bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Combining visual features and contextual information for image retrieval and annotation
Authors: Zhang Rui
Published: May 2021

This thesis is primarily focused on the information combination at different levels of a statistical pattern classification framework for image annotation and retrieval. Based on the previous study within the fields of image annotation and retrieval, it has been well-recognized that the low-level visual features, such as color and texture, and high-level features, such as textual description and context, are distinct yet complementary in terms of their distributions and the corresponding discriminative powers of dealing with machine-based recognition and retrieval tasks. Therefore, effective feature combination for image annotation and retrieval has become a desirable and promising perspective from which the semantic gap can be further bridged. Motivated by this fact, the combination of the visual and context modalities and that of different features in the visual domain are tackled by developing two statistical patterns classification approaches considering that the features of the visual modality and those across different modalities exhibit different degrees of heterogeneities, and thus, should be treated differently.

Regarding the cross-modality feature combination, a Bayesian framework is proposed to integrate visual content and context, which has been applied to various image annotation and retrieval frameworks. In terms of the combination of different low-level features in the visual domain, the problem is tackled with a novel method that combines texture and color features via a mixture model of their joint distribution. To evaluate the proposed frameworks, many different datasets are employed in the experiments, including the COREL database for image retrieval and the MSRC, LabelMe, PASCAL VOC2009, and an animal image database collected by ourselves for image annotation. Using various evaluation criteria, the first framework is shown to be more effective than the methods purely based on the low-level features or high-level context. As for the second, the experimental results demonstrate not only its superior performance to other feature combination methods but also its ability to discover visual clusters using texture and color simultaneously. Moreover, a demo search engine based on the Bayesian framework is implemented and available online.
Development of an Experimental Apparatus for Studying High-Temperature Heat and Mass Transfer in Soils
Authors: Hedayati-Dezfooli Mohsen
Published: May 2021

The objective of this study was to design and build an experimental apparatus for studying heat and moisture transport phenomena in soils at temperatures greater than 40°C up to 90°C. An experimental soil cell was designed and constructed for experimental studies of one-dimensional heat and moisture transfer within a vertical soil column. The interference effect between two proximate TDR probes was examined for three types of soils and it was found that parallel TDR probes can interfere with each other if the distance between them is around 1 cm. Also, for the samples with higher water contents, the effect of interference on the electromagnetic waveform signals is more prominent, which can result in 15% uncertainty in the measurement of water content. Through the numerical study, four stages of design analysis were carried out to eventually reach a satisfactory design which was deemed to meet the research objective, i.e. less than 5% variation of heat fluxes in the radial direction along the soil cell. The experimental assessment of the final soil cell was first performed using dry Matilda soil. The temperature profile along the soil cell deviated from the linear temperature profile by 18.6% when the temperature level and gradient was high at 82.6°C and 90°C/m, respectively. At this condition, the difference of heat fluxes between the top and bottom heat flux meters was recorded to be 34%. This case is the worst case due to the low thermal conductivity of the dry soil. The experimental assessment of the final soil cell was also done for a wet Matilda soil at a degree of saturation of about 65%. The temperature profile along the soil cell had a maximum deviation of 7.7% from the linear temperature profile even when the temperature level of the soil cell was high at 82.1°C. At this condition, the difference of heat fluxes between the top and bottom heat flux meters was recorded to be 4.2%. After the reliability of the apparatus was assessed, nine cases of the wet soil were studied. The results show that the temperature gradient is the main driving force to cause moisture migration.
The Lived Experience Of Correctional Nurses Working in two Ontario Detention Centres : A Descriptive Phenomenological Study
Authors: Latif Sheleza
Published: May 2021

This thesis presents a descriptive phenomenological inquiry of the lived experience of correctional nursing in a Canadian context. Seven in-depth interviews with correctional nurses were conducted. Data analysis was guided by Giorgi's description of the descriptive phenomenological psychological method. Fourteen essential structures were identified. These essential structures described participants' experiences related to: discovering correctional nursing: their physical workspaces; their working relationships; and caring for inmate clients. Implications for policy and administration include suggestions for reviewing the service delivery model of healthcare services within corrections and improving the recruitment and retention of correctional nurses. Implications for nursing practice, education, and research are also discussed.
The dynamics of audio-visual integration capacity as a function of environmental difficulty, stimulus factors, and experience
Authors: Wilbiks Jonathan Michael Paul
Published: May 2021

The capacities of unimodal processes such as visual and auditory working memory, multiple object tracking, and attention have been heavily researched in the psychological science literature. In recent years there has been an increase in the amount of research into multimodal processes such as the integration of auditory and visual stimuli, but to my knowledge, there has only been a single published article to date investigating the capacity of audiovisual integration, which found that the capacity of audiovisual integration is limited to a single item.

The purpose of this dissertation is to elucidate some of the factors that contribute to the capacity of audiovisual integration, and to illustrate that the interaction of these respective factors makes the capacity a fluid, dynamic property. Chapter 1 reviews the literature coming from multimodal integration research, as well as from unimodal topics that are pertinent to the factors that are being manipulated in the dissertation: namely, working memory, multiple object tracking, and attention. Chapter 2 considers the paradigmatic structure employed by the single study on audiovisual integration capacity and breaks down the component factors of proactive interference and temporal predictability, which contribute to the environmental complexity of the scenario, in the first illustration of the flexibility of capacity of audiovisual integration. Chapter 3 explores the effects of stimulus factors, considering the effects of crossmodal congruency and perceptual chunking on audiovisual integration capacity. Chapter 4 explores the variability of audiovisual integration capacity within an individual over time by means of a training study. Chapter 5 summarizes the findings of the research within, discusses some overarching themes with regard to audiovisual integration capacity including how information is processed through integration and how these findings could be applied to real-life scenarios, suggests some avenues for future research such as further manipulations of modality and SOA, and draws conclusions and answers to the research questions.

This research extends what is known about audiovisual integration capacity, both in terms of its numerical value and the factors that play a role in its establishment. It also demonstrates that there is no overarching limitation on the capacity of audiovisual integration, as the initial paper on this topic suggests, but rather that it is a process subject to multiple factors, and can be changed depending on the situation in which integration is occurring.
Team Beam: Economizing Children’s Bee-Havioral Development
Authors: Conley Michael
Published: May 2021

This research paper uses behavioral economics to design a children’s play installation that facilitates soft skill development. By reviewing existing literature from Education, Early Development and Behavioral Economics, my installation supports improvements in collaborative behaviours within child-child and parent-child relationships. Literature across research disciplines explains how early soft skill achievement influences life course outcomes at school, work, home and in personal relationships.
The installation’s user difficulty, material composition, colouring and incentives nudge children aged 2–4 toward making emotionally beneficial decisions. Because it is designed for a museum setting, the assumed expectations of installation users, other visitors and the host museum are acknowledged in the design. The installation’s assumed effectiveness, specific location and accessibility features are produced from personal work experiences at the Royal Ontario Museum, interviews with field professionals, attention to parents’ agency, existing literature focused on inclusive, play-based spaces and an iterative creative process based on design thinking methodology.
Examining Plasmid Transfer of pJP4 in a Mixed Community Biofilm Formed in a Microcosm Simulating a Porous Aquifer
Authors: Postelnik Floriana
Published: May 2021

In this work, a lab-scale microcosm was designed and used to simulate a porous groundwater aquifer. A minimal media acted as the non-selective pressure for plasmid transfer, while a minimal media with gentamicin acted as the selective pressure. PCR, plate counts and confocal laser scanning microscopy were used to monitor transconjugant and donor persistence in the microcosm. The donor was identified through
Filtering the Headlines
Authors: Vodarek Lindsay A.
Published: May 2021

"The project, entitled Filtering the Headlines, is a short documentary film on the concept/construction of objectivity as it has been applied in journalism in Canada supported by a political economy of the same. The purpose of this work is to connect the theoretical work being done on this subject to the actual practices and discussion going on amongst journalists today. It questions the knowledge of journalists about issues of objectivity and asks how these journalists reconcile their ethical ideals with actual practices. It then questions the hegemony of media as business, as corporate entity, the use of advertising to support this model and the practices of journalists that reinforce it. It aims to foster a dialogue that will promote a greater sense of agency within the profession of journalism by challenging and bringing to light ingrained beliefs. Changes to journalistic practices must come from within."--Page 2.
Pose-Aware Embedding Networks and Multi-Modal Image-Language Retrieval
Authors: Curro Domenico
Published: May 2021

Inspired by recent work in human pose metric learning this thesis explores a family of pose-aware embedding networks designed for the purpose of image similarity retrieval. Circumventing the need for direct human joint localization, a series of CNN embedding networks are trained to respect a variety of Euclidean and language-primitive metric spaces. Querying with imagery alone presents certain limitations and thus this thesis proposes a multi-modal image-language embedding space, extending the current model to allow for language-primitive queries. This additional language mode provides the benefit of improving retrieval quality by 3% to 14% under the hit@k metric. Finally, two approaches are constructed to address the issues of conducting partial language-primitive queries, with the former generating maximally likely descriptors and the latter exploiting the network’s tendency to factorize the embedding space into (mostly) linearly separable sub-spaces. These two approaches improve upon recall by 13% and 17% over the provided baselines.
The Life of Werner Wolff: an analysis of Werner Wolff’s contributions to Life Magazine
Authors: Ream Tim
Published: May 2021

Werner Wolff (1911-2002) was a photojournalist who worked through the Black Star photographic agency for over forty years, and his work appeared in 120 stories in Life magazine. Wolff’s work is not much discussed in the history of photography, as his career lacked the drama and influence of other photojournalists. Using the contact sheets and negatives related to six stories published between 1946 and 1957 in Life housed in the Ryerson Image Centre’s Werner Wolff Archive, as well as a full run of Life, this thesis explores how Life used this unknown photographer, and how the trivial subjects of his assignments were a valued part of the magazine. This thesis will demonstrate that Wolff’s qualities as a photographer simultaneously prevented him from becoming famous within the field and made him a successful and valuable contributor to the most widely read picture magazine of the twentieth century.
Putting on white face: navigating whiteness in the queer southeast asian community
Authors: Hing Huynh Victor
Published: May 2021

In this research study, I engage in the process of autoethnography to make visible the processes by which the marginalization of Southeast Asian queers are produced. The practice of Whiteness, why and how Southeast Asian queers engage with Whiteness and its implications on the queer Southeast Asian community are the main tenets of this study. By exploring these processes of marginalization, a space is created to discuss the ways in which Southeast Asian queers resist racism and colonialism.
Fashion and Positive Psychology: Interactions Between Clothing, Mood, Self-Concept, and Well Being
Authors: Scott Juliana
Published: May 2021

This qualitative positive psychology study investigated how women experience clothing and how those experiences interact with their emotions, mood, self-concept, and self-esteem, to understand how clothing can influence well-being. Seven women (ages 21-39) participated in a personal account questionnaire, daily clothing diary, and wardrobe interview. This research demonstrates how clothing can uplift mood, reinforce and validate self-concept, boost self-esteem, and enhance well-being. This research contributes to the converging fields of positive psychology and fashion, expands the knowledge on the psychology of clothing behaviour, and highlights the potential of clothing for well-being, providing insight for psychologists, brand strategists, and marketers.
Effects of age, experience and training on hazard perception
Authors: Greenbaum Dana
Published: May 2021

Hazard perception (ability to identify dangerous road situations that require evasive action) declines with age and is linked to changes in visual attention and crash risk. Evidence shows that training can improve this ability in older adults. Yet, no study has considered the type of experience (manual versus automatic transmission) these older drivers have. The current study aims to fill this gap by examining the effects of age, experience and training on hazard perception ability. Twenty-four older and 23 middle aged adults (equal number of manual/automatic drivers per age group) were trained in a 20-minute single-session on hazard perception. Results indicate hazard performance declines with age and this is exacerbated with older automatic drivers. Further, the results show that generally training improves for most hazard variable. However, training does does assist older automatic drivers on identifying hazards.
Behavioural Consistency and Offender Characteristics: Investigating Modus Operandi Patterns in Serial Stranger Sex Offences
Authors: Oziel Sandra
Published: May 2021

Case linkage is a statistical technique which connects multiple sexual assault cases to a single perpetrator and holds promise for informing criminal investigations. Further, examining the behaviours executed most consistently across serial offences committed by a given offender is crucial to linking offences. The current study investigated behavioural consistency in a sample of 49 male serial stranger sexual offenders responsible for 147 offences. For each offence, four crime aspects were identified: 1) pre-crime facilitators, 2) victim selection and characteristics, 3) approach and attack methods, and 4) crime scene characteristics. Consistency between and within each crime series and across offender types based on background characteristics was examined. Results indicated a high degree of behavioural consistency across all crime aspects. Behaviours occurring prior to the offence were particularly useful in establishing consistent offending patterns. The implications of these findings in the context of police investigations and their utility for clinical practice are discussed.
Isaac, The Mountain & The Moon: blended materiality: designing a hybrid picture-book
Authors: Goso Nicholas
Published: May 2021

Innovations in tangible interaction, computer vision and emerging trends in digital reading offer novel opportunities in integrating physical and digital graphic storytelling. Research findings identified design and market opportunities in hybrid publications with blended materiality, that when applied to picture-books, would likely have readers perceiving the hybrid whole as more valuable than the sum of its parts. These findings informed the design of Isaac, The Mountain and The Moon, a hybrid physical-digital picture-book that maintains a singular story-world across media, while allowing affordances specific to each. The book’s design acts as a model that integrates considerate enhancements and affordances of both physical and digital objects; explores strategies that further engage reader communities in digital craft and social editions; encourages learning, curiosity and new media literacy through storytelling and the interactive experience. Presented are the motivations for the book, an elaboration of its design and future evaluation.
Dwelling with density
Authors: Cojocariu Daniela Adriana
Published: May 2021

The extrapolation of current population trends indicates that the future will experience a huge influx of population that will return and settle in the city (Gallagher, 2013). This thesis is an investigation that attempts to incorporate the desirable qualities of rural living into the urban living condition and result in an alternative high-density residential solution for the future.

The issue of urban densification and high-density development has become highly debated in the past decade – this thesis engages with the debate through a critical examination of the current status quo approach towards high-density residential development. A comparative study of the living conditions of the glorified rural idyll, the criticized suburban sprawl and the concentrated contemporary urban condition was undertaken in order to identify the advantages and disadvantages of these living environments. This comparison assisted in the creation of a set of design criteria and design elements which emerged from the research and were further investigated through a series of diverse precedent studies.

The critical inquiry into the status quo and the varying living environments was used to define a humane design approach in a reinterpretation of high-density residential living in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
From the Nile River to the Erie Canal: tracing the photographs of the Zangaki Brothers at George Eastman House
Authors: Hackman Andrea
Published: May 2021

The collection of photographs by the Zangaki Brothers at George Eastman House provides a case study for tracing a trajectory of certain nineteenth century photographic objects made for a tourist market. Beginning with the photographers themselves and the clientele they served, to the albums the photographs were mounted in, the collections they were placed in and the subsequent modern critiques of the photographers, this thesis aims to understand decisions that ultimately define the context in which we now find the photographs.
Feature Recognition in Geometric Reverse Engineering
Authors: Arshad Muhammad
Published: May 2021

An artificial neural network based feature extraction system for finding three dimensional features from physical objects is presented. As part of a geometric reverse engineering system, the feed-forward neural network allows for the efficient implementation of feature recognition. Reverse engineering of mechanical parts is the process of obtaining a geometric CAD model from the measurements of an existing artefact. Ideally, the reverse engineering system would automatically segment the cloud data into constituent surface patches and produce an accurate solid model. In order to accomplish this intent, a neural network is used to search and find the features in the initial scan data set. In this work, feature extraction for geometric reverse engineering has been accomplished. Work has also been done to extract features from the multiple shapes. The technique developed will reduce the time and effort required to extract features from scanned data of a physical object.
Levinas and the ethical turn: a Nietzschean critique and response
Authors: Thut Ian
Published: May 2021

The contentious ‘ethical turn’ in continental philosophy motivates this project. Emmanuel Levinas is among the leaders of this movement to draw renewed attention to ethics in the continental tradition. Levinas describes the transcendence that transpires in the self-Other encounter as the source of ethical obligation. However, given Friedrich Nietzsche’s ethical critique, his followers view the category of transcendence with suspicion. They think it presupposes an ontology of unchanging being. Since Nietzsche and his disciples reject ontologies of unchanging being, preferring immanence instead, they think that transcendence inevitably appeals to some imaginary world beyond the one we inhabit. Consequently, they view all philosophers of transcendence as escapist. To assess whether Levinas’ philosophical project is viable, I draw from Nietzsche’s work to mount a Nietzschean critique of Levinas. I subsequently consider a Levinasian reply to the Nietzschean
critique, arguing that Levinas’ transcendence provides a compelling alternative to a Nietzschean ethics of immanence.
Constructing identities through music videos: a case study analysis of Tegan and Sara's music videos
Authors: Jankovic Jovana
Published: May 2021

"I believe that our music does not have sexuality," proclaimed Sara of Tegan and Sara, in an
interview for The Advocate (200S). This paper argues that Tegan and Sara's music videos
do in fact contain elements that reflect their sexuality, and examines the extent to which
these videos demonstrate their public identity. In order to understand the composition of
music videos and the nonverbal signs related to gender and sexuality within them, I draw
upon theories of performed identity, music video genres, settings, and lyrical analysis. In
examining three of Tegan and Sara's music videos, "The First" (2000), "Back In Your Head"
(2007), and "Closer" (2012). I present a narrative structure of their musical career, and
outline how their approach and portrayal of their sexual orientation has evolved over the
thirteen years they have been together as a band. The results show that Tegan and Sara
have increasingly embraced their gender and sexuality over time.
On the molecular release induced by ultrasound and microbubbles in cells
Authors: Hussein Farah
Published: May 2021

Ultrasound and microbubble (USMB) enhances intracellular uptake through membrane disruption and endocytosis. This study investigates USMB effects on the molecular release incells through membrane-disruption and exocytosis. Retinal pigmented epithelial (RPE) cells were loaded with Alexa 647-transferrin (Tfn) to mark recycling endosomes, LAMP-1
antibody was used to mark lysosomes, GFP-transfected RPE cells were used to mark cytoplasm, and 7-AAD was used to assess cell viability. USMB exposure was done at 570kPa peak negative pressure for 1min. The mean fluorescent intensities (MFI) of markers were measured using flow cytometry. USMB induced the release of 19% and 67% of GFP from the cytoplasm in viable and non-viable cells respectively. LAMP-1 antibody MFI increased by 50% and 15-folds in viable and non-viable cells indicating USMB induced release from lysosomes. Furthermore, Tfn release from recycling endosomes increased by 22% only in viable cells. In conclusion, USMB enhances the molecular release from cytoplasm, lysosomes, and recycling endosomes
Awkward comedy and performative anxiety
Authors: Goldstein Alanna
Published: May 2021

"As more and more of our daily social interactions are mediated and experienced through
the screens of communication technologies, face-to-face moments of unmediated sociality has become the terrain for "awkward," unedited encounters, fraught with the potential for
misunderstanding and communicative breakdown. Text messaging, instant messaging and social networking sites are increasingly replacing embodied forms of communication as the preferred method for building and maintaining even the most intimate of relationships. The ability to manage one's performance within these regulated and highly-edited communicative spaces consequently emphasizes the vulnerability of the embodied social self, engaging in real space and time. The potential for failure inherent to any embodied social interaction is increasingly prevalent as a theme across a variety of entertainment media, suggesting that concerns with embodied communication performances are widespread. In this paper I will illustrate how representations of this communicative breakdown and the resulting moments of "awkward" silence form the basis for a new sub-genre of television comedy that includes both the British and American versions of The Office, Peep Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Parks and Recreation and Modern Family, among others. I contend that the popularity of these programs is a function of their adoption of unique aesthetic elements that reflect and address anxieties surrounding changing communicative norms specific to life in a highly-mediated social environment"--From introduction.
Deep Reinforcement Learning based Active Queue Management for IoT Networks
Authors: Kim Minsu
Published: May 2021

Internet of Things (IoT) has pervaded most aspects of our life through the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It is expected that a typical family home could contain several hundreds of smart devices by 2022. Current network architecture has been moving to fog/edge architecture to have the capacity for IoT. However, in order to deal with the enormous amount of traffic generated by those devices and reduce queuing delay, novel self-learning network management algorithms are required on fog/edge nodes. For efficient network management, Active Queue Management (AQM) has been proposed which is the intelligent queuing discipline. In this paper, we propose a new AQM based on Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) to handle the latency as well as the trade-off between queuing delay and throughput. We choose Deep Q-Network (DQN) as a baseline of our scheme, and compare our approach with various AQM schemes by deploying them on the interface of fog/edge node in IoT infrastructure. We simulate the AQM schemes on the different bandwidth and round trip time (RTT) settings, and in the empirical results, our approach outperforms other AQM schemes in terms of delay and jitter maintaining above-average throughput and verifies that DRL applied AQM is an efficient network manager for congestion.
Resistance from within: social work within the community support sector of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care
Authors: Durand Joseph L.
Published: May 2021

This study examines the impact of surveillant care managerialism upon the practice of three social workers employed within the community support sector in Ontario health care. It applies the “Foucauldian Toolkit” of Jason L. Powell to examine the nature of the discourse shaping their practice and how they are both complicit and resistant to these discourses. It introduces recognition theory as counter discourse and argues that through the unique knowledge gained through relationships of respectful recognition that social workers act justly. Moreover it is argued that the relationships between social workers and their clients is the source of our unique knowledges as practitioners. Finally, this study examines the implications of social workers integrating a Foucauldian understanding of the reflexive relationship of power/knowledge and how through intersubjective relationships, we practice, create identities and serve the needs of justice even in a system and profession which does not acknowledge it as a requirement.
Human trafficking: a contemporary perspective
Authors: Kerr Aidan
Published: May 2021

The goal of this Major Research Paper is to demonstrate the global totality of modern slavery by explaining its connection with human trafficking, and to provide a robust understanding of the topic for further meaningful research. Human trafficking is a form of slavery and is used to supply the slave industry with victims from all over the world. As with slavery, the trafficking of humans has ancient roots and continues to thrive today. From the ancient Code of Hammurabi, which denotes the laws of the slave, to the covert nature of slavery today, slavery and the trade of humans shows no signs of slowing.

Key Words: Modern Slavery; Human Trafficking; Organized Crime; Border Security; Immigration
Numerical Investigation Of Thermodiffusion Effects On PEM Fuel Cell Performance
Authors: Jaralla Rihab.
Published: May 2021

A novel mathematical model for an entire proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is developed with its focus placed on the modeling and assessment of thermodiffusion effects that have been neglected in previous studies. Instead of treating catalyst layers as interfaces of nil thickness, the model presented here features a finite thickness employed for catalyst layers, allowing for a more realistic description of electrochemical reaction kinetics arising in the operational PEMFC. To account for the membrane swelling effect, the membrane water balance is modeled by coupling the diffusion of water, the pressure variation, and the electro-osmotic drag.

The complete model consisting of the equations of continuity, momentum, energy, species concentrations, and electric potentials in different regions of a PEMFC are numerically solved using the finite element method implemented into a commercial CFD (Comsol 3.4) code. Various flow and transport phenomena in an operational PEMFC are simulated using the newly developed model. The resulting numerical simulations demonstrate that the thermodiffusion has a noticeable impact on the mass transfer for the oxygen. It is also revealed through a systematic parametric study that, as the porosity of gas diffusion layers and catalyst layers increase, the current density of an operational PEMFC may increase. Also, it is found that a PEM fuel cell can perform better with reasonable high operating pressure and temperature, as well as a supply of fully humidified gaseous reactants.
Development of a tunable 3D wrinkled platfom for designing cellular three-dimensional communication networks
Authors: Hughes Bethany R.
Published: May 2021

The study of cell-cell communication is hindered by the absence of a platform which is capable of specifically directing cellular growth while allowing examination of the communication between cells. In this thesis, a tuneable micro-to-nano scale wrinkled nonplanar platform was developed and optimized through the use of photolithography and a microfluidic washing method. The platform demonstrated the ability to create micro and nanowrinkled structures in a wide range of flow conditions.
The developed platform was then used as a cell culture platform to investigate the spacing dependence of bovine fibroblasts. The identification of a critical bridging distance for bovine fibroblasts provided a means to optimized the platform for culturing a cellular communication network between bovine fibroblasts. The cellular network which resulted demonstrated, via FRAP (Fluorescence-recovery-after-photobleaching), the capacity for communication between cells. Creating multilevel length scaled structures on a tunable platform which directed cellular growth while maintaining communication presents potential applications in research, industry and clinical aspects.
A design methodology for rotors of small multirotor vehicles
Authors: Carroll Timothy B.
Published: May 2021

A model is presented for the aerodynamic performance prediction of fixed-pitch rotors for small unmanned aerial vehicles. The method uses a blade element momentum theory based approach that is formulated specifically for small rotors operating in hover and edgewise flight. In order to validate the model, a rotor test stand is used to measure the performance of a commercially available rotor for several inflow angles and advance ratios. The predictions agree with measurements for operating conditions excluding conditions with suspected vortex ring state. The model is incorporated into a numerical optimization scheme to demonstrate its potential as a design tool. Designs are presented that minimize the power loading for single- and multi-point operating conditions. The optimized designs have hyperbolic twist distributions, higher solidities, and operate at lower tip-speeds than existing designs. A potential flow based model is also presented to predict the wake interactions between multiple rotors in configuration.
EOQ models for deteriorating items with two levels of market
Authors: Paul Suborna
Published: May 2021

This thesis proposes EOQ models for deteriorating items with time–dependent demand, as well as price–dependent demand, for both partial and complete backlogging scenarios. For each type of demand, three different models are developed: (1) items are first sold at the high–end market at a higher price; and then, at a given time, the leftover inventory is transported to the low–end market and sold at a lower price; (2) items are sold only at the high–end market. However, discount on the selling price is offered after a certain time; and (3) items are sold only at the high–end market without any price discount. The proposed models are solved to determine the optimal total profit, optimal order quantity, time at which inventory becomes zero, and optimal backlogged quantity. Finally, numerical examples and a sensitivity analysis are given to illustrate the proposed models.
Hepatitis C Virus Modelling In Vitro and In Vivo
Authors: Blahut Kenneth
Published: May 2021

Experiments have shown that hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections in vitro disseminate both distally via the release and diﬀusion of cell-free virus through the medium, and locally via direct, cell-to-cell transmission. To determine the relative contribution of each mode of infection to HCV dissemination, we developed an agent-based model (ABM) that explicitly incorporates both distal and local modes of infection. The ABM tracks the concentration of extracellular infectious virus in the supernatant and the number of intracellular HCV RNA segments within each infected cell over the course of simulated in vitro HCV infections. By constraining our ABM parameters using experimental data, we found that direct, cell-to-cell infection accounts for 98% (85%–100%, 95% credible region) of infection events, making it the dominant mode of HCV dissemination in vitro. Yet, while HCV spread via cell-free virus contributes little to the total number of infection events in vitro, it plays a critical role in enhancing cell-to-cell HCV dissemination by providing access to distant, uninfected areas, away from the already established large infection foci.

Mathematical modelling of HCV load decay under antiviral therapy has allowed for the determination of antiviral eﬃcacy and other important parameters. Current mathematical models (MMs) of HCV infection are based on a set of ordinary diﬀerential equations (ODEs) and assume that infectious cell lifespans are exponentially distributed over time, meaning that every infected cell has an equal probability of dying at any time. Here, we introduce a new MM which: (1) allows for a realistic eclipse delay between the moment of cell infection and the release of new virus; and (2) considers both exponential and (log)normal distributed durations for infectious cell lifespan, wherein cells are assumed to continuously producing virus. Application of this MM to HCV load data for patients undergoing antiviral therapy leads to diﬀerent conclusions when predicting parameter values.
Fuzzy Thesauri Recommendation System For Web 2.0 Social networks
Authors: Ghasemi Touhid
Published: May 2021

In the information age with billions of documents available on the Internet, searching among these documents has become quite a challenge for researchers. Since most of the search methods are based on terms within the documents, identifying the relationship between the terms has always been important in the eld of Information Retrieval. Using term relations in query expansion techniques is one of the most commonly used and successful approaches that are being used in order to help users nd what they need. In this study a fuzzy set based methodology is exploited for the retrieval and analysis of data available in Web2.0 social networking sites. The documents in each server or node are used for building a knowledge-base that will be employed by the Recommendation System in order to provide domain speci c suggestions, based on the friendship network in social networking sites. The results of the study show that the proposed methodology is reasonably scalable and can be employed on social networking sites.
Permanent Black Immigrants’ Experiences of Working in Ontario
Authors: Coleman-Bryan Kimberly
Published: May 2021

This Major Research Paper is a qualitative study that utilizes a narrative approach through an anti-Black racism lens to investigate the cultural, historical, political and socioeconomic factors that influences the career advancement and employment journey for Black immigrants in Ontario, specifically those from the Caribbean. This study follows the employment journey of two adults of African descent in Ontario. Through their stories, the two participants detail their experiences with subtle systemic racism and resulting precarious employment. Other common themes that emerged amongst the participants were low income status, blocked career advancement opportunities, maintaining multiple jobs, lack of training
specifically for Black immigrant adults, and low wage employment. The paper concludes by highlighting the importance of changing policies and structures in order to remove the barriers to stable employment and career advancement faced by people of African descent.

Keywords: Anti-Black Racism, Narrative, Ontario, African, Caribbean, Black, Employment Stability, Systemic and Policy
“Not Orphée.” “No, Never Him.”: Reclaiming Female Agency From Ovid’s “Orpheus and Eurydice” in Alice Munro’s “the Children Stay” and Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Authors: Chow Charlene
Published: May 2021

[Introductory paragraph] In myth, women's boundaries are pliant, porous, mutable. Her power to control them is inadequate, her concern for them unreliable. Deformation attends her. She swells, she shrinks, she leaks, she is penetrated, she suffers metamorphoses. The women of mythology regularly lose their form in monstrosity. —Anne Carson, Men in the Off Hours

Metamorphoses can be understood as “the action or process of changing in form, shape, or substance [and especially] transformation by supernatural means” (OED). Ovid’s Metamorphoses focuses on the changing of bodies to other physical forms, but Ovid’s tales of transformation have themselves been transformed into other literary and cultural forms. This paper will pull together different disciplines such as classical, literary, and film studies to examine Ovid’s “Orpheus and Eurydice” from the Metamorphoses, and the formalist and feminist adaptations of the tale by women about women: Alice Munro’s short story “The Children Stay” and Céline Sciamma’s film Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Munro and Sciamma give their female heroines the agency and voices they lacked in Ovid’s text, where there is a pattern of violence against women, who are silenced usually through some form of destructive transformations of their bodies.
A Visualization Approach to Facilitate the Early Stages of Product Design
Authors: Parmar Jayesh
Published: May 2021

Diagramming languages are heavily used in design and system analysis. Different languages have varying impacts on the effectiveness of designers. The author believes that there is no appropriate diagramming tool that is of substantial benefit to designers, especially in the early, pre-geometry stages of product development. A new tool, design schematics (DS), is introduced to fulfill this need. The general benefits of diagramming are outlined and the potential of diagramming tools is explored. Advantages and disadvantages of some existing diagramming methods are discussed. Analysis of diagramming methods motivates the development of DS. DS is consistent with the generic design process developed by Salustri. Several interrelated examples demonstrate how DS can capture important information during design stages. A detailed example of a coffee maker is carried out. It is executed as if the author were actually designing a coffee maker. Interrelated diagrams of the design highlight how DS helps in designing during the early stages. Computer support for development and full exploitation of DS is needed. The author believes that DS can be of great benefit to practising engineers. While there is not yet any quantitative data by which DS can be evaluated, there is anecdotal evidence suggesting that the tool has potential to be of benefit in design areas.
Understanding How Tesla Leverages Twitter To Communicate Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility
Authors: Corbett Kirstin
Published: May 2021

As the media coverage of the global climate crisis grows, so does the act of climate conscious consumer activism. As a result, companies have turned to communicating their corporate social responsibility (CSR) on social media in order to leverage their sustainable activities and improve their corporate image. Twitter, specifically, is a popular social media platform for marketing and cultivating business to consumer (B2C) relationships. One company that has become a model of success for CSR on Twitter is Tesla. The findings of this study discover higher interaction around ECSR tagged tweets in combination with a high culture of sharing amongst Tesla’s followers. This study aims to discover how Tesla, an electric car and sustainable
energy company, has made their Twitter page both informative and interactive when communicating their environmental corporate social responsibility (ECSR) agenda online.

Keywords: Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility, Tesla, Twitter, Online Community
Mobility Management Framework of Local Mobility
Authors: Hartwell Bryan
Published: May 2021

IP mobility solutions allow mobile nodes to roam while retaining connectivity to the internet. However, as these solutions evolve, mobile node implementations continue to undergo modification. Since mobile nodes represent hundreds of thousands of hosts worldwide, deploying new mobility protocols will become expensive. The main objective of this project was to design a framework that decouples the mobile node from route repair, which reduces the implementation and deployment time of new solutions. The proposed framework reengineers existing IP mobility protocols in order to facilitate the transition for network administrators. The second objective of the project was to provide a prototype of the framework to gain acceptance for our design within the Internet community. The result of this work is a mobility management framework that not only reduces the effects of deployment, but also provides a standard interface to the mobile node.
Language variation, socialization and attitudes: a sociolinguistic investigation of school-aged bidialectal English speakers
Authors: Dove Nicola M.
Published: May 2021

The original purpose of this investigation was to determine the relationships between dialect, cultural identity, and literacy for Jamaican-Canadian Creole speakers (JCS), but was expanded to focus more broadly on language socialization due to low recruitment. Fourteen participants (5 children, aged 5-6 and 9 adults) from JCS families within the Toronto area were recruited for this study. Language attitudes and use measures: questionnaire, interview, and Matched-Guise Test. Language and literacy measures: Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation and Assessment
of Literacy and Language. Child results showed that language dominance was Standard English for both use and exposure, and to date, language and literacy results are only described due to small sample size. In relation to identity and Creole use, interpretation of qualitative measures revealed that language attitudes were not always reflected in language use. However, findings provide initial insights regarding the relationship between language, identity, and literacy that warrant deeper investigation.

Keywords: sociolinguistics, dialect, Jamaican Creole, bidialectal, cultural identity, Jamaican-Canadian, language, literacy
Mixing Characteristics of External Loop Airlift Bioreactor using Electrical Resistance Tomography
Authors: Hamood-Ur-Rehman Mian
Published: May 2021

In the present work, a novel packed bed external loop pneumatically agitated airlift bioreactor with an internal gas distributor (perforated plate) between two rolls of packing in the riser was designed and built. This novel approach combines advantages of packed bed and external loop airlift bioreactors. The main objective of this research work was to characterize the hydrodynamic performance of this novel reactor through a non-intrusive flow visualization technique called electrical resistance tomography (ERT). The tomography images, which were generated using a linear back projection algorithm, were employed to explore the effects of different design parameters and operating conditions. These include the effect of the two packing in the riser and the internal gas distributor (perforated plate) installed between the two packing. Other parameters investigated include the effect of sparger configuration, gas flow rate, and liquid height in the bioreactor on the different hydrodynamic parameters such as gas holdup, mixing time, and liquid circulation velocity. Results showed that the gas holdup and mixing time increased in the presence of the gas distributor, while the riser superficial liquid velocity was decreased. Furthermore, gas holdup and mixing time increased, superficial liquid velocity decreased when decreasing liquid height in the reactor, and when using packing or gas distributor between two packings in the riser. These results can be used to improve mixing characteristics in external loop airlift bioreactors for wider range of applications.