title: The role of transcription factor MYB53 from Arabidopsis thaliana in the regulated production of suberin

abstract: Suberin plays important roles in protecting plants against various stressors but the molecular mechanisms governing the regulated deposition of suberin are currently unclear. I provide evidence here that AtMYB53, AtMYB92, and AtMYB93 of the MYB-type transcription factor family are important regulators of suberin in root endodermis under non-stress conditions. I characterized an Arabidopsis steroid-inducible line of MYB53 showing significant suberin increase and a collection of loss-of-function mutants of MYB53/MYB92/MYB93 which exhibited major reductions of suberin in young roots, compared to wild-type. A suite of suberin biosynthetic genes were also positively regulated at the transcriptional level in MYB53 overexpression line and MYB53/MYB92/MYB93 loss-of-function lines.The identification of master regulators of suberin may provide the means to generate crops that are more stress resistant via enhancement of their suberized cell walls.


title: Efficient Log Likelihood Ratio Estimation for Polar Codes

abstract: In the fifirst study of this thesis we aim at improving the error rate performance of polar codes by applying the well known normalized minimum-sum decoding algorithm where the messages are scaled so as to enhance the reliability of the propagated messages and to increase the decoding accuracy. The optimal parameter for the scaling factor can only be selected by simulation prior to implementation via density evolution; where the threshold values are calculated for various scaling factors and the scaling factor showing the highest threshold in noise level is determined as the optimal scaling factor. We then study the problem of log likelihood ratio correction in uncorrelated fading channels when the fading gain is not known at the receiver. In order to perform LLR scaling that is adaptive to various transmission conditions, an efficient mutual information maximization based scaling factor searching algorithm is developed. Following that, a non-uniform quantizer based on the condition of maximum information rate achieved over uncorrelated Rayleigh fading channels and when successive cancellation decoding algorithm of polar codes is applied. In the next study, we present a fifirst-order linear LLR approximation with low complexity for calculating soft metrics of polar coded quadrature amplitude modulation system in additive white Gaussian noise and Rayleigh fading channels under single/multiple transmit and receive antennas. To minimize the complexity of the max-log-MAP algorithm, LLRs can be simplifified by changing the mathematical minimum functions with simple linear functions. This is achieved by averaging the LLR values in different regions in order to get a single simplifified expression. Lastly, we examine the use of the SC polar coded QAM constellation to approach the capacity of wireless Rayleigh fading channels over multiple transmit and receive antennas when ideal channel state information is available at both receiver and transmitter. By using Hermite polynomials and under an even-moment constraint, the results show that the information rate is achieved with unique and optimal input distribution. The computational complexity can be reduced by factorizing the optimal distribution into the product of symmetrical distributions.


title: An Assessment of Post-Taliban Media Development in Afghanistan (2002-2017)

abstract:
This research project constitutes the first of its kind in-depth baseline assessment of the growth and development of the Afghan media sector post-2001. The assessment utilizes the United Nations Media Development Indicators (MDIs) for this specific purpose.
In doing so, this thesis project tests the assumption that despite pressures from both the government, the Taliban-led insurgency and other non-government actors in Afghanistan, and challenges related to financial sustainability and professionalism, the post-Taliban Afghan independent media sector is sufficiently robust, resilient and diffuse across Afghanistan and enjoys widespread political and public support that it will continue to survive and grow as a strong social and political force in the country, and thus contribute to the further entrenchment of democracy in Afghanistan, unlike all other past short-lived instances of media freedom in Afghanistan's history of struggle for constitutionalism and democracy going back to the 19th century.


title: Constraining Standard Model and Beyond Standard Model Higgs Boson Couplings in the Four Lepton Decay Channel with the ATLAS Detector

abstract:
In 2012, the Standard Model of Particle Physics was "completed" with the discovery of a new particle consistent with a SM Higgs boson. While this discovery marks a monumental achievement for particle physics, there are several gaps in our understanding of physics which the SM cannot explain. Therefore, we necessarily enter a phase beyond discovery where the properties of the Higgs boson must be understood with increasing detail, including deviations from its expected charge-parity (CP) even nature, and couplings to other particles. Higgs boson decays to four leptons (H->4l) provide an ideal avenue for property measurements, due to their high signal-to-background ratio, and the high precision of electron and muon measurements in ATLAS.
This thesis presents an analysis which selects H->4l decays in order to measure the signal rates of different Higgs boson production modes. For these measurements, the full 2015+2016 ATLAS data set is used, corresponding to 36.1fb-1 of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 13 TeV. Multivariate techniques are used to isolate the rare vector boson fusion (VBF) production mechanism, allowing for a more precise rate measurement for the process. The measured VBF signal rate is found to be mu_VBF = 3.95^{+1.73}_{-1.48}, which is consistent with the SM prediction of one. Limits are set on the presence and strength of CP-odd and non-SM CP-even Higgs boson couplings to gluons and weak bosons. For each coupling hypothesis tested, the observed limits are compatible with the SM, although the best-fit configurations favour the presence of anomalous couplings.
A new ATLAS electron and photon reconstruction algorithm is presented which uses dynamically-sized clusters to recover radiative energy losses by electrons and positrons within the detector. The resultant "superclusters" improve the expected energy resolution of electrons and photon conversions by up to 40%. Expected resolution improvements are also found for a number of topologies relevant to the ATLAS physics programme, with 5-8% improvements in mass resolution found for Z, J/psi->e+e- decays, and up to 5% improvement in H->4l decays.


title: Architecture Episodes - A Dialogue for Occupancy

abstract:
This thesis will examine the interaction between constructed environments and individuals through an exploratory design process. Through the investigation of past and contemporary architecture processes, this research will question our sensorial experience of built space: how scale impacts our perception, material influences our choices, architectural element can create a feeling of belonging, and how conception of a designed space impacts quality of life.
Explored through twelve vignettes: Context, Shared Space, Behaviour, House, Home, Belonging, Scale, Material, Qualities, Poetic, Dialogue, and Happiness this project aims to apply these themes to the design of a small family house. This single family detached home with a floor area of approximately one hundred square meters will be situated in eastern Quebec, on the coast of the Gaspe Bay. Through the design of this house, I will study how the qualities of what is construct can be the dialogue between occupant and space.


title: Healing Through Movement

abstract: Acquired Brain injury (ABI) is often referred to as the Silent Epidemic - as it is currently a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. With an estimated 1.5 million Canadians currently living with the effects of ABI, this thesis asks how architecture can contribute to the recovery of ABI survivors. Movement is increasingly being recognized as a rehabilitation tool that is linked to measurable physical, emotional and cognitive benefits. With this in mind, this thesis offers design ideas for the new rehabilitation centre proposed for the Ottawa region that focus on the theme of movement. Strategies to improve patient mobility are presented that address how people navigate a building, what supports they need to assist with their journey, and how circulation systems can serve as rehabilitation tools. To this end, the proposed design includes: multi-sensory navigation cues, expanded handrail systems, rest points and healing gardens.


title: Float City. Makoko: (Re)development of an Aquatic Home

abstract: Endeavors to improve the living standards of slum dwellers in developing countries, while well-intentioned, have nearly always failed. In many cases these good intentions have been compromised from the start due to the approach taken whereby residents are "temporarily" relocated without consent and subsequently forced to create a new life that is difficult to adapt to. Makoko, a slum located in a lagoon off the coast of Lagos, Nigeria, is recognized as the world's largest floating slum. It has grown into what is now seen by government officials as a visual nuisance; not coincidentally, the waterfront site is being labeled as prime real estate by developers. This thesis hopes to serve as a precedent for affordable housing with a more community-oriented approach. Using autonomous principles as its foundation, this proposal hopes to create templates for the residents to follow to help in the revitalization of their own homes.


title: Grandmother's House: A Self-sustaining Community for Indigenous Seniors in Edmonton's Urban Core

abstract: Edmonton, Alberta has the second largest urban population of Indigenous people in all of Canada. Unfortunately, the city also has significant discrimination against Indigenous people. Discrimination is of one of the factors in the large indigenous homeless, which includes many seniors who are the sole caretakers of children. There is a need to house three-thousand urban indigenous seniors, their children, and grandchildren within Edmonton. Case studies of a current Métis seniors housing in Edmonton, friendship centers in Vancouver, and a multigenerational housing unit in the Netherlands shed light on what is currently available for Indigenous seniors and what models are working elsewhere that should be integrated into Indigenous seniors housing in Edmonton. While accounting for Edmonton's existing and proposed infrastructure as well as the city's settlement patterns, is it possible to create a culturally appropriate Indigenous community within Edmonton's downtown core?


title: When Life Hands You Lemons, Make Lemonade

abstract: Interviews with key players in the City of Sault Ste. Marie have revealed that one of the main hindrances to the rejuvenation of the downtown core is the opioid crisis. The negative stigma associated with drug addiction is having an extremely negative impact on the quality of life in the city. Plastic surgery will not heal the problem. The disease needs to be addressed head-on. This thesis proposes a network of rehabilitation spaces as a new, necessary and positive institution in the city. Combining rehabilitation clinics with additional programs that can help patients to establish drug free lifestyles is an opportunity to educate the public regarding addiction disease. The intention is not only to rehabilitate the individual, but indirectly the community and built environment as well. Drug rehabilitation strategies will be reinterpreted as design strategies for addressing the existing deteriorating fabric.


title: Common Ground:  Reconsidering Contemporary Urban Development

abstract:
Urban Developments today are su ering an identity crisis. Market demands have led to a globalized urban standard, one of mixed-use. The 'mixed'-use model fails to mix anything in a meaningful way. The result is a packaged, o -the-shelf and easy to implement 'canned' urbanism.
As a capital city, should Ottawa be concerned with how the built environment re ects its identity?
Tunney's Pasture is far from the rolling meadows its name suggests. Instead, it is an out- of-date idea of a government campus built in the 1950's. Today, Tunney's is seen as 'a wasteland.' New proposals fail to realize the site's potential. The Tunney's Pasture Master Plan will be critiqued as an example of a canned urban approach. An alternative proposal will be put forward: one based on principles di erent from globalization and mixed-use, that consider instead identity, historical context and the site's pastoral origins.


title: The Construction of Memory in the Present City of Mississauga

abstract: This thesis explores how memory plays an important part in the identity of cities, and questions how do our collective memories define a sense of place over time? Focusing on the founding villages within the city of Mississauga, Ontario, this thesis explores the forgotten identities of its early settlements. Working alongside existing site conditions, and through the design of architectural installations, I intend to design "memory triggers" that activate the presence of surviving elements, such as building fragments, photographs, concealed remains, and transmedia stories that can engage the residents and the visitors with a memory of the past that is constructed in the present, providing unique experiences that inform a meaningful present. Eventually, my aim is to construct images of the past into the future based on the few remnants of these lost towns, embodied in various physical forms, in a way that will establish their place within the city.


title: Critical Counternarratives to Canadianness: The Tragically Hip and Canada as a Work in Progress

abstract: Canadian national identity occupies a contentious space wherein there are tensions between singular narratives of Canadian experience and more nuanced understandings of the complexity of national identity. Considering these issues, this thesis aims to demonstrate how constructions of Canadianness are created through Canadian music, specifically through the iconic Canadian rock band, The Tragically Hip. Drawing on discussions of identity and belonging in the Canadian experience, I suggest that through their lyrics, the band create critical counternarratives that oppose more singular and celebratory versions of Canadian identity. Yet at the same time, there is a reassertion of hegemonic Canadianness through their music. In this sense, The Hip hold a dichotomous position as both critical of dominant national narratives and as embodying hegemonic Canadianness. I conclude by examining the legacy of The Tragically Hip and suggest that The Hip as 'Canada's band' represents a consensus that Canada is a 'work in progress.'


title: I Think We Made Something Entirely New: Steven Universe, Tumblr Fandom and Queer Fluidity

abstract: Social media is yet another space where queer youth must carefully negotiate the publicness of their identities while in the process of discovering themselves. The queer science-fiction series Steven Universe and its deeply passionate fandom offer antinormative correctives through an unprecedented convergence of queerness that has simultaneously played out within the networked communities of the social platform Tumblr. The queer potentiality and fluidity expressed in this television series has been adopted by its fans and intensified on Tumblr, where the plurality of identity is acknowledged and encouraged. This thesis argues that this is a political project, precisely because it runs counter to heteronormative expectations of identity and suggests a powerful place for queer collectivity in the lives of these young, queer fans.


title: Postwar Elementary School Design in Ontario

abstract: Following the Second World War, the elementary school was recognized by architects, educators, and policymakers as an environment that was crucial to the formation of modern Canadian citizens. A new school model emerged in architectural discourse and progressive pedagogical policy that sought to embody the retrenched ideologies of democracy and individual freedom through design. Typically a one-storey brick and steel-framed building characterized by large windows, the postwar school emphasized the physical and emotional well-being of the student through 'child-centred' design that drew primarily from the users' needs. This functional and flexible space for learning encouraged health, movement, and the democratization of the classroom. Architects and educators no longer discussed the school as just a building, but also as a tool for socialization. This study helps to define the modern vernacular type through analysis of discourse and the built form.


title: A Meta-Analysis of Substance Misuse Intervention Programs Offered to Women Offenders

abstract: This meta-analytic review examined the effectiveness of substance misuse interventions in reducing recidivism and substance use outcomes among women offenders. A literature search revealed 22 evaluations, reporting 39 effect sizes. The effect estimate for recidivism outcomes revealed 53% to 79% reductions in the odds of recidivism for women participating in interventions. Effect estimates were similar for outcomes relating to substance use, with reductions in the odds of alcohol and drug use ranging from 13% to 82%. Across evaluations reporting recidivism outcomes, gender-neutral and gender-informed interventions were equally effective in reducing recidivism outcomes. Further, sub-group analyses revealed that study quality did not impact reductions in recidivism. Overall, this review lends support to the findings of previous research, suggesting that substance misuse interventions are effective in reducing both recidivism and substance use outcomes among women offenders.


title: Effects of Organic Farming and Agricultural Landscape Composition on Relative Bat Diversity and Abundance

abstract: Some ways that agricultural areas have intensified, include increased agro-chemical inputs, use of annual row crops and agricultural extent. These changes would be expected to reduce insect prey for bats, causing smaller bat populations to be supported. Chapter 1 examines the influence that the proportion of the landscape in agriculture and the proportion of agricultural lands in annual crops (vs. perennial forage crops) has on relative bat abundance and diversity. We found that bat abundance was highest in landscapes that had a low proportion of agriculture and where the proportion of agriculture in annual crops was about equal to the proportion in perennial forage. Chapter 2 examines the influence of organic versus conventional farming practices using match-organic conventional soybean field pairs on bat diversity, bat abundance and bat prey abundance. We found organic fields had higher bat diversity, bat abundance and bat prey abundance than conventional fields.


title: Method Development for Quantification of Vitamins in Spinach using HPLC-MS/MS2

abstract: Vitamin consumption is essential to human health as they are not synthesized in the body, meaning they must be obtained from external sources, such as vegetables. The aim of this study was to design an efficient and robust method to extract vitamins, and quantify them using HPLC-MS/MS. These vitamins included: alpha-tocopherol, beta-carotene, phylloquinone, retinol, thiamine, pantothenic acid, niacin, choline, and folic acid. Further studies were performed to compare varying levels of pesticide exposure, and analyze concentration of vitamins over time. Ultimately the vitamin content remained relatively constant over time despite matrix degradation, with the exception of the statistically significant increase of phylloquinone. Further studies were performed with organic spinach to compare varying levels of pesticide exposure and it was found that the concentration of vitamins was not significantly affected by pesticides. However, concentrations of beta-carotene and choline were an anomaly as they increased with statistical significance in organic spinach samples.


title: The Shape of Games to Come: Critical Digital Storytelling in the Era of Communicative Capitalism

abstract:
The past decade has seen an increase in the availability of user-friendly game development software, the result of which has been the emergence of a genre of reflexive and experimental games. Pippin Barr, La Molleindustria's Paolo Pedercini, and Davey Wreden are exemplary in their thoughtful engagement with an ever-expanding list of subjects, including analyses and critiques of game development, popular culture, and capitalism. These works demonstrate the power of games as a site for critical media theory. This potential, however, is hindered by the player-centric trends in the game industry that limit the creative freedom of developers whose work is their livelihood.
In the era of communicative capitalism, Jodi Dean argues that the commodification of communication has suspended narrative in favour of the circulation of fragmented and digestible opinions, which not only facilitates the distribution and consumption of communication, but also safeguards communicative capitalism against critique. Ultimately, the very same impulse that drives communicative capitalism is responsible for the player-centric trends that some developers view as an obstacle to their art. Critical game studies has traditionally fallen into two categories: those that emphasize the player as the locus of critique, such as McKenzie Wark's trifler or Mary Flanagan's critical play, and those that emphasize design, as in Alexander Galloway's countergaming, Ian Bogost's procedural rhetoric, and Gonzalo Frasca's theory of simulation. Yet, as a result of the decline in symbolic efficiency that is characteristic of communicative capitalism, these approaches are limited in their ability to effectively respond to the current social and economic situation.
Dean's conditions for critical media theory, however, provide a framework for theorizing how the complex interaction between a game's narrative and mechanics might be adapted to resist and disrupt communicative capitalism. Drawing on Freudo-Lacanian psychoanalysis, this project analyzes a selection of narrative games through the clinical structures of neurosis, perversion, and psychosis to understand how players interact with these systems. This perspective provides the basis for examining the subject of communicative capitalism, and imagining the shape of critical games to come.


title: Trees, Walls, and Home. [Designing Wooden Walls for Ontario]

abstract: This thesis is about designing, through drawing and fabricating, a High-Performance Wooden Wall for Ontario. To achieve this goal, the dissertation is grounded in the following premises. First, the correlation between location and material. The Forest Regions have engineered the different tree genus by enduring each tree under a specific location and climate. This natural technology has been distributed accordingly throughout Canada. Second, the use of naturally engineered materials. In Canadian weather, when the winter is cold, and the interior of the building is warm, the difference in temperature produces higher pressure in the envelope, forcing air through the wall and stimulating its cleansing. This tissue-like condition of the fiber is ideal for air-tight building envelopes. This thesis will argue that science should be behind the decision while making a wall and that a high-performance wall should be treated as an artifact.


title: Settler Colonial Power and Indigenous Survival: Hockey Programs at Three Indian Residential Schools in Northwestern Ontario and Manitoba, 1929-1969

abstract: Despite the growing national interest and body of literature concerning the Indian Residential School System, there has been little acknowledgement of the history of hockey within these schools. This thesis is an examination of hockey programs at three Protestant-run Indian residential schools in northwestern Ontario and western Manitoba during the middle of the twentieth century. By using church and government documents, this study highlights the complex relationship between settler colonialism, sport, and Indigenous survival. It reveals that while hockey was implemented into residential school curriculum as a means of assimilation, public relations, and eventually integration, it was also a space of negotiation, entertainment, identity, and even survival for Indigenous children within these schools. Microlevel decisions and effects greatly influenced the advancement of hockey from a local-level disciplinary technique to a federally mandated aspect of Indian education.


title: Interactive Digital Mapping as a Park-Planning Tool in the Creation of the Boucher-Forest Park in Gatineau, Quebec

abstract:
The study presents a design of an Interactive Digital Map with 360-video capability as a planning tool in the park-planning for the Boucher-Forest Park in Gatineau, Quebec. This thesis tested it's use with an interactive digital map in the context of planning for a park.
The study describes a usability testing method to improve the design of the map and its use by public and the park planners. The findings include an empirical analysis and demonstrates that users could learn and use the park-planning tool easily. The results show that it is an efficient and effective park-planning tool.


title: The Identity-Defining Role of Forgetting in Transformative Disguise in Two Middle English Romances:  Havelok the Dane and Sir Isumbras

abstract: This thesis explores the interconnected processes of disguise and forgetting in two Middle English romances, Havelok the Dane and Sir Isumbras. The disguises in these two texts have a transformative function because the protagonists, while disguised, forget their identities. Because of this, these transformative disguises are immersed in the genre's well-established narrative of identity construction. The disguise motif, though common in romance, is rarely studied as a driving force in identity transformation because it more often functions as a performative plot point. Using medieval theories of memory, forgetting, and recollection to assess how the processes of disguise and forgetting occur in the texts, my research has determined that forgetting makes the transformations into disguise more complete and that recollecting what is important for both the true and disguised identities creates an improved and changed final identity. Overall, these romances' use of disguise, forgetting, and transformation presents forgetting as both a problem and a necessity for effecting change.


title: Containerized IoT Solution for Efficient Mobile Vertical Handover

abstract: Internet of Things (IoT) is ubiquitous, which includes objects communicating through heterogenous networks. One of the challenges in mobile IoT is vertical handover decision (VHD) between heterogenous networks for seamless connectivity. Conventional VHD approach is based on received signal strength (RSS), which is limited to only RSS Quality and hence inefficient to decide best network for vertical handover. This thesis proposes multi-criteria based VHD (MCVHD) algorithm for efficient VHD between Wi-Fi, Radio and Satellite network. The experiment results show that MCVHD outperforms the conventional RSS Quality based VHD by minimizing handover failures, unnecessary handovers, handover time and cost of service by selecting best available network using multi-criteria parameters. The proposed IoT solution also employs container based microservices architecture. The results show that the container technology produces negligible resource overhead and can be used on resource constrained IoT devices like Raspberry Pi 3, for efficiently managing IoT application and services.


title: An IoT Gateway Middleware for interoperability in SDN Managed Internet of Things

abstract: Internet of Things refers to interconnection of billions of things which include objects, services and living beings. The realization of IoT systems will fundamentally change how we interact with the world and a key technology in that direction is Middleware. Middleware is an intermediary software system between IoT devices and applications. This thesis proposes a lightweight Middleware solution which can be deployed both on the Cloud for intense analytics and on the Edge Network for local analytics to support near real time applications and support interoperability between heterogenous devices and applications by providing multiple protocol binding. The experiments are conducted on SDN managed IoT network testbed and the results show that the proposed Middleware is a lightweight solution, which is suitable for both Cloud which is resourceful and Edge devices like resource constrained IoT Gateway and provides interoperability between IoT devices and applications.


title: Accessible and Usable Security: Exploring Visually Impaired Users’ Online Security and Privacy Strategies

abstract: Visually impaired individuals are increasingly reliant on the Internet in their daily lives. Yet, existing security mechanisms may not sufficiently help these users protect their online security and privacy. We explore this issue through two complementary studies. First, we conduct an expert evaluation to assess web-based security cues through JAWS. We propose a set of 9 heuristics combining usable security and web accessibility principles to guide our expert evaluation. We uncover several severe issues that are not identified by automated accessibility checkers. Second, we conduct a task-based user study with 14 visually impaired users to observe their security habits and concerns when navigating the web. Again, our findings suggest that severe usability issues lead users to take risks or force them to choose between accessibility or security. Based on our findings, we provide practical recommendations to remedy these issues by tailoring security information to effectively communicate with visually impaired users.


title: Clearing the Air: The Impacts of Ambient Air Pollution on Environmental Equity

abstract:
The field of environmental equity investigates how environmental risk factors such as air pollution are associated with socioeconomic status (SES). This thesis examines current levels of inequity across income groups of the health risk caused by fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution, in New York City (NYC) and surrounding areas, and identifies emission control measures that can improve equity in this region.
Results show that inequity persists in NYC, with low-income populations facing greater health risk than their higher-income counterparts. Adjoint sensitivity analysis was used to identify emission control measures that carry the greatest influence on the current levels of environmental inequity. It was found that emission reductions have positive impacts on public health, but the impact on environmental equity depends on the average income where the reduction occurs. By considering the impacts on public health and environmental equity together, major improvements can be yielded through one air quality management strategy.


title: Exploring the Relationship Between Physiological Performance and Reproductive Investment in Wild Fish Using Heart Rate Biologgers

abstract: Given that reproductive behaviours involve high-energy activities, scientists have hypothesized that reproductive fitness is related to an organism's physiological performance. The present thesis explored this hypothesis by relating heart rate performance to parental care behaviour in smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu), and dominance behaviour in sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka). The results did not detect a relationship between overall heart rate performance and reproductive behaviour in either species. Instead, heart rate was found to follow a diel pattern irrespective of behaviour. It is therefore proposed that reproductive behaviour is mediated by the combined effects of intrinsic (e.g. hormones, cardiac performance) and extrinsic (e.g. photoperiod, predator burden) factors. Hence, this thesis demonstrates the complex relationship between cardiac performance and reproductive behaviours in wild fish. Future studies are required to explore the relationship between physiological performance and reproductive fitness to better understand mechanisms driving animal life history and evolutionary ecology in changing environments.


title: Reliability-Based, Safety-Explicit Horizontal Curve Design Using Naturalistic Driving Study

abstract:
The high rate of collisions on horizontal curves compared to other roadway elements makes them one of the most critical elements in a transportation network. In this regard, the current practice to design horizontal alignment needs to be reviewed.The current design guides adopt a deterministic approach to design horizontal curves considering only the driver comfort criterion and using a point mass model in the analysis. Therefore, the current design procedure suffers from several shortcomings. First, it ignores the importance of the probabilistic factors of highway operations and overlooks the variability effects of the factors included in the design. Second, adopting the comfort criterion and ignoring other design criteria, such as vehicle dynamic stability and sight distance, might lead to unsafe design in some cases. Third, using the point mass model in the analysis is questionable since it is insensitive to vehicle characteristics and the road profile. Also, the comfort thresholds used in the design are obtained from experiments conducted in the 1930s. This thesis aims at overcoming some of these issues through developing a new framework to design horizontal curves.
The new design framework adopts the reliability based-design approach and considers four design criteria in the design procedure to accommodate the driver behaviour in a quantitative manner. The naturalistic driving study database is used to examine driving behaviour on horizontal curves and to develop new models to predict the distributions of speed on curves and driver comfort thresholds. In addition, CarSIM software was used to develop models to estimate lateral friction demand with a higher level of accuracy. The first order reliability method is used to evaluate horizontal curve performance. The outputs of the reliability analysis were used as predictors in developing safety performance functions.
Reliability-based design concept is a promising concept that can be implemented in transportation engineering. This concept can provide a quantitative evaluation and can be used as a surrogate measure for safety performance. The research found that evaluation of horizontal curves performance should consider all design criteria simultaneously because changing geometric parameters to improve one of the design criterion, would affect the other design criteria.


title: Intangible Territories: The Island of Salty Dreams

abstract:
This project will tell the story of a site by making a videogame.
What is now known as Salt Spring Island is notorious for its alternative culture. Historically however, the place had a different character defined by groups of people whose experience was grounded in diversity amid the struggle for subsistence. Their stories played out at Cusheon Cove which, while relatively unknown, stands as a microcosm for events that transformed British Columbia through the early 20th century. Though most of the site's buildings are gone, artifacts remain that illustrate the history which transpired here, and through the affective power of storytelling, the hope is that these stories will continue to be retold.
By examining a real site through virtual methods, this project questions the status of the 'tangible' by making a 'digital story.' The project pursues the following question: Can digital storytelling make the hidden qualities of a place tangible?


title: Fragile Equilibrium: Environmental change and Cultural Resilience in the Himalayas

abstract: This project proposes a series of large-scale phased interventions to help sustain, delay, or distribute water resources in the Himalayas. It is an imagined application of an already tested water storage method, the Ice Stupa. This engineered method of building ice and storing water might be applied as a calculated planning strategy to aid Tibetan communities in their struggles with flooding and drought. In addition, a sited consideration of these stupas might offer additional programmatic functions related to tourism, animal husbandry, and agriculture, the primary economic supports for the villages studied. As giant freshwater glaciers melt, strategic water management will become the foundation of resilience. Architecture is often seen as foreign to such dynamic endeavours. This thesis proposes that design may have a critical role to play in this environment of fragility and severity.


title: Landscape and Seascape Instruments: Artic Bay at the Intersection of Ecology, Economy and Infrastructure Development

abstract: The small hamlet of Arctic Bay is the site of rapid economic and environmental change, as well as significant infrastructure development. Close proximity to an idled zinc, silver and lead mine, as well as an increasingly ice-free Northwest Passage has placed this community at the forefront of regional change such as eco-tourism, as well as geopolitical questions regarding Canada's Arctic sovereignty. Implicated always are the communities and people who live and work in Canada's North - communities and people who are often displaced into the background of these important discussions. Landscape + Seascape Instruments seeks to investigate the spatial implications of landscape and seascape infrastructure through the development of a universal infrastructural instrument; an architectural device that addresses connectivity and the interstitial space between communities at both the regional and the human scale, to better understand and foster a dialogue about Canada's role in an increasingly accessible arctic region.


title: Redrawing Palliative Care:  Therapeutic Architecture for the Body, Mind and Spirit.

abstract:
In recent years, hospice palliative care revolutionized the way we understand sickness and dying. It began as a critique to traditional healthcare practices and facilities that strictly focused on treating diseases where the human experience is neglected. A palliative approach to care focuses on meeting the patient's and their family's full range of needs at all stages of a chronic progressive illness.
This thesis is a response to the demands for therapeutic architecture in view of a growing seniors population and climbing disease rate to support those in a unique stage of life. It seeks to examine the poetics and complexities involved in an architectural design proposition for a palliative care home in the city of Ottawa. This thesis explores the architectural possibilities inherent in an understanding of care that provides hope and comfort in times of grief while embracing the opportunity to experience life to its fullest.


title: LifeHouse

abstract:
In 2016, Bill C-14 was passed by the Supreme Court of Canada, outlining the legalization of medical assistance in dying. The language of the bill determines the eligibility or ineligibility for death, making it either accessible or inaccessible. Following the route of the institutionalized life, the natural event of death becomes institutionalized under a governing language.
This thesis strives to create a space for those receiving medical assistance in dying, that serves as another option for a place of death, rather than a prescribed location. In contrast to the language of Bill C-14, LifeHouse is created from the poetic descriptions of life and death; light and dark, as I have interpreted it, from Dylan Thomas', Do not go gentle into that good night. From here, a sequence of observation and creation escalate into the built form of LifeHouse - the meeting place of life and death.


title: The Differential Influence of Personal Standards and Self-Critical Perfectionism on Mental Health in Students Transitioning to University: A Longitudinal Analysis with Latent Growth Curve Trajectories

abstract: The transition to university can be a stressful time for emerging adults. Perfectionism is a prevalent trait in university populations and has been associated with increased likelihood of mental health problems. A year-long longitudinal study was conducted to examine whether perfectionism negatively influenced mental health in students transitioning to university. Students (N=656) were recruited prior to university and followed up with at three time-points throughout the year (October, January, April). At each time-point participants completed surveys on perfectionism, depression, anxiety, physical symptoms and stress. Using latent growth curve analyses, self-critical perfectionism was found to predispose students to experience more stress, depression, physical symptoms and anxiety before beginning university and consequently throughout the school year. Conversely, personal standards perfectionism was found to be related to decreased mental health scores at baseline. Self-critical perfectionism is a factor which predicts poor mental health adjustment in students transitioning to university.


title: Targeted Quantitative Lipidomics of Cold Stress and the Development of Methods to Increase the Sensitivity of Proteomics Analyses Using Mass Spectrometry

abstract:
This thesis focuses on mass spectrometry-based techniques and uses them to discover new lipidomic profiles of species that adapt to cold temperatures in the northern climates. Additionally, techniques were developed to enhance MS-based proteomics analyses for better protein identification. The focus in the lipidomic work is mainly quantitative in nature while the proteomics work enhances qualitative analyses.
A lipid bilayer is of interest and will be examined in the tissues of several animal models. The composition of lipid bilayers is investigated in three different cold stress adaptation mechanisms including hibernation, freeze tolerance and freeze avoidance. Also examined are lipid bilayer differences in cold adaption in vital versus non-vital organs. Research was also conducted on how certain circadian rhythms are preserved even in the absence of environmental cues. The study models that were used were the thirteen-lined ground squirrel for hibernation, the wood frog for freeze tolerance and the goldfish for freeze avoidance traits. Our results elucidate some interesting patterns of lipid bilayers adaptation to cold stress. Increases in the concentration of unsaturated phospholipids in cold temperatures, particularly in the squirrel and frog liver tissues were observed. Also, in some cases increases in phosphatidylethanolamine lipids were observed in the lipid bilayers during winter months in comparison to summer months. These biomolecular dynamics are linked with increases in the fluidity of the lipid bilayer which is necessary for continued physiological function at lower temperatures.
Proteomics work was focused further developments of the Trimethylation Enhancement using Diazomethane (TrEnDi) technique. Diazomethane was used to methylate tryptically digested peptides or commercial peptides. TrEnDi derivatization allows for the formation of fixed permanent charges on the peptides making them more sensitive in MS analyses. These results also highlight a novel method to identify the phosphorylation of peptides, which holds great interest in a great deal of clinical and health-based research as dysfunctional phosphorylation pathways are linked to numerous diseases. Although TrEnDi derivatization requires further optimization on peptide samples at this point in time, the developments described herein demonstrate that it is a unique method that can enhance the sensitivity of MS-based peptide analysis in numerous ways.


title: Examination and Design Considerations of the Refugee Applicant Experience From Within Canada

abstract: This study provides insight on the possible influence of judicial government environments and associated spaces on applicant experiences while receiving legal, social and economic support. A review of these environments, their design and the influence of the design from the perspectives of subject matter experts led to the development of a framework for understanding the potential impact of these space types and associated processes. The analysis also resulted in physical or systematic recommendations to improve the experience of refugee applicants in Canada. At a broader level, this study aims to provide a context for future policy and design development.


title: A Multidisciplinary Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction of the Campanian Foremost Formation of Southern Alberta

abstract: The Foremost Formation of southern Alberta is the basal member of the Campanian Belly River Group, and has been understudied relative to the overlying Oldman and Dinosaur Park formations of this group. Examined outcrop of the upper Foremost Formation preserves coastal barrier island/lagoonal environments that transition upward into more inland coastal/ fluvial plain environments during the Claggett marine regression of the Western Interior Seaway. A low abundance, low diversity agglutinated benthic foraminiferal fauna, together with whole rock geochemical proxies, suggests commonly stressed oxygen and salinity conditions in marginal marine environments. Vertebrate microsite faunas display a primarily brackish water environmental influence, with an increase in diversity upsection in conjunction with increased terrestrial deposition. Hadrosaur remains suggest the previously unknown presence of kritosaurs and potentially a basal hadrosauroid, suggesting that the Foremost Formation dinosaur fauna was similarly diverse compared to faunas of well-characterized Campanian formations in North America.


title: A Short Tale: The Craft of Play in Children's Hospitals

abstract: It is possible to underestimate how much an atmosphere influences ones being. Health Care Centers and hospitals stimulate the necessity to tackle the challenge of proposing meaningful hospital design, beyond the mere necessity to house medical equipment and serve a purpose beyond function. The importance of this recognition motivates the need for architecture to make a contribution to thinking about the places that are beyond the medicalized spaces of being ill. This thesis asks whether it is possible to design a space that engages the imagination of the patient contributing to their sense of place in the world beyond their condition of illness. There is a fine line between perception and imagination. What distinguishes one from the other is where the imagined exists and makes itself manifest in - the space around us. This design proposal utilizes play as an instrument, challenging space to stimulate a sense of wonder.


title: Identification and Characterization of Control Candidates for Pseudogymnoascus Destructans, the Fungus that Causes White-Nose Syndrome in Bats

abstract: Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome in hibernating bats, has caused unprecedented declines of bat populations in eastern North America and continues to threaten new populations. P. destructans can grow in the bat hibernaculum environment, which likely contributes to the spread and severity of the white-nose syndrome epidemic. In this thesis, we focus on the identification and characterization of candidate control agents for environmental P. destructans. We first identify microbes that are strongly inhibitory to P. destructans in bioassays. We then conduct preliminary analyses of the antifungal mode of action of the microbially-produced volatile compounds 2-methyl-1-butanol, 1-pentanol, propionic acid, and nonanal. We simulate the hibernaculum environment with soil microcosms to assess the inhibitory activity of volatile compounds and microbial antagonists under hibernaculum-like conditions. Finally, we test the metabolites and volatile compounds that were inhibitory to P. destructans against a library of agricultural plant pathogens.


title: Natural and Anthropogenic Factors Influencing the Pre-Spawn Migration of Steelhead Trout

abstract: Migration can result in considerable exposure to both natural and anthropogenic stressors that can impact the ability of an anadromous fish to complete this critical component of their life-history. In this thesis I use a range of physiological and behavioural measures to evaluate natural and anthropogenic factors influencing the migration of wild adult migrating steelhead in the Bulkley River, British Columbia, including pathogens and fisheries captures. Steelhead appeared to be relatively resilient to pathogens and capture within fisheries, though I observed changes to their physiology, behaviour, and survival in relation to these stressors. A key finding throughout this thesis work was the influence that water temperature had on steelhead physiology and behaviour, suggesting steelhead may be vulnerable to increases in water temperature with climate change. This work provided novel insight on the pathogens influencing wild steelhead and has provided mortality estimates that fisheries managers can incorporate into their management models.


title: Disclosing the Tacit Identity in Majority Cultures

abstract:
In this dissertation, I introduce the notion of tacit group identity as a central element in the identity construction of majority cultures, and as a source of influence in their conception of and interaction with otherness. Indeed, I argue that exploring the tacit identity of majority cultures reveals the presence of unreflective biases and assumptions that translate into normative statements where institutions and official discourse reflect a majority culture back onto itself.
My approach is based on a phenomenological understanding of identity, which highlights the dialogical aspect of identity-construction between the self and its context, and from a societal application of Polanyi's tacit knowledge, which emphasizes the unreflective and contextual elements that contribute to the shaping of one's identity. In establishing the inescapability of a context and its multi-layered influence on individual perspective, I propose a re-conceptualization of agency in identity construction as affected by the tacit aspect of identity and by its context.
I also articulate what a tacit element of group identity looks like through the examples of Québec's attachment to Catholicism and the underlying racism present in the United States. I argue that in both cases, the majority culture's relationship with otherness is influenced by a tacit identity which contradicts the explicit identity and the associated values it officially promotes. I claim that the tacit dimension of identity challenges the view of identity at the root of Western political theories by bringing to question the majority culture's assumptions of universality from which these theories emerge. Thus, not only is this aspect of identity important to better understand tensions between minority and majority cultures, it is also central to evaluate the theories explaining those relationships.


title: The Role of Online Discussion Forums in Newcomers' Labour Market Integration in Canada

abstract:
This dissertation explores the phenomenon of increased use of online discussion forums by newcomers to Canada to access labour market knowledge. Drawing on extant literature on social support, knowledge exchange, and online technology affordances, I examine the role of online discussion forums in newcomers' labour market integration, through an inductive content analysis of 574 discussion threads. Results of this study suggest that the role of online discussion forums is to provide knowledge resources, in the form of information and advice support, which help newcomers make migration decisions and manage their expectations and preparedness, which in turn has the potential to help newcomers with adjustment and labour market integration in the new country.
This dissertation contributes to literature on newcomers' adjustment and labour market integration by describing the online discussion forum system and showing that it facilitates access to and exchange of online social support that can help newcomers with adjustment and integration in the new country's labour market. It also expands our understanding of the theory of knowledge exchange and the optimal matching model by examining them in the context of online discussion forums and newcomers' labour market integration. The findings also question the way we think of newcomers' labour market integration and newcomers' knowledge needs at different stages of settlement and suggest that we also need to include and focus more on the pre-arrival stage of migration and better understand online sources of social support. Moreover, I argue that advice support should be recognized as a separate type of social support.
This research also makes practical contributions by expanding our understanding of newcomers' interactions in online discussion forums which can inform government and community organizations tasked with supporting newcomers integrate in the labour market. The findings highlight the importance of pre-arrival training and support to migrants and the potential of better utilizing online technologies to reach future migrants and accelerate their adjustment and integration process. Pre-arrival online support facilitates preparation and more accurate expectations prior to migration, which in turn has the potential to facilitate migrants' adjustment and labour market integration.


title: Fountains and Urban Transformations in New York City

abstract: The purpose of this study is to imagine how water might transform the city, creating both dwelling space and sublime experience. This project developed from an examination of the variety of important roles played by fountains, both as urban water-supply infrastructures in Baroque Rome, and as works of visual display and pleasure, supporting civic life in urban environments. This thesis proposes new forms in the design of fountains, from small to large-scale architectural and infrastructural interventions, along the High Line in New York City. These designs explore the boundary and environmental conditions by which water shows its various properties according to season, scale, and effect. The designs should engage and impress city-dwellers, not only because of their size, but also due to their exquisite and advanced technology. Once these principles are employed, fountains should create spaces for dreaming, for the creation of memories and for the revitalization of city life.


title: Testimony - An Exploration of Our Trust in Others

abstract: Whether it's in-person, over email, text or call, people constantly receive information from others. Epistemology views such information, referred to as testimony, as a crucial source of rational belief and knowledge. However, reductionists and anti-reductionists disagree on whether it is sufficient as a stand-alone source. This thesis presents three studies examining possible factors that influence our trust in the words of others. Participants were asked to rate how likely they thought the content of various reports were. Ratings differed depending on the type of information being reported, and the source of the report. There also appear to be differences associated with the gender of the source, but further testing should be done to get a better understanding of this result. Finally, participant level of education had no effect on ratings. Overall, the results of this thesis provide support for both the anti-reductionist and reductionist positions.


title: A Miniaturized Delay-Line Discriminator

abstract: This thesis presents the design of a miniaturized delay-line discriminator (DLD) array for electronic warfare (EW) applications. Over very wide bandwidths, delay-line discriminators can provide the high accuracy, low latency measurements desired in many EW systems. The drawback to these circuits is that they can be quite bulky due to the long time delays they require. To miniaturize the discriminator's delay line, the design employed a slow-wave transmission line that allowed for a length reduction of approximately 60 %. An array consisting of four discriminators with delay ratios of 1, 2, 4, and 16 was fabricated on a 4-layer printed circuit board. The design obtained a measurement range of over 2 GHz with better than 4MHz RMS accuracy. Additional processing of the discriminators' outputs is required to further improve this accuracy. Measurements of pulses with phase and frequency modulation present have demonstrated the potential for the identifification of these modulation schemes.


title: Using Heated Column Experiments to Investigate the Effects of In-Situ Thermal Recovery Operations on Groundwater Geochemistry in Cold Lake, Alberta

abstract: Groundwater monitoring studies of the Cold Lake-Beaver River (CLBR) basin in Alberta have linked increases in arsenic concentration to subsurface heat release caused by in-situ thermal recovery operations. Aquifer sediments that are exposed to localized elevated temperature conditions undergo increased rates of water-rock interactions have the potential to liberate contaminants in potable groundwater sources at near-neutral pH levels. Preliminary laboratory experiments and field investigations have shown an increased rate of reaction at temperatures >80°C with respect to mineral dissolution and the release of contaminants. In this study, three heated column experiments were carried out using different mineralogical compositions of saturated aquifer materials, while exposing the materials to temperatures up to 90°C and monitoring water geochemistry. Aquifer materials that were used in the three experiments included: quartz sand; quartz sand with pyrite; and sediments collected from the CLBR region.


title: Responding to Canadian Wildfires: Tinderbox Wildfire Shelter Kits

abstract:
Every year, thousands of Canadians are evacuated from their homes due to wildfires. Many evacuees are forced to stay in community evacuation shelters, which are often overcrowded, have minimal facilities, and little privacy. Victims of natural disasters are prone to heightened levels of stress, anxiety, and mental health issues. These issues are exasperated in community shelters, where living situations are unstable and insufficient.
This thesis conducts two interwoven studies. First, the existing protocols of Canadian wildfires will be researched, specifically analyzing response operations and evacuation procedures. Second, the psychological effects of natural disasters will be investigated. Through these two studies, this thesis will propose new community planning initiatives for wildfires, as well as a design for a post-disaster housing system entitled Tinderbox. Tinderbox challenges existing building technologies by exploring methods of modularity, assembly, construction, and prototyping, with a final objective of designing an effective shelter for wildfire evacuees.


title: How do Caterpillars Detect Vibration?  Proleg Sensory Hairs as Vibration Receptors in Drepana Arcuata (Drepanidae) and Trichoplusia ni (Noctuidae)

abstract: It is known that substrate-borne vibrations are detected by insects from multiple taxa and life stages, including adults and larvae. Therefore, in this thesis I aimed to answer the question "How do caterpillars detect vibration?". For this purpose, I made neurophysiological experiments on proleg hairs of Drepana arcuata and Trichoplusia ni caterpillars. In these experiments, two types of mechanical stimuli were applied to the proleg hair: 1) sine vibrational signals with varying frequencies and 2) single push/pull stimuli. Amplitudes of stimuli ranged from sub- to supra-threshold and stimuli were applied in multiple directions to test for sensory directionality. With this, I showed that the sensory activity of the hair can be characterized as a rapid adapting response, that it has directional sensitivity and presents some phase-locking. In conclusion, the sensory hairs here evaluated can respond to vibration, which leaves them as potential candidates for substrate-borne vibration receptors in these caterpillars.


title: The Design, Fabrication, and Commissioning of a High-Speed Aeroacoustic Wind Tunnel for Studies of Surface Pressure Fluctuations Beneath Turbulent Boundary Layers

abstract:
The High-Speed Aeroacoustic Wind Tunnel (HSAWT) at Carleton University is a newly commissioned facility with the purpose of facilitating experimental studies of Turbulent Boundary Layer (TBL) induced surface pressure fluctuations. This research is intended for applications regarding aircraft noise generation from structures exposed to high-speed flow. This open-jet, blowdown facility is unique in Canada and one of a few aeroacoustic wind tunnels in the world capable of achieving speeds up to Mach 0.8.
The details of the complete design and fabrication methodology for all wind tunnel duct components, control system hardware, and instrumentation systems is discussed; along with the numerical simulations performed in the validation of the designed components. Preliminary experimental flow measurements and characterization of the wind tunnel control system is examined. The results of initial measurements of TBL surface pressure fluctuations developed over a flat test section plate are compared with established data and empirical models in literature.


title: Exploration of Active-Site Residues of Escherichia Coli Cystathionine β-Lyase by Site-Directed Mutagenesis

abstract: Cystathionine β-lyase is the second enzyme of the bacterial transsulfuration pathway, which catalyzes the reaction of L-cystathionine to pyruvate, ammonia, and L-homocysteine. CBL is dependant on the cofactor pyridoxal-5'-phosphate (PLP), which forms an internal aldimine with the catalytic lysine (eCBL-K210) in its inactive state. This work focuses on residues having a direct impact on the positioning of PLP and/or K210. Steady-state kinetics data from five site-directed D185 variants suggests that eCBL may be the only one of fold type I enzymes that performs the β-elimination reaction using E1 mechanism. The change in positioning of PLP caused by the substitutions of A207 and T209 causes enzymatic instability and inactivity, which does not occur with the Y211F variant. The R262K variant shows positive cooperation; a result that was not observed in our previously constructed eCBL variants. Finally, the importance of maintaining the aromatic properties of W340 was highlighted through its substitution.


title: Optimal Scheduling of Random Flexible Demands in Smart Grid

abstract:
On the consumer side of the electrical grid, there are some demands with some kind of ``flexibility'' in nature. Wisely exploiting these flexibilities could result in better utilization of the available resources.
Inspired by the existence of electric appliances with flexibility on their charging rate, we study the problem of optimally serving a set of ``Malleable Rectangular-Shape'' energy requirements in a finite time interval. That is each demand must be supplied continuously with a constant intensity and duration bounded by left- and right-malleability constraints. At each moment of time, the total power consumption of the grid is the sum of all the consumption rates of the demands being supplied at that moment. First, we assume that the malleability constraints are the same for all demands. Then, we identify the lower bound on the optimal value of the power peak. We extend our study by considering stochastic malleability constraints, where each demand has its own constraint pair. In this case, we also include a convex cost of power consumption in our treatment. In each case, we propose an on-line scheduling algorithm, which is asymptotically optimal with respect to the given cost criteria.
As another type of flexible demands, we address the problem of controlling a charging station of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs), assuming they can tolerate rejection of their energy request. We introduce a model for a charging station, in which PHEVs are charged either directly from the electrical grid or from a local storage unit deployed for each class of customers. The control actions to be determined by the charging station operator are as follows: the probability of blocking new arrivals, the rate of charging each local storage unit, the proportion of cars being served by each local storage unit and eventually the proportion of the available power from the grid to be assigned to each class of customers. We will show how to find a control policy minimizing the utilization cost of the charging station.


title: Clarifying the Conflict Between Modern Science and Natural Right

abstract:
This dissertation explores the troubled relationship between natural right and modern science. It proceeds by comparing the ancient (Plato and Aristotle) and modern (Descartes and Bacon) conceptions of natural inquiry, through the categories of aims and attunements. I argue that whereas the aim of Platonic and Aristotelian science was wisdom of the whole, which attuned it to the ultimate causes of everything, the aim of Cartesian and Baconian science was the ability to control nature which attuned it to repeatable laws of behavior. The modern focus on matter and its laws turned science away from ultimate causes so that such questions came to be regarded as unscientific. Thus the conflict is between competing conceptions of science, not simply inadequate observations of the ancients having been corrected by the more careful observations of the moderns.
The benefit of using these categories to compare ancient and modern conceptions of science is that it provides the basis by which natural right might be shown to be consistent with the successes of modern science and technology. Thinking of modern science as asking different questions of nature than ancient science allows for the possibility that its different answers do not necessarily contradict its claims. The upshot of natural right, the possibility of which this thesis explores, is that opens up two primary directions for future research. First, asking the "purpose," or "why," questions that natural right encourages could shed new light on a number of policy debates. Any policy issue that requires an answer to the question "What is X for?" is made very difficult by the modern reticence to derive moral principles from the nature of the world. Basing the answers to these questions on a firmer ground than convention might open up paths to fresh insight. Second, natural right contributes to methodological debates within political science regarding the value-neutrality of the discipline. Its implied criticism of positivist and behavioralist methods can offer a different perspective than many contemporary poststructuralist and non-foundational approaches.


title: Preliminary Aerodynamic Design of a Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Centrifugal Compressor

abstract: The preliminary sizing and design of a centrifugal compressor for a 10 MWe waste heat recovery supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) Brayton power plant is presented. Modelling and achieving proper convergence at the design point is challenging due to the proximity to the critical point. To overcome this challenge dimensional analysis was used. Three independent non-dimensional parameters were used to perform the scaling between the design point and a partially dynamically and geometrically similar operating point, which lies in the supercritical ideal gas region of carbon dioxide. The investigation found that the compressor characteristic map can be expressed as a single map referred to as the Generalized Map. The map is expressed in terms of the Enthalpy Rise coefficient and the Flow Coefficient for a set of constant speed lines. From the Generalized Map, the designer can project the characteristic map corresponding to another operating point.


title: Leveraging Insights from Mobile App Reviews to Support Release Planning and Maintenance

abstract: Developers seek to know what the users of the mobile apps they developed are saying about their products and what improvements they want. This helps developers update their apps according to the users' feedback and need. The goal of this thesis is to automate the process of leveraging key insights from the users' reviews to help developers better understand key concerns of large user population and plan future releases of their apps. In this thesis, we present an approach that automates the process of classifying user reviews into ﬁve categories according to the information contained within them. This information can range from improvements about the app to reporting bugs along with how users like/dislike the app. We then group related reviews into clusters by utilizing the LDA-based topic modelling and vector-space model. Then, for each generated cluster we extract the overall sentiment, generate hot topics and a short summary.


title: Imagining Law: Curated Narratives of Sexual Assault in The Ghomeshi Effect

abstract: This project explores how myths of law are aesthetically animated. I unpack narratives of sexual violence, trauma, and social transformation presented in the verbatim theatre performance of The Ghomeshi Effect. I suggest that while the producers of the play claim that the verbatim methods authentically tell experiences of sexual violence, their representation of these narratives reproduce broader myths of law as an ordered system of truth. Stories of sexual violence in this performance are not authentic representations, but an aesthetic platform through which the power of law is animated.


title: Photosystem II Based Photoelectrochemical Cell

abstract: The need for renewable sources of electrical power continues to grow around the globe, with solar energy at the forefront. This thesis concerns the assembly and testing of a photoelectrochemical cell that utilizes photosynthetic proteins found in plants to capture solar energy and generate electricity. Photosystem II, plastoquinone and thylakoid lipids were extracted from spinach leaves for use in the photocell. An ω-Hydroxythiol SAM on Au electrode was used as the anode to receive electrons from cytochrome c in solution. A platinum on carbon electrode was used as the cathode, with an anion exchange membrane to avoid short circuits forming between the electrodes. The photocell was tested under a variety of conditions and the highest photocurrent produced was 11.5 μA/cm2 at an applied voltage of 750 mV.


title: Children's Text Password Behaviors and Parental Advice

abstract: With increasing use of technology and the Internet among young children it is imperative to understand how they create passwords to protect their personal information, and also the parental advice they get to create these passwords. To understand this, we conducted two studies. The first study was conducted with children ages 11 to 13 to understand their password practices. The second study was conducted with parents to understand their own password behaviors and the strategies they teach their children to create secure passwords. The results of the studies indicated that children between ages 11 to 13 create simple passwords but believe that these passwords are hard for a stranger to guess. We also found that parents are concerned about their child's safety, but parents who are more aware of security-related cues are more likely to create secure passwords and teach their children to do the same.


title: Fixed Points of Rational Functions Satisfying the Carlitz Property

abstract: Recent research within the field of cryptography has suggested that S-boxes should be chosen to contain few fixed points, motivating analysis of the fixed points of permutations. This thesis presents a novel means of obtaining fixed points for all functions satisfying a property put forth by L. Carlitz. We introduce an algorithm which cyclically generates fixed points for three such classes of functions, the most renowned of which are Rédei rational functions. Further, we provide an explicit expression for the fixed points of all Rédei functions over Fq.


title: Advancing an integrated protocol for rapid assessment of catch-and-release recreational fisheries in the developing world

abstract: The global recreational fishing sector is the dominant fishing sector in freshwaters of the highly developed world and often more economically powerful than commercial fisheries, yet it is also ignored in international policy and suffers widespread data deficiencies from a lack of research. Despite the magnitude of potential benefits and consequences, little is known about recreational fishing activity, particularly in developing countries. I propose using an integrated rapid assessment protocol that adopts a social-ecological systems (SES) approach to address data deficiencies in catch and release (C&R) recreational fisheries of the developing world. In this work, I use the mahseer C&R recreational fishery of the Cauvery River, India as a case study. This dissertation identifies which linkages in the SES are most likely to influence sustainable management of the mahseer recreational fishery. To identify the nature and scope of the knowledge gaps in recreational fisheries of the developing world, I conducted a survey of fisheries professionals to rank knowledge and management needs. The results of the survey confirmed that recreational fisheries are subject to severe data deficiencies that require local level assessment to resolve. I then worked with local stakeholders to prioritize a research agenda that identified the need to research physiological responses of mahseer to C&R and angler behaviours and perspectives as valuable to this fishery. Therefore, I examined the physiological responses of mahseer to C&R, measured mahseer post-release movements, and compared the responses of mahseer caught multiple times through simulated capture processes. Finally, I conducted angler surveys to identify angler behaviours, perspectives, and information sources, then used expert interviews to place this information in local context. Overall, results show that mahseer are robust to C&R, but larger mahseer are likely to experience negative consequences post-release, and effects of combined stressors may be cumulatively interacting. There are opportunities to improve relationships among management organizations, angling groups and local communities to improve information flow and benefit-sharing throughout the mahseer fishery. The integrated rapid assessment protocol provides essential baseline data on biological and social responses to recreational fishing activity, and acts as a road map to guide future research and management efforts.


title: An Archive of Settler Belonging:  Local Feeling, Land, and the Forest Resource on Vancouver Island

abstract: This dissertation explores the local, material, and affective processes of Settler (non-Indigenous) attachment to land on southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia. I describe these feelings for land as Settler belonging and my research is guided by a reflexive and interdisciplinary approach that seeks to "explain Settlers to ourselves." Through original archival research and personal reflection, I argue that "(dis)possession," a term that encompasses Settler efforts to take the land and belong to the land, is a generational process, one that is worked at over time in an effort to link the past with the present and serve future Settler belonging. Through a study of plants, forest resource extraction, roads and railways, park creation, and real estate development in the Cowichan Valley and Sooke - Juan de Fuca regions, I argue that Settler feelings for land manifest in locally specific and contradictory ways. I contribute to the study of Settler colonialism and political economy in Canada by adapting the staples approach, as developed by Harold A. Innis, Mel Watkins, and others, to trace the intersection of belonging with the resource economy and the characteristics of Settler colonialism. This dissertation links historical and ongoing transformations in the relations of production, such as the conversion of private forestry lands into real estate, to reveal the ways in which belonging adjusts to political and economic changes that both assist and threaten its future. I argue that studying the locality of belonging contributes insight and nuance to our understanding of materiality and affect, class relations, the staple economy, and Settler colonialism's broader processes. In doing so, I demonstrate that Settler attachment to land is entrenched and expanded through a series of recurring events that are shared, personal, and conflictual.


title: Approach to Identify Topics in a Collection of TIM Review Articles and their Changes Over Time

abstract: Topic modeling can help better understand the content of large collections of text. The objective of the research is to develop an approach to identify latent topics in the Technology Innovation Management Review journal with a collection of articles published between 2007 and 2017 and how topics have evolved using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation and Dynamic Topic Model algorithms. We identified 47 topics and categorized them into ten themes. While some topic trends became prominent over time, others disappeared. The distribution of the articles across topics in the LDA approach has been made more decisively so that of 597 articles, 503 most associated articles were identified, while this number is 299 articles in DTM. Furthermore, we discussed weaknesses and strengths of the algorithms based on defined criteria. We conclude that DTM provides more accurate word and topic trends over time. Finally, we document a repeatable process to replicate the results.


title: The Notorious Woman: Tracing the Production of Alleged Female Killers through Discourse, Image, and Speculation

abstract:
This dissertation examines the visual and discursive production of female notoriety through the multi-mediated circulation of five images of Amanda Knox and Jodi Arias, who were both convicted of murder; Knox was eventually acquitted. This project employs visual discourse analysis to trace the movement and cultural use of widely shared and debated photographic images by consulting a broad visual corpus of mainstream American media content produced from 2007 to 2016. I argue notoriety is produced out of a necessary general relation of speculation that is (re)produced in processes of mass mediation. I illustrate the visual formation of notoriety by following the cultural use and spread of the selected digital images. Here I claim contemporary notoriety is fueled by repeated calls to speculate and judge images that seemingly resist full understanding while they are also used as evidence of perceived legal and sexual transgressions. This continual play to investigate, interpret, and define ambiguous imagery are key cultural practices that generate notoriety, for these relations compel further judgment and scrutiny. The dissertation draws critical attention to the cultural and visual practices tied to the creation of notoriety in contexts of digital mass media circulation, and questions the types of knowledge and spectatorship that are encouraged as images circulate over time and medium.
Through the visual discourse analysis, I conclude these five images are continually used to define and assess Knox and Arias relative to shifting norms of acceptable white femininity. Treating the images as performative sites, I outline their compositional and thematic patterns within the visual corpus (e.g. within news broadcasts, newsmagazine episodes, made-for-TV true crime dramas and documentaries, and literary exposés) that constitute discourses of sexual deviancy, inappropriateness, obsession, vanity, and image management. Through these discursive lenses, Knox and Arias are positioned as sexually transgressive, desirable, and excessive - yet remain debatable and highly scrutinized women because they seemingly transgress middle-class white heteronormativity. Taking an intersectional approach, I explore how this constellation of visual discourses works to uphold sexist, classist, and racist logics while also encouraging viewers to see, judge, and consult the familiarly ambiguous images for meaning.


title: The Indigenous Experience and Cultural Renewal, Decolonization, and Transformation in the Ottawa Area

abstract: This research is an ethnography of 30 people on Indigenous experiences, place-making and the cultural practices that are used to construct meaning and cultural renewal that leads to healing and decolonization in the Ottawa, Ontario area. The research explores the lives of those who reside in the city and have never lived in traditional territories, and those who continue to have roots there. These practices are observed through the lens of the three bodies of the individual, social, and body politic. Identity has moved beyond legacies of essentialized and bounded notions which in actuality are multiple and fluid. The study revealed themes of a continuum of experiences and practices including: territorialists who reside in the homeland; returners who have the Indigenous diasporic experience of longing for a homeland; learners who have been displaced from Indigenous communities for various reasons but have initiated cultural renewal; adaptors who have little to no connection to a homeland or Indigenous groups in the city; and urbanites who accept the city-as-home, often with multiple generations of residence in the city. The social body is enacted by Indigenous people who construct communities in cities through social practices such as welcoming others through physical places like Friendship Centres, universities, and social service organizations. Connections also occur in urbans hubs of activity through various practices such as cultural and arts events, ceremonies, and conferences. Cultural renewal is fundamental for the well-being of Indigenous people who have experienced decades of oppression as a result of the regulation of bodies, social actions, land and self-determination by the body politic. The cultural renewal of Indigenous people in cities creates space for healing, decolonization, reclamation, restoration, reconciliation and renewal.


title: Realizing Technology Impact: A Dialectical Theory of Technology Initiated Routine Disruption and Renewal

abstract:
Today, organizational leaders increasingly leverage technology as a restructuring force to achieve greater efficiency and competitive positioning. This technology shapes the environmental conditions within which organizations operate and through the need to align with such conditions, affects organizational characteristics and behaviours. This study generates new insights into the common problem of unexpected group behaviour in response to technology initiated change by exploring the disruption and renewal of an organizational routine. This research bridges aspects of organizational routines, dialectic change theory, and information systems literature to contribute new understandings about the micro-processes that generate the divergent performance variation events often seen as contributing to the unpredictability associated with technology initiated organizational change.
Through an in-depth qualitative analysis of a health information system introduction at a large research hospital located in Ottawa, Canada, we demonstrate how a dialectic modalities lens provides new insights into agent driven organizational routine repair and renewal. We then show how two dimensions of dialectics (performative<->ostensive and performative<->environmental) act independently to produce varying levels of dialectic tension that motivate variation and change in the performance of an organizational routine. This work adapts the emerging work on dialectics of organizational change to conceive of dialectic change as a generator of variation and change within organizational routines and suggests that dialectic tension is a key driver of organizational routine change. To account for this, we introduce a new concept and model - "Dialectic Modalities of Routine Change" - to describe the four combinations of dialectic tension that can occur in the performance and enactment of a routine.
It is our position that greater understanding and focus on routine disruption and renewal will ultimately assist managers in improving practice and can provide a deeper theoretical understanding of organizational change processes. Moreover, this study's collected narrative approach to identifying a routine in practice opens new opportunities to explore enacted routine structure in sensitive environments often difficult to access for sufficient levels of observation. Finally, this research also makes important contributions to routines theory through the theoretical exploration of micro-foundational dynamics of routine change.
Keywords: Organizational Routines, IT Usage, Organizational Change, Technochange


title: Novel Solutions and Applications of the Object Partitioning Problem

abstract: This thesis considers the fundamental problem of "partitioning" which is all- pervasive in computer science. It has applications in "Big Data" because the vast amounts of data encountered in "Big Data" applications cannot be processed in a sin- gle block, but are better analyzed when it is partitioned in various monolithic units. It also has direct applications in numerous areas including databases, process schedul- ing, mapping and image retrieval. In this research we consider a specific instantiation of the Object Partitioning Problem, namely the Equi-Partitioning Problem (EPP), in which the partitions are equi-sized. In particular we concentrate on the various Learn- ing Automata (LA)-based solutions. In this regard, the Object Migration Automata (OMA), and its variants have been the benchmark solutions.


title: Drawing on Context:  Proposing a Hybrid Design Process for Textured Concrete

abstract: This thesis argues that making architectural representations using combinations of different mediums and tools offers greater material awareness, which opens the possibility of closer engagement with the site and its program. Specifically, the first chapter compares the strengths of digital and non-digital drawing mediums in order to develop an architectural theory that promotes the development of hybrid representations. The second chapter is a case study relating the method of drawing and translation to construction of two projects that use textured concrete. The third chapter details how a hybrid representation is used to design an addition to a culinary academy in the city of Cuenca, Ecuador. Finally, the research concludes that the process of making a hybrid representation takes advantage of the strengths of digital and non-digital mediums creating a closer relationship between materials and site.


title: Strengthening Password-Based Web Authentication Through Multiple Supplementary Mechanisms

abstract: User authentication is one of the primary mechanisms that protects online accounts from break-in by attackers. Password-based authentication is currently the most widespread form of user authentication, but has many well-documented usability and security drawbacks. As an increasing number of consumer, financial, governmental, and other organizations move towards offering services online, users are burdened with creating and managing increasingly large portfolios of online accounts; this increased user burden exacerbates the drawbacks of password-based authentication. This thesis contributes to the reinforcement of password-based authentication by pursuing parallel mechanisms that improve security without further burdening users---this is a prominent avenue of improvement, given the continued dominance of password authentication. To that end, our contributions achieve three broad goals. First, we identify, develop, and evaluate device fingerprinting mechanisms for use alongside passwords, and offer guidance on their use, to enhance the security of password-based web authentication. Second, we expand on the concept of mimicry resistance, a dimension that has thus far been overlooked in the design and study of web authentication schemes. We develop a comprehensive methodology for evaluating the mimicry resistance of web authentication schemes and provide guidance on how to combine multiple schemes alongside password authentication to maximize the benefits gained. Third, we perform a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of a broad range of single sign-on (SSO) schemes, which reduce password fatigue by allowing users to access a multitude of online services through a single master password. We identify design properties of SSO schemes and develop an evaluation framework that highlights their benefits and drawbacks, revealing trade-offs between different designs. These three contributions encompass complementary approaches that can be used together to improve online security with minimal impact on usability.


title: Physiological and cognitive factors in Bulimia : the effect of preload foods on subsequent eating

creator: Goldstein-Kerzner, Cathy E. (Cathy Ellen)

abstract: The aim of the present study was to examine the role of physiological and cognitive factors in eating patterns of bulimic women; more specifically, the effect of a preload food on subsequent eating behavior. Twelve bulimic women participated in this study which employed a repeated measures design. On each trial subjects were exposed to one of three pudding preloads (varying in macronutrient content) or no pudding preload. Subjective ratings of hunger after the preload administration and amount of cookies eaten in a later "taste test" were measured. Between groups differences with respect to the amount of cookies eaten were not statistically significant. Subjective reports of hunger, prior to the taste test were statistically significantly greater in the no preload condition than the other preload conditions. Similar hunger ratings were reported after the high carbohydrate pudding was consumed. Statistically significantly less hunger (greater satiety) was reported after ingestion of the low calorie and high fat puddings than after no pudding preload. The results were interpreted as lacking support for the cognitive disinhibition theory as it applies to bulimia. It was concluded that satiety mechanisms of bulimic women may be impaired as a result of restrictive dieting. Areas for future research were outlined.


title: Psychological factors and steroid use in bodybuilders, runners, and tae kwon do participants

abstract: This study was designed to examine psychological characteristics along with epidemiological factors of steroid use among bodybuilders, runners, and tae kwon do participants in both competitive and recreational conditions. One hundred and thirty nine male athletes participated in this study which employed a 3 x 2 factorial design involving paper and pencil questionnaires. Subjects anonymously completed a series of psychological inventories measuring body-image disturbance (e.g., body size distortion and drive for bulk), drive for thinness, bulimia, as well as other psychological characteristics including self-esteem, depression, maturity fears, and perfectionism. In addition, the incidence of steroid use, and participants' attitudes toward steroids were evaluated. Results indicate bodybuilders exhibited the most liberal attitudes toward steroids, highest incidence of steroid use, lowest self-esteem, and most amount of body-image disturbance. Furthermore, bodybuilders reported significantly higher scores on perfectionism, ineffectiveness, and traditional eating disorder indices such as bulimia and drive for thinness than runners and kwon do participants. The data indicate that steroid-using bodybuilders possessed a similar psychological profile to individuals with eating disorders characterized by extreme body-image disturbance, maturity fears, feelings of ineffectiveness, and moderately low self-esteem. Moreover, it appears that both populations engage in dangerous methods of physique enhancement such as steroid use among bodybuilders, and a myriad of purging techniques among eating disordered individuals. Results were discussed in terms of comparing the psychological profiles of eating disorder patients and bodybuilders who use steroids, and the resulting physical and psychological implications.


title: Some effects of avian anterior pituitary gland extract on differentiation of the duodenum, endocrine end organs, and spleen in the chick embryo

abstract:
The functional differentiation of the embryonic chick duodenum has previously been shown to be dependent on grafted anterior pituitary glands in hypophysectomized embryos. Precocious duodenal differentiation can be produced in normal chick embryos by the administration of extracts of avian anterior pituitary glands. Five daily treatments prior to day 17.5 of incubation results in a 2-4 fold increase over control levels in the specific activity of alkaline phosphatase in duodenal homogenates. Some aspects of villus morphogenesis are accelerated in extract treated embryos, and the degree of precocious differentiation corresponds to the amount of alkaline phosphatase increase in individual samples. Other aspects of duodenal development are unique to the extract-stimulated condition. Growth is reduced with higher levels of extract, and the endocrine end organs show indications of hyperstimulation.
Hypophysectomized embryos respond to extract treatment with improved duodenal development, growth, end organ weight and histology, and reduced mortality. Repair of the hypophysectomized condition, however, is incomplete.
Extract treatment of hypophysectomized and intact embryos produces splenomegaly. This appears to be a host versus graft type of response to the non-hormonal components of the extract. Hormonal components appear to suppress spleen red pulp development, and may also stimulate white pulp development and vascularization.
Response of the embryonic chick to the saline-extractable contents of pituitary cells confirms that the system is not maximally stimulated, and minimizes the possibility that membrane-graft interactions or redifferentiation is prerequisite for the effects of grafted glands. Pars distalis grafts produce an effect similar to extract treatment in intact embryos, suggesting that the embryonic negative feedback system does not repress the hormonal output of grafts. The high survival rate of treated embryos provides an indication that data obtained in hypophysectomy experiments (in which there is only 6% survival) is not atypical of the population. The pattern of variability in the response of embryos to extract or pars distalis grafts suggests a differential sensitivity to pituitary hormones which may be indicative of a variable threshold or a differential dependence on pituitary hormones in the population.


title: Investigation of factors influencing the d-Aminolevulinic acid dehydratase assay of blood-lead with a specific reference to the in vitro effects of monovalent cations

abstract: Investigation of factors influencing the δ-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) for monitoring lead-blood concentration was performed with a view towards elimination of procedural artifacts. Using the optimum procedure the in vitro effects of the monovalent cations of Li, Na, K, Cs, NH4, Tl, Hg, and Ag on the pH-activity profile of ALAD from human blood over a seven day period from the date of blood acquisition were investigated and displayed. Several interferences, most notably Hg(II) from HgCl2, were identified and it was found that Cu(I) and Ag(I) deactivated the enzyme while others showed negligible effects on the pH-activity profile and especially on a predefined pH-activity ratio of activities at pH values 6.3 and 7.2 .


title: Experimental study of the flow and heat transfer characteristics of thin water films on a large diameter horizontal tube

abstract: Heat transfer coefficients from a single, steam heated, large diameter aluminum tube to thin water films, together with water film thicknesses and the distribution of heat flux around the tube periphery were measured. The tube used had a nominal diameter of 127 mm. Cooling water temperatures were varied from 17°C to 50°C and cooling water film Reynolds numbers were varied from Rer = 1150 to Rer = 5250. Four different water flow rates were chosen and for each water flow rate the temperature of cooling water was raised in steps. Heat transfer coefficients were calculated from the weight of steam condensed in a certain period of time. Temperature distribution around the periphery of the tube was measured by thermocouples embedded at intervals of 15°. Dial calipers were used for measuring water film thicknesses; and heat flux distribution around the tube periphery was measured using heat flux meters embedded at intervals of 45°. The experimentation was used for the verification of theoretical equations for the prediction of heat transfer coefficients and film thicknesses developed earlier at Carleton University. While the scope of the experiments and equations is general, typical CANDU reactor conditions were kept in mind.