title: Using Machine Learning to Detect Architectural Integrity Violations Associated with Bugs

abstract: Recent years have seen a surge of research into the impact architectural relations among files have on software maintainability and file bug-proneness. In particular, a set of rules for determining recurring design flaws associated with bugs has been proposed. In the present thesis we have investigated if machine learning can be used to advance the research on software architecture analysis and, specifically, on pinpointing architectural issues which may be the root causes of elevated bug- and change-proneness. In the case study of the Tiki open source project, we have been able to replicate three of the six known types of such architectural integrity violations and discover one new type, the Reverse Unstable Interface pattern. We have also demonstrated that one has to consider a mixture of local and global relationships in architectural bug detection and, contrary to common practice, should not disregard occasional co-changing of the two files as noise.


title: Reconstruction of a Radioactive Source Distribution using a Tomographic Spatial-unfolding Method with Compton Gamma Imager Measurements

abstract: Advanced detection and reconstruction techniques are utilized to characterize the distribution of radioactive materials in radiological safety and security operations. Most radioactive materials can be detected through their gamma-ray emissions. There may arise circumstances in which the measurement of these gamma rays must be made from behind a pre-established perimeter, however. To address this, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and the National Research Council Canada (NRC) have jointly developed novel Compton gamma imaging technology for use in safety and security applications. Compton gamma imaging utilizes the physics of Compton scattering to locate gamma-ray sources, making the technology well-suited to localization at a distance from the suspected source. A fast tomographic reconstruction method has been developed for use with Compton gamma imaging measurements to provide rapid, in situ source localization. For a more precise o ine reconstruction of the data, a spatial unfolding technique has also been developed that  ts the observed experimental tomogram with tomographicresponse templates produced by Monte Carlo simulation of spatially-localized sources of radioactivity. These methods have been applied to two sets of experimental data using measurements acquired with the detector developed by NRCan and the NRC. In one experiment, measurements of a Cs-137 point source were acquired in a laboratory setting. In a second experiment, measurements of a spatially-extended La-140 source were acquired in realistic outdoor operational conditions. The tomographic reconstruction of the sources takes only minutes and demonstrates good localization capability. The spatial-unfolding method shows good localization of experimentally-measured sources but underestimates their activity, while accurately recovering the activity of synthetic sources. The underestimation of experimentally-measured source activities is ascribed to limitations in the simulated representation of the detector response and environmental terrain not included in the simulated world. The simple tomographic reconstruction method will be useful in guiding radiological safety and security operations in near real-time. The post-process unfolding method will further be useful in informing follow-on consequence management operations and remediation activities.


title: Respect, Acknowledge, Enhance. Towards an Ethics of Adaptive Reuse; Critiquing the Adaptive Reuse of an Ottawa Monastery

abstract: Adaptive reuse is a type of architectural intervention that changes the use of a building, thereby extending its life. This thesis critiques the 1993 intervention on the Monastère des Adoratrices du Précieux-Sang that saw the monastery adapted into the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. The building is in Ottawa, and the intervention was completed by Murray and Murray Architects. The design process for the 1993 intervention is recreated through this critique, demonstrating a methodological approach for understanding when unable to visit places in person. The process postulates how the architects undertook an intervention that respects and acknowledges the history, while enhancing the place for its future use. The nuances of monastic design are revealed. The text explores how the existing fabric was privileged and how new elements were sensitively introduced. The ethical adaptive reuse demonstrates how architects can elaborate the value of places through skillful design.


title: Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 5 Negative Allosteric Modulation Effects on Microglia Phenotype

abstract: Microglia are the resident immunocompetent cells of the central nervous system (CNS). They are extremely plastic and are critical for neurogenesis, circuit structure and function, and play a crucial role in early synapse formation. It is thought that metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) plays a role in the modulation of microglial phenotype. In this thesis, we assessed the impact of the mGluR5 acting negative allosteric drug, (2-chloro-4-[2[2,5-dimethyl-1-[4-(trifluoromethoxy) phenyl] imidazol-4-yl] ethynyl] pyridine (CTEP), alone and the context of the inflammatory endotoxin, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) upon BV2 cells. This was done to assess if mGluR5 plays a role in microglia phenotype modulation. It was found that LPS has an effect on the expression of mGluR5, but otherwise did not have a significant impact upon other markers. This thesis is a starting point for future studies that seek to determine the role of mGluR5 glutamatergic signaling upon microglial phenotype.


title: TLS Performance Evaluation in the Control Plane of a 5G Core Network Slice

abstract: 3GPP has recommended 5G providers adopt TLS. It is imperative to study the impact of TLS on 5G control plane traffic. This study aims to study different TLS cipher suites impact on network performance parameters such as packet size, time, and the number of messages sent in distinct 5G control flows. We emulated a 5G core network slice using an open-source project and measured the overhead on the network parameters while 5G slice components transmit control plane traffic on both cases of TLS and no TLS. We examined the impact of different cipher suites of TLS namely, AES128-GCM-SHA256, AES256-GCM-SHA384, and 3DES-EDE-CBC-SHA with key exchange algorithms of RSA (Public Key Encryption) and Elliptic Curve Diffie Hellman Ephemeral (ECDHE) on the NF registration with NRF, UE registration, and PDU session establishment. We extended the analysis to TL1.3 and TLS 1.2 overhead using the same cipher suite (AES128-GCM-SHA256) on the NF registration procedure


title: Braindancing Through the Mainstream: Intelligent Dance Music as Popular Music

abstract: Artists associated with the concept of 'intelligent dance music' (IDM) maintain their underground identity while also benefitting from the commercial and celebrity elements inherent in mainstream popular music culture. In this thesis, I use the theory of subcultural capital to critically examine perceived notions of authenticity in IDM artists' identities and associated fandoms by exploring the ideological boundaries that separate the 'mainstream' from the 'underground'. To do so, I have adapted the theory of subcultural capital by replacing the term 'conversion' with 'translation' to more accurately describe how members of music subcultures work to maintain a fluid relationship with popular culture and keep their 'authentic' subcultural status.


title: From Condoms to Antiretrovirals: A Posthumanist Performative Account of Men Who Have Sex with Men’s (MSM) Condomless Sexual Practices

abstract: Recent biomedical advances in the field of HIV prevention and treatment, including Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and Treatment as Prevention (TasP), have shifted meanings of "risk" and "safety" concerning gay and other men who have sex with men's (MSM) sexual practices, particularly around "barebacking" or condomless sex. However, public health research continues to be based on the paradigm that gay men misbehave and misuse technologies such as PrEP and TasP to engage in barebacking. Public health discourses frame MSM as culpable for the effects of HIV technologies, reinforcing dominant (neoliberal) narratives of individual autonomy and risk behaviour. The purpose of this thesis is to challenge these assumptions. By mobilising analytic frameworks from posthumanist performative theories emphasising the active, dynamic, and agentic nature of material and discursive forces, I consider how advances in HIV prevention actively participate in shaping MSM's sexual practices and culture. I examine the impacts of HIV biomedical knowledge and technologies on MSM's conceptualisations of sexual risk, responsibility, morality, and stigma. Drawing on MSM's accounts from online forum posts and in-depth qualitative interviews on the effects of PrEP and TasP, I argue that gay men creatively incorporate harm reduction measures, including biomedical technologies, into their sexual practices, engendering possibilities for condomless sex to become "safer," empowering, and more pleasurable. This study destabilises the conception of condomless sex as always "risky" and "intentional" by recognising that barebacking practices emerge as complex and multiple—simultaneously safe/unsafe, premeditated/unplanned, and rational/irrational. This work enriches social science's contributions to HIV research by developing a theorised account of the complex considerations taken by gay men in assessing risk through the incorporation of HIV knowledge and biotechnologies. I also contribute to a conceptual rethinking of agency and responsibility beyond human subjects in the materialisation of condomless sexual practices, acknowledging the implication of human and nonhuman forces, including HIV science and public health, in producing a wide variety of effects associated with HIV treatment and prevention technologies.


title: Performance Analysis of the Jason Reasoning Cycle

abstract: Jason is a popular interpreter of AgentSpeak(L) that provides an environment to develop and run autonomous agents. We are interested in determining if Jason can be used to develop autonomous robots that can be run on modern hardware. To this end, we determined the time complexity of each of the ten steps of the Jason reasoning cycle and used that complexity to help us identify what parameters could be changed to have the biggest effect on the execution time of the reasoning cycle. We also generate a model to predict future performance. We validate this model using three different case studies, comparing the predicted execution times to those we measure. We find that our developed model consistently predicted an execution time one order of magnitude higher than the measured execution time for each case study. We further find that, using modern hardware, Jason provides a suitable environment for autonomous robots.


abstract: Bolshevizing Britain in the Interwar Imagination interprets the emergence of anti-Bolshevik popular fiction (also known as Red fiction) in Britain as manifesting a range of responses to the perceived "lessons" of the Great War. It argues that these responses foreground two opposing interpretations of the Great War in Britain: on the one hand, a militarist interpretation justifying the use of military power to quell labour unrest in Britain after the war; and on the other, an anti-militarist argument advocating for the preservation of peace as the only course of action to ensure Britain's long-term survival. Examining the novels of four British popular fiction writers (H. C. McNeile's Bull-Dog Drummond (1920) and The Black Gang (1922), Emerson C. Hambrook's The Red-Tomorrow (1920), Edward Shanks's The People of the Ruins (1920), and J. D. Beresford's Revolution (1921)), this dissertation identifies the figure of the ex-serviceman in this body of literature as a focal point for discussions of Bolshevism and revolution. In their depiction of ex-servicemen, these novels adapt conventions of archetypal romantic heroism to suit a period wherein heroes were imagined as returning from rather than leaving for war. Bolshevizing Britain moves away from assessments of early interwar British anti-Bolshevik fiction as a static set of conventions, reconsidering this body of work for the wealth of information it offers on conservative responses to labour unrest in interwar Britain. In the years shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution (1917), the possibility of an English revolution modelled on the Russian revolutionary context was still plausible. This possibility made one of the central questions of the time in Britain—"How to address labour and political unrest in the United Kingdom?"—inseparable from cultural debates over the long-term sociopolitical consequences of employing military measures to ensure British hegemony. Bolshevizing Britain shows how the anti-Bolshevism of these novels emerges precisely at the point of contact between the authors' portrayals of ex-servicemen as vessels for ideological contributions to these cultural debates over militarism, and the authors' imaginative reinvention of prewar generic conventions to fit the cultural mood of early interwar Britain.


title: Chironomid-based paleotemperature reconstruction of the North Slave Region, Northwest Territories during the Late Holocene

abstract: I reconstructed late Holocene mean July air temperatures using a chironomid-based inference model based on lake sediment collected from two shallow lakes within the North Slave Region, Northwest Territories. No significant shifts were identified in the chironomid species assemblages, which indicated that these lakes experienced very little environmental change over the last approximately 500 years. Discrepancies were identified between the chironomid-temperature records which may be due to site-specific catchment characteristics obscuring the regional chironomid-temperature signal. The significant Chan Lake temperature reconstruction had similar late Holocene climate events as other regional climate records, such as brief warming events throughout the 1700s and the current warming trend (~ 1850 - present day). A paleofire-climate analysis was also conducted, however, there was no relationship between reconstructed fire events and warmer chironomid inferred mean-July air temperatures. These findings contribute to the characterization of environmental change in Subarctic lakes of northwestern Canada.


title: Your Retailer Needs You: Retaillance and its Marketing Implications

abstract: Retaillance is surveillance in a brick-and-mortar retail setting. In today's competitive landscape, retailers have moved beyond using surveillance practices and technologies for security reasons to using them to compete for consumers' personal and shopping data, even if this information is not voluntarily reported. Retaillance raises ethical questions regarding the differences between the public and the private spheres. Using a pragmatic mixed research methods design that includes an MTurk survey and semi-structured interviews, this exploratory research examines the different retaillance channels and systems, and explores retail consumers' awareness of the presence and scope of retaillance and of the relevant laws and regulations, consumers' behavioural reaction towards retaillance, and the attitudinal and behavioural outcomes of using various surveillance technologies in retailing. Demonstrating the multiplicity and complexity of influences, this research brings together past research by leading scholars from the fields of marketing, consumer behaviour, political science, communications, media studies, science studies, war studies, law, cultural studies, sociology, criminology, and literature. This research has various contributions. Conceptually, it integrates extant literature, synthesizes prior studies, provides definitional clarity and creates a conceptual retaillance model that works as a roadmap and opens new avenues for future research. Theoretically, it embraces a multidisciplinary perspective by borrowing theories from other disciplines and integrating them to reveal novel insights when looking at retaillance, offers a new theoretical model, and reconciles contradictory reactions to surveillance. In addition, foreseen contributions encompass helping scholars, retail managers, consumers, and policy makers gain a better understanding of the impact of both traditional surveillance and smart retail technologies on consumer behaviour in a brick-and-mortar setting.


title: Normalism and Legal Representation in Canadian Art

abstract: In this thesis, I consider a 2014 Supreme Court hearing involving the National Gallery of Canada and CARFAC-RAAV, our nation's preeminent artists' advocacy group. It is my proposition that CARFAC-RAAV's success in the hearing, which legally required the National Gallery to pay mandatory minimum fees to exhibiting artists, is part of a process of reification of an artistic productivism. Theoretical considerations build toward this conclusion focusing on the study of the antithetical tendencies of the legal and artistic orders. I argue that the former is based on a predilection for continuity and permanence, the latter on reflexivity and a certain anomalistic acceptance of things anew. When these two orders meet in the event of the hearing, a juridical rigidity of value and vision finds mooring in the artistic field. In this case, law becomes one important sinew of normalism in the Canadian artistic field.


title: Hard to Believe: The Unreliabilty of Eyewitness Testimony

abstract: At the turn of the century, psychologists started to discover that eyewitness testimony was not as reliable as once thought. The findings have largely remained unincorporated into the legal process, resulting in miscarriages of justice. Drawing on the psychological research, and a reliabilist framework of doxastic justification, the author derives a sample set of epistemic norms to replace our unscientific colloquial norms; arguing that empirically backed norms, in addition to addressing legal injustices, would also go a long way towards addressing epistemic injustices.


title: Integrating gender and cultural perspectives in Canada’s Professional Military Education: transforming military culture through informed leadership

abstract: This dissertation investigates and invests in the possibility for feminist transformational change within militaries as well as the potential for militaries to be 'forces for good.' The research considers whether militaries can contribute to feminist progress and work towards the cultural inclusion of diverse members within militaries due to personnel's exposure to gender and cultural perspectives within Professional Military Education. The project narrows its investigation to the mid-to-senior graduate level education of Canadian military officers within the Joint Command and Staff Programme at Canadian Forces College. It applies post-modern feminist, intersectional and militarized masculinities theories to understand the military learning environment and to analyze the inclusion and reception of critical theory by military learners. The research draws on contemporary pedagogic literature to make recommendations for optimizing learning environments and professional competencies to facilitate inclusive security and organizational culture change. Acknowledging the context of dominant masculinist and white centering constructions of military identity and socialization, this investigation asks: To what extent are gender and cultural perspectives integrated into mid-to-senior level Canadian Professional Military Education? If and in what ways military socialization and culture shape the learning environment and the reception of this education? Finally, if and in what ways such learning has facilitated feminist transformations in the military and beyond? The research draws from a critical discourse analysis of six semi-structured focus groups across military and civilian educators, curriculum developers, librarians, and students as well as 8 in-depth interviews with military students before graduation and 8 follow-up in-depth interviews with military graduates after at least three months in command and/or staff positions. The study's sociological approach illuminates lived experiences with teaching and learning across staff and students. Findings of the research ultimately highlight that while limited, exposure to gender and cultural perspectives, including critical feminist and anti-racist theories and frameworks has had positive professional effects. Graduate respondents report being better able to think critically about security, operations, institutional policy, and leadership, as well as institutional systems, structures, and culture. Some report being empowered by these concepts to facilitate inclusive security domestically and abroad and to advance organizational culture change.


title: Continuous Artery Monitoring Based on Decomposition of Ultrasound Radiofrequency Signals

abstract: Ultrasound can noninvasively monitor the mechanical and dynamical properties of the artery. Scattering and overlap of adjacent tissue boundary echoes with those from the artery wall affect the estimation accuracy of the artery properties and impede continuous and automatic monitoring. Decomposition of the ultrasound radiofrequency (RF) signals using matching pursuit with particle swarm optimization is proposed to isolate the echoes arising from the tissue boundaries of the carotid artery wall for subsequent estimation of the wall thickness and diameter changes during the cardiac cycle. The proposed method exhibited less variance in the estimation of artery wall thickness when compared to manual estimation by a clinical method. Artery wall motion tracking by the proposed method was more robust compared to tracking achieved through the conventional cross-correlation technique when applied to the ultrasound RF signals from a wearable ultrasound sensor that contain a high volume of scattering echoes.


title: Awareness of an Adaptive E-learning Agent: Exploring Effects on User Experience

abstract: The evolution of adaptive Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents within e-learning plat- forms continues to be pervasive, but little is known about how user awareness of the system can change perception or behaviour. This thesis puts forth the notion that awareness of an AI agent system within an e-learning system can affect learning out- comes. Using a flashcard-based website with an adaptive AI agent, participants were placed in either an unaware Control group or a Test group who were aware of how the AI agent worked. Participants were tested on their Spanish understanding before and after using the website, as well as other factors. The results indicate that those who were aware of the AI system had worse learning outcomes compared to the un- aware group. The results suggest that there can be changes in user learning based on awareness of a system's adaptive AI agent.


title: India’s Relationship to the Global Refugee Regime: a legal and historical analysis of the conceptualization of refugeehood

abstract: Amidst the myriad viewpoints and perspectives that animate discussions on forced migration, the greatest challenge for academics and policymakers, continues to be the relevance and applicability of pre-existing international frameworks that were established to afford protection to people of concern, and the broader implications such challenges have on the global refugee regime. My doctoral dissertation is a study of some of the gaps associated with the global refugee regime and the historical development of refugee protection India, which remains minimally researched. The project identifies India as an alternate location of practice with respect to refugee protection. The dissertation also studies the notion of 'resistance' with respect to India's relationship to international refugee law mechanisms by pitting it against the existing global narrative of 'deviance' that has often been attached to states that are non-signatories of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. With the help of this study, my project will present the first steps towards a new place for discourse on forced migration research. With the help of detailed archival analysis, the thesis examines the subcontinent's practice of refugee protection that deviates from Eurocentric norms. The archival analysis demonstrates that several groups of people have sought refuge in India and the practice of extending sanctuary to such groups has essentially reconstructed refugeehood in India. The thesis provides first steps towards a cross-sectional model of refugee and forced migration research, which makes it crucial to not only move from the rudimentary definitions of a refugee, but also to identify alternate locations of practice. In summary, the thesis is a combination of exploring the 'cacophony of definitions' of refugeehood in India and an examination of look at how the refugee label has evolved over a period of time. Given India's disillusionment with the international refugee framework, the thesis explores the 'general perceptions and views' on refugeehood that have existed historically. Finally, the thesis explores how all of this has manifested into a form of ad-hoc 'practice' of refugee protection and find out whether it has been used consistently or in an interest-based and privileged manner.


title: Reading Subject, The Problematic and The Outcasts: A Semiotic Model of Ideology & The Ideo-Material Subject

abstract: Are we just products of our conditions? Are we masters of our reality? Or, perhaps, we are active in our production, but neither product nor master? Up until now most, if not all, models of Ideology and Discourse produce an over-determination of subjectivity or materiality. On the one hand, the subject is inserted as an inert abstraction of their actions or position within a larger relationship of power or production. On the other, they are the holders of a subjectivity from which all of our social reality is materialized. This work will address this issue of over-determination running a semiotic model of Ideology through a general theory of Discourse and will analyze two case studies of Dystopian works published in the early twentieth century to show how the subject interacts with their own conditions of existence. In doing so this thesis presents what is called the Ideo-material subject.


title: The Role of Songs in Intergenerational Transmission of Spanish as a Heritage Language

abstract: While many researchers have established a direct link between language transmission and culture, very few have focused on music as a tool in intergenerational transmission of heritage languages (HL) in linguistic minorities in diaspora. This sociolinguistic and ethnomusicological study examines the role of songs in relation to intergenerational Spanish language transmission by exploring Colombian Canadian families' narratives through the lens of qualitative interpretive methodology. Interrelations between language transmission, songs, culture, and identity in diaspora are examined. Data was collected through interviews and questionnaires. Interviews were analyzed using the general inductive approach. Findings show that songs (a) create an emotional connection to language, culture, and identity (b) serve to transmit and maintain language, culture, and identity (c) serve as language learning tools. Song-listening and singing also play a valuable role in childhood language transmission by supporting parental efforts. Findings have implications for HL programmes focusing on familial transmission and music education.


title: Dirtbags and Bougie Boats: Precarity, Authenticity, and Experiences with Nature Among the Young Middle-Class

abstract: This paper explores how members of the young middle-class create, maintain, and challenge conceptualizations of authenticity, emotional management, and feelings of precarity through encounters with nature. My participants were young, middle-class white-water kayakers in and around the Ottawa area. However, almost all my participants have travelled around the country and nearby by northern states of America to engage in different white-water runs prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, and most had travelled to three or more countries to engage with experiences with nature or wilderness. My research found that the young middle-class use experiences with nature in complex and sometimes contradictory ways. Rather then simply as an escape, often experiences with nature are used to both challenge and affirm their identity status. However, there exists tension between feelings of authenticity, precarity, and the joy of experiences with nature and the drive towards career success and traditional middle-class values.


title: Illuminating the Historical Ecology of Polar Bears (Ursus Maritimus) from the Lancaster Sound Subpopulation, Nunavut, using Stable Isotope Analysis

abstract: Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are among the Arctic species that are most threatened by climate change. However, little is known about the ecology of polar bears over extended temporal intervals (>50 years). The goal of my thesis is to determine whether historic polar bears from the Lancaster Sound subpopulation underwent ecological shifts in response to a changing Arctic climate throughout the 20th century (1920s-1970s) using stable isotope analysis. Historic polar bears did not undergo significant dietary shifts, remaining apex predators. The consistent reliance on seals and whales as their primary prey indicates continued access to optimal hunting conditions (i.e., sea ice). There is evidence that suggests environmental changes occurred from 1950-1970. This thesis offers novel insights into the historical ecology of polar bears, and provides a long-term isotopic baseline for polar bear ecology that will enable future studies to assess ongoing ecological changes of modern polar bears.


title: Characterization and Design Optimization of Periodic Cellular Solids for Optimal Bone Ingrowth in Osseointegration Implants.

abstract: The use of micro-architectured truss-like lattice materials to improve implant osseointegration is getting more attention beyond spinal fusion. Therefore, the main goal of this research is to define the optimal lattice microscopic parameters to maximize bone ingrowth, for fusion spinal cages. A mechano-regulatory model is implemented numerically, to determine the fraction of void space within a structure and the lattice structure that receives optimal stimulation for bone ingrowth. The model was used to replicate previous in silico and in vivo results and showed very good agreement when comparing the different lattice topologies, unit cell orientation, microscopic strut cross-section shape as well as strut size. Characterization of the performance of lattice materials, relevant for osseointegration, is conducted for fourteen unit cell topologies, with ten relative densities, under four axial loadings. Results suggested that Diamond, X-Shape, Tesseract and Rhombic Dodecahedron with horizontal orientation provide the best biomechanical environment.


title: Experience Sharing on Social Networking Sites: A Glimpse into the Process, Benefits, and Drawbacks of Curated Experiences

abstract: This study seeks to gain a greater understanding of why individuals choose to share select experiences social networking sites and how the sharing of such experiences shapes their overall personal brand. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 individuals within the Millennial and Generation Z cohorts who had travelled in the last two years. The interviews were analyzed using an interpretivist epistemological approach. Impression Management Theory, Personal Branding Theory, and Critical Visual Methodology Theory, as well as constructs such as 'staged authenticity' and image framing were used to identify themes and categorize processes. Findings suggest that the process of posting involves all four sites of Critical Visual Methodology Theory and that pictures shared online are strongly influenced by Kodak. Professional and personal benefits and drawbacks of experience sharing are explored in detail. To conclude, there is a discussion of the research limitations and suggestions for future research.


title: Co-developing Openness: Indigenous Knowledge and Data Governance and Open Science in Canada

abstract: Open science (OS) is a movement towards making the scientific process, and its outputs, more transparent, accessible, inclusive, and credible, and has become a Government of Canada mandate. But how does OS impact Indigenous knowledge and data governance (IKDG)? Indigenous knowledge and data challenge typical data norms in how they are collected, used, disseminated, and governed. OS research may include Indigenous knowledge, data, and/or information. In this light, in this master's thesis I aim to answer the following research question: How do the ideals of data, information, and knowledge governance, compare with those of open science, and is Indigenous open science possible? I conduct a literature review, semi-structured interview with a First Nation Elder, and comparative content analysis, and analyze the goals, objectives, standards, and knowledge governance practices of OS and IKDG. I argue that an OS framework should be co-developed to prioritize Indigenous knowledge and data governance.


title: An Initial-Value Problem For Vortex Rossby Waves On A Beta-Plane

abstract: In this thesis, an initial value problem is presented and we consider the problem analytically. We define a vortex with a circular motion in a configuration for an inviscid fluid flow on a horizontal plane under the influence of the Coriolis force. We consider a wave generated by a specified initial condition which gives an initial value problem. We obtain a nonlinear equation which we solve by looking for a perturbation series solution. The nonlinear wave interactions give rise to a wave-induced mean flow component, which modifies the background vortex flow, as well as a higher wavenumber component. We also find additional terms with a wavenumber of one which represents the beta-gyre effect.


title: Language Identification in Iran

abstract: For many years scholars have endeavoured to define what a language is and address how it is different from other types of language varieties such as dialect and accent. Some studies identify language varieties based on their structural similarity, focusing on the lexical similarity, and the phonological, morphological and syntactic properties. Others adopt a functional approach and focus on the degree to which speakers of language varieties "…can understand each other based on knowledge of their own language variety without needing to learn the other language variety, at a functional level" (Eberhard et al., 2021, p.1). Some studies address language identification issues following an ethnographic approach. These studies investigate language as a communicative behavior used by members of a particular culture (Hymes, 1989). Finally, studies which adopt a folk linguistic approach to language underline the linguistic perspectives of folk (non-specialists). Available studies in the field of Iranian linguistics adopt a predominantly structural approach to identify different types of language varieties. Given this imbalance in the literature, this dissertation chronicles the development of a measurement tool in the context of an exploratory mixed methods research project. Based on available literature, initial qualitative study results and an expert panel's views, I developed a sociolinguistic questionnaire. Following rigorous steps in questionnaire validation (Hinkin, 1998), I validated this questionnaire with 5 components and 21 statements. To treat folk perspectives as meaningful in their own right alongside the perspectives of scholars, this questionnaire investigated the linguistic perspectives of participants from a cross-section of speech communities in Iran. The questionnaire further identified the parameters associated with these perspectives in defining and differentiating different types of language varieties. Results indicated that parameters including language variety status, extent of mutual intelligibility and shared words between language varieties, and standardized writing systems were the parameters which statistically significantly influenced Iranian folk perspectives. Perspectives regarding the relevance of urban vs. rural geography and number of speakers were heterogeneous. Results further showed that in language identification, the participants' education, prior formal knowledge of linguistics, and mother tongue predicted 53% of the variation in their linguistic perspectives among the sample population.


title: Toward a Comprehensive Postgraduate Surgical Training Program in Saudi Arabia

abstract: Residency training is a crucial building block for teaching clinical, academic, and professional skills to practice safe and reliable medicine; however, examining the outcome of various training programs has received minimal attention from leading postgraduate medical education journals. Linking the apparent association between surgical training approaches with the quality of postoperative patient outcomes is nearly non-existent. This three-paper dissertation examines the empirical association between the postgraduate surgical training approaches and patient outcomes, using Canada and Saudi Arabia as the two countries of interest. It also examines the influence of hospital center as a confounding variable (case volume, board certification, hospital size), and cost-effectiveness created as a result of being treated by a Saudi surgeon who completed his/ her postgraduate training in Canada vs. postgraduate surgical training in Saudi Arabia, in current Saudi Riyals, which amounts to 9,904,512 Saudi riyals annually in reduction of postoperative complications for fifteen surgeries per month in favor of the Canadian training system. The final paper proposes a quality improvement framework to improve training in postgraduate surgical training programs and in all postgraduate health training programs within the Kingdom. The First Paper analyses the difference in patient outcomes based on the empirical association between two surgical approaches administered in two different countries, Canada and Saudi Arabia, and the influence of hospital center characteristics, using a multi-variant logistic regression analysis. Evidence collected from patient files was analyzed and showed that there are, in fact, differences in patient outcomes based on the board certification training process in favor of the Canadian training system in Cardiac surgery only when factoring in the organizational effect. The Second Paper analyses the incremental cost-effectiveness of training Saudi surgeons nationally vs. training them in Canada. Evidence shows that Canadian-trained Saudi surgeons were more cost-effective in neurosurgery. The Third Paper uses a multi-institutional qualitative method approach to identify key factors that need to be improved in postgraduate medical and surgical programs within Saudi Arabia. Key findings of this paper indicate that the training process's governance was the most crucial aspect that needs to be improved within the postgraduate medical and surgical training programs.


title: Beauty from Senselessness: Searching for Signals of Beyond the Standard Model Physics in a Complex World.

abstract: In this thesis I explore a collection of disparate approaches in the search for new physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). The research here focuses on the potentially interesting signals that BSM physics could produce; the result is a combination of model building, cosmology, collider physics, and gravitational waves. The signals of the new physics are determined and used to discuss both the discovery potential of next-generation experiments and the parameter space bounds from current collaborations. There are three projects that make up the core of the research presented here. The first of these explores the possibility of detecting gravitational waves generated by first-order phase transitions in multiple dark sectors. The cosmological history of this framework is outlined and the gravitational wave profiles are generated. These profiles are checked against projections of next-generation gravitational wave experiments, demonstrating that multiple hidden sectors can indeed produce unique gravitational wave signatures that will be probed by these future experiments. Next up is a study of one of the simplest extensions to the SM: a light Higgs portal scalar. Such a particle could be abundantly produced in the earth's atmosphere and decay in large-volume neutrino detectors. I point out that the Hyper Kamiokande detector bears a strong discovery potential of probing such particles in an uncharted parameter space that is explored by intensity frontier experiments including rare kaon decays. This search can be generalized to other new light states and is highly complementary to beam experiments. Finally, I explore models of new physics that can give rise to large enhancements to the rate of Higgs decay to Z-gamma while still being consistent with other measurements. I show that this is impossible in simple models with one additional multiplet, and also in well motivated models such as the MSSM and folded SUSY. I do find models with several multiplets that carry electroweak charge where such an enhancement is possible, but they require destructive interference effects. I also show that kinematic measurements in Higgs decay to four leptons can be sensitive to such models. Finally, I explore the sensitivity of four lepton measurements to supersymmetric models.


title: Olfactory determinants of rat pup locomotion

abstract: Home cage odors, of which maternal droppings' odor comprises a central element, influenced locomotion in the day 15 laboratory rat even in the presence of its mother. In contrast, weanling age pups were mostly indifferent to these odors. In environments devoid of home cage odors, the day 15 pup locomoted little. However, when home cage bedding odor, or maternal fecal odor was presented to the isolated pup, or when the pup was placed on thoroughly disturbed home cage bedding, high rates of locomotion ensued. Clean bedding material elicited intermediate locomotor activity. These differences between groups exposed to various odor and bedding conditions were time-dependent -- strongest initially and decaying thereafter. Whereas initial contact with disturbed home cage bedding produced high velocity locomotion, isolation in the undisturbed home cage energized a strikingly different behavioral profile, with locomotion rare and vigorous digging predominating. These findings were interpreted under the rubric of strategies for dealing with threat given the pup's vulnerability, use of olfactory information and separation from the nest.


title: Evaluation of Seismic Behaviour of Hollow Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Piles using Shake Table Testing

abstract: This study aimed at investigating the seismic performance of hollow FRP piles compared to traditional piles in fine sand and soft clay deposits using shaking table tests. A laminar shear box with a dimension of 1.0 m × 1.0 m and a depth of 1.0 m was employed to contain the soil medium and allow the soil to respond in the same fashion as the free field. Two types of composite group piles (2×2) made of Carbon Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) and Glass Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) along with a series of Aluminium piles were manufactured and embedded as frictional and end-bearing piles within the soil. Several monitoring instruments were used to observe the soil-pile response under variety of ground motions adopted from the 2010 Val-des-Bois Earthquake in Canada and the 1995 Kobe Earthquake. Seismic response of the foundation was strongly dependent on the stiffness provided by the soil, which was a function of the degree of softening and intensity of shaking. In both soil profiles, the foundation motion of model piles was higher than those of the free field under various intensity of input motions (0.02-0.16g). This was attributed to strong interaction between the soil and the foundation, and flexural stiffness of the model piles. However, the frequency content of the amplified motions appeared to be consistent for all model piles.


title: A Tunable Conjoined-Ring Vernier (CRV) TDC with Sub-picosecond Time Resolution and the Correction of Parallel-Output-Misalignment Effects

abstract: The purpose of this thesis was to study the insight of the time-to-digital converter (TDC) technology which is expected to be employed in an all-digital phase-locked loop (ADPLL) frequency (clock) synthesizer application in order to reduce its phase noise (jitter). A novel ring-type TDC architecture and design have been proposed for achieving competitive performances in contrast to the current state-of-the-art literature. A phenomenon called parallel-output misalignment (POM), which intrinsically occurs in every ring-type TDCs like gated ring oscillator (GRO) or Vernier-ring TDCs is analyzed comprehensively. We found that the phase noise caused by POM error may be larger than that due to quantization error (from time resolution characteristic) by up to 22dB or even more. Consequently, the overall phase noise contribution might be dominated by the POM effect rather than the quantization error. This paper proposes a (tunable) conjoined-ring Vernier (CRV) TDC with a POM error correction circuit that can eliminate the POM error and its consequent corruption on phase noise performance, making quantization error being the only contribution of the overall phase noise. Meanwhile, the proposed TDC implementation may maintain competitive performance in terms of fine time resolution (0.8ps) and a flexible large time residual detection range in a 40nm CMOS technology. In addition, a configurable digital control that enables a tuning time resolution (0.8ps~1.1ps) function and achieves a superior sub-pico-second performance has been built up. A freely switchable coarse/fine resolution scheme has been realized so as to achieve the best figure of merit considering both resolution performance and power consumption. The proposed Partial Conjoined-Ring Vernier TDC design and the corresponding circuit have been approved and issued by US Patent Office in 2018.


title: A Before-After Control-Impact Assessment of Gravel Washing as a Lacustrine Spawning Habitat Restoration Method for Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus dolomieu)

abstract: Smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) spawn on clean sand and gravel in the littoral zone of lakes, which may become degraded by the presence of fine sediments and decomposing organic matter. Substrate size and composition have been identified as important variables for nest site selection by male bass. I tested whether cleaning substrate with a pressure washer to remove smaller sediment would increase the number of bass nests or the average length of bass nesting in an area the following year using a before-after control-impact design. Treatment was not a significant predictor of nest abundance or average male length. Considering the strength of the experimental design it is reasonable to conclude that this intervention is ineffective in lakes for enhancing spawning substrate for bass. Understanding the factors that maintain productive spawning sites for smallmouth bass is important to restoration effectiveness and determine where habitat enhancement will provide a benefit or not.


title: The Shielding Effectiveness of a Door and Frame Assembly

abstract: Shielding refers to the ability of a material or structure to attenuate electromagnetic waves from one region of space to another. This thesis looks at the design and construction of a door and frame assembly to improve its shielding effectiveness (SE) to meet the minimum specification of 50 dB from 1 GHz to 28 GHz. This is accomplished by first looking at the choice of materials and construction of the assembly. To predict the performance of the design chosen, ANSYS HSSS (EM simulator) is used to look at the SE of the structure in an ideal environment. Shielding effectiveness measurements are performed on a miniaturized version of the design in an anechoic chamber. The performance of the final design is tested at Raymond EMC. This is accomplished by installing the full-size structure in an enclosure rated for 100 dB and performing the SE measurements in accordance with IEEE 299 standard.


title: Fraternity and Governance in Fifteenth-Century English Literature

abstract: In this dissertation, I explore the intersection between fraternity and governance within fifteenth-century English literature, arguing that the familial relationships in these texts go beyond the interpersonal and are used by the authors to think through questions of both self-governance and the governing of the polity. Drawing on methods used by historians of emotions, such as Barbara Rosenwein, I trace the usage of terms indicating brotherhood across a variety of genres (romances, plays, sermons, letters, and wills), and consider the depictions of brothers' behaviours, motivations, and speeches in these texts. This analysis reveals that governance and fraternity are linked in several unique but complementary manners in fifteenth-century England, and that authors utilize fraternal relationships to demonstrate a wide variety of good and bad governance of self and others. In each chapter, I trace the discourses of fraternity within a unique conceptual framework: Scriptural foundations, Classical foundations, the Rise of Arthur, the Fall of Arthur, and finally the Rise of the Gentry. The variety and prominence of discourses of fraternity within the genres and texts studied here demonstrate the power of brotherhood in the cultural imaginary of the period. The authors of these text all grapple with the double-edged sword of fraternity, exploring how characters navigate the complexities of brotherhood. The authors use fraternity as a tool to explore how interpersonal relationships can have a larger impact on the polity around them, proving that fraternity, much like authority, can be used and abused for personal gain, often to the detriment of others.


title: What is it About Organized Sports? Understanding the Associations Between Experiences in Youth Sport and Positive Youth Development

abstract: Research indicates that participation in sport is associated with positive youth development (PYD), yet little is known about the mechanisms within sport that foster these positive outcomes. Existing measures of PYD in sport that are focused on outcomes, represent a mix of causal and outcome factors, and/or are missing potentially valuable experiences. Using the Sport-Based Model of Positive Youth Development (Holt et al., 2017) as a framework, this thesis sought to develop and test a measure of youth experience in sport. Three studies were conducted to achieve this objective. In Study One, N = 9 individuals (aged 13 to 38) participated in interviews about their experiences playing organized youth sports. Using findings from these interviews, literature, and expert review, a three-factor measure of youth experience in sport was developed to assess experiences of goal setting, adversity, and skill development. The factor structure of the Experience in Sport Scale for Youth (ESSY) was then evaluated using exploratory factor analysis in Study Two. With a sample of N = 334 adolescents (Mage = 17.36), a 19-item, three-factor model was retained. In Study Three, experience in sport, as assessed by the ESSY, was incorporated into the Sport-Based Model of PYD and tested as a mediating and a moderating factor in the association between PYD climate and PYD outcomes. A total of N = 453 undergraduate students (Mage = 18.46) completed measures of coach relationships, peer relationships, experiences in sport, and the 5 Cs of PYD. The overall model failed to converge. However, results indicated a significant association between goal setting and PYD outcomes of competence, confidence, character, caring, and connection. Furthermore, skill development was significantly associated with character and caring. Contrary to expectations, adversity was not significantly associated with any of the PYD outcomes. Implications for PYD research and future directions are discussed.


title: Assessing Implicit Evaluative Attitudes Toward Violence in Male Students, Male Community Members, and Men Convicted of Violent Offences

abstract: According to theory and research, evaluative attitudes are considered a central and precipitating factor in behaviour; however, this construct appears less focussed on within the violence literature. Evaluative attitudes can be classified as explicit (assessed with self-report scales) and implicit, often assessed using response latency measures. Some studies have reported a link between implicit evaluative attitudes toward violence, violent behaviour, and risk relevant constructs, whereas others have reported no link. The aim of this dissertation was to modify existing implicit procedures to assess implicit evaluative attitudes toward violence alongside other commonly assessed violent cognitions. Three response latency measures were administered: a traditional Implicit Association Test (IAT), Personalized IAT, and Relational Responding Task. A Pre-test was conducted to determine the optimal categories and stimuli to use for the implicit measures (N = 207 online adult males). The relationships between implicit evaluative attitudes toward violence, explicit evaluative attitudes toward violence, beliefs regarding violence, and violent behaviour were assessed among three samples of adult males: undergraduate students (N = 156) and community members (N = 95; Study 1), men convicted of violent offences (N = 33; Study 2), and community members recruited online (N = 627 and 820; Study 3). Overall, implicit evaluative attitudes toward violence were more strongly related to beliefs regarding violence than explicit evaluative attitudes toward violence. More positive implicit evaluative attitudes toward violence were consistently related to greater likelihood of violence. Explicit evaluative attitudes toward violence and beliefs regarding violence were moderately to strongly associated with one another, as well as violent outcomes. Using regression analyses, implicit evaluative attitudes toward violence consistently explained additional variance in likelihood of violence over explicit/self-report violent cognitions, as well as moderated the relationships between explicit/self-report violent cognitions and some violent outcomes (e.g., likelihood in Studies 1 and 3 and violence risk in Study 2). In Study 3, results from an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) demonstrated that each measure assessed its own cognitive construct regarding violence. Most factors from the EFA were significantly and incrementally related to violent outcomes. These findings will advance understanding of violent cognitions, their assessment, and role in violent behaviour.


title: Cause and Effect: Concept-based Explanation of Neural Networks

abstract: In many scenarios, human decisions are explained based on some high-level concepts. In this work, we take a step in the interpretability of neural networks by examining their internal representation or neuron's activations against concepts. A concept is characterized by a set of samples that have specific features in common. We propose a framework to check the existence of a causal relationship between a concept (or its negation) and task classes. While the previous methods focus on the importance of a concept to a task class, we go further and introduce four measures to quantitatively determine the order of causality. Through experiments, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in explaining the relationship between a concept and the predictive behaviour of a neural network.


title: Strategies in Forming the Speech Act of Refusals of Non-Native English Speakers and Native English Speakers in Entry-Level Customer Service Positions in Canada

abstract: Being able to refuse - decline requests, offers, invitations or suggestions - is necessary in the workplace. Native English speakers (NES) and non-native English speakers (NNES) often use different strategies to form the speech act of refusals (Riddiford & Holmes, 2015). This study investigates the refusal strategies of NESs (n = 5) and NNESs (n = 5) in Canadian customer service. Six role-plays were conducted to determine the refusal strategies of both groups. Stimulated recall interviews (SRI) provided insights into the participants' use of these strategies. Role play analysis show both groups use reason/explanation the most. NES formed successful refusals more often than NNES. During the SRIs NES were concerned about workplace expectations, and the difficulty of refusing while NNES voiced justifications for refusing. SRIs also uncovered that NNES and NES may use the same strategy for different reasons. Pedagogical implications for language learners working in customer service are given.


title: A Language-Oriented Analysis of Situation Awareness in Pilots in High-Fidelity Flight Simulation

abstract: The present research investigates age-related changes in situation awareness (SA) abilities, particularly as it is influenced by the detection and processing of auditory information for general aviation (GA) pilots during a simulated flight. An analysis of radio communication was conducted to determine whether pilot SA is associated with age-related declines in auditory processing and what aspects of messages may contribute to these effects of age. Using auditory tone stimuli, the research also examined at which stages of neural processing do possible age differences occur during flight. Findings showed that aging negatively impacts the integration of aurally presented information into SA efficiency. Additionally, negative age-effects seen in pilot SA abilities may be associated with differences in how information is processed along the auditory neural pipeline. This research is important in informing efforts towards improving aviation safety and further create more inclusive opportunities for older pilots.


title: A Model-Driven Approach to Integrated Cognition

abstract: Cognitive Architectures are used to test theoretical and conceptual frameworks identifying and explaining the underlying components of thought, namely the essential structures, mechanisms, and processes realized through models of human-like information processing. They define and prescribe those boundaries deemed both necessary and sufficient for intelligent agents based on our current understanding of human cognition. The Common Model of Cognition (CMC) attempts to establish a community consensus on theoretical commitments and assumptions built into commonly used architectures, and group the assumptions according to structure and processing, memory, learning, and perceptual interfaces. The CMC remains a verbal-conceptual consensus across broad theories essential for general phenomenon (i.e., a Meta-Model of Cognition), however, lacks a formal specification to support domain-general task model comparisons for evaluation and validation of new theories implemented in new or existing architectures, or specific micro-theoretic implementations as cognitive architecture models and task models. Thus, a lack of a formal model supporting the CMC inhibits exploration of philosophical enquiries about core theoretical assumptions, and the adoption of refined peripheral theories across architectures. This thesis presents a formal meta-model specific to the constraints represented at Newell's Cognitive level using the principles of Model-Driven Design (MDD) to encapsulate these entities and relationships across architectures. This formal model can be used as a framework generator, and to specify the abstract interfaces common across Common Model agents, allowing modelers to explore verbal-conceptual theories through experimentation with virtual environments, further supporting a common ground. Frameworks generated through MDD support an empirical evaluation and comparison of variations on the Common Model for the purpose of application to Artificial Intelligence problem domains, lending additional credibility to computational Cognitive Modeling as a formal discipline, and the Cognitive Science research enterprise as a whole.


title: Post-Pandemia at the Poissonerie Shanahan: An Account of Sick Cities and their Remedies

abstract: An epidemic is not simply biological, but rather a spatial phenomenon that mutates sociopolitical constructions. The mysteries and fears associated with the lurid metaphors of disease have landscaped the city - the typical setting for those thought most susceptible to illness - as though we are looking at "the section of a fibrous tumour." This thesis speculates on the transformations of space and human relation through epidemic scales. Set in the fictional Poissonerie Shanahan in Montreal's Jean Talon Market as envisioned by the Quebecois novel, Nikolski, this research draws parallels between the tools of past urban epidemics and current morphologies as a result of COVID-19. By using fiction as a template to understand the intersections of architecture, urbanism and public health, the thesis chronicles an epidemic representation in order to exercise our empathetic intelligence in the face of a global crisis that has rapidly spatialized blame.


title: Interpolatory Nonlinear Model Order Reduction and its Application in Circuit Simulation

abstract: This thesis presents a new approach to construct parametrized reduced-order models for nonlinear circuits. The reduced model is obtained such that it matches the variations in the DC operating point of the original full circuit in response to variations in several of its key design parameters. The new approach leverages the discrete empirical interpolation approach developed for model reduction in other domains and enables its efficient application to the problem of DC operating point in nonlinear circuits. Utilizing the idea of rooted trees, the proposed approach constructs orthogonal bases that are used in projecting the full equations of the large original nonlinear circuit onto a reduced system of nonlinear equations in a space with a much smaller dimension. The variations in the DC operating point of the full circuit are then obtained by solving the reduced system of equations, yielding significant computational savings.


title: The Political Ecology of Sustainable Livelihoods in Kakisa, NWT: Fish Waste Composting for Enhancing Soil Productivity and Waste Management Capacity in Northern Indigenous Communities

abstract: Climate change and inadequate waste management capacity disproportionately impact northern Indigenous communities, exacerbating existing food insecurity in the Northwest Territories. Climate change simultaneously reduces the accessibility and availability of traditionally harvested or hunted foods and promotes agricultural expansion farther North. In response to these challenges, the Ka'a'gee Tu First Nation (KTFN), Kakisa, NWT, identifies fish waste composting to increase agricultural productivity and waste management capacity. This thesis explores the community-driven fish composting project led by the KTFN, using participatory action research as a guiding methodology. It couples a Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) to generate practical recommendations to strengthen community assets, with a political ecology framework to explore underlying meaning and discursive constructions. Results indicate the KTFN perceive various practical benefits for composting fish waste. The KTFN's worldviews and epistemologies articulate the perceived practical benefits through lenses of deeper significance including health, taking care of the land, self-sufficiency, and traditional knowledge.


title: Hidden Voices:  Professional Choristers in Southern Ontario

abstract: Research has shown that choral music is a popular and persistent art form in Canadian life, yet little inquiry has been undertaken to better understand those who work in the field. This thesis sheds light on professional choristers in southern Ontario in an effort to dispel their shadowy status in both scholarly research and cultural policy. This status is a product of the culture of the choral arts sector that is inculcated by training and workplace institutions and internalized in the individual chorister's self-conceptualization. As workers in an inherently communal, community-based, and accessible art form, these choristers are ill matched with the contemporary logic of cultural policy. Through a methodology combining interviews with professional choristers and autoethnography, this thesis outlines their lived experiences and offers a glimpse of what an artist-centric federal cultural policy could be.


title: Cascaded Lyapunov Vector Fields for Spacecraft Relative Trajectory Tracking in Rotating Reference Frames Under Acceleration Constraints

abstract: Methods for autonomous docking usually rely on high-dimensional or complex optimizations which are required to run in real-time. Unfortunately, it is well-known that spacecraft flight-computers are highly limited in their computational power, rendering many current methods impractical. In this work, a novel approach to autonomous docking is explored within the framework of Lyapunov vector fields. A substantial extension (herein referred to as a cascaded Lyapunov vector field) is first presented which allows the desired final trajectory to be defined in a tumbling and accelerating reference frame. The docking path constraints are satisfied by vector field constructions, and the acceleration is constrained by bounding guidance parameters. Moreover, a performance optimization technique is developed based on estimations of fuel usage and maneuver time. This novel docking method requires no in-the-loop optimizations, and therefore retains feasibility for real-time implementation. The performance of this docking technique is confirmed in simulation and in planar experiments.


title: De-Colonial Intersections of Conservation and Healing: The Indian Residential School System

abstract: This thesis explores the spatial conditions related to the territorial and architectural practices pertaining to the Indian Residential Schools [IRS], in the Indigenous territories known today as 'Canada.' It investigates the violent juxtaposition of Eurocentric spatial hierarchies within Indigenous territories, to illustrate the multi-scalar spatial means of assimilation. The project alludes to illustrative futures whereby the conservation of landscapes, architecture and territories means designing encounters for healing and critical reflection. This thesis proposes a series of frictional embodied experiences that subvert the IRS memory in order to interrogate its socio-spatial hierarchies and unsettle visitors. Explored through three case studies, the St. Eugene Mission, the Brandon Industrial Institute, and the Mohawk Institute, the thesis reconnects spatial fragments, reclaims territories, and subverts existing architectures. The encounters ultimately suggest connection with erased cultural landscapes, while challenging current hegemonic conservation practices.


title: Vital Traditions: Assessing the Status of Skilled Trades Work in Toronto’s Heritage Policy

abstract: New priorities in the heritage conservation field that argue for widespread rehabilitation and maintenance of existing buildings are hampered in Canadian jurisdictions by difficulties contracting appropriately skilled workers to carry out that maintenance. This phenomenon is general, but it is produced by local market conditions and demands locally directed study. In Toronto, the regulatory organization of the heritage sector creates an environment where heritage professionals can flourish while trades skills associated with maintenance decline. This study considers this policy framework in terms of its capacity to support viable careers for heritage tradespeople. Looking at new theories in heritage conservation, emerging concerns in the Canadian heritage conservation sector, and Toronto's culture industries outside of architecture conservation, it argues for a re-evaluation of Toronto's heritage policy to support a robust skilled workforce and ensure that the city can continue to sustainably rehabilitate and maintain its existing building stock.


title: The Ontario Anti-Bullying Framework and Its Potential Impact on Indigenous Students in Northern Ontario.

abstract: Critical reflection of the term 'bullying' and the behaviours that define the term are rarely criticized in mainstream society. In 2012, the Ontario anti-bullying framework came into effect under the Education Act. The underlying message of the framework is that bullying behaviour is not tolerated, thus the buy-in message for all Ontarians is that all students are protected in school. This is not always the case for Indigenous students. My research and dissertation explore how northern educators understand the Ontario anti-bullying framework policies and how the framework impacts colonial relationships. The sample in this study consists of 12 educators (10 teachers, 1 vice-principal and 1 principal) working in northern Ontario. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and data were analyzed through a multi-grounded theoretical approach. The participants shared their personal background, their understanding of Indigenous history and politics, and their understanding of the anti-bullying framework. Many themes emerged from examination of the data. The theme of minimizing serious behaviour as simply 'bullying' is of particular importance. This study found that the term 'bullying' may be used by teachers or administrators to minimize instances or severity of violence, harassment and racism (against Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth). Furthermore, even though participants appreciated Indigenous history and culture, they did not apply that knowledge in their approach to bullying but instead relied on the mainstream definition of bullying. The cumulative impact suggests a new theoretical insight — reliance on the mainstream discourse of bullying may reproduce settler colonial foundations of the education system.


title: Image Separation using Multi-layer Image Segmentation for Translucent Partially Overlapped Objects

abstract: One way to solve under-determined image separation is to use statistical information about the type of data to be decomposed. In this dissertation, we propose a two stage method for cervical cell separation. In the first stage, we propose a CNN-based multi-layer random walker image segmentation method. The results of image segmentation at the first stage are then used as the side information for the cervical cell separation in the second stage. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are recently used in computer vision applications such as image segmentation. One of the biggest advantages of CNNs is that they extract important features automatically from the data. However, CNNs usually use a high number of data for training but it is not always possible to find enough training data for some applications. Also, CNNs are good at generalizing the training, but not for finding the accurate edges of cervical cells at the current implementations for cervical cell segmentation. One solution to improve CNN segmentation results is to use a post-processing method as edge refinement. Random walker image segmentation method is a graph-based image segmentation method that is good at region growing; so, it can be used as the refinement step. However, random walker is sensitive to initial setup, so if the seeds are not extracted correctly, the final segmentation results will be poor. In this dissertation we use a CNN-based random walker image segmentation approach for cervical cell segmentation. Different from other methods that use CNN binary segmentation results for fine tuning, CNN probabilistic map is utilized to guide random walker image segmentation method at the refinement step. In the second stage, we design a new CNN, and we use the input image along with the segmentation masks from our first stage for cervical cell separation. To the best of our knowledge, there is no work done for overlapping cervical cell separation. We apply our two-stage cervical cell separation algorithm on synthetic cervical cytology images which can open an opportunity to early cervical cancer detection. Results show segmentation accuracy of greater than 99:5% and separation SSIM score of greater than 0:93.


title: Jumpchain Simulations to Study the Effects of CpG Hypermutability on Inferences of Positive Selection

abstract: Detecting positive selection in DNA sequences is important in the study of molecular evolution. The statistical methods available are based on simplifying assumptions, which are known to be violated in real data. The problem is the difficulty in simulating data, which incorporate some of the complexities assumed absent. We explore the use of an under-exploited simulation approach that allows the realization of normally intractable continuous-time Markov chains. The method, jump-chain simulation, can be used to produce data with sophisticated evolutionary models. We use this simulation method to study a context-dependent mutational feature. Referred to as CpG hypermutability, which has potential to mislead statistical models for detecting positive selection. Our analyses suggest that when CpG is present at average intensities, traditional tests are mislead into the presence of positive selection. The work emphasizes the usefulness of jump-chain simulation to improving understanding of the limitations of inference tools, while helping methodological developments.


title: Lexical Coverage in Bangladeshi EFL Textbooks: A Corpus-Based Study

abstract: Textbooks are a crucial tool in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts where out-of-the-classroom use of English is minimal. Vocabulary is an essential component of language learning; thus, EFL textbooks should sufficiently represent vocabulary needed for students' academic success. Due to the growing demand for English proficiency locally and internationally, Bangladeshi EFL textbooks' lexical coverage is examined to determine if vocabulary input is aiding students in their K-12 education and their transition to higher education. A corpus-based analysis of the Bangladeshi K-12 textbooks' vocabulary has been conducted, and the vocabulary of university textbooks is compared to the K-12 vocabulary. Results demonstrate that the transitions in academic stages are not easy, as the lexical input found in early-grade textbooks leaves significant gaps in vocabulary found in textbooks of the later grades, and similar results were found in the transition to tertiary levels. Pedagogical implications and recommendations are also discussed.


title: Enhancing Folic Acid Dietary Intervention Research in Mouse Models

abstract: Folic acid is associated with both beneficial and potentially adverse effects. Characterization of safe and adequate FA intakes is important. Animal-derived data play an important role in the elucidation of the mechanisms linked to FA intake. However, poor reporting of study details hinders knowledge translation. My first study was a scoping review to determine the reporting quality of studies examining the effects of dietary FA interventions in mice. Our findings showed that 14% of studies did not report ≥1 generic reporting item(s) and 41% did not report ≥1 nutrition- specific reporting item(s). This incomplete reporting limits generalizability and interpretation. The second study was designed to establish biomarkers of FA intake and function in mice. I identified homocysteine concentration ≥ 3.88 umol/L as a functional marker of deficiency and unmetabolized FA concentrations ≥ 7.71 nmol/L as a marker of excess FA intake. These observations can inform future study designs.


title: Forgiveness contributes to the moral licensing effect in a multiple victim context

abstract: Although forgiveness is often a psychologically beneficial response, in the current research, I tested a novel consequence of granting forgiveness: a moral license to commit subsequent deviant acts. I tested this possibility in a multiple victim context. I hypothesized that people would express the greatest willingness to act in a deviant manner when all victims (the participant and the other victims) grant the transgressor forgiveness. I also anticipated the feeling pride (i.e., feeling good about one's accomplishments) following forgiveness would mediate the hypothesized moderation effect. Support for the proposed mediated-moderation model was found in two studies using a multiple victim workplace transgression as context. (NStudy 1 = 359, NStudy 2 = 417) . Results contributed to both the literature on the consequences of forgiveness and moral licensing by providing evidence that granting forgiveness may, perhaps counter-intuitively, result in the forgiver engaging in subsequent immoral behaviour.


title: The Role of Angler Behaviour on the Post-Release Locomotor Activity and Depth Selection of Angled Fish Revealed by Biologgers

abstract: Catch-and-release is a growing practice worldwide with the number of fish released each year in the billions. Few studies have been able to observe fine-scale behaviour in the wild. My goal was to assess fish behaviour in the wild following various angling scenarios using externally attached biologgers. Chapter 2 assessed the impacts of air exposure on the post-release behaviour of three gamefish species. My data suggested that Northern Pike that were air-exposed exhibited decreased swimming activity immediately after release. In chapter 3, I evaluated the efficacy of assisted recovery methods at reducing post-release behavioural impairments in Rainbow Trout. I determined that assisted recovery was effective at reducing equilibrium impairments, especially if cold water was used. Behavioural data was gathered using externally attached biologgers equipped with tri-axial accelerometers. These results suggest that the behavioural impacts of a C&R event can vary greatly with the species targeted, angler behaviour, and environmental factors.


title: Molecular Determinants of Spinal Hyperexcitability in Rat and Human Models of Pathological Pain

abstract: Chronic pain is a health crisis with few safe and effective treatments. Understanding the mechanisms that drive chronic pain predicate the development of novel therapeutics for the disease. The superficial dorsal horn (SDH) is an integral part of the pain-processing circuit. Nociceptive output from the SDH is mediated by a homeostatic balance of inhibition and excitation, resulting in pain responses in healthy individuals that are proportional to noxious stimuli. In chronic pain, the balance between inhibition and excitation degrades, resulting in spinal hyperexcitability and an increase in pain outputs to the brain. To study the molecular processes that disrupt the balance of inhibition and excitation within SDH circuitry, we paired a male rat ex vivo pain model with in vivo models. We found that the loss of potassium-chloride cotransporter 2-dependent inhibition (disinhibition) and facilitated excitation (marked by potentiation of excitatory N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors, NMDARs) are linked. We determined that downregulation of the phosphatase STEP61 is the linker between disinhibition and NMDAR potentiation in male rats. To address the translational divide that exists between basic science rodent research and clinical trials, we developed an ex vivo pathological pain model using human organ donor tissue. Using this model, we found that the STEP61-mediated link between disinhibition and NMDAR potentiation is conserved in the SDH of male humans. Despite that chronic pain affects women more often than men, the molecular underpinnings of chronic pain have been studied almost exclusively in males. Surprisingly, we found that NMDARs are not potentiated in our female rodent pain models, and that protein markers of disinhibition and facilitated excitation remain unchanged. This demonstrates a sex difference in neuronal pain processing in rodents within the SDH. Further, we used human tissue models to discover that this sex difference is conserved between rats and humans. We conclude that loss of STEP61 links disinhibition and facilitated excitation in male rats and humans, but this mechanism of spinal hyperexcitability is sexually dimorphic. The lack of coupling of disinhibition to NMDAR potentiation suggests divergent neuronal signalling drives SDH hyperexcitability and chronic pain in females. This thesis highlights the importance of sex-inclusive research.


title: Vision based Real-Time Navigation with Unknown and Uncooperative Space Target

abstract: Removal of space debris requires pose (position and orientation) information and motion estimation of targets; thus, real-time detection and tracking of uncooperative targets are critical. To estimate a target's pose and motion, it must track over the entire frame. In addition, due to the harsh space environment, different types of sensors are required, which means practical sensor fusion algorithms are essential. However, as there is little prior information about a target's structure and motion, detection and tracking, pose and motion estimation and multi-sensor fusion tasks are very challenging. This thesis develops new approaches for target tracking, pose and motion estimation and multi-sensor fusion. For the target tracking, a new adaptation scheme of the Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) is proposed to manage difficulties associated with the real-time tracking of an uncooperative space target. After the detection and tracking steps, the relative position, linear and angular velocities, and attitude of space debris are estimated based on visual measurements. The projection of tracked feature points on two cameras creates an observation model of the filters, and the structure of a non-cooperative spacecraft is determined by estimating feature point positions. The relative attitude estimation is derived from the Modified Rodrigues Parameters (MRPs). Furthermore, to achieve minimal estimation errors, data from multiple sensors were integrated. To increase the system accuracy and manage difficulties associate with high uncertainty and noises associated with space navigation, two novel adaptive frameworks were proposed for sensor fusion.


title: The Effect of Genetic Background and Environment on Plasmid Fitness and Persistence

abstract: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major threat to public health, which, left unchecked, will have severe impacts on mortality. Plasmids are extrachromosomal DNA elements often capable of self-transmission to new hosts, and often carry AMR determinants. They are frequently deleterious and thus predicted to be lost to purifying selection. However, compensatory evolution, selection, and conjugation of the plasmid can stabilize it within populations, thus helping maintain AMR genes. In this thesis, I assess how bacterial host-plasmid fitness informs the strategies used for plasmid maintenance, compensatory evolution, and parallel evolution in a short- and long-term evolution experiment, as well as the impact of environment on plasmid fitness and resistance. In Chapter 3, I transferred the AMR plasmid pPB29 into six E. coli hosts and measured fitness before evolving each host-plasmid pair for 100 generations without antibiotic selection for the plasmid. I show that conjugation and compensatory evolution both contribute to plasmid maintenance, as conjugation of costly plasmids in mixed culture was frequent, and compensatory evolution was observed occasionally in monoculture. This shows the importance of fitness in determining how plasmids might be maintained within populations. In Chapter 4, I show that the fitness of three E. coli hosts carrying pPB29 increased over 500 generations following selection in varied concentrations of antibiotic, though fitness between cells evolved in those conditions did not vary significantly. I observed parallel evolution from phenotype to nucleotide level changes, with many transcription/translation-related mutations observed, suggesting a potential mechanism for the costliness of pPB29. Finally, in Chapter 5, I constructed six host-plasmid pairs with plasmids encoding either kanamycin or carbapenem resistance. I measured their iii fitness in twelve discrete environments where I varied three factors: the presence/absence of oxygen, pH, and glucose concentration. I found that gene-by-environment interactions were important determinants for fitness, and that environment can mediate resistance in these strains. These results highlight the importance of studying plasmids in a more integrated way, since various factors, like starting fitness, level of plasmid selection, and environment can all act to shape the trajectory of plasmid-carrying strains, and, ultimately, the threat they pose in the fight against AMR.


title: A Significant Negative Impact: Assessing the link between Historical Trauma, Indigenous Child Removal Policies and the Disproportionate Number of Indigenous Children in the Child Welfare System

abstract: This thesis explores historical trauma in the context of two governmental policies of Indigenous child removal: Indian Residential Schools (IRS) and the Sixties Scoop. Necropolitics, as theory, is addressed in relation to these policies. IRS and the Sixties Scoop contributed to intergenerational physiological and psychological trauma, including feelings of a loss of culture and language as well as historical trauma responses of depression and substance abuse. Nonetheless, there remains a spirit of individual and community resilience within many Indigenous communities in Canada. Through a critical discourse analysis and an historical trauma lens, the research examines how national governmental policies have contributed to a disproportionate number of Indigenous children in the child welfare system.


title: Fugitive Architecture: Obsolescence, Aspiration, and Adaptation in Vancouver's Urbanizing Industrial Areas

abstract: 'Fugitive Architecture' is a provocation born as a response to development practices that commodify architecture through the dictum of "highest and best use." In contrast to market-driven aspirational architecture, this thesis problematizes notions of urban decay and renewal, unsettling norms of market economics and urban planning. Profit-driven design methodologies diminish a building's material quality and longevity, adversely impacting life-cycle outcomes. Central to this thesis is a new design approach that embraces obsolescence and uses adaptability to prolong building lifespans while anticipating aging. This expands material and temporal notions of transience to include socioeconomic and political factors in the built environment. Fieldwork, including the photographic documentation of existing conditions in Vancouver's urbanizing industrial landscapes, informs speculative design interventions over a continuum of scales, from infrastructures to assembly details. Fugitive architecture reciprocates the evolving needs of building inhabitants, area residents, and local communities as they face pervasive gentrification.


title: Diversions: Journeying Vancouver's Pacific Railyards

abstract: With the rise in the housing market, and profitability in new developments, historical architectures in Vancouver have been lost, erased, and replaced. These economically-driven developments are sanctioned by the city's administration. Known as 'Vancouverism' this trend creates in the experience of the urban dweller, a sense of loss in tradition, belonging, and identity. This thesis proposes to challenge these rapidly changing urban concerns, exploring how new living experiences might engage with and adapt to Vancouver as an urban playground. To break this cycle of Vancouver's current urban transformation, we will propose speculative architectural interventions and installations with programs that are conceived through the lens of apertures and ruptures - continuities and playful interruptions. This thesis proposes a recto-verso conversation between fact and fiction to challenge the current condition in Vancouver. It dreams to re-think the urban vernacular in Vancouver by engaging its citizens in a world of livable fantasies.


title: The Past, Present, and Future of the Chinese Home: An Architectural Study of the Relationship Between Politics, Culture, and Domestic Space

abstract: This thesis analyzes the oscillating cause and effect between State, citizen, and architecture by studying the relationship between politics and domestic spaces in China. It explores the development of China from the beginning of the twentieth century through the present and into a speculative future to argue that wider sociopolitical changes are reflected in the detailed and intimate spaces of the home, and conversely, that the home can act as an agent of political resistance. The timeline in question represents a unique and tumultuous era in the development of modern China, one which dramatically changed the way people in China built their homes, and in turn, lived their lives. By imagining a speculative future condition in which China has undergone another major political and cultural shift, this thesis will consider the past in order to propose a speculative trajectory for the future of domestic Chinese architecture.


title: The Use of Maximum Edge Weight Clique and Markov Random Field Problem Formulation to Discover Motifs

abstract: In this thesis, we attempt to find approximately repeating patterns in DNA called motifs by modeling the problem both as a maximum edge weight clique problem (MEWCP) and as a maximum a posteriori inference on a Markov random field (MAP-MRF). Though we simplify this motif discovery problem as an ungapped sequence alignment with a known motif length, we make up for this simplification by generating multiple solutions. We implement three different approaches: an integer linear programming formulation approach and a branch-and-bound approach for the MEWCP model, and a loopy belief propagation approach for the MAP-MRF model. We test our approaches by trying to find the motifs of Eschericha coli sequence data. Through motif discovery, we also make a connection between the MEWCP and MAP-MRF, and thus make a connection between any approach used to solve one graph model to any approach used to solve the other graph model.


title: Shelter, Knowledge, Activism: A Refuge in the Canadian Forest for Political Exiles and Intellectual Dissidents of Totalitarian Regimes

abstract: Issues of civil rights have been thrust into the spotlight due to the events in Hong Kong and China, with numerous attacks against journalists, activists and others who have spoken out against the censorship of free ideas and the ongoing genocide of the Uyghur people in the XUAR. The project, a retreat for scholars, activists and political refugees, expresses my belief in protecting the intellectual freedoms and the rights of those being persecuted by totalitarian powers for voicing their ideas and opinions. Beyond a remote village in Gatineau Park, the project proposes to burrow itself in the dense forests of the conservation park, removed from the eyes of the city and shrouded in the calming wilderness. It is to be a place to nurture, grow and support individuals in their fight for human and civil rights while building strong lasting relationships throughout their stay.


title: Data Assimilation of CrIS and TROPOMI Satellite CO Concentrations and its Potential for Constraining Global OH

abstract: This work investigates the possibility of using high resolution carbon monoxide (CO) observations to constrain global mean hydroxyl radical concentrations ([OH]GM). An improved observational bound on [OH]GM would enhance understanding of chemical reaction rates in the atmosphere, specifically the lifetime of greenhouse gases like methane, and improve global atmospheric model calculations. A multispectral retrieval combining radiances from the Cross-Track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) and TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) satellite instruments has potential to provide high vertical resolution of tropospheric CO. These observations are evaluated against existing measurements from Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) stations, the Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) satellite, and GEOS-Chem chemical transport model calculations. GEOS-Chem adjoint is used to determine sensitivities of each observing platform to estimated GEOS-Chem OH abundance in the troposphere. This should provide insight into OH reaction rates with CO, and whether CO could be used to estimate [OH]GM.


title: Towards an Occupant-centric Simulation-aided Building Design Process

abstract: Occupant-related uncertainty has been recognized as one of the main challenges that building designers face. Current occupant modelling practices are based on simple assumptions that are typically made based on codes, standards, and rules-of-thumb. Designers assume occupants have homogeneous temporal and spatial distribution. This approach does not recognize differences among tenants or buildings and can lead to suboptimal design solutions that can compromise energy and comfort performance. Therefore, this doctoral research aims at developing a practical improved method for occupant modelling that recognizes occupant-related uncertainty. The method was developed based on a thorough qualitative and quantitative investigation. To this end, a deeper understanding of the current approaches, challenges and needs of occupant modelling throughout the design process was obtained and documented through a stakeholders' workshop and interviews with a case study design stakeholders. Then, a simulation-based investigation was conducted on a real case study office building located in Toronto, Canada. The simulation-based investigation included conducting a parametric analysis under variable occupant scenarios, developing an occupant-centric design optimization method, and evaluating the impact of occupants' spatial distribution on energy and comfort performance. The documentation of current occupant modelling practice indicated the need to improve the current approach by carefully considering occupant-related assumptions in early design stages. In addition, it indicated the need to improve communicating occupant-related assumptions among design stakeholders. The results of the simulation-based investigation indicated that occupant-related assumptions can influence the outcomes of design parametric analysis and design optimization. Notably, assumptions about occupants' spatial distributions demonstrated substantial impact on occupants' thermal comfort and the indoor air quality.


title: Reimagining Death: A Posthuman Analysis of Life Support and the Concept of Death in the Intensive Care Unit

abstract: Often assumed to be simply the opposite or absence of life, death is in truth a distinctively uncertain category which troubles assumptions about what it means to be alive, and what it means to be human. In this project, I explore what happens to understandings of bodily endings when the "normal human" is de-centered from the concept of death. I take a post-Enlightenment, post-humanist approach in the mode espoused by Rosi Braidotti (2006, 2019) which seeks to move beyond the elite and exclusive category of "human," as well as to get outside of anthropocentric patterns of thought. This project focuses on shifting definitions and meanings of death in the midst of advanced life-sustaining technologies and against a backdrop of cultural fascination with immortality as represented by the modern intensive care unit. Employing ethnographic methods and concepts from feminist new materialism, and founded on an in-depth understanding of posthuman theory, this work contributes novel analyses of how death happens in technological spaces, and how our understandings of it could be approached differently. I contrast cases of patients sustained on life-support technologies seemingly beyond their desired limits with those of individuals declared to be dead against their beliefs to explore ontological, epistemological, and practical elements presently maintaining the appearance of universal definitions of death. A final analysis of media cases of people who continue to produce life through pregnancy despite being categorized as dead helps to reconfigure assumptions about life, death, and life sustaining technologies into a new understanding of how bodily endings, alongside perceptions of liveliness, are always a particular product of ongoing and unfolding social and technical relations. Ultimately, I suggest that life sustaining technologies and their capacity to promote impressions of vitality allow us to better appreciate how death is already always a part of life, a perhaps unwanted "other" that we might learn to tolerate and accept, a personal ethical threshold of existence with the potential to transport us into different futures. This work expands the application of posthuman theory into the domain of clinical death and demonstrates the added value of posthuman analyses in medical spaces.


title: Borderline Fictions: Spaces of Absurdity in the Korean Demilitarized Zone

abstract: This thesis investigates the complexity of the Korean Demilitarized Zone through a series of speculative scenarios that question its future as well as architecture's role and agency in contested landscapes. Media, representation, and collective memory serve as primary themes in this research. The once united peninsula is a faint memory. North and South have undergone vast changes since the Korean War, and the DMZ remains ever-present in media and social life. "Han," a Korean notion of a deeply rooted collective memory is a key element in interpreting the DMZ's space(s) of absurdity. This thesis explores historical and contemporary modes of interpretation and understanding the DMZ, drawing on traditional Korean art forms, mythologies, and narratives to explore the spatial implications - absurd, satirical, and revelatory - of borderline fictions.