title: A Study on the Role of Sulphur in the Thermal Upgrading of Nickeliferous Laterite Ores

contributor:
Pickles, Christopher
Mining Engineering

subject: Limonite Sulphur Laterite Nickel

abstract: Thesis (Master, Mining Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-28 13:03:38.261

abstract:
As the global demand for nickel continues to increase and the nickel sulphide ore deposits are depleted, there is considerable interest in the exploitation of the nickeliferous laterite ores. However, current processing methods suffer from an inability to effectively concentrate the nickel content of the ore prior to processing, resulting in high costs and significant waste streams. One of the most promising methods of addressing this challenge is the selective reduction of the laterite ore to form a ferronickel alloy, followed by magnetic separation to recover the alloy, forming a nickel concentrate. The current work investigates several phenomena in the selective reduction process with the aim of identifying the conditions which yield the largest ferronickel particles, while still maintaining a sufficiently high nickel grade in the ferronickel. In particular, the effects of varying coal, sulphur, pyrite, and sodium sulphate additions, and reduction temperatures in the range of 1000 to 1200°C, have been investigated. By maximizing the ferronickel particle size it is expected that the nickel grade in the magnetic concentrate can be improved.
The best results were achieved for the reduction of a limonite containing 6% coal and 4% elemental sulphur additions at 1100°C for 1 hour. Under these conditions an average ferronickel particle size of 1.59 μm and nickel grade of 4.96% was achieved, compared to 1.01 μm and 8.18% for the same ore and reduction conditions without the addition of sulphur. In general, increased coal and sulphur additions, and increased temperature, correlated with increased ferronickel particle size and decreased nickel grade in the limonite. In the case of a saprolite, the addition of sulphur appeared to decrease the average ferronickel particle size.

abstract: M.A.Sc.


title: After October: Russian Liberalism as a 'Work in Progress,' 1919-1945

contributor:
Manley, Rebecca
Siljak, Ana
History

rights: Queen's University's Thesis/Dissertation Non-Exclusive License for Deposit to QSpace and Library and Archives Canada

rights: ProQuest PhD and Master's Theses International Dissemination Agreement

rights: Intellectual Property Guidelines at Queen's University

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

subject:
Famine of 1921-1922
Monarchism
Russia
Eurasianism
World War II
Russian Exiles
Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement
Pavel Miliukov
Paris Peace Conference
Poslednie novosti
Vasilii Maklakov
Liberalism

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, History) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-28 13:50:24.171

abstract: This thesis is an examination of Russian liberal thought, its durability, and its tensions in exile in interwar France.  Through analysis of archival documents and contemporary pamphlets, memoranda, and print media, this thesis adds new dimensions to the scholarship on Russia Abroad, Russian liberalism, and exile politics.  Russian liberal groups and actors held and established particular myths about their ideal homeland and harnessed critical occasions to elaborate their evolving ideology regarding the health, strength, and ‘greatness’ of the Russian state while addressing threats they perceived for their realization parallel to the existence of Soviet regime at home.  After October: Russian Liberalism as a ‘Work in Progress,’ 1919-1945 unpacks the lively political history of this stateless exile community as it sought ways to connect to the homeland and work for the improvement of the state and its people in spite of their spatial and political alienation.  Throughout, this thesis emphasizes key concerns for Russian liberals including the territorial unity and security of the state, its level of modernity and civilization vis-à-vis the West, the need to build a liberal democratic federal republic after Bolshevism, and the creation of a free, educated, loyal, and active citizenry capable of contributing to the socio-political commonweal.  Numerous tensions emerged in liberal thought and approach, indicating that their liberal visions of the state were very much still a work in progress.  Their continued efforts to elaborate on their values in response to developing circumstances at home and abroad show how Russian liberals created and maintained for themselves a sense of purpose and identity throughout the interwar period.

abstract: Negotiating a book contract at the moment.

abstract: PhD


title: Magnetic Barkhausen Noise Testing: Steel Grades and Stress Response

subject: Magnetic Barkhausen Noise, Sensor, Ferromagnetic Steel, Nondestructive Evaluation, Flux Control, Residual Stress, Magnetic Object Model

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-28 14:30:28.092

abstract:
Magnetic Barkhausen Noise emissions are discontinuous magnetization changes within
ferromagnetic materials that have been subjected to changing applied magnetic fields. These emissions are sensitive to microstrutural variations and stress states of the material, which can adversely affect magnetic properties or structural integrity of engineering components. Therefore, magnetic Barkhausen noise has potential as a non-destructive testing technique for indirect materials evaluation. However, simultaneous dependence of Barkhausen noise emissions on metallurgical variables, physical
features and stress state of the material complicates its data interpretation. The purpose of the present thesis was, therefore, to address these complexities by comparing Barkhausen noise signal characteristics from different ferromagnetic steel grades, all using the same measuring system under reproducible flux-controlled magnetization conditions. This is in contrast to the majority of literature Barkhausen noise investigations, which have focused on case studies using different probes and systems under unknown conditions of flux, which therefore limits their comparability. Various steel grades were tested, including transformer and electric motor laminates, submarine hull steel, deep-drawing steel and low to high plain carbon steels. Barkhausen noise signal parameters were correlated with core loss, grain size, crystallographic texture, hysteresis characteristics and the amount of carbon content. The significant contribution
of this thesis was to examine the influence of steel grade on tensile stress-response of Barkhausen noise. The experimental results were explained in terms of domain wall dynamics and a basic theory was developed as a starting point to model the behavior mechanism of Barkhausen noise under tensile stress. This work contributes to the further development and calibration of Barkhausen noise technology for magnetic non-destructive assessment of ferromagnetic steel components.

abstract: The need to protect rights to publications and to apply for potential patents arising from the research.

abstract: PhD


title: (Re)assembling "Japantown": A critical toponymy of planning and resistance in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside

contributor:
Masuda, Jeff
Kobayashi, Audrey
Geography

subject:
City Planning
Vancouver
Place Naming
Downtown Eastside
Japanese Canadian
Toponymy

abstract: Thesis (Master, Geography) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-28 14:09:36.954

abstract: For many, toponyms, or place names, appear to provide objective descriptions of locations on the earth. But for geographers, names and naming practices are imbued with meaning, and a recent literature of critical toponymy has emerged that studies and recognizes place names as discursive agents of power and resistance that perform active roles in the ongoing production of place. However, the critical toponymy corpus had produced very little theoretically rich empirical research focusing how urban planning and policymaking processes mobilize place names, or how residents fight against such activities. This thesis fills that lacuna, first by generating a novel theoretical framework (toponymic assemblage) that describes the emergent, relational, and spatially grounded properties of place names. It then outlines a robust, extended, and mixed method case study approach that uses archival/newspaper documentation, discourse analysis, and interview data to form a historically based, theoretically driven, and structurally aware study of toponyms in relation to planning and policymaking. The thesis then presents two empirical case studies based in Vancouver, Canada’s impoverished Downtown Eastside (DTES) that are centred around the name “Japantown,” a toponym that recalls the neighbourhood’s long-time inhabitation by a community of Japanese Canadians who were forcibly uprooted from the Pacific coast during World War II. Specifically, this thesis situates contemporary neighbourhood conflicts within a historical context by constructing an interwoven analysis of toponymic assemblages in the DTES (including “Japantown”), noting how they emerged over time in relation to interventions such as planning, policymaking, the media, and activism while highlighting their fluid, malleable, and potential qualities. It then focuses on a recently enacted Local Area Planning Process (LAPP) in the DTES to illuminate how toponymic assemblages like “Japantown” were mobilized through planning to change understandings of place at the expense of current low income residents. The thesis concludes by considering the theoretical and positional limitations of the research, then suggests directions for future study and activism by highlighting how a more complete understanding of toponymic power and its limits can inform rights-based engagement among disparate groups.

abstract: M.A.


title: The Scope of Justice: Whom Should Rights Protect?

contributor:
Kymlicka, Will
Philosophy

rights: Creative Commons - Attribution-Non-commercial - CC BY-NC

subject:
Rights
Hobbes
Philosophy
Mutual Advantage
Hume
Animal Ethics
Moral Standing
Moral Status
Contractarianism
Social Contract Theory
Ethics

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Philosophy) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-28 15:02:56.275

abstract: This thesis argues that the strongest account of moral rights entails that animals and other marginal cases hold rights. The thesis contends that mutual advantage social contract theories offer the strongest account of rights from a security perspective, and that such theories entail rights for animals and marginal cases. Both of these claims are widely contested. Chapter 1 examines the fundamental elements of a social contract theory as developed by Hobbes and Hume. Chapter 2 revises the fundamental elements of contract theory to make them more persuasive, and derives from them an account of rights for animals and marginal cases. Chapter 3 examines the most plausible competing accounts of rights for animals and marginal cases: utilitarianism, neo-Kantianism, and capability theory. Chapter 4 argues that the mutual advantage account of rights is better than the leading competitors from a security perspective.

abstract: PhD


title: Geochemical Evaluation of Living and Holocene Brachiopods and the Relationship With Modern Oceanography, Southern Australian Shelf

contributor: Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering

subject:
Brachiopod
Trace Elements
Carbonates
Modern
Holocene
Stable Isotopes

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Geological Sciences & Geological Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-28 15:41:26.832

abstract: Brachiopod shell chemistry is a commonly used proxy in paleoceanography and paleoclimate studies because their shells are composed of diagenetically-resistant low-Mg calcite and are, for the most part, in chemical equilibrium with ambient seawater. Few studies have evaluated a large database of brachiopods from a single stratigraphic interval across an extensive depositional system. The lateral isotopic variability across a carbonate shelf is, therefore, not well understood.  The southern margin of Australia is a vast, latitude-parallel continental shelf that is host to the largest cool-water carbonate depositional system in the modern world. Brachiopods are continuously distributed across the shelf. The zonal orientation of the southern margin results in a continental-scale system that falls within a single climatic and oceanographic zone. This study evaluates the δ18O and δ13C values of 936 samples from 442 specimens collected from modern shelf sediments at 222 sites across ~3000 km of the southern shelf. An additional 60 samples from 11 select specimens were analyzed for Mg and Sr concentrations. A detailed evaluation of intraspecimen trace elements and stable isotopes reveals the distribution of apparent equilibrium calcite within shells of south Australian brachiopods and helps to understand the source of non-equilibrium chemistry related to vital effects. The large, laterally extensive database of brachiopod δ18O and δ13C is in excellent agreement with modern oceanographic measurements and shows the range in primary stable isotopic values that naturally occur within an individual specimen, at a single site, and across an entire continental shelf. Furthermore, brachiopod stable isotopes record the details of seasonal changes in oceanography that are known to occur on the southern shelf, such as upwelling and downwelling events. Some isotopic values occur outside the range of equilibrium calcite values and are attributed to either individual vital effects or oceanographic processes that have not yet been detected by modern oceanographic measurements. This is one of the first studies to evaluate the synsedimentary stable isotopic and trace element variability that could have been present in ancient carbonate systems, and these results now make it possible to gauge the environmental and biochemical effects recorded in a suite of fossil brachiopods.

abstract: Two of my thesis chapters are in review for publication and I would like my thesis to remain restricted for 1 year so this data is not released until these publications have been accepted.

abstract: PhD


title: Becoming Therapeutic Agents: A Grounded Theory of Mothers’ Process when Implementing Cognitive Behavioural Therapy at home with an Anxious Child

contributor:
Khalid-Khan, Sarosh
Harkness, Kate
Psychology

subject:
cognitive behavioral therapy, CBT
grounded theory
childhood anxiety disorder
parent involvement

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-28 15:56:59.514

abstract: The premise of parent-centered programs for parents of anxious children is to educate and train caregivers in the sustainable implementation of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in the home. The existing operationalization of parent involvement however, does not address the systemic, parent, or child factors that could influence this process. The qualitative approach of grounded theory was employed to examine patterns of action and interaction involved in the complex process of carrying out CBT with one’s child in one’s home. A grounded theory goes beyond the description of a process, offering an explanatory theory that brings taken-for-granted meanings and processes to the surface. The theory that emerged from the analysis suggests that CBT implementation by mothers of anxious children is characterized by the evolution of mothers’ perception of their child from being ‘held back’ to being ‘mostly independent with ongoing needs’ and mothers’ perception of their role from being a ‘comforter/protector’ to being a ‘supporter/advocate’. This process allows a strategic shift in parenting strategies from reacting with emotion to responding pragmatically to the child. Changes occur as mothers recognize the crisis, make links between the treatment rationale, child’s symptoms, and their own parenting strategies, integrate tenets of CBT for anxiety, and eventually focus on sustaining therapeutic gains through natural life transitions. Mothers whose anxious child made threats of suicide and/or engaged in non-suicidal self-injury experience distinct phases and challenges. This theory widens our understanding of mothers’ role, therapeutic engagement, process, and decision-making. It allows clinicians to provide better support, anticipate difficulties, and to respond accordingly. The theory generates also new hypotheses regarding parent involvement in the treatment of pediatric anxiety disorders, and proposes novel research avenues focused on mothers’ cognitions and parenting strategies.

abstract: PhD


title: Nature Enframed: Technology and Heidegger's Environmental Thinking

contributor:
Smith, Mick
Philosophy

subject:
Martin Heidegger
Environmental Philosophy
Technology

abstract: Thesis (Master, Philosophy) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-28 19:55:05.099

abstract: This thesis concerns itself with a potential relationship between environmental philosophy and the philosophy of Martin Heidegger. Taking up the question of modern technology as a prima facie cause of environmental damage, I delve into Heidegger’s deeper analysis of this phenomenon and its meaning for human life and the world. I focus on the boundless aspiration of technology, seeking to reveal the world in its entirety as standing reserve. What Heidegger calls Gestell or ‘enframing’ aims to create a system which values and finds meaning in mere utility alone. Such a world becomes unconcerned with the unique and individual expression and meaning of things, levelling these things into undifferentiated and anonymous resources. If place entails a sense of meaning and being with things, humanity loses their place becoming ‘homeless.’ I also demonstrate a second-order aspect of this boundlessness as being concerned with unlimited potential for the ‘human project.’ Both I take as indicating a cause for the environmental damage we now notice. The problem is to reacquaint ourselves with a proper sense of place, and to find meaning with things, treating them appropriately. Heidegger calls this dwelling. This is perhaps the true theme of this paper. I discuss further the concepts of poiesis and techne, as well as poetic thinking, as avenues that allow for dwelling to occur. This is the positive solution that I critically engage with as a potential basis for an environmental philosophy. In the final chapters, I examine the potential of dwelling with machines, and the re-orientation in thinking that could allow for this. While some reservations may be made for connecting Heidegger’s philosophy with environmental concerns, I conclude that Heidegger’s thought as a whole offers a way for us to begin thinking about finding meaning and value that is non-instrumental. It is this thinking that contributes most to a proper environmental philosophy and attitude.

abstract: M.A.


title: Unsettling the Last Best West: Restorying Settler Imaginaries

contributor:
Jessup, Lynda
Cultural Studies

subject:
practice-based research
anticolonialism
colonial immigration advertising

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Cultural Studies) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-28 19:31:23.959

abstract:
My doctoral project is a study of how art was used in the promotion and dissemination of colonial ideologies and in the recruitment of settlers to Canada in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, specifically under the aegis of Clifford Sifton as Canada's Minister of the Interior from 1896 to 1905. My project interrogates the content and dissemination of immigration advertising, establishes its role in the cultural production of settler and national imaginaries, and appropriates its tactics to build creative strategies of decolonization in contemporary sites. To this end, my project operates in two, interrelated ways: first, by establishing the colonialist agenda of immigration advertising through an integrated interrogation of primary sources using critical visual and theoretical analysis, and second, by appropriating and subverting Sifton's tactics of visual communication to create a series of artworks that critically reactivate and reframe this material in such a way that its ideological thrust and colonialist underpinnings are made apparent.
	My project develops through creative practice in four ways. It examines the potential for creative practice to disrupt the ongoing cultural performance of settler colonialism, to open the reproductive practices of settler colonialism to critical reflection, to recruit participation in decolonization, and to actively operate in creating strategies of reimagining and restorying. I develop this work through practice-based research methodology, self-reflexively, from my perspective as a settler, settler descendant, and treaty person, focusing on a settler audience to contribute to anticolonial dialogues and conciliation in contemporary sites.

abstract: PhD


title: The impact of chronic isolated increases in superficial femoral artery shear stress on flow-mediated dilation

contributor:
Pyke, Kyra E.
Kinesiology and Health Studies

subject:
shear stress
superficial femoral artery
heating
flow-mediated dilation

abstract: Thesis (Master, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-28 19:51:04.988

abstract: A single layer of cells, called the endothelium, lines the arteries of the human body. In response to an increase in blood flow-associated shear stress, these cells stimulate an endothelial-dependent, flow-mediated dilation (FMD). FMD resulting from a transient vs. a sustained stimulus may provide distinct information regarding endothelial function. Previous findings have shown that repeated, isolated increases in shear stress via forearm heat training improve brachial artery FMD in response to a transient shear stress stimulus (TS-FMD). However, the effects of heat training on FMD assessed in response to a sustained shear stress stimulus (SS-FMD) in the lower limb vasculature has not been examined. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis was to determine the impact of heat training on superficial femoral artery (SFA) shear stress on SFA FMD, assessed via TS-FMD (created via reactive hyperemia following release of thigh occlusion) and SS-FMD (created via plantar flexion exercise). Thirteen healthy female participants (23 ± 2 years) underwent 8 weeks of unilateral lower limb heat training in 42.5C water for five 35-min sessions/wk. Biweekly assessments of TS- and SS-FMD were conducted in both the heated and unheated limbs. SFA diameter and blood velocity (for determination of FMD and the shear stress stimulus) were assessed using echo and Doppler ultrasound, respectively. The stimulus for TS-FMD and SS-FMD was stable over the 8 weeks of training (p = 0.113 and p = 0.540, respectively) and not different between limbs (p = 0.705 and p = 0.073, respectively). In the control limb, TS-FMD was lower at weeks 4 (p = 0.012) and 8 (p = 0.011) vs. week 0. SS-FMD did not change over time (p = 0.220) in either limb (p = 0.246). The main findings of this study suggest that 8 weeks of heat training and the associated shear stress stimulus in the SFA: 1) may have prevented a decline in %TS-FMD, and 2) did not affect the FMD response to a sustained increase in shear stress. This suggests that 8 weeks of repeated lower limb heating does not increase shear stress to levels that improve SFA endothelial function in healthy, young females.

abstract: M.Sc.


title: Ignorance Production and Corporate Science

contributor:
Sismondo, Sergio
Philosophy

subject:
Commercialized Science
Agnotology
Agnogenesis
Ignorance Production
Ignorance
Corporate Science

abstract: Thesis (Master, Philosophy) -- Queen's University, 2015-10-01 21:12:46.37

abstract: This thesis is a philosophical exploration of “agnotology”, the study of ignorance or non-knowledge, and focuses on the production of ignorance for private interests. In particular, I argue that corporate science often deliberately produces ignorance in an effort to promote corporate interests. My thesis is structured into five chapters. In Chapter 1, I introduce agnotology and outline Robert N. Proctor’s three categories thereof: ignorance as native state, ignorance as selective choice, and ignorance as active construct. In Chapter 2, I present a review of the agnotological literature on the basis of which I argue for two expanded categories of ignorance: ignorance from ideology, and ignorance from interest. In Chapter 3, I address the question of the normative assumptions underlying agnotology. As well, given agnotology’s task of unpacking the values laden in science, agnotology’s normative conception of science may stand in tension with a conception of science as objective, neutral inquiry. In the end, I argue that agnotologists need not deny science’s objectivity when they view science as value-laden. In Chapter 4, I present a case study. Through an agnotological analysis, I argue that some HPV vaccine legislation was passed via agnogenesis. I also argue that the silencing of vaccine skeptics is a form of agnogenesis. This case, interpreted in the light of the novel agnotological framework developed in Chapters 2 and 3, supports my main thesis that corporate science serves primarily corporate interests via agnogenesis. And, finally, in Chapter 5, I present concluding remarks, draw out the limitations of the thesis, and offer suggestions for directions of future research.

abstract: M.A.


title: Living Radical Polymerization in Aqueous Dispersed Systems with Water-Soluble Catalysts

contributor:
Cunningham, Michael F.
Chemical Engineering

subject:
Living Radical Polymerization
ATRP
Polymer Chemistry
Chemical Engineering

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Chemical Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-28 21:30:15.699

abstract: Living radical polymerization is an important technique for synthesizing advanced macromolecules including block copolymers. Since its discovery in the early 1990s the capability of the field has expanded with new types of chemistry and techniques. One of the most widely used chemistries is atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) also known as “metal mediated living radical polymerization” (Mt-LRP). Mt-LRP has also expanded its use to aqueous dispersed systems including emulsion, miniemulsion and microemulsion, with the biggest advancements seen in miniemulsion where the droplets act as nanosized reactors. Extremely hydrophobic catalyst complexes are typically used in miniemulsion.  While effective in controlling the polymerization, these hydrophobic catalyst complexes also get trapped in the final polymer particles and are difficult to remove. Herein I report the progress made using thermoresponsive polymer bound catalysts for Mt-LRP reactions in miniemulsion, which allow the successful LRP in miniemulsion with facile catalyst removal. Polymers could be prepared with less than 10 ppm of ruthenium in the final polymer compared to >500 ppm in the reaction mixture. The polymerizations were improved by the addition of ferrocene (FeCp2) in miniemulsion, to give almost complete conversion in significantly shorter times. The addition of ferrocene adds a second catalytic cycle that is ionic in nature and requires excess halogens present for a successful polymerization to occur. The ionic species in this catalytic cycle meant that the use of cationic surfactants with halogen counter-ions could directly affect the polymerization chemistry, which was shown by increasing rates with the addition of a bromine counter-ion versus a chlorine counter ion in the cationic surfactant used. Water-soluble FeCp2 derivative cocatalysts were also used to improve the rates and conversions of Mt-LRP of ruthenium catalyzed polymerizations while also allowing colourless polymers to be synthesized. Finally, the ligand EHA6TREN, was found to be active in bulk or solution (anisole) when complexed to iron (III) bromide with reverse ATRP, or to iron (II) bromide with AGET ATRP, yielding an iron-mediated living radical polymerization.

abstract: PhD


title: Understanding the characteristics of algal communities in the tributaries of Lake St. Francis (St. Lawrence River) through intensive sampling and the use of citizen science

contributor:
Cumming, Brian F.
Bramburger, Andrew J.
Environmental Studies

subject:
Cultural Eutrophication
Eastern Ontario
Cyanobacteria
Nuisance Algae
Citizen Science
Algal Blooms
River Tributaries

abstract: Thesis (Master, Environmental Studies) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-28 22:18:44.44

abstract: In recent years, reports of nuisance algae have increased within the Great Lakes Basin. These nuisance algal blooms have been known to include potentially hazardous cyanobacteria. There is a concern that harmful algal blooms are occurring more frequently which could have adverse impacts to wildlife, human activities and public health. However, there is a general lack of information on the distribution, frequency and taxonomic composition of algal blooms within the Great Lakes basin, particularly in eastern Ontario. This thesis addresses this lack of information through intensive sampling by researchers and citizen scientist volunteers. The St. Lawrence River/Lake St. Francis tributaries were used as a model system to evaluate the effects of various stressors (environmental, landscape and water quality) on algal density and frequency of harmful algal blooms. The monitoring program, run in both 2013 and 2014, found that algal assemblages were dominated by diatoms, followed by chlorophytes, and on average only ~ 1% of overall algal composition were cyanobacteria, with even smaller amounts of chrysophytes, euglenophytes, dinophytes, and cryptophytes. Multiple linear regression models were developed to predict both overall algal density and cyanobacteria density from physical and chemical variables; water temperature, total phosphorus and day of year emerged as the best predictors of algal density, and water temperature and depth were the best predictors for cyanobacteria. However, the variance explained by these models, although significant, was low. The between-year variance in algal density and composition was high, likely related to differences in precipitation. The reliability and utility of citizen science for the monitoring of harmful and nuisance algae occurrences was also evaluated. Results suggest that citizen science monitoring programs provide data complementary to traditional monitoring, although challenges associated with volunteer recruitment and retention can affect the overall effectiveness of this approach. Significant dissimilarities in community composition were observed between volunteer and researcher-collected samples, with volunteers collecting more chain forming diatoms and rare taxa. Citizen scientist samples also exhibited higher algal density than researcher-collected samples related to either differences site choice and/or the method of sample collection.

abstract: M.E.S.


title: Behaviour of Partially Composite Precast Concrete Sandwich Panels under Flexural and Axial Loads

contributor:
Fam, Amir Z.
Civil Engineering

subject:
Basalt FRP
Interaction Diagram
Sandwich Panel
Parametric Study
Push-through
Shear Connectors
Composite Action
Flexural Response
Shear Deformation
Precast Concrete

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Civil Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-29 11:08:06.674

abstract:
Precast concrete sandwich panels are commonly used on building exteriors. They are typically composed of two concrete wythes that surround rigid insulation. They are advantageous as they provide both structural and thermal resistance. The structural response of sandwich panels is
heavily influenced by shear connectors that link the wythes together. This thesis presents a study on partially composite non-prestressed precast concrete wall panels. Nine flexure tests were conducted on a wall design incorporating ‘floating’ concrete studs and Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) connectors. The studs encapsulate and stiffen the connectors, reducing shear deformations. Ultimate loads increased from 58 to 80% that of a composite section as the connectors’ reinforcement ratio increased from 2.6 to 9.8%. This design was optimized by reinforcing the studs and integrating them with the structural wythe; new connectors composed of angled steel or Basalt-FRP (BFRP) were used.
The load-slip response of the new connector design was studied through 38 double shear
push-through tests using various connector diameters and insertion angles. Larger connectors were stronger but more likely to pull out. Seven flexure tests were conducted on the new wall design reinforced with different combinations of steel and BFRP connectors and reinforcement. Composite action varied from 50 to 90% depending on connector and reinforcement material.
Following this study, the axial-bending interaction curves were established for the new wall design using both BFRP and steel connectors and reinforcement. Eight panels were axially loaded to predesignated loads then loaded in flexure to failure. A technique is presented to experimentally determine the effective centroid of partially composite sections. Beyond the
tension and compression-controlled failure regions of the interaction curve, a third region was observed in between, governed by connector failure.Theoretical models were developed for the bond-slip behaviour of the shear connection and to analyze the full panel’s flexural and axial response to determine the longitudinal shear force
transferred between wythes and account for partial composite behavior. The models were
validated against experiments and used to conduct a parametric study. Among several interesting findings, the study demonstrated how composite action increases with the slenderness of axially loaded panels.

abstract: PhD


title: Curating Resistance, Resisting Curation: The possibilities and limitations of objects in institutions

contributor:
Aziz, Sylvat
Cultural Studies

subject:
museums
critical museology
cultural studies
Islamic Art
cultural institutions
decolonization
Islam
feminism
animation
colonialism
exhibitions
art

abstract: Thesis (Master, Cultural Studies) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-29 12:49:16.248

abstract:
This project examines Canadian cultural institutions through a decolonial lens to consider the
structural complicity of these spaces in systems of epistemic violence, as well as grassroots
means of resistance. This study is undertaken through two concurrent means: first, through a
traditional, academic approach that critically examines the terrain of coloniality and resistance as
it pertains to the exhibition of cultural products in discursive relation to Islam and Muslim
bodies. Second, through a series of animations that interfere with the text and images discussed,
allowing for an examination of the affective, embodied experience of such exhibits and their
theoretical terrain. Though the written component of this project radically critiques the
effectiveness of liberal constructions of multiculturalism and representation as tools in the
decolonization of the cultural institution, the artwork included herein seeks to untidy any simple
conclusions suggested through academic discourse. This project builds on the scholarship of
critical museology by foregrounding a radical decolonial critique of curatorial practices, as well
as the affective impacts of epistemic violence.

abstract: M.A.


title: Leveraging Historical Code Changes to Support Clone Management Activities

contributor:
Hassan, Ahmed E.
Computing

subject:
Clone Management
Survival Analysis
Clone Detection

abstract: Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-29 14:43:57.365

abstract:
Code clones are code snippets that come into existence when developers copy paste (and possibly modify) an existing piece of code. Studies show that cloning is an inevitable phenomenon leading to a significant presence of code clones (as much as 10%-30% of the source code consists of cloned code) in large software systems. To effectively manage these clones, researchers have proposed multiple activities along two dimensions: 1) proactive clone management, and 2) post-mortem clone management. Proactive clone management emphasis is on activities that prevent the introduction of new clones into the source code (e.g., identifying the factors that influence developers to clone code). On the other hand, post-mortem clone management focuses on managing the existing
clones (e.g., detection or refactoring of a clone). In this thesis, we examine several open issues along both dimensions of clone management activities. For example, over 80% of research focuses on the detection of clones and studying their impact on code quality. However, limited research has examined the factors that make code more likely to be cloned. We find that an increase in the complexity
of a method increases the likelihood of code being cloned from that method. Moreover, while there exists more than 70 clone detection tools, limited techniques are available to evaluate the performance (especially recall) of these tools. We find that current state-of-the-art framework for the evaluation of clone detection tools tend to overestimate their recall. Hence, we propose a statistically rigorous framework to evaluate the recall of clone detection tools. In addition, little has been studied to determine the life expectancy of an introduced clone. We find that the characteristics of a clone (e.g., size of a clone, or the directory-structure distance between clone siblings) at the time of its introduction highly influence its life expectancy. Practitioners and researchers can leverage our findings for: a) effective proactive clone management (e.g., by developing tools to propose the abstraction
of code that is likely to be cloned) and b) effective post-mortem clone management by leveraging our framework to more accurately evaluate the recall of clone detection tools and by determining whether an introduced clone will be short-lived or long-lived to efficiently recommend clone management activities (e.g., annotation or refactoring of clones, especially the long-lived ones).

abstract: M.Sc.


title: Complicity in international criminal law: A fragmented law in need of a new approach

contributor:
Aiken, Sharryn
Law

subject:
international criminal law
aiding and abetting liability
accomplice liability
aiding international crimes
complicity
assisting international crimes
complicity with international crimes
supporting international crimes
international law

abstract: Thesis (Master, Law) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-29 15:28:13.085

abstract: Since the advent of the concept of complicity in international crimes in the years following the end of World War 2, the international jurisprudence has had difficulties in conclusively establishing the content of this concept. To that effect, the ICTY, ICTR, SCSL, STL, and the ICC’s jurisprudence contain complicated, unresolved issues that need to be addressed in order to safeguard coherence in ICL. An example of the results of these issues is the discrepancy between the outcome in the cases of Charles Taylor and of Momcilo Perisic where, for essentially the same conduct, the former was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison while the latter was acquitted of all charges. In the current situation of on-going legitimacy deficit of international criminal law, this problem must be tackled efficiently. To do so, in this paper, I identified the issues of complicity in ICL and tried to find solutions for them through a proposed definition of the concept of complicity which could be incorporated in the statutes of international criminal tribunals or in the international jurisprudence. According to my proposition, an aid, assistance, or support that has a substantial effect on the commission of the crime by the perpetrator given while the accomplice knew or was wilfully blind that the crime was being committed or that the perpetrator wanted to commit the crime and that, in the normal course of events, it was almost inevitable that the crime would be committed would be the new legal standard for complicity in ICL. I argue that this definition would settle many grave problems currently afflicting complicity such as the lack of legal certainty and the discrepancies in the outcomes among ICL judgments. I conclude the thesis by observing that, given that we are at the outset of a new world order, the international community should take this opportunity to set out clearly the content of complicity, a concept which is likely to receive increasingly widespread application in the future.

abstract: LL.M.


title: The Influence of Leadership and Extreme Contexts on Physical and Psychological Outcomes

contributor:
Barling, Julian
Management

subject:
Leadership
Healthcare
Extreme Contexts

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-29 16:30:18.927

abstract:
The need to consider context in organizational and leadership research has been highlighted by many scholars (e.g., Johns, 2006; Rousseau & Fried, 2001), and in today’s increasingly volatile world, the need to understand leadership in extreme environments has never been greater.  This dissertation investigates the impacts of leadership in extreme contexts (i.e. where there exists “risks of severe physical, psychological or material consequences […] to organizational members or their constituents” Hannah, Uhl-Bien, Avolio, & Cavarretta, 2009, p. 897), using two studies in the extreme context of healthcare.
Study 1 used growth-curve models to examine the changes in psychological outcomes (i.e. empathy, self-efficacy, daytime sleepiness) of medical and nursing students during their first eight-months of practical experience.  Predictors of changes were also studied, including leadership behaviours (i.e. transformational leadership, laissez-faire leadership, abusive supervision), and context-relevant experiences (e.g., patient morbidity and mortality, beneficiary contact, boredom). Findings show that both leadership and context-relevant experiences influence the development of empathy, self-efficacy, and daytime sleepiness.
Study 2 investigated the impact of leadership (i.e. transformational leadership, laissez-faire leadership, over-controlling leadership) in the operating room on proximal and distal surgical outcomes (i.e. proximal: errors, blood loss; distal: complications during recovery at the hospital, complications post-discharge).  Leadership effects were hypothesized to occur through the mediators of psychological safety and boredom, but no support was found for any mediating effects.  However, certain direct relationships between leadership and surgical outcomes were moderated by surgical complexity.  Leadership predicted proximal and distal surgical outcomes, but the strength of the relationship depends on the complexity of the surgery.
Results of both studies are presented, and the findings, avenues of future research, and practical implications are discussed.  The dissertation concludes with a general discussion of the studies and areas of future research.

abstract: PhD


title: Impacts of Placental Growth Factor Deficiency and of Preeclampsia on Brain Development and Function

contributor:
Croy, B. Anne
Adams, Michael A.
Pharmacology and Toxicology

subject:
Brain Development
Placental Growth Factor
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Preeclampsia
Whole Mount Immunohistochemistry
Psychometrics
Pregnancy
Eye-Tracking
Angiogenesis

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Pharmacology & Toxicology) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-29 16:12:06.542

abstract:
Preeclampsia (PE) is a significant gestational disorder affecting 3-5% of all human pregnancies. In many PE pregnancies, maternal plasma is low in the placentally-produced angiokine “placental growth factor” (PGF). Offspring of PE (PE-F1) compared to uncomplicated pregnancies have higher risks for hypertension, cognitive impairment, and stroke. However, mechanisms explaining these risks are poorly understood. This thesis aimed to explore the mechanistic links between deficient gestational PGF expression, PE, and brain structural and functional development in PE-F1s. It was hypothesized that PGF deficiency, which often manifests in PE, diminishes brain vascular development, leading to impaired cognition and elevated stroke risk postpartum.
Uteroplacental angiogenesis was assessed in pregnant mice expressing or lacking maternal and/or conceptus derived PGF by whole-mount immunohistochemistry or paraffin histology. Pgf-/- and Pgf+/+ adult mouse brain vasculature and structural anatomy were examined by arterial polymer casting and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), respectively. Cognition and behaviour were assessed in these mice by standard paradigms that tested depression, spatial learning, short and long term memory, activity and anxiety. PE-F1 and control children aged 7-10 were assessed for cognitive functions through psychometric testing and eye tracking of saccadic eye movements. Brain structural and vascular anatomy were assessed in the same children through MRI.
Pgf-/- mice displayed reduced and aberrant uteroplacental vascular structure, particularly when conceptus-derived PGF was absent. Pgf-/- brain vasculature was deficient and abnormally patterned compared to Pgf+/+ controls. Cognitive and behavioural testing revealed numerous impairments in Pgf-/- mice, with sexually dimorphic differences. MRI revealed structural anatomic differences between the brains of Pgf-/- and Pgf+/+ mice, again with sexually dimorphic differences. In children, PE-F1s displayed deficits in working memory and oculomotor control compared to controls. PE-F1s additionally exhibited altered brain structural and vascular anatomy compared to controls.
This work has uncovered a previously unknown link between deficient PGF expression, PE, and brain development in mice and humans. These results have implications for the clinical management of women with PE, as well as their offspring, and underscore the importance of PE prevention.

abstract: PhD


title: Estimation of Time-Varying Parameters and Its Application to Extremum-Seeking Control

contributor:
Guay, Martin
Chemical Engineering

subject:
Extremum-Seeking Control
Adaptive Estimation

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Chemical Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-29 16:55:10.635

abstract:
This dissertation considers the adaptive estimation of time-varying parameters and its use in extremum-seeking control problems. The ability to estimate uncertain time-varying behaviour can have a significant impact on a control system's performance. Hence, the problem of time-varying parameter estimation has been of considerable interest over the last two decades.

The present work provides a formal scheme for time-varying parameter estimation in a class of nonlinear systems. The geometric concept of invariance is the key concept for the parameter estimation techniques developed in this thesis. The techniques use a number of high gain estimators and filters that generate an almost invariant manifold. The almost invariance property allows an implicit mapping and a parameter update law that guarantees exponentially convergence to a small region of the true values of the time-varying parameters. A generalization of the invariant manifold approach
is considered to deal with the estimation of periodic parameters with unknown periodicity.

In another step, this thesis seeks to apply the proposed time-varying estimation technique to the solution of extremum-seeking control problems. In extremum-seeking control, a gradient descent algorithm is used to find the optimal value of a measured but unknown cost functions. The contribution of this aspect of the thesis is the formulation of the extremum-seeking control problem where the unknown gradient of the cost is estimated as a time-varying parameter using the proposed invariance based estimation technique. The proposed approach is extended for the solution of constrained steady-state optimization problems.
We establish two methods for finding the optimal points for systems with unknown objective functions that are subject to unknown/uncertain dynamics. For systems with unknown dynamics, a nonlinear proportional-integral controller is designed to find the optimal solution. Then for a class of control affine systems with known high frequency gains, an inverse optimal control technique is used for the direct design of a gradient-based controller.

abstract: PhD


title: Coronary Angiography and Neurologically Intact Survival in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Patients with Return of Spontaneous Circulation

contributor:
Brooks, Steven
Peng, Paul Yingwei
Community Health and Epidemiology

subject:
Neurologic Outcome
STEMI
ST-elevation
Cardiac Arrest
Survival
Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest
Revascularization
Coronary Angiography

abstract: Thesis (Master, Community Health & Epidemiology) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-29 16:39:49.89

abstract:
Introduction: Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) is prevalent in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients but only a minority receives coronary angiography. Also, evidence for the effectiveness of coronary angiography in this population is conflicting.
Objectives: 1) To describe the patient and hospital-level factors that are associated with receiving coronary angiography 2) To determine if receiving coronary angiography is associated with survival to hospital discharge with favourable neurologic outcome.
Methods: This was a population-based retrospective cohort study of 2578 consecutive cases of adult OHCA transported to and treated at 28 hospitals in Southern Ontario between March 1st, 2010 and December 31st, 2014. We included patients with atraumatic OHCA, who achieved return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), and survived to at least six hours after hospital arrival. Multilevel logistic regression was used to explore the association between exposure variables and outcome variables, while accounting for clustering of patients (level 1) within hospitals (level 2) and adjusting for potential confounders.
Results: Coronary angiography use varied from 13% to 70% across the hospital sites. Overall, 33%(n=863/2578) of patients received coronary angiography, 42%(n=1082/2578) survived to hospital discharge and 38%(n=960/2552) survived to hospital discharge with favourable neurologic outcome. Multilevel analysis revealed that factors positively associated with receiving coronary angiography included patient age, STEMI status, being conscious at hospital arrival, having a shockable initial cardiac rhythm, an EMS witnessed arrest, initiation of therapeutic hypothermia, receiving bystander defibrillation, and being admitted directly to a PCI centre. Receiving coronary angiography was associated with neurologically intact survival (OR=2.03, CI95 1.47-2.80, p<.0001) and survival to hospital discharge (OR=1.86, CI95 1.36-2.55, p<.0001). Similar associations were observed in the subgroup of patients without ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) (OR=2.90, CI95 1.90-4.43 and OR=2.44, CI95 1.62-3.69, respectively).
Conclusions: There is significant variability in receipt of coronary angiography after cardiac arrest. We identified several patient and hospital-level factors that contribute to this variability. Neurologically intact survival amongst post cardiac arrest patients may be improved with coronary angiography, particularly for patients without STEMI. Future work should determine which post arrest patients will benefit most from urgent angiography, and our findings should be confirmed with randomized controlled trials.

abstract: M.Sc.


title: Characterizing angiodysplasia in type 2 von Willebrand disease (VWD) using blood outgrowth endothelial cells (BOECs)

contributor:
James, Paula
Pathology and Molecular Medicine

subject:
von Willebrand factor
Angiogenesis
Blood outgrowth endothelial cells
von Willebrand disease
Angiodysplasia

abstract: Thesis (Master, Pathology & Molecular Medicine) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-29 18:18:21.864

abstract:
Gastrointestinal bleeding associated with angiodysplasia is a common, often intractable complication in patients with von Willebrand disease (VWD). von Willebrand factor (VWF), the protein deficient in VWD, was recently identified as a negative regulator of angiogenesis, which may explain the pathologic blood vessel growth in VWD. Blood outgrowth endothelial cells (BOECs) can be isolated from the peripheral blood and used to investigate the underlying pathologic mechanisms of VWD and angiodysplasia in the natural genetic environment of the endothelial cell. This thesis explores the normal range of angiogenesis in BOECs derived from healthy donors. In addition, we used this normal range to identify abnormal angiogenesis in BOECs derived from type 2 VWD patients.
We found that the range of angiogenesis and VWF expression in BOECs from the normal population was highly variable. BOECs from a type 2A VWD patient with a HMWM VWF deficiency exhibited aberrant VWF multimerization, storage and secretion ex vivo. These deficits corresponded with increases in several functional parameters reflecting angiogenesis, namely proliferation, adhesion and migration. Along with the type 2A VWD BOECs, the type 2B VWD BOECs demonstrated an increased release of the angiogenic mediator angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) and increased proliferation. VWF processing was normal in the in vitro environment of the type 2B BOECs. The type 2M VWD BOECs displayed abnormal storage of VWF and also exhibited increases in some metrics of angiogenesis. Though a VWF deficiency was not identified in the type 2N VWD patient, these BOECs exhibited increased angiogenesis as well.
Finally, angiogenesis was explored in endothelial cells derived from a liver hemangioma of a type 1 VWD patient. Though they were proliferative, migratory and had decreased adhesion and tubule formation, it is unclear if VWF influenced this pro-angiogenic phenotype.
In conclusion, these experiments have further elucidated the mechanisms of pathogenesis in angiodysplasia associated with VWD and provided insights into the use of BOECs for recapitulating the patient phenotype.

abstract: M.Sc.


title: The Effects Of Ontario’s Safe Schools Policy On Racialized Students (2000-2013)

contributor:
Freeman, John G.
Kutsyuruba, Benjamin
Education

subject: Contextual analysis: political, economic, social, and educational

subject: School discipline, school safety, Racialized students, Ontario Safe School Policy, Disproportional suspensions and suspensions of racialized students, Safe Schools, The nature of knowledge, Policy analysis, Students' voices,

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-29 17:41:31.661

abstract:
The purpose of this study was to explore how Ontario’s school safety policies influenced the educational experiences of racialized students between 2001 and 2013—a time period during which Ontario’s school safety policies underwent a philosophical shift from more punitive measures toward a more progressive discipline approach. To fulfill this purpose, I conducted a systematic policy analysis of the Safe Schools Act (SSA, 2000), Progressive Discipline and School Safety Act (PDSS, 2007), Keeping Our Kids Safe at School Act (KOKSS, 2009), and the Accepting Schools Act (ASA, 2012). I also engaged the voices of 20 self-identified racialized youth from Ontario’s two largest metropolitan areas (Toronto and Ottawa) who were suspended and/or expelled from Ontario public schools between 2001 and 2013, half of whom were excluded from school prior to and half after PDSS went into effect on February 1, 2008.
 	Drawing from multiple data sources, findings indicate that, although safe schools legislation in Ontario changed from a punitive approach employed between 2000 and 2007 to a progressive discipline and restorative practice approach between 2008 and 2013, there was still disproportional suspension and expulsion of racialized students. The number of students being suspended and expelled from Ontario schools has decreased since PDSS (2007) was put in place (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2013a, 2013b). However, far too many students who experience exclusion from schools under these policies become increasingly disengaged from education.
 	Racist, sexist, ableist, and homophobic ideologies still occupy the social structures in which racialized students, teachers, school administrators, school safety policymakers, and safe schools legislation all exist. These ideologies have historically resulted and continue to result in the inequitable treatment of racialized students in Ontario’s public education system, as seen through the eyes of 20 self-identified racialized students who participated in this study.

abstract: PhD


title: Source Transformation with Boolean Grammars

contributor:
Cordy, James R.
Computing

subject:
Parsing
Boolean grammar

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-29 22:45:51.429

abstract: We propose an enhancement to current parsing and transformation systems by leveraging the expressive power of Boolean grammars, a generalization of context-free grammars that adds conjunction and negation operators. In addition to naturally expressing a larger class of languages, Boolean grammars capture multiple parse trees of the same document simultaneously, allowing one to switch between these parse "views". In particular, source transformation and reengineering tasks can benefit from parse views by recasting the input text into whichever parse is most suitable for the task at hand.

abstract: PhD


title: The Diagnostic Interval of Colorectal Cancer Patients in Ontario by Degree of Rurality

contributor:
Groome, Patti A.
Community Health and Epidemiology

subject:
Rural
Diagnostic Interval
Colorectal Cancer

abstract: Thesis (Master, Community Health & Epidemiology) -- Queen's University, 2015-10-01 11:11:18.967

abstract:
Background: Wait times while moving through the cancer diagnostic process are a public health concern. Rural populations may experience more challenges in accessing cancer care, which could translate into a longer diagnostic interval and represent a healthcare inequity. This project analyzed the association between rurality of residence and the diagnostic interval of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients in Ontario, Canada.
Methods: This was a retrospective population-based cohort study. We used administrative databases available through the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) to identify incident CRC cases diagnosed from Jan 1, 2007- May 31, 2012. We assigned each patient a rurality score, based on their census subdivision, and calculated the length of their diagnostic interval. We defined the diagnostic interval as the time (in days) between a patient’s first diagnostic-related encounter with the health care system to the CRC diagnosis date. Data linkage through ICES allowed us to describe variations in cancer stage and the diagnostic interval by degree of rurality of patient residence and to analyze associations through multivariable models taking into account potential confounders.
Results: Overall, the median diagnostic interval of the CRC cohort was 64 (IQR: 22-159) days and the 90th percentile was 288 days. Patients with stage I CRC had a longer median diagnostic interval than patients with stage IV CRC. Across rurality categories, a significant difference in median diagnostic interval was detected in the stage I stratum only, ranging from 58.5 to 108 days (p=0.0005), but with the most rural group having the shortest diagnostic interval. Results from adjusted multivariable models suggested that patients in mid-ranged rural categories had similar or longer diagnostic intervals compared to patients in the least rural category while patients in the most rural category maintained the shortest diagnostic intervals. Important covariates included age, comorbidities and CRC sub-site.
Conclusion: Our results do not support a rurality effect on stage or the diagnostic interval in the hypothesized direction. Estimates of a shorter interval in the most rural category, especially for stage I disease, call for a deeper analysis to better understand care delivery in those areas and patient characteristics that might affect the interval.

abstract: M.Sc.


title: Nonlinear Observer Design Using Metric Based Potentials

subject:
Nonlinear Systems
Nonlinear Observer
Metric
Hamiltonian
Chemical Engineering
Potential-Based Realization

abstract: Thesis (Master, Chemical Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2015-10-03 16:35:54.029

abstract: This thesis addresses observer design for nonlinear dynamical systems which can be approximated with dissipative Hamiltonian realizations. The design methods builds upon earlier developments that allow the approximate dissipative potential to be extracted using a homotopy operator. This potential is obtained by decomposition of the observer error associated one-form using the homotopy operator which generates the potential. A time-varying differential metric equation dependent on the Hessian of the potential and the measured output function is proposed, which is used to design a state observer. The stability of both the observer and metric equation are assessed using Lyapunov theory. A time-invariant metric is then proposed making use of the Hessian of the potential on a metric-state based observer. Using several process simulations, the approach is shown to provide an effective design alternative for nonlinear observer design.

abstract: M.A.Sc.


title: Pulsed Eddy Current Inspection of Broach Support Plates in Steam Generators

subject:
Steam Generators
Pulsed Eddy Curret

abstract: Thesis (Master, Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-30 06:59:57.57

abstract: Steam Generators (SGs) are a critical component of nuclear reactors, employing thousands of SG tubes to convert heat generated in the reactor core into useable energy. SG tubes are supported at numerous locations by Broach Support Plates (BSPs) that have trefoil shaped holes, which prevent excessive tube vibrations, while allowing water to easily flow through the support structures. A number of degradation modes occur in SGs, such as SG tube fretting, cracking or denting, requiring periodic inspection. Currently, conventional Eddy Current Testing (ECT) is used to non-destructively assess the condition of SG tubes and components. However, as reactors age, new modes of degradation will likely appear that may be difficult to detect and characterize using conventional ECT, such as wall loss in BSPs and build-up of corrosion products, which typically form as a hard sludge called magnetite. Pulsed Eddy Current (PEC) technologies are an emerging technique that is presented in this work as a method to further advance inspection techniques used in CANDU® nuclear reactors. A PEC probe was designed to inspect the unique shape of the trefoil shaped hole to detect and characterize wall loss and the presence of magnetite in A516 carbon steel BSPs with trefoil shaped holes from within 15.9 mm (5/8”) Alloy-800 SG tubes. PEC was also used to observe how measurements of wall loss were affected by the presence of magnetite. This work presents Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations and experimental results collected to observe these degradation modes. The probe was demonstrated to be capable of detecting far side wall loss as low as 20%, locating and characterizing the relative permeability of magnetite, and of detecting wall loss when magnetite was present. FEM simulations and experimental results were found to be in good agreement, suggesting that additional investigations of the effects of BSP degradation on PEC signal response may also be performed using FEM models.

abstract: M.A.Sc.


title: The Aesthetic Attitude in the Everyday

contributor:
Knight, Deborah
Philosophy

subject:
Attitude Theory
Everyday
Aesthetics

abstract: Thesis (Master, Philosophy) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-30 09:16:45.584

abstract:
This thesis takes as its starting point a body of literature focusing on what is commonly referred to as ‘everyday aesthetics’. This literature is engaged in the process of chipping away at the intuition that the artwork is the paradigmatic object of aesthetic experience. My aim is to lend support to the everyday project.
	The everyday aesthetician is concerned with defending the possibility of aesthetically experiencing an elegant ottoman, a luxurious car, and a stylish pair of pants. Some doubt that appreciating such everyday objects as listed above can properly be described as aesthetic. I argue that this doubt is mistaken and due to an art-centric conception of the aesthetic. I will defend the legitimacy of everyday aesthetics by appeal to aesthetic attitude theory. I argue that we can legitimately understand our everyday lives as aesthetic by appeal to a mental activity that human beings are capable of engaging in.
	In Chapter Two, I give a historical account of the aesthetic attitude theory as it has been traditionally conceived. I turn my attention to everyday aesthetics in Chapter Three. There is some tension between the everyday project and aesthetic attitude theory. The latter tends to recommend divorcing objects from their practical dimensions. One view on offer contends that this is a misleading strategy. To divorce the ordinary from practical considerations is to rob the experience of the very thing that gives it its everyday quality. Chapter Four introduces a philosophical compromise by way of a more nuanced version of the aesthetic attitude theory. I suggest that a plausible construal of an attitude theory should not commit it to being an unusual, infrequent, or cognitively burdensome activity. Revising these features renders the theory flexible enough to account for those ordinary everyday aesthetic experiences. Furthermore, I show how we might conceive of attitude theory without necessarily limiting the role practical considerations play in our aesthetic experiences.

abstract: M.A.


title: Against Epistemic Agency

contributor:
Bakhurst, David
Philosophy

subject:
Philosophy of Mind
Epistemology
Metaphysics
Moral Philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy of Action

abstract: Thesis (Master, Philosophy) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-30 10:32:26.035

abstract: A great many philosophers suggest that we exercise epistemic agency – a kind of agency that is distinctly epistemic in character and which allows us directly to exercise agency over our beliefs. In this thesis I will question the intelligibility of this suggestion. In order to do so, I will consider and argue against the four common views that are supposed to locate and explain epistemic agency. The first view suggests that we exercise epistemic agency because believing itself is a species of act or action, in the ordinary sense or in the rational sense. The second view suggests that we exercise epistemic agency because belief formation can be directly controlled, either voluntarily or evaluatively. The third view suggests that we exercise epistemic agency when we reflect upon and make judgments about what to believe. The fourth view suggests that we exercise epistemic agency because we are responsive to reasons. I will contend that these views either fail to intelligibly locate and explain epistemic agency or they do not offer the right explanation of it. This gives grounds to doubt the intelligibility of the very idea of epistemic agency.

abstract: M.A.


title: Constraining the Limits of the Magnetic Confinement-Rotation Diagram: An Analysis of Two B-type Systems Hosting Recently Discovered Extreme Centrifugal Magnetospheres

subject: stars magnetism astronomy physics

abstract: Thesis (Master, Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy) -- Queen's University, 2015-11-30 20:57:45.645

abstract:
Following the detection in the late 70s of a strong magnetic field in the early B-type star sigma Ori E and, more recently with the results of the Magnetism In MassivE Stars (MiMeS) survey, an important and rare subclass of magnetic B-type stars has been emerging. Magnetic stars hosting so called "centrifugal magnetospheres" are characterized by rapid rotation and feature strong and broad emission lines in their spectra produced by a hot plasma co-rotating with the star well beyond the surface (at distances of several times the stellar radius). Since the first discovery of these properties in the magnetic B2Vp star sigma Ori E, the dense, rigidly-rotating circumstellar plasma has been understood as an accumulation of the star's wind in regions of closed magnetic loops above the surface. These objects serve as unique laboratories for studying how the fast winds emitted by all B-type stars interact with magnetic fields in extreme environments. In this study, the properties of two rapidly rotating stars, HD 23478 and HD 35502, hosts to centrifugal magnetospheres and exhibiting strong emission in their spectra, are derived. Our results establish new upper limits on the magnetic confinement-rotation diagram -- a diagnostic tool which is used to understand the magnetospheres of O- and B-type stars in a broader context.

The derived rapid rotation and strong magnetic fields imply that these two stars occupy the most extreme region of the magnetic confinement-rotation diagram populated by known centrifugal magnetosphere-hosting stars such as sigma Ori E and HR 5907.

abstract: M.Sc.


title: Optimizing The Nasal Allergen Challenge Model For The Study Of Allergic Rhinitis

contributor:
Ellis, Anne K.
Biomedical and Molecular Sciences

subject: Allergic Rhinitis - Clinical Investigator Collaborative

subject: Allergic Rhinitis

subject: IL-33

subject: IL-5

subject: Allergy

subject: IL-13

subject: IL1RL1

subject: Clinical Trail Design

subject: Nasal Allergen Challenge

subject: AR-CIC

abstract: Thesis (Master, Biomedical & Molecular Sciences) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-30 16:18:30.051

abstract:
Background
The Allergic Rhinitis Clinical Investigator Collaborative (AR-CIC) uses a Nasal Allergen Challenge (NAC) model to study the pathophysiology of AR and provides proof of concept for novel therapeutics. The NAC model needs to ensure optimal participant qualification, allergen challenge, clinical symptoms capture and biological samples collection. Repeatability of the protocol is key to ensuring unbiased efficacy analysis of novel therapeutics. The effect of allergen challenge on IL-33 gene expression and its relation to IL1RL1 receptor and cytokine secretion was investigated.

Methods
Several iterations of the NAC protocol was tested, comparing variations of qualifying criteria based on the Total Nasal Symptom Score (TNSS) and Peak Nasal Inspiratory Flow (PNIF). The lowest allergen concentration was delivered and TNSS and PNIF recorded 15 minutes later. Participants qualified if the particular criteria for the protocol were met, otherwise the next higher allergen concentration (4-fold increase), was administered until the targets were reached. Participants returned for a NAC visit and received varying allergen challenge concentrations depending on the protocol, TNSS/PNIF were recorded at 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, and hourly up to 12 hours, a 24 hour time point was added in later iterations. Repeatability was evaluated using a 3-4week interval between screening, NAC1, and NAC2 visits. Various biomarker samples were collected.

Results
A combined TNSS and PNIF criterion was more successful in qualifying participants. The cumulative allergen challenge (CAC) protocol proved more reliable in producing a robust clinical and biomarker response. Repeatability of the CAC protocol was achieved with a 3-week interval between visits, on a clinical and biological basis. IL-33 cytokine is an important biomarker in initiating the inflammatory response in AR in humans. IL-33 and IL1RL1 expression might employ a negative feedback mechanism in human nasal epithelial cells. Comparing the clinical and biological response to ragweed vs cat allergen challenge, proved the CAC protocol’s suitability for use employing different allergens.

Conclusion
The AR-CIC’s CAC protocol is an effective method of studying AR, capable of generating measurable and repeatable clinical and biomarker responses, enabling better understanding of AR pathophysiology and ensuring that any change would be purely due to medication under investigation in a clinical trial setting.

abstract: This thesis contains data that is currently being prepared for publication. I have discussed this option with my supervisor Dr. Anne Ellis and she agrees to place a restriction on the thesis until the manuscripts have been accepted and published. Thank you for your help.

abstract: M.Sc.


title: Inspection of Ferromagnetic Support Structures From Within Alloy 800 Steam Generator Tubes Using Pulsed Eddy Current

subject:
Signal Processing
Steam Generator
Pulsed Eddy Current
Principal Component Analysis
Artificial Neural Network
Nondestructive Testing

abstract: Thesis (Master, Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-30 16:23:33.59

abstract: Nondestructive testing is a critical aspect of component lifetime management. Nuclear steam generator (SG) tubes are the thinnest barrier between irradiated primary heat transport system and the secondary heat transport system, whose components are not rated for large radiation fields. Conventional eddy current testing (ECT) and ultrasonic testing are currently employed for inspecting SG tubes, with the former doing most inspections due to speed and reliability based on an understanding of how flaws affect coil impedance parameters when conductors are subjected to harmonically induced currents. However, when multiple degradation modes are present simultaneously near ferromagnetic materials, such as tube fretting, support structure corrosion, and magnetite fouling, ECT reliability decreases. Pulsed eddy current (PEC), which induces transient eddy currents via square wave excitation, has been considered in this thesis to simultaneously examine SG tube and support structure conditions. An array probe consisting of a central driver, coaxial with the tube, and an array of 8 sensing coils, was used in this thesis to perform laboratory measurements. The probe was delivered from the inner diameter (ID) of the SG tube, where support hole diameter, tube frets, and 2D off-centering were varied. When considering two variables simultaneously, scores obtained from a modified principal components analysis (MPCA) were sufficient for parameter extraction. In the case of hole ID variation with two dimensional tube off-centering (three parameters), multiple linear regression (MLR) of the MPCA scores provided good estimates of parameters. However, once a fourth variable, outer diameter tube frets, was introduced, MLR proved insufficient. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) were investigated in order to perform pattern recognition on the MPCA scores to simultaneously extract the four measurement parameters from the data. All models throughout this thesis were created and validated using experimental data. The final ANN models could provide estimates to within 2% of hole diameter and 3% of fret depth. Estimates of hole ID and tube position were further improved when considering fret depth as an input, which could occur if fret information was available. ANN models proved robust to measurement error, as would be encountered in real inspection settings.

abstract: M.A.Sc.


title: Inline Coherent Imaging Based Control of Laser Machining Processes using a Field-Programmable Gate Array

subject: Laser Feedback Control Manufacturing

abstract: Thesis (Master, Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-30 16:38:11.934

abstract: Lasers are becoming an increasingly popular tool for use in industrial manufacturing settings. Their high power density, contact-free nature, and ease of automation give them an edge over traditional methods in processes such as welding, cutting, and drilling. However, laser beams are a difficult tool to control since they are made of light. Therefore, they cannot be monitored in the same way as a mechanical tool with constant physical dimensions. A recent invention, inline coherent imaging (ICI), uses the interference properties of light to monitor the depth of the processing beam at high speeds. However, the computational demands of ICI data processing are intensive, and it is difficult for standard computers to keep up with the high volumes of data that are output by an ICI system. As a result, the real-time control capabilities of ICI are limited by the rate at which the computer can process the data. In this work, I present a system that uses a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) to process ICI data with a high level of determinism and low latency compared to computer-based ICI. The algorithms that were developed to take advantage of the FPGA's architecture are presented, followed by a detailed description of how they were implemented programmatically. I also describe the hardware that was used to perform experiments with closed-loop ICI feedback control. Finally, I present the results of tests done with two applications, autofocus and welding depth control. I show that FPGA-based ICI achieves superior performance to computer-based control, pushing the latency of an ICI calculation down from 3600±900 μs to 54±5 μs. Areas of future work include fine-tuned welding control, implementation of ASIC and/or advanced interpolation or FFT algorithms, and investigation of other laser processes such as additive manufacturing and surgical bone ablation.

abstract: There is a likelihood that I will be building on this work at my current place of employment. As such, patent applications may result from the work in this thesis.

abstract: M.A.Sc.


title: Performing ManChyna: Unmapping Promissory Exaltation, Multicultural Eugenics, and the New Whiteness (Or, “Call Me Dr. ManChyna”)

contributor:
Morgensen, Scott Lauria
Pegley, Kip
Cultural Studies

subject:
liberal settler multiculturalism
autoethnography
Disidentification
Disassimilation
Asian diaspora
Hip-hop
burlesque
Queerness
Black diaspora
Indigenous critical theories
Assimilation
New Whiteness
Performance Studies
Eugenics
Queer of colour critical theories

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Cultural Studies) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-30 19:59:50.835

abstract: Creating art and performing as ManChyna collectively function as my entry into an autoethnographic mapping of mobility and space within liberal multiculturalism. I introduce the research creative method of autoethnographic creatography, because creation and performance are my interventions into and tools for analyzing social space. My parody of queer Asian racialization upends liberal multiculturalism’s promise of incorporation, or promissory exaltation (invoking Sunera Thobani’s, “racial exaltation”), which instrumentally disciplines and includes putative model minorities and homonorms alike. Thus, assimilation into a queer liberal multiculturalism is my primary theoretical target. Building on José Muñoz’s idea of disidentification, I introduce the notion of disassimilation as a performative embodiment of critical analysis and theory. How can individuals articulate the current contours of liberal ideology? How can one counter an ever-shifting dominant culture from a ‘minor’ point of view when one crucial aim of the latter’s evasive energy is the incorporation of that minor gaze? And how does the minoritarian subject represent her critical navigation of majority codes when the picture is complicated by her desire to assimilate into them? The theories of disidentification and disassimilation extend to my uprooting of rural space as supposedly settler land. Using my excessive queer Asianness, I dance on the supposed whiteness of rural Canada, mocking it, and connecting my limited incorporation into queer liberal multiculturalism with ongoing histories of racial exploitation and Indigenous erasure; ultimately, the aim is recognition of rightful Indigenous belonging, existence, and authority of the land. Creatography leads me, via ManChyna’s performance, to encounter intimate modes of racial and sexual discipline within the promises of assimilation and exaltation. ManChyna’s non-Black deployment of rap and humour connects my project to cross-racial political consciousness and alliance. ManChyna serves as a confluence of cultural pathologies, connecting maligned and (paradoxically) celebrated Asian and Black motherhoods with queer deviance. While the dichotomous construction of model and not-so-model minorities work to reiterate the instrumental opposition of minorities against each other, ManChyna’s creations and performances dialogue with other cultural texts that emerge as contradictory navigations of the inherently paradoxical “new whiteness” of queer settler multiculturalism; together, we map its evasive contours.

abstract: PhD


title: Understanding the Impact of Quebec’s Bill 56 on School Administrators’ Work in Maintaining Positive School Climate

contributor:
Kutsyuruba, Benjamin
Education

subject:
impact on principals
anti-bullying legislation

abstract: Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-30 21:11:25.502

abstract:
Bill 56 was a response to, and a recognition of, the need for action concerning
bullying and violence in schools. In Quebec, the Ministère de L’Éducation, du Loisir et
du Sport mandated that school boards, schools, and principals deal with bullying and
violence in schools by enacting Bill 56 in June 2012. However, although new laws and
policies can provide supports and structures, their implementation often poses significant
challenges for school administration.
The purpose of this study was to examine Quebec school administrators’
perceptions of the impact of Bill 56 on their work in maintaining a positive school
climate. The following research questions guided this study:
1. What are the goals and mandates of the anti-bullying legislation Bill 56 in the
province of Quebec as stated in the document and perceived by Quebec school
administrators?
2. How do Quebec school administrators see their responsibilities and roles
changing in regards to the mandates of Bill 56?
3. What are school administrators’ perceptions of challenges and supports of the
anti-bullying legislation Bill 56 in the province of Quebec?
4. What is the impact on school administrators’ confidence as they attempt to
maintain a positive school climate within the context of the implementation of Bill
56?
This study involved a document analysis and one-on-one, in-depth, semistructured,
open-ended interviews with six school administrators of an English school
board in Quebec. The interviewees were encouraged to share their thoughts, actions, and
sense of confidence when dealing with the issues surrounding bullying and violence in
their schools. Data were collected from March through June of 2014.
The findings suggest that, overall, Bill 56 had a positive impact on school culture.
Although the implementation of Bill 56 presented some challenges to the participants, the
overall consensus was that Bill 56 positively affected and supported the work lives of
principals. Participants acknowledged that creating and maintaining a healthy school
climate by being transformational leaders was one of their main goals, and that Bill 56
has provided the framework to achieve that goal. However, there were different levels of
confidence and varying manifestations of transformational leadership traits among the
participants. Based on the research results, this thesis concludes with implications for
theory, practice, policy, and further research.

abstract: M.Ed.


title: Mixing health and geography: A study of risks associated with cardiovascular disease for the Punjabi Sikh population in the Regional Municipality of Peel

contributor:
Rosenberg, Mark W.
Geography

subject:
Punjabi Sikh
health geography
immigrant health
built environment
cardiovascular disease
population health
Canada
gerontology

abstract: Thesis (Master, Geography) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-30 21:25:38.92

abstract: The emerging epidemic of cardiovascular disease is threatening the health and well-being of various communities around the world. The risk of cardiovascular disease is amplified for the Punjabi Sikh population of Canada originating from Punjab, India. According to Statistics Canada’s National Household Survey, the Punjabi Sikh community represents approximately 115 000 or 9.3 percent of the total population within the Region of Peel, making it the second largest Punjabi Sikh community in Canada. Therefore, there is an urgent need to understand factors that contribute to the decline in cardiovascular health of this growing sub-population. The research focuses on Punjabi Sikhs who are 55 years of age or older, immigrated to Canada, live in the Region of Peel and have been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. This age group was selected given that cardiovascular disease diagnosis occurs earlier for Sikhs compared to their ethnic European comparator groups. The Punjabi Sikh population also encompasses an important aging ethnic population in Canada. Health geography plays a vital role in connecting how factors associated with where Punjabi Sikhs live are linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Through a population health approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted using grounded theory with participants (n = 30) in the study. Analysis of the interviews suggests that factors such as genetics, lifestyle, the built environment and influences of differing cultures all create the “perfect storm” for cardiovascular disease within the study population. Understanding cardiovascular disease risk through research provides insight into how to address health needs of an increasingly multi-ethnic population in Canada.

abstract: M.A.


title: Out of the Closet and Into Print: Gay Liberation across the Anglo-American World

contributor:
Dubinsky, Karen
McKay, Ian G.
History

subject:
gender history
social movements
the history of sexuality
gay liberation

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, History) -- Queen's University, 2015-09-30 23:09:06.89

abstract: Intersections between gay liberation’s intellectual, communications, and transnational history reside at the core this thesis. Methodologically indebted to actor network theory, critical theorizations of counterpublics and the public sphere, and transnational historiography, the thesis develops four main arguments. First, far from a short-lived burst of Stonewall-era radicalism, gay liberation was a distinct formation of queer activism that stretched from the end of the 1960s to the emergence of HIV-AIDS in the early 1980s. Second, the decentralized dialogues, debates, and knowledge-making projects that animated gay liberation’s intellectual history cannot be reduced to a single intellectual framework or political ideology. Third, the periodicals in which gay liberation’s intellectual history materialized also constituted a transnational actor-network by bringing far-flung readers, writers, ideas, analyses, and discourses into association. Fourth, language and culture were much greater barriers to the circulation of gay liberation periodicals than national borders or absolute geographic space, and the Anglo-American world was the seat of a distinctive and profoundly interconnected manifestation of gay liberation as such. After exploring the diverse intellectual influences that nourished gay liberation across the Anglo-American world, this thesis examines activist writings on themes such as: the psychiatric, psychological, and psychoanalytic pathologization of homosexuality; the historicity and genealogy of homosexual resistance to oppression; complex entanglements between gay liberation and lesbian feminism; child and youth sexuality; and paedophilia and intergenerational sex.

abstract: I plan to publish my thesis as a monograph with an academic publisher. I have been advised to restrict the thesis for five years to make my work more attractive to potential publishers.

abstract: PhD


title: Investigating Motor Encoding of Potential Reach Targets

contributor:
Flanagan, J. Randall
Neuroscience Studies

subject: Motor Control

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Neuroscience Studies) -- Queen's University, 2015-10-01 18:12:40.43

abstract: Neurophysiological and behavioural research has suggested that multiple potential actions are represented simultaneously.  For example, neural activity associated with multiple potential actions has been observed in premotor structures of monkeys.  Also, when humans are presented with two potential reach targets, they initially aim their reach toward the midpoint, or spatial average, of the targets.  Within the context of the neurophysiological findings, it has been suggested that this ‘spatial averaging’ phenomena reflects competing neural activity associated with multiple motor plans being implemented simultaneously.  However, it is also possible that the initial trajectory represents a perceptual average of spatial locations.  The goal of this thesis was to examine these two accounts of spatial averaging.  An initial experiment tested the idea that multiple motor plans specifying multiple motor parameters are prepared simultaneously.  Participant's reached toward multiple potential targets, one of which was cued after movement onset as the movement target, that varied in location and orientation.  Hand direction and orientation were found to be biased by both the spatial distribution and orientation; suggesting that fully specified motor plans are prepared simultaneously to potential targets.  The second experiment tested whether spatial averaging behaviour reflects the use of a perceptual representation or a motor representation of potential targets.  Participants preformed a rapid reaching task in which an obstacle blocked the movement to one of two potential targets.  The initial movement direction was found to be a weighted average of the movement directions to each target; as opposed to being an average of the target locations.  In chapter four, a visuomotor adaptation task in which individuals learned to produce identical movements to two separate visual targets allowed the perceptual representation and the motor representation of the targets to be dissociated and the predictions of each account to be tested separately.  The initial movement direction was shifted in the direction of the adaptation; providing support for the idea that multiple motor plans are computed simultaneously.  Taken together, the results presented herein  provide support for the idea that the brain prepares multiple movement plans in advance of deciding between potential actions.

abstract: PhD


title: Controlled Radical Polymerization: Towards Industrially Relevant Conditions

contributor:
Hutchinson, Robin A.
Cunningham, Michael F.
Chemical Engineering

subject:
reaction engineering
polymer chemistry

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Chemical Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2015-10-01 08:45:38.949

abstract:
Reversible deactivation radical polymerization (RDRP), also known as controlled radical polymerization (CRP), has been a significant area of polymer research for more than 20 years, allowing the facile synthesis of complex macromolecules previously unattainable by conventional free radical polymerization (FRP). However, industrial adoption of RDRP has been minimal largely due to the significant economic barrier to commercialization, with complex synthesis of the mediating agents required and the necessary post polymerization processing to recover the mediating agent. In an effort to overcome this obstacle to industrial adoption, the mediating agent concentration can be significantly reduced, such as the copper level in activator regenerated by electron transfer atom transfer radical polymerization (ARGET ATRP), or the mediating agent can be incorporated into the polymer as in nitroxide-mediated polymerization (NMP), where no post polymerization processing is required other than removal of residual monomer. This thesis presents a study of these two chemistries towards industrially relevant conditions.
To build upon recent developments of continuous ARGET ATRP, a systematic batch study is conducted to pursue decreased copper levels in the generation of short chain acrylic and methacrylic polymers of interest to the coatings industry. The limitations to reducing copper levels are understood with the development of a kinetic model, with the improved understanding of the ARGET ATRP system suggesting that a reduction in copper loading must be accompanied by an increase in reducing agent loading in order to maintain an appreciable polymerization rate.
Alternatively, NMP does not require a reduction in mediating nitroxide level as it reversibly terminates the polymer chain end, and may present a smaller barrier to commercialization. Indeed, certain nitroxides are currently produced at pilot scale. However, limited research has been conducted into continuous operation which is commonly used in industry to improve productivity. A batch NMP study at elevated temperatures demonstrates the effectiveness of a novel alkoxyamine to mediate the polymerization of styrene and butyl acrylate under industrially relevant conditions. A kinetic study is developed to understand the novel system, and the polymerization is implemented in a continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR), the first demonstration of NMP in an existing industrial process.

abstract: PhD


title: Water Wars and Warriors: Field Actors and the International Water Crisis

contributor:
Dacin, Tina
Management

subject:
Field Theory
Institutional Theory
Institutional Work
Water Management
Institutional Maintenance
Field Change

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2015-10-01 09:10:55.17

abstract: The actions of a variety of actors in the institutional or organizational field shape the rules of the game as well as the tactics, actions and forms of organization that are considered possible and legitimate. Yet despite a burgeoning literature on fields, the understanding of the role of endogenous field agents and their potential to change or maintain field structures remains relatively limited. In this dissertation I examine an increasingly contested field, U.S. municipal water services, through in-depth qualitative case studies and interviews in Detroit and Chicago. I seek to offer insight into the role of these agentic actors in field transition in three related studies. First, I address the role of individual or micro-level actors and their interactions with macro-level actors as transnational institutional changes are introduced to the field. I argue that heretofore unacknowledged and informal field configuring events offer important opportunities for change. Next, I explore the work of actors in fighting to maintain existing institutional structures, namely public water services, in the face of change. I identify novel variations in the types of actors who perform this work and the forms of institutional renewal work they perform. Lastly, I examine the often-overlooked role of central corporate actors in field change and offer a theoretical argument for taking these actors more seriously in our conceptualizations of field change and maintenance.  Specifically, I seek to offer insight to the role of central field actors and what conditions may induce core and embedded actors to act to change the field, contrary to the predictions of much extant field theory. In addition to theoretical contributions these studies offer practical guidance to managers, policymakers, and members of the public as they seek to understand and better manage the complex and multifaceted emerging water crisis, and the conflicts and challenges that surround it.

abstract: Research is currently in the publication process.  Prominent journals in this discipline require that it be removed from online sources in order to ensure blind peer review. This is a requirement for submission

abstract: PhD


title: Wisdom as a Social Phenomenon: an Inquiry of Wise Acts and Wise Practices

contributor:
Luce-Kapler, Rebecca
Education

subject:
Wisdom
Wise Practices
Phenomenology
Wise Acts

abstract: Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2015-10-01 10:02:54.394

abstract:
This phenomenological inquiry of wise acts and wise practices presents a perspective of wisdom as a social phenomenon. Wisdom is shown to emerge out of unique human interactions in particular contexts between wise-act-catalysts and receptive witnesses. This is a shift from the traditional perspective of wisdom as a person-centered internal manifestation. Rather, this study recognizes wisdom as externally manifested; co-created between individuals.
An adapted six-step approach is employed for this research inquiry that pushes the boundaries of a typical phenomenological study. Data were collected through themed group discussion sessions. Eight Canadian wise individuals aged 62-93 years of age, nominated for their history of wise action, participated in six group discussion sessions that lasted 2-2.5 hours each session. These same participants were individually interviewed twice, pre- and post- the group discussion sessions, for approximately 90 minutes each interview. In total, each participant devoted approximately 20 hours of his or her time to this research process. The collected data include the in-depth and transcribed audio files from the interviews and themed group discussion sessions but also writing pieces and drawing exercises submitted by the wise nominees. As a result, the collected data are extensive allowing for a deep understanding of the participants’ lived experiences and perspectives regarding their wise acts, wise practices, and how these relate to wisdom.
Patterns of “Self” and “Self-in-Relation-to-Other” emerged through the data analysis. Each pattern encompasses multiple themes that evolved from the recounted words of the participants. The voice of each participant is distinctly identifiable throughout the study and each participant’s voice powerfully contributes to the study’s view of wisdom’s social nature.
The study closes with recommendations for future research, implications for practical ways these findings can be integrated into one’s everyday life, and poignant words from the study’s wise nominees.

abstract: PhD