bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Whole Building Life Carbon Assessment of an Existing, Retrofit, and New Construction for a Toronto Detached Home Case Study
Authors: Munde Simran
Published: March 2024

This major research project was developed to better understand the whole building life cycle carbon analysis as a comparison between an existing baseline, a retrofit, and new construction of a detached case study home in Toronto. It investigates whether a deep energy retrofit, or new construction leads to lowest lifetime carbon emissions, accounting for both operational, simulated in DesignBuilder and Helioscope, and embodied carbon, calculated in OneClick LCA, over a lifetime of 60 years. A variety of energy saving strategies were applied consistent with leading practice such as air source heat pumps (ASHP), ASHP water heaters, low carbon high thermal resistance constructions, and photovoltaic renewable generation. Two scenarios for converting electricity to carbon emissions were used including marginal, resulting in high emissions, and baseload or average, resulting in low emissions. In all scenarios, both the retrofit and new build significantly reduced the emissions compared to the existing building. Depending on assumptions of carbon intensity of electricity, emissions factors (EFs), and details of specification, the carbon savings for the retrofit ranged from 76% to 98% and ranged from 88% to 97% for the new build. Thus, the retrofit’s carbon emissions are slightly less compared to the newbuild, supporting the time value of carbon ideology. Including renewable energy generation, none of the options resulted in a net-zero carbon status due to the case study urban site limitations. However, through other means of carbon offsetting such as purchasing carbon offsets and purchasing electricity from renewable energy source providers. Using different emission factors creates a large variation in the results and EFs with greater accuracy are required from the industry since the actual EF would be a combination of both baseload and marginal.
Validation of a Process for the Elimination of Naphthenic Acids in Oil Sands Process-affected Water
Authors: Fida Joseph
Published: March 2024

In this work, a comparative study consisting of 44 experiments was conducted in irradiated oil sands process-affected water (OSPW), using two strains of algae, Dunaliella tertiolecta and Spirulina platensis. The performance metrics for the study were based on the algae’s ability to degrade the naphthenic acids (NAs) present in the irradiated OSPW media and their potential to generate biomass. The factors being adjusted in the experiments were the temperature, ranging from 25 C to 32 C, and the light intensity, ranging from 1.65W/L to 3.0W/L. Results showed the viability of both the cyanobacteria Spirulina Platenis, and green alga Dunaliella tertiolecta to grow in irradiated OSPW. In the case of Dunaliella tertiolecta, dry weights of up to 0.114g dry cell weight/L were achieved, with the NA concentrations being reduced by up to 95.7%. In comparison, for Spirulina platensis reductions of only up to 72.3% were observed, however, up to 0.635g dry cell weight/L were generated. The results from this study were interpreted using statistical analysis to determine the significant factors and their impacts on algae growth and reduction of NAs. From this analysis coupled with the results of the NA reduction and biomass generated in the comparative study; Spirulina platensis was selected for a 4L large scale replicate study, under optimal growth conditions. From the study, after 32 days of growth, a dry cell weight of 10.69g/L and a 100% reduction in naphthenic acid concentrations were achieved.
Resource Recovery From Municipal and Industrial Organic Waste: The Effect of Substrate Type on Anaerobic Fermentation, Biological Denitrification, and Anaerobic Digestion
Authors: Mahmoud Ali
Published: March 2024

This study aims to recover volatile fatty acids (VFAs) from the anaerobic fermentation of industrial and municipal waste and investigate the effectiveness of using the produced VFAs as carbon sources for denitrification and as feedstocks for methane production via anaerobic digestion (AD) process. Six different wastes were used in this study, three industrial wastes: bakery processing and kitchen waste (BP+KW), whey powder (WP) and fat, oil, and grease (FOG), and three municipal wastes: food waste (FW), primary sludge (PS), and thickened waste activated sludge (TWAS). The experimental results showed that WP exhibited the maximum VFAs yield of 266 mg COD/ gTCOD added. In the denitrification experiments, all the fermentation filtrates exhibited higher specific denitrification rates (SDNRs) than conventional external carbon sources (i.e., methanol and acetate), with WP filtrate having the highest SDNR of 17.3 mg NOx-N/gVSS/hr. In the AD experiment, BP+KW and WP exhibited the highest methane yields of 354 and 350 mL CH4/ gTCOD added,respectively.
Load Distribution Factors in Straight and Skew Concrete I-Girder Bridges
Authors: Iranmanesh Atefeh
Published: March 2024

Skew bridges in modern highways have become increasingly popular for economic and aesthetic considerations. The current Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code (CHBDC) specifies skew factor equation for shear at the obtuse corner for braced steel I-girder bridges. However, skew factors for concrete I-girder bridges for girder moment and shear at obtuse and acute corners as well as middle supports due to CHBDC truck loading are yet unavailable. Also, CHBDC load distribution factor equations for moment and shear in straight bridges do not include the presence of concrete traffic barriers and intermediate diaphragms as integral parts of highway bridges. Moreover, literature review revealed that CHBDC overestimates the moment and shear at fatigue limit state design of slab-on-girder bridges. Despite the availability of computer software for bridge analysis, designers prefer simplified analysis methods to reduce the time and cost spent in the design. A practical-design-oriented parametric study was conducted, using the finite element modelling to address the shortcomings and gaps found in CHBDC. The first study included the analysis of straight and skew concrete I-girder bridges under dead load, while the second study included the analysis of such bridges under CHBDC truck loading conditions. The third study included the effect of concrete barrier stiffness and concrete intermediate diaphragms on the moment and shear distribution factors for this type of bridge. Different bridge configurations were considered to cover key parameters such as span length, skew angle, number of girders and girder spacing. The obtained results were compared with those available in CHDBC, AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications and previous research related to slab-on-girder bridges. Using the data generated from the parametric study, sets of empirical equations for moment and shear distribution factors for the studied bridge configurations under dead and live load were deduced to design such bridge types more reliably and economically. Results show that inclusion of intermediate diaphragms and concrete barriers built integrally with the deck slab generally affect bridge performance. This conclusion can be used to evaluate existing bridges since any additional girder strength would decide on keeping the bridge in service or address its structural deficiency.
Numerical Study on Bar Slip Effects in Reinforced Concrete Bridge Bents Under Cyclic Loading
Authors: Rezaei Balouchi Moein
Published: March 2024

Assessing the bridge behaviour against cyclic loading after some powerful earthquakes, i.e., 1995 in Kobe, 2010 in Maule, showed thatbridge structures shouldbe designed andconstructed withgood detailing. Technical investigations showed that old bridge bents, i.e., that were designed prior 1980s in North America, are not equipped with appropriate detailing, especially in the beam-column joint. 

The most important factor in maintaining the composite application of reinforced concrete elements is the bond between rebars and surrounding concrete. Rebar slips and bond deterioration in cap beam-column joints in bridge bents, play a significant role on the cyclic behaviour under seismic loads. Previous studies on bridge bents indicated that in old bridge bents, damages initiate in the joint area, as a result of insufficient anchorage length of column longitudinal bars and lack of transverse reinforcement around them. 

Many researchers proposed different retrofitting schemes, such as applying transverse pressure on the joint area. However, to rehabilitate structures, first their as-built behaviour must be assessed. The common approach in assessing responses of older structures (used in present study) is collecting design details of structures, then develop a numerical model to simulate the experimental models, and real scale structures. 

The purpose of this research study is to propose a method in macro modelling to simulate the cyclic behaviour of older bridge bents with joint detailing deficiencies. Moreover, the effect of joint rehabilitation by applying external pressure on joints is investigated. In this case a fibre element, named slip simulator element, is developed in Opensees software. This model will be calibrated with experimental results on ordinary 2-span highway bridge bents which carried out by other researchers. To achieve an accurate macro modelling in Opensees, the input specifications of the macro model is attained from a micro model developed in ABAQUS. 

Comparing analytical results of macro modelling with experimental evidence shows that generally the proposed analytical approach is effective in predicting the cyclic response of both existing and rehabilitated bridge bents. Moreover, the proposed micro numerical modelling to determine inputs for the macro model is a reliable approach and has a good agreement with experimental results.
Investigation of Live Load Moment and Tension Force in Bridge Deck Slab Overhang Due to AASHTO Truck Loading and Transverse Vehicle Impact
Authors: Shaji Chinnu
Published: March 2024

This study investigates the structural response of bridge deck slab overhang in slab-on-girder bridge system based on the 2020 AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications. A parametric study was conducted, using the finite-element method, on the overhang to determine the applied moments and tensile forces due to transverse vehicle collision forces with the barrier. Another parametric study was conducted to determine the applied moments resulting from AASHTO truck loading. The key parameters considered in this study included deck overhang of constant thickness and tapered shape with a span ranging from 1 to 3 m, barrier and overhang length in the direction of traffic ranging from 5 m to 20 m, and concrete traffic barrier geometries, namely: TL-1 through TL-6. The data generated from this study was used to develop design charts to design unstiffened and stiffened deck overhang. Such data can be used further to develop reliable empirical equations for design.
Inverse-analysis of Compressibility Parameters for Fine-grained Soils in GTA
Authors: Ayizula Abulimiti
Published: March 2024

The Finite Element Method (FEM) has been routinely used in geotechnical engineering. However, its realistic simulation ofsoil behavior depends on the accurate model input parameters. This study aims to determine through an inverse analysis on the compressibility of fine-grained soils in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) according to the Hardening Soil Model (HSM). A series of oedometer test results is collected from a local transit project and back analyzed by employing UCODE, auniversal inversemodeling tool,which can adjust model parametersto fit the simulated results with the test values. First, a sensitivity analysis is performed to select the most critical model parameters to simplify the problem. Second, the selected HSM parameters are calibrated by combining UCODE with geotechnical FEM software, PLAXIS. Third, a statistical analysis is conducted on the compressibility parameters according to the soil types. In the end, a series of correlation formulas are derived to estimate the compressibility properties from soil indices.
Joint-free Bridges With High Performance Materials
Authors: Chu Katie
Published: March 2024

Joint-free bridges are preferred over those with conventional expansion joints because they provide better protection for structural components and allow such assets to reach their intended service life. Strategies for implementing joint-free bridges include the incorporation of link slabs (LS) and sliding approach slabs (SAS). Since LS and SAS need to be flexible to function well, the use of conventional steel-reinforced concrete is not ideal. This study explores the use of high-performance materials such as engineered cementitious composite (ECC) and glass-fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) rebars for joint-free bridges under static or fatigue loading through experimental, numerical, parametric studies, and design-oriented analysis. It was found that high-performance materials helped to improve the performance of joint-free bridges with link slabs by providing flexibility, crack control, and fatigue resilience. The improved compatibility between ECC and GFRP contributed to better LS structural performance, as both materials contributed by sharing stresses under static and fatigue loading compared to steel rebar. Reinforced concrete deck girder joint-free bridges incorporating ECC link slabs were also investigated under static and fatigue loading, and showed structural performance comparable to that of composite deck steel girder bridges. It was also determined that ECC SAS performed well under static and fatigue loading, as well as in the case of approach fill soil settlement.
Energy, Performance, and Reliability Analysis of Wastewater Treatment Plants in Small Communities in Ontario
Authors: Elassar Mohammad
Published: March 2024

This thesis presents energy and reliability analyses of eight wastewater treatment plants operating in small communities in Ontario, Canada. Five different treatment technologies were investigated; namely, rotating biological contactor (RBC), sequencing batch reactor (SBR), membrane bioreactor (MBR), lagoon, and extended aeration activated sludge process (EAAS). Key performance indicators (KPIs) were used to quantify a specific consumption of energy in WWTPs per unit of pollutant removed. It was found that RBC plants showed a distinctive advantage for all energy KPI assessed, while SBR plants yielded the highest values of energy KPIs. Analyses of the expected percentage of compliance with discharge standards based on WWTPs performance records showed that few WWTPs achieved reliability levels over 95% under the current operating and maintenance conditions. Process modelling for one of the RBCs plants using Biowin software was used as an effective tool to accurately simulate effluent quality, predict treatment performance, and troubleshoot operational problems.
How to Help Robots Take Over the World (in a Good Way): Media Influence on the Acceptance of New Technology
Authors: Neve Caitlin
Published: March 2024

Past research has established that since robots are not yet common in Western society, most people’s views are based on how they are represented in science fiction versus current reality (Bruckenberger et al., 2013; Teo, 2021). This is the foundational problem for robots as a unique technology where common understanding is based on predisposed stereotypes from decades of pop culture, which can represent an impediment to acceptance. This paper acts as a case study on how media can be leveraged to influence audience acceptance of new technology such as social robots. I evaluate this by measuring the baseline of attitudes towards robots, probing the sources of these beliefs including how they are informed by pop culture, then subsequently quantifying how exposure to nonfiction media can reshape these embedded notions. The goal is to test if there is a lift in positive sentiment when shown marketing videos of an existing robot Pepper by Softbank Robotics. This study had mixed results revealing there is a high degree of skepticism in audiences regarding robots which is a hurdle that must be addressed and overcome to effectively integrate into future society. This MRP is a first account at developing insights for companies and governments on how to successfully drive acceptance of this new technology to facilitate successful HumanRobot Interaction (HRI). The goal is to situate HRI at the intersection of media theory, to analyze diffusion of innovation from a perspective of audience, influence, and acceptance.
Security of Generative Adversarial Networks
Authors: Rudavskyy Kyrylo
Published: March 2024

The overarching goal of this work is to explore the security landscape of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). In recent years, their adoption started to gain traction, and they are now used in many critical domains. Security is paramount in many of these domains. Since GANs are a system of two or more neural networks, security weaknesses in one of its components can be exploited against the system. This is the attack vector considered in this work. Specifically, this research evaluated the threat potential of an adversarial attack against the discriminator part of the system. Such an attack aims to distort the output by injecting maliciously modified input during training. The attack was empirically evaluated against four types of GANs, injections of 10% and 20% malicious data, and two datasets. The targets were CGAN, ACGAN, WGAN, and WGAN-GP. The datasets were MNIST and F-MNIST. The attack was created by improving an existing attack on GANs. The lower bound for the injection size turned out to be 10% for the improvement and 10-20% for the baseline attack. It was shown that the attack on WGAN-GP can overcome a filtering-based defence for F-MNIST. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that differentially private GANs are likely impossible to defend using current countermeasures.
Power-aware Future Computing Systems Using Machine Learning Techniques
Authors: Al-Obaidy Furat
Published: March 2024

There is a growing demand for hardware systems that are computationally efficient and energy saving, to accelerate compute-intensive applications. These exciting challenges, such as memory access and GPU throughput, take performance, power, and resource trade-offs into account. This is especially relevant to a relatively new approach: Accelerating and running parallel computing systems using a machine learning (ML) technique. The objective of this thesis is to explore the hardware design requirements, and select appropriate choices for multi-core architectures, based on different ML, to address these challenges. This thesis contributes by developing effective hardware architectures which trade-off design objectives, by focusing on the following four distinct fields: • Utilization of low-power cache designs. The objective of this design is to use the artificial neural network (ANN) predictive model to optimize a hybrid spin-torque transfer random-access memory (STT-RAM), and static random-access memory (SRAM), for multicore chips. The simulation results demonstrate that the approach can result in significant power-aware improvement for different workloads. • Development of algorithms that facilitate power savings for three-dimensional integrated networks-on-chips (3D-NoCs) design. A novel approach was efficiently developed to predict the suitable routing algorithm based on the ANN model. A trade-off power-performance function was extracted as a target for the prediction mechanism. The obtained results show high throughput with low power consumption, and reduced thermal hotspots. • Enhance power-aware resources for general purpose graphics processing unit (GPGPU). The customized model is obtained by utilizing the available chip units for each application. The energy-delay product was adopted as the target factor for the proposed ANN model. The results show that when the GPU platform is tuned to the required resources, prediction accuracy, and power consumption are highly improved. This methodology provides more flexibility for the running application to face power challenges when using maximum hardware on the GPU systems. • To improve the performance of the 3D-NoC accelerator platform, we extended the integrated 3D-NoC based ANN simulator to support interconnection routing through adding torus topology. The simulation results for the case study concluded that the modified platform contributes towards low latency and reduced power consumption, especially with respect to high NoC dimensions.
MCARS-CC: A Scalable Multi-context-aware Recommender System
Authors: Nawara Dina
Published: March 2024

Recommendation Systems (RSs) have proved a compelling performance to overcome the data overload problem. Context-aware recommenders guide users/clients to more personalized recommendations. Incorporating contextual features in recommendation systems improves the systems' accuracy; however, they still suffer from sparsity and scalability problems which impact the quality of recommendations. To overcome these limitations, we propose a multi-context-aware recommendation system using the notion of consensus clustering, named MCARS-CC. Experimental results on real-world datasets show that the concept of consensus learning using clustering analysis can significantly improve the recommender systems' accuracy, handle sparsity in data, and address scalability for large-scale datasets. The proposed method surpasses the other recommendation algorithms in terms of accuracy, precision and recall. The MAE and RMSE results show that consensus clustering leads to better accuracy measures and a more stable resilient recommendation system; in particular, incorporating Hyber-Graph with Partitioning (HGPA) Consensus has improved MAE and RMSE by 25.96% and 8.94%, respectively, in Yelp-Dataset.
Investigation and Optimization of CO2 Uptake
Authors: Ronan Patrick
Published: March 2024

Climate change caused by the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere has emphasized the need for effective CO2 mitigation strategies. Microalgae are fast-growing photoautotrophic microorganisms that use light energy to take up and fix CO2, producing biomass with inherent value and applicability in fields like agriculture, nutrition, and bioenergy. The fact that wastewater can be used to support microalgal growth presents the opportunity to achieve the “triple benefit” of integrated CO2 capture, wastewater remediation, and value-added biomass production. While microalgal cultivation has conventionally utilized monocultures growing in suspension, microalgae in nature largely exhibit sessile growth in mixed-species biofilms with close associations to other microorganisms. Considering one of the tenets of microbial community ecology is that species diversity promotes productivity, the use of mixed, non-axenic phototrophic biofilms in algal biotechnologies can present a new paradigm which harnesses natural phototrophic microbial ecosystems and the ecological and physiological advantages that they offer. The research presented herein set out to expand our understanding of mixed phototrophic biofilms. A key interest was the CO2 uptake performance of these biofilms under conditions that are relevant for the integration of CO2 mitigation, wastewater treatment, and biomass production via photosynthetic growth. A novel CO2 sequestration monitoring system (CSMS) was developed to track real-time CO2 uptake by phototrophic biofilms, which demonstrated good sensitivity in detecting changes in uptake rate brought about by varying environmental and cultivation conditions. It was also shown that the presence and concentration of organic carbon sources significantly impacted biofilm carbon capture and led to observable longitudinal partitioning of heterotrophic and autotrophic growth. The system was further used to evaluate the impact of nitrogen starvation, a common algal biomass optimization strategy, on biofilm CO2 uptake. Starvation appeared to promote sloughing of biofilm biomass and coincided with a steady, near linear decrease in CO2 uptake rate. These insights contribute to an improved understanding of phototrophic biofilms and represent an important step toward large-scale biofilm-based CO2 mitigation.
Indigenous and Settler Perspectives of Risks and Rewards on Toronto Island
Authors: Black Miranda
Published: March 2024

Indigenous and Settler Perspectives of Risks and Rewards on Toronto Island is a study of land and water relationships in the places we now know as Toronto and Toronto Island. The study draws on the true understanding of treaties and treaty rights from an Indigenous perspective. It shows how some consultation practices that colonial governance frameworks use today have incorporated Indigenous Knowledges but they still have a far way to go before truly recognizing Indigenous self-determination and the need for Indigenous Peoples to be seen as inherent rightsholders, especially in land management and Great Lakes water governance. The study focuses on the understanding of land and water from Indigenous perspectives and suggests modes of incorporating these understandings to address major issues that affect Toronto Island and Toronto Harbour, including water quality, contamination, and flooding due to over-development in the Great Lakes Basin. This thesis takes a two-eyed seeing approach wherein fifteen qualitative interviews were conducted with Indigenous knowledge-keepers and Toronto Island residents or water quality experts. The questions addressed the social construction of environmental risks and rewards by asking about the Toronto Purchase, Great Lakes water quality, and land use on Toronto Island. The knowledge learned from the qualitative interviews is contextualized in a historical analysis to help frame treaty rights, water governance and relationships with lands and waters from a story-telling perspective to amplify Indigenous voices in the sciences and explain the importance of Indigenous self-determination to enhance land and water management processes.
Electromagnetic Field Impacts on Phytoplankton and Zooplankton Abundance, Relative Abundance and Community Compositions in In-Situ Microcosms
Authors: Rodger Kyle
Published: March 2024

The study focuses on the response of a pond’s planktonic community to a low-power (< 10 W) electromagnetic field (EMF) generating device using in situ microcosms. The objective was to observe the effects of EMF on total phytoplankton and zooplankton abundance, relative abundance and community composition of major taxa. Fifteen microcosms were installed into a pond in Stony Creek, ON to isolate water columns of 1 m in depth. Samples were collected biweekly for twelve weeks. Phytoplankton and zooplankton samples were collected by towing a plankton net vertically through the water columns. Overall, the EMF treatment has resulted in a subtle but significant increase in relative abundance of green algae and diatoms. The prolonged exposure to EMFs were also shown to impact copepod abundance and the biovolume temporal trends of green algae and cyanobacteria. Therefore, EMFs have a potential to affect zooplankton and phytoplankton abundance or community composition.
Men’s Bodies and Clothing Consumption: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-analysis
Authors: Zahedi Saghar
Published: March 2024

Regardless of their gender identity, men with smaller or bigger bodies have challenges accessing stylish-well-fitting garments. That negatively influences their clothing shopping experience and is the reason why some brands and researchers focus on this issue through their design and marketing activities and research. However, the research findings on men's bodies and clothing consumption are scattered, and no comprehensive review has been conducted on the topic. Therefore, this study aims to systematically review literature about a man’s body shape and its impact on their clothing consumption behaviour to provide a holistic point of view. This study conducted a systematic literature review in which 10-peer-reviewed articles between 2000- 2021 were examined through the PRISMA framework, which included a meta-analysis. The study demonstrates that males’ body sizes influence their garment fit preferences and fit issues depending on types of clothing. This research contributes to both the fashion industry and academia by providing a unifying perspective on the topic of men’s bodies and clothing consumption, a reference for future scholarly studies, and practical suggestions for tackling this issue.
Refugee Status Determination in Canada: Ensuring Procedural Fairness at the Immigration and Refugee Board
Authors: Vallejo Michelle
Published: March 2024

The Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) of Canada was created with the intentions of providing every refugee claimant within Canada the opportunity to tell their stories in a formal oral hearing. With the creation of the IRB and oral hearings came the responsibility of ensuring procedural fairness for these refugee claimants throughout the refugee status determination (RSD) process. However, overtime governments have changed, public attitudes over refugees have shifted and public policies have been introduced which have impacted the way that the IRB’s institutional purpose and objectives have become prioritized and re-negotiated. Specifically, although the IRB has many objectives listed in the Immigration and Refugees Protections Act (IRPA), sovereignty and security has become increasingly favored over humanitarian responsibilities which has consequently diminished procedural fairness for refugee claimants. Namely, inconsistent waiting and processing times, concerns of bias in decisionmaking and the overall inaccessibility of the claims process.
Design and Testing of Climate-responsive Ventilated Building Façades
Authors: Soudian Shahrzad
Published: March 2024

Enhancing building performance has become a focal point in reducing the environmental impacts of the built environment to address climate change. Considering the highest share of comfort-related energy use in buildings, and the importance of indoor environmental quality (IEQ), a balance between energy conservation and IEQ provision is required. Building façades are the primary boundary that control mass and energy flow in buildings. Dynamic façades are potential alternatives to existing high-performance façades to improve IEQ in buildings, as they change their functionality with time, in response to changing environmental loads.
This study aims to design and develop a multifunctional climate-responsive façade (CRF) in a continental climate. First, the literature review presents CRF theories and technologies. To design the CRF conceptually, a performance-based design framework was developed. This tool can be used in the initial decision-making stage of CRFs to conceptualize them based on case-specific performance metrics.
The design of the conceptual CRF was optimized using CFD simulations in the climate of Toronto, Canada. The façade is a multifunctional, integrated, climate-responsive, opaque and ventilated (MICRO-V) façade, which regulates heat, air, and moisture flow into buildings. MICRO-V comprises a pre-conditioned cavity with phase change materials, and an adjustable insulation system integrated with a bi-directional ventilation module with heat recovery. The design of the MICRO-V was finalized by selecting the best-performing configuration of geometry, material properties, and operation. The results showed a 77% pre-conditioning efficiency of air in the ventilation module. Also, the thermal transmittance of the insulation could change from 0.05 to 0.5 W/m2.K with airflow variation.
The simulations showed the interactions between the MICRO-V components, leading to the façade prototype. The performance of this prototype was evaluated using experimental tests in the BETOP test cell in Toronto. The results demonstrated the performance of the façade under different operation scenarios, and its ability to pre-condition fresh air while controlling thermal exchanges in the room. The experimental tests confirmed an agreeable compatibility with the simulation results.
In this study, a design process from concept generation to prototype development of CRFs was presented that could be expanded and used in future research. MICRO-V is a CRF with decentralized ventilation that could be adjusted to different building contexts and climates.
Tire Closed-loop Supply Chain Network Design Considering Multiple Objectives and Regulatory Requirements
Authors: Ahmed Javeria
Published: March 2024

For tire manufacturers and related businesses to comply with the resource recovery laws and regulatory frameworks, the opportunity lies in shifting to Closed-Loop Supply Chain (CLSC) which integrates both forward and reverse supply chains. In this research, a new mathematical model is proposed to configure and optimize a tire CLSC network. The optimal quantities for the flows of products, and number and locations of open facilities of the network are calculated by solving the model. The extension of a multi-objective model is done by considering four new objective functions about suppliers. Then, a novel decision-making method based on Spherical fuzzy logicisdeveloped for theweightsofsuppliers. Finally,themodelissolvedbytheaugmented ε-constraint method. The application of the model is illustrated focusing on the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in Ontario, Canada. The results show that the weights of the returned products are the critical parameters for the compliance of government regulation. Besides, considering multiple objectives for supplier selection in the tire CLSC network design andoptimizationmay have effect on both the selected suppliers and the allocated orders.
Signalling System Heterogeneity in E. Coli and Shigella
Authors: Huynh Raymond
Published: March 2024

The connector protein, PmrD links the PhoPQ and PmrAB two component systems and is critical for PhoPQ-regulated host defense peptide resistance in Escherichia coli. In E. coli the pmrD gene contains three putative start codons near a Shine-Dalgarno sequence and E. coli full-length in-frame PmrD is produced from the second putative start site. In S. flexneri, the pmrD gene contains a 1 bp insertion at the 5' end of the gene, that shifts the open reading frame to the first putative start site. Here, I demonstrate that the start site spacing found in Shigella flexneri does not produce PmrD and that this organism does not undergo PhoPQ regulated polymyxin B resistance. I further show that PmrD in S. sonnei is like that from E. coli and is required for high level PhoPQ-regulated polymyxin B resistance in this organism, suggesting that these species differ in this signaling network.
Concentration and Distribution of Phosphorus Species in Marginal Land Soils
Authors: Ho Timothy
Published: March 2024

This research focused on soil leachable and total P from three selected Ontario fields (London, Simcoe and Ottawa), of which one is agricultural land (London) as a reference in 2019. Leachable P was obtained through leaching soil with an acidified water solution and analyzed using colorimetric method. Total P was obtained through microwave acid digestion and analyzed using ICP-OES. There was little to no statistical difference in both P fractions when comparing between urea fertilizer applications, sorghum hybrids or over sorghum growth periods. Ottawa and Simcoe soil leachable P has variable correlation with the total P in each respective depth but didn’t match the correlation found in London soil. Leachable P was strongly related to biomass yield in London and urea applied Simcoe field but not in Ottawa field. The correlation difference between Ottawa and Simcoe soil can be due to tile drainage and soil textures allowing different P movement.
Fissures in Time: An Essay on Feverish Existence, Genuine Expression, and Healing
Authors: Taskiran Doruk
Published: March 2024

This essay attempts to articulate the temporal character of existential distress and anxiety (feverishness). With the help of phenomenological and existential thinkers like Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Martin Heidegger, and Jean-Paul Sartre, I present a phenomenological account of temporalization, which understands time as stretching-open of a meaningful world. I demonstrate how, in feverishness, our ordinary experience of time is disrupted as time over-stretches or collapses on itself, and existence gets stuck. Further, I show what kind of expressions and actions allow an existence to come to terms with itself and move beyond its stuckness. These genuine existential expressions bring an existence beyond itself, and open up to new possibilities as they re-organize one’s existence in a creative manner. Finally, I give an account of healing, which emerges out of genuine expressions, and show what kind of affective conditions need to be re-established for healing to take place.
Exploring Tax Relief Programs: A Path for Rental Housing in Canada
Authors: Chand Saniel
Published: March 2024

To date, Canada’s housing policies have been attuned to a housing system in which most Canadian households obtain their housing from the private market. A small portion of households live in non-market social housing, including public housing, nonprofit housing and non-profit co-operatives. This has resulted in a system that relies on market mechanisms to deliver housing, and therefore housing policies which primarily focus on home ownership, leaving renting households lagging behind in housing security. The federal government’s National Housing Strategy (NHS) provides limited progress to alleviate stress on low-income rental housing, and this research paper seeks to propose policy and tax tools to improve the progress on objectives of the NHS. Specifically, this research explores using tax relief programs to reposition NHS initiatives to provide housing with meaningful measures of affordability, and housing directed to low-income earners.
Pandemic Encampments: A Case Study of Toronto’s Homeless Encampments (Through a Human Rights-based Approach) During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Edhi Konain
Published: March 2024

Cities across North America have seen an increase in groups of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness together. The City of Toronto specifically is experiencing one of the deepest housing crises to date. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, many people lived in encampments. However, they were largely invisible as they were pushed out of sight by law-enforcement and criminalized by municipal legislation. The City’s response to encampments during the pandemic has demonstrate systemic violence, criminalization, and displacement of unhoused residents. This paper aims to analyze the role of homeless encampments through a human rights-based approach to housing by analyzing encampments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this paper, I aim to establish that encampments are sites of resistance to state violence and insufficient interventions. The resistance of unhoused residents and sites of encampments offers a radical change in perspective to housing and a call to action– one that is based in human rights.
The Impacts of Inclusionary Zoning on Housing Supply: Comparing Inclusionary Zoning Programs in North America
Authors: Kruse Scott
Published: March 2024

The impacts of inclusionary zoning policies on housing supply are not clear. Multiple political and economic factors (i.e., housing market strength, municipal incentives) make measuring the effects of inclusionary zoning on housing supply difficult. This paper seeks to build upon contemporary research which suggests possible ways that inclusionary zoning policy may alter regional housing supply. It uses comparative case study analysis of programs in Portland, Oregon, and New York City, New York to determine how demographics, total stock, tenure options and housing market conditions are impacted after the adoption of inclusionary zoning policies. Detailed literature and case studies show that there may be slight adverse effects on housing supply and prices, meaning that the cost of delivering affordable housing through inclusionary zoning negatively impacts housing supply. The results of the research are used to shape recommendations for ongoing implementation of inclusionary zoning in Toronto, Ontario.
Exploring the Accessibility Knowledge of Professional Planners
Authors: MacDonald Dustin
Published: March 2024

Accessibility in the built environment is a critical issue that needs to be addressed to ensure people of all ages and abilities can partake in daily life. A lack of accessibility understanding among urban planners is a part of the issue of poor accessibility in the built environment. This lack of understanding largely stems from disability not being well understood by city-building professionals, an overall poor planning and design process as it relates to accessibility, and a gap in understanding who city-building professionals serve through their work. Interviews with accessibility professionals highlighted that accessibility policy and land use policy are misaligned in terms of enforcing accessibility goals and that there is an opportunity for urban planning to take a larger role in advancing accessibility. Accessibility professionals emphasized that ignoring accessibility contributes to exclusionary environments that segregate Persons With Disabilities (PWD) from the built environment and, in turn, their communities. Recommendations include centring disabled perspectives in the planning processes, working alongside dedicated accessibility consultants, and, in particular, increasing accessibility education to establish baseline accessibility knowledge for urban planners.
Cities for Youth: A Pragmatic Approach to Engaging Youth Throughout the Urban Planning Process
Authors: Palacios Federico
Published: March 2024

A wealth of perspectives exists in urban spaces; engagement opportunities in planning have the potential to collect theses perspectives and leverage them to shape urban futures. Recognizing the need for diverse and comprehensive community engagement opportunities in planning, this work looks towards how youth voices can be further integrated into the planning process. Youth represent active stakeholders in their communities, with a keen capacity to observe and recount their lived urban experienced. Existing literature details the challenges and opportunities that youth engagement represents. This research explores specific tools that urban planners and other allied professionals make use of when engaging youth-identifying communities. Through a series of semi structured interviews, this project led to the creation of an actionable youth engagement toolkit: Cities For Youth – Toolkit for Youth Engagement in Planning, This professional facing deliverable was supported by the production of a complementary podcast episode as part of the Spacing Radio series. Jointly, these two pieces look to expand on professional perspectives on youth engagement while bringing this issue to the forefront of urban journalism.
Toronto's Future Rapid Transit Network: Evaluating Existing and Proposed Rapid Transit Services to a 2041 Forecast of Transit Needs and Transit Demands
Authors: Mandal Yogesh
Published: March 2024

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), Toronto’s transit service provider, currently has 3 lines of rapid transit service intended for continued operation, and 4 new rapid transit projects that are underway. This study is to determine if the existing and new lines of rapid transit ideally meet present and future demands, and to locate spatial mismatch between demand and transit placement if they do not. Select socio-economic groups are also examined for their transit needs. These groups are selected by definitions of youth, elderly, language, recent immigrants, migrants, renters, and unemployed. Population projections to 2041 were examined to assess future outcomes. Catchment areas were employed around rapid transit stations when gauging transit line services. This was followed with statistical and mapping outcomes. These methods helped determine where demand for rapid transit is being adequately met now, and in the future, and where it might not be. Results show that downtown remains the densest area of rapid transit users. The Ontario Line has the greatest outcome in this study to provide service to a densely populated part of the city. In spite of this, existing lines seem to be better situated to meet future demand than the future lines. Transit lines in the network prove themselves to serve their purposes and target areas with high need and demand for transit services. Existing and new lines will experience higher growth rates than the rest of the city. Most of the proposed lines are shown to be developed in areas identified as coldspots. Other high demand clusters in the city remain unaddressed by the network. Albeit, the proposed lines do go a long way to providing much needed rapid transit to parts of the city. Overall, the densification of riders will increase more rapidly along present rapid transit lines, followed by the new lines. This study also identifies some spatial mismatch with respect to present and future lines.
Exploring the Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) Tourism From the Hosts’ Perspectives in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Mallika Abida Sayeeda
Published: March 2024

This qualitative research explores the experiences of Bangladeshi immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) relating to the hosting of Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) especially with the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. As VFR tourism is prominent in communities with growing immigrant populations, data have been collected from Bangladeshi adult immigrant communities living in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to get in-depth ideas about their hosting experiences. The study relied on primary data which is collected through online semi-structured interviews. The result shows that before the COVID-19 pandemic, immigrants frequently hosted the local and international visitors to lessen their loneliness, to show their lifestyle and achievement to the visitors, and to assist new immigrants to settle but due to the pandemic, the immigrant hosts have changed their hosting style to ensure the safety of their visitors and themselves. They hosted only their domestic VFRs when the government allowed them to socialize with a limited number of people, and they did not provide any accommodation. They invited a small group of people for a few hours in an outdoor location. The immigrant hosts have mixed opinions regarding their future hosting. A larger portion of the respondents expressed their intention to go back to their earlier way of hosting whereas the other group found inviting small groups for a few hours was comfortable and less burdensome. The findings of the study suggested both practical and academic implications. Although some studies have shown that VFR tourism contributes to the tourism industry during disasters or crises in a particular region, while other forms of tourism decreased, the role of VFR tourism in the recovery of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has not been investigated. Further studies on different communities may provide a bigger picture of hosting experience to contribute to the tourism industry by providing strategic direction and also to the academia by extending the existing knowledge in the field of tourism study.