title: Inhibiting endoplasmic reticulum stress prevents the development of hypertensive nephrosclerosis

title: Protein folding homeostasis maintains renal function

contributor: Medical Sciences (Division of Physiology/Pharmacology)

subject:
endoplasmic reticulum stress
chronic kidney disease
4-phenylbutyrate
hypertension

abstract: Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, which results from the aggregation of misfolded proteins in the ER, has been implicated in many forms of kidney injury, including hypertensive nephrosclerosis. ER stress induction increases levels of active TGFβ1, a pro-fibrotic cytokine, which can lead to epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in renal proximal tubular cells. EMT occurs when epithelial cells undergo phenotypic changes, which can be prevented by inhibiting ER stress. Further, the ER stress protein TDAG51 is essential for the development of TGFβ1-mediated fibrosis. The low molecular weight chemical chaperone 4-phenylbutyrate (4-PBA) can protect against ER stress-mediated kidney injury. It acts directly on the kidney, and can prevent ER stress, renal tubular damage, and acute tubular necrosis. In a tunicamycin-mediated model of kidney injury, this damage is prevented primarily through repression of the pro-apoptotic ER stress protein CHOP. Along with providing renoprotective effects, 4-PBA can inhibit endothelial dysfunction and elevated blood pressure in a rat model of essential hypertension. In addition to lowering blood pressure, 4-PBA reduces contractility, augments endothelial-dependent vasodilation, and normalizes media-to-lumen ratio in mesenteric arteries from spontaneously hypertensive rats. Further, ER stress leads to reactive oxygen species generation, which is reduced with 4-PBA. Dahl salt-sensitive rats given 4-PBA are protected from hypertension, proteinuria, albuminuria, and renal pathology. Rats provided with vasodilatory medications demonstrate that lowering blood pressure alone is not renoprotective. In fact, endothelial dysfunction, as demonstrated by an impaired myogenic response, is culpable in the breakdown of the glomerular filtration barrier and subsequent renal damage. As such, alleviating ER stress using 4-PBA serves as a viable therapeutic strategy to preserve renal function and prevent ER stress-mediated endothelial dysfunction, renal fibrosis, glomerular filtration barrier destruction, and progression of hypertensive nephrosclerosis.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

abstract: Chronic kidney disease is characterized by progressive loss of kidney function, and is a major public health problem. Kidney cells make proteins that help the kidney function properly. However, if the proteins are made improperly, the kidney does not function as well. This can lead to poor filtration and protein in the urine, damage to important kidney structures, and kidney scarring. High blood pressure, a risk factor for kidney disease, is often accused of causing kidney damage. This thesis shows that malfunctioning blood vessels can cause kidney injury, and lowering blood pressure may not prevent this. However, there are pharmacological molecules that can protect the kidney from damage. These molecules help the cells make proteins properly, preventing blood vessel malfunction and kidney damage. Our findings suggest that helping blood vessels and kidney cells create properly functioning proteins is more protective for the kidney than lowering blood pressure alone.


title: A High Level Synthesis Approach for Reduced Interconnects and Fault Tolerance

contributor:
Nicolici, Nicola
Electrical and Computer Engineering

subject: high level synthesis approach, reduced interconnects, fault tolerance, design complexity, RIFT

abstract:
 High Level Synthesis (HLS) is a promising approach to managing design complexity at a more abstract level as integrated circuit technology edges deeper into sub-micron design. One useful facet of HLS is the ability to automatically integrate architectural components that can address potential reliability issues, which may be on the increase due to miniaturization. Research into harnessing HLS for fault tolerance (FT) has been progressing since the early 1990's. There currently exists a large body of work regarding methods to incorporate capabilities such as fault detection, compensation, and recovery into HLS design.

 While many avenues of FT have been explored in the HLS environment, very little work has considered the effectiveness and feasibility of these techniques in the context of large HLS systems, which presumably is the raison d'etre of HLS. While existing HLS FT approaches are often elegant and involve highly sophisticated techniques to achieve optimal solutions, the costs of HLS infrastructure in regards to scalability are not well reported. The intent of this thesis is to explore the ramifications of applying common HLS techniques to large designs.

 Furthermore, a new HLS tool entitled RIFT is presented that is specifically designed
to mitigate infrastructure costs that mount as greater parallelism is utilized. RIFT is named for its design philosophy of "Reducing Interconnects for Fault Tolerance". RIFT iteratively builds a logical hardware representation, which consists of both the components instantiated and their interconnections, one operation at a time. It chooses the next operation to be "mapped" to the burgeoning design based on scheduling constraints as well as the extra hardware and interconnect costs required to support a particular selection. Emphasis is placed on minimizing the delay of the datapath in effort to reduce the performance cost associated with the extra
interconnects needed for FT. RIFT has been used to generate efficient solutions for FT designs requiring as many as a thousand operations.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: CONTROL OF TRIBOFILMS FORMATION IN MACHINING HARD MATERIALS

contributor:
Veldhuis, Stephen
Mechanical Engineering

abstract:
The study of factors governing cutting tool performance and life is driven by manufacturers’ need to increase economic efficiency in their production facilities.  Tooling and process optimization represent an ongoing opportunity for realizing substantial improvements, thus manufacturers continue to focus on promoting design and development of cutting tools and surface treatment technology relevant to machining.  The central goal of cutting tool technology is to increase productivity while simultaneously reducing cost and meeting the quality targets of the machined parts.
This thesis considers a nano-tribological approach to explain some of the past performance improvements in cutting tools used in dry machining applications and to look for opportunities to make further improvements in this field.  The approach considers tribofilms, which are often described as tribo-oxides composed of either the base cutting tool material or freshly cut workpiece material transferred to the tool that have formed on the friction surface through interaction with the environment (air or cutting fluids) and a tribo-oxidation process.  In general, the formation of tribofilms plays an important role in friction and wear behaviour by offering thermal protection and/or in-situ lubrication, which is especially important during dry machining of hard workpiece materials.  The formation of various tribofilms on cutting tools have been reported through: 1) cutting tools with surface modification and further tribo-oxidation during the cutting process; 2) mass transfer from freshly cut workpiece material due to tool/chip contact in machining; and 3) interaction between the cutting tool surface and the cutting environment.
This dissertation presents a novel method to control the formation of tribofilms on the cutting tool surface during machining of hard materials such as Inconel DA 718 and hardened steels (AISI T1 and AISI D2), with coated and uncoated tools.  In particular, the frictional conditions experienced by the cutting tool during the initial period of cutting (the running-in stage) are shown to strongly influence whether or not beneficial processes related to adaptability will trigger.  Employing a more aggressive cutting speed during the running-in stage noticeably enhances the generation of protective/lubricious tribo-ceramic films on the friction surface.  When the cutting speed is subsequently reduced, the accelerated formation of beneficial tribofilms previously initiated is not fully removed and therefore the rate of tool wear is considerably less than if the tool is run at the lower cutting speed for its entire life.
In addition, preliminary results are presented regarding tribofilms formation under the influence of the cutting environment, specifically the nature of the cooling medium used, which demonstrates an entirely different avenue to explore in terms of fine-tuning of tribofilms generation.
The overall objective of this dissertation is to highlight different approaches to control the tribofilms formed on the cutting tool surface in order to benefit the machining process and to improve cutting tool life, material remove rate and the machined surface quality.  Additionally, little work has been found demonstrating the formation of tribofilms on the tool surface through mass transfer from the workpiece material or through interaction with the cooling medium.  Thus a secondary objective of this work is to demonstrate the formation of tribofilms through these different means and to investigate the effect of cutting parameters on their formation.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Cyber-physical Systems, or, the Cultural Logic of Techno-Neoliberalism

subject:
labour studies
communication studies
information studies
cultural studies
critical data studies

abstract: Major Research Paper

abstract:
We live in a world characterized by digital networks, blurred boundaries, pluralized workplaces, hybrid identities, and highly contested ideological agendas driving complex interactions between diverse local and global discourses. In contemporary capitalism, faith, trust, loyalty and solidarity are all casualties to the algorithmic diktat of big data, the foundation to a new logic of capitalist accumulation. When knowledge is capital and information is a commodity, wisdom is the capacity to forecast earnings from data. The big data stockpiles that cyber-physical systems generate make up the building blocks of the information economy, combining technology, commercial interests and social operations. Since information is increasingly perceived as a profit-laden entity that produces exchange value, the new commanding heights of power and control are being drawn up by techno oligarchs.
I will articulate in my research the totalizing effect capital and technology have on contemporary digital subjectivities by arguing how the fabric of society is being irrevocably changed by the installation of cyber-physical systems. Cyber-physical systems bring together the ‘cyber’ workings of analytics software and automation hardware infrastructure with the ‘physical’ materialities of ubiquitous human interaction. For the purpose of this paper, cyber-physical systems will be classified into audit culture industries and affect-audit culture industries. Audit culture industries are made up of new managerialist operators implementing measurements of progress (e.g. metrics, rubrics, benchmarks, performance indicators etc.) to affect the behavior of consumers, workers and citizens.  Affect-audit culture industries function as infrastructures of consent, amassing data, auditing the affective interactions of their user base and generating revenue for the techno-oligarchical corporations through the sale and commerce of data analytics. These industries are always-already engaged in data acquisition processes making them an integral part of the surveillance apparatus of the neoliberal state procuring data for both state and market surveillance.  Audit culture industries provide data for the structural surveillance apparatus and the affect-audit culture industries feed data to the phenomenological surveillance apparatus.
The processes involved in transforming individual data-points, e.g. geographic coordinates, music playlists, blood sugar levels, pedometer readings, news feeds, dating profiles, video game scores, search histories, smart grid energy meter readings, etc. into aggregated, tradable digitized commodities are shrouded in mystery. The opacity and inaccessibility of these commodities markets highlight the absolute power differential between techno-oligarchical corporations and digital subjects. Cyber-physical systems, I contend will set in motion the expropriation of human agency and restructure work and society in the process through the deployment of disruptive technologies such as process automation, machine learning, artificial intelligence and wearable technologies.


title: COFFEE, EAST GERMANS AND THE COLD WAR WORLD, 1945-1990

contributor:
Swett, Pamela
History

subject:
Germany
German Democratic Republic
Coffee
Commodity culture
trade
development
cold war
communism
socialism
food studies
history of food
Laos
Vietnam
Angola
Ethiopia
transnational history
globalization
colonialism
GDR
East Germany

abstract:
Placing coffee at the centre of its analysis, this dissertation reveals the intersections between consumption, culture, and the German Democratic Republic (GDR)’s involvement in the developing world. State planners took steps to promote coffee as a good consumed not only for its value as a stimulant but also for enjoyment. Enjoying a warm cup of coffee represented East Germans’ participation in socialist society, and in a global coffee culture. Moreover, by adopting and weaving the older ideals and traditions associated with coffee into its messages of a bright socialist future based on modernity, progress and culture, the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED) used coffee as part of its long-term goals of reforming society along socialist lines.
When a major frost destroyed two thirds of Brazil’s coffee trees in July 1975, causing world prices to quadruple by 1977, GDR planners faced a genuine ‘Coffee Crisis’ that challenged the state’s political well-being. The regime replaced the most affordable brand ‘Kosta’ with ‘Kaffee-Mix,’ a blend of 51 per cent coffee and 49 per cent surrogate. Vehement public rejection of the replacement necessitated the hasty conclusion of new trade deals to solve the supply problem, deals which brought the GDR into contact with the developing world in ways it had not anticipated.
This project considers four case studies – the GDR’s coffee deals with Angola, Ethiopia, Laos and Vietnam, and I argue that these coffee deals reveal as much about the GDR’s engagements with the global south as they do about its own self-image as a modern state in a divided, yet globalizing world. The GDR consciously approached these relationships as an industrially developed nation needing to ‘guide’ these newly independent states toward (a socialist) modernisation. Furthermore, these trade agreements reveal the balance between pragmatism and ideology which characterized the GDR’s pursuit of coffee; ideology often informed state representatives and framed the negotiations, but pragmatic concerns generally found primacy throughout the process.
The GDR invested heavily in these developing countries’ coffee industries, sending technical equipment, along with agricultural and technical experts to help these countries meet East Germans’ import needs. In Angola and Ethiopia, the GDR provided weapons for coffee, while contracts with Laos and Vietnam led to lengthy development projects to ‘modernize’ each country’s coffee industry. This investment in turn helped change the balance of the world coffee trade; the most striking example of this process was the explosion of the Vietnamese coffee industry through the 1980s, which ultimately made Vietnam the world’s second largest producer of coffee next to Brazil. The need for coffee in the GDR, then, sparked a specific expansion of its involvement in the Global South, a process that complicates scholars’ positioning of the GDR within international relations. The example of coffee and the trade agreements it spurred suggests the need to move beyond questions about the degree to which the GDR could overcome its diplomatic isolation, or the extent of East German autonomy from the Soviets, toward questions about the nature of East Germany’s own foreign policy agenda, how it saw itself in the world, and how it contributed to the processes of globalization.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

abstract: This investigation contributes to studies of post 1945-Europe and the Cold War by examining the culture, economics and politics surrounding the consumption of a single commodity in East Germany, coffee, from 1945-1989. Coffee was associated with many cultural virtues and traditions which became tied to the GDR’s official image of Socialism. When the regime’s ability to supply this good was jeopardized in 1975-77, the government sought out new sources of coffee in the developing, so-called ‘Third World.’  East Germany entered into long-term trade and development projects with countries like Angola, Ethiopia, Laos and Vietnam, to secure sufficient beans to supply its own population. These trade deals connected East Germany to a much broader, globalizing economy, and led to some lasting effects on the world coffee trade.


title: Electron Microscopy Study of the Chemical and Structural Evolution of Lithium-Ion Battery Cathode Materials

contributor:
Botton, Gianluigi
Materials Science and Engineering

subject: lithium-ion battery; cathode materials; electron microscopy; chemical evolution; phase transformation

abstract: Layered lithium transition metal oxides represent a major type of cathode materials that are widely used in commercial lithium-ion batteries. Nevertheless, these layered cathode materials suffer structural changes during electrochemical cycling that could adversely affect the battery performance. Clear explanations of the cathode degradation process and its initiation, however, are still under debate and are not yet fully understood. In this thesis, the cycling-induced chemical and structural evolution of LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 (NMC) and high-energy Li1.2Ni0.13Mn0.54Co0.13O2 (HENMC) cathodes are investigated in details using state-of-the-art electron microscopy techniques combined with other bulk measurements to uncover the mechanisms at the source of cell deterioration.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: PCSK9 REGULATES LDLR-MEDIATED UPTAKE OF LIPOPOLYSACCHARIDE AND LIPOTEICHOIC ACID

contributor:
Fox-Robichaud, Alison
Medical Sciences

subject: proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9

subject: lipoteichoic acid

subject: lipopolysaccharide

subject: lipoproteins

subject: low-density lipoprotein

subject: LDL receptor

subject: hepatocyte

subject: cytokines

subject: sepsis

subject: bacteria

abstract: The liver regulates inflammation during sepsis, and most liver functions are carried out by hepatocytes. Bacterial lipids, including lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and lipoteichoic acid (LTA), can be cleared by hepatocytes, but the underlying mechanisms are uncertain. Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) regulates uptake of LPS by hepatocytes, but it is unknown whether LTA uptake is similarly regulated. Therefore, our objectives were to characterize the PCSK9-regulated pathway of bacterial lipid uptake by hepatocytes by identifying whether low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor (LDLR) and LDLR-related protein 1 (LRP1) are the target receptors, and by determining which lipoproteins are involved. To study this pathway, we assessed the uptake of fluorescently-labeled LPS or LTA by human HepG2 hepatocytes using flow cytometry. We pre-treated HepG2 cells with PCSK9, alone or in combination with anti-LDLR or anti-LRP1 antibodies, in order to identify the PCSK9-regulated receptors that are involved, and utilized media containing normal serum or lipoprotein-deficient serum to investigate the lipoprotein- dependence of this pathway. We also determined the roles of LDL and HDL in bacterial lipid uptake through a series of add-back experiments to lipoprotein-deficient serum, and blocked LDLR to confirm that LDLR mediates LDL-dependent uptake. The HepG2 cell response to variable degrees of bacterial lipid uptake was also assessed in a subset of experiments by measuring several cytokines and extracellular alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity in the cell culture supernatant. We found that PCSK9 regulates LDLR-mediated uptake of both LPS and LTA through an LDL-dependent mechanism, while LRP1 is not involved. Increased bacterial lipid uptake did not result in any hepatocellular injury or cytokine production, as measured by ALT activity and interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, IL-10, and IL-17 concentrations. In conclusion, we completed our objective of characterizing the PCSK9-regulated pathway of bacterial lipid uptake, and provide supporting evidence for targeting PCSK9 as a novel therapeutic avenue in sepsis.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)

abstract: Bacterial compounds stimulate inflammation that can be overwhelming during sepsis. Understanding the processes behind uptake and clearance of these compounds may lead to better sepsis treatments. Therefore, our goal was to understand how uptake of two bacterial compounds, lipopolysaccharide and lipoteichoic acid, occurs by liver cells called hepatocytes. Hepatocytes are naturally equipped to clear foreign compounds, so understanding their role in clearing bacterial compounds is important. Another goal was to identify the role of the protein PCSK9 in this uptake process, as treatments targeting PCSK9 could be applied to sepsis once we understand its role in this disease. Our research demonstrates the negative role of PCSK9 in regulating uptake of lipopolysaccharide and lipoteichoic acid through a lipoprotein receptor called LDLR, and identifies the role of lipoproteins in this process. These findings further our understanding of the hepatocyte response to bacterial compounds in relation to sepsis, and identify PCSK9 as a potential target for new sepsis therapies.


title: BUILDING SCALABLE BUSINESS DOMAIN TRUST

contributor:
Deza, Antoine
Computing and Software

subject: Software Services Business Design Trust Blockchain

abstract:
This thesis discusses a minimized number of concepts necessary for creating stateful,
asynchronous, and scalable software applications that implement a subject domain. It is
shown how domain driven design can be implemented using a minimized set of
interfaces and architecture patterns. Further, it is shown how high-level business logic
can be exposed as an HTTP service. This is achieved by reviewing requirements,
design, and implementation details for shared control of an organizational data structure
- a tree. Tree data specific as well as general business logic such as synchronization is
identified and testing results are explored. Extensibility design is proposed.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: Visible Traces: Reading the Palimpsest in Mary Shelley's Falkner

contributor:
Clark, David
English and Cultural Studies

subject:
Romanticism
Mary Shelley

abstract: In this thesis, I use nonlinear understandings of the palimpsest in two distinct ways in order to explore both how Shelley constructs a palimpsestic relationship between Falkner and Frankenstein, and the ways in which this palimpsestic relationship is thematized through the interactions and identities of Falkner’s characters. In Chapter One, I use the figure of the palimpsest to uncover the untapped affective and philosophic potentiality of Frankenstein and Falkner, a potentiality that reveals itself only by considering each text as being in an intimate, unabating dance with the other. Chapter Two then ingests the figure of the palimpsest and investigates the ways that Falkner engages with what I call the embodied palimpsest of the nineteenth-century woman, whose identity constructs itself through simultaneous acts of effacement and reanimation. Through this kind of reparative reading, I aim to reclaim Falkner from its moneyspinner status and to show its layered complexities of storytelling, theme, and philosophical inquiry.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: METHANE BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLING OVER SEASONAL AND ANNUAL SCALES IN AN OIL SANDS TAILINGS END PIT LAKE

contributor:
Slater, Greg
Earth and Environmental Sciences

subject:
Methane
Biogeochemical Cycling
Microbial
Oxidation
Methanotroph
End Pit Lake
Oil Sands
Fluid Fine Tailings

abstract: This Master’s degree study examined concentration and isotopic trends of dissolved methane, isotopic trends of phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA), and generated 1st order flux calculations to identify and assess biogeochemical cycling of dissolved methane in the first full-scale demonstration of EPL technology in the Alberta Oil Sands Region (AOSR). Base Mine Lake (BML) was commissioned by Syncrude Canada Ltd. in 2012 to facilitate the long-term storage and remediation of Fluid Fine Tailings (FFT) that are generated as a result of bitumen extraction via the Clark Hot Water Extraction (CHWE) processes. The results of this project provide evidence of methane oxidation by type I methanotrophs in BML, reducing dissolved oxygen concentrations in the hypolimnion layer. The FFT layer is identified as a source zone of fermentative methanogenesis, creating saturated conditions of dissolved gases. Dissolved methane is transferred to the water column primarily by advective processes related to FFT consolidation, while diffusion is a significant secondary transfer mechanism. Dissolved methane concentrations decrease significantly across the FFT-water interface where diffusive flux rates decrease by several orders of magnitude. Concentrations decreased linearly through the hypolimnion to trace concentrations by the metalimnion, resulting in a minor enrichment of δ13C of the residual dissolved methane pool. A minor enrichment of δ13C in C14:0, C16:0, and C16:1 PLFA coincided across the same interval, indicating utilization of a less depleted carbon source further away from the FFT-water interface where dissolved methane concentrations were lower. PLFA δ13C signatures were depleted relative to expected values of typical DOC substrates, further supporting the incorporation of a depleted signature by transfer of depleted carbon from dissolved methane.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: The Contextual Specificity of Backward Compatibility Effects

title: Context of Backward Compatibility Effects

contributor:
Watter, Scott
Psychology

subject:
psychological refractory period
dual tasks
backward compatibility effect
divided attention
episodic memory
practice effects

abstract: Dual task studies have found that Task 2 response information is activated during Task 1 response selection, and can have a priming effect on Task 1. This is called the backward compatibility effect (BCE). Giammarco et al. (2016) found that single-task practice of Task 2 in the context of a random, filler task (Practice-T2 condition) extinguished BCE development in a subsequent dual-task. On the other hand, practicing Task 2 in the context of Task 1 (Practice-Both condition) promoted BCE development in subsequent dual-tasks. Experiment 1a sought to replicate this context-specific disruption of BCE development by presenting participants with a single-task practice phase where they practiced Task 2 along with a filler task, and then observed BCE development in a subsequent dual-task phase. Experiment 1b addressed a counterbalancing issue in Experiment 1a. Experiment 2 was an exact replication of the Practice-T2 condition used in Giammarco et al. (2016). Overall, we conceptually replicated the context-specific disruption of BCE in Experiment 2, but not in Experiments 1a and 1b. Further study is warranted to determine the effect of specific response features on the learning context of Task 2.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)

abstract: Backward compatibility effects (BCEs) have been consistently observed in dual task paradigms. BCEs occur when Task 1 and Task 2 response information are congruent: participants respond faster to Task 1 when the two tasks require congruent responses than when they require incongruent ones. This suggests that there is some parallel processing of Task 2 while performing Task 1. The purpose of this study was to explore the episodic account of BCE development. Since episodic memories are context-specific, BCEs should also be context-specific, according to the episodic account. By manipulating the context of Task 2 learning, we tested whether this affected subsequent BCE development. Our findings suggest that context-specific disruption of BCE development is possible, but depends on other factors as well.


title: Exploring the Continuous Use of Knowledge-Based Clinical Decision Support Systems and Its Relationship with Knowledge Translation

contributor:
Tan, Joseph
Business

subject:
CDSS
healthcare information systems
knowledge translation
Physicians' identity

abstract:
In this study, the continuous use of knowledge-based clinical decision support systems (KB-CDSS) is examined. KB-CDSS not only provides advice to clinicians, but also integrates guidelines with patient information and provides clinicians with tools that facilitate the application of guidelines in patient care. Studying KB-CDSS as a continuous application is important because continuity is a prerequisite to the success of KB-CDSS implementations and is considered as an important motivator for knowledge translation. Previous research in the area of health information systems (HIS) use has focused on the acceptance of these systems through the use of mostly information systems related constructs. Therefore, the theoretical models that explain the use of HIS have been limited and they obfuscated other phases of HIS such as continuous use.  Moreover, extant research has not, to a large extent, considered the influence of KB-CDSS use on knowledge translation, the application of clinical guidelines in practice. This study seeks to fill these gaps in the literature by first integrating context-related factors with IS factors.  This supports the study of antecedents of continuous use of KB-CDSS systems, exploring the relationship between continuous use and knowledge translation, and exploring changes in system dynamics (how usage patterns change with time). In order to achieve these research objectives, a literature review of healthcare and IS research was conducted, resulting in a comprehensive theoretical model that explains the antecedents of continuous use and its relationship to knowledge translation. To validate this model, data were collected from different sources, including: A questionnaire deployed to 118 physicians using the McMaster Pain Assistant KB-CDSS in three academic clinics in South Western Ontario, followed by five focus groups to further explain the context of using the systems and antecedents of its use, and the analysis of system use through data obtained from system logs and patient charts.
The findings of this study show that: (i) Threats to physician professional identity surpasses intention to continue using KB-CDSS, thus influencing its use by physicians in the first six months; (ii) The relationships between factors influencing continuous system use change with time; (iii) System use has a strong relationship with knowledge translation after 6 months of use, but this relationship diminishes after 12 months of use; and (iv) How patients are affected by the system positively influences physician satisfaction with the system and hence their use of the system. This study helps in explaining the theory of physicians’ continuous use of KB-CDSS and how the antecedents of use change with time. Methodologically, this study has discovered several techniques that can be used to improve HIS research and physician acceptance of IS methods. Finally, in practice this study presents several suggestions for improving the development and deployment of KB-CDSS to enhance its use during the knowledge translation process.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: A Thermodynamic Investigation of Commercial Kitchen Operations and the Implementation of a Waste Heat Recovery System

contributor:
Cotton, James
Mechanical Engineering

subject:
Building Energy Modelling
Waste Heat Recovery
Energy Conservation

abstract:
A modeling tool was developed capable of evaluating the thermal performance of a commercial building, for the purpose of objectively quantifying the impacts of both operational changes and technological retrofits.  The modeling tool was created using a steady state energy balance approach, discretized into half hour time steps to capture the time varying characteristics of the rate of heat transfer through the building envelope, the ventilation systems, appliance heat gains, heat generated by electricity consumption, solar energy transfer and space heating through exhaust gas energy recovery with the TEG POWER system.
	Several experimental facilities were used to validate the modeling tool, and to provide inputs to the case studies presented.  Data from two separate commercial baking operations was collected, and was shown to be in agreement with the model predictions with a 7% error.  Several energy conservation measures were simulated, including switching to idealized methods of exhaust ventilation, sealing and insulating appliances, shutting down appliances during unoccupied hours, and the inclusion of exhaust gas energy harvesting.  Implementing all four conservation measures at a single restaurant had the effect of reducing electricity consumption by 14% or approximately 17,700 kWh (64 GJ), and reducing natural gas consumption by 60% or approximately 18,200 m3 (608 GJ) annually.  In contrast, proceeding directly to the energy harvesting solution, and bypassing other conservation measures, only allowed for 20% of the total potential energy savings to be realized.
	If the concepts identified are implemented across 2000 comparable restaurants in Ontario, there is a potential to reduced electricity consumption by 44.4 million kWh and natural gas consumption by 33.7 million cubic meters annually.  The measures would effectively eliminate 65,500 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions every year.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: CHARACTERIZING THE FUNCTION OF THE PIT-ACCESSORY PROTEIN (PAP) IN SINORHIZOBIUM MELILOTI

contributor:
Finan, Turlough
Biology

subject:
phosphate
microbiology
membrane protein
transporter

abstract:
Microorganisms primarily acquire phosphorus (P) in the form of inorganic phosphate (PO4-3 or Pi) through expression of a suite of phosphate scavenging or phosphate transporter systems in response to limiting environmental phosphate. One such system is the Pit family of single protein Pi transport systems found in all domains. These vary in size from 300 to 800 amino acids (a.a.) in size.
Previously, the pit gene of the soil bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti, was found to encode a 334 a.a. Pi uptake system (KM 1-2µM) that is repressed in low Pi conditions. However, the S. meliloti pit gene is encoded in an operon and overlaps the coding sequence of a protein of unknown function, which was denoted as pap (pit-accessory protein).
Using a conditional Pi-transport deficient mutant strain of S. meliloti, the effects of pap or pit mutations on Pit-mediated Pi uptake were studied by conducting growth experiments in minimal media (with Pi as the sole source of P) and Pi uptake experiments. Both pap and pit deletions resulted in a loss of growth and Pi uptake, which could be complemented by integration of the pap and pit genes into the deletion locus.
Heterologous Pap-Pit systems from Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron and Shewanella oneidensis were found to have KM values (17 and 8.5 µM, respectively) similar to previously reported values of S. meliloti Pap-Pit. However, the Shewanella Pit protein was capable of transporting Pi in the absence of the cognate Pap protein, albeit with greatly reduced velocity at all measured concentrations.
Pap-Pit orthologs were identified in ~2000 diverse prokaryotic proteomes using Pfam motifs of Pit (PHO4) and Pap (PhoU_div) protein domains. pap-pit operons were found in a third of all proteomes, and were predicted to be a co-transcribed operon in >95% of cases. This provided additional evidence that Pap is directly involved in Pit-mediated Pi uptake, and also that Pap-Pit systems have a significant role in microbial Pi uptake.
Pap protein sequences and structures show striking similarities with that of PhoU, a protein of unknown function implicated as a modulator of the Pst uptake system. Pap and PhoU proteins share highly conserved putative metal-binding motifs (E/DXXXD) of which several Pap missense mutations were found to result in reduced Pi transport. This suggests that like PhoU, Pap may function as a modulator of Pi uptake by an interaction with its cognate transporter, Pit. However, the molecular mechanisms of PhoU and Pap proteins have yet to be defined.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)

abstract: Microbes acquire and assimilate phosphorus (P) in the form of inorganic phosphate (Pi) through a variety of mechanisms. Pit (Pi transporter) are a family of diverse transporters found in all kingdoms of life. Unlike other Pit systems, the Sinorhizobium meliloti pit gene is encoded in an operon with a protein of unknown function, denoted the pit-accessory protein (pap). Using S. meliloti Pap-Pit and orthologues from other bacteria as model systems, we demonstrate that Pap functions as a positive modulator of Pi uptake via Pit, as Pap is required for active uptake of Pi. Pap-Pit systems are found in 30% of all bacteria and archaea, and thus broadly distributed. Understanding the mechanism of Pap-Pit has biotechnological applications, as multiple Pap-Pit systems are present in phosphorus-accumulating bacteria utilized for waste-water treatment.


title: BIOMECHANICAL AND CLINICAL FACTORS INVOLVED IN THE PROGRESSION OF KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS

contributor:
Maly, Monica
Rehabilitation Science

subject:
biomechanics
gait analysis
motion analysis
muscle strength
muscle power
patient-reported outcomes
self-reported outcomes
osteoarthritis
knee
kinematics
kinetics
dynamometry
accelerometry
magnetic resonance imaging
MRI
cartilage
obesity
loading frequency
physical activity
knee adduction moment
knee flexion moment
body mass index
BMI
pain
self-efficacy
mobility
walking
stair-climbing

abstract:
Background: Knee osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease characterized by damaged joint tissues (e.g., cartilage) that leads to joint pain, and reduced mobility and quality of life.  Various factors are involved in disease progression, including biomechanical, patient-reported outcome and mobility measures.  This thesis provides important longitudinal data on the role of these factors in disease progression, and the trajectory of biomechanical factors in persons with knee osteoarthritis.
Objectives: (1) Determine the extent to which changes over 2.5 years in knee cartilage thickness and volume in persons with knee osteoarthritis were predicted by the knee adduction and flexion moment peaks, and knee adduction moment impulse and loading frequency.  (2) Determine the extent to which changes over 2 years in walking and stair-climbing mobility in women with knee osteoarthritis were predicted by quadriceps strength and power, pain and self-efficacy.  (3) Estimate the relative and absolute test-retest reliabilities of biomechanical risk factors for knee osteoarthritis progression.
Methods: Data were collected at 3-month intervals during a longitudinal (3-year), observational study of persons with clinical knee osteoarthritis (n=64).  Magnetic resonance imaging of the study knee was acquired at the first and last assessments, and used to determine cartilage thickness and volume.  Accelerometry and dynamometry data were acquired every 3 months, and used to determine knee loading frequency and knee muscle strength and power, respectively.  Walking and stair-climbing mobility, as well as pain and self-efficacy data, were also collected every 3 months.  Gait analyses were performed every 6 months, and used to calculate lower-extremity kinematics and kinetics.
Results: (1) The knee adduction moment peak and impulse each interacted with body mass index to predict loss of medial tibial cartilage volume over 2.5 years.  These interactions suggested that larger joint loads in those with a higher body mass index were associated with greater loss of cartilage volume.  (2) In women, lower baseline self-efficacy predicted decreased walking and stair ascent performances over 2 years.  Higher baseline pain intensity/frequency also predicted decreased walking performance.  Quadriceps strength and power each interacted with self-efficacy to predict worsening stair ascent times.  These interactions suggested that the impact of lesser quadriceps strength and power on worsening stair ascent performance was more important among women with lower self-efficacy.  (3) Relative reliabilities were high for the knee adduction moment peak and impulse, quadriceps strength and power, and body mass index (i.e., intraclass correlation coefficients >0.80).  Absolute reliabilities were high for quadriceps strength and body mass index (standard errors of measurement <15% of the mean).  Data supported the use of interventions effective in reducing the knee adduction moment and body mass index, and increasing quadriceps strength, in persons with knee osteoarthritis.
Conclusion: Findings from this thesis suggest that biomechanical factors play a modest independent role in the progression of knee osteoarthritis.  However, in the presence of other circumstances (e.g., obesity, low self-efficacy, high pain intensity/frequency), biomechanical factors can vastly worsen the disease.  Strategies aiming to curb structural progression and improve clinical outcomes in knee osteoarthritis should target biomechanical and clinical outcomes simultaneously.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

abstract: Knee osteoarthritis is a multifactorial disease whose progression involves worsening joint structure, symptoms, and mobility.  Various factors are linked to the progression of this disease, including biomechanical, patient-reported outcome and mobility measures.  This thesis provides important information on how these factors, separately and collectively, are involved in worsening disease over time, as well as benchmarks that are useful to clinicians and researchers in interpreting results from interventional or longitudinal research.  First, we examined how different elements of knee loading were associated with changes in knee cartilage quantity over time in persons with knee osteoarthritis.  Second, we examined how different elements of knee muscle capacity and patient-reported outcomes were related to changes in mobility over time in persons with knee osteoarthritis.  Third, we examined the stability over time of various biomechanical risk factors for the progression of knee osteoarthritis.  Novel results from this thesis showed that: (1) larger knee loads predicted cartilage loss over 2.5 years in obese individuals with knee osteoarthritis but not in persons of normal weight or overweight; (2) among women with knee osteoarthritis with lower self-efficacy (or confidence), lesser knee muscle capacity (strength, power) was an important predictor of declining stair-climbing performance over 2 years; and (3) clinical interventions that can positively alter knee biomechanics include weight loss, knee muscle strengthening, as well as specific knee surgery and alterations during walking to reduce knee loads.  Interventions for knee osteoarthritis should target biomechanical and clinical outcomes simultaneously.


title: Metabolomics for Characterization of Dietary Adherence in Phenylketonuria Patients and Electronic Cigarette Smoke Exposure in Placental Cells

contributor:
Britz-McKibbin, Philip
Chemical Biology

subject:
Capillary Electrophoresis
Mass Spectrometry
Metabolomics
Biomarkers
Phenylketonuria
Electronic Cigarettes

abstract: Metabolomics is the systematic analysis of low-molecular weight compounds (metabolites) within biological systems that represent molecular endpoints of gene expression and environmental exposures. A major goal of metabolomics is achieving better understanding of the pathophysiology of complex disease processes while elucidating mechanisms of action of nutrients, toxins, and/or drugs. Multisegment injection-capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (MSI-CE-MS) is a high-throughput microseparation platform that is ideal for the analysis of polar/ionic metabolites from volume-restricted biological samples. This thesis includes two major metabolomics projects using MSI-CE-MS that are aimed at contributing new advances in public health and chronic disease prevention. Chapter II presents an analysis of the metabolome from patients with phenylketonuria (PKU) — a genetic disease affecting phenylalanine (Phe) metabolism that requires lifelong dietary restriction to prevent irreversible intellectual disabilities. A targeted and nontargeted metabolomics approach using matching urine and plasma samples was conducted to confirm known markers of PKU and identify new markers associated with dietary adherence and disease progression. Along with increased excretion of Phe catabolites in urine, high plasma Phe was associated with decreased excretion of acylcarnitines and greater excretion of histidine catabolites, suggesting impaired fatty acid oxidation and micronutrient deficiencies, respectively. Overall, this may provide a strategy to objectively monitor dietary adherence beyond standard dietary records or patient recall. Chapter III investigates the impact of electronic cigarette smoke exposure on the placental metabolome as a model cell line of fetal development. Evidence of altered amino acid metabolism, in addition to changes in acylcarnitines and metabolites associated with cellular proliferation, were observed in more susceptible first trimester placental cells and were attributed to flavouring agents irrespective of nicotine dosage. This work supports the hypothesis that flavoured e-cigarette formulations pose a significant health risk in comparison to unflavoured formulations and supports the need for further risk assessment and careful regulation of these products to prevent deleterious birth outcomes in pregnant mothers.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: In the World and of It: Russian Mennonites and Narratives of Community in Contemporary Canada

contributor:
Badone, Ellen
Anthropology

subject: Mennonites, Christianity, Community, Narratives

abstract: This dissertation explores the shifting conflicts and paradoxes that come to constitute identity, subjectivity, and personhood within Russian Mennonite communities in contemporary Canada.  I argue that the central tension within Christianity, the paradox of the incarnation, defines what it means to be Mennonite in this time and place, for it is through attempts to manage this paradox that Mennonite lives are lived, and this tension is generative of both pragmatic action and social transformation. In attending to these tensions ethnographically, I show how Mennonite constructions of community are a response to the problem of incarnational living in Christianity, where the past is neither stable nor resolved.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Knowledge of Meaning and Linguistic Communication

contributor:
Lapointe, Sandra
Philosophy

subject: language, semantics

abstract:
The central question guiding this thesis is, how do we determine what information is semantic?
I argue that the amount of information semantically-encoded is proportional to the role semantic competence plays in linguistic communication. My reasons for this are meta-theoretical. Natural language semantics is the theory of the information encoded by linguistic expressions. As such, it should proceed in accordance with normal naturalistic inquiry on the model of the core natural sciences. This includes the practice of hypothesizing entities with the goal of explaining otherwise inexplicable phenomena and theoretical virtues like parsimony. These same considerations lead me to reject a standard claim in natural language semantics, that proper names semantically refer to their bearers. My argument proceeds as follows.
Ordinary assumptions about natural language semantics include the assumption that semantics is essentially a theory of truth conditions; and that its tasks, including the analysis of logical properties like validity and consistency, are to be determined a priori. In Chapter 1, I argue that these assumptions must be earned, not stipulated, for a natural language semantics understood as a scientific theory of linguistic meaning. Instead, the nature of the semantic properties we ascribe to language should be determined by the explanatory niche they fill, which in turn is determined by the broader theoretical context. I argue that this broader context should be understood as the theory of linguistic communication and the cognitive mechanisms underlying it.
In Chapter 2, I examine one strategy for delimiting the domain of semantic properties, the argument from competence. Arguments from competence infer from the limitations of the cognitive mechanisms devoted to linguistic interpretation to negative claims about what semantic properties cannot be. I take a detailed look at an instance of this strategy, Kent Bach’s argument that reference is not a semantic property of proper names.
In Chapter 3, I argue that the viability of Bach’s argument, and arguments from competence in general, depends on the role played by semantic knowledge. We can infer to expressions’ semantic contents from speakers’ knowledge of semantic properties only if that knowledge is necessary for linguistic communication.
In Chapter 4, I argue that, because linguistic communication is ostensive-inferential, not code-based, knowledge of semantic properties is not necessary for linguistic communication. Arguments from competence, including Bach’s argument that reference is not a semantic property of name, fail. However, many of the same considerations which lead to this failure point the way to a different argument against the referential theory of names, the argument from methodological semantic minimalism. Methodological minimalism requires us to posit only those semantic properties necessary to explain the phenomena of linguistic communication. Because these phenomena are ostensive-inferential, they depend primarily on pragmatic cognitive mechanisms, and we can explain many phenomena pragmatically, rendering semantic explanation redundant.
In Chapter 5, I apply methodological semantic minimalism to the thesis that reference is a semantic property of proper names.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

abstract: Natural language semantics is the theory of the information encoded by natural languages. Of all the information a sentence can be used to communicate, which of it is semantically encoded? How can we tell? One method is an argument strategy called the argument from competence. Arguments from competence presuppose that semantically competent speakers have knowledge of the information their linguistic expressions encode. On this assumption, we can infer from the information competent speakers do, or plausibly could, possess in virtue of being competent with some expression(s) to the sorts of information we can reasonably call their semantic contents. I discuss one instance of an argument from competence in detail, Kent Bach's argument against the referential theory of names. The referential theory holds that proper names semantically refer to, or encode information about, their bearers. Bach argues that the referential theory must be false, and a proper name does not encode information about each of its bearers because competent speakers have incomplete knowledge of a name’s bearers for most names they use and encounter in linguistic communication. I argue that Bach's argument, and arguments from competence in general, fail because they misconceive the mechanics of linguistic communication and, along with them, the place of speakers’ knowledge of semantic information in the hierarchy of cognitive abilities underlying linguistic communication. Such knowledge plays a relatively minor role in linguistic communication, which is largely dependent on the same pragmatic mechanisms underlying non-linguistic communication. I offer an independent argument against the referential theory of names which follows from the essentially pragmatic nature of linguistic communication.


title: TUNING OPTOELECTRONIC PROPERTIES OF III-V ALLOYS FOR OPTICAL EMITTERS VIA SPATIAL ELECTRON LOCALIZATION

contributor:
Rubel, Oleg
Materials Science and Engineering

subject:
Electron spatial localization
III/V semiconductor alloys
Two dimensional GaN
1.55 micrometer telecommunication media
Density Functional Theory
Optoelectronic properties

abstract: The global increase in internet usage requires an upgrade of the existing infrastruc- ture. Lasers are a key proponent to improving existing systems, and engineering better gain materials aids in this effort. (InGa)As is the leading material in this field for 1.55 μm communication wavelengths, but can be improved on by changing the substrate from InP to GaAs. Another improvement would be reducing the losses due to Auger recombination. (InGa)(BiAs) is suggested to alleviate many of these issues, as it can be grown on a GaAs substrate and is capable of decreased Auger recombination. By analyzing prospective alloys (and existing ones) using spatial electron localization, a superior candidate for industrial use can be suggested. The localization captures the disorder introduced by alloying and can be associated with material properties such as the gain characteristics and photoluminescence linewidths. These properties are important factors in determining a successor. The subject of two-dimensional materials is another topic which has shown promise in various applica- tions. Examples include flexible, transparent, and miniaturized electronics. Recent research done by Al Balushi et al. suggests that GaN may be stabilized in a two-dimensional sys- tem. By extending the material modelling approach from the telecommunication application to this system, we were able to show which III-V isoelectronic elements can be substituted into GaN. This two-dimensional system may be the only candidate capable of spanning the visible spectrum. We found Phosphorus to be the strongest candidate for decreasing the band gap.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: THERMAL AND HYDROLOGICAL CONDITIONS  OF REPTILE SPECIES-AT-RISK HABITAT ALONG EASTERN GEORGIAN BAY DURING CRITICAL LIFE STAGES

contributor:
Waddington, James Michael
Geography and Earth Sciences

subject:
Reptiles
Species at Risk
Habitat
Peatlands
Moss
Snake Hibernation
Turtle Nesting
Georgian Bay

abstract: Reptiles are the vertebrate taxon with the highest percentage of at-risk species in Canada, many of which exist at the northern limit of their species’ home range in Ontario. Numerous reptiles are found in the Georgian Bay area; however, factors limiting their distribution in Ontario are poorly understood. It is likely that the thermal and hydrological conditions of a reptile’s critical habitat are contributing factors. Specifically, peatlands serve as ideal hibernacula for the threatened Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus) while moss cushions may provide freshwater turtles, including the threatened Blanding’s Turtle (Emydoidea blandingii) and endangered Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata), with nesting opportunities on open rock barrens. Although different in their functional purpose at opposite life stages for two separate orders of reptiles, these ecosystems provide suitable conditions to meet the physiological needs of the reptiles utilizing them. This analysis characterizes the thermal and hydrological conditions of moss-dominated ecosystems from a reptile species-at-risk perspective. The interaction between the water table and the frost line is important when assessing the winter survival of Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnakes hibernating in peatland hummocks. Larger hummocks are more ideal as they have a lower chance of becoming flooded in the winter while still providing protection from the advancing frost line. Ideally, hummocks that are 30-35 cm tall provide the greatest chance of survival when snakes hibernate 20-25 cm below the surface. Subsurface temperatures in relation to snow depth, as it is influenced by tree stand characteristics, was also assessed. This resulted in the conclusion that the presence, absence, timing, and frequency of freeze and thaw events is likely more important than snow depth when it comes to winter survival. Similar to rattlesnake hibernacula, turtle nests can be inundated for extended periods of time or exposed to extreme temperatures which reduces their chance of survival. The water storage dynamics of 22 hillslope and 12 hilltop moss cushions along with the temperature dynamics at nine locations were characterized. Although it was determined hilltop locations had greater water storage capabilities, continuously monitored moss cushions responded very quickly to rainfall events whereby sites were inundated for less than 12 hours. Average subsurface temperatures decreased with depth as did temperature fluctuations, both of which were positively correlated but not significantly affected by canopy openness. However, due to their tendency to grow on flat surfaces, not all moss cushions are suitable nesting sites. Moreover, temperatures that ensure proper development and equal ratios of male-to-female turtles were not achieved suggesting that this is a potential factor limiting the northern distribution of turtles in Ontario. In order to properly asses the vulnerability of these populations to threats including habitat loss and climate change, the habitat requirements of different species at critical life stages needs to be understood. Therefore, conservationists can use this study to implement mitigation strategies that consider impacts on the thermal and hydrological dynamics within reptile habitat.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: The inhibition of PAI-1 for restoration of skeletal muscle and skin repair in diabetes mellitus

contributor:
Hawke, Thomas
Medical Sciences

abstract: Type 1 diabetic (T1D) individuals are burdened with many systemic complications, including impairments in skeletal muscle and cutaneous repair following injury. Plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1), the primary inhibitor of the fibrinolytic system, plays a critical role in the regulation and progression of tissue repair via controlling both extracellular matrix breakdown and cell migration. Previous work has demonstrated that elevations in PAI-1 inhibit adequate tissue regeneration, and has shown that PAI-1 is overexpressed in T1D patients regardless of insulin therapy. As such, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate the effects of known PAI-1 inhibitors on tissue repair of skin and skeletal muscle in T1D. To undertake these experiments, a rodent model of T1D was used, and animals were subject to cutaneous and skeletal muscle injuries. PAI-039, a small-molecule PAI-1 inhibitor, and Fluvastatin, a readily available statin that, among other functions, is known to inhibit PAI-1, were administered, and their effects on tissue regeneration were examined. PAI-039 was effective in restoring cutaneous wound closure in T1D. Fluvastatin, on the other hand, not only proved deleterious to both cutaneous and skeletal muscle regeneration, but also caused a pathological change in lipid deposition in the diabetic rodents. Overall, PAI-1 inhibition via a therapeutic agent that has a multitude of other pleiotropic effects is not recommended for improving T1D tissue repair. PAI-1 inhibition via a specific small-molecule inhibitor does, however, prove beneficial to cutaneous regeneration. Taken together, this data lays the foundation for future studies investigating small-molecule PAI-1 inhibitors as a therapeutic for the restoration of tissue repair in T1D.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

abstract: Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong condition that affects many of the normal functions of the body. Type 1 diabetic patients have an impaired ability to heal wounds on their skin and repair muscle after damage or exercise, greatly affecting their quality of life. One factor other than blood sugar that is found in abnormally high levels in diabetic patients is PAI-1, which inhibits proper movement of cells and healing of wounds. In this thesis, we investigated the effects of PAI-1 inhibition on tissue repair in diabetic rodents. While a specific therapeutic designed only to inhibit PAI-1 helped skin wounds close, a commercially available drug that has been shown to inhibit PAI-1 as a secondary effect made healing of diabetic skin and muscle worse. The findings in this body of work suggest that specialized PAI-1 inhibitors should be further investigated as a therapeutic to help restore diabetic tissue repair.


title: LiDAR Based Perception System: Pioneer Technology for Safety Driving

contributor:
von Mohrenschildt, Martin
Computing and Software

subject: LiDAR, Autonomous Driving, Perception, Artificial Intelligence, Tracking

abstract: Perceiving the surrounding multiple vehicles robustly and effectively is a very important step in building Advanced Driving Assistant System (ADAS) or autonomous vehicles. This thesis presents the design of the Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) perception system which consists of several sub-tasks: ground detection, object detection, object classification, and object tracking. It is believed that accomplishing these sub-tasks will provide a guideline to a vast range of potential autonomous vehicles applications. More specifically, a probability occupancy grid map based approach was developed for ground detection to address the issues of over-segmentation, under-segmentation and slow-segmentation by non-flat surface. Given the non-ground points, point cloud clustering algorithm is developed for object detection by using a Radially Bounded Nearest Neighbor (RBNN) method on the static Kd-tree. To identify the object, a supervised learning approach based on our LiDAR sensor for vehicle type classification is proposed. The proposed classification algorithm is used to classify the object into four different types: ``Sedan'', ``SUV'', ``Van'', and ``Truck''. To handle disturbances and motion uncertainties, a generalized form of Smooth Variable Structure Filter (SVSF) integrated with a combination of Hungarian algorithm (HA) and Probability Data Association Filter (PDAF), referred to as GSVSF-HA/PDAF, is developed. The developed approach is to overcome the multiple targets data association in the content of dynamics environment where the distribution of data is unpredictable. Last but not the least, a comprehensive experimental evaluation for each sub-task is presented to validate the robustness and effectiveness of our developed perception system.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Innovative Analysis Techniques for Canadian SCWR Neutronics

contributor:
Buijs, Adriaan
Engineering Physics

subject: physics neutronics engineering nuclear scwr canadian reactor super critical water-cooled diffusion experiment transport technique

abstract:
Knowledge of the effects of nuclear data uncertainties and physics approximations is crucial
for the development, design, operation, and accident mitigation, of nuclear power
plants. A framework to create a simulated fuel bundle, based on sensitivities and similarities,
has been developed. The methodology allows safe-to-handle fuel to be manufactured
such that it mimics irradiated fuel and can be used to reduce simulation uncertainties and
better predict an application’s response. In this work, similarity values of ck = 0.967,
E = 0.992, and G = 0.891 were found between between the irradiated fuel, and non-irradiated
simulated fuel. In addition, a set of ZED-2 experiments has been analyzed
that are applicable to an SCWR nuclear data adjustment and simulation bias determination.
This was shown through high sensitivity coverage of many important nuclides,
however, a low completeness value of R=0.24 indicates the set of 39 experiments alone is
not sufficient for an accurate bias determination. Lastly, a technique has been presented
that reduces diffusion calculation errors through the use of novel and practical mean
discontinuity factors. The discontinuity factors have shown to reduce maximum channel
power errors by up to 6.7%, and reactivity errors by 2.6 mk, compared to conventional
analysis techniques.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

abstract: Use of practical discontinuity factors has shown to reduce channel power predictions significantly. Furthermore, an experimental and numerical technique has been developed to improve neutron transport predictions. Finally, a set of experiments have been modeled and simulated to determine their applicability to the SCWR.


title: APPROACHING URBAN SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH RESTORATION ECOLOGY AND GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE

title: NATIVE PLANT PERFORMANCE ON A RIPARIAN BUFFER RESTORATION AND FEASIBILITY OF A CONSTRUCTED WETLAND AT AN URBAN PARKING LOT

contributor:
Dudley, Susan
Biology

subject:
Restoration
Green Infrastructure
Ecology
Biology
Sustainability
Stormwater Management
Plant Ecology
Hydrology
Reclamation
Parking Lot
Riparian Buffer
Wetland

abstract:
Most cities are dominated by asphalt and concrete, which blocks the natural
movement of rain water. Wetlands, riparian buffers, and roadsides are being lost or
degraded in urban areas due to human development. Cities can be designed to benefit
humans and nature by using techniques from green infrastructure and restoration ecology
to improve urban sustainability. Parking lot M on McMaster University's west campus,
constructed in 1968 on a former floodplain, directs the highly saline parking lot runoff
into the adjacent Ancaster Creek. Natural groundwater sources along the surrounding
hillslopes are directed into pipes under the parking lot and into the creek. A one-hectare
riparian buffer restoration at lot M was used to assess the viability of depaving asphalt
and establishing native plants through a vegetation study. Total native plant biomass was
found to be similar to non-native plant biomass and was affected by road-salt salinity
from the parking lot. Species richness per quadrat was higher for non-native plants, and
greater for both non-native and native plants where less salt was present. Key
hydrological fluxes were examined at the parking lot that could contribute to a proposed
0.6 hectare constructed wetland on the parking lot, known as “McMarsh.” Potential
wetland water storage is in surplus year round, with an average storage of 265 mm/month.
Successful restorations require maintenance following the establishment of native species.
Management and maintenance of the restoration can help decrease non-native species.
Engaging with the community through outreach and education on restoration projects is
important for a successful restoration and increasing urban sustainability in cities.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: NON-CODING RNAS AND MRNA SECONDARY STRUCTURE IN STREPTOMYCES

contributor:
Elliot, Marie A
Biology

subject:
bacteria
gene regulation
non-coding rna
streptomyces
quorum sensing
RNA structure

abstract: Work over the past two decades has revealed that non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are prevalent in all kingdoms of life. Using RNA-seq we discovered hundreds of ncRNAs in the antibiotic-producing genus of bacteria, Streptomyces. These included trans-encoded small RNAS (sRNAs), cis-antisense RNAs, and a new type of antisense RNA we termed cutoRNAs (convergent untranslated overlapping RNAs) that arise when transcription termination does not occur in the intergenic region between two convergently arranged genes. Many of these ncRNAs feature prominently in the specialized metabolite biosynthetic clusters (e.g. antibiotics, anticancer agents, immunosuppressants). Hence, it is likely that understanding the functions of these RNAs will be important for new molecule discovery. We found that one highly expressed antisense RNA (ScbN) was expressed opposite the -butyrolactone synthase scbA in the model streptomycete Streptomyces coelicolor. However, ScbN had no detectible impact on the expression of scbA. Instead, the transcription terminator of scbN, which also forms a hairpin within the coding sequence of scbA, was found to reduce expression of scbA more than 10-fold. This led us to bioinformatically search for similar coding-sequence hairpins throughout all bacteria, leading to the discovery of many stable RNA structures with conserved locations throughout very divergent bacteria (e.g. Streptomyces, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis).

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

abstract: The flow of genetic information, from DNA to RNA to proteins, often portrays RNA as a mere intermediary molecule. An alternative, and perhaps more accurate, way to view RNA is that it is central to all cellular processes. Many RNAs are not translated into proteins and instead act as regulatory molecules, impacting the expression of other genes. In this work we found many examples of these regulatory RNAs in a group of bacteria known to produce many of the world’s antibiotics. Understanding the roles these regulatory RNAs play in impacting gene expression will be important for the discovery of new molecules, such as antibiotics. In addition to distinct regulatory RNAs mentioned above, we found that RNA structures within the coding sequences of mRNAs that are translated into proteins have dramatic regulatory consequences. We describe the characterization of one such RNA structure in a gene involved in bacterial communication, and develop a bioinformatic tool to hunt for other such structures conserved throughout bacteria.


title: Functional analysis of CSB in telomere maintenance and DNA double-strand break repair

contributor:
Zhu, Xu-Dong
Biology

subject:
Telomeres
Double-strand break repair
DNA damage
Aging
Cockayne syndrome
CSB

abstract: Cockayne syndrome (CS) is a rare, segmental premature aging disorder in which the majority of cases are caused by mutations in the Cockayne syndrome group B protein (CSB).  CSB is a multifunctional protein implicated in DNA repair, transcription and chromatin remodeling.  The results presented here demonstrate that CSB plays an important role in telomere maintenance and DSB repair.  We find that CS cells accumulate telomere doublets, have increased telomere-bound TRF1, decreased TERRA levels and a defect in telomerase-dependent telomere lengthening.  These results imply that CS patients may be defective in telomere maintenance.  We also uncover a novel and important role of CSB in DNA DSB repair.  We show that CSB facilitates HR and supresses NHEJ during S and G2 phase.  We find that CSB interacts with RIF1 and is recruited by RIF1 to DSBs in S phase.  At DSBs, CSB remodels the chromatin extensively, which in turn limits RIF1 recruitment and promotes BRCA1 accumulation.  The chromatin remodeling activity of CSB requires not only damage-induced phosphorylation on S10 by ATM but also cell cycle-dependent phosphorylation of S158 by cyclin A-CDK2.  Both modifications are needed for the intramolecular interaction of CSB N-terminal domain with its ATPase domain.  This intramolecular interaction has previously been reported to regulate the ATPase activity of CSB.  Taken together, these results suggest that ATM and CDK2 control of CSB to promote chromatin remodeling, which in turn inhibits RIF1 in DNA DSB repair pathway choice.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: The Impact of a Living Wage from the Perspectives of Workers

contributor:
Premji, Stephanie
Work and Society

abstract:
The focus of this research is the economic, social and health impacts of a
living wage for employees in Ontario who were previously earning less than a living
wage. The living wage is a calculation based on how much it costs for a family to live in
a specific region. The rise of living wage campaigns is a response to the prevalence of
low wage work. This research explains the significance of a living wage from the
perspectives of workers compared to current research which concentrates on labour
market impacts and how this policy affects businesses. Lived experience is emphasized
as an important type of knowledge by including the voices of workers through qualitative
interviews. Their experiences highlight how low-income and precarious work can affect
workers’ lives and how the living wage addresses these problems. Their experiences also
demonstrate how a living wage is a vast improvement from the minimum wage but also
reveal the shortfalls of the current living wage framework. Overall, the living wage has a
significant impact on the economic, social and health aspects of living wage workers but
falls short as an all-encompassing solution for achieving a decent standard of work.
Issues such as unaffordable housing, high tuition costs, lack of job opportunities for
young workers and precarious work all contribute to an insufficient living wage. These
types of social policies from governments and decent work provided by employers need
to assist the living wage in achieving a good standard of living for all workers.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: IT SOMETIMES SPEAKS TO US

title: DECOLONIZING EDUCATION BY UTILIZING OUR ELDERS’ KNOWLEDGE

contributor:
Martin-Hill, Dawn
Anthropology

subject:
Anishinaabe
Oral Stories
Decolonization
Elders

abstract: This thesis looks at ways of Anishinaabe cultural resurgence for Indigenous youth through our current education systems.

abstract:
Three Anishinaabe elders who had experience in Anishinaabe on-reserve schools and in community Indigenous education programs were interviewed to learn their views on what had worked and not worked in past attempts to integrate Anishinaabe language and cultural knowledge into curriculum and programming. Their views on curriculum content, pedagogical methods, and education policy were solicited to gain a better understanding of how to decolonize the current Eurocentric school system and provide more successful learning experiences for Anishinaabe children and youth.
The key findings were: 1) language and spiritual education must be at the core of the curriculum; 2) elders’ knowledge and their oral stories and oral history had to be the key means of transferring knowledge to the younger generation; 3) land-based, hands-on experiential learning experiences that utilized the knowledge and skills of community members were essential to successfully engaging students in the learning process; 4) teachers needed to take responsibility for identifying and nurturing the learning spirit in each child; and 5) commitment from the government for adequate funding, support resources and class time was essential for the successful integration of Anishinaabe language and cultural knowledge into on-reserve school systems.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)

abstract: This thesis examines the insights of three Anishinaabe elders (knowledge holders) who had extensive experience in Anishinaabe on-reserve schools or in community Indigenous education programs. They were interviewed to learn their views on what had and had not worked in past attempts to integrate Anishinaabe language and cultural knowledge into on-reserve schools and programming. Their insights inform recommendations for five strategies to improve the engagement of Anishinaabe students through culture-based teachings.


title: "BECAUSE LIFE IS SHITTY”: RECONSIDERING SUICIDAL DISTRESS AND IMAGINING HUMANIZING RESPONSES

contributor:
Joseph, Ameil
Social Work

subject: Suicide Intervention, Suicide Prevention, Suicide

abstract:
Background: Current social service prevention and interventions in suicidal distress follow a biomedical logic. Recently, critical suicidology and mad studies frameworks have criticized this single-fold approach for limiting the capacity of suicide prevention/intervention to respond to the range of human needs.
Aims: The aim of this study was to uncover how people with history of suicidal distress understood their experience of distress, in particular the responses they find helpful and unhelpful.
Methods: 4 participants were recruited for semi-structured interviews themed for conceptions of suicidal distress, the experience of ‘reaching out’, and mental health systems change.
Results: The findings concluded that participants’ conception of suicidal distress differs from biomedical model paradigms. While practitioner’s responses rely on a notion of suicidal distress as discreet and de-contextual, participants explained suicidal distress as ongoing and based in life circumstances, advocating for a model of suicidal prevention/intervention highlighting the importance of relationships and empathy.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Master of Social Work (MSW)


title: LATENT VARIABLE METHODS IN PROTEIN DELIVERY APPLICATIONS

contributor:
Sheardown, Heather
Chemical Engineering

abstract:
While there has been explosive growth in the development of protein therapeutics, the many challenges associated with the delivery of proteins need to be overcome for achieving desired results. Among the various particle synthesis and encapsulation methods, ionic gelation has gained significant attention due to simplicity and the mild conditions of the process.
Electrostatic interactions can not only drive the ionic gelation process with polysaccharide based systems, they also control the system dynamics due to complex formations between the polysaccharides and proteins. In this work, it was hypothesized that the electrostatic interactions between the charged polysaccharide network and the protein can be used as a means of controlling protein entrapment and release. This hypothesis was studied and further investigated using multivariate statistical analysis which offers a mathematical description of the correlations and therefore, provides a useful tool for optimizing delivery systems.
Statistical analysis of a lysozyme/crosslinker-alginate complex system quantified the effects of the initial concentration of the compounds on complex composition and the influence of the crosslinker nature on complex degradation rates; the mathematical relationships developed were subsequently used for predicting complex properties (Chapter 2). The potential use of the complex systems as protein delivery systems, which would release the protein in response to changes in environmental conditions, was studied (Chapter 3). The statistical model showed high fitting capability (R2 values between 0.834 and 0.906) for the complex properties and also quantified the dependence of the release kinetics (ktn) on the ionic strength and pH of the release media. In addition to protein release from disintegration-controlled complex systems, the factors affecting diffusion-controlled protein release from calcium-alginate microparticles were investigated (Chapter 4). Multivariate analysis showed that while the parameter k was mainly influenced by protein properties (net charge and molecular weight), the parameter n was mostly affected by polymer and buffer properties. Overall, the multivariate statistical method provides a great platform for understanding the trends and predicting future patterns. By understanding the effect of different factors on the release, protein delivery systems from polysaccharide based systems have a great deal of potential to lead to effective protein therapeutics.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: ENDANGERMENT ABROAD: EVIDENCE FROM NEO-ARAMAIC POLITENESS, METAPHORICITY AND IDIOMATICITY

contributor:
Colarusso, John
Cognitive Science of Language

subject:
Language endangerment
Neo-Aramaic
Idiomaticity
Politeness

abstract:
This thesis examines Neo-Aramaic as an endangered language in the diaspora. It sheds some light on some linguistic and pragmatic aspects that have received little scholarly attention to date in Semitic literature, language endangerment and first language (L1) erosion in language contact studies. This thesis also draws attention to the fact that research on North Eastern Neo-Aramaic (NENA) dialects needs to take into account that language (pragmatics) is an emergent phenomenon, especially in contract situations. Linguists need to shift gears and start empirical research that is derived from contextualized language use.  In three studies, the thesis addresses the role that acculturation plays in molding L1 communicative competence and, in turn, macro-linguistic components of language, such as idioms, metaphors and politeness strategies.
	Chapter 2 deals with animal-based metaphors as conceptual categories belonging to a rudimentary level of knowledge. We report evidence which shows that Neo-Aramaic-English bilinguals (NA-E) failed to provide interpretations of culturally distinct animal-based metaphors that align with the interpretations of older NA speakers. This finding indicates that the cognitive process of conceptualizing animal metaphors is motivated by the way NA-E bilinguals perceive the world around them in an environment where NA is considered the language of an ethnocultural group. This shift in the NA-E bilinguals’ cognition represents a departure from the concerted conceptualizations of their L1 culture.
	In chapter 3, we examined NA-E bilinguals’ comprehension of two sets of decomposable and non-decomposable NA idioms obtained from older NA speakers and chosen on the basis of their high familiarity. NA-E bilinguals’ performance showed a marked decline on both decomposable and nondecomposable task compared to Canadian-English monolingual speakers (CE). The evidence reported here shows a high degree of L1 erosion in figurative competence which is, to a large extent, dependent on cultural beliefs and conventions.
	The study in chapter 4 documents the effect of acculturation on NA-E bilinguals’ behavioural competencies in terms of separateness and connectedness politeness strategies. Chapter 4 foregrounds the idea that NA speakers represent a collectivist culture whereas CE speakers belong to individualistic cultures. The study shows that NA-E bilinguals diverge from the politeness patterns of their cultural group, but their shift is compatible with the individualistic cultural norms. It provides fresh evidence that cultural adaptation to the majority group shapes cultural cognition and thus prompts L1 speakers to approximate L2 cultural preferences.
	Taken all together, the findings of this thesis demonstrate that language erosion is not limited to the structural aspects of language (morphosyntax and phonology), but it extends, in a regressive fashion, to include more advanced skills that are necessary to develop native-like proficiency. By and large, language atrophy is not necessarily caused by mere linguistic factors, but rather by a number of extralinguistic factors and culture is one of them.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Lattice Physics Calculations for Alternative Fuels for the Canadian SCWR

contributor: Engineering Physics and Nuclear Engineering

abstract:
The Canadian-designed Super-Critical Water-cooled Reactor (SCWR) has been in development since the early 2000s and has undergone many design changes since its initial conception. Initially the reactor was designed to use a fuel bundle modeled after the Canada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) pressurized heavy water reactor bundles. Over time, this fuel bundle evolved into its current design of a re-entrant coolant channel with two fuel rings in the outer portion of the channel. Throughout the development of this design, the fuel composition has remained relatively constant, with only minor changes to enrichment.
The initial SCWR design was intended to utilize a fuel mix of reactor grade plutonium and thorium. The thorium filler is an easily attainable material, being about three times more common than uranium. More importantly, the majority of thorium is made of 232Th, which breeds more fissile material than 238U in the SCWR reactor. This leads to production of 233U that can significantly extend the lifetime of fuel in the reactor, compared to fuels with either 238U or no fertile source.
Even though the plutonium-thorium fuel cycle seems generally advantageous compared to traditional uranium fuels, or even other fuel types, it may not ultimately be preferable to other fuels in a specific reactor design such as the SCWR. The geometry, operation conditions, and cycle length can all have a large influence on the performance of a specific fuel in a reactor. Therefore it is important to compare the performance of different fuels when utilized in the reactor of interest.
The SCALE suite of programs is used in this work to evaluate the performance of plutonium-thorium (PuTh), mixed oxide (MOX), and enriched uranium (UO2) fuels in the SCWR reactor. TRITON was used to deplete the fuel and obtain nuclide concentrations in 100 day intervals over the lifetime of the fuel. NEWT was used to perform lattice calculations for the determination of reactivity coefficients. In both cases, the ENDF/B-VII nuclear data library was used.
In order to achieve similar burnups for all three fuel types, the enrichment of the UO2 and MOX fuels was adjusted. The standard PuTh fuel mix used in this work has an average enrichment of 10% plutonium, of which around 50% is 239Pu. An average enrichment of 7.6% 235U was used for the uranium fuel, while the MOX fuel retained the same enrichment as the PuTh. All three fuel types share the same ratio of enrichment between the inner and outer fuel rings.
Besides adjusting the composition of the fuel, all other reactor parameters were kept identical. Varying the fuel type could change the operating temperatures and other thermalhydraulic properties of the reactor, but this was not considered for ease of computation as well as allowing for more direct comparison of the neutronic differences between fuels.  As an alternative, the feedback coefficients for each fuel type were also investigated.
The reactivity changes with burnup of both the PuTh and MOX fuels are extremely similar. The UO2 fuel, in contrast, decreases in reactivity at a faster rate. This results in the uranium fuel requiring a higher k-eff at zero burn-up to maintain the same cycle length. This also indicates that the PuTh and MOX fuels are being used more efficiently in the reactor. Additionally, a reactor with a more stable reactivity over time is generally easier to refuel.
In general, the UO2 fuel has feedback coefficients of reactivity closer to zero than either the PuTh or MOX fuels. This is most pronounced in the Coolant Void Reactivity coefficients (CVR), where the uranium fuel has a significantly smaller coefficient than the others. The most notable exception to this is the Coolant Temperature Coefficient of reactivity (CTC), where the uranium fuel has a higher reactivity coefficient at large burnups.  It is important to note that in nearly all cases the sign of the reactivity coefficients does not change with fuel selection, meaning that reactor behaviour could be expected to be quite similar between the three fuels.
The originally proposed PuTh fuel seems adequate for use in the SCWR compared to the two alternative fuels. It shows no significant advantages or disadvantages in regards to the reactivity coefficients analyzed in this work. The MOX fuel performs very similarly to the PuTh option, with many reactivity coefficients being nearly the same. Its main benefit would be the availability of existing operational experience in comparison to PuTh fuels. An enriched uranium fuel benefits the most from historic operational experience, and in general has the most optimal reactivity coefficients. However, it burns less efficiently, requiring the fuel to be enriched to around 8.5%, well above the level currently used in power reactors.
From this work there does not seem to be a single, best fuel choice. The multitude of factors considered are a small portion of those that influence the choice of fuel in an operating reactor. Furthermore, some studies have demonstrated the need for advanced fuel materials that would lower the centreline melting temperature and hence some form of nitride or accident tolerant fuel may be needed in the future.  Additionally, the fuel that stands out based on a single criterion does not necessarily perform well in other criteria, and further analysis would be beneficial.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


contributor:
Yan, Fengjun
Habibi, Saeid
Mechanical Engineering

subject:
Hybrid Electric Vehicle
Powertrain Laboratory
Architecture Design
Energy Management Strategy

abstract:
Personal vehicles have made great contributions to our life and satisfy our daily mobility needs. However, they have also caused societal issues, such as air pollution and global warming. Further to the recent attention to low-carbon energy technologies and environmentally friendly mobility, hybrid electric vehicles play an important role in the current automotive industry. As a leading center and an educational institution in Canada, McMaster University wants to build a Hybrid Electric Vehicle Powertrain Laboratory for introducing undergraduate students to hybrid powertrain architectures, instrumentation and control.
A phased development of the hybrid powertrain teaching laboratory is being pursued. The first phase is to design a electric motor laboratory, as a platform for demonstrating motor characteristics. A LabVIEW based interface is designed to enable electric motor characterization tests. This laboratory set-up is still under construction. Real experiments would be implemented, once finishing the utility connections.
For the hybrid powertrain laboratory, an innovative design architecture is proposed to enable different hybrid architectures, such as series, parallel, and power-split modes to be investigated. Instead of a planetary gearbox, bevel gearboxes with a continuous variable transmission (CVT) are used for making the laboratory more compact and flexible for demonstrating hybrid functionalities. The additional generator provides the ability of input power-split for allowing the engine to operate at a narrow high efficiency region. After designing the hybrid laboratory, a novel rule-based energy management strategy is applied to a simplified simulation model.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: Self-Regulatory Depletion Effects, Physical Endurance and Muscle Activity: An Examination of Depletion Effects and Trait Self Control as an Effect Modifier

contributor:
Bray, Steven
Kinesiology

subject:
Physical endurance
muscle activity
emotions

abstract:
 The limited strength model of self-regulation describes self-regulation as a limited, consumable, and renewable internal resource that is depleted when people attempt to control their emotions, thoughts or behaviours (Baumeister & colleagues 1994; 1996). Evidence indicates a consistent relationship across emotional, mental, and physical domains that task performance in all of these areas draws on the same limited resource and is governed by processes occurring within the central nervous system (Galliot, et al., 2007). The main purpose of this study was to examine the effects of self-regulation depletion on muscle activity (EMG) and physical stamina via an isometric task (ankle dorsiflexion). A secondary objective was to investigate trait self-control as an effect modifier of cognitive self-regulation depletion effects on physical stamina. It was hypothesized that individuals would show a greater decline in isometric endurance performance after undergoing a self-regulatory depletion manipulation compared to when they were exposed to· a non-depletion task of similar duration. It was also expected that participants would exhibit greater increases in EMG amplitude after being depleted compared to when not depleted. Additionally, it was hypothesized that people who
scored lower on a measure of trait self-control would demonstrate greater depletion
effects (i.e., greater pre-to-post performance differences) than those who scored higher on
trait self-control. The study was a within-subjects cross-over design involving 31 informed and consenting sedentary university students (M^age= 21.72 ± 2.57 years). Participants were stratified by gender and randomized to experience either cognitive depletion (modified Stroop task) or non-depletion (colour word reading task) for their first trial. In each trial, they completed two isometric ankle dorsiflexion endurance trials at 50% of their MVC (predetermined by initial MVC) separated by the cognitive task. Due to an unexpected differential carryover effect of exposure order, analysis of the data was carried out for each testing session, with primary analysis focused on Time 1 as suggested by Grizzle (1965). Time 1 data indicated a trend towards significance (p = .13) for performance declines being greater in the depletion group compared to the non-depletion group, and a small effect size of .27 was detected, which is comparable to findings in other related studies (Bray et al., 2008; Muraven & Shmueli, 2006). No statistically significant differences emerged for muscle activity in the tibialis anterior for the depletion group compared to the non-depletion group. Those individuals who scored lower on trait self-regulation showed a non-significant trend towards greater depletion
effects on muscular endurance performance than those who scored higher on trait self-regulation (p = .13; Cohen's d = .32). Results support the limited strength model of self-regulation and the trait self-control as an·individual difference factor affecting self-regulation,
but raise questions regarding the role of central fatigue effects on muscular
activation following self-regulatory depletion.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: Medicine, Monitoring and Motherhood: An Exploration of the Interplay Between Stigma and Paradox in the Child Welfare and Healthcare Systems

contributor:
La Rose, Tara
Social Work

subject:
stigma
child welfare
healthcare system
mothering

abstract:
There are a number of processes at play within the child welfare and healthcare systems that have the potential to be othering and stigmatizing for people (Pollack, 2010; Snowden, 2003; van Ryn, 2003). These stigmatizing practices are compounded and made all the more complex when the child welfare and healthcare systems operate simultaneously in people’s lives. Despite this, there appears to be limited research about the interplay between the child welfare and healthcare systems in producing stigma, in spite of how closely and recurrently these structures interact and work with one another.
     This study investigates the interaction of stigmatizing processes and practices at play between Brant Family and Children’s Services and the Brantford General Hospital. Specifically, it explores, from the viewpoint of child welfare staff, the experiences of new mothers receiving perinatal care at this hospital, who are also clients of Brant Family and Children’s Services.
     This study employs a critical social work framework, coupled with elements of intersectionality and a social justice lens. An eclectic methodological approach was used, integrating tenets of critical and interpretive social science research, and a narrative approach.
	Four semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with child protection staff employed at Brant Family and Children’s Services, with six major themes identified, including: the exclusion of mothers within the hospital setting, issues with Brant FACS’ birth alert documentation, and the paradoxical ways in which stigma can operate in the lives of new mothers receiving care at this hospital. These themes are explored and future directions and recommendations are discussed. Suggestions are also made in terms of how these organizations can begin to address the practices at play between both systems that unfortunately, appear to harmfully impact on mothers who are involved with Brant Family and Children’s Services, and receiving perinatal care at the Brantford General Hospital.

abstract: Thesis

abstract: Master of Social Work (MSW)