalysts is improved by applying the science of materials and interfaces to the synthesis of composite supports, thus serving as an example for further progress and optimization.
Irradiation of these composite catalysts with UV-visible light also showed ~ 171 % photo enhanced activity for MOR, which clearly demonstrates a synergistic effect between the photo- and electrocatalysts. The comparison between the prepared catalysts indicates that there is an appropriate ratio of carbon and TiO2 to obtain the best performance of these photoelectroactive materials. These results demonstrate that methanol oxidation is achieved by electro- and photoelectrocatalysis using a simple and affordable method. This procedure can be conveniently exploited to enhance the response of direct methanol fuel cell electrodes.


title: Characterizing the potential energy surface of two dimensional and bulk materials using high dimensional neural network potentials

subject:
Machine learning
Neural networks
Electronic structure
Computational materials science

abstract:
Computing material properties at the ab-initio level of detail is computationally prohibitive for large systems or long timescales. As a result, such methods cannot be used to efficiently sample configuration space. Force field methods can efficiently sample configuration space, but rely on large parameter sets that are tuned to specific contexts.
In this work we will explore the ænet approach and its application to six systems:
2D silica, bulk silica, graphene, diamond, hexagonal boron nitride, and cubic boron nitride. Here, a general mapping from atomic coordinates to the potential energy surface is obtained using a feed-forward artificial neural network. An approximate Density Functional Theory method, Density Functional Tight Binding (DFTB+), is used to compute quantities required for the reference dataset. It is found that a network made up of linear activation functions in ænet is (almost) equivalent to a one-layer radial basis function network, and is sufficient to learn a reference dataset consisting of structures sampled from a canonical ensemble at various temperatures. We look at how sampling outside of these frequently visited energy states, through data augmentation, significantly increases the complexity of the problem.


title: Cooperative relay beamforming design for multi-cluster relay interference networks

subject:
Relay beamforming
Multi-cluster relay networks
Relay interference
Complexity

abstract:
In this work, we consider a multi-cluster amplified-and-forward (AF) relay interference
network and design relay beam matrix for each cluster to maximize the minimum
signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) at destinations subject to the relay power
budget within each cluster. Both single and multiple source-destination (S-D) pair
scenarios are considered. We propose a beam matrix structured as a weighted sum
of two types of beam matrices: zero forcing (ZF) beam matrix for inter-cluster interference
suppression, and another beam matrix for beamforming gain maximization
within a cluster. Maximum ratio combing (MRC) and minimal mean square error
(MMSE) are chosen to design the second beam matrix in single and multiple S-D pair
scenarios, respectively. The optimal solution for each type of beam matrix is obtained
in closed form. We then obtain the optimal weights to each type of beam matrix by
transforming the max-min SINR problem and solving it via the SDR approach.
Compared with applying the direct SDR approach to the original problem, our
solution offers similar performance with significantly lower computational complexity.
In addition, our proposed structured beam matrix clearly reveals the power shift
between interference suppression among clusters and beamforming gain maximization
within the cluster as the distance among clusters or the size of clusters changes.


title: Investigating the effectiveness of posture coaching and feedback during patient handling activities in a student nursing population

contributor:
Holmes, Michael
Murphy, Bernadette

subject:
Musculoskeletal disorders
Feedback
Student nurse
Patient handling
Low back pain

abstract: The daily routine of nurses and other caregivers is physically demanding and in turn, the profession is at a high risk of developing musculoskeletal injuries and/or disorders (MSDs). This thesis has two sections. The purpose of the first section (the pilot study) was to perform a preliminary biomechanical analysis of trunk kinematics and muscle activity during common patient handling activities to aid in the determination of coaching for a follow up feedback study. The second section determined the effects of a feedback intervention (combined verbal and auditory) on trunk kinematics during simulated patient handling tasks in a student nursing population. Nine student nurses participated. Participants performed three commonly used patient-handling tasks before, during and after an intervention session. The largest reductions in trunk angle, acceleration and velocity were found in the most complex transfer, bed-to-chair. The feedback session improved peak kinematics, and this could suggest that the feedback intervention may help reduce the risk of low back pain associated with patient handling. There is a continuing need to ensure that caregivers are properly trained to protect themselves and their patients during patient handling tasks when assistive devices are not available such as in transferring a patient from the bed to the wheelchair.


title: Perceptions of criminalization towards sex education among a generational sample of Canadian Pakistani Muslims

contributor:
Zaidi, Arshia
Alvi, Shahid

subject:
Pakistani Canadian Muslims
Heretical imperative
Intersectionality
Criminalization of sex education
Public schools

abstract:
Of late, the Liberal government and the Ontario Ministry of Education implemented
revisions to the provincial sex education curriculum, such as gender expression and
same-sex relationship dialogue. These revisions led to intense debate of sex education in
Ontario. At the forefront of these protests were South Asians, specifically those of
Muslim descent belonging to the Pakistani community. The content as well as age of
learning was awkward and unconventional, and threatened the collectivistic patriarchal
family life and social order creating, at times, a generational divide. The aim of this thesis
is to qualitatively explore 16 Canadian Pakistani Muslims perceptions and process of
stigmatization, marginalization and criminalization towards the revised sex education
curriculum by generation using Berger’s (1967) Heretical Imperative and Crenshaw’s
(1991) Intersectionality perspective. Research in this area is scarce and limited and my
thesis aims to reconcile gaps in the scholarship and mobilize knowledge to educators and
policy makers.


title: Use of bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) to predict water and energy content of juvenile Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

subject:
Rainbow Trout
Oncorhynchus mykiss
Bioelectrical impedance analysis
Body composition
Condition
Proximate analysis.

abstract: Accurate measurements of energy content and body composition are essential to effectively assess the well-being of fish. Bomb calorimetry and proximate analysis are currently the most dependable and accurate methods to estimate energy content and body composition. However, bioenergetic studies that employ the traditional methodology necessitate the killing of fish to determine physiological composition and energy content in a target tissue. The killing of the individual negates the ability for repeated measures on the same individual, and also suppresses compositional studies involving endangered or threatened species. Recent research has shown Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA), a quick, easy-to-use, non-invasive, and most importantly, non lethal technique to be an effective method for estimating the proximate composition and energy content of fish. The focus of this research is to evaluate the capability of BIA to accurately assess the bioenergetics of juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), and to develop species-specific indices to predict energy content, total body water and dry mass. To do this, juvenile rainbow trout were subjected to one of three ration regimes: maintenance (0.4 % bw/day), optimum (1.9 % bw/day) and satiation (3.4 % bw/day) for 90 days. Subsamples from each treatment were taken every 30 days to be subjected to BIA testing. Tissue samples were collected from the subsampled trout for future caloric and compositional analysis via bomb calorimetry and proximate analysis. It was found that BIA demonstrated a strong predictive relationship with regard to energy content (r2 = 0.90), total body water (r2 = 0.89) and dry mass (r2 = 0.80). BIA was also able to successfully reflect a notable statistical difference between treatments with regard to total energy content, energy density, total body water, dry mass. These results, along with much of the existing literature, indicate that BIA may be an accurate and reliable tool to estimate the bioenergetics and proximate composition of fish.


title: New approaches in training for in situ visualization of ionizing radiation measurements

subject: Virtual reality training

subject: Augmented reality

subject: Radiation measurement visualization

subject: Reinforcement learning source localization

abstract: Surveying an environment for sources of ionizing radiation requires the use of measurement tools and skills developed from training in order to understand and analyze measurements. Recent advances in technology allow for new approaches to be made in the radiation survey methodology generally used with the incorporation of augmented reality (AR) technology to improve real-time awareness in situ and virtual reality (VR) technology to better develop the skill set of the surveyor in realistic virtual environments beforehand. This thesis investigates and develops a novel process to display real-time measured radiation monitoring data in AR to support a radiation surveyor during a search of an environment for hazardous sources of radiation. This AR process is then modified to show how it can be used with virtual radiation sources to allow a radiation surveyor to practice with a digital twin of a radiation field using a virtual source. This process is then modified further and shown how it can be adapted and used to develop VR training scenarios to teach the skill sets needed to assess potential hazards (radiological and non-radiological) and identify sources of radiation. Finally, an approach using reinforcement learning methods is developed and applied to demonstrate a strategy to localize a single radiation source leveraging the real-time measurement data taken in AR.


title: Ultracapacitor characterization using a novel dynamic parameter identification modeling technique for electric transportation applications

subject:
Energy storage
Electric transportation
Power electronics

abstract:
Ultracapacitors (UCs), also known as Supercapacitors or double layer capacitors, are the promising technology devices used for storing energy in the field of energy storage systems. These ultra-capacitors, being a low voltage device, provide fairly large capacitance values as compared to the conventional capacitors. They are the significant component of the energy storage systems (ESS) in the electric traction applications. In the field of electric transportation the UCs need to be modeled dynamically in order to capture real-time characteristics. The model should provide precise estimation of UC responses to various charge/discharge conditions and also predict the behavior of UCs under varied load conditions. In order to incorporate the model for testing purposes in various power electronics/drive simulation toolboxes, it is very important for the model to be accurate.
In this thesis an accurate dynamic parameter identification technique is proposed. The identification technique can be integrated with an equivalent RC branch UC model, which can estimate the output voltage without the extraction of the model parameters. The parameters will be determined dynamically from the characteristic equations of the respective model parameters. The complete model is built in MATLAB/Simulink. The simulation responses to different charging and discharging current pulses are presented. The simulation responses for varied charging currents are experimentally validated against the actual UC charging results.


title: Design and development of a machine learning-based framework for phishing website detection

subject:
Phishing detection
Machine learning
Heuristic strategy
Chrome extension

abstract: Phishing is a social engineering cyber attack to steal personal information from users. Attackers solicit individuals to click phishing links by sending them emails or social media text messages with deceptive content. With the development and applications of machine learning technology, solutions for detecting phishing links have emerged. Subsequently, performance optimization achieved by machine learning-based approaches were predominantly limited to the datasets used to train the model, such as few open source datasets, poorly characterized data points, and outdated datasets. This thesis introduces a framework based on multiple phishing detection strategies, which are whitelist, blacklist, heuristic rules, and machine learning models, to improve accuracy and flexibility. In the machine learning-based method, three traditional models and three deep learning models are trained and compared the performance of their test results, and concluded that the Gated Recurrent Units (GRU) model achieved the highest accuracy of 99.18%. Furthermore, in the expert-driven heuristic rule-based strategy, seven new HTML-based features are proposed. Finally, a prototype has been developed, with a browser extension to display detection results in real-time.


title: A framework for quality improvement and evaluation of a clinical decision support system in NICU environment in cross-cultural settings.

contributor:
McGregor, Carolyn
James, Andrew

subject:
Quality improvement
Clinical decision-making support
Neonatal intensive care environment
Cross-cultural settings
SPOE
CRISP-DM
PaJMa

abstract: The primary purpose of this quality improvement research is to design a structured study to improve clinical process and outcomes in healthcare. This thesis presents a framework for quality improvement and evaluation of a clinical decision support system in cross-cultural settings. The framework extends a SPO model to a SPOE model, combines with the CRISP-DM model and the Patient Journey Model Architecture (PaJMa); with the purpose of providing a new approach for quality improvement in a NICU environment and evaluating the effectiveness of the CDSS which was implemented as a tool to support the quality improvement research. The approach is extending mining of physiological data in real-time to develop a new clinical practice model that can be used to improve the process of caring, provide patient-central care, support clinical decision- making, and increase efficacy in acute care settings. This thesis demonstrates the framework within the neonatal care units through a case study of late onset neonatal sepsis in Canada and China, uses the CRISP-DM for the process mining and PaJMa for presentation of routine clinical practice and clinical process improvement. This research is extending McGregor’s research “A process mining driven framework for clinical guideline improvement in critical care” in 2011.


title: Design and characterization of next-generation tissue equivalent proportional counters for use in low energy neutron fields

contributor:
Waller, Ed
Waker, Anthony

subject:
Area monitoring
Dosimeter
Microdosimetry
Neutron dosimetry
Tissue equivalent proportional counter

abstract:
Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counters (TEPCs) are devices that can measure the radiation dose levels for the mixed neutron and gamma ray fields that are encountered in nuclear facilities. TEPC designs typically consist of a low density gas sensitive volume surrounded by a solid wall, each of which is composed of tissue-equivalent material. The response of a TEPC in a radiation field is characterized by two quantities: the sensitivity, defined as the ratio of the counts recorded to the measured dose equivalent, and the dose equivalent energy response, defined as the ratio of the measured dose equivalent to the ambient dose equivalent for the radiation field of a given energy. TEPC technology has great potential for use in low energy neutron fields, such as those in nuclear power plants, however, what hinders its use as a portable area monitor in such fields is its large physical size.
For any given neutron field, an optimized TEPC design is one that can provide the same or better sensitivity and dose equivalent energy response relative to that offered by a standard spherical TEPC design of five inch diameter albeit with a much smaller physical size to allow for portability. Two optimized TEPC instruments have been designed: the Compact Multi-Element Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter (CMETEPC), consisting of 113 cylindrical gas sensitive volumes, and the one-quarter inch TEPC-based system (QITEPC), consisting of 392 spherical TEPCs. These instruments are approximately 90% smaller than the standard counter design. To verify that these optimized counters offer the same or better sensitivity and dose equivalent energy response relative to the standard design for realistic nuclear power plant neutron fields, the performance of these instruments when irradiated by the 252Cf – D2O moderated, 252Cf, and 241Am-Be neutron energy spectra were simulated using the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport Code System (PHITS) three-dimensional radiation transport code. For these fields, it is found that the two instruments do offer the same or better sensitivity and dose equivalent response than the standard counter design. The process of designing the optimized instruments as well as the directional dependence of these instruments’ sensitivity and dose equivalent energy response for each of the three above mentioned neutron fields will be presented. This thesis presents two novel compact designs for TEPCs that may be suitable for use in area monitoring applications.


title: #RodneyReed: a content and thematic analysis of a trending innocence campaign

subject:
Wrongful conviction
Social media
Activism
Twitter
Death row

abstract: Having spent 23 years (and counting) on death row for a murder conviction which is believed to be wrongful, Rodney Reed’s innocence campaign was shared on social media by celebrities, news organizations, and the public (Barajas, 2021), accruing over 2 million signatures in support (Bates, 2019), and resulting in a stay of execution. His campaign is one of many movements (e.g., #BLM, #MeToo) that have used social media to mobilize the public through information dissemination, opinion expression, and online activism (Sandoval-Almazan & Gil-Garcia, 2014). To better understand this viral campaign, we conducted a content and thematic analysis of 740 randomly sampled tweets that included “#RodneyReed” between February 13th, 2015, to November 15th, 2019. The major themes are discussed in the context of social media activism and wrongful conviction. The results focus on how individuals used Twitter to act on behalf of Rodney Reed through sharing facts, opinions, and activist actions.

abstract: University of Ontario Institute of Technology


title: The effects of Hydroxypropyl-β-Cyclodextrin on the American Flagfish (Jordanella floridae) over one complete life-cycle

subject:
Hydroxypropyl-β-Cyclodextin
PPCP
Chronic
American Flagfish (Jordanella floridae)
Reproduction

abstract: Understanding the impacts of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) on aquatic ecosystems is an important issue in aquatic toxicology. Many PPCPs have been shown to cause effects on aquatic biota within detected environmental ranges. One compound of particular interest is hydroxylpropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD), the active ingredient in Febreeze®, and widely used for many applications. HPβCD is amphiphilic, toroidal in shape, and able to form non-covalent inclusion complexes with a variety of guest molecules. HPβCD has been shown to reduce volatility as well as improve the aqueous solubility of apolar guest compounds. As such, the use of HPβCD in the pharmaceutical and personal care industry has dramatically increased. With increasing potential for entering the environment through wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent, HPβCD poses an unknown risk to non-target aquatic biota. As a result, a 145-day chronic full life-cycle exposure using American flagfish (Jordanella floridae) was completed using flow-through concentrations of 0 (control), 5, 16, 50,160, 500, and 1600 μg/L of HPβCD maintained via a peristaltic pump. No significant differences were observed in growth, condition factor (K) and hepatosomatic index (HSI) when chronically exposed to HPβCD (P ≤ 0.05). A significant increase in female gonadosomatic index (GSI) occurred in those exposed to HPβCD (P ≤ 0.05). A reduction in the time to reach steady-state spawning occurred at 1600 μg/L of HPβCD, while an increase in the total number of days eggs were laid was observed at 16, 160, and 1600 μg/L of HPβCD (P ≤ 0.05). A temporary reduction in offspring total length occurred at 21 days post hatch at 5, 16, 50, 160, and 500 μg/L of HPβCD (P ≤ 0.05). Finally, larval offspring from parents exposed to HPβCD showed a moderate 3-fold decrease in tolerance to acute copper toxicity.


title: Characterization of fluid flow in paper-based microfluidic devices

subject:
Microfluidics
Darcy's law
Paper media
Fluid mechanics
Arsenic detection

abstract: Paper-based microfluidic devices are being leveraged for application of diagnostic and detection technology in low-resource settings. In order to design a highly accurate device, a mathematical model is required to predict flow behaviour in the paper-based microfluidic devices. A series of experiments were conducted to observe the parameters that influence fluid flow behaviour in paper during imbibition. The parameters investigated included temperature, humidity, machine direction, length, and width. Experiment results showed that variations in fluid temperature and width of the paper device influenced wicking time, and a post-wetting flow was also observed. Two common modelling methods, the Washburn equation and Darcy’s law, were evaluated to determine the most appropriate method for predicting flow behaviour in paper. A mathematical model was developed along with an empirically determined expression for permeability.


title: Theoretical performance analysis of a novel hemispherical tissue equivalent proportional counter for neutron monitoring and dosimetry

subject:
Microdosimetry
TEPC
Neutron dosimetry
PHITS
Radiation detection

abstract: Neutron dosimetry in reactor fields is currently conducted using thermal neutron flux monitors. It has been demonstrated that Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counters (TEPCs) have the potential to improve the accuracy of neutron dosimetry in these reactor fields, and Multi-Element Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counters (METEPCs) could reduce the size of instrumentation required to do so. The current METEPC designs are prohibitively complex and are sensitive to motion and audible noise. This work proposes a novel hemispherical element with a wire-less anode ball as a solution. The hemispherical METEPC element was analyzed as a single TEPC to first demonstrate the potential of this new design. Its performance was evaluated relative to current cylindrical and spherical counter designs that have been demonstrated experimentally to perform very well. The performance analysis first used equipotential distributions generated with ANSYS Maxwell (V. 14.0) in order to solve the Townsend equation and calculate radial gas gain distributions for each counter. Through this it was found that the hemispherical counter exhibits completely uniform gas gain for electrons approaching the anode from all directions and its avalanche region occupies only 0.0004% of the entire gas cavity volume, whereas in the cylindrical and spherical counters the avalanche occupies 0.6% and 0.12% of the total gas cavity volume, respectively. Energy deposition simulations were conducted using the Monte Carlo code PHITS (V. 2.24) with both mono-energetic 2.5 MeV neutrons and the neutron spectrum of 252Cf-D2O moderated. In these neutron fields the hemispherical counter appears to be a good alternative to the reference spherical geometry, whereas the cylindrical counter tends to under-respond to H*(10) for the lower neutron energies of the 252Cf-D2O moderated field. These theoretical results are promising, and if the recommended follow-up experimental work demonstrates the hemispherical counter works as anticipated it will be ready to be incorporated into an METEPC design.


title: Developing a thermodynamic model for the U-Pd-Rh-Ru quaternary system for use in the modelling of nuclear fuel

subject:
Phase diagrams
Thermodynamic modelling
Nuclear fuel safety
Fission product inventory

abstract:
Ruthenium, rhodium, and palladium are fission products in nuclear fuels. These elements and  their compounds change the properties of fuel pellets. Phase diagrams involving uranium have been constructed experimentally to study fission product behaviour, specifically diagrams containing the very stable UMe3 (where Me = Ru, Rh, or Pd) compounds. Discrepancies such as enthalpies of formation of UxMey compounds exist in both experimental binary phase diagram constructions and thermodynamic property determinations. To model the behaviour of fission products in irradiated nuclear fuels, codes (e.g., BISON or RNFTT (RMC Nuclear Fuel Thermochemical Treatment) have been developed. For quantitative studies, existing experimental data are insufficient for such tasks because of difficulties determining data in ranges of composition and temperature. Experimental binary phase diagrams provide phase equilibrium information, yet if not thermodynamically evaluated, the data will be limited in application. Because industrial processes usually involve multicomponent systems that vary in wide ranges of composition and temperature. For some elements with potential catalytic functions (e.g., Pd), the U-Pd phase diagrams presented in the literature were inconsistent so it was a challenge to choose which experimental data should be used for a thermodynamic evaluation. Post irradiation examinations showed that the composition of irradiated nuclear fuels are complicated. For such complex systems, experimental determination of a full set of data is practically impossible. Nevertheless, the possibility of constructing such complex systems by means of thermodynamic evaluation exists. In this work, thermodynamic evaluations of the URu,
U-Rh, and U-Pd binary phase diagrams were assessed or re-assessed (e.g., the U-Ru system). In combination with three binary systems previously assessed, a self-consistent quaternary system (U-Pd-Rh-Ru) was constructed. An alternative strategy in optimizing the Gibbs energy functions of various phases, capable of identifying experimental fallacies in hand drawn U-Rh and U-Pd phase diagrams, was proposed. With this quaternary model, two existing ternary experimental phase diagrams were critically evaluated. Results show that without thermodynamic evaluations some experimental data were wrongly interpreted. The establishment of the quaternary model enriches thermodynamic databases and will potentially improve the performance of the RNFTT treatment and codes such as BISON.


title: Primary care physicians' perspectives on the Ontario Drug Benefit Program (ODB).

subject:
Drug policy
Drug coverage
Drug formulary

abstract:
Introduction: The Canada Health Act (CHA) requires provincial/territorial governments to publicly fund prescription drugs when delivered in the hospital. This coverage does not continue once individuals are discharged under the terms of the CHA. Governments do provide additional public coverage for drugs outside of the hospital for specific groups. The Ontario Drug Benefit Program (ODB) was implemented in 1974 to provide public funding for prescription drugs for seniors 65 years and older.
Methodology: The data collection for this case study is based on a scoping review (peer review and grey literature) and semi-structured interviews. Relevant documents were identified from the Ontario government’s websites, professional associations, and searches with Medline, PubMed, Econlit and Ovid. Ten physicians working in a Durham region primary care clinic in Ontario were interviewed to determine their views on the ODB program. An iterative approach was used to analyze the data and resulted in the identification of several different themes related to both the benefits and challenges of the ODB for physicians and their patients.
Results: Physician views were concentrated on transparency regarding the ODB’s decision making process for inclusion/exclusion on the ODB formulary, the need for timely information when brand name drugs are replaced with generic drugs (i.e., communication about and information on the generic), and on the challenges of completing ODB forms to request coverage for non-formulary drugs. Concerns were raised about the potential negative side effects of the replacement drugs for their patients. While it was recognized that generic drugs are less costly, this saving needs to be balanced with the costs associated with the impact the replacement drug may have on patient outcomes. Procedures to request public funding for prescription drugs not covered under the ODB program need to be streamlined to ensure patients have timely access to the appropriate drug within the publicly funded program (i.e. the Exceptional Access Program). The primary care physicians did also express that they were pleased with the fact that Ontario had such a program to offer to the senior population as they are the population suffering with the most co-morbidities.
Discussion/Conclusion: The implementation of a national pharmacare program in Canada has the potential to reduce costs and increase access. Results from this study suggest that certain challenges exist in obtaining the most appropriate drugs for individual patients. Challenges exist that impact the quality of care and costs associated with procedural requirements. Other lessons learned from this study suggest the importance of including physicians when making policy based decisions in healthcare because they are the gatekeepers of medicine.


title: Experiences of partners of male prisoners

subject:
Prisoner's partners
Crisis theory
Families
Effects of incarceration

abstract: The consequences of imprisonment are felt not only by prisoners themselves but also their family members. Prisoners may be alone in a cell or on trial but most have families and friends that often feel as though they are imprisoned along with their loved ones. There is a limited body of research conducted on partners of incarcerated men and the far-reaching effects of imprisonment on these secondary victims within the Canadian context. However, the research that is available suggests that families face many difficulties when one of its members is incarcerated. This study explores the experiences of female partners of incarcerated men. Crisis Theory directs qualitative data collected from in-depth interviews with ten women. The results indicate that women whose male partners are incarcerated experience many difficulties including stigmatization, financial barriers and emotional stresses. The findings not only highlight the difficulties female partners of male prisoners face but suggest some effective coping mechanisms that the women use to endure such difficulties. This research serves as an exploratory work for larger works that can provide basic policy recommendations.


title: Characterizing blood plasma proteins from organ tissue in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) using a non-targeted proteomics approach

subject:
Proteomics
Blood plasma
Rainbow trout
Fish

abstract: Protein expression patterns adapt to various cues to meet the needs of an organism. The dynamicity of an organism’s proteome can therefore reveal information about an organism’s health. Proteome databases contain limited information regarding organisms outside of medicinal biology. The Uniprot human and mouse proteomes are extensively reviewed and ~50% of both proteomes include tissue specificity, while >99% of the rainbow trout proteome lacks tissue specificity. This study aimed to expand knowledge on the rainbow trout proteome with a focus on blood plasma proteins. Blood, brain, heart, liver, kidney, and gills were collected from adult rainbow trout, plasma and tissue proteins were analyzed using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Over 10,000 proteins were identified across all groups. Majority of the plasma proteome is shared with multiple tissue types, though 4-7% of the plasma proteome is uniquely shared with each tissue (gill > heart > liver > kidney > brain).


title: An investigation of early radiation damage in exposed eye-lenses of rainbow trout

subject:
Rainbow trout
X-ray radiation
Lens focal analysis

abstract: The objective of this work is to contribute to the study of radiation effects in non-human biota and potentially to the study of eye-lens damage in humans by investigating the effects of low-energy X-rays on the lenses of rainbow trout. Lenses were cultured and irradiated to doses up to 2.210 Gy with low-energy X-rays of 40 kV. Laser focal analysis was used to track changes in focal lengths across the lenses post-irradiation. The purpose of this study was to determine whether focal length variability (FLV) could give an indication of the early effects of radiation on lens health. Five dose points between 0.044 Gy to 2.210 Gy were observed. None of the groups showed differences in focal length variability compared to the control group (FLV of 0.14 mm ± 0.03 mm for the 2.210 Gy group compared to 0.13 mm ± 0.02 mm for the control group).


title: Examination of intramolecular interactions between residues of the cys-loop GABA receptor Hco-UNC-49 from Haemonchus contortus

subject:
H.contortus
Ligand-gated chloride channel
Salt bridge
GABA
Electrophysiology

abstract: Haemonchus contortus is a parasitic nematode known to infect ruminant animals such as sheep, goats and cattle. Despite several different anthelmintic drugs available to control the spread of this infection, H. contortus has shown resistance to all of them. In order to combat the infection, a novel drug target must be found and characterized. Hco-UNC-49 is unique parasitic nematode γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) gated chloride channel that may prove to be a novel drug target. The objective of this thesis was to characterize intramolecular interactions of Hco-UNC-49B. Two sets of oppositely charged residues were chosen based on their proximity to each other in a model of Hco-UNC-49 generated using the C. elegans GluCl crystal structure as a template. These residues are predicted to form salt bridges in Hco-UNC-49B which may contribute to structure, function, and molecular interactions with ligands. Each amino acid was mutated to an alanine, followed by a mutation to a similar charged amino acid, and finally a swap between the two residues encompassing the salt bridge. It was found that all residues chosen were critical for receptor function to varying degrees. R159 may be interacting with D83 by either a hydrogen or ionic interaction. Overall, this thesis revealed a probable salt bridge that may be conserved among GABA receptors, as well as one novel interaction that may be unique to Hco-UNC-49. These results expose similarities and differences between Hco-UNC-49 and mammalian GABA receptors that may be vital for the creation of new anthelmintics.


title: Development of neutron monitor for fusion systems

subject:
Neutron
Neutron spectra
Lanthanum chloride
Radiation detection
Neutron generator

abstract: Currently, the detection of neutrons employs sensors with a high thermal neutron response embedded in a thermalizing medium. However, this approach does not provide much information on neutron energy and, therefore, is inherently unable to identify sources commonly used in the industry. The current study proposes the use of a bi-atomic scintillator crystal, LaCl3, to detect fast neutrons above 1 MeV in general and develop a neutron monitor for (D, D) fusion reaction in particular. The approach uses the (n, p) reaction on a bi-atomic scintillator in the neutron energy range above 1 MeV. Thus, a series of Monte Carlo simulations have been performed using MCNP/X along with a series of experiments carried out using a neutron generator based on the (D, D) reaction at 106 n/s. Both sets of data were compared in term of the pulse height spectra. The analysis of the data suggests that a prominent peak from the emitted protons can serve to monitor the neutron emission from the generator.


title: Development and optimization of a wide base FEA truck tire model for prediction of tire-road interactions

subject: FEA Wide-base Automotive Engineering Optimization

abstract:
The most important aspect of any land-type vehicle is the efficiency in which it can translate
energy from an engine, motor, or external source to the ground in an effort to move.
Currently, the most efficient way to do so is through the use of pneumatic tires, which are
the only link between the chassis and the ground interface. With recent advancements in
the computational efficiency of modern computers, there has been a dynamic movement
towards virtual modeling and experimentation of pneumatic tires. This thesis provides a
detailed analysis of the selection, construction, validation, and possible applications for a
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) based tire model. Through the use of an Adaptive Response
Surface Method (ARSM) optimization algorithm, the newly constructed wide base FEA
truck tire model underwent a parameter-tuning procedure of its materials until the
behaviour of the virtual model closely matched the behaviour of the physical tire. The
optimized tire model achieved a minimum of 1.78% error in the amount of rolling
resistance force measured during steady-state driving conditions between the physical and
simulated experiments. In addition, the static vertical deflection of the virtual tire model
was able to be minimized to only 0.42% error in comparison to the physical tire. After the
optimization process was completed, the FEA wide base truck tire model was used in
virtual isolation experiments to populate an analytical in-plane and out-of-plane rigid ring
model for use on rigid surfaces. This process has been completed in an effort to aid in the
study, understanding and experimentation related to pneumatic tire dynamics.


title: Prediction of the off-road rigid-ring model parameters for truck tire and soft soil interactions

subject:
FEA (Finite Element Analysis)
SPH (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics)
RHD (Regional Haul Drive truck tire)
Off-Road Rigid-Ring Tire Model

abstract:
Significant time and cost savings can be realized through the use of virtual simulation of testing procedures across diverse areas of research and development. Fully detailed virtual truck models using the simplified off-road rigid-ring model parameters may further increase these economical savings within the automotive industry. The determination of the off-road rigid-ring parameters is meant to facilitate the simulation of full vehicle models developed by Volvo Group Trucks Technology. This works features new FEA (Finite Element Analysis) tire and SPH (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics) soil interaction modeling techniques. The in-plane and out-of-plane off-road rigid-ring parameters are predicted for an RHD (Regional Haul Drive) truck tire at varying operating conditions. The tire model is validated through static and dynamic virtual tests that are compared to previously published literature.
Both the in-plane and out-of-plane off-road rigid-ring RHD parameters were successfully predicted. The majority of the in-plane parameters are strongly influenced by the inflation pressure of the tire because the in-plane parameters are derived with respect to the mode of vibration of the tire. The total equivalent vertical stiffness on a dry sand is not as heavily influenced by the inflation pressure compared to predictions on a hard surface. For perspective, at 110 psi, the dry sand total vertical stiffness is nearly nine times smaller than that determined on the hard surface, while the lateral stiffness on soft soil (Dry Sand) is at a minimal of three times higher than that of the corresponding values tested on a hard surface. The cornering stiffness is primarily load dependant because the inflation pressure is only noticeably influential at high vertical loads. More importantly, the soil builds in front of the tire, creating what is called a bulldozing effect, during high slip angles. The additional lateral force of the soil exerted onto the tire during cornering maneuvers may contribute to higher than expected results and may be confirmed through future investigation of the cohesion of the soil model.


title: Development, analysis and performance assessment of net zero energy house systems.

subject:
Zero energy buildings
Exergy analysis
Thermodynamic analysis
Multigeneration systems
Exergoeconomic analysis

abstract:
Net zero energy buildings have captured the attention of many researchers and governments due to high energy consumption by traditional buildings. The design stage of a net zero energy house is the most crucial and cost effective step to focus on. The orientation of the building, proper insulation, high-efficiency windows, natural ventilation and other techniques are used to curb down heat transfer from and to the building. These robust energy measures combined with using highly efficient domestic appliances, lighting fixtures, seasonal air-conditioning equipment with high coefficient of performance (COP) and thermal heating techniques reduce energy to the level where the remaining electricity required to power the building can be produced by renewable energy systems.
This PhD research aims at designing and assessing the performance of net zero energy house (NZEH). Three novel multigeneration energy systems are developed, where renewable energies will be the prime sources to supply electricity, fresh and hot water, seasonal heating and cooling.
In order to achieve NZEH, the study starts by choosing the right orientation of the house, selecting the building materials and fixtures that would save on energy, and then optimizing the thicknesses of the acoustical and thermal insulation materials used and followed by heat load calculations. After which, the total connected electrical load to the house is determined and the power system is optimized and selected. Moreover, thermodynamic modeling for all systems components is developed and design parameters are varied to note their effect on efficiencies. Exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental analyses are performed to determine exergy destructions and greenhouse gas emission costs. In addition, design variables are optimized to maximize renewable energy use while reducing exergy destruction and minimizing total system cost and greenhouse gas emissions.
The ultimate goal of this study is to produce sustainable energy options for residential buildings with low noise pollution and very low level of greenhouse gases emissions. In this regard, three new systems are considered.
System I is composed of a photovoltaic (PV) system, wind turbine, diesel generator, battery bank and an electrical control system that supply power to the house, while solar panels power absorption and liquid desiccant systems which provide air-conditioning and fresh water. Hot water is produced by solar heat, photovoltaic thermal system (PV/T) and from a ground thermal storage, where hot water from solar panels passes through during the long summer months, raising the earth temperature, which is used in winter to heat the cold water circulated through. The optimization results show that system I with a net present cost (NPC) of US $56,558.00 in 2013 currency, and levelized cost of energy $0.127/kWh satisfies the connected load requirements. A power system optimization yields a 0.998 renewable energy penetration factor and 73 kg/yr of CO2 emissions. While exergoeconomic analysis gives a total system cost of $107,000.00 and exergy analysis gives overall system exergy efficiency of 41 % and 26 % at 8.00 am and 2.00 pm respectively.
System II consists of organic Rankine cycle system (ORC) with a battery array to supply electricity to the house, while solar panels power a liquid desiccant system and absorption chiller system that provide the house with air-conditioning and fresh water. Hot water is produced by solar heat. The optimized power system with a NPC of $52,505.00 and LCE of $0.118/kWh, renewable energy fraction of 1.00 and zero kg/yr CO2 emissions provides for the house.
The overall system exergetic efficiency varies between 44.76 %, 23.57 % and 36.22 % at 8.00 am, 2.00pm and 5.00 pm, due to solar energy changes, while the overall system efficiency varies between 60 %, 36.62 % and 53.95 % at 8.00 am, 2.00 pm and 5.00 pm. While exergoeconomic analysis gives a total system cost of $117,700.00 compared to $128,500.00 after running the multiobjective optimization.
System III consists of hydro turbine system, PV and battery systems with electrical control mechanism that supplies power to the house. A ground source heat pump integrated with a heat exchanger provides seasonal air-conditioning and part of the hot water. A heat transformer powered by solar energy combined to a distillation system provides the house with fresh and hot water. Hot water from the separation unit of the
distillation system heats earth soil in a ground thermal storage where cold water will be heated in the winter.
The power scheme is optimized to the total NPC $40,420.00 and LCE 0.091$/kWh with 1.00 renewable energy fraction and zero kg/yr CO2 emission. The overall system exergetic efficiency varies from 50%, 37% and 51% at 8:00 am, 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm respectively, while the overall system cost is $68,192.25 compared to $74,384.00 after running the multiobjective optimization.


title: Low complexity multicast beamforming in massive MIMO multi-cell networks

subject:
Multicast beamforming
Massive MIMO
Multi-cell coordination
Base station cooperation

abstract:
In this thesis, we consider downlink multicast beamforming in massive multi-input multi-
output (MIMO) multi-cell networks. Both non-cooperative and cooperative beamforming scenarios are considered. For the non-cooperative scenario, aiming at maximizing the minimum signal-to-interference-plus-noise (SINR) among users, we propose two multicast beamforming structures: weighted maximum ratio transmission (MRT) and weighted zero-forcing (ZF). Based on the weighted MRT beamforming structure, we propose a multicast beamforming design that transforms the beamforming problem into an optimization problem of weights and solve it via semi-definite relaxation (SDR) and successive convex approximation (SCA). To further reduce the computational complexity and the communication overhead, a distributed weighted MRT beamforming design based on signal-to-leakage ratio (SLR) is developed. Furthermore, we propose a distributed ZF beamforming design to maximize the minimum SINR among users based on the weighted ZF structure. The asymptotically optimal solution for the weighted ZF method with infinite number of antennas is derived. We also extend our work to the cooperative beamforming scenario and develop the weighted MRT approach for cooperative beamforming.
Compared with the traditional method which directly solves beamforming problem via SDR approach, our proposed methods have a low computational complexity for massive MIMO systems. Particularly, the computational complexity of weighted
MRT methods does not grow with the number of antennas. Therefore our proposed methods are suitable for multi-cell networks equipped with large scale of antennas.
Simulation results show that our proposed multicast beamforming solutions yield comparable or better performance than existing approaches but have significantly lower
complexity for practical systems with a large but finite number of antennas.


title: Investigation of factors that influence coloration in polycarbonate based compounded plastics

contributor:
Rizvi, Ghaus
Pop-Iliev, Remon

subject:
Coloration in compounded plastics
Polycarbonate
Twin screw extruder
SEM

abstract:
Consistently producing compounded plastics in the correct colour without making
adjustments of the colour formulation or the processing conditions is very challenging for
coloured plastics manufacturers. Conversely, the principal objective of the present research
was to identify the scientific and engineering factors that directly or indirectly cause deviation
and inconsistency in the output colour of compounded plastics grades and suggest viable
solutions to prevent these colour variations.
The current study mainly focused on investigating and analysing the individual and/or
combined effect of the processing conditions on the colour and appearance of resulting
compounded plastic grades. This study highlights individual and combined influences on the
output colour, of three process parameters: temperature, screw speed and feed rate. Typical
plastic grades and associated colour formulations were selected for experimentation and
analysis in consultation with the innovation team of SABIC IP at their Cobourg plant. Included
among the selection criteria was the frequency of colour variation encountered by a plastic
grade during regular production. A wide variety of research tools and techniques were
employed in this study, these include, for example, statistical methods such as Box-Behnken
design (BBD); characterization techniques such as thermogravimetric analysis (TGA); imaging
and image analysis using scanning electron microscopy (SEM); numerical analysis of the
kneading discs zone to evaluate the mixing efficiency under varying processing conditions in
a co-rotating intermeshing twin screw extruder.
Past production data of two low Chroma opaque polycarbonate (PC) plastic grades - PC1
and PC2, were statistically analysed with the aim to quantify the influence on output colour
caused by small adjustments in colour formulation made during production. This study
revealed that the output colour is quite sensitive to minute changes in the amount of white,
black, and yellow pigments in units of PPH – parts per hundred parts of polymeric resin. A
Design of Experiments (DoE) approach was applied to develop a better understanding of the
relationship between process variables and output colour. Such a relationship and optimal
processing conditions were investigated using Box-Behnken design of response surface for
three polycarbonate resin-based plastic grades: a low Chroma translucent grade (G1), a high
Chroma opaque grade (G2), and a high luminous opaque grade (G3). The obtained
experimental results verify the fitness of the statistical model employed and suggests
processing conditions that ensure consistency in output colour of the plastic grades examined. To further investigate the relationship explained by statistical analysis, a novel technique was
introduced to quantify dispersion of colour pigments in polymeric matrix under varying
processing conditions, it is based on scanning electron micrography and image analysis. A
correlation between the processing conditions and distribution graphs for pigments particle size
and inter-particle distance was established and compared with the colorimetric data. The results
obtained through these investigations could help plastics compounders achieve consistency in
plastics coloration. To visualize the flow behaviour of kneading discs zone in a co-rotating
intermeshing twin screw extruder used in experimentation, a 3D numerical analysis was carried
out using OpenFOAM® software. This study evaluates the dispersive mixing parameter λ for
a high Chroma opaque polycarbonate grade (G2) by simulating a 3-D isothermal flow pattern
in the kneading discs region of the twin screw extruder. A quasi-steady state finite element
method was implemented to avoid time dependent moving boundaries. The values of the
mixing parameter λ obtained compare the flow behaviour of the kneading discs zone under
varying processing conditions. Simulation results correlate well the input process variables
with the dispersive mixing in the zone of the kneading discs and compare well with
experimental colorimetric data.
The research work presented in this thesis significantly contributes to understanding the
influence of process variables to the extrusion process, especially of temperature, screw speed
and feed rate, on the output colour of polycarbonate resin grades.


title: Spectrum sharing for two-way relay networks

subject:
Two-way relay
Spectrum sharing
Quality of service
Power allocation
Beamforming

abstract:
We consider a communication network consisting of two transceiver nodes, one relay node, and one receiving node. The relay enables a two-way communication between the two transceivers and meanwhile sends its own information to the receiving node. We study the problem of the power allocation to the transceiver signal and the relay signal to maximize the data rate of link between the relay node and the receiving node.
Next, we consider a communication network consisting of two transceiver nodes and
two relay nodes. These two relays enable a bidirectional communication between the two
transceivers and meanwhile communicate with each other.
We study the problem of the resource sharing such that the smaller of the data rates of two relays is maximized.


title: The role of Cladophora glomerata as a habitat for bacterial communities and a reservoir of antibiotic resistance.

subject:
Cladophora glomerata
Antibiotic resistance genes
Aquatic microbial community
Environmental antibiotic resistance

abstract: This thesis studied the filamentous alga Cladophora glomerata’s role in providing a refuge for antibiotic resistance and analyzed the community composition of the bacterial colonizers of C. glomerata mats by taking samples of water and C. glomerata mats from 4 sites along nearshore Lake Ontario and 2 wetland sites. Using plate screening techniques, bacteria resistant to ampicillin were found at all sites and sampling dates and vancomycin resistant bacteria were found particularly in sites immediately downstream of a wastewater treatment plant. qPCR targeting antibiotic resistance genes demonstrate the presence of the resistance genes ampC, tetA, tetB, and vanA. Lab experiments showed that C. glomerata exudates promote the growth of E. coli. Illumina sequencing of the bacterial community indicated that C. glomerata harbours a bacterial community distinct from the surrounding water, and supports the growth of fecal bacteria and bacterial taxa including the genera Clostridium and Campylobacter.

abstract: University of Ontario Institute of Technology


title: Investigation of selective optical properties of Si/SiO2 nanostructures generated by pulsed laser ablation as-deposited and post-treated

subject: Transmission Reflection Silicon Ablation Emissivity

abstract: Silicon and its derivatives like SiO2 are essential materials for industrial applications such as semiconductors, optoelectronics, and telecommunication. Optical properties of a large group of silicon/silica nanofibrous thin films are studied. A picosecond pulse laser was employed for indirect deposition of ablated silicon on glass substrates. Prominent parameters such as laser power, repetition rate, pulse duration, and scanning speed were changed to vary the structural and compositional properties of synthesized nanofibrous thin films. Transmission and specular reflection measurements along with material characterization techniques, Raman, FTIR XPS, and XRD were employed for better interpretation of the results. Three studies are included in this research. First, exploration of the effect of manufacturing parameters as frequency, power, pulse duration and scanning speed on optical properties of samples generated. By and large, an increase in the values for repetition rate and scanning speed produces a corresponding increase in optical data intensity, while an increase in power and pulse duration leads to a drop in the spectra. The results show that the degree of oxidation and the inherent porous structure is driving the light interaction in thin samples, as indicated by the changes in intensity or spectrum shape. The second study looks into the influence of post heat treatment on the optical properties of samples prepared by frequency variation. Samples were heated up to 400°C and 1000°C and cooled down to room temperature for measurements. The inverse relationship of annealing temperatures on Vis-range reflection spectra to increase and decrease the intensity was confirmed. These improvements are attributed to crystalline and amorphous lattice structures and elemental composition. The third study focuses on the emission of a heated sample, to 200°C and 350°C while data is collected at the elevated temperatures. Results show the emission amplifying effect of nanofibrous structure and its density as well as oxidation level at NIR (Near Infra-Red) range reflection.


title: Characterizing water-metal interfaces and machine learning potential energy surfaces

subject:
Density functional theory
Water-metal interfaces
Molecular dynamics
Machine learning

abstract:
In this thesis, we first discuss the fundamentals of ab initio electronic structure theory and density functional theory (DFT). We also discuss statistics related to computing thermodynamic averages of molecular dynamics (MD). We then use this theory to analyze and compare the structural, dynamical, and electronic properties of liquid water next to prototypical metals including platinum, graphite, and graphene. Our results are built on Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics (BOMD) generated using density functional theory (DFT) which explicitly include van der Waals (vdW) interactions within a first principles approach. All calculations reported use large simulation cells, allowing for an accurate treatment of the water-electrode interfaces. We have included vdW interactions through the use of the optB86b-vdW exchange correlation functional. Comparisons with the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) exchange correlation functional are also shown.
We find an initial peak, due to chemisorption, in the density profile of the liquid water-Pt interface not seen in the liquid water-graphite interface, liquid water-graphene interface, nor interfaces studied previously. To further investigate this chemisorption peak, we also report differences in the electronic structure of single water molecules on both Pt and graphite surfaces. We find that a covalent bond forms between the single water molecule and the platinum surface, but not
between the single water molecule and the graphite surface. We also discuss the effects that defects and dopants in the graphite and graphene surfaces have on the structure and dynamics of liquid water. Lastly, we introduce artificial neural networks (ANNs), and demonstrate how they can be used to machine learn electronic structure calculations. As a proof of principle, we show the success of an ANN
potential energy surfaces for a dimer molecule with a Lennard-Jones potential.


title: The effect of experimental pain on neural function and motor learning

contributor:
Murphy, Bernadette
Yielder, Paul

subject:
Acute pain
Motor learning
Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs)
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

abstract: This thesis investigated whether acute experimental pain interacts with motor learning acquisition to create adaptive and maladaptive changes in neural function. The first study consisted of two experiments where we determined the interactive effects of acute pain versus control (Experiment 1) and local versus remote acute pain (Experiment 2) on motor learning and sensorimotor processing and provided supportive evidence for early somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) peaks as markers for sensorimotor integration (SMI) and acute pain. Motor performance was better in the presence of pain pre-motor learning and motor learning retention improved in the presence of local pain. A limitation of this first study was that performance saturation occurred and therefore we used a more complex tracing task for the subsequent studies. Our second SEP study The interactive effect of acute pain and motor learning acquisition on sensorimotor integration and motor learning outcomes provides corroboration for the enhancement of motor learning while in acute pain. In addition, the changes in the amplitudes of SEP peaks suggests that SEP peak alterations reflect neurophysiological alterations accompanying both motor learning acquisition and mild acute pain. Improved motor learning acquisition during acute pain may be the result of increased attention or increased arousal, and therefore we concluded that it was important to compare the effects of local versus remote versus contralateral acute pain in conjunction with a complex motor learning task which was the focus of the third study. Our third study found that motor learning occurred in the presence of mild acute pain and there were no significant differences in motor learning acquisition or retention between three groups that had capsaicin applied at different locations. We hypothesized that improved motor learning acquisition during acute pain may have been caused through increased arousal. For the fourth study we explored the effect of acute pain on neuroplasticity of the motor cortex (MI) by using input-output curves elicited via transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). The acute pain in this study was shown to negate the increase in slope that was observed for the control group despite having a positive impact on motor learning acquisition.


title: Component-based modeling for Android application testing

subject:
Android application
Model-based testing
Software testing

abstract:
The rising popularity of Android and the component-based structure of its apps have
motivated the need for automated model-based testing techniques on Android plat-
form. Prior researches have primarily focused on the GUI-based model of Android
apps. GUI-based model only includes Activity targeting graphical user interfaces. It
neglects other components such as Service and Broadcast Receiver in the Android Development Framework. Although the GUI-based model testing has achieved a good
testing result targeting the graphical user interface, its effectiveness has been decreasing as Android applications become more complex in both functional behaviors and
component-based structure. This phenomenon challenges the feasibility of currently
existing model-based testing on Android platform.
To address the challenges mentioned above, we propose a component-based approach of automated model generation for model-based testing on Android platform
in this thesis. First, we extend the state definition in the model. Activity, Service
and Broadcast Receiver are abstracted into the component-based model as states.
Newly introduced states can depict the behaviors of a given app in a larger scope
for better descriptive modeling and input generation. Second, we extend transition
definition, and also propose a static mapping transition builder for transition construction across different kinds of components. Then the event sequence generator &
cluster is proposed to generate proper test sequences for testing. The event cluster
assists the input generation of the component-based model testing.
Also, we present CamDroid, a tool implementing the proposed approach for An-
droid apps testing. Lastly, our experiments have corroborated CamDroid's ability
to build a model connecting components including Service, Activity and Broadcast
Receiver. It can overcome the new challenges of Android apps in model-based testing.
As a result, component-based model can achieve better performance in real model-
based testing in terms of code coverage, comparing to the traditional GUI-based
model testing.


title: Fault tolerant control of active trailer steering systems for multi-trailer articulated heavy vehicles

contributor:
He, Yuping
Ren, Jing

subject: Fault tolerance

subject: Fault diagnosis

subject: H-infinity

subject: Multi-trailer articulated heavy vehicles

subject: Observers

abstract: Faults in a controlled plant often deteriorate the system performance. In severe cases, faults pose a risk of component damage, plant shutdown or even personnel safety. Fault Tolerant Control (FTC) aims at preventing the escalation of rectifiable faults to serious failure. A FTC system combines fault diagnosis with reconfiguration methods to manage faults intelligently. This thesis focuses on FTC systems for Multi-Trailer Articulated Heavy Vehicles (MTAHVs), particularly for Active Trailer Steering (ATS) systems. MTAHVs are vital to the trucking industry, and it is crucial to enhance their safety, reliability and usability. In this research, a 4-DOF linear yaw-plane model of a B-Train double is generated. The vehicle model is validated using the commercial software package, TruckSim. Additionally, this thesis presents an ATS system for the B-Train double. The ATS mechanism is modeled as a hydraulic control system, consisting of a hydraulic actuator and an electrohydraulic control valve. The hydraulics for the ATS system are validated using MathWorks Simscape. To enhance the hydraulic control system’s robustness and reliability, FTC is applied. Numerous model-based fault diagnosis techniques such as Kalman Filter, Luenberger Observer, parity equations and residual generation are employed. Furthermore, for the control system synthesis, Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) and H∞ control techniques are utilized. Control techniques’ influence on FTC is analyzed, and the most appropriate technique is proposed for the FTC-ATS control system. Several fault scenarios, such as actuator malfunction(s) and sensor failure are explored, and their impact on system dynamics is investigated.


title: Physical activity levels and modes of physical activity among Canadian adults with obstructive respiratory disease

subject:
Physical activity
Chronic disease
Health
Hypertension
Obesity

abstract: Purpose: To investigate physical activity levels and modes of physical activity among Canadian adults with obstructive respiratory disease. Methods: Data from respondents with self-reported asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and a combination of asthma and COPD (CAC) from the Canadian Community Health Survey (2013) were used for analysis. Self-reported physical activity was used to categorize respondents as active or inactive. Self-reported modes of physical activity were grouped into the following categories: walking, endurance activities, recreation activities, conventional exercise, sports, and no physical activity. Results: Adults with COPD and CAC had the lowest participation in all modes of physical activity, compared to adults without respiratory disease. Physically active adults with CAC were less likely to report hypertension than those who were inactive. Conclusions: Physical activity levels among adults with COPD and CAC are low; while physical activity preferences in adults with asthma did not differ from the general population.


title: Investigation of a SPH-based sub-cell homogenization for PHWR using a multi-cell model

subject:
Applied reactor physics
Superhomogenization
SPH factors
PHWR

abstract: Superhomogenization (SPH) has gained interest in the industry as a possible method to overcome the inherent limitations of standard homogenization (SH) for full nuclearreactor-core neutronics calculations because its implementation does not require any changes to existing computer codes. Previous work found that single-cell SPH applied to Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) yields virtually no improvement compared to single-cell standard homogenization. This work attempts to improve those results by accounting for neutron leakage across cell boundaries by performing SPH-based homogenization using a 3×3 multi-cell model. The method is evaluated using a 5×5 lattice-cell model and comparing results for single-cell SH, multi-cell SH, single-cell SPH and multi-cell SPH. Results show that multi-cell SPH produces better results than single-cell SPH and multi-cell SH produces better results than single-cell SH. However, multi-cell SPH offers no improvement compared to multi-cell SH, just as single-cell SPH offers no improvement over single-cell SH.


title: Impact assessment and mitigation of the effect of cyber-physical attacks on the electric vehicles high-power fast charging stations considering open charge point protocol

subject:
Electric vehicles
Fast charging stations
Cyber-attacks
Cybersecurity
Open charge point protocol

abstract: Electric Vehicles are on the rise worldwide, and the increasing demand also increases the need for High Power Fast Charging Stations. The deployment of such charging stations dictates the establishment of information and communication infrastructure that uses communication protocols. Such an infrastructure makes these charging stations prone to cyber-physical attacks. This thesis focuses on the impact assessment and mitigation of these cyber-physical attacks on the operation of the existing assets and the voltage quality. Additionally, the thesis displays the weakness in the communication protocol between the electric vehicles and the charging stations that intruders can exploit to gain unauthorized access to pose threats to the microgrid. A microgrid embedded with the vehicle-to-grid operation and renewable energy sources is simulated in MATLAB SIMSCAPE and used to demonstrate such cyber-physical attacks' impacts on the transformer. Finally, the results showed a significant transformer overload impacting the overall system and costing millions in damages.


title: Exploring anomie in a special life-stage: adolescent anomie and aggression

subject:
Physical change
Transitional stress
Anomie
Anomic condition
Agression

abstract: Adolescence is a critical biological and social transitional period, resulting in a variety of new emotions in teenagers. Feelings of normlessness, purposelessness and meaninglessness are among these emotions. These feelings of normlessness, purposelessness, and meaninglessness are often referred to as „anomie‟ by criminologists and sociologists. This study attempts to utilize Durkheim‟s theoretical model and framework of anomie to explain adolescents‟ aggression. Data from the “National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, 1998-1999, Self Reporting Cycle 3” with a sub-sample of 5500 of adolescents [ages ranged from10-15years] are used to explore if the anomic condition in adolescence is linked to increased aggression. Results from the multivariate analysis support the hypothesis that indeed the anomic condition during adolescence is positively related to their levels of aggression.


title: Ideological parallels between Gamergate and white supremacy: a thematic content analysis

contributor:
Downing, Steven
Douai, Aziz

subject:
Gamergate
Video games
Gender
White supremacy
Race

abstract: The subject of this thesis is the main online hub of the alt-right video game movement Gamergate, for the purpose of examining if the discourse of Gamergate possesses significant ideological parallels with explicitly White Supremacist movements. Data gathered from a variety  of Kotaku in Action threads were analyzed using thematic coding. The results of the analysis indicated a preoccupation with common elements of White Supremacist discourse regarding persecution, gender, and race. The application of Merton’s Insider/Outsider dynamics revealed an extremely rigid ideological divide between those who identify as Gamergate supporters, and those who are external to Gamergate, which are held in deep suspicion as being engaged in a wide-ranging and ill-defined cultural conspiracy. Overall, the discourse of Gamergate supported the hypothesis that Gamergate possesses significant ideological parallels with White supremacy, although Gamergate had a larger emphasis on gender rather then race.


title: With a little help from my friends: Exploring the perceptions and utility of partners of drug crime.

subject:
Co-offending
Criminal cooperation
Drug crime
Partners in crime
Decision making processes

abstract: Co-offending and drug crime scholarship have rarely crossed paths. Whenever co-offending and drug crime are investigated together, the work is almost always quantitative. Thus much remains unknown about why drug dealers cooperate criminally. To provide a modest contribution to what is otherwise a noticeable void, I investigate the decision making processes among a sample of 8 drug dealers who regularly partner up with others. Findings suggest participants believe co-offenders increase the overall success of drug crimes by either providing access to criminal capital, or by providing strength in numbers. Trustworthiness and skill were two factors that heavily weighed on a decision to co-offend with another drug dealer. While participants acted instrumentally with regards to co-offending, they were not greedy or impulsive. Gains were usually split equally among all partners. Interestingly, the gains of drug crime were occasionally donated to a partner who was perceived to be in need.


title: Research on remote control of reconfigurable modular robotic system

subject:
serial manipulators
industrial robots
serial modular robotic system
PowerCube Modules
robotic arm

abstract:
Serial manipulators, which have large work space with respect to their own volume
and occupied floor space, are the most common industrial robots by far. However, in
many environments the situation is unstructured and less predictable, such as aboard a space station, a nuclear waste retrieval site, or a lunar base construction site. It is almost impossible to design a single robotic system which can meet all the requirements for every task. In these circumstances, it is important to deploy a modular reconfigurable robotic system, which is suitable to various task requirements. Modular reconfigurable robots have a variety of attributes that are well suited to for these conditions, including: the ability to serve as many different tools at once (saving weight), packing into compressed forms (saving space) and having high levels of redundany(increasing robustness). By easy disassembly and reassembly features, this serial modular robotic system will bring advantages to small and medium enterprise to save costs in the long term.
This thesis focuses on developing such a serial reconfigurable modular robotic
system with remote control functionality. The robotic arms are assembled by PowerCube
Modules with cubic outward appearance. The control and power electronics are fully
integrated on the connector block inside of the modules. Those modules are connected in
series by looping through, and can work completely independently. The communication
between robotic arms and PC controller is connected by the Control Area Network bus.
CAN protocol detects and corrects transmission errors caused by electromagnetic
interference. The local PC can directly control the robotic arm via Visual Basic code, and it can also be treated as server controller. Client PCs can access and control the robotic arm remotely through Socket communication mechanism with certain IP address and port number. A Java3D model is created on the client PC synchronously for customers online monitoring and control. The forward and inverse kinematic analysis is solved by Vector Algebraic Method. The Neutral Network Method is also introduced to improve the kinematic analysis. Multiple-layer networks are capable of approximating any function with finite number of discontinuities. For learning the inverse kinematics neural network needs information about coordinates, joint angles and actuator positions. The desired Cartesian coordinates are given as input to the neural network that returns actuator positions as output. The robot position is simulated using these actuator positions as reference values for each actuator.


title: Towards efficient and scalable computer vision systems

contributor:
Qureshi, Faisal Z.
Pu, Ken Q.

abstract:
There is a large growth in hardware and software systems capable of producing vast amounts of image and video data. These systems are rich sources of continuous and possibly infinite image and video streams. This motivates researchers to build scalable computer vision systems that utilize data-streaming concepts for large-scale processing of visual data streams. However, several challenges still exist in building large-scale computer vision systems. The main challenge is the lack of formal and scalable mechanisms and frameworks for building and optimizing large-scale visual processing. Moreover, several fundamental computer vision tasks are computationally expensive and inefficient for scaling up for large-scale processing. This thesis presents formal methods and algorithms that aim to overcome these challenges and improve building and optimizing large-scale computer vision systems.
We first describe a formal algebra framework for the mathematical description of computer vision pipelines for processing image and video streams. The algebra defines a set of abstract and concurrent operators with well-defined semantics for building scalable computer vision systems. It naturally describes feedback control and provides a formal and abstract method for data-stream manipulation, adaptive parameter selection, dynamic reconfiguration, incremental optimization, and defining common optimization and cost models.
Second, we present new algorithms for efficiently processing image and video streams in two areas of computer vision: pixel-labelling problems and automatic visual surveillance. For pixel-labelling problems, we develop the sub-volume cost-filtering approach for solving both stereo-vision and optical-ow problems. The approach leverages sparse processing of the cost volume to achieve faster runtimes with comparable accuracy to the state-of-the-art algorithms. For automatic visual surveillance, we develop a new online algorithm for automatic lane and road-boundary detection. The algorithm runs in real time and is adaptive and able to handle several challenging environmental conditions.
Finally, we express the road-boundary detection algorithm using our stream algebra. We use it as a case study for developing common optimization methods for parameter tuning in large-scale streaming pipelines.


title: Design and development of side underride protection devices (SUPD) for heavy vehicles

subject:
Side underride protection device (SUPD)
Crashworthiness
Underride
Vehicle safety

abstract: There exists a large mismatch between the bumper of a passenger vehicle and the ground clearance of heavy vehicles. During collisions between the car and the side of the heavy vehicle, a large amount of intrusion is observed in the passenger compartment due to underride. The results of these collisions often leads to injuries or fatalities. This research aims to develop side underride protection devices (SUPD) to eliminate the incompatibility between the small vehicle’s bumper and bottom of the trailer or box of the straight truck. To successfully design these guards, a regulation for testing the effectiveness of the SUPDs during a side crash was created. Guards were then developed utilizing a topology and multi-objective optimization design approach by applying the proposed regulation. These proved feasible when tested dynamically with the Toyota Yaris and Ford Taurus at preventing underride. Additional guards were then created and tested utilizing an aerodynamic shape to reduce drag and improve fuel consumption.


title: Monolayer terpyridyl metal complexes for high-efficiency electrochromic materials

subject:
Electrochromic materials
Terpyridine
Metal-organic complexes
Spectroelectrochemistry
Surface-confined monolayers

abstract: Electrochromic materials (ECMs) can change their color with changes of applied electrochemical potential. Currently, the use of ECMs in the industry is limited to mainly inorganic metal oxides, conjugated conducting polymers, and liquid crystal-based materials. Hybrid metal-organic materials belong to a relatively new class of ECMs that offer exciting properties of extended stability, great color variability and the highest coloration efficiencies in the area. Metal–ligand coordination adducts offer reliable metal-centered redox behavior and intense redox-dependent colored states. So far, terpyridine (tpy) ligands were mainly explored as coordinating ligands for polymeric ECM design. In this work, tpy-based unit was applied as a coordinating moiety for ECMs design, and well-defined tpy-metal complexes were deposited on the porous conductive supports in a monolayer fashion. The resulting materials demonstrated superior performance, including redox stability, long-term switching durability, ultra-high coloration efficiencies, and high differences in optical density. The structural changes to the coordination complexes leads to multiple accessible colored states (purple, blue, green, red, pink, orange, and yellow). Furthermore, mixing together isostructural metal complexes with different metal centers provides access to materials featuring multiple color-to-color transitions in one single electrochromic layer. Therefore, this work highlights that the monolayers of tpy-based coordination complexes embedded into the transparent conductive oxide supports are viable candidates for ECM design, and the versatility of this approach to create ECMs with tunable colors, programmed properties and superior long-term durability is demonstrated.