title: Do Evaluative Attitudes Towards Violence Influence Violent Behaviour? A Replication and Extension

abstract: Recent research suggests that evaluative attitudes towards violence have been overlooked in forensic psychology and may be causally associated with violent behaviour (Nunes, Pedneault, & Hermann, 2019a). The current project extended this research by experimentally testing whether manipulating evaluative attitudes towards violence would influence violent responding. Men from the community were recruited online (N = 526) to read convincing messages designed to make evaluations of violence more positive or more negative and complete a newly developed analogue measure of violent behaviour. The results indicated that making evaluations of violence more negative led to fewer violent responses, whereas the positive manipulation did not result in significantly more positive evaluations of violence or significantly more violent responding. The results suggest a causal relationship between negative evaluations of violence and reduced violent responding, but are inconclusive regarding more positive evaluations of violence. Potential reasons for these patterns are considered.


title: Effect of Chronic, Low-Dose TCDD Exposure on Glucose Homeostasis and Beta Cell Function in Wild Type and Cyp1a1/1a2 Systemic Knock-Out Adult Mice

abstract: Exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) is associated with increased diabetic pathology. The goal of my thesis was to understand how chronic, low dose exposure to a model POP, 2,3,7,8-tetracholorodibenzo-p-dioxin, promotes diabetic pathology in C57BL/6 mice and the role of Cyp1a1/1a2 enzymes during exposure. My first aim was to determine the effect of chronic, low dose TCDD exposure in wild type and systemic Cyp1a1/1a2 knock-out mice on glucose homeostasis and β-cell function. My second aim was to determine the effects of direct, low dose TCDD exposure in isolated pancreatic islets with and without Cyp1a1/1a2 gene deletion. My third aim was to determine the effect of concurrent high-fat diet (HFD) and TCDD exposure in wild type mice on glucose homeostasis and β-cell function. I found sex differences in the role of Cyp1a1/1a2 in insulin secretion during TCDD exposure in vitro and during concurrent TCDD exposure and HFD-feeding in vivo.


title: Fish Community Interactions with Very Low Head (VLH) Turbine Technology

abstract: The first Very Low Head (VLH) turbines in Canada were put into operation at Wasdell Falls on the Severn River, ON, with the possibility of future deployments across Canada. I carried out this two-part study to rectify the knowledge gap regarding risk of this type of turbine to temperate North American fish species. In Chapter 2, I used acoustic telemetry to determine risk of entrainment where I found that there was no fish passage through the VLH turbines and that fish usage of the VLH forebay was limited. In Chapter 3, I experimentally introduced fish into the turbines and recaptured fish downstream using balloon tags. I found minimal differences between treatment and control groups and a mortality rate of 1.16% of entrained fish. Overall, the findings suggest that the risk posed by the VLH turbines is low for the species and life stages studied here.


title: Accountability in Ontario's Health Care System: The Role of Governance and Information in Managing Stakeholder Demands

abstract:
This research focuses on nonprofit accountability because accountability failures, such as frauds and scandals, impede an organisation's ability to deliver on its mission and have raised concerns about an organisation's ability to manage their accountability demands. Previous nonprofit studies have focused on what accountability is and to whom organisations are accountable, while less focus has been given to how accountability is managed. Through the concepts of stakeholder relationships, governance mechanisms and information strategies, an accountability system is proposed and serves as the conceptual framework to understand how nonprofit accountability is managed.
The objective of this research is to gain a better understanding of the nonprofit accountability system. As such, the study's research question is how do nonprofit organisations manage their accountability system?
To answer the research question, a multiple-case study research strategy using a cross-sectional sample of health care organisations, with a particular focus on nonprofit hospitals and two of its salient stakeholders, Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs) and foundations.
This study has provided a clearer understanding of the relationship between accountability, governance and information, which contrasts with a majority of studies that have concentrated on specific aspects of accountability. At the practical level, to view accountability as a system, makes it easier to identify weaknesses, which could be used as a governance tool to help nonprofit leaders improve their accountability management practices.


title: Neuroinflammation and Parkinson’s Disease: Understanding the Inflammatory Process Induced by Chronic Peripheral Injection of LPS in LRRK2 G2019S KI Mice in Correlation with Age

abstract: Parkinson' disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease arising from a collective effect of advancing age, genetic vulnerabilities and environmental toxins. The objective of the current study was to elucidate a synergistic effect of the advanced age, G2019S mutation and immunological stress (LPS) on neuroinflammation. In the present study, male mice were given five intraperitoneal injections of 250mg/kg of LPS (or saline) every alternate day across the two levels of the age and genotype (age; old vs young, genotype; WT vs G2019S). In line with our expectation, there was a significant loss of TH+ cells in old-G2019S mice that received LPS compared to the young-WT that received saline. There was a significant effect of age and genotype on baseline locomotor activity of these animals. Age and genotype predominantly affected other aspects like increased CX3CR1 expression and increased SiRT3 expression in SNc.


title: Novel Treatment Strategies for Major Depressive Disorder: Investigating Ketamine’s Antidepressant Effects and the Role of the c-Jun N-Terminal Kinase Pathway

abstract: Current first-line treatments for depression, namely monoamine-based drugs such as SSRIs, take weeks to show any clinical effects, and they are only effective in 60-70% of patients. There is therefore an urgent need to develop more rapid and efficacious treatments. Ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist often used as a dissociative anesthetic, has been found to have rapid (within hours) antidepressant effects, even in historically treatment resistant patients. Nevertheless, ketamine has its own limitations, such as unwanted side effects and abuse potential. The overarching goal of this thesis was to gain a better understanding of the antidepressant mechanisms of ketamine. Interestingly, we found that ketamine did not impact the typical stress hormone, corticosterone, nor did it modulate brain-region specific monoamine changes that were induced by acute (restraint) or systemic (lipopolysaccharide; LPS) stressors. However, ketamine did have anti-inflammatory actions, reducing interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and further still, repeated ketamine treatment promoted adult neurogenesis within the hippocampus. Notably, repeated ketamine also had an antidepressant-like behavioral effect that was still detectable 8 days after the final ketamine injection. In terms of potential mechanistic factors, ketamine increased active levels of the signaling factor c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) within the cortex, and inhibition of JNK itself increased corticosterone levels. Intriguingly, JNK inhibition also modulated some stress-induced behavioral and monoaminergic changes, implying a diverse role for the protein. Overall, the data support a role for ketamine in neuroplasticity and immune function, and set the stage for future investigations into the pathways (i.e. JNK) associated with its antidepressant effects.


title: Measurements of Benzene Destruction Efficiency in a Lab-Scale Flare

abstract: Glycol dehydrators, used to remove water vapour from raw natural gas, are a significant source of benzene emissions (a known human carcinogen). This thesis investigates the benzene destruction removal efficiency (DRE) and black carbon (BC) emissions when using flaring as an emissions control mechanism for glycol dehydrators. Experiments were performed in which fuel mixtures representative of glycol dehydrator still vent gas, plus other manipulated compositions, were combusted in a flare. In quiescent conditions the DRE of benzene was nearly 100%, but the presence of benzene increased BC yields. Considering data for Alberta, Canada, flaring could potentially reduce benzene emissions by a factor of 1000, but would increase total BC emissions from all flaring by ~56%. BC emissions could be partially mitigated by adding methane to the still gas mixture prior to flaring. Further work is recommended to investigate the effects of crosswinds on the benzene DRE in a flare.


title: Canadian Police Tactical Units: The Normalization of Police Militarization or a Pragmatic Response to High-Risk Calls?

abstract: Police tactical units (PTUs) were originally developed to be small teams of officers who respond to high-risk calls with specialized training and equipment designed to minimize harm to both the public and officers. The limited research available suggests that, much like their American counterparts, Canadian PTUs have become normalized in that they commonly respond to 'routine' calls. This thesis sought to expand upon previous literature by moving beyond crude data (e.g., original calls for service) to determine the presence of risk-factors in PTU calls, which may explain when and why these teams are used. Throughout interviews with patrol and tactical officers it became clear that PTUs are consistently used for high-risk calls, resulting in safer outcomes due in part to their level of training and equipment. These findings conflict with previous assumptions that PTUs are analogous to the police waging war on the public it is supposed to serve.


title: Technical and Economic Development of  Efficient Asphalt Multi-Integrated Compaction Technology

abstract:
The search to perform asphalt compaction process utilizing a single independent roller started over a century ago. Unfortunately, instead of correcting imperfections in the roller's design and operation, the world has performed field compaction of asphalt in three distinct stages with three different rollers. Despite the utilization of three rollers to compact new asphalt layers, premature failure of asphalt mat has been found in in carefully conducted independent audits of governmentappointed agencies.
While most of the research work in the asphalt field pointed to the asphalt mix and environmental factors that cause early deterioration of newly constructed asphalt roads, a new roller termed Asphalt Multi Integrated Roller (AMIR) offers better compaction method which corrected the imperfections of the current compaction technologies. Though, the AMIR compaction technology was invented in the 1980s, it has not been widely utilized by the highway construction industry. Independent researchers have established that failure of asphalt mat is due to entry of air and water into the mat. Up to the present time, most road authorities around the world do not have a standard testing method or a minimum value for permeability in compacted asphalt mat to enhance acceptance criteria.
This research examined the compacted asphalt mat pavement properties and performance of several field trials using three stage and single stage compaction methods. The trial mats compacted on binder, granular and concrete bridge deck bases. The impartial investigation was conducted over six years and recommends that the effective economical and sustainable way to improve long term performance of asphalt pavements is to replace the current three stage field compaction with the AMIR.


title: The Possibility of Politics: Hannah Arendt, The Public, and the Fragility of the Common World

abstract: This thesis develops Arendt's concept of "the public" as the necessary condition for the practice of politics. Through an engagement with both the notion of plurality, which lies at the core of Arendt's thought, and her concepts of common sense and the world, it understands the Arendtian public realm as the combination of both public space and public spirit. This not only distinguishes Arendt's concern for politics from the Habermasian sociological-institutional model, but equally explains some of her more contentious arguments about modernity. In the 'dark times' of totalitarian rule, the public spirit is left without a public space. Conversely, the condition of 'the social' is better understood as public space without public spirit. This thesis, as an examination of the conditions of politics, clarifies a key strand of Arendt's work while laying the groundwork for an analysis of Arendt's thoughts on the practice of politics itself.


title: Career Decision Self-Efficacy and Career Decision Distress: The Role of Occupational Engagement, Grit, and Future Work Self Salience Among Recent University Graduates

abstract: The career development literature extols the benefits of active involvement in the management and monitoring of career decisions before and during the school-to-work transition. Using a retrospective recall design, a sample of 300 recent university graduates were asked to report on their career decision-making processes. Those who were occupationally engaged were significantly more likely to have a clearer, salient view of their future work selves and exhibited greater confidence when making career decisions. Moreover, recent graduates' future work self salience significantly explained the positive association between occupational engagement and career decision self-efficacy. Finally, recent graduates who were occupationally engaged and displayed high levels of grit were significantly less likely to exhibit career decision distress than those low in both occupational engagement and grit. These findings shed light on the psychological and motivational mechanisms associated with adaptive career decision-making among individuals who have recently graduated from university.


title: Simulation of Gas Detectors Using Ramo's Theorem

abstract: Between 2019-2021, the present ATLAS Small Wheel will be replaced with the New Small Wheel (NSW) to prepare for the high-luminosity phase of the Large Hadron Collider. One half of the NSW upgrade is based on the gaseous small-strip Thin Gap Chamber (sTGC) multiwire proportional chamber (MWPC) technology. The principle of signal formation is based on the induction of charge on detector elements due to the motion of ionization clusters within the MWPC. A method to determine this induced charge signal using Ramo's theorem will be described. An explanation of the physics inherent in a MWPC will also be summarized. An overview of the sTGC will be introduced, with a description of its simulation. The effects of detector components on signal formation will be presented, followed by how they are accounted for in the simulations. As a proof of concept, the simulation results will be compared to test beam data.


title: Danger, Deviancy, and Desire in Apartheid South Africa: Visualizing an Exchange of Transnational Homoerotic Commodities

abstract:
This thesis demonstrates that legislation introduced by the National Party of South Africa between 1950 and 1988 was ineffective in subduing the exchange of homoerotic commodities. Ultimately, the quantitative and qualitative methodology used in this thesis reveals that despite increased regulation, some same-sex desiring men in South Africa had the means to participate in a transnational network of exchange. This transient network of commodities and images created a community beyond borders and boundaries that resisted regulation and created a space for like-minded individuals to communicate.
Methodologically, this thesis is a composite of macro- and micro-history that navigates contentious issues with cultural history and simultaneously addresses some limitations of visualizing data in this manner. Collections from the Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action (GALA) archive in Johannesburg, South Africa are digitized and processed to visualize two different commodity networks (http://dangerdeviancyanddesire.com). Associated correspondence, editorials, newspaper clippings, and oral histories corroborate these visualizations.


title: Onboarding and Software Update Architecture for IoT Devices

abstract: There has been a continuous growth in the usage of number of IoT devices. These devices are subject to an increasing number of attacks which exploit their software vulnerabilities. We need a secure architectural design for cryptographic keys involved in both initial configuration (onboarding) and secure automatic updates of IoT devices. Low-level IoT devices have low computational capabilities and small memory size and are challenged to carry out desktop- and server-type public-key cryptographic operations, as needed for key establishment and authentication of software updates. We have designed and implemented a prototype to provide secure onboarding and update architecture and associated protocols for low-level IoT devices (8-bit). It uses elliptic curve cryptography (Curve25519), authenticated key establishment, and a known continuity-based key-locking mechanism that uses a public key embedded in current software image to verify the signature on software update. The design also addresses the scenario of transfer of update authority change.


title: On Forecasting Lung Cancer Patients’ Survival Rates Using 3D Feature Engineering

abstract: This thesis proposes the engineering of a feature set that can qualify the tumours using textural and statistical measures, in order to predict the survival times of patients whom have been diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, a type of lung cancer. We consider the data in its 2D form, and create a benchmark using 2D Haralick computations and statistical shape measurements. Furthermore, we offer two additional schemes for feature set generation. Taking the benchmark, we analyze the feature measurements in relation to tumour depth. Cumulating this knowledge into a single measurementimproves the regression results, and also demonstrates the advantage of focusing on the prediction of short-term survival rate timelines. The second scheme considers the cancer nodule in its 3D entirety. This results in a large feature space, with over 100 dimensions. To process these, we explore dimensionality reduction techniques, particularly data diagonalization in a block-diagonal matrix manner, to further enhance regression results.


title: WAVE-2 and Its Role in LRRK2 Mediated Neuroinflammation

abstract: Neuroinflammation is involved in the pathogenesis of many neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's Disease, primarily resulting from microglial activation. Microglia are the primary phagocytic cells of the central nervous system, and their activation play a significant role in neuroinflammation. Microglial activation and the changes in their morphological appearance depend on the actin cytoskeleton reorganization. WASP family Verprolin-homologous protein-2 (WAVE2), a member of Wiskott Aldrich's Syndrome Proteins, is a primary regulator of actin cytoskeleton. This study is aimed to test the effect of WAVE2 inhibition on inflammatory phenotype of BV-2 microglial cells. We have shown that lipopolysaccharides (LPS) stimulation significantly upregulates oxidative stress and nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-kB) signaling, and cause changes in appearance of BV-2 microglial cells. Knocking down WAVE2 with the help of adeno-associated virus vector does not block these outcomes. These data suggest that the inflammatory phenotype of microglial cells may not be primarily dependent on WAVE2 signaling.


title: Voice of the River: Promoting the Dynamic of the Edge Conditions of the Ottawa River, the Valley of the Kiji Sibi through Floating Islands

abstract: The Ottawa river is the eighth largest and one of the most important rivers in Canada. However, there are  complex problems that have developed in relation with the Ottawa river, such as water quality, sewage overflows and nuclear waste run off, dams' effects on the fish species, river access, river banks and regional boundaries. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the potential to reconnect the two edge conditions which belong to different regional boundaries along the Ottawa River and its linkage points through floating islands. The intention is to consider ways to re-imagine our riverfront for future generations by raising awareness about the important qualities of water and its psychological values in our lives. It is argued here that the river is about many sides, past two physical river banks. There are many cultural, political and economic issues intersecting, each bringing different points of view to the fore.


title: BDNF Driven Coupling Between KCC2 Downregulation and Fyn-Dependent Phosphorylation of GluN2B NMDA Receptors in Human Spinal Pain Processing

abstract: Hyperexcitation of neurons in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord leads to chronic pain. In rodent pain models, the neurotrophic factor BDNF mediates loss of inhibitory signalling. This permits enhancement of excitatory GluN2B-NMDAR currents in lamina I neuronal synapses. However, whether this pathway is conserved between rodents and humans as well as between sexes is unknown. We developed a human ex vivo BDNF model of pathological pain using postmortem human spinal tissue. We found that ex vivo BDNF downregulates KCC2 and active STEP61 and upregulates active Fyn and phosphorylated GluN2B at the superficial dorsal horn in both human and rodent males. We also show that BDNF increases intracellular KCC2 of superficial dorsal horn neurons. Thus, our human model may connect the vast translational divide between rodent and human chronic pain mechanisms to identify and validate new therapeutic targets for human chronic pain.


title: Investigating Decay Representations for Privacy and Online Reputation Management

abstract:
The main goal of this thesis is to explore how Online Social Networks (OSNs) can support users in managing their online reputation during important selection processes. More specifically, we look at mechanisms that help social media users automatically dissociate from their past online activities, primarily in a hiring context.
First, we explore how online reputation impacts social media users through an onlinesurvey with 459 participants. We compare how the online reputation of individuals is perceived by other online users in two different contexts (employment and political). We found that online reputation does influence users' perception in both contexts, but especially when considering a political candidate.
One approach to helping individuals handle this issue is having older social media content gradually degrade visually until it is no longer perceivable. We conduct a lab study with 30 participants to investigate three such decay representations that can be applied in social media to enable users to dissociate from their past online content. We identify which representations match users' metaphor of aging/decaying and identify users' attitudes and concerns towards the concept of aging/decaying of digital artifacts.
Third, through an online survey with 360 managers, we evaluate how a decay representation impacts their assessment of users' online reputation. We compared managers' reaction to a decayed profile for a fictitious job candidate with their reaction to an original profile or an empty profile. We found that the decay representation led to significantly more positive hiring decisions and assessments of the candidate.
Fourth, we further evaluated the use of adecay representationon social media profiles through in-person interviews with 48 managers. Once again, the decay representation positively influenced managers' assessments, and managers discussed active evaluation of social media profiles in their real-life hiring decisions. Results confirmed that online reputation influences hiring practices, further emphasizing the need for tools that allow users to automatically dissociate from obsolete online content.
Finally, we discuss practical aspects related to decay representations and propose preliminary recommendations for the privacy and HCI communities.


title: Are Action Concept Deficits Embodied in a Topographic Manner in Adults with Cerebral Palsy?

abstract: In Cerebral Palsy (CP) children commonly experience semantic deficits. The cause of semantic deficits, and persistence into adulthood, are unknown. The social network hypothesis states decreased frequency of language use in CP individuals leads to impoverished lexico-semantic representations. The embodied cognition hypothesis emphasizes the role of the motor system in processing action concepts. In this study, participants first completed a sentence-reading task while their event related potentials (ERPs) to semantically incongruent sentences were collected. No evidence was found that CP individuals process domain-general semantic incongruence differently to neurotypicals. Participants then made action decisions on lower-limb (kick), and psychological verbs (believe) in an identity-priming paradigm. The ERP component of interest was the N400. There was no evidence to suggest CP individuals have action verb impairments. If the motor system contributes but is not necessary for action semantics, then participants may present no deficits when compared to neurotypicals as shown here.


title: Design and Implementation of a Novel Rehabilitation Robot for Acute Stroke Patients

abstract: A new rehabilitation robot is presented which targets acute stroke patients. Observational fieldwork on the stroke ward at a local hospital informed the initial design, a linear 1-DOF robot targeting the knee flexion/extension exercise typical to traditional bed-bound rehabilitation. An admittance controller was developed to apply assistive or resistive forces to the patient's leg. Three games were created which make the exercise more engaging, along with haptic feedback control which can render virtual forces to the patient through the robot. We conducted an experiment on healthy subjects, which looked to evaluate the effects of assistance and resistance levels, along with the participant's view on the device through a subjective questionnaire. The experiments indicate that assistance does work to help the user follow the desired trajectory, that resistance can be used to make the task more difficult, and that the games have potential for making the exercise more engaging.


title: Identifying Interactions for Virtual Reality; a Study of Collaboration and Engagement in Different Media

abstract: Designers use many methods and techniques to develop ideas and generate concepts. This study focused on the experience of using collaborative tools for design thinking practices using post-it notes in face-to-face and digital activities in order to discover common features that could be applied in the design of virtual reality design thinking tools. It found that some common activities in face-to-face collaborative design thinking interactions among designers, such as navigation, selection, manipulation, text input, among others differed from interactions in 2D and 3D Virtual Environments. Study participants worked on design thinking exercises in three different teams using three different types of media. Once these interactions were identified, common and unique gestures were grouped for further analysis. Patterns of activity intensity were identified within and across teams, providing the opportunity to make recommendations about features that could be improved to better suit design collaboration and the user experience in virtual reality.


title: What Will End the Silence? Understanding Employee Voice in Cases of Workplace Sexual Misconduct

abstract: Employee voice has been identified as an integral means of addressing workplace sexual misconduct, yet little is known of the steps organizations can take to promote reporting of these incidents. The current study investigated predictors of target and observer reporting among 3,230 gender harassment, 890 sexual advance harassment, and 570 sexual assault incidents within an organization actively seeking to reduce sexual misconduct prevalence. After controlling for known predictors of employee voice in cases of mistreatment, including factors related to the target (sex, race, tenure) and the incident (frequency of sexual misconduct, past sexual misconduct experience, relative perpetrator power), mutable organizational factors contributed to the prediction of target voice across sexual misconduct contexts. However, the directionality of these effects—including counterintuitive findings related to targets' perceptions of organizational intolerance and reporting trends among visible minority and LGBT targets—incite a nuanced discussion of implications pertaining to target and observer voice.


title: Interpolation of Experimental Error Statistics for Mission Design of GPS Partial Attitude Determination

abstract: This research presents an exhaustive simulation method for designing a GNSS pitch and heading determination system. A simulated environment, validated experimentally with 2 GNSS antennas, is used in conjunction with a fixed satellite geometry in order to generate pseudorange and carrier phase measurements from satellites to receiver antennas. Antenna separation as well as receiver quality are varied, with error statistics collected and tabulated for each variation. Experiments with real receivers are conducted in a rural environment as well as an urban environment to validate positioning algorithms and simulations. Raw GPS data is collected, then processed in post. Low cost GNSS viability for partial attitude determination is discussed based on simulation and experimental data, especially in cases where dual frequency receivers and the carrier phase observable are not available. A method of directly computing minimum antenna separation or minimum receiver quality using interpolation of collected simulation data is proposed.


title: Short-term Stock Market Price Trend Prediction Using a Customized Deep Learning System

abstract: In big data era, deep learning solution for predicting stock market price trend becomes popular. We collected two years of Chinese stock market data according to the financial domain, proposed a fine-tuned stock market price trend prediction system with developing a web application as the use-case, meanwhile, conducted a comprehensive evaluation on most frequently used machine learning models and concludes that our proposed solution outperforms leading models. The system achieves an overall trend predicting accuracy of 93%, also achieves significant high scores in other machine learning metrics in the meantime. Thus, this work provides a solid foundation for further price prediction by classifying the price trend accurately. With the detail-designed evaluation on prediction term-lengths, feature engineering and data preprocessing methods, this work also contributes to the stock analysis research community in both financial and technical domain.


title: Factor Structure and Distinctiveness of the Violence Propensity Vignette Questionnaire (VPVQ)

abstract: Measuring violence has been challenging due to differing perspectives and methodological issues. Nunes, Hermann, Maimone, Atlas, and Grant (2019) recently developed and initially validated the Violence Propensity Vignette Questionnaire (VPVQ) as a proxy measure to assess propensity for violent behaviour applicable to both community and forensic/correctional populations and settings. The current study used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and examined semi-partial correlations to determine the factor structure of the VPVQ vignettes and response options, and the distinctiveness of the VPVQ in the developmental sample of community males. A 1-factor structure emerged for the vignettes, and the semi-partial correlations suggest a small but unique significant contribution. These results suggest that the VPVQ is measuring a unique construct independent of the comparison measures. The VPVQ response options EFA was problematic. Possible explanations for the emergent factor structures, challenges, and future directions for research and use of the VPVQ are discussed.


title: The Downstream Targets of MYB-Type Transcription Factors Involved in Suberin Biosynthesis

abstract: Suberin is a lipid- and phenolic-based heteropolymer that is deposited in the cell walls of certain plant tissues to act as a physical barrier against unregulated gas, water, or solute movement. Suberin deposition in root endodermis is regulated by MYB-type transcription factors, and under non-stress conditions these include AtMYB53, AtMYB92 and AtMYB93 in Arabidopsis. The transcriptional targets of these MYBs have not been previously reported. In this thesis, the transcriptomes of two Arabidopsis triple knockout myb53-myb92-myb93 mutants were compared to 14-day old wild-type seedlings using RNA-seq. Also, the transcriptome of a steroid-inducible AtMYB53 overexpression line was compared to an uninduced control in 10-day old seedlings. From these analyses, GDSL-type esterases / acyltransferases, an HXXXD-type (BAHD) acyl-transferase, additional MYB-type transcription factors, a WRKY transcription factor, ABCG-type transporters, and CASP-like assembly proteins were identified as suberin-related genes. Additionally, sequential C-terminal deletions of each of these MYBs revealed important regions for their activity.


title: The Next-Illimitable: Revitalize the limitations arising from green standards for retrofitting existing retail buildings

abstract: One of the current pivotal issues globally that have a massive impact on the forthcoming generation is climate change and its consequences. Carbon dioxide (CO2) plays a key role in sustaining the appropriate temperature for the planet. It adds to the temperature and is known as a greenhouse gas (GHG). Buildings are one of the producers of GHGs and can be part of the solution through their energy performance improvements. As a viable solution, green certification systems acknowledge the large impact of buildings on the environment. They encompass various requirements for their solutions in the building construction and retrofits. As a result, Green buildings provide higher performance in energy consumption towards reduction of GHG emissions. However, these green rating organizations still carry some limitations in their methodologies including architectural and whole building interpretation. Accordingly, how can all of these green standards capitalize on the existing buildings?


title: Thieves, Kabadayis, and Revolutionaries on the Margin: A Social History of the Police in the Altindag Slums in Ankara, Turkey (1920s-1970s)

abstract: This thesis analyzes the historical marginalization of the Altindag gecekondu (squatter) region in Ankara, Turkey from the 1920s to the 1970s in the context of capitalist urbanization. The analysis is developed through a critical exploration of the social history of the police that becomes pivotal for the materialization of state power on the urban margins. Deploying a dialectical analysis of the historical matrix of the police, class, and urban space, the thesis reveals the contradictory character of police power shaped by various forms of social, spatial, and political contestations. A tripartite, historically constituted, analytical framework is offered for a radical critique of police power comprised of distinct forms of struggle that reflect the fundamental concerns and foundational contradictions haunting modern police science in the management of capitalist modernity: (1) struggles over urban space; (2) struggles over forms of subsistence; and (3) struggles over a moral order. The thesis explores how these three forms of struggle historically condition the making of social criminality as a practice of subsistence and the production of popular illegality which manifests as an inarticulate and subversive form of moral order on the urban margin. The thesis further explores the cathartic association of social marginality with radical politics in the context of the gecekondu struggles in the 1970s. This reading of police power exposes a relational perspective that acknowledges the historical agency of subordinate classes in the formation and contestation of capitalist modernity. Finally, it is argued that a dialectical critique of police power provides a significant political and theoretical medium through which a radical critique of capitalist modernity from below can be formulated.


title: Ultrasonic Localization of a Quadrotor Using a Portable Beacon

abstract: This paper presents a method for localization of a quadrotor using ultrasound with five receiving nodes and a portable beacon. The time of flight is measured from when the ultrasonic signal is produced to when it is received and triggered through threshold detection. Two different lateration algorithms are explored to determine the position, the analytical trilateration and linear least squares method. The linear least squares algorithm outperforms the analytical trilateration method for static position testing and GPS-denied hover. A new approach named the combined lateration algorithm combines these two methods and has the best stationary standard deviation with 8.0 cm within a one metre radius at a height of 1.77 m. It calculates a successful measurement 93% of the time, which provides an average update rate of 9.3 Hz. Successful autonomous hover and landing is performed using a stationary and moving beacon within a GPS-denied environment.


title: Canadian Citizens’ Acceptance of Voting Technologies

abstract: Voting technologies are becoming more pervasive around the world in a bid to increase convenience, accessibility, boost voter turnout, minimize human error and reduce time before results are available. While some countries have instituted or completed trials of different methods of electronic voting, Canada has kept use of voting technologies to limited municipal and provincial elections. This study included an online questionnaire and interviews to gain a better understanding of Canadians' perspectives on voting technologies. From the results, we see that security concerns are the major factor driving this reluctance, but, Canadians have a need and a desire for more convenience and accessibility in their voting. While voters are concerned about security, they trust their government to ensure secure voting methods.


title: Reversible Enzyme Phosphorylation as a Mechanism for Metabolic Adaptation to Dehydration in the Skeletal Muscle of the African Clawed Frog, Xenopus laevis

abstract: Xenopus laevis, although mainly an aquatic frog, lives in seasonally arid regions of southern Africa where well-developed dehydration tolerance is needed when ponds dry up. Frogs can endure about 40% loss of total body water leading to increased hematocrit and blood viscosity that restrict blood and oxygen delivery to tissues, elevate tissue osmolality, and lead to accumulation of lactate and urea. As one response to dehydration, frogs show restricted blood flow to skeletal muscle to preferentially maintain supply to the brain and internal organs. I hypothesized that dehydration stress triggers modifications to cellular energy production in skeletal muscle and could recruit alternative fuel use. This thesis explores metabolic enzyme regulation (aldolase, creatine kinase, isocitrate dehydrogenase) and energy stress signaling (via AMP-activated protein kinase) in skeletal muscle of X. laevis. A particular focus was put on regulation via protein posttranslational phosphorylation to adapt enzyme activity and substrate affinity to changing physiological needs during dehydration. Analysis of kinetic parameters found that aldolase, CK and IDH all showed reduced maximal velocities during dehydration. Downregulation of aldolase suggested a reduction in glycolytic rate during dehydration, moderating the use of glucose, whereas CK regulation modulates phosphocreatine consumption. Substrate affinities of both CK and IDH were dependent on magnesium concentrations. CK was more active at higher Mg2+ concentrations that occur as tissues dehydrate whereas IDH showed increased affinity for Mg2+ that could shift the reaction to favor α-KG production during dehydration. It was hypothesized that changes to muscle energetics would stimulate the action of AMPK and its downstream effectors to promote a fuel switch during dehydration. However, phosphorylated AMPK (activated) did not increase and the regulation of two key downstream AMPK targets, ACC1 and ULK1, did not indicate recruitment of fatty acid metabolism or autophagy for energy during dehydration in skeletal muscle. Overall, these studies showed that reversible protein phosphorylation has a prominent role in controlling X. laevis skeletal muscle enzyme function and reorganization of metabolic pathways during whole animal dehydration.


title: Utilizing IQ Mixers for Phase Noise Cancellation In Full-Duplex Architectures.

abstract: Full-duplex transceivers are typically used in both RADAR and RFID applications, as this architecture transmits and receives at the same time, a problem referred to as self-interference occurs. The transmitted signal leaks into the receiver and the phase noise of the leaked signal interferes with the returned receive signal. This thesis proposes, analyzes and measures a novel method of self-interference cancellation in full-duplex transceivers through the use of an IQ mixer and system design constraints. The original Local Oscillator of the transmitter is coupled and used for down conversion, if the system can be assumed to be linear, and time-invariant the phase noise of the self-interference can be estimated, and significantly reduced. This method was shown to achieve cancellation of up to 32.6 dB, however theoretically the limits of this method are constrained by the sensitivity of the measurement and matching systems used.


title: Shifts in Past Self Perceptions to Preserve Well-Being After a Romantic Breakup

abstract: I examined negative shifts in past self perceptions after a romantic breakup (i.e., toward thinking one's pre-breakup self was not as happy and not as positive of a version of themself as they thought at the time) as a means of preserving post-breakup well-being. I recruited 184 people who were in romantic relationships to complete satisfaction and self-related measures twice, four months apart (retrospectively at Time 2). Those who experienced a breakup between ratings indicated larger negative shifts in past self perceptions than those whose relationships remained intact and larger shifts were associated with greater post-breakup well-being. Secondary analyses suggested that these shifts may improve well-being in part by helping one disentangle their ex-partner from their self-concept. The results were inconclusive (due to methodological limitations) regarding whether they also do so by ameliorating emotional distress. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.


title: Understanding the Genetics and Evolution of Antimicrobial Resistance in Escherichia Coli

abstract:
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has emerged as a global public health challenge. The central goals of my PhD research are to better understand AMR evolution, with the long-term goal of developing novel strategies to mitigate the problem of AMR. This involves gaining comprehensive insights into the evolutionary trajectories of resistance evolution, investigation of the availability of resistance mutations and their pleiotropic consequences, and identification of genetic targets for the prevention/slowing of resistance evolution.
In a systematic study, I have investigated the effects of different chromosomal quinolone resistance mutations, and the pleiotropic effects of such mutations in Escherichia coli. I identified 50 spontaneous resistance mutants on nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin, and levofloxacin, with mutations in regions of gyrA, gyrB, and marR, which are known contributors of resistance in quinolones. Resistant isolates had increased resistance levels, widespread cross-resistance to other quinolones, and overall significant costs of resistance in the absence of antibiotic. To investigate novel strategies to combat AMR, I carried out a small RNA screen on a quinolone resistant gyrA background, to identify alternative drug targets. This screen led to the identification of 30 genes whose knockdown reduced the level of gyrase-mediated quinolone resistance in E. coli. Finally, to gain understanding of the network of genes contributing to intrinsic and phenotypic resistance, I have studied E. coli's two-component signal transduction systems (TCS). TCSs are involved in bacterial responses to many stresses, including antibiotics. I examined interactions between antibiotic stress and other environmental stressors in a set of eight TCS mutants. Mutants showed different types of responses to antibiotics and stressor+antibiotic combinations.
In this research, I have used novel approaches to understand bacterial resistance evolution and to combat AMR. On an applied level, these studies have implications for public health strategies. This research can help lead to better selection of appropriate antibiotics, alternative drug targets involved in resistance, and has prospects for development of new therapeutic approaches for combating AMR.


title: Synthesis and Characterization of naphthalene and tetraphenyl benzidine based electrochromic molecules

abstract: Synthesis of monomers is the primary focus of this dissertation. The overall objectives include: (i) to design naphthalene diimide (NDI)-based chromophores with different electrochromic properties and (ii) to design crosslinkable tetraphenylbenzidine based chromophores for use in electrochromic devices (ECDs). The synthesis of NDI based chromophores including DPy-N4-NDI, DPy-N3-NDI and DPy-N2-NDI were achieved by direct imidization using NTDA and propriate choice of amino pyridines. Pyridine modified NDIs are further reacted with 1-iodomethane and 6-bromohexane to form DM-N2-NDI2I, DM-N3-NDI2I, DM-N4-NDI2I, DH-N3-NDI2Br and DH-N4-NDI2Br. All chromophores exhibit reversible color change from pale yellow, to brown, then dark green with different operational voltage ranging from -12mV to -134 mV for the first reduction and -334 mV to -598 mV for the second reduction. Indole was introduced to TPB as the cross-linkable group for solution processible TPB. Two synthetic routes were involved, to generate branched indole TPB and fused indole TPB.


title: Environmental toxicant exposure and Parkinson’s disease: LRRK2 and inflammatory processes

abstract:
Parkinson's disease (PD) results from the progressive loss of dopamine producing neurons in the Substantia Nigra pars comapcta (SNc). This loss is thought to occur over several years to decades and current evidence suggests that neuroinflammation may play a central role in this loss. Numerous epidemiological studies have implicated chronic exposure to environmental toxicants such as heavy metals and pesticides to risk of developing PD. Indeed, many of these risk factors have been validated as rodent models of PD, able to induce dopaminergic cell loss in the SNc as well as motor dysfunction. While research strongly supports a role for environmental toxicants and inflammation in PD relatively little work has examined the interactions between these toxicants and other risk factors including senescence, genetic vulnerabilities, the gut microbiota or immunogens. Thus, the present dissertation set out to investigate the interactions between these factors in PD to determine which factors may be of greatest relevance in further animal models of the disease.
We presently demonstrated that interaction of diverse environmental and genetic factors contributed to the neuroinflammatory and PD-like neurodegeneration. We found that exposure to paraquat led to neuroinflammatory consequences persisting over six months and provide evidence that at this time point further inflammatory processes arise. We also found that LPS and paraquat treatment did not significantly alter the gut microbiome or gut inflammasome; however, in combination with dextran sodium sulphate (DSS) we found greatly increased pro-inflammatory factors. Using mice overexpressing the LRRK2 gene, G2019S, we found no changes in sickness, inflammation or neurodegeneration following paraquat treatment. However, the G2019S over-expressing mice did display augmented stressor effects. Further experiments revealed that G2019S knockin mice showed increased signs of inflammation and this was that was reversed by the CSF-1 antagonistic drug, PLX-3397. Ultimately these data support the role of environmental factors in PD including alterations to the gut microbiome, however, these findings suggest that such factors may not be an immediate PD cause but rather may exert their influence over a longer period of time.


title: Compounding Prejudice? Investigating Canadian Mock Juror Perceptions of Victim Race and Work in the Sex Trade

abstract: Indigenous women and sex workers experience high rates of violence in Canada and are often blamed for their victimization. This jury simulation examined how victim race (Indigenous, White) and work in the sex trade (sex worker, non-sex worker) affected mock juror verdicts in a first-degree murder trial. Although victim race and involvement in sex work did not significantly affect juror verdicts, victim blame was affected by stereotypes about Indigenous women and sex workers, as well as negative attitudes about sex workers. Overall, these findings suggest perceptions of Indigenous women and sex workers affect victim blame; however, these perceptions are not directly related to verdict decisions.


title: MBA-DRR: A Delay-Reducing Routing Protocol for Multi-Beam Directional Antennas in Multi-Hop Ad Hoc Networks

abstract: Ad hoc networks are infrastructure-less and self-organizing networks that consist of static or mobile nodes with limited bandwidth, computing ability and energy. These networks are deployed for a wide range of civilian and military applications. Having an efficient and reliable routing protocol for communication between the nodes can be critical. Our goal in this thesis is to exploit Multi-Beam directional Antennas (MBAs) to fisignificantly reduce the end-to-end (E2E) delay in multi-hop ad hoc networks that service multiple traffic flows. We conduct this work in four major steps. First, we explore the benefits of directional antennas, from the standpoint of single-beam ones, for traditional routing protocols. We propose a single-beam directional antenna MAC protocol in the process. Secondly, using Flying Ad hoc Networks (FANETs) as an example, we make the case that MBAs are yet to be exploited for E2E delay reduction. To that end, we propose a multi-beam directional antenna MAC protocol. Third, as a consequence of the case made in the second step, we propose a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model that exploits MBAs' capabilities for delay minimization. Solving this model shows that the routes that are selected for the different flows need to have certain key characteristics that depart from the widespread traditional shortest-route philosophy. Based on these characteristics, we design, in the fourth step, an MBA-Delay-Reducing Routing protocol (MBA-DRR) that fully exploits the benefits of MBAs for delay reduction. The benefits of this protocol apply to all types of multi-hop MBA-based ad hoc networks, both mobile and static. As a matter of fact, the evaluation on a multi-flow static scenario shows that MBA-DRR, with a delay of just 4.4 ms, gets very close to the optimal solution that has a delay of 2.5 ms. Comparatively, Reactive-Geographic hybrid Routing (RGR), a shortest-route-based protocol, has a delay of 48 ms. An evaluation on a representative multi-flow mobile scenario shows that, while single-beam directional MAC reduces the E2E latency from 700 ms to 40 ms, and multi-beam directional MAC halves this to 20 ms, our proposed routing protocol further cuts it to 9 ms.


title: Impact Load Effects on Post-Installed Anchors: An Experimental Investigation

abstract: The experimental study was carried out to assess the suitability of three proprietary post-installed anchors from Simpson Inc. for use under high strain-rate loading, such as blast loadings, in both tension and in shear. The anchors investigated included two torque-controlled expansion anchors (Strong Bolt® 2, Wedge-All®) and a screw anchor (Titen HD®) . While three different diameters (6.4 mm, 9.5 mm and 12.7 mm) of the Strong Bolt® 2 and Titen HD® anchors were investigated, only two diameters (9.5 mm and 12.7 mm) of Wedge-All® anchors were investigated. The anchor capacities under static loading conditions with average strain rate of 3.0 × 10-4/s were compared with those for impact-loads with average strain rate of 1/s to define a Dynamic Increase Factor (DIF). The failure modes under both conditions were also assessed to ascertain the change as the loading rate increased.


title: Low-Energy Threshold Analysis Using the DEAP-3600 Dark Matter Detector

abstract: DEAP-3600 is a single-phase liquid argon WIMP detector located 2km underground in the SNOLAB research facility. DEAP-3600 is searching for dark matter; an elusive form of matter that was first postulated in the early 20th century, but has not yet been found. The goal of this work is to perform a low mass WIMP search. A low mass WIMP search is made possible by lowering the energy threshold of the hardware trigger from 1000ADC to 150ADC. Low energy events in the detector are characterized as Cherenkov radiation, low energy retriggers, or high energy retriggers; all of which are background events. The final data set has a live time of 2.10 days and an exposure of 4.41×103 kg·days using a LAr target mass of (3279±97) kg. The results from the low mass WIMP search is a WIMP-nucleon spin independent cross-section of 3.96×10−42cm2 at a 90% CL corresponding to WIMPs with mass 55 GeV/c2.


title: GVF:  BPU Based Vector Fitting

abstract: Vector Fitting (VF) algorithm has been widely used for system identification from multiport tabulated data. Particularly, it is of high interest to the design community focused on modeling of high-speed modules such as large number of coupled interconnects, packaging structures and variety of electromagnetic modules. Since VF and strategies based on it require many iterations to arrive at optimal number of converged poles, it is highly desired to reduce the computational cost of each VF iteration. This thesis advances the applicability of VF to exploit the emerging massively parallel graphical processing Units (GPUs). Necessary parallelization strategies suitable for GPU platforms are developed. For large problem sizes (increasing number of poles and ports). Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed method provides significant speedup compared to both the multi-CPU based VF as well as the existing GPU based parallel VF techniques.


title: Exploration into the MLL4/WRAD Enzyme-Substrate Network: Systematic Identification of CFP1 as a Non-Histone Substrate of the MLL4 Lysine Methyltransferase

abstract: Histone lysine methyltransferases (KMTs) are key actors in the regulation of the cell's most critical functions, including but by no means limited to gene expression, DNA damage repair, and cell differentiation. Histone KMTs impart control over these processes by remodelling chromatin through the modification of histone N-tail lysine residues. While historically studied exclusively within the context of histones, emerging evidence points to a broader role for histone KMTs, specifically through the lysine methylation of non-histone proteins. In this thesis, I investigate non-histone lysine methylation activity of the KMT2-class enzyme MLL4, characterized by its monomethylation activity on histone H3K4 at distal enhancer regions and devoid of other known substrates. Through tandem shotgun and systematic approaches, I identify the histone KMT-associated regulatory protein CXXC finger protein 1 as a novel substrate of MLL4, and conduct in vitro investigation of the potential functional consequences of this methylation event.


title: Pet Ownership, Attachment, and Well-Being

abstract: The present research examined links between attachment to pets and psychological well-being in different populations. Key factors among pet owners that were expected to moderate the relationship between attachment and well-being, notably social connectedness and genetic polymorphisms relating to oxytocinergic functioning, were also explored. Survey responses and saliva samples were gathered from attendees at a pet exhibition (Study 1), members of the public (pet owners and non-owners) at a mall and museum (Study 2), and low-income, marginally housed pet owners (Study 3). Pet owners reported greater quality of life and were more likely to have a polymorphism of the oxytocin receptor gene (rs225429). However, across all three studies, greater attachment to pets was associated with negative psychological well-being and the presence of physical health conditions. Overall, findings suggest that pet attachment and its relation to human well-being can differ depending on psychosocial characteristics of pet owners.


title: Conservation of Translation Initiation Between Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes

abstract: While the fundamental goals of translation initiation are the same for all cells, it is the most phylogenetically diverse step within translation. Until recently, there has been no evidence of a molecular mechanism that can initiate translation in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Colussi et al. (2015) reported that the eukaryotic PSIV IGR IRES can initiate prokaryotic translation and effectively circumvent domain-specific divergences. This novel discovery led us to investigate whether this IRES is unique in its ability to initiate prokaryotic translation and attempt to elucidate any distinguishing characteristics that allow for its mechanism of action to occur. Our results indicate that this IRES is unique in its ability to initiate prokaryotic translation. It also appears that the structural integrity of this IRES is less critical in prokaryotes than eukaryotes, and complementary interactions between Domain III and the 16S rRNA may contribute to this IRES' mechanism of action.


title: "Fuck Zucc. We Will Not Be Silent": Sex Workers' Fight For Visibility and Against Censorship on Instagram

abstract: As governments begin to mandate corporations to regulate online spaces through legislation like the US government's FOSTA (Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act), information networks integral to the safety and success of sex workers are being threatened. On Instagram, sex worker activists are being subjected to targeted censorship because of their public sex worker identity. Through a 30 day ethnographic content analysis, this project sought to understand the tactics and strategies that sex workers are engaging in to resist and respond to Instagram's censorship, while attempting to carve out space for themselves on a platform that has a known history of policing deviant female bodies through censorship. I argue that sex workers take up visibility labour and draw on historical patterns of sex worker activism, such as a politics of care and collectivity, to respond to and interrupt Instagram's one-sided and top-down censorship.


title: Understanding the impact of millennial to sub-decadal climate and limnological change on the stability of As in lacustrine sediments

abstract: Metal(loid)s are expected to respond to 21st century warming as their stability in lacustrine systems is indirectly influenced by regional temperature and precipitation. In the Northwest Territories (NT), arsenic (As) is a metal(loid) of environmental concern due to elevated concentrations in bedrock and widespread mining-related contamination. To characterize the response of As to long- and short-term climate variability, we developed techniques that enable high temporal resolution analyses of sediment freeze cores, and applied them to a sediment cores (CON01, CON02) recovered from Control Lake, NT. New equipment was designed to enable Itrax X-ray fluorescence (Itrax-XRF) analysis of discrete sediment samples (Chapter 2). This equipment was used to test calibration methods that convert semi-quantitative Itrax-XRF results to near-total geochemical concentrations (Chapter 3). We found that the multi-variate log-ratio calibration provided the best approximation of actual geochemical concentrations. Subsequently, equipment was designed to permit scanning of freeze-cores using Itrax-XRF (Chapter 4). To characterize millennial-scale shifts in sedimentary As concentration in response to climate change, Arcellinida and ICP-MS analysis were conducted on core CON01 that recorded 4000 yr of sedimentation (Chapter 5). Arsenic concentrations the in core were related to shifts in the proportion of organic matter and shifts in minerogenic content (Rb, K). Comparison to regional records suggests changes in temperature impacted autochtonous productivity, which is hypothesized to have influenced sedimentary As concentrations. To characterize the response of As to quasi-periodic climate oscillations, CON02 was analyzed using Itrax-XRF. Itrax-XRF data were calibrated to paired ICP-MS data, and geochemical proxies for particle size (log(Zr/Ti)), in-lake productivity (log(Ca/Ti)), and As preservation (log(As/Ti)) were examined for cyclities using spectral and wavelet analyses. Periods of 8-15, 30-60, 90-130, and 180-300 yr were observed in all proxies. These periods are temporally related to the North Atlantic Oscillation/El niño/Schwabe sunspot cycles, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, the Gleissberg cycle, and the Suess cycle, respectively. Cross-wavelet analysis of the paleo-proxies vs. published total solar irradiance reconstructions demonstrate significant relationships, suggesting a solar influence on climate and lake sediment geochemistry in the NT. These results suggest that As sequestration is impacted by short-period climate perturbations.


title: The Perception of Design: a study of the understanding of design contribution within the business management sector through comparative analysis

abstract:
The professions of business and design are based in distinct modes of knowledge and process but are interdependent in practice. The capacity of the designer to innovate can be negatively impacted if his/her understanding for design contribution is misaligned with that of the business manager. In order to address the way in which design is perceived by those who procure design services, there is a need to first illustrate the ways in which their perception deviates from that of the designer. This paper presents research into design understanding as a comparison between design professionals and business managers. Data for the study is obtained using both ethnographic and design research methods. Results demonstrate issues associated with understanding the complex nature of design activity through a quantitative, linear approach versus an iterative, exploratory process.
Keywords: Design Research, Design Process, Perception, Procurement, Business Management, Understanding


title: Development of Kinematic and Dynamic Models for the Argo J5 Rover

abstract: This thesis presents the development of three-dimensional kinematic and dynamic models, using MATLAB and SimMechanics, describing the Argo J5 four-wheel rover, in response to terrain elevation inputs and slip. The kinematic models describe the pose and velocity of the rover using the Denavit-Hartenberg convention, while the SimMechanics dynamic model is combined with a terramechanics model to develop accelerations and obtain the forces and torques, based on terrain properties. The kinematic analyses were performed for simulated traverses including cases of flat, inclined, side slope, and sinusoidal terrain, with varying amounts of slip in the velocity analysis. The results showed good agreement with expected trends and values for the joint displacements and rates, with the largest percent deviation for the distance traveled being approximately 0.4 %. The combined dynamic and terramechanic model, is limited to the conceptual development of the model due to time constraints, and results are inconclusive at this time.


title: Privacy Attitudes and Behaviours of Autistic and Non-Autistic Teenagers on Social Networking Sites

abstract: Researchers postulate that autistic teenagers are more vulnerable to privacy threats on social networking sites (SNS) than the general population. However, there are no studies comparing these users' privacy concerns and protective strategies online with those reported by non-autistic teenagers. Furthermore, researchers have yet to identify possible explanations for autistic teenagers' exceptional risk of online harms. To address these research gaps, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 autistic and 16 non-autistic teenagers assessing their privacy attitudes and behaviours on SNS, and factors affecting their privacy. We used videos demonstrating relevant SNS scenarios as prompts to engage participants in conversation. Our thematic analyses demonstrated that autistic participants were more averse to taking risks on SNS than non-autistic participants. Yet, several personal, social, contextual, and SNS design factors made autistic participants exceptionally vulnerable to cyberbullying and social exclusion online. We provide recommendations for making SNS safer and more inclusive for autistic teenagers.


title: Precarious work, "harmonizing down" and economic anxiety: Implications for citizenship and society

abstract: This paper examines precarious work, its historical origins and certain social consequences. I use the 2015 Canadian Election Study to analyze the relationship between work-related insecurity and economic anxiety with voting, non-voting political behaviour and attitudes toward equity-seeking groups. I propose a theory of "harmonizing down", in which workers who were once able to access the benefits and status of the standard employment relationship have generally seen their opportunities for stable and secure work decline. This has resulted in economic anxiety for most workers. Results were mixed, suggesting that broad generalizations around economic anxiety are problematic. Insecurity and anxiety may reduce the likelihood of voting but may increase non-voting participation. Some aspects of insecurity and anxiety were related to negative attitudes toward equity-seeking groups, but the relationship is not clear. Gender and political party identity influence these attitudes.


title: Two Models of Predator Decision Making Under Uncertainty

abstract: Predators are faced with an uncertain world. The presence of anti-predator defences means that any potential prey item may actually be unpalatable, outright toxic, difficult to catch, or cause harm. In order to deal with this uncertainty regarding profitability, predators need strategies to make good decisions on what to attack based on the information about potential prey available to them. I develop two models of optimal decision making for predators. The first deals with generalizing from experience to novel prey types: I develop a Bayesian model framework that treats generalization as a process of learning about the distribution of prey in the environment, and apply it to a problem in generalization. The second deals with startle displays: I develop an extension of signal detection theory to cases where continued examination is possible, and apply it to predators faced with startle displays.


title: Reframing Remembrance: A Case Study on Collective Memory in Far-Right Party Discourse

abstract: The recent success of Alternative für Deutschland in the 2017 German federal election came as a resounding shock to politicians, pundits, and the public alike and one of the most pernicious aspects of their rhetoric has been their criticism of memory culture. This begs an interesting question: how do contemporary far-right parties reconcile their positive association with history in countries with problematic pasts? Existing theories pay little attention to the role of history in far-right discourse despite its growing salience. Consequently, this thesis seeks to assess the viability of constructing a historical dimension to existing theories on cultural backlash by examining the programmatic usage of references to history in the supply-side far-right party strategy. This is accomplished through an exploratory comparative case study of the electoral programs of far-right parties in Austria and Germany which examines far-right parties have adapted their references to history to appeal to contemporary voters.


title: Exploring a New Air-Surface Temperature Diurnal Wave Analysis Method for Permafrost Areas

abstract: Existing air-surface temperature time series analysis methods for permafrost regions, such as n-factors, are largely limited to describing larger-scale mean conditions, while waveform analysis methods have typically focused on a single waveform propagating through a relatively uniform, primarily conductive medium (such as soil). Although the air-surface relation is more complex—there are advective inputs to air temperature, non-uniform and non-conductive interposing media, and the air and surface waveforms reflect separate (but related) heat transfer processes—air-surface waveform analysis presents a potential opportunity to analyze temperature series on an approximately diurnal scale. Using surface temperature series from sites in the Northwest Territories, a diurnal wave analysis method is proposed and evaluated as a potential means of extracting valuable information from surface temperature series that goes well beyond what can be learned from mean condition methods.


title: A Previously Undiscovered Role for Clade III TGA Basic Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors in BLADE-ON-PETIOLE Dependent Regulation of Plant Development

abstract: Boundaries that join lateral organs to the plant body are an important determinant of plant architecture. These specialized junctions originate within the shoot apex and control leaf shape, branching architecture, and abscission. Boundary patterning relies on a pair of BTB-ankyrin co-transcription factors encoded by BLADE-ON-PETIOLE1 and 2 (BOP1/2). Members of this class bind to DNA indirectly, by interacting with other types of transcription factors, especially TGACG-motif binding (TGA) basic leucine zipper proteins. My works shows a previously undiscovered role for clade III TGA factors, previously associated with plant defense, in BOP-dependent plant development. This work uncovers a dual role for clade III TGAs in development and defense.


title: Dark Matter, Higgs Portals and Freeze-out

abstract: Based on many astrophysical and cosmological observations, it is clear that the Universe contains some form of non-relativistic, non-interacting form of matter called Dark Matter (DM). The Standard Model of particle physics (SM) does not have a particle with all the suitable properties to explain all of these observations. We look to model the DM through different extensions of the SM ensuring that one or more new particles have all the desired properties. We study bounds on these models through theoretical constraints such as perturbative unitarity and stability of the scalar potential, as well as through experimental constraints such as direct and indirect detection. Of particular interest is the measurement of the relic density which allows us to make a direct connection between the parameters of our models and the amount of DM in the Universe today through a process known as freeze-out. We look at different freeze-out scenarios such as single component and multi-component DM, as well as alternative cosmological scenarios. We find that the parameter space for single component DM is severely constrained, while multi-component DM can escape bounds quite easily because of the many freedoms in the models. We find that changes in the cosmology in the early Universe can significantly change the requirements of a DM model, leading to much more weakly coupled or heavier DM.


title: Macrolichen and Calicioid Flora of Forillon National Park, Quebec, Canada: The Big and Little Lichens and their Associates

abstract: The lichen biota of North America is poorly documented in many areas, including many of Canada's national parks. For example, Forillon National Park in Quebec, Canada had no previously published accounts of its lichen biota. Therefore, we conducted a comprehensive survey of macrolichens and calicioid lichens and fungi in the park to establish a baseline species list. We discovered 170 taxa in the park (169 species and two subspecies in 48 genera). One species, Melanohalea exasperata, is a first record for Canada; three species, Calicium denigratum, Sclerophora coniophaea, and Scytinium teretiusculum, are new provincial records; two species; Chaenothecopsis oregana and Parmelia fertilis, have notable range extensions; and one species, Sclerophora peronella, is listed as 'special concern' under Schedule 1 of the Canadian Species at Risk Act. We present annotated checklists and identification keys to the macrolichen and calicioid species of Forillon National Park.


title: Using Simulated Selected Area Electron Diffraction Patterns to Validate Molecular Dynamics Models of Metallic Glasses

abstract: Metallic glasses are a class of material with many potential applications. However, they are difficult to produce, placing emphasis on simulations. There are difficulties in validating the simulated structures of these complex materials, so the application of virtual diffraction patterns to validate molecular dynamics samples of metallic glasses is explored and compared to traditional radial distribution functions. These patterns are tested with several types of CuZr samples: a true metallic glass sample formed by quenching, two tiles of different sizes, a larger sample created by repeating the true sample, and two mechanical alloying samples. The resulting stress-strain curves show a link between strain hardening behaviour and intense points further from the centre of the diffraction patterns. These diffraction patterns offer additional insights into the structures of metallic glasses compared to radial distribution functions and are a valuable tool for validation of molecular dynamics samples of metallic glasses.


title: Cognitive Modeling as a Method for Agent Development in Artificial Intelligence

abstract: This research aims to expand the applications of cognitive modeling by exploring the use of a testbed approach to modeling human behaviour. Newell's complex task analysis method (1990) was applied to model an agent completing a complex task through incremental and iterative design to test the agent's ability to fluidly monitor and react to internal and external interruptions and perform the tasks at an expert level successfully through simulated challenge sets within different environments. A single agent is developed incrementally over five stages of distinct simulated challenge sets, with testing for backwards compatibility. The testbed approach and incremental development provides insight to agent-specific cognitive structure functionality, and to the process of combining microcognition and macrocognition in cognitive modeling.


title: Exploring Heterogeneity Among Deniers: Does Denial Predict Sexual Offender Recidivism Among Distinct Groups of Deniers?

abstract: In the sexual offender literature, researchers have theorized numerous distinctions between groups of offenders who deny offence responsibility and varying reasons as to why they deny. However, few studies have empirically examined the heterogeneity of deniers or applicability of prior typologies. The purpose of the current study was to provide a more nuanced understanding of the heterogeneity of deniers through developing a profile of their risk using the Static-99R and VRAG-R. Results from a latent class analysis identified four distinct risk profiles, labeled Moderately Sexually Deviant (22.5%), Generally Antisocial (13.1%), Diverse Risk (27.6%), and Generally Low-Risk (36.7%). The risk profiles were then compared using pseudo-class draws methods, revealing differences in Attachment to convention and rates of sexual and violent (including sexual) recidivism. Similarities and distinctions between denier subgroups and prior theorized models of denial are discussed.


title: Exploring Supersymmetry and Naturalness in Light of New Experimental Data

abstract:
This thesis investigates extensions of the Standard Model (SM) that are based on either supersymmetry or the Twin Higgs model. New experimental data, primarily collected at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), play an important role in these investigations. Specifically, we examine the following five cases.
We first consider Mini-Split models of supersymmetry. These types of models can be generated by both anomaly and gauge mediation and we examine both cases. LHC searches are used to constrain the relevant parameter spaces, and future prospects at LHC 14 and a 100 TeV proton proton collider are investigated.
Next, we study a scenario where Higgsino neutralinos and charginos are pair produced at the LHC and promptly decay due to the baryonic R-parity violating superpotential operator λ′′UcDcDc. More precisely, we examine this phenomenology in the case of a single non-zero λ′′3jk coupling. By recasting an experimental search, we derive novel constraints on this scenario.
We then introduce an R-symmetric model of supersymmetry where the R-symmetry can be identified with baryon number. This allows the operator λ′′UcDcDc in the superpotential without breaking baryon number. However, the R-symmetry will be broken by at least anomaly mediation and this reintroduces baryon number violation. Under these conditions, we investigate baryon number violating processes and flavour physics, as well as the collider phenomenology of both stops and the first two generations of squarks assuming they decay due to a single non-zero λ′′3jk coupling.
There have been several experimental anomalies related to the quark level transition b→sℓℓ. We investigate these anomalies with the R-parity violating superpotential operator λ′LQDc. By examining diagrams featuring winos we find new parameter space capable of explaining these anomalies while at the same time avoiding other experimental bounds.
Finally, a variation of the Twin Higgs model is presented. These models stabilize the electroweak scale with particles uncharged under the SM colour group. This is accomplished by introducing a mirror sector to the SM and requiring an approximate Z2 symmetry between the two sectors. It is shown that it is beneficial to break the Z2 symmetry spontaneously rather than explicitly.


title: Identification of Candidate Effector Proteins from Fusarium graminearum during Infection of Arabidopsis thaliana Using Proximity-Dependant Biotin Identification (BioID)

abstract:
Fusarium graminearum is a fungal pathogen that causes Fusarium head blight (FHB) in cereal crops. Identifying proteins that are secreted from pathogens to overcome plant defenses and cause disease, collectively known as effectors, can reveal new targets for fungicides or other control measures.
Proximity-dependent biotin identification (BioID) was used to identify potential effector proteins secreted in planta by F. graminearum during the infection of Arabidopsis seedlings. BioID analysis revealed over 300 proteins from F. graminearum, of which 99 were considered to be candidate effector proteins (CEPs).
A subset of CEPs was functionally characterized in wheat. Assays examining the ability of a CEP to induce cell death or affect the growth of a bacterial pathogen were performed to determine their role in plant defenses. The expression of four CEPs in wheat were found to alter bacterial growth, supporting their putative role as effector proteins promoting infection by F. graminearum.


title: Internal-Gravity-Wave Interactions in the Presence of Localized Chemical Heating in the Atmosphere

abstract:
The dynamical processes in the atmosphere and atmospheric chemistry are coupled and have an impact on each other. The heating that results from chemical constituents affect internal gravity waves. Internal gravity waves, on the other hand, influence the distribution of a chemical in the atmosphere. These effects of gravity waves and chemical heating are the focus of this thesis.
We investigate analytical solutions of different forms of the chemical transport equation. We also describe numerical methods and show numerical results for the chemical transport equation. We study the effect of gravity waves on the chemical distribution analytically and numerically. The numerical results showing the effect of gravity waves on the distribution of the chemical are consistent with the analytical observations. The wave-induced mean flow resulting from nonlinear gravity wave interactions lead to modification of the distribution of the chemical.
We consider a configuration where gravity wave equations are coupled with the chemical transport equation. We carry out linear and weakly nonlinear analytical investigations to find the effect of the chemical heating on the gravity waves. We also carry out numerical investigations for the coupled equations and show numerical results. It is found that heating due to the chemical has a significant effect on the gravity waves, especially when the chemical is centred at the critical level. These numerical results are in general agreement with the analytical observations we obtain.


title: From the Disordered Mind to the Socialized Lived Body: Agoraphobia Through the Lens of a Radical Feminist Phenomenology

abstract: This thesis explores the potential to reconceptualise agoraphobia through a radical feminist phenomenological framework, moving away from a strictly medicalized understanding of agoraphobic lived experiences. A radical feminist phenomenological framework is developed by reading Iris Marion Young's account of women's bodily existence in a patriarchal society through Sarah Lucia Hoagland's theoretical framework of "protection and predation". The early lived experiences of agoraphobic women are then read through this theoretical framework, suggesting that agoraphobic women are socialized into aspects of female bodily existence during their early childhoods. The unpredictability of this early childhood familial environment is argued to play a role in the manifestation of this socialization process and in the experience of female bodily existence. This thesis argues that agoraphobic lived experiences arise as a result of this socialization process, which presents an understanding of these experiences as socialized lived bodily experiences.


title: Building Blocks:  Conceptualizing the True Socio-Political Potential in Blockchain's Facilitation of Self-Sovereign Digital Identity and Decentralized Organization

abstract: Blockchain has been revered as a revolutionary technology capable of facilitating the transition to new economic and political systems premised on decentralization. In order to do this, however, it must transcend the contemporary digital landscape in its facilitation of digital identity - which is perhaps its most promising potential in that it can enable what is referred to as self-sovereign identity. The dominant line of thinking regarding this potential, however, is problematic; it is rooted in anarcho-capitalist ideologies that posit the free market as the purveyor of freedom. Subsequently, I argue that there is an apparent sociopolitical oversight regarding the nature of the market as it pertains to the sovereign state, and that those seeking to pass sovereignty to the individual should reject the capitalist institutions that necessitate a coercive state apparatus. Rather than this, there is true emancipatory potential in the development of the digital commons.


title: Willingness to Communicate and Second Language Speech Fluency: A Complex Dynamic Systems Perspective

abstract: The application of complex dynamic systems theory (CDST) in second language (L2) research has recently gained ground, instigating a growing series of studies investigating the complex and dynamic nature of individual difference (ID) variables, such as WTC (willingness to communicate). Fewer dynamically informed investigations, however, have targeted L2 performance constructs, like speech fluency. Both WTC and L2 fluency presumably influence communications in a L2 and have been argued to retain cognitive and affective bases (Nematizadeh & Wood, 2019), rendering them likely to interact and influence each other during communicative events. Despite these, little has been done to address such dynamics, particularly from a complex dynamic systems (CDS) perspective. To bridge this gap, the present exploratory study employed an idiodynamic methodology, informed by CDST, to monitor WTC and fluency changes during three-minute, mainly monologic speaking tasks, with an emphasis on the dynamics of change in interaction with temporal measures of speech, including mean length of runs (MLRs), speech rate (SR), and pause phenomena. An investigation of 882 cases of interplay between WTC changes and fluent/dysfluent speech samples revealed an existing interaction, which took on four different forms. Results also indicated that the interaction is of a dynamic one, and is mostly two-way, direct and indirect, unpredictable, and interdependently multi-layered. Further, both variables as well as their interplay shared and exhibited such properties as dynamicity, nonlinearity, interconnectedness, and formation of attractor states, all of which are characteristic of complex dynamic systems.


title: Navigating Conservatism in Trump's America: How the Penn State College Republicans Construct and Perform Political Discourses and Realities on Campus

abstract: This thesis is an ethnographic study of the Penn State College Republicans that attempts to explain how the students understand and perform conservatism as white, middle-class Americans in the midst of Trump's presidency. I argue that the College Republicans find discursive and performative ways to negotiate and define their political outlooks and realities so that they combine classic elements of conservatism but still align with contemporary Trumpian-style politics to a degree. The students rely on particular discursive and performative tactics in order to express their beliefs regarding class-status and privilege, political realities on campus, and feminist social movements in America. I further argue that the College Republicans display their discontent with the changing social and political landscape in America by rejecting political correctness.


title: Improved Spanning and Routing Ratios on Geometric Graphs

abstract: In this thesis we examine a few classes of geometric graphs and improve the spanning and routing ratios on these graphs. We improve the routing ratio of the Delaunay triangulation from 5.90 to 3.56. We show that it is possible to route competitively on the Theta-4 graph with a routing ratio of 17. This bound on the routing ratio also serves to improve the bound on the spanning ratio from 237 to 17. We improve the spanning ratio of the convex hull of points arranged on the surface of a sphere from approximately 12.12 to 0.999 pi, and we improve the bound on the spanning ratio of the Theta-5 graph from 9.96 to 5.70.


title: Interpreting Otherness: Picturing the Turk in Tintoretto's Venice

abstract: This thesis assesses the application and implication of the image of the Turk in paintings by Jacopo Tintoretto (1518-1594) and his contemporaries. In it, the signifiers that were used to connote otherness and the ways in which these identities were perceived by Venetian audiences are examined. This project tracks the development of visual trends by analysing contemporary sources such as costume books and travel narratives. A discussion of the works by Tintoretto shows that there was a notable shift in perceptions of the Turk at the end of the sixteenth century, an observation indicative of the relationship between Venice and the Ottoman Empire that was evolving throughout that period. The characterization of the Turk by Venetians represented admiration for and fascination with, as well as fear and misconceptions towards, the foreign cultures with which Venice was increasingly in contact.


title: Auto-Scaling Techniques for Clouds Processing Requests with Service Level Agreements

abstract:
Auto-scaling mechanisms allow applications running on Cloud environments to maintain a guaranteed Quality of Service while efficiently utilizing resources and keeping operational costs low for the service providers. However, creating such an auto-scaling framework may be challenging due to the need to precisely estimate resource usage while the workload patterns vary significantly.
The research presented in this thesis focuses on automatic provisioning of compute resources in the Cloud performed by an intermediary enterprise for a single client enterprise. The enterprise hosting a broker uses techniques for dynamically controlling the number of resources used by the client enterprise. The research introduces three auto-scaling techniques: a reactive, a proactive and a hybrid technique. These techniques allow resources to be scaled based on user demand.
The primary goal of these auto-scaling techniques is to achieve a profit for the intermediary enterprise while maintaining the desired grade of service for the client enterprise. A secondary goal is to generate a lower cost for the client enterprise in comparison to the situation in which the client acquires resources directly from the cloud provider. The techniques support both on-demand requests as well as requests with service level agreements (SLAs). The effectiveness of the proposed auto-scaling techniques is demonstrated through experiments performed on proof of concept prototypes and simulations. The experimental results show that for a number of different combinations of system and workload parameters experimented with, the proposed algorithms lead to a significant broker profit and a lower user cost in comparison to a conventional non-auto-scaling system.


title: 5.75-7.14 GHz All Digital Phase Locked Loop MATLAB model with Novel Filter-to-DCO Frequency Decoder.

abstract: Integrated circuit design has been growing for years into what is now a multibillion dollar industry. Behind each fabricated circuit are hundreds of test circuits, and most importantly, simulations to prove product efficacy. The work presented in this thesis provides a straightforward method for simulating an All-Digital Phased Locked Loop. Previous research has been conducted using MATLAB's Simulink environment, however it is shown to be considerably slower than MATLAB's script environment. For this reason, an ADPLL MATLAB Model is presented and shown to provide comparable closed loop results with decreased simulation times. Crucial in initial circuit testing and debugging. Through TIE and modulation peak analysis it is shown that the ADPLL MATLAB model handles modulations of the reference, and presents a correct lowpass-filter behavior. On top, it can lock to all output frequencies allowed by the DCO with the exceptions incurred by the DCO decoder.


title: Ageing and Technology: the case of a one-tablet-per-senior program in Uruguay

abstract: This thesis examines the relationship between older persons and technology, focusing on a one-tablet-per-retired-senior public program —Plan Ibirapitá— being developed in Uruguay. It is situated within recent Science and Technology Studies (STS)-inspired research on aging and technology that has stressed that older people and technology are co-constructed or co-constituted, namely, that rather than being technologically-averse, older people negotiate with technology in specific contexts. This thesis also uses the philosophical reflections of José Ortega y Gasset on the relationship between self, circumstance and life as a que-hacer (having-to-do), suggesting that it could provide new means of conceptualizing the relationship between older people and technology, emphasizing the agency of the former. Within this framework, this thesis is the product of a qualitative research design through which I interviewed Uruguayan seniors who received the tablet. My research found that there is a prevailing techno-optimist discourse that frames technologies, such as the tablets distributed under Plan Ibirapitá, as an intrinsically good and necessary thing for seniors' lives that my research participants rhetorically embraced but was not reflected in their actual usage of the tablet. Such a program is valuable insofar it provides digital access to a population —older people— that theoretically suffers the consequences of the digital divide. However, exclusion from the information society may not be a problem for many seniors. I suggest that seniors should be conceptualized as agents who actively decide the role that technology plays in their lives and for whom being included in the information society means different things according to their individual context. I also suggest that it is necessary to focus on how seniors relate to digital technology precisely as part of their circumstances, and how they understand being digitally included or excluded themselves.


title: Parallelization of Vector Fitting Algorithm for GPU Platforms

abstract: With the continually increasing operating frequencies high-speed effects of modules such as multiconductor interconnect structures and packages are becoming increasingly influential in determining the performance of modern electronic designs. At higher frequencies, they are often characterized by electromagnetic tools yielding tabulated scattering parameter based multiport descriptions or directly using multiport measurements. However, integrating such tabulated data models in regular SPICE like tool environment is a challenge. This was handled by the Vector Fitting (VF) technique, however, it suffers in the presence of large number of ports or poles and becomes computationally slower. To address this problem, recently, parallel vector fitting using multi CPU environment was proposed in the literature. In this thesis, VF algorithm is advanced by proposing the use of the emerging computing platform of GPUs. Several parallel strategies are explored for optimal use of resources: CPUs, GPU and memory, for arriving at better computational performance.


title: Gendered by Design: The Socialization of Women in Engineering School

abstract: The under-representation of women in engineering is a well-known phenomenon. This study explores the potential role of university experiences in derailing the journey of would-be female engineers, focusing on how engineering school may socialize women in ways that discourage them from the field. Semi-structured interviews with 16 female Ontario university undergraduate engineering students were conducted and were analyzed from a feminist epistemological standpoint, privileging the experiences and voices of participants. Organizational socialization, gender socialization, and social identity theories guided the identification of important themes and issues. Results suggest that women are receiving information pertaining to the proficiencies, people, politics, and organizational goals and values of this space, potentially shaping their self- and field-based perceptions in negative ways. Many participants expressed pessimistic views about engineering, and often alluded to and discussed sexism. Some women also expressed feelings of visibility, discomfort, and/or feeling "unsafe".


title: Of Labs and Other Places: (Literary) Criticism in the Age of Social Innovation

abstract:
In the aftermath of 2008, as economic planners grapple with the concurrent onset of secular stagnation and anthropogenic climate change, states have become increasingly jealous custodians of the public purse. In many of the world's advanced economies, policymaking has turned the promotion of lab-based "social innovation" research networks that target scarce resources toward precisely-designated areas of strategic concern. Researchers from across the disciplines are now expected to demonstrate the social, economic, or environmental "impact" of their research. In this research context, celebration of literature's "uselessness," long one of its special boasts, has become difficult to justify or sustain.
It is admittedly hard to project what kind of contribution literary scholarship can make in this ends-oriented research context. All the same, this dissertation commits itself to running reconnaissance. Rather than blankly repudiate these new funding frameworks and R&D initiatives as neoliberal corruptions of a pastoral Keynesian campus - itself an expression of, and ideological bulwark to, the disastrous postwar modernization project - I ask how we might explore them as a new terrain of struggle, one whose constraints and dangers we can foreground together, self-reflexively. These are, after all, the kinds of questions that early-stage researchers will negotiate in practice, as they navigate R&D platforms and lab networks that more and more clearly subsist at the fraught intersection of a diverse array of conflicting "stakeholder" interests and commitments.
As this thesis draws to its conclusion, it ultimately confesses to a secret hope that among those literary humanists that do make it aboard the new social lab programmes, one or two of them might bring, not a commitment to Bruno Latour's "post-critical" pragmatism, but rather copies of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy. Would that it could circulate there as a kind of gateway drug to the anarcho-communist critique of private property - as a tantalizing thought experiment concerning the unpredictable, and to some extent unmanageable, cascade effects that might be precipitated within these new lab networks, given a little luck.