bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Hotel Design
Authors: Aird Grant
Published: May 2021

Briefly, this is a report that deals with today' s hotel industry with specific reference to Toronto. A city which has seen three new hotels in the downtown area over the past few years, and now at least three more started for construction in the next five years.

The report contains sections that deal with historical events and aspects of the industry from its early existence to the present. Much of this will give the reader an insight to events that. have shaped the industry to what it is today.

Since the industry is experiencing its own problems, dealing with design, finance and a change of image, much of this report will be concerned with looking at what is called a "Design Approach" to hotel design. In most cases, designers are finding this method to be of sound rationalism. Also the report will deal with three specific areas, rooms, lobbies and restaurant design. Here insight shall be given to -problems associated with each and what changes are occurring with each to ensure their success among guests and owners.

Final portions of the report will be allotted to specifically one hotel, the Holiday Inn, Toronto Downtown. A critical analysis of the hotel and its design will be given with final submissions of the main floor and guest rooms, re-designed.
The Original Roots Man: landscape, nationalism and dress
Authors: Ho Ariana
Published: May 2021

The landscape paintings of Canadian artist Tom Thomson have long been a part of the Canadian canon of art. The Group of Seven, Emily Carr and Tom Thomson have produced images of the Canadian wilderness that continue to capture the imagination of Canadians to this day. After nearly a hundred years since the passing of Tom Thomson in 1917, the mythology surrounding the artist continues to develop as he plays an important role within Canadian cultural memory and consciousness as a quintessential Canadian icon. Some scholars have argued that the Thomson myth has less to do with the art that he produced, and have more to do with the prevalent ideas and values that were projected onto his life after his mysterious death at Canoe Lake. In the summer of 2014, Canadian lifestyle brand Roots Canada Ltd. released the Tom Thomson collection, which sought to recognize the artist’s life and works, as the “Original Roots Man”. The narrative revolving around Tom Thomson, national identity and the wilderness may appear to truly represent Canadian life and reality given its repetition within discourses of mass culture and in the recent Roots collection. However, as this Major Research Paper (MRP) proposes, the Thomson myth speaks of larger themes having to do with how Canadians think about identity, gender, space and history and their place in it. This MRP explores the convergence of nationalism, antimodernism, the differentiation of space, and the commodification of heritage through Roots’ 2014 Tom Thomson Collection. Ultimately, this MRP argues that the Roots Tom Thomson Collection serves as an example of the commodification of heritage that provides a limited vision of Canada.
Adaptive 2D To 3D Image Conversion Using A Hybrid Graph Cuts And Random Walks Approach
Authors: Fawaz Mohammad
Published: May 2021

This thesis proposes an adaptive method for 2D to 3D conversion of images using a user-aided process based on Graph Cuts and Random Walks. Given user-defined labelling that correspond to a rough estimate of depth, the system produces a depth map which, combined with a 2D image can be used to synthesize a stereoscopic image pair. The work presented here is an extension of work done previously combining the popular Graph Cuts and Random Walks image segmentation algorithms. Specifically, the previous approach has been made adaptive by removing empirically determined constants; as well the quality of the results has been improved. This is achieved by feeding information from the Graph Cuts result into the Random Walks process in two different ways, and using edge and spatial information to adapt various weights.

This thesis also presents a practical application which allows for a user to go through the entire process of 2D to 3D conversion using the method proposed in this work. The application is written using MATLAB, and allows a user to generate and edit depth maps intuitively and also allows a user to synthesize additional views of the image for display on 3D capable devices.
Immigrating to Canada for a "Better Life" : A Qualitative Study on First Generation Vietnamese Immigrant Youths in Canada in the Twenty-First Century
Authors: Dang Thao
Published: May 2021

Through five in-depth interviews, this research paper examines factors influencing recent Vietnamese immigrant youths' decisions to come to Canada, and their initial settlement experiences upon arrival in the first three years. This study mainly focuses on the context of departure, exploring the youths' every-day interactions with their social surroundings in Vietnam, prior to their arrival in Canada. This study found that Vietnamese immigrant youths immigrate to Canada to obtain a 'better life'. The three main factors influencing their decisions to come are: (a) their interactions with overseas Vietnamese (including relatives and non-relatives), (b) their level of paid and domestic work responsibilities in Vietnam compared to Canada.
Experiential Density: Infill strategies within Toronto's Centres - Bringing Human Scale, Character, and Walkability
Authors: Sauder Dustin Lee
Published: May 2021

A variety of approaches are being used to accommodate Toronto’s growing population. Most of these solutions rely on high-rise and mid-rise developments, emphasizing the quantity of density instead of the quality. However, this thesis focuses on blocks of slab towers, and explores how the perception of an environment and intensity of development can form an experiential density. Introducing new public and pedestrian orientated spaces to the neglected land between apartment towers to improve the experience of urban blocks also offers open space to increase the density in Toronto’s designated growth areas. To achieve this new environment, urban blocks containing clusters of slab towers will be fragmented into walkable distances; scaled outdoor spaces will activate the neglected park; infill will increase density and define outdoor spaces; and transitional areas will mediate the public and private realm, all to bring life into the block and improve experience of urban density.
Popular materials: late-Victorian illustrated magazines and the technological imagination
Authors: Hedley Alison
Published: May 2021

How did the multimodal aesthetics of popular illustrated periodicals shape late-Victorian reader
engagement? How did these terms of engagement relate to the role magazines played in
emerging mass culture? My dissertation investigates these questions using evidence from four
popular periodicals between 1885 and 1918: the Graphic, the Illustrated London News,
Pearson’s Magazine, and the Strand. Readers possessed a print media literacy through which
they could interpret the material traces of production that were part of a periodical’s aesthetics
and situate a print object in its real and imagined socio-technological contexts, a capacity I
describe as the technological imagination. Print media literacy also enabled readers to attend to
how a physical print object mediated culture, which I describe as medial awareness.

Combining close reading with historical contextualization and a media archaeological emphasis
on materiality, I analyze aesthetic characteristics of these four illustrated magazines that
influenced reader engagement by invoking readers’ technological imagination. At the turn of the
century, the Illustrated London News and other popular illustrated magazines underwent what
Gaudreault and Marion would call a “second birth,” repositioning themselves within the era’s
new media milieu. The increasingly visual and multimodal aesthetics of these periodicals
engaged readers’ technological imagination and drew their attention to mediation itself. Using de
Certeau’s theory of strategy and tactic, I argue that periodical producers strategically invoked the
technological imagination to acquire cultural authority, but readers could use their medial
awareness to poach producer techniques, becoming critical and productive agents of mass
culture. In news weeklies such as the Illustrated London News and the Graphic, advertisers
encouraged readers to conflate reading and consumption, but readers could appropriate
advertising strategies using curatorial and hyper-reading tactics. In monthlies such as Pearson’s,
population journalism prompted readers to conceptualize themselves using a “biopolitical” rubric
of normalization, in Foucault’s sense, but this genre’s spectacular strategies created space for
readers to exert tactical agency. In “Curiosities,” a participatory feature in the Strand, readers
used the technological imagination to appropriate multimodal magazine production and
contribute to what Flichy terms the “socio-technical frame of reference” for the hand camera. As
“Curiosities” demonstrates, late-Victorian illustrated periodicals influenced the terms of user
engagement for twentieth- and twenty-first-century mass media.
Exploring the issue of environmental degradation in the era of mass consumerism and digital media as the solution
Authors: Poulson Elspeth A.
Published: May 2021

As the price of clothing continues to globally decline, demand and consumption rise in tandem. This relationship between mass production and consumption has earned the title “fast fashion” as it values efficiency and inexpensive manufacturing methods and materials. The environmental costs however, of producing, consuming and ultimately discarding so much clothing is unparalleled. Although there is growing pressure on the industry to engage in more socially and environmentally-responsible practices, this pressure does not in any fundamental way contradict the logic of consumer capitalism.
The following research project places the responsibility and agency of conscious consumer behaviour back into the hands of individuals in hopes of disrupting the cycle of mass production and consumption. Leveraging the power and influence of social media, this project reflects upon the current role of Instagram as a propagator of consumer culture and reimagines it as a catalyst for mindful purchasing behaviour among the female millennial demographic.
Fatigue Damage Characterization of Braided and Woven Fiber Reinforced Polymer Matrix Composites at Room and Elevated Temperatures
Authors: Montesano John
Published: May 2021

The use of polymer matrix composites (PMC) for manufacturing primary load-bearing structural components has significantly increased in many industrial applications. Specifically in the aerospace industry, PMCs are also being considered for elevated temperature applications. Current aerospace-grade composite components subjected to fatigue loading are over-designed due to insufficient understanding of the material failure processes, and due to the lace of available generic fatigue prediction models. A comprehensive literature survey reveals that there are few fatigue studies conducted on woven and braided fabric reinforced PMC materials, and even fewer at elevated temperatures. It is therefore the objective of this study to characterize and subsequently model the elevated temperature fatigue behaviour of a triaxial braided PMC, and to investigate the elevated temperature of fatigue properties of two additional woven PMCs.

An extensive experimental program is conducted using a unique test protocol on the braided and woven composites, which consists of static and fatigue testing at various test temperatures. The development of mechanically-induced damage is monitored using a combination of non-destructive techniques which included infrared thermography, fiber optic sensors and edge replication. The observed microscopic damage development is quantified and correlated to the exhibited macroscopic material behaviour at all test temperatures. The fiber-dominated PMC materials considered in this study did not exhibit notable time or temperature-dependent static properties. However, fatigue tests reveal that the local damage development is in fact notably influenced by temperature. The elevated temperature environment increases the toughness of the thermosetting polymers, which results in consistently slower fatigue crack propagation rates for the respective composite materials. This has a direct impact on the stiffness degradation rate and the fatigue lives for the braided and woven composites under investigation. The developed analytical fatigue damage prediction model, which is based on actual observed damage mechanisms, accurately predicted the development of damage and corresponding stiffness degradation for the braided PMC, for all test temperatures. An excellent correlation was found between the experimental the predicted results to within a 2% accuracy. The prediction model adequately captured the local temperature-induced phenomenon exhibited by the braided PMC material. The results presented in this study are novel for a braided composite material subjected to elevated temperature fatigue.
On Empirically Examining The Effectiveness Of Deep Learning-Based Bug Localization Models
Authors: Sravya Sravya
Published: May 2021

Software Bug Localization involves a significant amount of time and effort on the part of the software developer. Many state-of-the-art bug localization models have been proposed in the past, to help developers localize bugs easily. However, none of these models meet the adoption thresholds of the software practitioner. Recently some deep learning-based models have been proposed, that have been shown to perform better than the state-of-the-art models. With this motivation, we experiment on Convolution Neural Networks (CNNs) to examine their effectiveness in localizing bugs. We also train a SimpleLogistic model as a baseline model for our experiments. We train both our models on five open source Java projects and compare their performance across the projects. Our experiments show that the CNN models perform better than the SimpleLogistic models in most of the cases, but do not meet the adoption criteria set by the practitioners.
Are gesture interfaces out of touch? Challenges with the adoption of emerging technology
Authors: Powell Amanda
Published: May 2021

Many studies in the field of human-computer interaction (HCI) point to gesture-based interaction (GBI) as a transformative method for communicating with computers. GBI allows people to use common body language like waving or pointing to manipulate devices without physically touching them. Current research suggests that moving beyond traditional mechanical devices such as a mouse or keyboard may create richer and more ‘natural’ user experiences.
Despite this finding, this mode of interaction has not seen broadscale adoption. A critical analysis of the work taking place in both industry and HCI studies demonstrates tension between the theory and practice of creating gesture-centric interfaces. This study provides a critical overview of the issues, technological, design and social, that pose a challenge to the widescale adoption of this technology.
Joint user grouping and time allocation for NOMA with wireless power transfer
Authors: Basharat Mehak
Published: May 2021

Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) has recently been explored to address the challenges
in 5G networks such as spectral efficiency, large number of devices, etc. Further, energy
harvesting is a promising solution to address the challenges for energy efficiency in 5G networks.
In this thesis, joint user grouping, power allocation, and time allocation for NOMA with RF energy
harvesting is investigated. We mathematically modeled a framework to optimize user grouping,
power allocation, and time allocation for energy harvesting and information transfers. The objective
is to maximize data rate while satisfying the constraints on minimum data rate requirement of
each user and transmit power. We adopted mesh adaptive direct search (MADS) algorithm to solve
the formulated problem. The user grouping in MADS is comparable with the exhaustive search
which is computationally very complex. The thesis is supported with simulation results in terms
of user grouping, power allocation, user rate, and time sharing.
The Aesthetics of Participation
Authors: Tekatch Tyler
Published: May 2021

"In this paper I would like to articulate a mode of perceptual participation, primarily an aesthetic mode, whereby humans enter into relation with the natural world around them. In order to elaborate on the mode of this participation I will draw examples from artists and thinkers that I believe have determined to make the notion of 'participation' an integral part of their work. The purpose of this paper is to situate my project in a larger tradition and theoretical framework. Over the last two years of study I have been drawn to a number of artists and thinkers who have influenced me a great deal. The common feature among them, or the relevant feature to me, has been the theme of the interaction between the self and the world, the organism and the environment, to use John Dewey's terminology, and how this interaction speaks of humanity's carnal and perceptual inherence in the world. Among these artists are Charles Olson, Jack Chambers and Stan Brakhage, and I would like to discuss their work in relation to this interactive process of self and world."--Pages 2-3.
The effects of statistical learning and congruency on the development of multi-modal objects
Authors: Chan Zara Po Yee
Published: May 2021

The effects of statistical learning and congruency on multi-modal binding were examined. As pattern acquisition is stronger for within-object than for between-object associations, extending bias from within-object to within-modality was tested, and the statistical learning effect on between-modality learning assessed. Dyson and Ishfaq‟s (2008) paradigm was adapted, with frequency of within- and between-modality associations manipulated (Experiment 1), and frequency and congruency manipulated (Experiment 2). Each experiment comprised baseline (no predictive value), intra-modal (intramodal predictive value), and inter-modal (intermodal predictive value) conditions. Experiment 1 showed faster performance for within-object judgments, and fewer errors on within-object judgments, excluding the inter-modal condition. Experiment 2 replicated this, with cross-experimental analyses showing weak congruency effects. Data showed probability manipulations led mostly to interference on same-modality trials rather than facilitation on different-modality trials, suggesting while frequency of differentmodality associations did not facilitate superior performance, perhaps expectancies of frequent different-modality associations weakened sensitivity to the within-modality bias.
Exploring Interactive Technology In Education Through The Use Of 3D Lenticular Projection And Volumetric displays
Authors: Carter-Arlt Michael
Published: May 2021

This project explores some of the ways interactive technology has been used in education to increase student engagement, and suggests how novel rendering and interaction technologies can be used in learning environments to increase student engagement. With the utilization of the Unity game engine, Near Field Communication using an Arduino, and Vuforia image recognition software, a 3D platform was created for a technology called the Looking Glass, which adapts 3D models to appear as 3D holograms. The idea behind the platform was to suggest ways in which technology can be used to create more engaging content in an educational setting, in order to combat the constant struggle many students have with diverting their attention away from their distracting smartphones. In the end, the goal is to suggest that in battle against distractions in a classroom, engaging content prevails over technology confiscation.
Unlocking the past: an analysis of sixteen Russian First World War Albums from the photography collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, including enhanced cataloguing records
Authors: Belilovskaia Ekaterina
Published: May 2021

This thesis includes theoretical and practical components. The theoretical part examines sixteen Russian photographic albums produced during the First World War. The albums form a part of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s (AGO) photography collection related to the First World War. In Part I, a literature survey, methodology
section and historical chapter provide essential contextual and historical information about the objects. Part II consists of four essays that analyze the albums, divided into four groups. Based on the author’s translation of the available captions and her interpretation of the visual information found in the albums, the essays demonstrate how the critical events of Russian history during the period from 1910 to the 1920s are reflected through the photographs in these personal albums. The practical part of the thesis (Part III) provides a sampling of cataloguing records on an item level for the two Hospital Train albums in Appendix A and updated cataloguing records for all sixteen albums in Appendix B.
Frozen Out: Audiences, Affect and Women’s Hockey
Authors: Gall Donna
Published: May 2021

Every four years, millions of Canadians watch women play hockey during the Olympics. Yet when it comes to regularly scheduled professional games, that audience dramatically decreases. In 2019, low audience numbers led to the closure of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League and put the future of professional women’s hockey in jeopardy. As with many women’s sports, broadcasters argue the cost of production is too great, the value of airtime minutes too high to take the financial risk of televising the women’s game without guaranteeing viewers for advertisers. Activists and athletes argue that the audience must be built through broadcaster investment.

While scholars have examined hockey for its representational power to define national and gendered identities, there has been shockingly little research into the hockey audience. This mixed method audience reception study seeks to explore the viewing inconsistencies of the audience for women’s hockey. Quantitative results from an online survey (n =685) provided data about viewing habits, perceptions and knowledge. This data informed qualitative focus groups (n = 25) that in turn provided contextualization and reasoning for the quantitative data. Mixed method analysis intersected grounded theory with audience reception, sport media, feminist studies and affect theory to identify a persistent discursive strategy framing women’s hockey as “pure” for resisting the crass commercialization, incessant violence and individualistic star system of professional men’s hockey. I argue that women’s hockey becomes the manifestation of the Canadian myth of hockey; men’s hockey as it used to be. As a nostalgic placeholder devoid of context, contemporary women’s hockey functions within a double bind; virtuous and elevated yet non-viable as a commercial enterprise. This ensures that the sport remains precarious at best.

“Pure” women’s hockey also functions as a postfeminist essentializing discourse that solves the gender risk of hockey’s hypermasculinity while disavowing women’s physically aggressive play and sport media’s affective currency. Whereas Olympic women’s hockey relies on patriotic pride for audience affective engagement, professional women’s hockey is framed by cognitive contradictions, “pure” but commercial, gender normative but transgressive. Confused and disconnected from the game and players, audiences are left unaffected.
In Search of Security: Access to Affordable Housing Among Immigrant Women Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence
Authors: Seifi Sadaf Grace
Published: May 2021

This paper presents insights into the lived experiences of immigrant women of varying degrees of immigration status, who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) and, as a result, have faced difficulty securing safe and affordable housing. The information was collected through 15 interviews with immigrant women as well as key informants who work with immigrant women. The study findings show that the needs are even more pronounced for immigrant women who face additional barriers such as lack of English/ French language skills, support systems, and financial means. Using an intersectionality perspective, this paper explores the ways in which a lack of adequate housing influences the safety and stability of immigrant women who have experienced IPV in Metro Vancouver.
Nourishing place? : immigrant children's "ethnic food" experiences
Authors: Paul Kerith
Published: May 2021

This study explores the relationship between food and identity in a sample of ethnically diverse 1.5 and second generation Canadians residing in Toronto. The primary question of this research is what challenges do immigrant children face around "ethnic food" in the home and school settings and how do they affect immigrant children's ethnic identity as adults. This paper is an extension of a study by Lessa and Rocha (2007) that examined how food mediates the processes of settlement and new identity formation in newly immigrated women to Toronto. I applied the authors' thematic analysis to the data from this study to compare the similarities and differences of experiences with "ethnic food" between immigrant women and immigrant children. Food studies provide a window into the lives of immigrant children who experience othering processes in mainstream Canadian society and occupy a difficult space in between the dominant and their parents' cultures.
Psychopathic features, paired-associate learning, and lexical decision-making in children
Authors: Cormier Nicole Susann
Published: May 2021

This thesis explored potential links between psychopathic features and difficulties with abstract semantic processing in a clinical convenience sample of children aged 6 through 11. Correlational analyses investigated relationships between parent-reported Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD) and Inventory of Callous-Unemotional (ICU) scores, and differences in children's concrete versus abstract performance on paired-associate (PA) and lexical decision (LD) tasks. The expected positive correlations with callous-unemotional traits were not found. However, parent-reported APSD impulsivity, APSD total, and ICU total scores were negatively correlated with differences in LD accuracy. The analyses failed to reveal anticipated differences between concrete and abstract task performance. While the null findings suggest numerous issues with the study protocol, several solutions are proposed, and the importance of measuring the sub-factors of psychopathy (impulsivity, narcissism, CU traits) in future investigations of child cognitive functioning was emphasized.
Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Wheat Straw in a Stirred-Tank Reactor
Authors: Khan Ejaz
Published: May 2021

In an attempt to elucidate the effect of some operating conditions on the rate and extent of enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials in a stirred tank reactor, wheat straw was hydrolyzed by mixing with two pitched-blade impellers mounted on a shaft under various atmospheric conditions: static air in headspace, N₂ gas flowing over the surface of the medium, and minimal static air by a lid touching the surface of the medium. The presence of N₂ gas over the reaction medium produced by the highest 6.9 % (w/w) conversion in 36 hours. The initial conversion when N₂ gas flowed in the headspace (2.9 % w/w), and when a lid was used (2.9 % w/w) as compared to conversion in air presence (2.3 % w/w), seems to indicate that the enzyme activity was affected due to oxidation in the presence of air. The observed low conversion yield was probably the result of the non sterile conditions imposed by industrial requirements for the production of biofuel ethanol from agricultural lignocellulosics.
Numerical simulation of the effects of G-jitters on thermal diffusion process in binary and ternary mixtures
Authors: Adimoolam Chandra
Published: May 2021

The effects of different levels of static and oscillatory gravities on the thermal diffusion phenomenon or Soret effect in binary and ternary mixtures were numeerically investigated. A two dimensional square cavity is considered with lateral heating conditions. The Navier-Stokes equations, coupled with energy and mass transfer equations were solved numerically using Finite Element Method. A ternary hydrocarbon mixture consisting of methan - n-butane and dodecane and binary mixture made of water - isopropanol were analyzed to validate the applicability of the numerical method to various mixtures. The concentration, temperature, and fluid flow distributions have been thoroughly analyzed for different gravity levels. The influence of gravity on the thermal diffusion process in a ternary mixture is further discussed. From the results obtained, it can be inferred that the effects of the static gravity on thermal diffusion is very significant and buoyancy convection affects the Soret separation.
Photographic views taken in Egypt and Nubia by James Douglas, M.D. and James Douglas Jr.
Authors: Graham Jennifer
Published: May 2021

This thesis focuses on the 19th century albums Photographic Views Taken in Egypt, which hold photographs and text by James Douglas, M.D. (1800-1886) and his son James Douglas Jr. (1837-1918). The albums are held in the collections of the Archive of Modern Conflict (AMC), Toronto, Canada, the British Library, London, England, The Brooklyn Museum’s Wilbour Library of Egyptology Special Collections in Brooklyn, New York City, and Université Laval in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The albums are also identified as Photographic Views Taken in Nubia and Photographic Views of Egypt & Nubia and include views of both Egypt and Nubia. Since the albums were privately printed for friends and family, little research and academic discussion has taken place on them. This thesis strives to resolve this gap in academic discussion and has begun a discourse on Photographic Views Taken in Egypt.
A Mathematical Method for Predicting the Design Performance of Single and Multi-stage Rockets
Authors: Chang Alexander
Published: May 2021

Methods for predicting the performance of rockets are not new, however they often exist only within private organizations and in order to ensure competitive advantage, organizations tend to not share any details about their inner performance models. This open-source method gives students, design-teams and hobbyists a method to obtain baseline approximations for the performance of both single and multi-stage tandem rockets and provides a method which can easily be modified to meet the end-user’s requirements. The method solves for the mass, flight-path angle, velocity, altitude, and down-range distance using a numerical integrator to solve a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations.
Role of vegetation placement for temperature moderation in an urban microclimate
Authors: Torchia Melissa
Published: May 2021

Through optimal planning and site design, strategic selection and placement of vegetation is one approach to prevent warming in the urban core. To test this hypothesis, a paired sampling design using temperature loggers, was conducted in the City of Toronto to assess the overall effect that shading through vegetation had on moderating temperatures in the microclimate proximate to built structures. The role of vines, a single mature tree, and multiple trees growing at one site, was investigated to compare their temperature moderating benefits. Tree placement on the west facing aspect of built structures delivered the greatest overall benefits when compared to south and east facing building walls. Temperature differences between loggers reached a maximum of 11.7°C during the month of August. A mixed model evaluated the longitudinal study data and revealed that temperatures were significantly cooler (p < 0.05) in the shade of both trees and vines compared to those recorded in the sun for all aspects throughout peak solar access periods.
Preliminary Analysis of the Effects of Different Machining Techniques on Carbon Fibre Epoxy Materials
Authors: Mollicone Diana
Published: May 2021

Composite materials present a potential alternative to traditional metallic alloys in aerospace structural components such that they have desirable mechanical properties while possessing low densities. These components are traditionally joined together through bolts, which require the materials to have machined holes. This inquiry compared the effects of different types of machining on carbon epoxy plates: drilling with a coated bit and waterjet machining, and how they impact the material’s behavior during load-bearing operations. Three forms of material testing were used: tensile testing, strain gauge, and infrared thermography analysis during cyclic loading. The results obtained do not demonstrate consistent patterns that would suggest that one machining method is beneficial over the other.
I’m Not Just a Badass With a Gun: Potential Learning Outcomes Related to Civic Engagement in Mass Effect 2
Authors: Bockler Sally
Published: May 2021

Mass Effect 2 is a popular computer role-playing game that has registered industry praise and academic attention for its compelling narrative and diverse cast of characters. This MRP examines how the design of the Mass Effect 2 game supports the potential for fostering civic engagement in its players via the gameplay and narrative design. Labov’s model (1997) of narrative structure of stories and narrative capacities (Frank 2010) originating from socionarrative
theory provides the key narrative concepts to guide my analysis of the design decisions that went into the construction of the Mass Effect 2 world. Concepts of cooperation, reciprocity, and trust are used in conjunction with a qualitative content analysis to determine the existence of these aspects within the narrative of the game. This MRP will establish that the narrative structures and narrative capacities are used to catalyze concepts of cooperation, reciprocity, and
trust in an effort to solve conflicts and promote acts that are civic in nature between its characters. Additionally, it will offer insight into how civic engagement is communicated in the Mass Effect 2 game.
Energy Model Development and Heating Energy Investigation of the Nested Thermal Envelope Design (NTED (tm))
Authors: DIxon Erin Elizabeth
Published: May 2021

Space heating accounts for approximately 60% of residential energy use in Canada. Minimizing envelope heat losses is one approach to reducing this percentage. Preliminary research investigated the energy-saving potential of an innovative design, referred to as Nested Thermal Envelope Design (NTED(TM)). The concept involves one insulated building inside another with dual thermal zones. Conservative modeling results from this work showed heating energy reductions of 74%. This research developed a new NTED(TM) simulation model to provide increased accuracy and gain a more complete understanding of the potential heating energy savings. The working performance was also investigated by modeling occupied-building operation. The resulting model has shown that the NTED(TM) design yields savings of 85% relative to a benchmark R-2000 building. These results improve on the preliminary values and reinforce the merit of the design as a means of achieving significant reductions in residential energy use.
Prediction of stock switching points by financial news
Authors: Asadi Kakhki Saeede Sadat
Published: May 2021

The purpose of this study is to detect stock switching points from historical stock data and analyze corresponding financial news to predict upcoming stock switching points. Various change point detection methods have been investigated in the literature, such as online bayesian change point detection technique. Prediction of stock changing points using financial news has been implemented by different types of text mining techniques. In this study, online bayesian change point detection is implemented to detect stock switching points from historical stock data. Relevant news to detected change points are retrieved in the past and Latent Dirichlet Allocation technique is used to learn the hidden structures in the news data. Unseen news are then transferred to the trained topic representation. Similarity of relevant news and unseen news are used for prediction of future stock change points. Results show that stock switching points can be detected by historical stock data with better performance comparing to random guessing. It is possible to predict stock switching points by only fraction of financial news and with good result in terms of common performance metrics. According to this research, traders can take advantage of financial news to enhance prediction of future stock switching points.
The crime-terror nexus in Canada: changing human trafficking operations and smuggling
Authors: Wong Moses Kay-Leun
Published: May 2021

In the post-9/11 era, the Canadian and the United States government are facing two
phenomena, Narco-Terrorism and Crime-Terror Nexus. Terrorist groups and transnational
organized crime are aligning their illicit activities. This thesis will demonstrate how the
convergence of these two clandestine enterprises changes human trafficking and smuggling
operations, and thus pose a higher caliber threat to vulnerable populations, such as victims of
trafficking and refugees. Links will be drawn to explain why Canada’s current border security
and refugee system are ill-equipped to address these nefarious activities. The thesis proposes
recommendations offered by Canadian experts in the field of migration policy and international
security. However, implementations depend heavily on how receptive Canada’s general public
is. The majority of Canadians are not aware that issues of human trafficking and smuggling and
refugee are intertwined with border security, transnational organized crime, and now terrorist
groups.
Fashion autobiographies: a case study with fourteen subjects
Authors: Gasparro Filomena Natale
Published: May 2021

“Fashion Autobiographies: A Case Study with Fourteen Subjects” creates a narrative at the intersection of fashion, affect, and autobiography. Underlying this study is the theoretical assumption that, more than a protective skin for hiding or showcasing the body, clothing is a repository for emotion and memory. It is also a powerful medium for communicating and writing a life. To illustrate fashion’s potential as a medium for life writing, specifically as fashion autobiography, this Major Research Paper (MRP) pursues two distinct goals. First, it theorizes the novel concept of the fashion autobiography using theories of fashion, life writing and gender. Second, it includes an arts-based project, “Fashion Autobiographies: A Case Study with Fourteen Subjects,” involving fourteen women and the creation of fourteen fashion autobiographies written on canvas dresses and exhibited at the Design Exchange in Toronto in February 2015. The author designed three template dresses using three iconic silhouettes from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, which the women were encouraged to manipulate and deconstruct as they wished. Thus, each woman used one of these template dresses to articulate a pivotal experience, illustrating a moment that defined her life. Together, this MRP argues, these fourteen dresses stand as a collection of moments told through fashion life writing, exhibiting deeply personal memories and emotions. They represent the objects of study for this MRP, presented through detailed description and object analysis. This MRP conjoins theory and art to advance our understanding of the form, function, and significance of the fashion autobiography.
Dance to the Music: The Effects of Moving on Emotional Responsiveness
Authors: McGarry Lucy
Published: May 2021

In the current study I examined whether interpretive movement to music enhances emotional experience of the music, in dancers and non-dancers. Participants interacted with a series of musical excerpts, varying in valence and arousal, by either sitting still (still condition), moving arms up and down to the beat of the music (constrained condition), or gesturing their arms freely to the music (free condition), allowing for creative interpretation. Physiological and self-reported emotional responses to these songs were compared post-interaction. I found that after free gesturing, experienced dancers had polarized valence and arousal ratings towards happy vs. sad excerpts as opposed to after still and constrained conditions. Similar results were obtained of skin conductance (sweat) and zygomaticus major (smiling) responses. Non-dancers showed no difference in ratings or physiological responses between interaction conditions. This suggests that the effects of movement on emotional responsiveness to music are mediated by dance training.
Computational analysis on proton exchange membrane fuel cell technology
Authors: Wu Hao
Published: May 2021

In proton-exchange membrane fuel cells, it is particularly important to maintain appropriate water content and temperature in the electrolyte membrane. Taking into account the diffusion of water, the pressure variation, and the electro-osmotic drag in the membrane and using an empirical relationship between electro-osmotic drag and water content, a transport equation for membrane water molar concentration was obtained, and a new equation for the electric potential that strictly accounts for variable water contents was derived. The new potential equation is more accurate than the conventionally employed Laplace's equation. A number of numerical simulations are performed for comparing the new model with other results obtained computationally or experimentally. The relationship between the humidity in fuel cell and the electric potential loss within the membrane is also investigated at different nominal current densities. The impact and importance of three-dimensionality, relative humidity, temperature, and pressure non-uniformity are assessed and discussed.
Current Source Converter Based Offshore Wind Farm: Configuration and Control
Authors: Popat Miteshkumar Nandlal
Published: May 2021

Recently, offshore wind farms have emerged as the most promising sector in the global renewable energy industry. The main reasons for the rapid development of offshore wind farms includes much better wind resources and smaller environmental impact (e.g., audible noise and visual effect). However, the current state of the offshore wind power presents economic challenges significantly greater than onshore. In this thesis, a novel interconnecting method for permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG)-based offshore wind farm is proposed, where cascaded pulse-width modulated (PWM) current-source converters (CSCs) are employed on both generator- and grid-side. With the converters in cascade to achieve high operating voltages, the proposed method eliminates the need for bulky and very costly offshore converter substation which is usually employed in voltage source converter (VSC) high voltage DC (HVDC)-based counterparts. Related research in terms of control schemes and grid integration are carried out to adapt the proposed cascaded CSC-based offshore wind farm configuration.

The large distance between generator- and grid-side CSC in the proposed wind farm configuration addresses significant challenges for the system control. In order to overcome the problem, a novel decoupled control scheme is developed. The active and reactive power control on the grid-side converters are achieved without any exchange of information from the generator-side controller. Therefore, the long distance communication links between the generator- and grid-side converters are eliminated and both controllers are completely decoupled. At the same time, the maximum power tracking control is achieved for the generator-side converters that enable full utilization of the wind energy.

Considering inconsistent wind speed at each turbine, a coordinated control scheme is proposed for the cascaded CSC-based offshore wind farm. In proposed control strategy, the wind farm supervisory control (WFSC) is developed to generate the optimized dc-link current control. This enables all the turbines to independently track their own MPPT even with inconsistent wind speed at each turbine.

Grid integration issues, especially the fault ride-through (FRT) capability for the cascaded CSC-based offshore wind farm are addressed. Challenges in implementing existing FRT methods to the proposed offshore wind farm are identified. Based on this, a new FRT strategy using inherent short circuit operating capability of the CSC is developed. Moreover, the mitigation strategy is developed to ensure the continuous operation of the cascaded CSC-based offshore wind farm when one or more turbines fail to operate.

Simulation and experimental verification for various objectives are provided throughout the thesis. The results validate the proposed solutions for the main challenges of the cascaded current source converter based offshore wind farm.
Bridging the gap : a study of the Ryerson University, Chang School of Continuing Education, Internationally Educated Social Work Professionals Bridging Program
Authors: Davidson Mark A.
Published: May 2021

This study examines how the Internationally Educated Social Work Professionals Bridging Program at Ryerson University facilitates the integration of Internationally Educated Social Workers (IESWs) into the Canadian labour market. Research indicates that Internationally Educated Professionals (IEPs) often face significant barriers that restrict them from effectively utilizing their foreign-obtained human capital. Occupational bridging programs are one type of program that has proven effective at increasing the employment rates of the IEPs who participate in them (Adamowicz, 2004; Dean Marie, Austin, & Zubin, 2004; Alboim, Finnie, & Meng, 2005). Through individual interviews conducted with program participants and key stakeholder representatives, this study identifies the barriers that IESWs face in the labour market, the challenges facing the IESW bridging program, and the perceived benefits of the program. The findings of this study reveal that unlike other labour market integration programs the IESWs bridging program comprehensively addresses many of the individual and systemic barriers that restrict IESWs from maximizing returns to their human capital.
Invigorating the Public Body : A Case Study of HIV/AIDS Activist Confrontations Against Big Pharma for Access to Medicines
Authors: Forhan Karen
Published: May 2021

Using 'illness as metaphor," critical communications theory, citizenship studies and critical political economy, this thesis presents a case study of the confrontation between "Big Pharma" and HIV/AIDS activists concerning access to HIV/AIDS medicines; a confrontation that spilled over into the World Trade Organization (WTO) causing worldwide public outrage. The timeline starts in the 1980s, but focuses on confrontations between these actors during the 1990s and early 2000s.

By making HIV/AIDS 'public and 'political', activists: battled stigmatization; revealed the politics of medicine; made Big Pharma more socially responsible; influence the WTO's and global health agenda; and stirred dissent against a neoliberal globalization, exposing power relations between the global rich and global poor.

This is about antiBody (HIV/AIDS activists) targeting a dangerous site of infection (Big Pharma) and combating the spread of two illnesses (HIV/AIDS and neoliberalism which invigorated the 'public body' in terms of public health and debate.