VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Extending hydroecological simulation models from local to regional scales

Upscaling of hydro-ecological simulation models from local to regional scales has been poorly understood. Five scaling effects were investigated using the Regional Hydro-Ecological Simulation System (RHESSys): changing the resolution of the input data, change of the source of input data, expanding the regional extent of the study area, choosing the method of aggregation and selecting the modelling resolution. The study area included a set of nested drainage basins within the South Platte River Basin in Colorado: the subalpine Loch Vale watershed at 7 km2, the Big Thompson in Rocky Mountain National Park at 355 km2 and the South Platte itself at 63,000 km2. Resolution changes in the input data had large effects on the model outputs of outflow as a result of sensitivity to TopModel, the subsurface hydrology model within RHESSys. Changing the source of the data showed small changes resulting from the elevation data but large effects on simulated net canopy photosynthesis as a result of changes to lifeform classification and differences in the leaf area index. Expanding the regional extent exposed model assumptions about the underlying stationarity of the meteorological fields, particularly precipitation. Changing the modelling resolution and the method of aggregation coincides with the modifiable areal unit problem. Differences in model output between methods of aggregation were distinguished by grid-based and hillslope-based methods. Modelling resolution changes showed consistent trends among the four aggregation methods. Upscaling hydro-ecological models is not a simple procedure as every step in the upscaling process causes some change in the model output. These changes are most commonly a result of the model stepping beyond some boundary beyond which the variables are no longer within stationary domains.
Influence of expanded metal screen cross-sectional coverage of a wind tunnel on downstream turbulent flow

A numerical and experimental study of turbulent flow through and around expanded metal screens partially covering the cross-section of a low turbulence wind tunnel was accomplished. Expanded metal screens are used within pulverized coal-fired utility boilers to counteract the erosive action of fly-ash particles by reducing excessive particle-laden flue-gas velocities and by redistributing the fly-ash particle concentration. Three screen types at three screen heights were studied. Higher cross-sectional coverage resulted in higher pressure drops, flow deflection, and velocities downstream of the screens. Higher screen solidity ratios resulted in higher pressure drops, velocity reduction by screens, velocity acceleration above the screens, and turbulence generation. Plane turbulent mixing layers were produced by the shearing action of the screens' upper edge, resulting in increased turbulence generation and pressure loss. FLUENT was used to numerically simulate the screens. Numerical models predicted the flow field downstream of the screens successfully.
Sequential scouring, alternating patterns of erosion and deposition, laboratory experiments and mathematical modelling

Erosion and deposition by flowing water commonly produce patterns of soil type, topography and vegetation. Sometimes they produce distinctive, spatial patterns whereby erosion and deposition alternate downslope. These alternating patterns are common in arid and semi-arid regions on gentle slopes with low rainfall amounts and are typically associated with banded vegetation. Scour and fill processes in natural alluvial rivers commonly produce riffle-pool sequences. A similar, but smaller-scale, pattern of erosion and deposition was produced by this study--sequential scouring. Sequential scouring is best described as series of scour chutes separated by deposition zones. These patterns of scour and deposition exhibit quasi-periodic behaviour and have 2 to 6 m distances between successive deposition zones. Scour chutes are small erosional channels which are not deeply incised, are not associated with headcuts and have non-vertical sidewalls. Deposition zones are lobate deposits where the thickest portion of the deposit occurs near the head of the deposit. Scour chutes are generally 5-10 cm wide and less than 1 cm deep, while deposition zones are between 20-50 cm wide. The purpose of this research was to: (1) produce sequential scouring in the laboratory; (2) determine the relationship between initial microtopography and the initiation of scour and deposition; (3) investigate the downslope sediment sorting associated with sequential scouring; (4) determine the optimal conditions for the occurrence of sequential scouring; (5) determine the interactions between scour and deposition; and (6) produce a one-dimensional mathematical model for simulating sequential scouring. The initiation of sequential scouring was strongly influenced by local convexities and concavities in the initial surface. Through time, deposition zones became dominated by coarser soil material, while scour chutes were typified by finer sediments. The variations in surface material altered downslope surface roughness and flow conditions. Strong positive feedback mechanisms developed which caused downslope variations in water and sediment fluxes. The interactions between scour and deposition produced a system which varied spatially and temporally. The mathematical model adequately simulated the initiation and development of sequential scouring as it reproduced the quasi-periodic behaviour, positive feedbacks and interactions between scour and deposition associated with sequential scouring.
Line of desire, the body and the spirit in the pre-erotic texts of Christoph Martin Wieland

The dissertation analyses Wieland's treatment of the body-spirit dichotomy in a series of texts that spans the author's pre-erotic period and concludes on the threshold to the most significant intellectual repositioning of his literary career. My readings are geared towards differentiation of the individual texts around a common constellation of problems. I interpret Wieland's "great transformation" from seraphism to eroticism as a series of shifts and readjustments organized thematically around changing approaches to the body-spirit dichotomy. Each text employs a different strategy and arrives at a different result, thus maintaining its unique configuration. Throughout, however, central issues such as "man's" position in the Chain of Being and the imperative of moral education are conceptualized in terms of this dichotomy. The concept of desire cuts a path through Wieland's pre-erotic thematizations of sexual need. The "line of desire"--the formative "line of conflict" in Wieland's oeuvre--is a cut-fine running through the moral universe. In these texts, the attempts to extricate the "good self" from the labyrinths of worldly love, to move beyond a fundamental body-spirit division and to restore confidence in universal harmony on a higher, more spiritual level ultimately prove insufficient. Changing strategies are indicative of a losing battle against the incursion of doubt. The speaking subject finally abandons totalizing systems of belief. As a series, the texts document the emergence of subjective consciousness in the awareness of the unresolvable division of body and spirit. Of the seven texts presented, one, 'Araspes', occupies the central position in the dissertation. A dramatic experiment that represents the split of a model character into "two entirely different souls," ' Araspes' documents the emergence of "subjectivity in division" and throws previous notions of writing and belief into question. I organize the analysis around it. The first three texts, pietistic and Platonic literary-moral tracts, are interpreted as precursors. The last three, a heroic epic and two martyr tragedies, are read as attempts to restore images of moral order. While the attempts fail in this purpose, they prepare the way for the representation of divided, post-belief existence.
Comparing models of health care reform, internal markets and managed competition

This dissertation compares managed competition and internal market reform as proposed to be applied in the U.K., New Zealand, the Netherlands, and the U.S. The goal is to determine which model is likely to most efficiently ensure access for all citizens to a comprehensive range of health services. I conclude that the managed competition model is to be preferred as it harnesses both market and regulatory mechanisms to create conditions for optimal decision-making. The model also promises greater flexibility in responding to different and dynamic health service markets. The problems with the managed competition model are the difficulty of ensuring that private insurers compete on price and quality dimensions rather than on risk avoidance ("cream skimming") and the existence of multiple purchasers within a system which may increase transactions costs. An internal market relies on monopsony government-appointed purchasers so as to avoid problems of cream skimming and transactions costs; however, these equally become problems in an internal market as government purchasers move to contract on a capitation basis with small groups of providers offering managed care. Internal market reform focuses on a "purchaser-provider split" requiring public and private providers to compete for supply contracts with government-appointed authorities. The key concern with the internal market model is the lack of attention paid to the incentives operating upon these authorities. Moreover, in mandating contracting-out the model makes no allowances for the different characteristics of health service markets. In all health care systems it is essential to design governance mechanisms so that decision-makers have the incentives, skills, and resources necessary to make decisions that, over time, strikes the right balance between patients' needs and societal interest and between equity and efficiency. Neither model addresses governance issues sufficiently. However, the managed competition model offers the promise of tailoring market (exit), political (voice) and regulatory mechanisms to create the optimal mix of incentives. Although preferable in theory, the managed competition model has never been fully implemented in practice. Its complexity means there is a danger of piece-meal implementation which may result in an inferior alternative institutional arrangement to the status quo in any particular health care system.
Aggregate System Analysis for Prediction of Tardiness and Mixed Zones of Continuous Casting with Fuzzy Methodology

This thesis presents an aggregate system analysis with fuzzy methodology for interpretation, diagnosis and prediction of the behavior of the complex systems. The proposed systematic fuzzy modeling has three significant characteristics: (a) an improved fuzzy clustering approach with covariance-norm matrix, (b) an improved strategy for input variable selection and assignment of input-output membership functions, and (c) an appropriate parametrized reasoning mechanism. Initially, we surveyed the literature on fuzzy system modeling and discussed different approaches to fuzzy cluster analysis. Some of these procedures revealed shortcomings in with real-world data. Having developed the proposed model and its related algorithms, we tested it on four sets of data from real-world case studies. We found our approach better suited the real-world problems, including the interactions and correlations among complex sets of data and variables. It also presented a suitable strategy for determining the number of clusters and the degree of fuzziness of the system. We then introduced the index and methodology for significant input selection and assignment of input membership functions and considered possible correlations between input variables, using a Mahalanobis distance measure. The parametrized inference mechanism determined the actual parameters of the system based on the data. We tuned the input-output membership functions through a supervised-learning procedure to reduce the system's error. The proposed fuzzy methodology then was applied for system analysis, diagnosis and prediction of three complex problems in continuous casting: tardiness, mixed-zone effects, and total costs of tardiness and mixed zones. In each case, we compared the results with those of previous fuzzy models with identity-norm matrices and Euclidean distance measures and with a classical multiple-regression model. The results show that the proposed fuzzy methodology is superior with respect to identifying the critical rules, critical variables, and error minimization.
A Catholic administrator's narrative of her spiritual education

In this autobiographical narrative thesis I seek to understand the awakening of my personal spirituality as it unfolds within the institutional authority structures in which I have lived and worked in a Roman Catholic school system in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The thesis traces my developing spirituality from my childhood to the completion of the thesis and follows a narrative thread of relationship to authority. The chapters are linked by a structural metaphor and move through a discussion of narrative theory, provincial narrative history, early transcendent images of God, cocreativity in the workplace, interpretation of the authority issues in the educational political turmoil in Newfoundland, synthesis of spiritual meaning and a narrative of the research process itself. The thesis employs a narrative methodology and a reflective consideration of stories of experience to identify the central dialectics operant in my life: the tension between masculine and feminine ways of knowing and being, the moral authority underlying sacred and secular values in education, the interplay between justice and care in moral reasoning, the shifting balance between external authority and internal autonomy. The field texts considered include personal journals, papers, poetry, interview transcripts, provincial government reform documents and local newspaper reports. In exploring the tensions in these dialectics, important insights unfolded. Learning occurred as reflection on the stories enabled me to tell new stories about the tensions within dialectics, retellings that restored continuity to my personal narrative. One of my most important learnings was that my development of self was moderated by my objectification of authority figures in I-It relationship and it was not until I experienced an I-Thou relationship with authority that I could claim an inner personal authority that strengthened my spiritual being and sense of self. In so doing, the thesis process inspired an awakening of a new personal spiritual consciousness, one that embraces both the convergences and the wholeness of the dialectics from which it emerged, and one that is beginning to comprehend the interrelatedness of spirituality and story.
The effects of manipulation of pitch distributional properties of melodies on listeners' perceptions of tonality

The role of pitch distributional information in listeners perception of tonality in algorithmically composed melodies was investigated. In a probe-tone study, listeners heard random orderings of the notes of the chromatic scale in which the durations of the notes were systematically manipulated so as to express different degrees of tonal structure (tonal magnitude). It was found that listeners only perceive tonality in melodies at certain levels of tonal magnitude, and when the pattern of note durations matches a hierarchical representation of tonal structure. It was also found that the tonal magnitudes of Bach fugues corresponds to the tonal magnitude required for listeners' perception of tonality in the algorithmically composed melodies. The results are discussed in terms of a process of matching pitch distributional information to cognitive representations of tonal structure.
Anti-bias education in early childhood, preparing teachers for diversity

In response to the changing demographics of Canadian society, this thesis proposes that anti-bias education is a key to working with young children and their families to respect and recognize the validity of ethnocultural diversity, and to nurture cross-cultural awareness and understanding. Using qualitative methodology integrating a critical perspective, the study collected data on Early Childhood teacher preparation programs across Ontario to determine what strategies were in place to prepare teachers for working with diversity. Comprehensive data was gathered using a triangulation of interviews, document analysis and focus groups. A content analysis of the documents and the transcripts raised several themes which were discussed in the context of a wide ranging literature review. Verbatim comments from the transcripts give voice to the participants. The findings suggested that while efforts were being made to prepare teachers for diversity there were many barriers to overcome. The thesis concludes with a model for incorporating diversity content into early childhood teacher preparation programs and offers recommendations for implementation.
The source of colour in the Bonneterre Dolostone, Viburnum Trend, southeast Missouri, a fluid inclusion study of the drusy quartz of the Potosi Dolostone, southeast Missouri

This thesis is divided into two parts. In the first part the source of the brown colour of the Bonneterre Dolostone in Southeast Missouri was investigated because of its possible connection to the ore forming processes in the Viburnum Trend. The results were firmly inconclusive. In the second part, fluid inclusions in the drusy quartz of the Potosi Formation, which lies stratigraphically above the Viburnum Trend, were examined in order to investigate a possible connection between deposition of the quartz and mineralizing fluids from the Viburnum Trend. The Mississippi Valley-Type (MVT) ore forming fluids of the Viburnum Trend and the mineralizing fluids of the Bante District are lower temperature and much more saline than the fluids from the quartz inclusions of this study. Therefore, if this area is an exit path for spent MVT fluids migrating north from the Viburnum Trend, they did not precipitate the drusy quartz in the Potosi Formation.
Academic Chairs' Perceptions of Departmental Cultures, an Exploratory Study

To explore how academic department chairs' perceive the culture of their department, five department chairs at the University of Toronto were interviewed. The semi-structured interview instrument included questions about departmental goals, traditions, values and orientation practices. The chairs' responses were analyzed and presented in individual interview summaries. This study identified that chairs often interpret department culture in terms of the faculty members, research activities and traditional academic rituals. Several implications for future research on the role of the chairs and departmental culture are discussed.
Key optimization issues for the design of fuzzy-inference system

The growing trend towards singleton chip fuzzy-inference systems poses the challenge and requirement of increasing information and decreasing the size of fuzzification, rule base, reasoning and defuzzification function blocks, without sacrificing inference rate and resolution. To meet this challenge, in this thesis we propose a new design for an algorithmic fuzzy-inference system, using digital memorization of operational results. This approach is taken to complement the more conventional arithmetic inference approach. This thesis proposes a new fuzzy-inference algorithm called the "Interval-Valued Representation and Reasoning method" (IVRR), and two optimization algorithms called the "Least Rule Base" and the "Operational Simplification of the Defuzzification". The Least Rule Base shows a redundant rule base that can be greatly reduced without any loss of information for the modified IVRR system, while in turn saving considerable chip area. The Operational Simplification of Defuzzification solves the problem of the operation complexity. With these three algorithms the design and simulation of binary fuzzy-inference systems are explored. A high performance digital fuzzy-inference system based on the Interval-Valued Representation and Reasoning method of fuzzy-inference can be developed with a capability of digital memorization, to record operational results while applying the Least Rule Base and the Operational Simplification of the Defuzzification algorithms. This fuzzy-inference method and the optimization algorithms are applied to an Inventory Capacity Planning System (ICPS) [Tûrks¸en and Berg, 1991]. The percentage of rule reduction is about 82%, the reduction of memorization bits of defuzzification is about 84% and the reduction of chip area is about 91.4% for the ICPS.
A real-time implementation of a neural-network controller for industrial robotics

This thesis outlines the development and implementation of a real-time neural network in a commercial robot controller. The research is based on the 'modular' MOVE neural network architecture (Graham & D'Eleuterio 1990), and the underlying Cerebellar Model Arithmetic Controller (Albus 1971). The neural network has been implemented on the CRS Robotics C500 Controller for operation of a 6-degree-of-freedom CRS A465 robot. Rather than replacing the standard independent-joint, fixed-gain PID control algorithm, the neural network augments and enhances the existing equipment. All six joints are controlled by the neural network. It has been demonstrated that significant improvements in tracking errors can be made by the additional neural network. Tests have shown that RMS joint position errors, as well as peak joint position errors, can be reduced by 30%-90% compared to the baseline controller. Although velocity RMS errors are generally reduced by up to 30%, high frequency oscillations around the commanded signals sometimes occur, leading to a larger overall velocity RMS error. Before details of the implementation are given, a neural network foundation is outlined. This review introduces both the concept of computations in neural networks, as well as their applicability to real-time control. The neural-network controller architectures are introduced. All steps leading to the implementation on the C500 Controller are detailed. These are: the development of the neural-network controller architecture on a simulation model of a planar two-degree-of-freedom manipulator, the development of the parallel distributed processing model of the neural-network controller, and its implementation on the 'Radius' testbed, and finally, the implementation on the commercial robot controller. It is hoped that this thesis increases industry awareness of the benefits that a neural network enhanced controller can bring to existing applications. Neural networks are ready for commercialization in the real-time robot control environment of industrial automation.