VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Soot Formation in Non-premixed Laminar Flames at Subcritical and Supercritical Pressures

An experimental study was conducted using axisymmetric co-flow laminar diffusion flames of methane-air, methane-oxygen and ethylene-air to examine the effect of pressure on soot formation and the structure of the temperature field. A liquid fuel burner was designed and built to observe the sooting behavior of methanol-air and n-heptane-air laminar diffusion flames at elevated pressures up to 50 atm. A non-intrusive, line-of-sight spectral soot emission (SSE) diagnostic technique was used to determine the temperature and the soot volume fraction of methane-air flames up to 60 atm, methane-oxygen flames up to 90 atm and ethylene-air flames up to 35 atm. The physical flame structure of the methane-air and methane-oxygen diffusion flames were characterized over the pressure range of 10 to 100 atm and up to 35 atm for ethylene-air flames. The flame height, marked by the visible soot radiation emission, remained relatively constant for methane-air and ethylene-air flames over their respected pressure ranges, while the visible flame height for the methane-oxygen flames was reduced by over 50 % between 10 and 100 atm. During methane-air experiments, observations of anomalous occurrence of liquid material formation at 60 atm and above were recorded. The maximum conversion of the carbon in the fuel to soot exhibited a strong power-law dependence on pressure. At pressures 10 to 30 atm, the pressure exponent is approximately 0.73 for methane-air flames. At higher pressures, between 30 and 60 atm, the pressure exponent is approximately 0.33. The maximum fuel carbon conversion to soot is 12.6 % at 60 atm. For methane-oxygen flames, the pressure exponent is approximately 1.2 for pressures between 10 and 40 atm. At pressures between 50 and 70 atm, the pressure exponent is about -3.8 and approximately -12 for 70 to 90 atm. The maximum fuel carbon conversion to soot is 2 % at 40 atm. For ethylene-air flames, the pressure exponent is approximately 1.4 between 10 and 30 atm. The maximum carbon conversion to soot is approximately 6.5 % at 30 atm and remained constant at higher pressures.

Keywords: soot formation
high pressure combustion
laminar diffusion flames
Advisor: Gulder, Omer L.
Data Quality By Design: A Goal-oriented Approach

A successful information system is the one that meets its design goals. Expressing these goals and subsequently translating them into a working solution is a major challenge for information systems engineering. This thesis adopts the concepts and techniques from goal-oriented (software) requirements engineering research for conceptual database design, with a focus on data quality issues. Based on a real-world case study, a goal-oriented process is proposed for database requirements analysis and modeling. It spans from analysis of high-level stakeholder goals to detailed design of a conceptual databases schema. This process is then extended specifically for dealing with data quality issues: data of low quality may be detected and corrected by performing various quality assurance activities; to support these activities, the schema needs to be revised by accommodating additional data requirements. The extended process therefore focuses on analyzing and modeling quality assurance data requirements. A quality assurance activity supported by a revised schema may involve manual work, and/or rely on some automatic techniques, which often depend on the specification and enforcement of data quality rules. To address the constraint aspect in conceptual database design, data quality rules are classified according to a number of domain and application independent properties. This classification can be used to guide rule designers and to facilitate building of a rule repository. A quantitative framework is then proposed for measuring and comparing DQ rules according to one of these properties: effectiveness; this framework relies on derivation of formulas that represent the effectiveness of DQ rules under different probabilistic assumptions. A semi-automatic approach is also presented to derive these effectiveness formulas.

Keywords: Data Quality
Database Design
Goal Oriented
Conceptual Modeling
Advisor: Mylopoulos, John
The Global Person: A Political Liberal Approach to International Justice Theory Giving Moral Primacy to the Individual

John Rawls's The Law of Peoples has been criticized for focusing on the interests of peoples rather than individuals and for compromising individuals' fundamental human rights in order to tolerate nonliberal ideas of justice. This dissertation develops a new political liberal approach to international justice theory that responds to these concerns. This approach gives explicit moral primacy to the individual while also upholding the political liberal commitment to toleration. I do this by developing a political conception of the person specifically for international justice theory and a global original position of persons for working out principles of international justice. This involves the specification of an idea of freedom that is not parochially liberal and the development of a new political liberal human rights framework. This dissertation does not offer a defense of political liberalism as the right account of justice; the aim of this work is to consider whether a political liberal theory of international justice is able to give the individual moral primacy and to explore how it might do so.

Keywords: Rawls
international justice
toleration
human rights
Advisor: Bertoldi, Nancy
Organizational Learning From Near Misses in Health Care

How clinicians detect and differentiate near misses from adverse events in health care is poorly understood. This study adopted a constructivist grounded theory approach and utilized document analysis and semi-structured interviews with 24 managers (middle and senior) and clinicians to examine the processes and factors associated with recognizing and recovering and learning from near misses in daily clinical practice. While safety science suggests that near misses are sources of learning to guide improvement efforts, the study identified how clinicians and managers cognitively downgrade and accept near misses as a routine part of daily practice. Such downgrading reduces the visibility of near misses and creates a paradoxical effect of promoting collective vigilance and increased safety while also encouraging violations in clinical practice. Three approaches to correcting and/or learning from near misses emerged: “doing a quick fix,” “going into the black hole,” and “closing off the swiss-cheese holes”; however, minimal organizational learning occurs. From these findings, two key paradoxes that undermine organization-level learning require further attention: (a) near misses are pervasive in everyday practice but many remain undetected and are missed learning opportunities, and (b) collective vigilance serves as both safety net and safety threat. Study findings suggest that organizational efforts are required to determine which near misses need to be reported. Organizations need to shift the culture from one of “doing a quick fix” to one that learns from near misses in daily practice; they should reinforce the benefits and reduce the risks of collective vigilance, and further encourage learning at the clinical microsystem level. Future research is required to provide insight into how individual, social, and organizational factors influence the recognition, recovery, and instructional value of near misses and safety threats in health care organizations’ daily practice.

Keywords: Near Misses
Organizational Learning
Patient Safety
Advisor: Baker, G. Ross
Invariant Procedures for Model Checking, Checking for Prior-Data Conflict and Bayesian Inference

We consider a statistical theory as being invariant when the results of two statisticians' independent data analyses, based upon the same statistical theory and using effectively the same statistical ingredients, are the same. We discuss three aspects of invariant statistical theories. Both model checking and checking for prior-data conflict are assessments of single null hypothesis without any specific alternative hypothesis. Hence, we conduct these assessments using a measure of surprise based on a discrepancy statistic. For the discrete case, it is natural to use the probability of obtaining a data point that is less probable than the observed data. For the continuous case, the natural analog of this is not invariant under equivalent choices of discrepancies. A new method is developed to obtain an invariant assessment. This approach also allows several discrepancies to be combined into one discrepancy via a single P-value. Second, Bayesians developed many noninformative priors that are supposed to contain no information concerning the true parameter value. Any of these are data dependent or improper which can lead to a variety of difficulties. Gelman (2006) introduced the notion of the weak informativity as a comprimise between informative and noninformative priors without a precise definition. We give a precise definition of weak informativity using a measure of prior-data conflict that assesses whether or not a prior places its mass around the parameter values having relatively high likelihood. In particular, we say a prior Pi_2 is weakly informative relative to another prior Pi_1 whenever Pi_2 leads to fewer prior-data conflicts a priori than Pi_1. This leads to a precise quantitative measure of how much less informative a weakly informative prior is. In Bayesian data analysis, highest posterior density inference is a commonly used method. This approach is not invariant to the choice of dominating measure or reparametrizations. We explore properties of relative surprise inferences suggested by Evans (1997). Relative surprise inferences which compare the belief changes from a priori to a posteriori are invariant under reparametrizations. We mainly focus on the connection of relative surprise inferences to classical Bayesian decision theory as well as important optimalities.

Keywords: invariance
P-value
model checking
checking for prior-data conflict
Bayesian inference
relative surprise
Advisor: Evans, Michael
Contemplative Teachers' Practical Knowledge: Towards Holistic Teacher Education

The purpose of this study is to understand the significance of contemplative practice in fostering teachers’ personal practical knowledge. Teachers’ practical knowledge has been valued to make teaching relevant to students’ real life contexts. However, practical knowledge has been considered difficult to teach because of the diversity and dynamism of reality. Based on the conceptualization that teachers’ contemplative practice could support their practical knowledge development, this qualitative study was carried out through a review of the literature and exploration of direct experiences of four teachers who have linked their contemplative practices to their teaching. The literature review informs us that in order to develop teachers’ practical knowledge, attention, a sense of the whole, and a sense of context are critical. In addition, those qualities can be fostered by non-dual knowing or intuitive knowing which can be developed by contemplation, that is, the act of looking at something by paying attention without thinking of anything else and without premises or judgments. The exploration of the participants’ direct experiences shows that their contemplative practices performed a significant role in fostering personal practical knowledge of self, students, environment, subject matter, curriculum, and instruction and in making their teaching relevant to the students’ real lives from a holistic perspective.

Keywords: contemplation
teachers' practical knowledge
Advisor: Miller, John P.
Dancing about Architecture in a Performative Space: Discourse, Ethics and the Practice of Music Education

British singer/songwriter Elvis Costello once said, “Talking about music is like dancing about architecture – it’s a really stupid thing to want to do” (in Brackett, 1995, p. 157). In this thesis I talk not only about music but I also talk about talk about music, perhaps an even stupider thing to want to do. But I do so because recent critical discourses in musicology and music education suggest talk about music is an inherent part of music, such that if we talk about music at all we must additionally talk about talk about music. But in talking about talk about music we are called upon to talk about talk. Consequently this thesis divides into five parts. In Part I I talk about talk with a discussion of performativity. I outline three different conceptions of the performative, showing how ethics inheres in language, with talk about talk necessarily being talk about ethics to some extent. In Part II I talk about talk about music, showing how musicology has attempted to respond to this ethical dimension of talk with a “new” musicology. In Part III I write in a number of different genres, exploring the discursive norms governing genres of writing about music and musicians and how they impact what we take music to be. Thus I write in philosophical, ethnographic, genealogical, narratological, autobiographical and literary forms, concluding that literary writing on music and musicians acts as a meta-discourse on music, bringing multiple different discourses into dialogue within a single unified text. In Part IV I explore the implications of literary writing about music and musicians for the practice of music education with critical readings of four novels, concluding with the recommendation that a “Non-foundational approaches to music education” course be offered as part of music teacher education programs, in addition to the more traditional “Foundational approaches to music education” course. In Part V I provide two annotated bibliographies for teachers interested in teaching such a course and for those who simply wish to further their understanding of music and music education through critical engagement with literary texts about music and musicians.

Keywords: Music
Education
Literature
Philosophy
Performativity
Ethics
Rhetoric
Advisor: Gould, Elizabeth
Role of EphB Family Receptors in Regulating Axon Guidance in the Mammalian Central Nervous System

Neural function depends on precise wiring of axon during development. Previous studies have demonstrated that the erythropoietin producing hepatocellular carcinoma (Eph) family of tyrosine receptor kinases is crucial for the proper development of a number of neural circuits in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). Mice lacking Eph receptors have been shown to exhibit deficits in pathways which include the thalamocortical, callosal, retinal and corticospinal tract. Due to the large number of Eph family members, the relative contribution of each receptor to axon pathfinding and neural function remains elusive. In this thesis, I have addressed the function of EphA4, EphB2 and EphB3 in the regulating the formation of interhemispheric projections within the forebrain and motor axon connections within the spinal cord using EphA4, EphB2 and EphB3and combinatorial null mice. To perform a detailed examination of the process of axon guidance regulated by these receptors within the forebrain, high resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), immunofluorescence and in vivo stereotactic fluorescent labeling were performed. This work resulted in the development and validation of MRI-based analytic tools performed using EphB2 mutants which we have previously shown to exhibit specific morphologic defects in the anterior commissure (AC). Analysis of EphA4 null mice using high resolution MRI revealed for the first time that in addition to errors of midline crossing, loss of EphA4 activity results in a positional reorganization of the rostral AC. Results demonstrate that while EphB2 and A4 each regulate distinct aspects of guidance within ACpp, these receptors also operate cooperatively to control the guidance of axons in the pars anterior of the AC, a pathway not been previously implicated in Eph-mediated guidance. With respect to the spinal cord, mice deficient in EphB2 and EphA4 display prominent axon guidance errors in the medial subsets of the lateral motor column (LMCm); neurons which normally innervate ventral limb musculature. Finally, I have addressed the functional effect which Eph mutants exhibit with respect to motor behavior by examining a detailed set of motor coordination parameters

Keywords: Axon Guidance
Advisor: Henderson, Jeffrey T.
Temporal Dynamics of Heat Pain Sensations

The moment-to-moment fluctuations in pain-evoked sensory and emotional qualities, and how the pain experience differs between sexes are not well understood. Therefore, this thesis sought to 1) characterise the temporal profiles of the most prominent noxious heat-evoked sensations, 2) characterise sex differences in these sensations, 3) evaluate the magnitude of sharp pain quality evoked in hairy and glabrous skin, and 4) determine the role of absolute stimulus temperatures on sex differences in pain adaptation and habituation. A broad-based heat pain model was developed for this study that incorporates a temporally-continuous assessment of multiple sensory and affective pain dimensions, including pain, burning, sharp, stinging, cutting, and annoyance evoked by two types (static, dynamic) of repeated prolonged noxious heat stimuli. The salient hypotheses were: 1) Burning sensations have a different temporal profile compared with sharp and other related qualities, 2) The temporal dynamics of heat pain intensity and annoyance differ between males and females, 3) Sex differences in heat pain are associated with specific pain qualities and specific types of skin, and 4) Moderate-high temperatures induce pain adaptation and habituation in females but not in males. The most prominent findings were 1) sharp, stinging and cutting sensations adapted when stimulus intensity was static, but burning sensations were evoked during static and dynamic stimulus phases, 2) pain and annoyance in women were greater than men during the dynamic phases of the first stimulus but less than men during static stimulus phases and on stimulus repetition, 3) the sex difference in pain adaptation occurred with percept-fixed stimulus intensities and with absolute stimulus temperatures, 4) the sex effects associated with dynamic stimuli occurred in hairy but not glabrous skin. These findings give new insights into the relationships between pain intensity, quality and affect and have strong implications for views on sex differences in pain sensitivity.

Keywords: Pain,
sex differences in pain
pain patterns
temporal summation
psychophysics
tonic pain
burning
adaptation
models
habituation
temporal
heat pain
temperature
pain modulation
glabrous
hairy
analgesia
chronic pain
sex
women
sex differences
sharp
pain mechanisms
a-delta
unmyelinated C fibre
brain
MPQ
pain dimensions
Advisor: Davis, Karen
Ontogeny of Postcranial Robusticity among Holocene Hunter-gatherers of Southernmost Africa

Ontogenetic patterns in postcranial robusticity are analysed in the skeletons of eighty-two juvenile Later Stone Age hunter-gatherers with estimated ages at death ranging from infancy to late adolescence. Robusticity is quantified from cross-sectional geometric properties of diaphyses at sixteen sites throughout the skeleton, using radiography and casting methods. Skeletal growth profiles for strength measures are analysed with locally-weighted regression and additional curve fitting to evaluate developmental trajectories. Ethnographic accounts of infancy and childhood in modern Ju/'hoansi (Khoesan) communities provide a culturally-relevant interpretive framework for evaluating skeletal correlates of behaviour. This research demonstrates that bone strength properties can be functionally linked to behaviour among juveniles toward the reconstruction of patterns of physical activity among prehistoric children. Postcranial strength measures vary predictably with age such that developmental patterns and timing in appositional growth can be assessed reliably. The onset of walking among Later Stone Age juveniles is evident by two years of age from proportional lower to upper limb strength measures. The lower limb continues to adapt to increasing loading demands especially in response to torsional forces, and bending in the medio-lateral plane; biomechanical shape measures illustrate the gradual development of the femoral pilaster. Individual humeral strength is symmetrical with respect to the orientation maximal bending forces experienced throughout development, but the magnitude of the functional adaptive response is greater, on average, in the right limb with more than 70% of the sample over the age of six displaying right-side dominance. Humeral asymmetry and side dominance does not emerge until late childhood, and the majority of arm strength is accrued during adolescence, relative to the sex-combined mean values for Later Stone Age adults. Evidence for sexual dimorphism in upper limb properties is evident by late adolescence whereas sex-based patterns of mobility reflected in lower limb strength have yet to emerge. These results illustrate the developmental patterns that underlie postcranial markers of subsistence activities in Later Stone Age hunter-gatherers.

Keywords: growth
hunter-gatherer
biomechanics
southern Africa
childhood
physical activity
bone mass
ontogeny
Advisor: Pfeiffer, Susan
An Economic Evaluation of Teratology Information Services

BACKGROUND: Teratology Information Services (TIS) educate the public and health professionals via telephone regarding the safety of drugs and other exposures during pregnancy and lactation. Currently TIS consultations are free, but funding is eroding. A cost-benefit analysis may inform resource allocation. It was hypothesized that an individual TIS consultation regarding anti-depressant use during pregnancy provides a positive net benefit compared to a family doctor (FD) consultation. METHODS: A survey of international TIS was conducted to gauge TIS costs. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was designed to assess preferences and willingness-to-pay (WTP, an estimate of benefit) for teratology counseling. DCE respondents (local community volunteers) chose between potential counseling services following an anti-depressant exposure during pregnancy. Services were described by five service attributes and one cost attribute, which were generated in focus groups. Preferences and WTP were estimated using logit regression. Incremental benefits and costs of counseling by TIS and FD were compared in a probabilistic sensitivity analysis to obtain the incremental net benefit from both a societal (productivity costs included) and health system perspective. The FD consultation was costed through OHIP billing codes. The TIS consultation was micro-costed. RESULTS: Eighteen TIS in North America and 16 international TIS completed the survey. Most TIS are small (median two employees, median budget US$69,000). The DCE had 175 respondents. The most important attribute of counseling was receiving very helpful information; information delivery methods were less important. WTP for the TIS scenario was CDN$124 (SD $12); WTP for the FD scenario was CDN$79 (SD $8). Service costs were similar for TIS and FD (approximately $32/consultation); FD had higher productivity costs. Incremental TIS benefits were likely to outweigh costs under both the societal and health system perspectives (probability 99% and 97% respectively). CONCLUSIONS: An economic evaluation of a program that delivers pregnancy health information via telephone required a novel approach. While there are some methodological challenges to valuing benefits through willingness-to-pay, it may be appropriate for valuing counseling. TIS should emphasize their ability to provide high quality information. The benefits of an individual TIS consultation on anti-depressant use during pregnancy are likely greater than the costs.

Keywords: Health Economics
Pregnancy
Teratology
Advisor: Ungar, Wendy Joan