VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Sensor Noise and Ecological Interface Design: Effects of Noise Magnitude on Operators’ Performance and Control Strategies
Keywords: human
factors
engineering
sensor
noise
ecological
interface
display
control
strategy

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the effects of the presence and magnitude of sensor noise on operators’ performance and control strategies using an Ecological Interface Design (EID) interface and a Single-Sensor Single-Indicator (SSSI) interface. To assist in the study of this topic, concepts from sensor technology, cognitive psychology, and cognitive engineering were utilized. Three studies were conducted using different types of sensor noise perturbations with DURESS III, a representative thermal-hydraulic process simulation: 1) global random increases in sensor noise magnitude, 2) global gradual increases in sensor noise magnitude, and 3) local gradual increases in sensor noise magnitude. Three displays (P, P+S, and P+F) were used in the studies, motivated by different interface design principles. There were four main findings. First, the EID condition performed significantly better than the SSSI conditions when sensor noise was set to an industry average level. Second, the robustness of the EID interface was compromised by global and large increases in sensor noise magnitude, but no more than the SSSI interface. Third, increasing the magnitude of sensor noise in selected low-level sensors had an impact on the performance and control stability of the EID condition, but no more than the SSSI condition. Fourth, in all three studies, the introduction of uncertainty in the form of sensor noise to both EID and SSSI interfaces forced participants to explore different control strategies. A number of contributions resulted from this research. First, this was the first set of studies to use the DURESS III microworld to investigate the impact of sensor noise on performance and control strategies. Second, this is the first piece of research to empirically assess the impact of different sensor noise magnitudes on the robustness of an EID interface. Third, this dissertation was the first to empirically investigate issues related to increases in sensor noise magnitude to local low-level sensors and their derivations to emergent features. Fourth, these studies constitute the first investigation of changes in control strategies in the context of increases in sensor noise magnitude. The findings are believed to be important for the applicability of EID in industrial settings.
Supporting New School Leaders: The Benefits of Online Peer Communities
Keywords: computer based communities
leadership development
peer learning
peer communities

Although school leaders receive coursework and some practicum experience, there are gaps in their preparation that can only be filled on the job. Because the decisions made by new educational leaders are of great consequence to themselves and their school communities, an important goal should be the sharing of knowledge and support amongst a community of peers. This work reviews the challenges facing new administrators, critically reviews the training of educational administrators in Ontario, and recommends an in-service community method to supplement the support received by new administrators in their first several years. This document begins with an examination of relevant research literature in leadership development, online communities, the nature of expertise, and technology-enhanced learning with technology. One outcome of this review is a set of “knowledge dimensions” that are important to the development of leadership expertise. The dissertation then examines a three year journey of an online community of educational administrators who share in their journey toward expertise. The e-mails from the community were analyzed according to their function within the community and their relevant domain content. Of particular interest was the question of how such e-mail exchanges allowed members to develop in all five dimensions of school leadership knowledge. A coding of e-mail threads revealed that all dimensions of leadership knowledge were represented in the content, and that the quality of e-mails improved in both content as well as knowledge building practices over the three years. The growth of the community as a whole and of individual members is examined through a set of individual case studies. Finally, the dissertation closes with a discussion of the future of this community, as well as the prospects that such an approach could be applied more widely in support of new school leaders.
Overlay Architectures for FPGA-Based Software Packet Processing
Keywords: computer architecture
soft processors
FPGA
packet processing
network processor
multithreaded
transactional memory

Packet processing is the enabling technology of networked information systems such as the Internet and is usually performed with fixed-function custom-made ASIC chips. As communication protocols evolve rapidly, there is increasing interest in adapting features of the processing over time and, since software is the preferred way of expressing complex computation, we are interested in finding a platform to execute packet processing software with the best possible throughput. Because FPGAs are widely used in network equipment and they can implement processors, we are motivated to investigate executing software directly on the FPGAs. Off-the-shelf soft processors on FPGA fabric are currently geared towards performing embedded sequential tasks and, in contrast, network processing is most often inherently parallel between packet flows, if not between each individual packet. Our goal is to allow multiple threads of execution in an FPGA to reach a higher aggregate throughput than commercially available shared-memory soft multi-processors via improvements to the underlying soft processor architecture. We study a number of processor pipeline organizations to identify which ones can scale to a larger number of execution threads and find that tuning multithreaded pipelines can provide compact cores with high throughput. We then perform a design space exploration of multicore soft systems, compare single-threaded and multithreaded designs to identify scalability limits and develop processor architectures allowing threads to execute with as little architectural stalls as possible: in particular with instruction replay and static hazard detection mechanisms. To further reduce the wait times, we allow threads to speculatively execute by leveraging transactional memory. Our multithreaded multiprocessor along with our compilation and simulation framework makes the FPGA easy to use for an average programmer who can write an application as a single thread of computation with coarse-grained synchronization around shared data structures. Comparing with multithreaded processors using lock-based synchronization, we measure up to 57\% additional throughput with the use of transactional-memory-based synchronization. Given our applications, gigabit interfaces and 125 MHz system clock rate, our results suggest that soft processors can process packets in software at high throughput and low latency, while capitalizing on the FPGAs already available in network equipment.
Assessing the Influence of First Nation Education Counsellors on First Nation Post-secondary Students and Their Program Choices
Keywords: First Nation education counsellors
First Nation post-secondary students
decolonization
Ontario Native Education Counselling Association

The exploratory study focused on First Nation students and First Nation education counsellors within Ontario. Using an interpretative approach, the research sought to determine the relevance of the counsellors as a potentially influencing factor in the students’ post-secondary program choices. The ability of First Nation education counsellors to be influential is a consequence of their role since they administer Post-Secondary Student Support Program (PSSSP) funding. A report evaluating the program completed by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada in 2005 found that many First Nation students would not have been able to achieve post-secondary educational levels without PSSSP support. Eight self-selected First Nation Education counsellors and twenty-nine First Nation post-secondary students participated in paper surveys, and five students and one counsellor agreed to complete a follow-up interview. The quantitative and qualitative results revealed differences in the perceptions of the two survey groups as to whether First Nation education counsellors influenced students’ post-secondary program choices. Students perceived themselves to be their greatest influence, while the counsellors felt their influence was greater once students made their program decisions, through encouragement and follow up support. The study raised questions regarding challenges faced by First Nation education counsellors to provide consistent academic, personal and cultural/social supports to their sponsored students. While the study suggested the role of First Nation education counsellors had evolved little from its original financial-administrative role and toward a more rounded offering including interpersonal, academic and cultural supports, in keeping with an educational decolonization process, counsellors face chronic program under funding and are under-staffed. To enhance First Nation students’ academic success, federal and provincial governments and First Nations are encouraged to further support First Nation education counsellors with greater training opportunities (expansion of the Ontario Native Education Counselling Association’s Native Counsellor Training Program), a higher ratio of counsellors to students, and support and promotion of their ability to provide interpersonal and academic counselling. The study challenged First Nation education counsellors to seek more opportunities to maintain consistent engagement with their students, especially with more autonomous or older students. First Nation students were also challenged to seek more from their counsellors than sponsorship.
Synthesis and Reactions of Unsymmetrical Oxabicyclic Alkenes: Studies toward the Total Synthesis of Phorbol and Prostratin
Keywords: Synthetic Organic Chemistry
Catalysis

Chapter 1 details our investigation into the Diels-Alder reaction between arynes and chiral furans and pyrroles for the synthesis of unsymmetrical [2.2.1] oxabicyclic and azabicyclic scaffolds as single enantiomers. It was discovered that the diastereoselectivity of the aryne Diels-Alder reaction was sensitive to conformational effects that could be exploited to obtain both high yields and dr. Stereoselective synthesis using arynes is an overlooked field, and this contribution represents one of only three such examples in the literature. The desymmetrization of meso [2.2.1] oxabicyclic systems by intramolecular cyclization/ring- opening was studied, and a cationic Rh/t-Bu-Josiphos catalyst was developed that delivered polyclic dihydronaphthalene products in excellent yield and ee. These catalyst conditions were used for the ring-opening of an enantiomerically pure unsymmetrical oxabicyclic alkene, which led to the discovery that ring-opening proceeded with complete reagent control. A regiodivergent resolution was designed that gave pairs of enantiomerically enriched dihydronaphthalenes from unsymmetrical racemic starting materials. In chapter 3, the scope of the regiodivergent resolution was expanded to include the ring-opening of remotely-substituted oxabicyclic alkenes and furan-hetaryne Diels-Alder adducts. The utility ii of the method was demonstrated by using it to synthesize two important API molecules from a single racemic precursor. Finally, chapter 4 describes our lab’s efforts toward the total synthesis of the natural products phorbol and prostratin that features the ring-opening of an unsymmetrical [3.2.1] oxabicycle as the key step. Advanced intermediates (requiring >30 linear steps) were synthesized on gram- scale. The entire carbon framework was successfully installed, and our efforts to complete the synthesis are discussed.
Numerical Modeling of Wave Propagation in Strip Lines with Gyrotropic Magnetic Substrate and Magnetostaic Waves
Keywords: Strip lines with Gyrotropic magnetic substrates
Micromagnetics
Edgemode isolator
Magnetization distribution
Finite difference time domain method

Simulating wave propagation in microstrip lines with Gyrotropic magnetic substrate is considered in this thesis. Since the static internal field distribution has an important effect on the device behavior, accurate determination of the internal fields are considered as well. To avoid the losses at microwave frequencies it is assumed that the magnetic substrate is saturated in the direction of local internal field. An iterative method to obtain the magnetization distribution has been developed. It is applied to a variety of nonlinear nonuniform magnetic material configurations that one may encounter in the design stage, subject to a nonuniform applied field. One of the main characteristics of the proposed iterative method to obtain the static internal field is that the results are supported by a uniqueness theorem in magnetostatics. The series of solutions Mn,Hn, where n is the iteration number, minimize the free Gibbs energy G(M) in sequence. They also satisfy the constitutive equation M = χH at the end of each iteration better than the previous one. Therefore based on the given uniqueness theorem, the unique stable equilibrium state M is determined. To simulate wave propagation in the Gyrotropic magnetic media a new FDTD formulation is proposed. The proposed formulation considers the static part of the electromagnetic field, obtained by using the iterative approach, as parameters and updates the dynamic parts in time. It solves the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation in consistency with Maxwell’s equations in time domain. The stability of the initial static field distribution ensures that the superposition of the time varying parts due to the propagating wave will not destabilize the code. Resonances in a cavity filled with YIG are obtained. Wave propagation through a microstrip line with YIG substrate is simulated. Magnetization oscillations around local internal field are visualized. It is proved that the excitation of magnetization precession which is accompanied by the excitation of magnetostatic waves is responsible for the gap in the scattering parameter S12. Key characteristics of the wide microstrip lines are verified in a full wave FDTD simulation. These characteristics are utilized in a variety of nonreciprocal devices like edgemode isolators and phase shifters.
Clock and Data Recovery for High-speed ADC-based Receivers
Keywords: clock and data recovery circuits
fractional-sampling-rate ADC-based CDR
ADC-based feedforward CDR
high-speed signaling

This thesis explores the clock and data recovery (CDR) for the high-speed blind-sampling ADC-based receivers. This exploration results in two new CDR architectures that reduce the receiver complexity and save the ADC power and area compared to the previous work. The two proposed CDR architectures constitute the primary contributions of this thesis. The first proposed architecture, a 2x feed-forward CDR architecture, eliminates the interpolating feedback loop, used in the previously reported CDRs, in order to reduce the CDR circuit complexity. Instead of the feedback loop, the proposed architecture uses a feed-forward topology to recover the phase and data directly from the blind digital samples of the received signal. The 2x feed-forward CDR architecture was implemented and characterized in a 5 Gb/s receiver test-chip in 65 nm CMOS. The test-chip measurements confirm that the CDR successfully recovers the data with bit error rate (BER) < 10e-12 in the presence of jitter. The second proposed architecture, a fractional-sampling-rate (FSR) CDR architecture, reduces the receiver sampling rate from the typical integer rate of 2x the baud rate to a fractional rate between 2x and 1x in order to reduce the ADC power and area. This architecture employs the feed-forward topology of the first contribution of this thesis to recover the phase and data from the fractionally-spaced digital samples of the signal. To verify the proposed FSR CDR architecture, a 1.45x receiver test-chip was implemented and characterized in 65 nm CMOS. This test-chip recovers 6.875 Gb/s data from the ADC samples taken at 10 GS/s. The measurements confirm a successful data recovery in the presence of jitter with BER < 10e-12. With sampling at 1.45x, the FSR CDR architecture reduces the ADC power and area by 27.3% compared to the 2x feed-forward CDR architecture, while the overall receiver power and area are reduced by 12.5%.
Circuits for MM-wave Radio and Radar Transceiver Front-ends
Keywords: mm-wave
transceiver
radio
radar

This thesis presents the design and implementation of 140 GHz to 170 GHz transceivers in SiGe HBT technologies and a 95 GHz receiver in 65 nm CMOS technology. Optimization and modeling of all passive components and transistor biasing at peak-fT and peak-fMAX current densities are employed to obtain higher frequency operation of circuit blocks compared to state of the art. These circuit blocks include static and dynamic frequency dividers, voltage-controlled oscillators, and tuned mm-wave amplifiers. Design procedures for a 100 GHz static divider, a 136 GHz dynamic divider, as well as low-power divider topologies are presented. A methodology for the design of quadrature voltage-controlled oscillators in CMOS and SiGe technologies is described, together with a technique for reduced-power LO-path design. Tuned 5-stage 140 GHz, 160 GHz, and 170 GHz amplifiers with more than 15 dB in SiGe HBT technology are reported. Using these circuit building blocks, a 95 GHz receiver in 65 nm CMOS technology with 12.5 dB gain, 7 dB noise figure, and 206mW. Also, several 165 GHz transceivers are implemented in SiGe HBT technology. The 165 GHz transceivers that include an oscillator, a divider, RX, LO, and TX amplifiers, and a mixer, were designed with and without on-chip antennas. They have -3 dB conversion gain, all achieved at RF, and -3.5 dBm output power. Following that, a 140 GHz fully-integrated transceiver and a 140 GHz transceiver array with on-chip patch antennas were designed in a 0.13micron SiGe BiCMOS technology, demonstrating the highest integration levels at this frequency in silicon to date. These transceivers feature 136-145 GHz voltage-controlled oscillators, 20 dB receive-amplifiers and mixers,transmit-amplifiers with amplitude-shift keying modulation, and variable-gain IF amplifiers. At 140 GHz the transceivers have up to 32 dB conversion gain and -8 dBm output power. Wireless data transmission at 4 Gb/s was demonstrated over 1.15m with off-chip horn antennas, and over 2 cm with the on chip antennas. With on-chip antennas, the transceiver could detect a Doppler shift of as little as 25 Hz. Both transceivers were also operational in frequency-modulated continuous-wave radar mode.
Realization of Bose-Einstein Condensation of 87Rb in a Time-orbiting Potential Trap
Keywords: Bose-Einstein Condensation

The construction of an apparatus capable of producing Bose-Einstein condensates marks a significant milestone in every experimental cold atom laboratory. In this thesis I describe the development of a system to create a Bose-Einstein condensate of 87RB in a Time-Orbiting Potential trap. I review the optical and magnetic techniques required to trap and cool an atomic sample under vacuum, motivating our decision to build a double MOT system comprised of a high-pressure (10-9 torr) chamber to gather atoms and a low-pressure (10-11 torr) chamber to cool atoms to degeneracy. By theoretically modeling the atom number and temperature inside the magnetic trap during evaporative cooling I demonstrate a simple approach to determining a cooling path that reaches the transition temperature. By making use of the condensates produced under these non-optimized conditions I determine the heating rate of the condensate in the TOP trap to be 300 nK/s. I further use the condensates to make a more precise measurement of the TOP trap bias field. I improve upon the conventional evaporation path used in TOP trap experiments by introducing and optimizing additional bias field compression stages in between RF evaporation ramps. I demonstrate how, by adding these additional stages, the system is capable of reaching the BEC phase transition with a final atom number of 2× 105. In contrast, RF evaporation after only a single bias field ramp has yielded condensates with only 30 × 103 atoms.
Gifts of Rights?: A Legal History of Employment Pension Plans in Canada
Keywords: pensions
employment law
labour law
legal history

This thesis explores the role played by law in the current breakdown of the employment pension system, focusing on the legal status of pension plans within the employment relationship, and on the way lawmakers have defined, shaped and enforced employee pension rights. It traces the legal status of employment pensions from their 19th Century characterization as gifts to reward employees for long and faithful service, to their current 21st Century construction as terms of the contract of employment. The thesis argues that Canadian lawmakers within all three legal regimes structuring rights and obligations within the employment relationship – the common law, collective bargaining law and statute law – have contributed significantly to the overall dysfunction of the system by cultivating both substantive and procedural legal rules that locate critical issues concerning the scope, design, durability and distribution of employee pension rights within the control of employers. Predictably, Canadian employers have used that control to shape pension plans to meet their distinct business needs, needs that frequently collide with worker needs and expectations for good pensions. Even in the heyday of the ‘Fordist’ work structures that fostered employment pension plans, the system delivered benefits very unequally, privileging the interest of elite workers who fit the ‘male breadwinner’ mould, and failing to provide adequate and secure pensions for the majority of Canadian workers. Changes in the organization of work in Canada, including trends towards more precarious work, will continue to exacerbate the problems inherent in the system, escalating its distributional inequalities. In the current round of pension law reform, Canada’s policy makers should abandon the effort to repair a system which is flawed at its core, and should instead seek a new foundation for pensions outside the employment relationship, a foundation which will not subordinate the pension interests of workers to the business interests of employers.