bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Combined cancer therapy using gold nanoparticles
Authors: Yang Celina
Published: May 2021

This dissertation presents the effect of peptide-modified 10 nm gold nanoparticles (GNPs) with chemotherapeutic drugs, bleomycin and cisplatin, and 2 Gy of 6 MV X-ray irradiation in MDA-MB-231 cells. The GNPs were modified with a peptide sequence containing an ‘RGD’ amino acid motif. Bleomycin binds to the surface of the GNPs through a thiol bond and cisplatin has no known significant interaction with the GNP surface.
No significant toxicity was induced by introducing GNPs to MDA-MB-231 cells at the 0.3 nM concentration used throughout this dissertation. The surface modification with ‘RGD’ peptides increased accumulation of the GNP constructs 6~7 fold compared to the unmodified counterparts. There was no significant difference in the accumulation of GNPs in the presence of bleomycin or cisplatin. These results suggest that the presence of chemotherapeutics do not affect the accumulation of peptide modified GNPs into cells.
The effect of having GNPs with chemotherapeutics was examined. The presence of GNPs with bleomycin decreased the survival of MDA-MB-231 cells by 18 ± 3 % compared to treatment with the same concentration of free bleomycin. Treating cells with GNPs and cisplatin did not have a significant difference in survival compared to the same concentration of free cisplatin treatment. This suggests that conjugating chemotherapeutics onto the GNPs can result in a more efficient
delivery of the drug. If the drug does not bind to the GNP surface, having GNPs in the media does not interfere with the uptake of the drug.
The effect of radiosensitization in the presence of GNPs was studied by incubating cells with 0.3 nM GNPs prior to irradiation with 2 Gy of 6 MV X-rays. The survival fraction decreased by 19 ± 6 % compared to the irradiated control condition.
Lastly, the triple combined effect of GNPs, chemotherapeutics, and irradiation was investigated. The presence of GNPs had an advantage to the combined chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Based on results from these studies, GNPs can be used in addition to combined chemotherapy and radiation therapy for improved outcomes in cancer treatment
Indochinese Refugees In Canada: Resettlement Experiences of the Cambodian and Vietnamese Refugees in Toronto
Authors: Phan Nhi
Published: May 2021

Massive resettlement of Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees in Canada started in the late 1970s, following military and political upheaval in Indochina. The Immigration policy Act of 1976 made it easier for the Indochinese refugees to enter the country. Almost four decades after the first arrivals of Indochinese refugees to Canada under unique circumstances, their settlement experiences are poorly understood. Here, I address this shortcoming through a comparative analysis of settlement experiences of the Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees in Canada, particularly probing their “sense of belonging” to the country. In order to evaluate the sense of belonging of the Indochinese refugees, I conducted interviews with 10 participants from each of the two communities. Findings from the interviews indicated highly significant correlations between language proficiency, ethnic segregation, general life satisfaction and the Sense of belonging index. The Vietnamese refugees had a higher sense of belonging to Canada than their
Cambodian counterparts.
Optimizing Macro and Micro Base Stations Locations and User Associations in Heterogeneous Wireless Networks
Authors: Hassan Noha
Published: May 2021

Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets) have gained the attraction of the communication industry recently, due to their promising ability to enhance the performance of future broadband Fifth Generation (5G) networks and are integral parts of 5G systems. They can be viewed in multi-dimensional space where, each slice represents a unique tier that has its own Base Station (BS)s and User Equipment (UE)s. Different tiers cooperate with each other for their mutual benefit. Data can be interactively exchanged among the tiers, and UEs have the flexibility to switch between the tiers. The cells in such a heterogeneous cellular networks have variable sizes, shapes, and coverage regions.

However, in HetNets with ultra dense BSs, the distance between them gets very small and, they suffer from very high levels of mutual interference. To improve the performance of HetNets, we have done multiple contributions in this dissertation. First, we have developed analytical derivations for optimizing pilot sequence length which is a very crucial factor in acquiring the Channel State Information (CSI) and the channel estimation process in general. Poisson Point Process (PPP) has been widely used to allocate BSs among various tiers so far. However, BS locations obtained using PPP approach may not be optimum to reduce interference. Therefore, in this dissertation, BSs locations are optimized to reduce the interference and improve the coverage and received signal power. Also, we have derived expressions for static UEs coverage probability and network energy efficiency in HetNets.

A proper UE association algorithm for HetNets is a great challenge. The classic max-Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio (SINR) or max-received signal strength (RSS) user association algorithms are inappropriate solutions for HetNets as UEs in this context will tend to connect to the Macro BS, which is the one with the highest signal power. A severe load imbalance and significant inefficiency arises and impacts the performance.

The aforementioned algorithms tend to associate UEs to BSs with the best received signal power or signal quality. In HetNets, usually Macro BSs are the ones transmitting the strongest signals; hence most UEs tend to associate with the Macro BS leaving Micro BSs with less load. Also, the conventional max-SINR and max-RSS algorithms do not provide adequate results in multi-tier systems. We suggest two centralized algorithms, LSTD and RTLB, for an even UE association to provide fair load distribution. However RTLB outperforms LSTD in real time scenarios as it easily and quickly adapts to rapid network changes. Furthermore, we consider the mobility of nodes. We derive coverage probability for moving UEs considering both handover and no handover scenarios. Proposed algorithms are fast enough to associate the moving users to different Micro and Macro BSs appropriately in real time. Our algorithms are proved to be feasible and provide a path towards attainable future communication systems.
Automated Pre-Processing and Automated Post-Processing in EEG/MEG Brain Source Analysis
Authors: Sadat-Nejad Seyed-Youns
Published: May 2021

Analyzing Electroencephalography (EEG)/ Magnetoencephalography (MEG) brain source signals allows for a better understanding and diagnosis of various brain-related activities or injuries. Due to the high complexity of the mentioned measurements and their low spatial resolution, different techniques have been employed to enhance the quality of the obtained results. The objective of this work is to employ state-of-the-art approaches and develop algorithms with higher analysis reliability. As a pre-processing method, subspace denoising and artifact removal approaches are taken into consideration, to provide a method that automates and improves the estimation of the Number of Component (NoC) for artifacts such as Eye Blinking (EB). By using synthetic EEG-like simulation and real MEG data, it is shown that the proposed method is more reliable over the conventional manual method in estimating the NoC. For Independent Component Analysis (ICA)-based approaches, the proposed method in this thesis provides an estimation for the number of components with an accuracy of 98.7%. The thesis is also devoted to improving source localization techniques, which aims to estimate the location of the source within the brain, which elicit time-series measurements. In this context, after obtaining a practical insight into the performance of the popular L2-Regularization based approaches, a post-processing thresholding method is introduced. The proposed method improves the spatial resolution of the L2-Regularization inverse solutions, especially for Standard Low-Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography (sLORETA), which is a well-known and widely used inverse solution. As a part of the proposed method, a novel noise variance estimation is introduced, which combines the kurtosis statistical parameter and data (noise) entropy. This new noise variance estimation technique allows for a superior performance of the proposed method compared to the existing ones. The algorithm is validated on the synthetic EEG data using well-established validation metrics. It is shown that the proposed solution improves the resolution of conventional methods in the process of thresholding/denoising automatically and without loss of any critical information.
Public Reason and Public Policy: the Need for Epistemic Realism in Political Argument
Authors: Rinn James D.
Published: May 2021

This paper examines the concept of public reason, the regime of principles and rules under which political argument in a liberal-democratic society should be conducted. It examines the two most prominent accounts of public reason: John Rawls’, which derives rules of public reason from a presumed duty of mutual respect, and Jurgen Habermas’, which begins with the premise that communication is a necessary condition for knowledge. It then answers subjectivist objections to public reason, and concludes that public reason is ultimately defined and upheld by a shared commitment to epistemic realism: the understanding that we inhabit a shared world made up of mind-independent objects that can be known by all members of that shared world. The paper then examines the Canadian citizenry’s willingness and capacity to engage in public reason and the government’s ability to facilitate it, and concludes that in the absence of political will or a pre-existing culture of public reason, the burden of promoting and sustaining it will fall to organized and motivated sub-sectors of civil society.

Keywords: Public Reason, Public Policy, Rawls, Habermas, Political Knowledge, Civil Society
Deep Learning for Low-Dose CT Noise Removal Using Dilated Convolution and Perceptual Loss
Authors: Gholizadeh-Ansari Maryam
Published: May 2021

Low-dose computed tomography has been recommended to reduce the radiation risks of CT scans for patients. However, the reconstructed CT image will be considerably degraded because of photon starvation. Both traditional noise removal techniques and neural networks have been used to enhance the quality of low-dose CT images. In this study, a deep neural network is proposed to mitigate this problem. The network employs dilated convolution, batch normalization, and residual learning. Moreover, a nontrainable edge detection layer is proposed helping to produce sharper edges in the output image without introducing additional complexity. This network is optimized by a combination of mean-square error and perceptual loss to preserve textural details in the CT image that are critical for diagnosis. This objective function solves the over-smoothing problem and grid-like artifacts caused by per-pixel loss and perceptual loss, respectively. The experiments demonstrate the effects of each modification to the network and confirm that the proposed network achieves better performance relative to the state of the art methods.
The commodification of the cause: The industry of social cause branding doing more harm than good?
Authors: Wilson Leslie
Published: May 2021

"Citizenship and community service are values that have been appropriated by new forms of corporate marketing strategies: corporate social responsibility, cause related marketing, and social cause branding. These trends in branding effectively tie social activism and political participation with consumerism and profit motives. In this paper I attempt to explore the implications of the commodification of social causes, with particular focus on the role of women in marketing strategies, both as subject and object of the social cause branding campaigns."--Page [1].
A Queer Assemblage
Authors: Ashurov Michelle
Published: May 2021

The tradition and reproduction of heteronormativity is evident in all aspects of social life, extending to nationality, culture, law, commerce, medicine, intimacy, leisure, and beyond. Speculations at the intersection of queer space and architecture began in the 1980s, focusing on a resistance to the hegemony of heterosexuality. Architecture is not safe from the ideologies that assemble and enforce this hegemony. By way of recounting and marking up history through a queer lens, a queer assemblage is formed, disorienting and subverting [hetero]normative constructs at the confluence of sociality and architectural space. The destabilization of oppressive advances that (im/ex)plicitly target singular or intersecting social locations not only unveils the engendering of heteronormativity in all facets of life, but promises to delineate space for a proper queer occupation.
Architecture for A Post-Work World
Authors: Patwary Toffazzal Hussain
Published: May 2021

47% to 80% of today’s jobs can be automated in the next twenty years. Most people continue to work in low skill, low wage, manual and service jobs. Only a small number are engaged in high-skilled, high wage, non-routine, cognitive jobs. What will happen to the surplus population- the workers who are most at risk of being replaced by automation?
If left at the current trajectory, the private sector, via technological means, will take over traditional public services including: health, environment, and sovereignty. A dystopic condition will emerge in which governments are dissolved and the working class is exterminated.
This thesis attempts, via the use of critical architecture, to challenge the hegemonic order of capitalism and align the future toward a post-work condition. The devised semiotic code is an innovative signifier for a new truth - a new language of rebellion against the established hierarchies of contemporary architecture.
Processing Edward Steichen's Celebrity Portrait Photographs at George Eastman House
Authors: Shaw Meghan  L
Published: May 2021

This thesis is an applied project undertaken to process celebrity portraits by Edward Steichen that were gifted to George Eastman House by Steichen's widow, Joanna Steichen, in 2002. These photographs were made for Condé Nast Publications between 1923 and 1937. This thesis discusses processing donations of photographic materials, identifying acetate and nitrate negatives, handling gelatin silver contact prints, and rehousing procedures based on institutional-specific collections management policies. The analytical paper portion discusses processing methods, proposes future processing procedures, and addresses the relationship between the contact prints and printed images in Vanity Fair magazine in order to highlight the importance of creating relationships between objects in museum collections.
Robust and fault tolerant control of modular and reconfigurable robots
Authors: Abdul Sajan
Published: May 2021

Modular and reconfigurable robot has been one of the main areas of robotics
research in recent years due to its wide range of applications, especially in aerospace
sector. Dynamic control of manipulators can be performed using joint torque sensing
with little information of the link dynamics. From the modular robot perspective, this
advantage offered by the torque sensor can be taken to enhance the modularity of the
control system. Known modular robots though boast novel and diverse mechanical
design on joint modules in one way or another, they still require the whole robot
dynamic model for motion control, and modularity offered in the mechanical side does
not offer any advantage in the control design.
In this work, a modular distributed control technique is formulated for modular
and reconfigurable robots that can instantly adapt to robot reconfigurations. Under this
control methodology, a modular and reconfigurable robot is stabilized joint by joint, and
modules can be added or removed without the need of re-tuning the controller. Model
uncertainties associated with load and links are compensated by the use of joint torque
sensors. Other model uncertainties at each joint module are compensated by a
decomposition based robust controller for each module. The proposed distributed control technique offers a ‘modular’ approach, featuring a unique joint-by-joint control synthesis
of the joint modules.
Fault tolerance and fault detection are formulated as a decentralized control problem
for modular and reconfigurable robots in this thesis work. The modularity of the system
is exploited to derive a strategy dependent only on a single joint module, while
eliminating the need for the motion states of other joint modules. While the traditional
fault tolerant and detection schemes are suitable for robots with the whole dynamic
model, this proposed technique is ideal for modular and reconfigurable robots because of
its modular nature. The proposed methods have been investigated with simulations and
experimentally tested using a 3-DOF modular and reconfigurable robot.
Increasing quality of life for older adults living in collective dwellings using virtual reality: a feasibility study
Authors: Krieger Laura
Published: May 2021

The number of older adults living in collective dwellings is increasing. It is important to research effective strategies to maintain and enhance quality of life for older adults living in collective dwellings. Meaningful leisure, such as the ability to travel, is associated with increases in quality of life for older adults. Unfortunately, many older adults, especially those living in collective dwellings, face barriers to travel. Virtual reality (VR) may help older adults living in collective dwellings overcome barriers to travel. The present study examined whether older adults living in collective dwellings tolerated and enjoyed immersive VR, and whether six weeks of virtual tourism affected their quality of life, social engagement, and loneliness. Fourteen older adults living in retirement homes in Toronto participated in this study. Results suggested that participants tolerated immersive VR without experiencing cybersickness, and that they were happier, more excited, and less anxious immediately following VR exposure. Levels of social engagement increased following the six-week virtual tourism program. These quantitative findings were further supported by qualitative interviews. No changes in quality of life or loneliness were found. Limitations include a lack of a control group and small sample size. Addressing these limitations will help to isolate the effects of the virtual tourism program on indices of well-being.
Pictures in politics: a visual social semiotics analysis of federal politicians on Instagram
Authors: Karas Karolina
Published: May 2021

This major research paper (MRP) examines the visual social semiotics of Canadian politicians’ Instagram accounts and their followers’ responses. As a qualitative study, it seeks to address the following questions: From the coded images in the data collection, which qualities do the Instagram followers prefer? From the coded images in the data
collection, which qualities do the Instagram followers prefer the least? What do these qualities reveal about the political actors in the data collection? To answer these questions, I coded the most liked and least liked Instagram postings between April 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015 from two of Canada’s federal party leaders, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal leader Justin Trudeau. These images were coded through a visual social semiotics analysis under the following categories in my codebook: community outreach, competence, empathy, excitement, ideology, personal, symbols of nationalism, celebrity, and miscellaneous. This codebook was constructed from a literature review encompassing the public’s values of politicians in traditional media. The findings of this MRP expand on visual social semiotic theory in the social media context and build on research about audience perceptions of politicians. The results suggest that photo composition and the presentations of values in an image are important
considerations for politicians. Based on the findings, this study is relevant to how professional communicators can construct a persuasive image and story in the political context on a social media platform.
Circle of Aunties : Fostering Co-conspiratorship with Families of MMIWGT2S in the Resistance of Settler Colonial Violence
Authors: Heidenheim Laura
Published: May 2021

This paper details the co-research creation project “Circle of Aunties” outlining our processes, contributions and key learnings. The paper will begin by locating the author and the project’s approach and move to detailing our process - exploring the Circle of Aunties toolkit and the coresearch creation process. The paper will then outline the contribution this project makes to educational tools that create awareness around racialized gender-based violence in Canada and its relationship to existing literature regarding co-conspirator work. Co-conspirator/accomplice work are “alternative framework(s)” to allyship which call for “white scholars and activists to act as accomplices, working in solidarity with people of color within social justice and anti-racist movements” (Powell Kelly, 42). This paper explores our process of co-conspiratorship, bringing our project into conversation with contemporary anti-colonial efforts and calling for the prefacing of relationship in anti-colonial projects. 
A study of the microbial contamination in imported and domestic fresh produce at retail level in Ontario
Authors: Chung Rebecca
Published: May 2021

Globalization has enabled the year-round availability of imported fresh produce in Toronto, supplementing the variety of locally grown produce in Ontario. Increased consumption of produce has led to more foodborne outbreaks, with E. coli O157:H7 as the second most frequent cause of illnesses. In this study, the levels of heterotrophic bacteria, coliforms, and generic E. coli were compared between three types of imported and local produce. Significantly higher levels (p<0.04) of heterotrophic bacteria were found in imported basil. Local romaine (p<0.01) and local spinach (p<0.001) contained significantly higher levels of coliforms. Local spinach also had a significantly higher (p<0.005) number of samples with coliform levels above 100 CFU/g. Although no statistical significance was found between the presence of E. coli and
origin of produce, the five imported samples positive for E. coli compared to zero local samples supports the hypothesis that imported produce is more susceptible to microbial contamination.
Rearrangement Algorithm in Risk Aggregation
Authors: Thomas Alex
Published: May 2021

Sometimes there’s no closed-form analytical solutions for the risk measure of aggregate losses representing, say, a company’s losses in each country or city it operates in, a portfolio of losses subdivided by investment, or claims made by clients to an insurance company. Assuming there’s enough data to assign a distribution to those losses, we examine the Rearrangement Algorithm’s ability to numerically compute the Expected Shortfall and Exponential Premium Principle/Entropic Risk Measure of aggregate losses. A more efficient discretization scheme is introduced and the algorithm is extended to the Entropic Risk Measure which turns out to have a smaller uncertainty spread than the Expected Shortfall at least for the cases that we examined.
Using Mobile Applications in Caregiving: The User Experiences of Family Caregivers of Persons Living with Dementia
Authors: Wang Angel He
Published: May 2021

To date, there is no research that explores the user experiences of family caregivers of persons living with dementia on using mobile applications to support caregiving activities. This is of particular concern given that limited understandings of the user experience in designing technology have often led to end-users experiencing barriers in technology adoption and use. Thus, the purpose of this qualitative descriptive study that used photo-elicitation interviewing was to explore the experiences of family caregivers of persons living with dementia on using mobile applications in their caregiving roles. The findings revealed how mobile applications played an important role in the lives of the caregiver, the care recipient, and both together as a dyad. This research advances our understanding of the impact of mobile application use in caregiving and provides direction for future research, policy, education, practice and application development.
The Class Yearbook And Photomechanical Production A Description And Analysis Of Class Yearbooks At The University Of Rochester
Authors: Raymond Andrea J.
Published: May 2021

In North America, the class yearbook is a well known cultural object, traditionally published in middle and high schools, as well as post-secondary institutions, these publications function as keepsake items for each school year. The tradition of the yearbook has, for the most part, survived from the early nineteenth century into the twenty-first century. However, the practice of producing class yearbooks is slowly changing due to the proliferation of digital and online media, and the popularity of social networking websites. This thesis uses the historical examination and physical analysis of a set of class yearbooks at the University of Rochester to answer the question: How do the class yearbooks at the University of Rochester illustrate evolving photographic and print technologies? By employing the use of both qualitative and quantitative research methods and data analysis, this project chronicles the 153-year run of the annual student yearbook production at the University of Rochester, Interpres, to illustrate how this yearbook production has changed physically, visually, and contextually over time.
Opportunities to utilize the potential of Augmented Reality to interact with photographic material in museum and archive collections
Authors: Forster Hilkka Ingrid
Published: May 2021

The use of Augmented Reality (AR) as an immersive and interactive engagement tool for art and cultural institutions is increasing. AR, when used in a meaningful way, has shown great potential for discovery-based learning experiences. My research considers the potential of AR for photographic collections in museums and archives by addressing two key questions. How can digital tools like AR serve to enhance our understanding of photographs as both object and image? What are the implications and limitations of this technology when used for this purpose?
These questions are explored further in the form of a creative project that builds on how AR can be used to enhance interaction with photographic material in archives. These questions are explored further in the form of a creative project that builds on how AR combined with multimedia storytelling can be used to interact with photographic material in archives.
Design of Air Cushion Vehicles Using Artificial Intelligence: Expert System and Genetic Algorithm
Authors: Jung Tae-Cheol
Published: May 2021

In the thesis, initial design of an Air Cushion Vehicle (ACV)is performed with the expert system and its skirt system is further optimized with the genetic algorithm. Both the expert system and genetic algorithm are advanced computerized design techniques of artifical intelligence. Those techniques are specifically developed for the ACVs with programming codes in this thesis. Then the main objective is to show the successful implementation of those techniques in the design of ACVs. The thesis work is divided into two parts. In the first part, the general configuration of ACVs, including the overall dimensions, weight distribution, parametric properties, and several subsystems, is studied and designed by the expert system as an initial design phase. In the second part of the thesis, the skirt system of ACVs is further optimized. In particular, the properties of the bag and finger skirt are optimized for improved ride quality and stability by the genetic algorithm. For the validation of these two artificial intelligence techniques, the CCG (Canadian Coast Guard) 37 ton Waban-Aki and U.S. Navy's 150 ton LCAC (Landing Craft Air Cushion) are selected for the tests. The results of the tests proved that the expert system was successfully implemented and was a powerful tool for the initial design of ACVs. Furthermore, the genetic algorithm optimized the skirt system with significantly improved ride quality and stability. It was also shown that the skirt mass was an important design factor in the heave response of the bag and finger skirt. Hence, this thesis work opened the new possibility of designing ACVs with artificial intelligence techniques.
Conflict spaces
Authors: De Zoysa Eranga
Published: May 2021

Conflict and architecture’s relationship originated from the first rock throw that established space and distance between primordial humans and their aggressors, producing a spatial buffer, which enabled liberation from the evolutionary process (Ritter, 2012). This separation in space was the starting point of discerning the outside (sacred) and the inside (community). The outsider (“the other”), is an increasingly important aspect of societies involved in conflicts; prior, during and in the reconstruction phase. The symbols of memory within a conflict become the focal point, where architecture manifests the history of a place or space. This identity is first deconstructed during the siege, and reconstructed once the territory is pacified. This thesis is an observation of the changes that places and artifacts of memory undergo during a conflict, arguing that architecture is dynamically linked to people; building a foundation for memory, creating a collective identity; an object that is the focus for every conflict.
Detailed numerical study of soot surface growth and oxidation in laminar diffusion flames
Authors: Khosousi Ali
Published: May 2021

he focus of the present study is to obtain detailed knowledge of the soot formation and
oxidation processes in laminar diffusion flames. The present work studies the effects of various
flame properties on soot growth and oxidation, and how they affect a flame’s sooting behaviour.

Numerically modelling of soot formation in laminar coflow diffusion flames of vaporized
gasoline/ethanol blends at atmospheric pressure is performed. The numerical results are
compared with experimental data to gain improved understanding of ethanol addition to gasoline
on soot formation. Four gasoline/ethanol blends are investigated to quantify how soot loading
varies with the amount of ethanol blending in the fuel. The results of experimental and numerical
modelling agree relatively well in terms of the levels of soot volume fraction. Both results show
a decrease in soot loading as more ethanol is added in the fuel stream.

The work continues by numerically studying the oxidation of soot in laminar ethylene/air coflow
diffusion flames. A new model for soot oxidation, a complex process in numerical soot
modelling, is developed based on the observation that soot ageing reduces surface reactivity.
Using this new model, it is possible to capture the correct behaviour of both smoking and non-
smoking flames in various flame configurations. Along with a detailed soot sectional model, the new model predicts the correct soot volume fractions, smoke emission characteristics, and primary particle diameters for different flames without any variation in model parameters.

The work extends to study soot surface reactivity in the growth and oxidation regions. Laminar
ethylene/air and methane/air coflow diffusion flames are numerically studied to develop a unique
soot surface reactivity model. A newly developed surface character model simultaneously
accounts for soot surface reactivity in surface growth and oxidation by considering soot ageing
and its effects on the particle surface. The new model, which eliminates tuning of one modelling
parameter, reconciles the quantification of the evolving soot surface character for both growth
and oxidation. The model is shown to be uniquely capable of predicting soot concentrations and
smoke emissions within experimental uncertainty in a wide range of laminar diffusion sooting
flames.
Marketing the Environment: A For-Profit Vs. Nonprofit Approach
Authors: Boros Caitlin
Published: May 2021

This research project will focus on the use of social marketing tactics for the purpose of environmental issues. More specifically, it will examine how environmental discourse, social marketing, and social cognitive theory influence modern marketing of the environment. In using a representative case study analysis, the project will directly compare a for-profit environmental campaign with a nonprofit environmental campaign.
Text and image analysis will be used as the primary methodologies, providing insight into any noticeable differences or similarities that may exist between the for-profit and nonprofit approaches. Conclusions address the tactics, strengths and weaknesses of both parties, and provide considerations for improving the effectiveness of environmental marketing campaigns moving forward.
Neural Networks Involved in Spatial and Temporal Pattern Separation
Authors: Paleja Meera
Published: May 2021

Critical to episodic memory is pattern separation (PS), the storage of similar inputs as distinct and nonoverlapping. Spatial and temporal PS have been shown to be related to disparate subfields of the hippocampus (HC) in rodents. Extra-HC structures involved have not yet been elucidated. The current work provides an exploratory investigation into the neural correlates of spatial and temporal PS, employing functional magnetic resonance imaging and univariate and multivariate analysis techniques. In Experiment 1, behavioural spatial and temporal memory tasks were developed that assess varying PS demands. Objectives for the experiment were met, in that accuracy was lower and reaction time higher for conditions requiring more engagement of PS. In Experiment 2, whole-brain regions as well as the neural networks involved in spatial and temporal PS were examined, and functional connectivity of the HC was observed. Univariate data revealed unique areas of activation based on information type being encoded (i.e., spatial vs. temporal). The cuneus and HC were uniquely involved in the spatial task, while a wider area of regions including middle occipital and medial frontal areas were activated in the temporal task. Multivariate analyses were convergent with the spatial and temporal context memory literature. The HC, parahippocampal gyri, prefrontal cortices, and precuneus were part of a correlated network in the spatial task. Bilateral prefrontal cortices, including the orbitofrontal cortex were involved in the temporal task. Further, the multivariate analysis revealed qualitatively distinct networks based on memory processing stage (i.e., encoding vs. retrieval). Interestingly, the network included anterior HC in spatial encoding, and posterior HC in spatial and temporal

retrieval, consistent with an influential theory positing a rostrocaudal gradient along the HC for encoding and retrieval. Functional connectivity analyses revealed connectivity of the posterior HC seed with temporal and superior parietal areas in the spatial task, and with frontal areas in the temporal task, suggesting the right posterior HC interacts with regions differently based on information type. Results confirm and extend findings from previous literature demonstrating HC involvement in PS, and also suggest HC and extra-HC involvement varies based on processing stage and information type.
Evaluating the effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on cognitive function and well-being in caregivers of persons with dementia and related neurodegenerative diseases
Authors: Mallya Sasha
Published: May 2021

Approximately 14.9% of Canadians aged 65 and older are living with cognitive impairment, including dementia, which means that there is likely an equal or even greater number of Canadians involved in their care. Relative to non-caregivers, caregivers of persons with dementia typically show more cognitive difficulties (e.g., executive function, memory), and report
increased perceived stress, depression, and poor quality of life. The first aim of this dissertation was to compare caregivers’ cognitive and psychological function with that of non-caregiving older adults. The second aim was to assess whether a standardized mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) intervention could improve cognitive function and well-being in caregivers, compared to a psychoeducational control group. In Study 1, 57 older adult caregivers completed
an assessment of cognitive and psychosocial functioning. Their performance was compared with that of 97 healthy, non-caregiving older adults who completed a similar battery of measures. It was hypothesized that caregivers would show decreased performance on measures of cognitive function, as well as significantly poorer psychosocial outcomes relative to the non-caregiver group. In Study 2, caregivers were randomized into an eight week MBSR program (n = 33) or a
psychoeducation control group (n = 24). At post-program, all participants completed a re-assessment of cognitive and psychosocial functioning. Results of Study 1 showed that relative to non-caregivers, caregivers made significantly more errors on a measure of cognitive flexibility, generated fewer words on measures of phonemic fluency and semantic fluency, and learned significantly fewer words on a list learning task. Caregivers also reported significantly more stress and depressive symptoms, and reported lower quality of life. Results of Study 2 showed that post-intervention cognitive performance did not significantly differ as a function of group assignment. However, participants in the MBSR group showed a significantly larger reduction in depression and perceived stress relative to controls. Results of this RCT provide preliminary evidence for the selective benefits of MBSR relative to psychoeducation in a group of older caregivers of individuals with dementia.
A Block Cipher Design Using Recurrent Neural Networks
Authors: Wu Shuwei
Published: May 2021

As security has become a necessary component for business applications in many areas, research  of new cryptography technology is desirable, especially the highly secure and efficient data encryption technique. A new block cipher  designed based on recurrent neural networks is proposed for  first time in the project. Recurrent neural networks have  dynamics characteristics and can express functions of time. By introducing recurrent neural networks to cryptography, the proposed block cipher releases the constraint on the length of secret key. The inherited high by parallel processing capability of neural networks can also improve the encryption performance greatly. The recurrent neural networks make the block cipher strong to resist different cryptanalysis attacks and to provide data integrity and authentication service at the same time. The design of the proposed block  cipher  is  presented and analyzed in detail. Simulation results provide illustrations. The proposed block cipher is flexible to be implemented either in software or in hardware for efficient data encryption purpose.
High Level FPGA Implementation Of Adaptive Signal Segmentation And Autoregressive Modeling Techniques
Authors: Jiao Beibei.
Published: May 2021

This thesis contains new FPGA implementations of adaptive signal segmentation and autoregressive modeling techniques. Both designs use Simulink-to-FPGA methodology and have been successfully implemented onto Xilinx Virtex II Pro device. The implementation of adaptive signal segmentation is based on the conventional RLSL algorithm using double-precision floating point arithmetic for internal computation and is programmable for users providing data length and order selection functions. The implemented RLSL design provides very good performance of obtaining accurate conversion factor values with a mean correlation of 99.93% and accurate boundary positions for both synthesized and biomedical signals. The implementation of autoregressive (AR) modeling is based on the Burg-lattice algorithm using fixed point arithmetic. The implemented Burg design with order of 3 provides good performance of calculating AR coefficients of input biomedical signals.
The connected transient: the effect of network communication technologies on global flows, home and belonging
Authors: Foster Andrea
Published: May 2021

"Since its conception, cultural theorists have charted the rise of virtual culture and the differences between computer-mediated communication (CMC) and face-to-face (F2F) interaction. Cybercommunication throws into discord traditional notions of space, place, locality, local culture and social interaction. Internet study reveals new webs of meaning as network technologies affect our behaviour and our way of thinking. It is now widely believed among theorists that new communication technologies can alter social interactions and social structure." [From introduction]
Pricing and hedging tools for spread option contracts
Authors: Klyueva Ekaterina
Published: May 2021

This thesis examines the problem of pricing and hedging spread options under market models with jumps driven by a Compound Poisson Process. Extending the work of Deng, Li and Zhou we derive the price approximation for Spread options in jump-diffusion framework. We find that the proposed model accurately approximates option prices and exhibits reasonable behavior when tested for sensitivity to the model parameters. Applying the method of Lamberton and Lepeyre, we minimize the squared error between the Spread option price and the hedge portfolio to arrive to an optimal hedging strategy for discontinuous underlying price modes. Additionally, we propose an alternative average Delta-hedging strategy that is derived by conditioning the underlying price processes on the number of jumps and summing over all the possible jump combinations; such an approach allows us to revert to a hedging problem in a Black-Scholes framework. Although the average Delta-hedging strategy offers a significantly simpler approach to hedge Spread options, we conclude that the former strategy performs better by examining the Profit and Loss Probability Density Function of the two competing strategies. Finally, we offer a model parameter calibration algorithm and test its performance using
the transitional Probability Density Functions.
Two-price policy for a newsvendor product supply chain with time and price sensitive demand
Authors: Jadidi Omid
Published: May 2021

In this study, a dominant manufacturer wholesales a technological product to a retailer. In technology-related industries, the obsolescence of an existing product and/or the appearance of a new product decrease the attractiveness of the existing product. This study also assumes that the market demand is stochastic and price-sensitive, where this price-sensitivity increases by time. Hence, retailers need to decline the retail price during the product life cycle to alleviate the effect of time on the demand. Here, two models/cases are considered. In the first model, the retailer decreases the retail price at midlife without any compensation from the manufacturer. In the second model, the manufacturer gives rebate to the retailer when the retailer declines the retail price at midlife. In addition, the performance of the proposed models is numerically compared with wholesale-price-only and the buyback policies.
Texture classification using gene expression programming
Authors: Mahvarsayyad Fereshteh
Published: May 2021

In computer vision, segmentation refers to the process of subdividing a digital image into constituent regions with homogeneity in some image characteristics. Image segmentation is considered as a pre-processing step for object recognition. The problem of segmentation, being one of the most difficult tasks in image processing, gets more complicated in the presence of random textures in the image. This paper focuses on texture classification, which is defined as supervised texture segmentation with prior knowledge of textures in the image. We investigate a classification method using Gene Expression Programming (GEP). It is shown that GEP is capable of evolving accurate classifiers using simple arithmetic operations and direct pixel values without employing complicated feature extraction algorithms. It is also shown that the accuracy of classification is related to the fact that GEP can detect the regularities of texture patterns. As part of this project, we implemented a Photoshop plug-in that uses the evolved classifiers to identify and select target textures in digital images.
Victorian women and the hand-embellished photograph album : a case study of the Bouverie album
Authors: Skyrme Alison
Published: May 2021

The Bouverie album, held in the photography collection at George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film is a hand-embellished photographic collage album from the late Victorian period. The volume contains over 200 albumen prints (mainly form un-mounted cartes-de-visite) that have been trimmed from their backgrounds and mounted into elaborate and fanciful scenes. Family members and friends star in comical tennis matches and tours of ruins and trimmed portraits are suspended from plants like fruit or surrounded by bouquets of highly detailed flowers. The time that was invested into the creation this object is incredible and the skill and attention to detail make it a rare and valuable object, to both photographic and cultural historians. This thesis explores the hand-embellished photograph album as its own genre, studying its influences, precursors and role within Victorian society. The album also offers clues to the role of women, evidence of the concept of florigraphy and, as many family photograph albums do, offers an interesting look at family roles. The following paper considers each one of these elements, and examines the album in comparison to other types of photo albums and personal books such as commonplace and scrapbooks. The similarities and differences between this genre of album and its precursors, and the peculiarities of this one in particular are discussed. I also closely examined several of the scenes, unpacking some of the historical and cultural information held within. This thesis demonstrates the historical importance of objects such as this one. The mixed media used means they require careful handling and preservation techniques particular to their structure in order to ensure that they will be available to future researchers. The final chapter of this thesis makes storage and handling suggestions in order to ensure the preservation of objects such as this one, including a discussion of surrogates and a description of an album housing (a modified clam shell box) that reduces the amount of handling the object receives.
A Finite Element Formulation Of Active Constrained-Layer Functionally Graded Beam
Authors: Long Ry
Published: May 2021

Active constrained-layer damping (ACLD) treatment is the combination of passive and active features in the control of structural vibrations. A three-layer structure that consists of a functionally graded (FG) host beam, with a bonded viscoelastic layer and a constraining piezoelectric fiber-reinforce composite (PFRC) laminate is modeled and analyzed. The assumptions for modeling the system are the application of Timoshenko beam theory for the host beam and PFRC laminate, and a higher-order beam theory for the viscoelastic layer. The formulation is assumed to have field variables that are expressed as polynomials through the thickness of the structure and linear interpolation across the span. The extended Hamilton's principle is utilized to determine the system equations of motion, which are then solved using the Newmark time-integration scheme. Many support conditions such as fully- and partial-clamped cantilevered, partially clamped-clamped and simply-supported are analyzed. The effects of ply angle orientaion, as well as FG properties, are also carefully examined.