bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Design and Implementation of a Framework for Multi-Cloud Service Broker
Authors: Ullah Md Ahsan
Published: May 2021

Cloud service broker (CSB) as an emerging technology intermediates heterogeneous multiple cloud services for both the providers and consumers. Recently, Cloud computing & mobile cloud computing applications (MCA) have gained an enormous popularity, which has led to an increasing need for the development of platform independent Middleware/CSB to support all types of cloud service consumer applications including x86*x64 based standard OS & ARM based mobile applications, web browsers, etc. Developing Platform Independent Hybrid CSB, however, is not an easy task. Developers have to deal with difficulties inherent from the different cloud controllers, cloud service providers environments, clients’ application types, network connection types (wired, wireless), GPS (Global Positioning Systems) information of cloud resources and clients’ etc.
In this thesis, the proposed design of a middleware/CSB that abstracts the real-time resources of various clouds (private, public, home, Local) and stores the resources in its own Database. It will also store clients requests then analyzes the request to find the nearest available servers which is running the appropriate applications. Then the CSB will forward the destination servers information to the clients. Thesis goal is to achieve context awareness, location awareness, platform independence, portability, efficiency, and usability. Portability is achieved by following the J2ME platform specifications. The middleware has been implemented and tested on a real time Openstack cloud using by our newly designed Android Clients and platform independent Mozilla Firefox browser. The performance measurements of the middleware show that it achieves its efficiency requirements. Furthermore, the middleware’s database can be used for resource algorithm, pattern analysis, and for future requirements.
Predictive control of multilevel converters for megawatt wind energy conversion systems
Authors: Yaramasu Venkata Narasimha Rao
Published: May 2021

This dissertation proposes two novel medium voltage (MV) multilevel converter configurations
for use with permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) based megawatt
(MW) wind energy conversion systems (WECS). The classical control techniques, based on
linear PI regulators and low band-width modulation, present several technical issues during
lower switching frequency operation. To overcome these issues, a high performance finite
control-set model predictive control (FCS-MPC) strategy is proposed to control the power
converters employed in the MW-PMSG-WECS.

The proposed three-level and four-level converters combine the advantages of proven wind
turbine technologies, such as low-cost generator-side passive converters, and efficient gridside
multilevel converters. The intermediate dc-dc multilevel converters ensure balancing
of the capacitor voltages during all operating conditions. With this feature, the grid-side
multilevel converters produce better grid current waveforms compared to the back-to-back
connected converters.

A generalized approach for the predictive control of an n-level diode-clamped converter
was investigated. The FCS-MPC strategy for current control and decoupled active/reactive
power regulation of grid-connected multilevel converters was also analyzed. The major WECS requirements such as maximum power point tracking, balancing of dc-link capacitor
voltages, switching frequency minimization, common-mode voltage mitigation, regulation
of net dc-bus voltage, and grid reactive power control have been modeled in terms of
power converter switching states. These control objectives have been accomplished during
each sampling interval by selecting the switching states which minimize the generator- and
grid-side cost functions.

Issues related to the weighting factors selection, control delay compensation, accurate
extrapolation of references, control of variable switching frequency nature, prediction of
variables over two samples with reduced computational burden, and robustness analysis, are
also addressed in this dissertation.

To keep the dc-bus voltage constant during low voltage ride-through operation, predictive
control scheme is proposed for the power converters while storing surplus energy in the
turbine-generator rotor inertia. The generation and exchange of reference control variables
during symmetrical grid voltage dips is suggested to meet the grid code requirements. The
proposed solution is efficient as no energy is dissipated in the dc-link crowbar.

The simulation and experimental results validate the proposed MV converters and predictive
control schemes.
Article or advertisement? How legacy and new media are blurring lines and creating new hybrid content through native advertising
Authors: Fernandez-Blance Katherine
Published: May 2021

This Master of Professional Communication Major Research Paper (MRP), a pilot study, examines how native advertising is used by new and legacy media publications in an effort to determine whether the lines between advertisement and editorial content have been blurred. The literature reviewed outlines the creation of added-value content through framing, recognition of persuasion attempts and the creation of synergy through contextual similarity. Within this MRP, a qualitative content analysis was conducted on 5 samples of native advertising from legacy publication The New York Times and 5 samples from new media publication BuzzFeed within the 2015 calendar year. The results of the content analysis have indicated that through framing, persuasion and contextual similarity, the lines between advertisement and editorial content in both publications appear to have softened.
Investigating the mechanical behaviour and damage response of flax fibres hybridized with aramids
Authors: Sarwar Ahmed
Published: May 2021

Natural fibers are replacing traditional materials in many industrial applications, though, their use is limited due to their high moisture uptake and complex structure. This study aims at characterizing and analyzing the mechanical and damage response of a hybrid Woven Kevlar/Flax/Epoxy composites in a sandwich structure consisting of a 12 ply Flax core and
2-layer Kevlar skin. Three ply orientations for the flax core([0],[0/90],[§45]), were manufactured. To evaluate the mechanical properties of the hybrid composites, tensile, compressive, flexural and torsional loading tests were performed. Fractured regions were analyzed using optical microscopy to evaluate fracture mechanics. Test specimens were subjected to load unload sequences at progressively increasing loads until failure to evaluate damage response. SEM analysis was performed to characterize dominant damage mechanisms. Reported data shows that hybridization offers significant improvements in mechanical performance and noticeable reductions in damage accumulation, thus, can be further implemented into the industry for general engineering applications.
Retrofitting Obsolete Railroad Infrastructure
Authors: Ardeleanu Corina
Published: May 2021

This thesis will explore the development and design opportunities related to the retrofitting of abandoned railroad corridors in post industrial cities. These lines of infrastructure will be viewed as the lifelines of the city whereby, the ramifications of main transportation arteries will impact the urban network through connectivity and the creation of public open space. This thesis will look at obsolete public railroad infrastructure, as an important fragment of the collective memory of a post-industrial city that can be reactivated to connect back into the transportation urban network. These structures will be identified as landmarks that must be preserved and incorporated into public space and amenity. The reestablishment of the railroad in this context will result in the connection of the contemporary to its past, creating more meaningful and resonant spaces. These transportation corridors will be addressed as part of expanding ecological and man-made systems, thus becoming lifelines of the city, expanding their arteries to feed life into the urban fabric. The natural areas affected by these railroads will be treated as the lungs of the city and made more accessible to the public in order to raise ecological awareness. The railroad thus creates permeability, linking urban and natural areas and reviving its former function of connectivity by re-stitching the urban fabric.
Effects of Within-Modal Congruency, Cross-Modal Congruency, and Temporal Asynchrony on the Perception of Perceived Audio-Visual Distance
Authors: Wilbiks Jonathan Michael Paul
Published: May 2021

When making decisions as to whether or not to bind auditory and visual information, temporal, spatial and congruency factors all contribute to the acceptance or rejection of multi-modal unity. While many of these factors have been studied in isolation, it is important to examine how they interact in a dynamic setting, in addition to evaluating ideas about the intrinsic relation between audition and the processing of time, and vision and the processing of space. Four experiments are presented, placing auditory and visual stimuli in a competitive binding scenario, to compare the effects of temporal and spatial factors both within and between modalities. Results support the dominance of auditory factors in temporal decision-making, and visual factors in spatial decision-making, with additional evidence for the presence of visual looming. With respect to audio-visual binding, the findings indicate precedence for temporal factors, with reliance on congruency factors only when the stimulus pairings are temporally ambiguous.
And ya don’t stop: investigating race, space and meaning in Toronto’s queer party ‘Yes Yes Y’all’
Authors: Gilbert Trudie Jane
Published: May 2021

This Major Research Paper (MRP) is a case study of the queer hip hop and dancehall
party Yes Yes Y’all (YYY). This MRP seeks to challenge white, cismale metanarratives
in Toronto’s queer community. This paper employs Critical Race Theory (CRT) and
queer theory as theoretical frameworks. Racialization, racism, homophobia,
homonormativities and homonational rhetoric within queer discourses are
interrogated throughout the analysis. In pursuit of this research, five participants
and two key informants were interviewed. Four emergent themes are explored:
fluid identities, the intersection of race and sexuality, dancing as expression of
sexuality and gender identity, and the transgressive possibilities of YYY.
Fatigue Analysis of Fuel Tank Straps Due to Slosh Loads
Authors: Fereidonni Alireza
Published: May 2021

A great number of investigations on fatigue analysis and liquid sloshing has been carried out in different fields of application such as space vehicles, large ground tanks, cargo ships, and highway truck tankers. A variety of approaches to solve the sloshing problem due to different requirements, tank characteristics, and peculiarities of input disturbance gives different, sometimes contradictory, results which are not directly applied to the car tank system. One of the most important components in the fuel tank system is strap, which has vital role in road safety. Fuel tank strap can be separated due to fatigue during vehicle operation, causing the tank to be unsupported and increasing the risk of fuel leak. Its failure can cause very dangerous accidents. The effect of sloshing load, one of the main applied loads on the tank structure, on life of the strap has not been studied carefully before. This thesis presents the numerical analysis of liquid behaviour in sloshing situation and the fatigue analysis of the fuel tank straps due to slosh loads exerted on the tank walls in an accelerating car. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite element method (FEM) are employed to simulate transient sloshing of fuel inside the tank and find the location of the critical point of crack initiation and predict the life of the fuel tank strap. Using the volume of fluid (VOF) method, a new developed method in CFD, the range of loads on the walls of the fuel tank is determined for the operational conditions that the vehicle experience. An equivalent mechanical model is developed to verify the CFD sloshing simulation result through the normal impact load applied by the effective mass of a pendulum system. The finite element (FE) is further used to create the virtual model of the strap and perform a static analysis. The stresses and strains from the static analysis are then used as input to locate the critical point and predict the life expectancy of the strap under slosh loading.
BirdQuestVR: a cross-platform asymmetric communication game
Authors: Smilovitch Michael
Published: May 2021

BirdQuestVR is a cross-platform asymmetric communication game between one player in Virtual Reality and another on a mobile device. The game explores asymmetric co-operative gaming in a shared physical space, taking the physical surroundings of the VR user into account in its design. Asymmetric games feature different rules, abilities, or objectives for different players, generating unique and nuanced game experiences. Multiplayer asymmetric games in particular have been shown to increase teamwork and a collaborative mindset even after a play session has ended. Asymmetric design is commonplace in both digital and analog games but has yet to see widespread adoption in the emerging Virtual Reality (VR) gaming space. BirdQuestVR seeks to leverage the affordances of current consumer-grade VR headsets to build asymmetric gameplay around communication, embodied performance, and physical humour.

Keywords: Asymmetric, Virtual Reality, Cross-Platform, Social Play, Avatar Embodiment
Age differences in cognitive control of emotional memory: metacognitive aspects and neural correlates
Authors: Gallant Sara Nicole
Published: May 2021

Previous research has identified a divergent trajectory for the aging brain, characterized by declines in cognition and preservation in emotional processing. According to the socioemotional selectivity theory, reduced time horizons in later life cause a motivational shift to prioritize emotional goals, such as positive well-being. In service of these goals, older adults devote more cognitive effort to attend to and remember positive information; however, whether they can exert control over such information once it enters memory is not well understood. The primary aim of this dissertation was thus to examine age-related changes in cognitive control of emotional memory including its underlying metacognitive and neural components. In three experiments, young and older adults completed a cue- or value-based version of the item-directed forgetting task for positive, negative, and neutral words. Results consistently demonstrated that young and older adults could strategically control encoding of emotional information, by prioritizing relevant over irrelevant words in memory. This was evident when encoding was directed by to-be-remembered (TBR) or to-be-forgotten (TBF) cues as well as by numeric points that signaled a gain or loss of value (+10 vs. -10). Extending previous research on metacognition and aging, results indicated age invariance in prospective judgments of learning made during the encoding of TBR and TBF words that varied in emotion. In contrast, age groups differed when retrospectively monitoring the source of words. Whereas young adults’ source monitoring was not influenced by emotion or cues, older adults tended to attribute positive items to sources that were higher in value for memory (TBR or +10 cues), consistent with an age-related bias to prioritize positivity. Finally, age differences in event-related potentials underlying encoding of TBR and TBF words provided evidence that older adults may recruit additional resources in frontal regions of the brain to facilitate task performance. Moreover, in line with behavioural results, the ERP signatures of directed forgetting were not modulated by emotion. Altogether, this dissertation demonstrates that cognitive control over emotional memory is intact in later life; however, it highlights important age differences in the metacognitive and neural correlates of this ability.
The Role of Emulsifiers on the Crystallization of Cocoa Butter and Cocoa Butter-sugar Blends
Authors: Simoes Selvyn
Published: May 2021

The crystallization of cocoa butter and 1:1 cocoa butter-sugar blends containing 2 wt% emulsifier was investigated. The emulsifiers studied were soy lecithin, polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR), citric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides (CITREM) and ammonium phosphatides (YN). Lecithin, CITREM and YN enhanced nucleation and growth events substantially, however, had minimal effects on the form IV-to-V transition and enthalpy. PGPR showed a modest enhancement of crystallization kinetics but promoted the formation of form V polymorph similar to that of canola and castor oil. In the presence of sugar, emulsifiers were no longer able to influence nucleation and growth. Sugar also hindered the form IV-to-V transition in the presence of both emulsifier and oil. Overall, results showed that emulsifiers may be used to tune the isothermal crystallization of cocoa butter, though this depends on the presence of dispersed sugar.
The effects of dietary restraint and portion-control packaging on snack consumption behaviour
Authors: Park Katey Ellen
Published: May 2021

The present study investigated the effects of package size on consumption behaviour when either body image or dietary concerns are activated, in restrained and unrestrained eaters. Portion-control packaging has recently emerged under the assumption that carefully-controlled portion sizes help limit consumption of palatable snacks. While there is reasonably good support for this in most populations, recent findings suggest that portion-control packaging may paradoxically increase consumption for restrained eaters (Coelho Do Vale, Pieters, & Zeelenberg, 2008; Scott et al., 2008). Consistent with prior research, we hypothesized that restrained eaters activated for dieting or body image concerns are more likely to deem larger packaged-sized treats as “unacceptable” and decrease intake. Similarly, activated restrained eaters are more likely to deem smaller packaged-sized treats as “acceptable” and thus paradoxically increase intake. However, the present study did not find support for hypotheses. Theoretical reasons as to why results were not what researchers anticipated are proposed.
The effect of a "real-world" media intervention on body image
Authors: Quigg Stephanie L
Published: May 2021

The present research investigates whether a brief "real world" media intervention -- a short television advertisement -- can be an effective mitigator of the adverse effects of media portrayals of women on viewers' body satisfaction. Two hundred female university students (age 17 to 29, M = 19.54) were randomly assigned to one of two television conditions (music video or control), one to two commercial conditions ("intervention" or control), and completed self-report measures of television behavior, media influence, body satisfaction and mood. Participants who viewed music videos did not report significantly different levels of body dissatisfaction than participants who viewed control television, although results trended in the hypothesized direction. A significant interaction between program and commercial emerged assessing mood as the outcome variable. Participants who viewed the music videos and were not exposed to the intervention commercial reported significantly lower mood than participants in the other three conditions.
Buzz City: Bee-Builder's Toolkit
Authors: Sisourath Ryan
Published: May 2021

Bee populations are directly linked to the sustainability of our environment, as healthy bees are required for viable food production. Habitat loss and fragmentation from rapid urban development are some of the major factors that have led to an alarming decline in recent bee populations. Without bee pollination, our global food supply would diminish immensely leading to shortages and crises that threaten our food security.

This thesis will explore architectural strategies to create dedicated bee habitats within the urban realm. The designs will encompass the crafting of a bee builder’s toolkit, which consist of bee-friendly components that can be adapted to various urban site conditions. It will look at opportunities for integrating bee-friendly habitats within the public sphere. These will create networks of pollination corridors that connect existing fragmented urban green spaces.

This strategy aims to strengthen pollination and pollinator health while stimulating public engagement and awareness of the environment.
Estimates of air pollution mitigation with green roofs using the UFORE model
Authors: Currie Beth Anne
Published: May 2021

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of green roofs on air pollution in urban Toronto. The researchers looked for synergistic effects in air pollution mitigation by manipulating quantities and species of trees and shrubs at grade level and grass on roofs within the study area. The effect of these vegetation manipulations were simulated using the Urban Forest Effects (UFORE) computer model developed by the USDA Forest Service Northeastern Regional Station, Syracuse, New York. Originally UFORE was developed to help forestry managers and researchers quantify urban forest structure and risks based on standard field, meteorological and pollution data.
While UFORE contains four different assessment modules A - D, Module D quantifies the effect of vegetation on air contaminants such as NO₂, SO₂, CO, PM₁₀ and ozone. UFORE also provides data about hourly air contaminant removal rates and it predicts an economic externality value in USD for total air contaminant levels. Results of the study indicate that grass on roofs (green roofs) could play a significant role in air pollution mitigation in an urban neighbourhood. By extension, a 10-20% increase in the surface area dedicated to green roofs on downtown Toronto buildings would improve air quality and quality of life for citizens of Toronto.
The Tea workers
Authors: Das Prerana
Published: May 2021

The region of Darjeeling has been a backdrop for political conflict since its colonization by the British in the 1800s. In the aftermath of the politically-motivated 104-day long citywide shutdown in the summer of 2017, Darjeeling’s tea industry took a significant hit. The forced closure of the plantations meant that workers were unable to earn wages, in spite of often being at the frontlines of the Gorkhaland movement protests. This paper contextualizes the research that went into the short film The Tea Workers. In particular, it explores the complexity of the female experience of labour on and around tea plantations, as well as the ways in which labour and gender hierarchies intersect to uniquely affect women labourers in the politicized landscape of tea production.
A Comparative Study Of The Mechanical Performace of PLA Specimens Manufactured Using Compression Molding and 3D Printing
Authors: Chandran Vikas
Published: May 2021

Compression molding is known to be one of the most cost-effective method to manufacture Polymer-based composite parts including pure thermoplastics, e.g. PolyLactic Acid (PLA). One of the current research questions is how a new innovative technology like 3D printing compares to compression molding in terms of mechanical performance of final parts.
This study aims at comparing the mechanical performance of dog-bone tensile coupons manufacturing using compression molding and 3D printing. The compression molding manufacturing process parameters are optimized to obtain maximum mechanical properties. This study investigates the effect of each parameter, including processing temperature, processing pressure, and dwell times on tensile modulus and strength of a pure PLA part coupon per ASTM D638-14. The entire study is conducted using a total of 54 specimens manufactured in a set of 9 batches for various combination of process parameters per Design Of Experiment (DOE). Optimum process parameters for PLA 3D printing have been obtained from previous studies and are used for comparison purposes. A comparison of mechanical performance of ASTM D638 coupons manufactured using optimum compression molding and 3D printing techniques is performed.
Models And Mining Of On-Line Social Networks
Authors: Tian Yanhua
Published: May 2021

Power law degree distribution, the small world property, and bad spectral expansion are three of the most important properties of On-line Social Networks (OSNs). We sampled YouTube and Wikipedia to investigate OSNs. Our simulation and computational results support the conclusion that OSNs follow a power law degree distribution, have the small world property, and bad spectral expansion.

We calculated the diameters and spectral gaps of OSNs samples, and compared these to graphs generated by the GEO-P model. Our simulation results support the Logarithmic Dimension Hypothesis, which conjectures that the dimension of OSNs is m = [log N].

We introduced six GEO-P type models. We ran simulations of these GEO-P-type models, and compared the simulated graphs with real OSN data. Our simulation results suggest that, except for the GEO-P (GnpDeg) model, all our models generate graphs with power law degree distributions, the small world property, and bad spectral expansion.
Disrupting privatization: Enhancing Solo-cultural Interaction
Authors: Man Adrain
Published: May 2021

As a product of rapid urbanization, residential developments are continuously proliferating in both density and scale. Driven by a capitalistic regime, Toronto's current high-density residential design is becoming homogenous in spatial planning and generating undistinctive spaces. With the existing programmatic configuration are internally and privately focused, these spaces lack the opportunity for community development and divers recreational amenities, transforming the dwelling to another urban Junkspace (non-place). By creating hybridized spaces that bridge private and public zones, this thesis proposes to generate spontaneous social activities and interactions within interstitial spaces. The new composed areas provide a dynamic living environment with direct access to shared recreational activities, integrated outdoor spaces, and creative community spaces, attracting an influx of users from the surrounding neighbourhood. Using strategies of shifting narratives, interstitial spaces, ambiguous voids, and integrated landscapes, the hybrid spaces reinvents the traditional monotony spaces and explores urban pluralism on both community and building level.
Access to Health Care for Precarious Immigration Status Persons: Human First, Status Later
Authors: Naseem Tehmina
Published: May 2021

This research paper seeks to understand the relationship between an individual’s legal status and their access to Canada’s healthcare system. The level of access of non-citizens to health care in Canada is determined by an individual’s immigration status. Refugees, asylum seekers, temporary foreign workers, and permanent residents are four classes of immigrants that have access to specific health care policies depending on their legal status. Refugees and asylum seekers are eligible under the federal government’s Interim Federal Health Care Program (IFHP) which provides them with access – although limited – to healthcare services in Canada. Conversely, there is not a federal or provincial health care policy that legally provides undocumented migrants with a right to access healthcare without any repercussions. The analysis of policies will reveal the current discourse surrounding citizenship status, legality, and human rights, in addition to the role of the state in exercising power over certain bodies.
Where are the children? Deconstructing the Ontario Autism Program
Authors: Atwal Abneet Kaur
Published: May 2021

The Ontario Autism Program (OAP) provides behavioural supports and services to autistic children and youth, and their families. This study applied a critical discourse analysis (CDA) to examine the OAP policy documents using a children’s rights framework. The purpose of the study was to examine how autistic children’s rights are respected in the OAP policy documents. A CDA of the documents led to three key findings: the difference in roles of different social
groups, quantifying and classifying autistic children, and the one size fits all approach in the program. The three themes present in the OAP policy documents are power and dominance, ideologies of childhood, and the medical model. The ways in which children are presented suggests that children’s rights are being neglected. The paper concludes with recommendations for how clinicians can facilitate children’s participation when implementing the program and changes required in the policy documents to incorporate a children’s rights framework.

Keywords: autism, children’s rights, development, medical model, policy, power
Design and evaluation of UAV ground control station by considering human factors standards and guidelines
Authors: Amida Taiwo
Published: May 2021

The majority of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) accidents can be directly related to human error. For this reason, standards and guidelines focusing on human factors have been published by various organizations such as Transport Canada, FAA, EASA, NASA and military agencies. The objective of this thesis is to present a methodology for designing a Ground Control
Station (GCS) using available standards and guidelines for human factors. During the design process, a detailed analysis was performed using human factors methods to ensure all requirements were met; each phase of the design follows the guidelines presented in the compiled human factors standards and guidelines. The GCS interface was developed using
advanced programming techniques and commercial off-the-shelf software. Moreover, an operator workload evaluation was carried out using NASA task load index for validation of design methodology. It was found that the applied methodology not only improved the pilot workload, but also ensured that all user and stakeholders’ requirements are met.
The Social Organization of Labour Rights in Ontario: Governing Migrant Agricultural Workers Through the Agricultural Employees Protection Act
Authors: Raphael Philippe
Published: May 2021

This research study is an introduction to the understanding of how labour rights are socially organized in Ontario. It uses a combined method of Institutional Ethnography and Foucauldian Critical Discourse Analysis to locate the historical, social, economic and political events that shape how the labour rights of migrant workers in the Ontario agricultural industry are governed. Migrant workers in the Ontario agricultural industry are not protected under formal labour relations legislation. Their employment relationship is currently governed through the Agricultural Employees Protection Act (2002) (AEPA). This study examines the legal structures of the AEPA and the provincial parliamentary debates leading to the legislation of Bill 187- The Agricultural Employees Protection Act. This investigation points to the discovery that the AEPA provides no adequate protection to migrant workers and sustains the current practices that exist in Ontario’s agricultural industry.
Cache filtering algorithm for least frequently used data with accurate memory simulation
Authors: Leung Kiu Kwan
Published: May 2021

We propose a cache filtering algorithm to improve processor performance using a small buffer inside the processor and an algorithm to filter least frequently used accesses from Ll and L2 caches. The algorithm uses simple DRAM fast-page accessing mode to identity accesses that are not previously accessed or not frequently used and keep them out of the cache system and store them in small buffer.
We have also added a realistic page interleaved DDR3 memory simulation model to the SimpleScalar simulator. This model supports any processor and memory clock speeds, different sets of memory latencies, various configurations of memory banks and channels.
Results show that the filtering algorithm could improve· performance of some applications compared to the same system that does not use the filtering algorithm
A computer-aided diagnosis system for lung nodule detection in pulmonary CT images based on LS-SVM and wavelet transformation
Authors: Talakoub Omid
Published: May 2021

One of the most important areas of biomedical engineering is medical imaging. Fully automated schemes are currently being explored as Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) systems to provide a second opinion to medical professionals; of these systems, abnormal region detector in medical images is one of the most critical CAD systems in development. The primary motivation in using these systems is due to the fact that reading an enormous number of images is a time-consuming task for the radiologist. This task can be sped up by using a CAD system which highlights abnormal regions of interest. Low false positive rates and high sensitivity are essential requirement[s] of such a system.

The initial requirement of processing any organ is an accurate segmentation of the target of interest in the images. A segmentation method based on the wavelet transformation is proposed which accurately extracts lung regions in the thoracic CT images. After this step, an Aritifical Intelligence system, known as Least Squares Support Vector Machine (LS-SVM), is employed to classify nodules within the regions of interest. It is a well known fact that the lung nodules, except the pleural nodules, are mostly spherical structures whereas other structures including blood vessels are shaped as other structures such as tubular. Therfore, an enhancment filter is developed in which spherical structures are accentuated. Processing three different real databases revealed that the proposed system has reached the objective of a CAD system to provide reliable opinion for the doctors in the diagnosis fashion.
3-D Fibrous Network of TiO2 Nanoparticles: Raman Sensor Development
Authors: Maznichenko Dmitry
Published: May 2021

A 3-D nano-fiber particle network of TiO2 nanoparticles is synthesized by pulsed femtosecond laser irradiation of a pure Ti substrate. This study investigated the properties of the resulting nanostructure for chemical and biomolecular detection by Raman spectroscopy. Controlled tuning of surface roughness, porosity and depth of the 3-D network were found to directly influence Raman detection. The presented findings support a previously unrealized detection capacity by TiO2. Crystal violet was used to test the Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) performance of the developed TiO2 sensor pads. The corresponding Raman enhancement factor was determined to be 1.3x106 which is directly comparable to commercial Ag and Au based Raman substrates. Bisphenol-A and diclofenac sodium salt were introduced into drinking water and tested with various sensor pads to develop a Raman detection map. The results suggest an affinity towards uniform TiO2 3-D nanofibrous networks.
Coordinated Vendor-Buyer Supply Chain Model With Transportation Cost Under Diesel Price Uncertainty
Authors: Pabla Amanpreet Singh
Published: May 2021

This project focuses on supply chain coordination model between vendor and buyer with emphasis on transportation cost. The objective is to minimize the supply chain cost which comprises of order cost, setup cost, vendor holding, buyer holding, shortage cost and finally transportation cost. The model developed in this project determines the optimal order size, number of shipments, and reorder point while simultaneously accounting for the uncertainties in diesel price. Uncertainty in price of diesel is also developed using mean reverting process. To date, the impacts diesel price uncertainty and transportation cost in the supply chain policy is not very well known. This report provides an analysis by altering the multiple variables impacting transportation costs such as the truck type, feature, environmental condition, route, weight and driving style. This analysis demonstrates how changes in truck variables impact the expected total cost thereby making it extremely critical for corporations to mitigate costs strategically.
Feasibility of Establishing an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) Laboratory for the Detection of Dioxins in Economically Marginalized and Developed Countries
Authors: Lee Adrienne K.
Published: May 2021

Finding a low cost and accessible means of detecting for dioxins in contaminated soil is a necessary step to ensure the health and safety of humans and the environment worldwide. Conventional technologies based on mass spectrometry are expensive and inaccessible. A minimally resourced laboratory and the use of ELISA will be discussed as a feasible, accessible, low cost alternative. The correlation between a minimally resourced laboratory (Ryerson University) and a fully resourced laboratory (Ontario Ministry of the Environment) was strong (n=13, r²=0.888, slope=0.87). To demonstrate the functionality of the minimally resourced laboratory, a supplemental site was characterized using ELISA. Results from the Ryerson and OMOE laboratories produced similar dioxin concentrations of undetectable to 120.26pgTEQg⁻¹ and 32.38 to 163.2pgTEQg⁻¹, respectively. This study illustrates an alternative for evaluating contaminated soil that could serve as a technology transfer for marginalized economies, and provide an accessible form of sample analysis in developed countries.
Affective news: a case-study of the work of emotions in news coverage of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti
Authors: Candido Anna
Published: May 2021

The study of affective discourse in the news is critical for understanding how world events become meaningful to audiences, and important in light of the fact that the profession of journalism maintains problematic ideas of the role of emotions in news texts. Within the ideals of journalism are notions that emotional narratives and affective discourses are secondary, or even degrading, to serious news stories. Other journalistic ideals view emotions as a kind of necessary evil to the selling of news. Lastly, in scholarship around the democratic potential of human
interest or soft news stories (typically narrated using emotive language), there is an idea that soft news stories are only meaningful in so far as they act as a gateway to serious news issues. These theories of serious news degrade the role that the affects play in news texts.

This paper suggests that emotions and the deployment of affective discourse in news texts can be understood as meaningful beyond their work in selling news stories or acting as a gateway to serious issues. This paper is interested in the ascension of "serious" news, and the way in which emotion in the news became regarded as trivial and unimportant. More specifically, I examine the division between serious, factual, objective news and dramatic, emotional human-interest stories, and their associated classificatory terms "hard" and "soft" news. This paper attempts to problematize the characterization of serious news as non-emotional, and non-serious news as emotional, by demonstrating how the press's commitment to the public sphere is an affective commitment predicated on the idea of "care." As this paper argues, the press's commitment to the public sphere, though, is vague and ambiguous. The effect of ambiguity around concepts of the public sphere and regarding ideas of care is that the press envisions care in differing ways. The differential alignment of the press with humanitarian goals, thus, works to privilege certain sites and methods of care over others. In this way, news coverage reflects a politics of care that operates through the alignment of public sympathies with pre-existing authorities of aid, relief and assistance. In order to demonstrate the affective work of the press, this paper examines news coverage of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
Computer simulation of developing erosion profiles including interference effects
Authors: Shafiei Nastaran
Published: May 2021

A computer simulation was developed to predict the evolution of abrasive jet machined surfaces in unmasked substrates. Interference effects were included in the model by tracking individual particles and their collisions. The model was capable of investigating the effect of various parameters such as launch frequency, abrasive particle size and material and substrate material on the shape and size of the erosion profile, as a function of time. The model is also able to examine the effect of these parameters and the instantaneous shape of the profile on the particle interference patterns. The model was verified, for the case of a flat non eroding surface, against an existing computer simulation of particle interference effects. The predictions of the simulation were also tested against experimentally measured erosion profiles, with good agreement.
Switch-level dynamic fault modeling for resistive short and open faults in nanometre technologies
Authors: Kunchwar Mayuri
Published: May 2021

Modeling the dynamic behaviour of resistive shorts and opens at switch-level dictates the characterization o enhanced delay attributable to these faults with referenc to the input combinations, fault sites, defect resistance
and CMOS technology variation. Resistive physical failures make the output voltage fluctuate between intermediate ranges by disturbing the propagation time of the logic, without adversely changing the functional output. To determine the impact of logic propagation delay (tp) on the output voltage (Vout) of a gate, a switch-level fault analysis on CMOS primitive gates is executed for CMOS technologies 350 nm, 180 nm, and 90 nm in comparison with nanometre technologies 45 nm and 32 nm.
To understand the nature and effect of actual resistive faults in silicon, static faults in static primitive gates are reviewed after altering the defect resistance. Delay and output voltage changes induced by these variations are determined for CMOS 32 nm technology.
Pricing and risk management under multivariate switching models
Authors: Assadihaghi Atousa
Published: May 2021

The objective of this thesis is to provide a simulations-free approximation to the price of multivariate derivatives and for the calculation of risk measures like Value at Risk (VaR). The first chapters are dedicated to the pricing of multivariate derivatives. In particular we focus on multivariate derivatives under switching regime Markov models. We consider the cases of two and three states of the switching regime Markov model, and derive analytic expressions for the first and second order moments of the occupation times of the continuous-time Markov process. Then we use these expressions to provide approximations for the derivative prices based on Taylor expansions. We compare our closed form approximations with Monte Carlo simulations. In the last chapter we also provide a simulations-free approximation for the VaR under a switching regime model with two states. We compare these VaR estimations with those obtained using Monte Carlo.
Resource-Aware Cooperative Caching on Mobile Ad-hoc Peer to Peer Networks
Authors: Nejad Hoda R.K.
Published: May 2021

With the emergence of wireless devices, service delivery for ad-hoc networks has started to attract a lot of attention recently. Ad-hoc networks provide an attractive solution for networking in the situations where network infrastructure or service subscription is not available. We believe that overlay networks, particularly peer-to-peer (P2P) systems, is a good abstraction for application design and deployment over ad-hoc networks. The principal benefit of this approach is that application states are only maintained by the nodes involved in the application execution and all other nodes only perform networking related functions. On the other hand, data access applications in Ad-hoc networks suffer from restricted resources. In this thesis, we explore how to use Cooperative Caching to improve data access efficiency in Ad-hoc network. We propose a Resource-Aware Cooperative Caching P2P system (RACC) for data access applications in Ad-hoc networks. The objective is to improve data availability by considering energy of each node, demand and supply of network. We evaluated and compared the performance of RACC with Simple Cache, CachePath and CacheData schemes. Our simulation results show that RACC improves the lay of query as well as energy usage of the network as compared to Simple Cache, CachePath and CacheData.
An Examination Of A Brief Intervention Targeting Causal Attributions For Daytime Fatigue
Authors: Harris Andrea L.
Published: May 2021

Research has shown that poor sleepers focus primarily on their sleep as a cause of daytime fatigue rather than the multitude of other possible causes of fatigue. This can create sleep-related anxiety and further perpetuate the insomnia. In order to lessen the increased focus on sleep, the present study investigated whether people could learn to consider other attributions for fatigue via an information-based intervention, and whether this cognitive change would have implications for relevant mood states. Participants were randomized to receive either “causes of fatigue” information (FI), or generic sleep-information (control), and were tested pre- and post-intervention. FI participants were significantly more likely to consider non-sleep-related attributions for fatigue at post-intervention, relative to control participants. There were no significant group differences on relevant mood states. These results demonstrate that attributions or fatigue are amenable to change via an information-based intervention; thus, this research explores one avenue toward refining insomnia treatments.
Investigating the effect of strontium in bone mineral density measurements of trabecular bone mimicking phantoms using quantitative ultrasound
Authors: Rizvi Bisma
Published: May 2021

Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is the current gold standard method used for the diagnosis of osteoporosis. However, it is well-established that the presence of strontium in bone could lead to significant error in measurement of bone mineral density (BMD) and diagnosis of osteoporosis using DXA. The objectives of this study are: (1) to develop novel bone-mimicking phantoms containing different concentrations of strontium, and (2) to investigate the effect of bone strontium content on the BMD measurement using quantitative ultrasound (QUS) technique.
Measurements using the research and clinical QUS systems showed a strong dependency of the BUA (broadband ultrasound attenuation) of the medium with the BMD. Moreover, increasing strontium concentrations in bone phantoms of up to 3 mol% strontium showed no effect on the BUA or the SOS values measured with either system. Therefore, the QUS technique is independent of level of bone strontium of up to 3 mol/mol [Sr/(Sr+Ca)] %.
The impact of an accent: the experiences of international college students from India in the greater Toronto area
Authors: Chevrier Micheline
Published: May 2021

India is one of the world’s largest sources of international students with 553,440 studying abroad globally, its Ministry of External Affairs estimated in late 2017 (Vanderklippe, 2019). Canada has become an increasingly attractive destination for this cohort of international students. With English as the dominant global language for commerce and politics, and the fact that more people now use English as a second language than a first language (Crystal, 2003), these speakers become uniquely positioned in an English-dominated environment such as Canada, due to their accents. This exploratory study investigates the experiences of Indian international students studying at colleges in the Greater Toronto Area (“GTA”) in relation to speaking with a foreign accent. The primary data was collected through five interviews. This study is enlightened by Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of capital, specifically linguistic capital, which is employed in order to make sense of and understand the participants’ experiences across varying social fields.

Keywords: international students; Indian international students; college; Toronto; Canada; foreign accent; perceptions; experiences, cultural capital