title: Barriers to the C-Suite: The Impact of Perceptions of Gender Bias on Women Leaders’ Senior Leadership Ambitions

abstract: The current research examined whether women leaders' senior leadership ambitions are more strongly negatively affected by perceptions of gender bias (i.e., subtle gender bias, inequity, and mistreatment) in the workplace than leaders who are men and whether this association occurs through cynicism towards work. To test this, 347 leaders completed an online survey. It was found that women leaders had similar senior leadership ambitions as men, and contrary to expectations, gender did not affect the relation between gender bias and senior leadership ambitions. However, for both women and men, perceptions of gender bias were related to cynicism towards work, and ultimately, lower senior leadership ambitions. Further, women leaders who worked in male-dominated workplaces reported more issues of subtle gender bias than others. These findings have meaningful implications and suggest that it is likely systemic barriers, and not women's ambitions, that explain the lack of women in the C-suite.


title: Metamorphic Evolution of the Lower Nappes of the Kalak Nappe Complex in Eastern Finnmark (Norway)

abstract: Garnet grains in metapelites of the lower nappes of the Kalak Nappe Complex in Eastern Finnmark typically show two growth zones: Garnet 1 forms the cores of the grains and grew along a P-T path with a ~20 bar/°C slope. Its growth started at ~515 °C and ~3250-5500 bar and finished at ~570 °C. The maximum pressure experienced during garnet 1 growth increases down the nappe pile. Garnet 2, which forms the rims of the garnet grains, grew during a near-isothermal pressure increase of ~500-1500 bar. Microtextural evidence indicates pre- to syn-kinematic growth of garnet 1 and post-kinematic growth of garnet 2. Lu-Hf garnet/whole-rock age dating points to growth of garnet 1 at 463±17 Ma and a maximum age of ~429 Ma for garnet 2. The hiatus between garnet 1 and garnet 2 growth was of short duration, and garnet growth might have been continuous in the lowest structural levels.


title: Transient Occupancy: The Resurgence of Publics in Downtown Toronto

abstract: This thesis uses contemporary architectural theory to investigate a distinct set of concerns in the financial district of Toronto. In its investigation it uses two of Rem Koolhaas's ideas, that of Bigness as described in 1994 in "Bigness or the Problem of Large" and that of the Staging of Uncertainty a concept defined in Koolhaas's 1994 article "What Ever Happened to Urbanism" and largely consistent with ideas developed in his book Delirious New York, 1978 to examines how Toronto's financial district is currently driven by capital. To explore the issue of capital through the lens of Bigness and the Staging of Uncertainty the work uses a research-by-design methodology to develop a speculative design project that questions how this urban condition might be shifted to become more inclusive to concepts such as the Staging of Uncertainty instead of its singular focus on neoliberalism.


title: Experience and Translation: Between Image and Object

abstract: This thesis aims to understand the role of the image in communicating the experience of architecture, and how the intangible qualities of places, buildings, and their spaces are felt, represented, and communicated. Representation acts as a critical link between spatial thought and intention, and the constructed object. While the image cannot replace the experience of the object, the work of the thesis focuses on how the image can act as a tool to engage in a dialogue between the experiences of the image and the object. The image acts as a translator between the experiences of the world of architecture and the experience of viewing the image. The role of the image becomes one of translating intentions and experiences of architecture rather than simply representing an object. In engaging with architectural image-making, this act of translation explores how the images of architecture can engage with the experiences of architecture.


title: Social Support as a Moderator for Depressive Symptoms and Well-being During the Transition to University

abstract: Nearly 40% of Canadian university students are depressed (Othman et al.,2019). However, strong social support may mitigate adverse outcomes for students (Santini et al.,2015). This study examined: 1. If students who showed initial depression were more likely to experience poorer end-of-semester outcomes (i.e., continued depressive symptoms, burnout, and poor social and academic adjustment). 2. If social support was a moderator for initial depression and poorer end-of-semester well-being. 3. If seeing friends face-to-face is a stronger moderator than phone calls or text messages on end-of-semester well-being. Participants (N=461) were first-time first-year undergraduates who completed questionnaires in September and in December (N=368) of their first semester. Entering university with depressive symptoms was shown to be associated with end-of-semester depression burnout and decreased academic adjustment. Students with initially low depression and high social support had less depression in December. Question three was unsupported, well-being was unaffected by mode of communication and September depression.


title: Comparing Gender Differences and Similarities in How Risks and Strengths Cluster to Form Profiles of Justice-Involved Youth: A Latent Profile Analysis

abstract: The extent to which gender informed, person-centered risk assessment approaches enhance the efficacy of risk assessment and treatment planning, has not been extensively investigated. A person-centered, gender informed latent profile analysis (LPA) examined dynamic need and strength domain scores, as well as mental health scores and Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) scores derived from the Youth Assessment Screening Instrument (YASI) in a sample of 1,782 justice-involved youth. Results yielded the same three distinct profiles for both females and males: (1) low needs/high strengths, (2) moderate needs /moderate strengths, and (3) high needs/low strengths. Additional analyses examined the relationship between profile membership and the YASI Pre-Screen risk score, age, race, and predictive validity. In sum, despite small gender differences, females and males are more similar than different in terms of their treatment profiles. A gender informed, variable-centered approach is appropriate for risk assessment and treatment planning with justice-involved youth.


title: The Residential School "Monster": Indigenous Self-Determination and Memory at Former Indian Residential School Sites

abstract: Indian residential school (IRS) sites are physical reminders of the Canadian setter-colonial system's support of sustained violence against Indigenous peoples. Using archival research, I will demonstrate commemorative strategies at IRS sites that have contributed to the construction of collective memory surrounding residential schools and are examples of the role that sovereignty over IRS sites plays in IRS memory construction. My project foregrounds four case studies: the Mohawk Institute, Alberni IRS, Beauval IRS, and the St. Eugene Mission School; which IRS buildings have undergone reuse and destruction and represent what the Tseshaht, Haudenosaunee, Ktunaxa, and Dene have prioritized in their memorial projects. Different treatments of physical evidence at IRS sites, including reuse and destruction, are ultimately both forms of memorialization. I argue that engagement with the tangible history of residential schools by Indigenous peoples provides spaces for self-determination, contributing to the productive formation of collective memories of IRS sites and experiences.


title: Student Emotions in a Productive Failure Paradigm

abstract: Productive failure is a learning paradigm that reverses the standard order of instruction by asking students to solve problems prior to learning the method to solve them. Despite going against intuitions that instruction should come first, this paradigm has been shown to be effective at engendering conceptual knowledge. To date, however, the role of student emotion in this paradigm has not been investigated. Student emotion influences student learning outcomes; while there are some exceptions, negative emotion typically interferes with student learning. This leads to a conundrum because productive failure has been shown to have a positive effect on learning, whereas the negative emotion that might be experienced while failing in the first stage of productive failure could have a detrimental effect. To address this, we investigate the presence of emotions in productive failure as well as their changes over time and their relations to learning outcomes.


title: An Investigation of Attention Mechanisms in Graph Convolutional Networks Applied to Link Prediction Problems

abstract: The link prediction problem is fundamental to many application domains. Recently, deep learning-based models have been proposed to tackle this kind of problem. Graph auto-encoder (GAE) is a framework for unsupervised learning on graph-structured data. GAE achieves competitive results in link prediction tasks on citation networks. Another important problem on graph-structured data is node classification. Graph attention mechanism has been shown to have good performance in these tasks. This research investigates whether graph attention mechanisms can achieve good performance in link prediction tasks. We propose the attentive graph auto-encoder (AGAE) model, which incorporates GAE with the graph attention mechanism. The model is compared with GAE on both real-world citation networks and synthetic datasets. Investigations on how the model performs on networks with different characteristics is also included. In general, AGAE achieves competitive performance with GAE on citation networks while it outperforms GAE on certain synthetic networks.


title: An Analysis of Child and Youth Advocacy in 21st Century Contemporary Contexts

abstract: This thesis explores how meanings of the concept of advocacy are produced by organizational structural features; how the concept of advocacy is constructed and related to young people's experiences by provincial and territorial child and youth advocate offices; how concepts of advocacy come to have significance in the lives of advocates and how they negotiate these concepts in their daily routines; and how children's rights are operationalized in practice in advocate offices. A total of 26 participants are included in the study. Through semi-structured interviews, I engage primarily with provincial and territorial child and youth advocates from across Canada as well as international children's commissioners from Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Denmark, Norway and Northern Ireland. Two internationally recognized children's rights advocates are also included in the study. Adopting a qualitative methodology, I draw on organizational theory to make meaning of the data. My research reveals that the concept of advocacy is complex. Effective advocacy centres on challenging and changing decision-making processes by partnering with young people to elevate their perspectives and adopting a rights-based approach to working with children and youth. At the provincial and territorial level, it is important for advocates to navigate the historical, cultural and political factors that inform discourses surrounding childhood as these factors impact the way advocacy is carried out. At the organizational level, collaborative relationships with community organizations, government and interdisciplinary advocate teams help to operationalize rights in advocate offices. Findings point to the importance of thinking critically about the concepts of voice, agency and participation in the context of child and youth advocacy institutions. Understandings about children, voice, agency, participation and rights materialize certain groups of children in practice and frequently hinder the viewpoints of young people. Contained within these understandings are processes of exclusion, that may harm some children when considering who gets to have a voice or participate? While the advocates do good things for children, a shift is required in social institutions for children that has a lot to do with a conceptual shift in thinking about these concepts and how advocacy is carried out in 21st century contexts.


title: Binding Social Identity with Email Address and Automating Email Certificate Issuance

abstract: End-to-end encrypted secure email remains a largely unsolved problem, from an adoption and deployment viewpoint. In this thesis, we propose a solution that can address two of the main challenges. Our solution involves: 1) Automated issuance and distribution of public-key certificates for use in email applications; 2) a means to make public keys of one user accessible to other users, in a manner that allows a cross-check of their authenticity. We use Keybase, a publicly accessible key database and key trust protocol, to bind a user's social identities to their email addresses. This enables other users to manually verify the social identity of their intended recipient in order to gain trust in their public keys. We also make use of ACME protocol used by an organization called Let's Encrypt for automated certificate issuance.


title: Experimental Modelling of Black Carbon Emissions from Gas Flares in the Oil and Gas Sector

abstract: Experiments examined the effects of flow conditions and fuel chemistry on the soot emissions from turbulent buoyant diffusion flames burning methane-dominated alkane fuels mixtures representative of upstream oil and gas sector flares. Soot (elemental carbon) in the captured plumes was measured via thermal-optical analysis. Yields were calculated within precisely-quantified uncertainties following a mass-balance procedure using CO2, CO, and CH4 gas analyzers. Experiments considered six flare diameters (12.7−76.2 mm), exit velocities up to 9.5 m/s, and thirteen multi-component fuel mixtures. Reynolds number times Froude number squared was shown to be a useful criterion to separate differing soot emissions trends which were aligned with the transition buoyant and transition shear sub-regimes of turbulent buoyant flames as defined by Delichatsios (1993). Soot emission rates in each regime were well-predicted by new empirical models based on flame volumetric flow and global mixing rate and were lower than emission factors used in current pollutant inventories.


title: Sociality in caterpillars: Investigations into the mechanisms associated with grouping behaviour, from vibroacoustics to sociogenomics

abstract: Social grouping is widespread among larval insects, particularly in a number of phytophagous larval Lepidoptera (caterpillars). Although the benefits of social grouping are widely recognized, the proximate mechanisms mediating grouping behaviour, such as group formation and maintenance, are poorly understood. My Ph.D. thesis takes a pioneering approach to understanding these mechanisms, specifically, by studying the roles of vibroacoustics and sociogenomics, using the masked birch caterpillar, Drepana arcuata (Lepidoptera: Drepanoidea), as a model. There are two main objectives of my thesis- (i) to test the hypothesis that caterpillars employ plant-borne vibratory signals to recruit conspecifics to social groups; and (ii) to test the hypothesis that differential gene expression is associated with developmental transitions from social to solitary behavioural states. For the first objective, I documented morphological and behavioural changes in the larvae, showing that there are five larval instars, and developmental changes in social and signalling behaviour. Specifically, early instars (I, II) live in small social groups, and late instars (IV, V) live solitarily, with third instars (III) being transitional. Instars I-III generate four signal types (AS, BS, MS, MD), instars IV, V generate three signals (AS, MS, MD). I then used an experimental approach to test if early instars employ vibrations during social recruitment, and found that vibratory signals are used to advertise feeding and silk shelters, leading to recruitment, with higher Signalling rates resulting in faster joining times by conspecifics. For the second objective, comparative transcriptomic analysis indicates that there are 3300 transcripts differentially expressed between early (social) and late (solitary) instars, and these include transcripts potentially coding for candidate 'social' genes. One of these genes- an octopamine receptor gene- was further functionally tested using RNAi, and preliminary results suggest that its reduced expression is associated with hastened social to solitary transition. As this research contributes the first genomic data on an entire lepidopteran superfamily (Drepanoidea), I also assembled a draft genome of D. arcuata. The research is the first to test hypotheses on the roles of vibrational signalling and genomics in the social behaviour of larval insects, many of which are of great economic and ecological importance.


title: Improving the Performance of Video Processing on Hadoop Clusters

abstract: Video data include a significant amount of useful information that can be exploited by different organizations to gain more insights into running their business. The data are large and growing at a high rate because cameras, nowadays, are installed everywhere, gathering information all the time. Therefore, the data need large storage to be preserved and large computing power to be processed. Different technologies such as Apache Spark, Apache Storm, and Apache Hadoop have been widely used to perform big data processing on computer clusters. This thesis introduces general solutions and algorithms that can be used with different technologies, such as Apache Spark, Apache Storm, and Apache Hadoop, to improve the performance of processing big video data on computer clusters. However, the thesis focuses on using Apache Hadoop to provide an empirical evaluation of the proposed algorithms. Apache Hadoop is selected since it has been designed to work on commodity hardware. This thesis has been investigating different approaches to improve the performance of video processing on Hadoop clusters. These approaches are based on using the Hadoop MapReduce programming model to distribute the processing of big video data, and different sampling methods to avoid unnecessary computation while processing the video data. Change detection is used to detect the changes based on which the proposed algorithms sample the frames. The proposed algorithms can support video processing on faulty systems as well. The thesis also proposes three novel data placement policies to improve the performance of MapReduce-based video processing.


title: Model and Algorithm for Real-Time Resource Allocation in Fog Computing Networks

abstract: Fog networks are a proposed solution to allow the generalization of endpoint devices. Previous efforts have been dedicated to the optimization of fog resource initial installations, but no solution has been proposed to optimize the real-time resource allocation of a fog network in operation. An exact model was developed to compute the upper bound for profit generation with a processing time exponentially related to the network size. A real-time heuristic was also developed to allow for the network to perform operations. Its performance remained constant through a variety of tested networks at a profit result between 78 to 88% of the exact model and a far reduced processing time. The heuristic model uses a statistical approach to predict the requirements of future tasks. The results of this thesis demonstrate that the use of the heuristic model is essential to the efficient operation of a long term fog computing network.


title: Distribution of Platinum Group Elements in the New Afton Alkalic Cu-Au Porphyry Deposit, Kamloops, British Columbia

abstract: New Afton is an alkalic Cu-Au porphyry deposit situated 10 km west of Kamloops, British Columbia, within the Quesnel island arc terrane, a Late Paleozoic to Mesozoic arc complex that occupies the eastern part of the Intermontane Belt of the Canadian Cordillera. Bulk rock and sulfide minerals from New Afton contain potentially economic concentrations of platinum group elements (PGE). Primary PGE (Pd ± Pt) enrichment occurs within the main Cu-Au ore body and is spatially associated with the Cherry Creek monzonite. Platinum group element mineralization occurs as both discrete platinum group minerals (PGM) and as trace components in nickeliferous pyrite. The early hydrothermal fluids that caused primary Cu-Au-PGE mineralization precipitated both Pd, transported as a HS- complex, and Ni during cooling and the formation of the main ore body. The initially deposited PGE were susceptible to subsequent hydrothermal re-mobilization and reprecipitation as platinum group minerals.


title: An Examination of the Influence of Gender and Race on Dynamic Risk Assessment

abstract: The need for continued research on justice involved (JI) women and individuals belonging to marginalized groups is increasingly being recognized by correctional agencies and researchers, and a body of literature examining the intersection of gender, race, and correctional outcomes has begun to develop. The goal of this dissertation was to contribute to this emerging body of knowledge by exploring the impact of individuals' gender and race on dynamic risk assessment using the Dynamic Risk Assessment for Offender Re-Entry (DRAOR). Study 1 used a sample of 3,091 racially diverse (78.2% White, 18.1% Black, and 3.7% Hispanic) JI women supervised in the community in Iowa to explore the psychometric properties and factor structure of the DRAOR. The DRAOR's original structure provided a poor fit for the data, and alternative models were identified using factor analytic techniques and exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM). Measurement invariance testing was used to determine whether DRAOR scores could be meaningfully compared across race and across assessment occasions. Contrary to expectations, the DRAOR did not demonstrate adequate measurement invariance and implications for case management are discussed. Next, Cox regression survival analysis was used to explore whether recidivism rates differed across race in Study 2. Three recidivism outcomes, technical violations, new offences, and any return were examined. Results indicated that Black women were significantly more likely to incur technical violations than their White and Hispanic counterparts. Findings from Study 2 also indicated that survival time was significantly associated with women's level of risk, though not always in the expected direction. Study 3 used a subsample of 2,763 women and matched sample of 2,763 men to explore the predictive ability of the DRAOR across gender and race. Prediction was assessed by means of discrimination, calibration, and regression analyses. Despite considerable variability across analyses and type of recidivism examined, findings collectively indicated that DRAOR scores predicted most accurately for White men. Collectively, findings suggest that parole officers should be cautious in using the DRAOR with JI women and individuals from marginalized groups and underscores the need for additional research examining the influence of gender and race on dynamic risk assessment.


title: A Systematic and Ecomorphological Investigation of the Early Amniotes from Mazon Creek, Francis Creek Shale, Illinois, USA

abstract: The late Carboniferous-aged (309-307 Ma) Mazon Creek lagerstätte produces some of the earliest tetrapod fossils, including those of major Paleozoic lineages such as the second oldest reptile. Despite this, the Mazon Creek lagerstätte has remained a difficult and unproductive vertebrate locality for researchers to utilize in tetrapod diversity studies due to the scarcity of fossils of this kind. Over the past decades, several new terrestrial tetrapod fossils collected from Mazon Creek have come to light. These include several new virtually-complete fossils of the earliest fossorially adapted recumbirostrans. Here I provide a revised systematic study of the Mazon Creek pan-amniote fauna, in an attempt to reassess the terrestrial ecosystem diversity present at the late Carboniferous lagerstätte. The results accumulate to systematic descriptions of four new and unique recumbirostran taxa (Diabloroter bolti, Infernovenator steenae, FMNH 1309, and MPM VP359229.2) and a re-description of the basal eureptile Cephalerpeton ventriarmatum leading to the anointment of the oldest parareptile Carbonodraco lundi (formerly Cephalerpeton aff. C. ventriarmatum from Linton, Ohio). Descriptions are aided by modern imaging techniques and updated phylogenetic analyses using Maximum parsimony and Bayesian methods where applicable.  Across the newly described terrestrial fauna there is an unexpected ecomorphological diversity of bauplans present. These range from the short-bodied Diabloroter to the serpentine, long-bodied, and limb-reduced MPM VP359229.2. This diversity in combination with an array of unique cranial specializations present in the new taxa highlight the early experimentation with fossoriality in terrestrial vertebrate ecosystems. Exceptional preservation of soft tissues in FMNH 1309 even reveal integumentary adaptations to a fossorial lifestyle. Collectively, I am able to provide a revised taxonomic list for the Mazon Creek Tetrapoda that reveals the fauna is compositionally similar to that of most Permo-Carboniferous tetrapod localities. Given recent studies that suggest that recumbirostrans are crown-group reptiles, the results of this thesis imply a more rapid mid-Carboniferous diversification of amniotes into a variety of terrestrial niches and consequently an earlier establishment of terrestrial vertebrate ecosystems.


title: “Sticks and stones may break my bones”: The role of resilience as a mediator between traditional and cyberbullying experiences and psychological adjustment in early adulthood

abstract: Bullying, both traditional and cyber, is a well-studied phenomenon, and justifiably so. Research has recently begun to explore how resilience may play a role in mitigating the harmful effects of bullying. Two hundred and thirty undergraduate students completed a series of online surveys that assessed bullying experiences, personal resilience, overall well-being, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Confirmatory Factor Analyses and subsequent Exploratory Factor Analyses were completed for each measure. Mediation analyses revealed that resilience mediated the relationship between traditional bullying and symptoms of depression and overall well-being, but not anxiety. Resilience did not mediate the relationship between cyberbullying and psychological adjustment, as cyberbullying was not significantly associated with resilience. It is proposed that future research continue to investigate the association between bullying, resilience, and other factors that contribute to this relationship in order to gain a more holistic understanding.


title: Born this way? Is kink a sexual orientation or a preference?

abstract: What does it mean to be kinky? Is it a deviant tendency, a recreational activity, a deep-seated desire or an integral part of one's subjectivity? In this thesis, I address the latter theory. Specifically, I explore the question of whether kink - for some people - should be considered a sexual orientation. I will begin by surveying different definitions of sexual orientation, considering what the term means in various socio-legal contexts, and how it has tended to focus on gender preference of sexual partners. I will then analyze whether sexual orientation should be a more inclusive term to encompass sexual practices. Finally, using data collected from interviews I will present how kink practitioners themselves categorize their activities with relation to sexual orientation. Is kink something that people are born with? Or something they develop?


title: Shadows of the Past: The Effects of Movements' Past Strategy on Third-Parties' Support for its Current Strategy

abstract: Social movements benefit from third-party support in waging social change. The budding literature on the effects of social movements' strategy (violent vs. nonviolent) on third-parties' willingness to support and join the social movement has mainly regarded social movements' strategy as something fixed and unrelated to its past strategy. Using varied contexts, I investigated how social movements' past strategy may affect, if any, third parties' moral perception of the current strategy of social movements and how this perception translates into third parties' (un)willingness to support and join social movements. In the context of the conflict between hate groups and counter-protestors in a lesser-known country, Bhutan (Studies 1 & 4), and an ally country (Study 2) American participants were more willing to support and join a violent movement that was previously nonviolent as opposed to a historically violent movement. Perceived moral continuity of movements' strategy (Studies 1-5) and perceiving violent strategies as the last resort (Studies 2-4) mediated the relationship between change in movements' strategy and third parties' willingness to support and join the movement. However, using a conflictual context in which a movement, Liberation of Tamil Ealam, sought to gain independence from a government, Sri Lankan government (Study 3), and a domestic anti-Fascist movement in the United States, Antifa, that aims to combat hate groups led to partial replication of findings of Studies 1-2 & 4. While there was no significant difference between conditions (shifting from nonviolence to violence vs. continuing violence) in third parties' willingness to support and join the movement, perceived moral continuity of movements' strategy (Studies 3 & 5) and perceiving violence as the last resort (Study 3) mediated the relationship between conditions and third parties' willingness to support and join the movement. Theoretical and practical implications for social movements are discussed. Specifically, social movements that have exhausted nonviolent avenues to achieve their goals are likely to find support among third-parties for a shift toward violent strategies—support that may ultimately lead to either desired social change or conflict escalation.


title: Visual Thinking in Virtual Environments: Evaluating Multidisciplinary Interaction through Drawing Ideation in Real-Time Remote Co-Design

abstract: This study analyzed three different remote sketching paradigms to find recommendations for future remote multidisciplinary co-design systems. These included virtual reality freeform drawing, tablet drawing, and uploading images of paper drawing. Drawing in VR could potentially be useful for convergent ideation and visualizing designs that require large-scale spatial thinking or human-scale interaction. The tablet was shown to be easy to use and applicable for a wide variety of design scenarios and paper showed strength in divergent or sequential ideation. The results indicate that perception of media might affect the use of digital tools - this difference in perception was shown between disciplines. Notably, users of VR for collaboration might need more time to explore and develop skills since the medium is so new. The results of this study contribute to further understanding of how digital media can affect the design process when communication between stakeholders needs to be remote.


title: Predictors of Post-traumatic Growth and Stress Following the Loss of a Pet

abstract: Losing a pet can be associated with symptoms of post-traumatic stress (PTS) and post-traumatic growth (PTG). Study 1 aimed to determine whether the strength of attachment and grief following pet loss were associated with PTG, PTS, and the conditions that moderated these relationships. Regression analyses from an online survey (N=309) indicated that attachment and grief were associated with greater PTG when strong perceptions of social support were available. As found in previous research, the absence of problem coping was associated with greater PTS. Study 2 aimed to replicate Study 1 and further explore the influence of having another pet and pet loss. Regression analyses of an online survey (N=638) indicated that associations between losing a pet on PTG and PTS, and whether having another pet alleviates these outcomes, vary depending on coping propensities.


title: A Graph-Based Indexing Technique for Efficient Searching in Large Scale Textual Documents

abstract: This thesis proposes a new graph-based indexing technique to improve the search latency for textual documents by using a Graph-Based Index (GBI) structure. GBI uses a directed graph built using a hash table to effectively capture the simultaneous occurrence of multiple keywords in a document. The objective is to use the relationship between the search keywords captured in the graph structure and a fast hash table lookup to effectively retrieve all the results of a query at once. A proof-of-concept prototype has been built for both GBI and Inverted Index. A thorough performance analysis is carried out for comparing GBI with Inverted Index using a synthetic workload. GBI is also compared with an enterprise-level search engine called Elasticsearch. The results show that the graph-based indexing technique can reduce the search latency for executing queries notably in comparison to Inverted Index and Elasticsearch.


title: SME Creditworthiness and Financing: Firm Size Effects

abstract: The thesis profiles SME access to finance for more than 31,000 firms in high-income and emerging markets, with financial accounting data for more than 15,000 emerging markets firms. SMEs account for nearly 40% of the total sample. The author finds (1) bank credit allocation favoring large-scale businesses versus SMEs is rational due to large firms' positive financial performance indicators, fees paid, disclosure practices and market power (demand side) as well as creditor operational efficiency and cost effectiveness from lending economies of scale (supply side); (2) despite this, large-scale lenders have an interest in financing SMEs for portfolio diversification and management of concentration risk, while mid-sized lenders often provide credit to SMEs due to the lender's more limited capital and/or business model orientation as a "stakeholder" institution; (3) standard financial performance metrics focused on earnings efficiency (EBIT/ASSETS), financial slack (Net Working Capital/ASSETS) and tangible fixed assets that can be pledged as collateral have moderate to low explanatory power for bank credit access patterns, whereas loan covenant indicators (DEBT/EBITDA and Interest Coverage) have high R-squares, even for LTD access; (4) tangible fixed assets (immoveable and moveable) show a weaker relationship to credit access for firms than expected; and (5) small-scale firms have greater immoveable assets than are commonly assumed, while large-scale firms have less immoveable asset value and more moveable asset value on their balance sheets than commonly assumed, which may impact collateral values for credit access. Weakness in moveable property registries makes it harder for firms to value and pledge machinery and equipment as assets for secured transactions. Correspondingly, SMEs are constrained in their access to credit, particularly LTD, because the legal and institutional environment works against them due to their dependence on machinery and equipment for operations and because these are the predominant fixed assets they have to pledge as collateral. Despite this, positive correlation of markets with high credit access and strong legal and institutional variables shows firms in stronger environments for credit information, minority shareholder protection, regulatory effectiveness, property registration, contract enforcement and insolvency resolution have better chances of accessing credit (consistent with institutional theory).


title: Qallunaat Learners of Inuktitut: A Qualitative Investigation of How and Why Non-Inuit Learn Inuktitut as a Second Language

abstract: Qallunaat, or people of non-Inuit heritage, are not often mentioned when discussing Inuktitut revitalisation. Yet there is an increasing number of Qallunaat moving to Inuit Nunangat, the traditional Inuit homeland who do not learn Inuktitut. The present study investigates the motivations and attitudes of Qallunaat who do learn Inuktitut. Using the L2 Motivational Self System (Dörnyei, 2005) as a theoretical framework, the present study considers the internal and external pressures for why a Qallunaat might choose to learn Inuktitut. The data, collected from interviews with Qallunaat learners of Inuktitut (n=7), suggest that this demographic is motivated primarily by internal factors. The present study also investigates which language learning resources Qallunaat have access to and which resources they believe are currently missing. Having access to a proficient speaker of Inuktitut was the highest rated resource for these learners. A number of pedagogical and theoretical implications are herein discussed.


title: Synthesis of Progressive Varying Texture Through Blending Laplacian Pyramid Coefficients

abstract: We generate a texture synthesis algorithm where there is gradual progression of merged textures in the output image. The goal of the algorithm is to merge the textures based on given measure of texture proportion. The proportion of texture contents defines how much of textures from each input will be preserved in the output and how the distribution of texture will occur after merging. The algorithm is applicable for any random phase texture as well as some non-random phase textures which are stochastic and there is no well-defined visual structures. Our method of progressively variant texture synthesis is distinguished from previous techniques by being able to produce a gradual as well as scattered distribution of merged textures in the output. This irregular distribution gives a realistic view in the merged region of output.


title: Transcranial direct current stimulation and the theta beta ratio in the context of the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and pediatric neuropsychiatry.

abstract: Background: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common neurodevelopmental condition worldwide. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a potential novel treatment option for ADHD. tDCS is widely used in adults, but disproportionately understudied in children. This thesis aimed to investigate the safety, tolerability, and acceptability of tDCS via a systematic review, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial (RCT) in children and adults, and a qualitative acceptability study. Finally, tDCS treatment of ADHD could be optimized by using electroencephalography (EEG) and targeting a biomarker such as the theta-beta ratio (TBR). Since TBR remains controversial we aimed to test its validity. Methods: In the first study, a systematic review of tDCS safety in youth was conducted focusing on adverse effects and cognitive/neuroimaging/neuropsychiatric outcomes. In the second study, 60 participants (30 children aged 6-17 and 30 adults 18-45) received 10 minutes of tDCS twice, separated by a 1-hour interval. The stimulation amperage (sham, 0.5mA, 1mA, and 2mA), and anode/cathode locations were randomized. The researcher conducting the outcome measures (at all 6 time points) and the participant were blinded to the amperage. In the third study, parents of 14 children who participated in the second study were interviewed regarding the acceptability/desirability/feasibility of tDCS compared to medication for their child. The fourth study used EEG and derived statistical and machine learning models to test the validity of TBR thresholds in a sample of healthy controls evaluated for ADHD (n=189). Results: There were no serious adverse events reported across 1067 sessions in 156 children from 12 studies nor did any participants report any serious adverse effects in the randomized controlled trial. Moreover, children tolerated tDCS in a similar manner as adults. Parents find tDCS safe and acceptable and prefer it as an alternative to stimulant medication. The lack of side effects was important for acceptability. TBR thresholds appear to be unrelated to ADHD. Conclusion: tDCS is safe, tolerable, and acceptable to use in pediatric neuropsychiatry and there is a demand for clinically available tDCS especially in patients who are medication-resistant. The TBR threshold lacks clinical relevance and needs to be reconsidered in ADHD.


title: Scalar implicatures under uncertainty

abstract: Studies on judgments under uncertainty argue that individuals reason about the likelihoods of events in ways that are inconsistent with the basic axioms of probability. However, such studies fail to consider that the information expressed can be ambiguous between literal and strengthened meanings, through scalar implicatures. Under a literal interpretation, intuitive judgments may appear to violate the rules of probability. However, scalar implicatures change meanings, such that, probability theory alone does not determine how people make judgments. Instead, individuals rely on experience, prior knowledge and other cognitive factors. I examine the availability of scalar implicatures under uncertainty and its influence on perceived event likelihood. Comparing contexts where an implicature is available to where it is not, I present evidence that violations of probability theory occur only in conditions where scalar implicatures are available. Thus, probabilistic judgments must also consider how individuals apply conversational reasoning in order to resolve uncertainty.


title: Semiparametric Partially Linear Marginal Models for Binary and Count Longitudinal Data With Dropouts

abstract: In this thesis, we investigate semiparametric partially linear marginal models for binary and count longitudinal data with dropouts. Specifically, we focus on the joint estimation of the marginal mean, association and dispersion parameters through generalized second-order estimating equations where the marginal mean response model is partially linear. We discuss a series of weighted generalized estimating equations (GEEs) to fit regression models to binary and count longitudinal responses when dropouts occur. The proposed method offers efficient estimators of the model parameters under a specified missing data mechanism. Simulations are conducted to examine the robustness characteristics of the method suggested under both accurately defined and inaccurately stated correlation frameworks. The approach is also demonstrated us- ing some real missing longitudinal data on patterns of smoking, where the goal is to study the development of coronary arteries in young adults. A semiparametric approach for analyzing binary and longitudinal count data is also developed. We used the second-order GEE approach to examine longitudinal responses in partially linear models. Additionally, the smoothing technique is suggested for estimating the nonparametric part of the model based on a spline approximation. In simulations, the analytical properties of the proposed method are evaluated. The proposed estimator effectively takes into consideration the association within the subject/cluster and is easy to implement. Our simulation study shows that when the underlying model is partly linear, the proposed method offers unbiased and efficient estimators.Next, we propose a weighted regression spline second-order GEE approach for simultaneous estimation of the nonlinear function, regression, association and dispersion parameters in partially linear models with dropouts. As an application of the proposed semiparametric weighted GEE, we analyzed some longitudinal count data obtained from a health survey, referred to as the Health and Retirement study (HRS)(HRS, 2019), where the mean response function shows a nonlinear trend in terms of associated covariates. The results from the data analysis appear to be very encouraging. From this application it is evident that our proposed methods can be used to improve the efficiency of the estimates obtained from an ordinary GEE model for longitudinal binary and count data with dropouts.


title: The standardized five-level risk and needs system is similar to comprehensive, status quo reports for communicating criminal recidivism risk.

abstract: The risk communication literature to date has shown mixed results about the most efficient way to communicate risk. In an attempt to standardize risk communication, Hanson, Bourgon and colleagues (2017) have put forth the Five Level Risk and Needs System. Despite the proposed benefits of the new Five-Level System, their utility has yet to be tested. The current study assessed whether utilizing the Five-Level System aids in the comprehension of risk and treatment amenability of an individual charged with assault in a sample of the general public. The study was a 3x2 design, manipulating risk level (low, moderate, high) and communication format (Five-Levels, status quo). Limited support was found for communicating risk using the Five-Level System, however there was evidence for improved consistency in risk perceptions, especially for participants presented with a moderate risk case. Findings suggested risk level seemed to matter more than how risk was communicated.


title: Being Seen Making Scenes: An Archival Exploration of Ottawa's First Gay and Lesbian Film and Video Festival

abstract: This thesis documents the history of Making Scenes, Ottawa's first lesbian and gay film and video festival, a festival that was active from 1992 to 2003. I have uncovered the history of this organization through archival work and by interviewing Making Scenes organizers, volunteers, and attendees. Today this festival is relatively unknown, despite a heavily branded and relatively recent presence in Ottawa. This work interrogates the festival's archival erasure. The archive of Making Scenes is interrogated through its queer and trans embodied affective reverberations both within and outside of the archive. This project hopes to add to the growing archival projects into lesbian and gay history that moves away from the focus on the metropolitan Canadian cities of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.


title: Digital Transcription and Analysis of the Carleton Antiphonary

abstract: This website and essay examines Ottawa, Carleton University Library, Archives and Research Collections Ms. 1 (hereby referred to as the Carleton Antiphonary) as a medieval artefact. Lack of resources devoted to cataloguing has left many North American manuscripts hidden and unstudied, and such was the fate of the Carleton Antiphonary. This project digitizes and analyses this unique compound manuscript to increase the accessibility of digital facsimiles. Furthermore, the codicological evidence proves this artefact is worth studying as a devotional object, as it demonstrates long-standing use over the last five hundred years. The goal of this project has been twofold. First, it has been to bring this medieval codex to light by making it accessible online. Secondly, the goal has been to share the process by which others may make medieval materials accessible using open-source tools and the coding purpose made for this project. To access the website: https://carleton-antiphonary.herokuapp.com


title: Investigating the Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Motivation

abstract: Recent research suggests that mindfulness meditation may impair motivation towards traditional laboratory tasks. The present research explored the effects of meditation on motivation towards more meaningful pursuits (i.e., personal goals) in contrast to a traditional laboratory task (i.e., anagrams). In Study 1 (n = 200), the mindfulness condition reported greater goal motivation than the podcast condition but not the filler questionnaire condition; goal self-concordance did not moderate this effect. Moreover, goal motivation increased from before to 10 minutes after meditating. In Study 2 (n = 120), the mindfulness condition reported greater goal motivation than the podcast condition; this difference remained 20 minutes later. There were no differences between conditions in anagram motivation at any time point. Furthermore, goal motivation increased from before to after meditating, whereas anagram motivation remained the same. The present research opposes the notion that meditation impairs motivation and instead suggests that meditation may enhance goal motivation.


title: Framing and Contesting a Revolution: Identity Construction, Gender, and Rebel Group Cohesion in Colombia

abstract: The literature on rebel group cohesion and desertion from armed groups offers a variety of explanations for patterns of disengagement from armed violence, including government pressure, in-group violence, disillusionment in the group's cause, networks, and trauma. But most of the disengagement literature focuses on men who have deserted their groups, with much less information on those who stay until ordered to disarm—and almost no analysis on women who disarm. The lack of comparative analysis between deserters and loyalists limits what we understand or can predict about rebel group cohesion. In addition, this literature has failed to adequately explore the role of gender norms, even though hyper-masculinity, narratives of brotherhood, and feminization of the enemy are well-established mechanisms for increasing troop cohesion in militaristic groups. Based on over 100 in-depth interviews with former guerrillas and paramilitaries in Colombia, this dissertation argues that framing contests and related identity constructions are critical in insurgencies and civil war, and that the outcome of these contests influences individual decisions to disengage from violence and the experiences of ex-combatants after demobilization. Second, I argue that how these competing frames operationalize gender norms influences not only troop cohesion but also the way combatants calculate their investments in the group and possible alternatives. As a result, even recruits that are not fully committed may stay for lack of alternatives. Conversely, recruits may desert their group only to face the stigmatizing consequences of government narratives in civilian life. This study examines what variables produce these outcomes, emphasizing the role of framing contests and arguing that ignoring gender in rebel group cohesion has left a significant gap in our understanding of both desertion and post-conflict reintegration.


title: Symbols, Sentinels and Reading Rooms: Cultivating Literacies of Place in Central Industrial, Saskatoon

abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to promote a perspective of architectural evolution centred on heritage interpretation and its spatial representations, driven by matters of values, identity, and local history. This work suggests novel site analysis methodologies based on frameworks borrowed from storytelling, semiotics, and photography, working towards the design and development of 'Symbols, Sentinels and Reading Rooms' for the site. Findings and approaches orbit around ongoing, timely proposals for a new public library and architecture school, imagining conservation and its representations as facilitators of a public's sense of a 'co-created' place. As an exploratory project, the work argues that heritage conservation, in practices of design and planning, is an overlooked force in its capacity to foster and sustain relationships with the public. 'Cultivating Literacies of Place' strives¬ to make Central Industrial's spirit of place known—the site's atemporal stories, visual language, and the interpretation of heritage.


title: Mapping the Global Balkans: Sovereignty, Governmentality and the Practices of Serbia's Encounters with Emerging Economies and the EU

abstract: Seen as simultaneously a part of Europe and not-yet-fully European, as a liminal space straddling the borderlands of Europe, the Western Balkans usually appear as peripheral within the international order. Measured against the continuing centrality of the EU to wider international economic and (to a lesser extent) political relations, the region is often seen as falling short of the necessary associations and global connections. Yet, the rise of new powers and groupings, such as the BRICS countries, has crystalized Western Balkan imbrications and active participation in global politics. Using Serbia as my case study and China and Russia as emerging economies of focus, this dissertation traces the logics and practices of the latter processes. It argues that Serbia's integration into global network formations is constituted through a series of interplays between sovereign-reign and economic-governmental forms of reason. The region's global engagements are constituted though a "Balkan-style" signature of power that brings into play (and blends), simultaneously, concessions and augmentations of sovereignty alongside (neo)liberal/biopolitical governmentality and glorifies both of these in a national(ist) praxeology.


title: Shotengai

abstract: The thesis uses the medium of the science-fiction short film to address the potential of architecture to narrate the contemporary notion of Shinto techno animism. The site for this short film is in a shotengai. The shotengai urban typology becomes the architectural trope and catalyst from which the thesis explores the relationship of techno-animism's implications on space. Seminal works of Japanese science-fiction will be studied to situate the relationship between technology and its animation and reveal how techno-animism manifests itself in various ways through characters, cities, or objects. The thesis uses multiple digital techniques organized by a production time-line specific to the animation industry. The thesis interprets techno-animism's spatial consequences to range from vast infrastructures to minute household items, each interconnected through spiritual kami. The thesis stands as a personal expression and interpretation of contemporary techno-animistic beliefs. The atmosphere of space portrayed evokes the meaning of a techno-animist world.


title: Landless Souls Are Still Living: The Kwupahag and Muanbissek

abstract: There have been at least a dozen Abenaki tribal groups residing in New England. Abenaki tribal identity can be methodologically dissected by place names and lifestyles, as well as the geographic areas inhabited and trading relations when the 1713, 1717, 1721, and 1727 treaties were issued between colonial authorities and Abenaki chiefs. The search for tribal identity can especially be focused on the Kwupahag of the Eastern Abenakis and the Muanbissek of the Western Abenakis, examines how to redefine the correlations among these Abenaki groups through network visualizations created by Gephi. Performing network analysis of graphs can imply ideological concepts about the nature of Abenaki peoples, although no answer or result can be provided. After the potential verification of this thesis, the graphs produced can offer access to Indigenous communities that are interesting in maintaining Indigenous rights and consider the significance of the historical relationships between Abenaki peoples.


title: Optimized Surface Roughening by Pulsed Waterjet for Suitable Adhesion Strength of Plasma Transferred Wire Arc Coating

abstract: This study paired the high-pressure pulsed waterjet process and plasma transferred wire arc technology to develop a technique to remanufacture worn-out cylinder bores and give new life to worn-out engines. Plasma transferred wire arc technology is currently being used for engine remanufacturing to deposit the top-coat. The idea behind this project is to eliminate the expensive nickel-aluminum pre-bond coat by optimizing the surface roughness profile of the substrate to provide acceptable mechanical bonding between the coating and substrate. In this study, low carbon stainless-steel was plasma spray coated on a range of pulsed waterjet roughened grey cast iron and cast aluminum A380 surface profiles. The roughened surfaces increased the adhesion strength between the substrates and stainless-steel coating. Limitations exist, such that, if the roughness profile generated was copious the coating mirrored the roughened surface profile. Additionally, if the roughness profile was insignificant the coating was completely removed during detachment-based failure.


title: A Triangulated Accounting of Top Notch 2: Negotiating Ideologies in the Multimodal Discourse of an EFL Textbook in Korean University Classrooms

abstract: Textbooks are artifacts of a pedagogical culture and in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education in Korean universities, that culture pressures consumers to use generic publications for reasons more political than pedagogical. Critical studies of EFL textbooks in global and Korean contexts reveal they harbor certain social realities that favor Anglo-centric hegemony, while marginalizing their intended audiences, yet Korean university programs continue to prescribe their use as the course curriculum. While some research underscores content and consumption in Korean contexts, none yield a comprehensive look at the multimodal discourse in a specific EFL textbook or correlate how that content is negotiated, consumed and valued by consumers in a comparable fashion. Informed by frameworks rooted in critical applied linguistics, discourse analysis, critical pedagogy, and multimodality, this study attempts to fill that gap in research by drawing focus on Top Notch 2 (a popular choice for Korean universities) (TN2) and its use in two EFL programs, by answering the following research questions: 1) What power relations and ideologies are harbored in the multimodal discourse of TN2? 2) How do instructors and students negotiate and account for that discourse in class? 3) What pedagogical implications emerge from the triangulated findings about EFL learning and textbook consumption in Korean university programs? To answer these questions, this dissertation conducts a triangulation of studies: (a) multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) of six units of lessons in Top Notch 2 (b) multimodal analysis of visually recorded EFL classrooms to observe how some of those lessons are negotiated by instructors and students, and (c) a values coding analysis of semi-structured interviews with some participants. The investigation gives credence to the perspectives of three different EFL textbook consumers - the researcher, current instructors, and students. The findings reveal narratives of cultural othering in the multimodal content of TN2, among other social injustices that, if not reflexively transformed by instructors, impede language learning, as evident in the values that the consumers afforded their textbooks. From these triangulated findings, the pedagogical implications suggest instructors play a key role in lessening the impact of social injustices in textbook content while raising the value of EFL learning in Korean university programs.


title: "NO OTHER MEANS THAN BY PEN”: LETTERS FROM EARLY MODERN ENGLISH NUNS IN EXILE

abstract: This thesis explores how early modern English nuns in exile on the European continent purposefully utilized letter writing as a strategy of communication with the outside world. Cut off from their homeland and families by both geographic distance and physical enclosure, letters provided women religious with a medium to ensure their convents' survival and preserve English Catholicism. This critical analysis of nuns' letters reveals the multidimensional nature and intentional construction of their correspondence. Nuns made deliberate epistolary choices. They employed strategic language,  utilized flattery and humility, as well as exaggeration and gossip to achieve their objectives. A comparison of individual epistolary experiences demonstrates that letters were vital for maintaining familial and kinship ties, financial and spiritual economies, political engagement, and the transnational diffusion of information.


title: Nexus: A Tactical Approach to Urban and Political Change

abstract: Since the height of its popularity in 1967, Sparks Street in Ottawa's downtown core has been steadily declining in its function as an engaging public space. The street was popularized with the rise of the department store, however, with the introduction of the Rideau Centre and suburban sprawl, the once bustling street fell into disrepair. Sitting steps from Parliament Hill, Sparks Street exists without much of an identity; once referred to as the Broadway of Ottawa, now devoid of character. Just as Sparks is slated for yet another urban renewal, so should the way the government and city perceive occupiable public space. This thesis will challenge the corporate attitude when it comes to planning Sparks Street and Ottawa as a whole. It seeks to claim back the city through a series of satirical critiques, as the urbanite's stomping ground; proposing unique ideas of how urban space can be interpreted.


title: Evaluating Adversarial Learning on Different Types of Deep Learning-based Intrusion Detection Systems using min-max optimization

abstract: In this research, we focus on investigating the effectiveness of different adversarial attacks and robustness of deep learning-based Intrusion detection using different Neural networks, e.g., Artificial Neural Network, convolutional neural networks, recurrent neural networks. We utilize the min-max approach to formulate the problem of training robustness intrusion detection against adversarial samples using UNSW-NB15 and NSD-KDD. We structure an optimization framework by applying the max approach to generate persuasive adversarial samples that maximum loss. On the other side, we minimize the loss of the incorporated adversarial samples during the training time. With our experiments on multiple deep neural networks algorithms and two benchmark datasets, we demonstrate that defense using adversarial training based min-max approach increases the robustness of the network under the assumption of our threat model and five state-of-the-art adversarial attacks.


title: Immigration, Housing and Foreign Buyers in Vancouver: Examining News Coverage of Racialized Issues

abstract: The Vancouver housing and affordability crisis of the mid-2010 decade was marked by fervent discussions of the impact of foreign buyers and offshore money putting upwards pressure on housing prices, driving them out of reach for most locals. Throughout the news coverage of this issue, there appeared to be an outsized focus on the ethnicity of these wealthy foreign buyers, specifically the buyers of ethnic Chinese descent, giving an impression of a bias against this particular group. This raises the question: was the local news coverage of the housing crisis biased in a negative way against the Chinese community, or did it appear that way due to other circumstances? This thesis will aim to prove the presence of bias, should there be any to be found, through an examination of newspaper coverage in Vancouver from 2013 to 2018, as well as other academic disciplines, like urban studies.


title: A functional genomics approach in identifying the underlying gene for the E8 maturity locus in soybean (Glycine max)

abstract: Soybean is an economically important crop that has rapidly expanded throughout Western Canada and Northern regions. To continue this expansion, understanding the time of flowering and maturity pathway is an important factor for soybean adaptation. So far, eleven maturity loci have been identified for this pathway, however the underlying gene for one third of them remain unknown. The E8 maturity locus was previously identified in our lab on chromosome 4 using classical breeding practices and genome wide SSR marker analysis. A bioinformatics approach utilizing PIPE (Protein-protein Interaction Prediction Engine) along with a plethora of functional genomics resources and prediction tools has short listed this region down to 3 promising candidates; Glyma.04G124600, Glyma.04G140000, and Glyma.04G101500, all involved in light perception. Further analysis of these candidates will reveal the underlying gene for E8 and shed light on the flowering mechanism in the important food crop soybean.


title: Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Residual Stresses in Shot Peened Flange Pin of Landing Gears

abstract: In this research, the residual stresses in the flange pin peened with ceramic shots are investigated experimentally with X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique and numerically via finite element analysis (FEA) using Abaqus package. The experimental data show that at the surface of the peened flange pin the residual stresses in longitudinal and circumferential direction of the flange pin are all compressive, with the latter much greater than the former in magnitude. Three dimensional FEA models are created for simulating the flange pin surface peened by ceramic shot flow which is generated randomly using the MATLAB program. It is revealed that the residual stresses in the longitudinal, circumferential and radial direction all vary in depth from of the peened surface and are compressive; the maximum compressive stresses occur at the subsurface. The circumferential stress is much greater than the longitudinal stress in magnitude and both are much larger than the radial stress.


title: Governing Minority Groups in South Korea: A Case Study of Multiculturalism Policy’s Inclusions and Exclusions

abstract: Since the mid-2000s, the South Korean government has produced policies around "multiculturalism." Researchers have focused almost exclusively on what are termed "multicultural families," i.e. families where wives and mothers are female marriage migrants from other countries. Restricting the research focus in this manner presents a skewed understanding of multiculturalism and helps to legitimize the government's interest in maintaining a narrow interpretation of the multiculturalism policies. To address these limitations, this dissertation examines the inclusions and exclusions of three migrant groups - North Korean defectors, multicultural families, and migrant workers - through the lens of South Korea's multiculturalism policy. The dissertation is inspired by the Foucauldian theoretical concepts of governmentality and genealogy; it draws on anti-colonial nationalism literature to examine South Korea's particularities as a post-colonial society. The primary source of data for policy discourse analysis is textual data, centred around the National Assembly minutes (1998-2017), which is supplemented by interviews. The dissertation puts forward three arguments: First, the notion of multiculturalism was embraced to "politely" denote those cultural differences that South Korea has become willing to tolerate but at the same time to subordinate to Korean nation. Second, in the context of South Korea's political-ideological landscape shaped by the Japanese colonization and the division of the Korean peninsula, conservative forces have condemned ethnic nationalism and dominated its multiculturalism discourse while their liberal and progressive counterparts have held onto this nationalism and remained passive on migrant-related issues. Third, this dissertation shows that South Korean multiculturalism discourse has become fraught with conservative forces' preferences for certain types of migrants, i.e. migrants who are politically conservative (or passive), nostalgic for a mythical Korean-ness, and obedient to the existing economic order. Of the different migrant groups addressed in this study, it is the North Korean defectors and the multicultural families who are thought to satisfy these conservative preferences while the migrant workers do not. This study contributes analyses about multiculturalism policies in a country outside the horizon of Western studies of multiculturalism; it highlights the value of considering how South Korea's historical, geopolitical, and ideological conditions have shaped its engagement with the multiculturalism discourse.


title: The Poetics of Deconstruction: Unbuilding the Peterborough General Electric Plant.

abstract: This thesis proposes a thoughtful, phased deconstruction of the former General Electric plant in Peterborough, Ontario, with public appropriation invited at each interval. This slow demolition process is a scraping away of layers of history; it is a poetic procedure that generates moments of beauty, while avoiding the tendency that immediate demolition might have to reinforce the harmful legacy of the plant. This process of deconstruction is treated as a theatre production, culminating in moments of dramatic spectacle. These theatrical processes and emergent spectacles may be observed by the public from platforms constructed of repurposed debris. While this project clears the General Electric site, it also documents the demolition as it occurs, preserving moments through a series of artistic interpretations and artifacts. This thesis explores the productive potential of demolition as a choreographed act in the lifecycle of the building and a poetic moment in the life of the site.


title: Art and the Inaka: Yamamoto Kanae and New Conceptions of Modernity in Rural Japan

abstract: Yamamoto Kanae is credited as the founder of sōsaku hanga as well as the developer of The Farmers' Art Movement and The Children's Free Drawing Movement, all of which have retained lasting legacies up to the present day. However, while some scholarship exists on his work with these individual projects, there is a paucity of research connecting these seemingly disparate, yet deeply entangled, movements. This thesis divides Yamamoto's career into three periods, looking at how his experience in Moscow particularly informed his ideological approach to art. By examining Yamamoto's life and work within the context of his contemporaries and concurrent political and cultural events, this thesis seeks not only to provide a comprehensive English-language monograph of the artist's activities, but also to use this analysis as a case study to discuss broader issues concerning local-translocal relationships in rural art and negotiating urban-rural binary frameworks that persist in contemporary arts discourse.


title: Man to Man: Communicating Narratives about Violence Against Women in Sport Media

abstract: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a social phenomenon that is primarily perpetrated by men against women. Previous research has identified that women are primarily targeted by media messaging as the parties responsible for avoiding and eliminating this violence. This study examined all Sports Illustrated magazine articles between the years 2015-2019 that mentioned IPV to investigate how men talk to men about IPV. Narrative analysis is used as the primary tool to identify the ways that men and women are presented in these articles. Common themes identified include the denial, diminishment and erasure of women's violent experiences. Men in Sports Illustrated articles are cast as specific characters that follow predictable narratives to either self-destruct or attain a patriarchal masculine ideal.


title: Landfast Sea Ice Break-up Processes in Admiralty Inlet, NU

abstract: The timing of spring break-up of landfast sea ice has become less predictable in recent years due to changes in the Arctic climate, which has implications for the traditional lifestyle of Inuit and shipping operations. To study the processes related to landfast ice break-up, meteorological and oceanographic data were collected in Admiralty Inlet, NU in May-June 2019. Numerical experiments using a finite element model (FEM) demonstrated the effects of environmental stresses, ice material properties, and leads on sea ice deformation prior to break-up. Modelled stress magnitudes were well below estimates of tensile yield stress, implying that large-scale ice fracture does not occur under typical conditions. Rather, field data and FEM output suggest the deterioration of ice strength and development of cross-inlet and shore leads preconditioned the ice to allow relatively low wind and current forces to initiate a break-out event in Admiralty Inlet on June 27, 2019.


title: Improving Electrical Impedance Tomography Imaging of the Brain

abstract: Hemorrhagic transformation (HT) is an ischemic stroke complication occurring in 10% of ischemic stroke patients with infarcts. HT is detected by symptom and CT monitoring, though exposes patients to repeated radiation doses. Symptom monitoring for detecting perioperative ischemia is ineffective in anesthetized patients. A non-ionizing modality for continuous monitoring of cerebral blood volume (CBV) would therefore be valuable. Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is an imaging technique that reconstructs the internal conductivity distribution of a body non-invasively. EIT can detect changes in CBV, but only hemorrhage, not ischemia, has been detected with EIT. A novel EIT processing method was developed that depicted arterial blood pressure related CBV changes and successfully detected ischemia in swine, as verified by MRI. Software tools and EIT electrode hardware were developed to apply this method to functional imaging studies in humans. Finally, an automated electrode quality and data rejection tool, which simplifies EIT preprocessing, was developed.


title: Pleasure, Community, and Marginalization in Rope Bondage: A Qualitative Investigation into a BDSM Subculture

abstract: Rope bondage subculture is a social world positioned underneath the broader umbrella of pansexual BDSM subculture. It is characterized by its own norms, spaces, words, practices, art, career opportunities, events, identities, and more. The status of rope as a sub-subculture spread across and between locations renders it mostly invisible to outsiders. As such, although there are a few studies on rope bondage, its discrete social world has rarely been recognized in academic research, and never as the primary focus. Through my insider status I investigate the shape of the rope bondage world and the experiences of some of the people within it. I draw on 23 qualitative interviews with people who practice rope bondage in Canada and the United States to investigate peoples' experiences of rope bondage practice and subculture. My analysis is supported by a theoretical foundation informed by symbolic interactionism, feminism, critical disability studies, and critical race theory. I explore the theoretical and methodological intricacies of conducting qualitative research on rope bondage from the inside, while prioritizing and theorizing ethical participant-centered methods informed by select kinky etiquette and practices. My findings suggest that rope bondage subculture is characterized by almost indescribable experiences of pleasure, belonging, and joy, along with experiences of conflict and discrimination at personal and structural levels. It is both a vibrant social world and a subculture informed by (and reflective of) the racism, ableism, sexism, homo/transphobia, and classism that plague wider society. The accounts of disabled and racialized rope bondage practitioners are crucial to understanding both oppression and resistance in this world. I build upon Weiss' (2006) concept of unintelligibility to argue that kinky pleasure that is not strictly, normatively sexual appears to be unintelligible to most BDSM researchers. Further, in some respects, kinky pleasure is unintelligible—or at least ineffable—to some of the practitioners themselves. My findings show that understanding the texture of rope bondage's pleasure requires listening to how rope bondage practitioners theorize their own desires, pleasures, and lives. This work offers theoretical, conceptual, and practical tools to understand rope bondage practitioners, complex sexualities, BDSM, and participant-centered research on deviantized demographics.


title: iPredator: Image-Based Sexual Abuse Risk Factors and Motivators

abstract: This is one of the first studies examining how demographic characteristics (gender, sexual orientation), personality traits (Dark Tetrad), and attitudes (aggrieved entitlement, sexual entitlement, sexual image abuse myth acceptance) relate to the likelihood of non-consensual intimate image dissemination perpetration or victimization. In a sample of 816 undergraduate students (72.7% female and 23.3% male), approximately 15% of them had at some point in their life, engaged in such behaviors and 1 in 3 had experienced this form of Image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) victimization. Higher psychopathy or narcissism scores were associated with an increased likelihood of having engaged in IBSA perpetration. Those with no history of victimization were 70% less likely to have engaged in IBSA perpetration compared to those who had experienced someone disseminating their intimate image without consent themselves. The challenges surrounding IBSA policy and legislation highlight the importance of understanding the factors and motivators associated with IBSA perpetration.


title: Identification of Hypermutator Enterohemorrhagic Escherishia coli (EHEC) Using a High Throughput Screening Method to Inform Food Safety Investigations

abstract: Enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) are one of the top bacteria causing foodborne illnesses in Canada. During an outbreak investigation, bacterial clusters associated with high mutators may be missed due to their ability to accumulate mutations. This study compared three approaches for mutation rate estimation: fluctuation assay, mutation accumulation, and a high throughput screening assay based on the fluctuation assay. The screening assay successfully detected a known high-mutator and was then used to screen 100 verotoxigenic strains for high mutation rates. Two high-mutators were successfully detected, indicating that although the phenotype is rare, it is still detectable. Whole-genome sequences of these strains were investigated for genes associated with high mutation rates. The two high-mutators were found to be lacking the mutS gene, known to be associated with hypermutators. Rapid identification of high-mutators would be valuable to inform whole-genome sequencing data and aid in the determination of the scope of a foodborne investigation.


title: The development and application of a universal trait-based model for rapid bioassessment of freshwater systems using diatoms

abstract: Diatoms are commonly used as indicators of aquatic ecosystem health and can effectively predict values of specific environmental variables. Their use in environmental monitoring programs can be constrained by the expert knowledge that is required for identification to a species level as well as the time and costs associated with identification. Attempts have been made to simplify this identification process by lowering the taxonomic resolution of identification to family or genus level or through automation of identification. These techniques, though functional, do not result in an overall simplification of the identification process that is justifiable against the decrease in certainty of results. A trait-based identification technique using easily identifiable and influential traits for predicting environmental variables could justify the decrease in certainty when considering the decrease in time and cost associated with identification. This could make the use of diatoms as an indicator of ecosystem health more accessible to non-experts.


title: Phase Field Modelling of Bainitic Transformation

abstract: A phase field model was developed to study the interaction between the displacive transformation, diffusion process and carbide formation during the bainitic type transformation. The thermodynamic data for the chemical free energy were obtained using the Thermo-Calc software. Also, the transformation strains reproducing the γ → α transformation with three transformation variants of ferrite were used. In the case of carbide free bainite, the bainitic transformation develops in two stages: the first, fast stage, wherein the displacive transformation is dominant at the onset of the transformation, and the second stage, which begins when the diffusion-controlled decomposition takes control over the transformation kinetics and ferrite morphology, and results in the formation of a carbon enriched layer around ferrite grains. Both plate-like and rod-like shapes of the ferrite grains can be obtained depending on the thermodynamic conditions and diffusion mobility. The carbide nucleation was modeled as the formation of carbon sinks either in retained austenite or in supersaturated ferrite with different nucleation sequences. The results indicated that in the case of carbide formation in retained austenite, the carbide nucleation might play a secondary role controlling the transformation kinetics and microstructure evolution after the completion of the fast transformation stage; however, elastic interactions could control the ferrite morphology even at a later stage, thus leading to the change of the ferrite grain shape from a rod-like to plate-like. In the case of carbide formation in supersaturated ferrite, the results demonstrated that initially, due to a slow nucleation of carbides and fast carbon partitioning, carbon diffusion to austenite was the dominant process leading to the decrease in the transformation rate. However, after some period of time, the effect of carbon depletion by carbides in the solid solution became more significant, which led to the reduction of the average concentration of carbon in the whole system and to the acceleration of the structural transformation. In both cases, the rate of carbide nucleation and the number of nucleated carbides controlled both the transformation rate and the period of time before the transformation acceleration.


title: Microstructure-Based Computational Fatigue Life Prediction of Structural Materials

abstract: In this research, a microstructure-based computational fatigue design model, named TMW model, is further studied by first using it to predict the fatigue crack nucleation lives of eight different alloys and steels, and comparing the predicted lives with that calculated values from the Coffin-Manson-Basquin relations which are obtained from experimental data fitting. Second, this model is improved by developing the mathematical expressions of the surface roughness factor in the TMW model in terms of the arithmetical mean deviation of the assessed profile which can be determined experimentally, thus making the TMW model more applicable. In addition, a microstructure-based finite element analysis model is created to investigate the effect of microstructural inhomogeneity on the fatigue crack nucleation life of nickel-based alloy Haynes 282. The TMW model shows effectiveness for predicting the fatigue crack nucleation life of structural materials.


title: Are Aquatic Invertebrates Retaining Microplastics in the Ottawa and Rideau Rivers?

abstract: Microplastics are microscopic sized plastics. Microplastics are produced directly for cleaning and cosmetic products, and indirectly through the physical and chemical breakdown of larger plastic materials. These plastic particles can take thousands of years to fully decompose, and thus ultimately may end up in our waterways. Microplastics have been reported in the Ottawa and Rideau Rivers but little information exists on if these microplastics are being ingested by animals in these rivers. 150 invertebrates of classes Malacostraca and Bivalvia were collected from the Rideau River and 150 invertebrates of classes Malacostraca and Insecta from the Ottawa River. Nearly every single individual had microplastics in them, however there was no significant difference (p-value = 0.2641) in the number of invertebrates with microplastics in the Ottawa River versus the Rideau River. Microplastic concentrations were, however, significantly related to taxon (p-value = 2.67e-13) and weight (p-value < 2.2e-16).


title: Populist Counterpublics: Exploring Populist Mobilization, Crises of Representation, and Popular Subjectivities in Canadian Politics

abstract: The concept of "populism" presents a unique conundrum in academia and popular discourse. Despite the universal acknowledgement that it has an increasing presence in global politics, there is little to no agreement on what populism is, how it should be defined, or what concepts should be used to make sense of how it works. In the face of this conundrum, theorizing of populism amongst sociologists and political scientists has been become formulaic and repetitive. First, the standard is to formulate a conceptual map of what populism is, definitionally speaking. Second, that map is then applied to various jurisdictions with elected populist politicians. The result is that field of populism studies is loaded with essentialized, context-independent theories that impose on the unique features of each case and are not flexible enough to capture how populism may manifest as different "species" of a wider political "genus". This dissertation resolves these core issues by introducing the interpretivist concept of "populist counterpublics," which identifies populism as a fundamentally context-dependent phenomenon. Populist counterpublics understand how a specific kind of populism operates in-situ and from the perspective of social actors by analyzing (1) the political logic identifying some representational crisis in a given democracy, and (2) the popular subject-position forged to create a shared, viscerally-felt lack among diverse individuals. Illustrating its utility through five empirical case studies, I argue that the concept of populist counterpublics is a way forward, through the conceptual battle-zone currently plaguing the field. It does so by shifting focus to the subjective aspects of subordination that populists claim to fix, encouraging the suspension of moral judgement in analyzing cases, and attunes us to the unique features of the diverse contexts in which populisms operate.


title: Expanding the Understanding of Language Mapping

abstract: Language mapping is a cluster of practices surrounding the spatial representation of linguistic information, which has a variety of traditions, associated perspectives, and purposes. As maps are inherently political acts that contain their creators' subjectivities and biases, the way they are made can determine how users view a geographic region and the people within it, which is particularly relevant given that language maps are first and foremost maps of people (Thun, 2010, p.507). While language maps are becoming increasingly widespread in our societies, a marked lack of consensus remains on what language mapping is, who does it, and how it is done. Furthermore, Luebbering, Kolivras, and Prisley (2013, p.383) identify a general lack of guidelines and related infrastructure that enable those involved in the mapping process to reflect on language mapping practices, which is becoming all the more important at a time when technologies have increased the spheres language maps are present in. To address these issues while accounting for emerging language mapping practices and technologies, this dissertation contains two main parts, followed by a section identifying potential future directions for research of this kind. Part 1 is an extended literature review that develops a unified definition of language mapping and its practices by exploring what maps and human language are, and how language and physical space interact with one another. Part 2 is a collection of three studies which propose and demonstrate the use of specific tools for fostering reflection within language mapping, followed by an essay that identifies a particular framework relevant to language mapping—cybercartography—as being of use to Indigenous Language Education. Together, these parts define what language mapping is, offer the means to study its practices more systematically, and identify some future directions in research of this kind, with the intention of advancing language mapping as a cohesive, reflective, and conscientious collection of practices.


title: Artificial Intelligence driven optimal route planning for urban transit

abstract: This thesis proposes an ensemble approach by combining machine learning and deep learning techniques for predicting taxi trips arrival times and predicting shared rides. This research work considers the capabilities of machine learning and deep learning models to predict arrival times and shared rides as an essential aspect of developing an intelligent transportation system offering optimized and efficient ride-sharing schemes. The dataset was made publicly available by the New York City transport, and limousine company (TLC) consisting of roughly 1 million records of New York City green taxi trip data for January, February 2017 and January to June 2019. We compare the results of our ensemble approach and observe that the Linear regression model and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) perform admirably for arrival time prediction while the Capsule Network (CapsNet) provides the best results for ride-sharing prediction. Keywords—Arrival time prediction; Ride-sharing prediction, Machine learning; Deep learning, Ensemble techniques.


title: Classification of Individual Finger Flexions Using Ultrasound Radiofrequency Signals

abstract: The objective of this thesis is to develop a wearable human machine interface (HMI) to classify individual finger flexions using ultrasound. To study the effect that lateral resolution has on the finger classification performance, 127 ultrasound radiofrequency (RF) signals are acquired from a 40 mm width probe. The acquired signals were reconstructed to show an estimated number of 4 - 8 reconstructed RF signals can maintain high accuracies to that of full resolution. The pattern classification pipeline of this study, using a computationally efficient spatial feature extraction method novel ultrasound-based studies, is verified to make accurate finger predictions every 100 ms in time throughout the full finger flexion recordings. Finally, using three 280µm thin wearable ultrasonic sensors attached to the forearm achieved a classification accuracy of 97.5 ± 2.9%. The results of this thesis provide the guidelines to design for wearable HMI applications.


title: Design and Applications of Differentially Private Mechanisms: Adherence to Query Range Constraints and Obfuscation of Facial Images

abstract: Collection and dissemination of data are common tasks motivated by numerous benefits attained through the analysis of rich datasets. Yet many datasets contain sensitive information about individuals which must be duly protected if the data is to be used or shared. Differential privacy is a commonly used disclosure control method for protecting sensitive information while allowing for queries to be posed on databases. The driving idea behind differential privacy is to use a randomization mechanism to add controlled noise to query responses in order to provide a guarantee on the distinguishability between potential configurations of the underlying sensitive data. In this thesis, we focus on two major topics relating to the design and application of differentially private mechanisms. In the first, we focus on the design of mechanisms which employ a range of noisy responses matched to the range of the query posed on the database. Adherence to the range of the query offers the potential for improved utility in a mechanism, yet attaining improved utility in a manner which preserves the differential privacy guarantee is not straightforward. We propose two different approaches to the design of range-adherent mechanisms, one of which is based on the use of a truncated and normalized Laplace distribution, while the other employs linear programming. The second major topic of the thesis covers the application of differential privacy for the obfuscation of facial identity in images. Often, depiction of identity in images may be seen as a breach of privacy, yet the preservation of other information in the images may be desirable. We propose a framework for the application of a distance-based generalization of differential privacy via generative models for images. We provide details on the configuration of a mechanism to achieve a differentially private guarantee in this setting and show how to achieve photo-realistic obfuscated images through the use of various generative models. Within both topics of our work, we implement our proposed approaches and analyze the results of experimental comparisons between our work and other relevant approaches from the literature. We demonstrate improvements in the utility of obfuscated data achieved via our methods.


title: Transfer Learning for Fuzzy Actor-Critic Learning via Fuzzy Rule Transfer

abstract: Reusing knowledge from previous experience to accelerate learning is the central idea in transfer learning. This notion also applies to reinforcement learning where the agents acquire knowledge via interacting with the environment. In this thesis, we explore transfer learning in the fuzzy reinforcement learning domain, particularly in the environment of differential games. We present a novel approach to transfer knowledge between similar tasks which use the Fuzzy Actor Critic Learning (FACL) algorithm. Specifically, we propose a fuzzy rule transfer (FRT) method to map fuzzy rules between source and target tasks.


title: Evaluating the Impacts of Supply and Demand-Side Interventions in Northern Remote and Rural Community Energy Systems

abstract: Remote and rural communities located across Canada face several energy system related concerns such as high heating and electricity rates, dependence on imported energy, and low levels of energy security and autonomy. In recent years, significant progress has been made with regards to developing demand and supply-side technology-based interventions that allow remote and rural communities to address these problems in a manner that is both economically viable and environmentally sound. Two prominent interventions that fall within these categories are building-based envelope energy retrofits and biomass driven district heating grids. This research explores the potential benefits and tradeoff of these interventions when implemented in Canada's northern remote and rural communities. The MoCreebec Eeyoud indigenous community of Moose Factory, Ontario is used as the case study in the analysis.


title: Canopies and Catwalks: An Architectural Intervention of the Calgary Stampede Grounds

abstract: This thesis argues that there is a disconnect between exhibition space and daily life within Calgary, Alberta. The proposed design will be an intervention into Calgary's oldest exhibition space, the Calgary Stampede Grounds. While the site is host to numerous annual events, in its current state it is uninviting and underutilized considering its proximity to downtown Calgary. As an intervention the intention of this project is not to disrupt the integral programs of the site. Buildings that include The Saddledome, large event and conference buildings and the Calgary Stampede's Grandstand are important pieces of Calgary's identity. Rather, the intervention will focus on a form of urban densification, renewing the site and creates an inviting space for Calgarians to enjoy everyday. By attracting visitors to the site on a broader scale, the Calgary Stampede Grounds will become a destination for both daily life and Calgary's largest events.


title: Non-Cooperative and Cooperative Caching Schemes for Vehicular Networks

abstract: We propose novel proactive caching schemes for minimizing the communication latency in VANETs under freeway and city mobility models. The main philosophy that underlies these schemes is to exploit information that may be available a priori for vehicles' demands and mobility patterns. We consider two paradigms: cooperative, wherein multiple Roadside Units (RSUs) collaborate to expedite the transfer of information to the intended user, and non-cooperative, wherein each RSU operates independently of other RSUs in the network. To develop the proposed schemes, for each of the considered models we formulate optimization problems that expose the impact of velocity and direction of the vehicle on the optimal caching decision. Unfortunately, the developed formulations are NP-hard. To circumvent this difficulty, we use the insight developed through the optimization framework to develop practical caching algorithms, which are shown to yield close-to-optimal solutions.


title: The Role of Regulations in Decisions Regarding the Transition to Organic, Biodynamic, and Sustainable Agricultural Productions:  The Case of Niagara Vineyards

abstract: There is a myriad of motivations and barriers that influence agricultural producers to adopt ecologically-sound management practices. Therefore, this research aims to explore vintners' motivations to adopt organic, biodynamic, and sustainable practices in the Niagara region. This research also investigates what the challenges are in the transition process, and whether the regulations facilitate or hinder producers from completing the transition. This research employs a survey of regulations, semi-structured interviews, and online questionnaires to acquire data on vintners' experiences. The results conclude that Niagara's wineries are motivated to adopt ecologically-sound management practices due to environmental, social, and economic reasons. The results also indicate that there is a paradox of sustainability among organic, biodynamic, and sustainable producers on which practice is considered environmentally friendly. Lastly, the findings reveal that the wineries did not encounter severe challenges during transition, however, they note that the regulatory requirements and certification process need to improve.