bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of the Conformity Between Chest CT Scan Results With Molecular Diagnosis Test in Patients With COVID-19
Authors:   Department of Genetics and Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, AJA University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran., Nasrollahzadeh Sabet Mehrdad , Heidari Mohammad Foad ,   DNA Molecular Identification Center, Aja University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran., Khanalipour Mohammad ,   DNA Molecular Identification Center, Aja University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran., Ghaffari Saadat Allah ,   Department of Genetics and Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, AJA University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran., Jafari Ashiani Milad ,   Department of Genetics and Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, AJA University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran., Biglari Sajjad ,   Department of Genetics and Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, AJA University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran., Esmaeilzadeh Emran ,   Department of Genetics and Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, AJA University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Published: May 2021

Background and Aim: Since late 2019, with the emergence of a new type of coronavirus that causes a new respiratory disease called COVID-19, there have been many concerns about the spread of this disease and how to deal with it. Due to the ability of the virus to be transmitted rapidly, diagnosing the infected individuals in the early stages for isolating them is critical. This study aims to evaluate the reliability of Computed Tomography (CT) scan in diagnosing COVID-19. Methods & Materials: Participants were 212 patients admitted to hospital with confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. Demographic information, medical history, symptoms, and the chest CT scan results were collected and analyzed. Finally, the power of CT scans in the diagnosis of this disease was compared with the Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) molecular test. Ethical Considerations: This study received ethical approval from the ethics committee of AJA University of Medical Sciences (Code: IR.AJAUMS.REC.1399.091). Results: The sensitivity of CT scan in the diagnosis of COVID-19 was relatively high, but its false-positive results were also high. Conclusion: CT scan is a relatively sensitive method for diagnosing COVID-19, but caution should be made due to its high false-positive results which can lead to increased financial burden on the health system.
Strategy the Quality Improvement Services Tourism of Cileutuh Geopark as a World Destination
Authors: Asmawi M. Rosul , Sutarman Sutarman , Iwan Mulyanto Agus , Erialdy Erialdy , Fajar Shadiq Teuku
Published: May 2021

The success in managing the Geopark Cileutuh Sukabumi tour by providing quality services and facilities that can be determined by developing these tourist destinations. Purpose Want to know tourist satisfaction factors and analysis of the most dominant factors in influencing tourist satisfaction Geopark Cileutuh Sukabumi. The population is the guests who stay at the Geopark Cileutuh Sukabumi. Samples were taken as many as 100 tourist respondents using the Non-Probability Sampling technique. The research method used was the Accidental sampling approach, namely the technique of determining the sample based on chance, that is, who happened to meet the researcher can be sampled if deemed suitable. Based on statistical data analysis, the indicators in this study are valid and the variables are reliable. Conclusion on testing the classical assumptions, multicolonierity-free regression model, heteroscedasticity does not occur, and is normally distributed. The order of each individual variable with the most influence is regression coefficient variable 0.316, regression coefficient 0.271, regression coefficient responsiveness 0.201, and regression coefficient reliability of 0.197 while the variable that has the greatest influence, low with a regression coefficient of 0.165. So from these results, the Cileutuh Sukabumi Geopark needs to maintain in terms of service on several components that are considered by tourists to be good and need to fix and improve things that are still lacking in the element of service.
National Icon Rediscovered: Hockey Arena for a Sustainable Future
Authors: Panopoulos David
Published: May 2021

In Canada the hockey arena has served as a place where individuals would not only gather to play hockey but a place for socializing on and off the ice. With today’s high pace, high demand life styles and with the shift in individual’s needs and desires, the arena has lost all of its interactive and engaging traits with the user and observer. The arena offers nothing besides hockey.

This thesis will examine the reconsideration of hockey arena design for a sustainable future. Through literatures on past and present arenas designs, sustainability in sports designs and designing sports facilities for communities as a designer we are able to generate new and innovative design responses. Commencing with case studies on sustainable sports design projects, lessons can be learnt to help gather successful design traits, in addition to learning from mistakes of the past.

Through a design proposal which implements a new and innovative scheme, and by challenging design through the three issues of sustainability, will aid in demonstrating how by expanding the role of the arena will provide beneficiary needs and desires for a community. This would potentially add to longevity of the infrastructure while increasing its overall building usage. By addressing these problems as a designer we can recreate the arena back into a destination point in which it once was, but now with new flexible, interactive and engaging community and public spaces.
A study of print and computer based reading to measure and compare rates of comprehension and retention
Authors: Young Jackie
Published: May 2021

To the twenty-first century reader the central aspect of Gutenberg’s invention of printing appears deceptively simple. Movable type, small pieces of metal cast from an alloy of lead, tin and antimony, assembled into words and lines created pages that were inked then pressed into velum to create the printed word. This was the beginning of transmitted information, the mass production and distribution of small portable books. This thesis examines the evolution of printing from the Renaissance when “fixity” was achieved to its ascension to the first mass media.

The research portion of the study observes, measures and compares the interpretive strategies that readers use when engaging with the printed page and how they adapt new strategies when reading online. Print and online stories from The Guardian, The Economist and The New Yorker were coded and used in the study.

The study was conducted at Ryerson University.
Theoretical Study of Compressible Flow through Aneurysms
Authors: Jumani Maria
Published: May 2021

The goal of this research is to analyze the effect of blood flow through expansions by using the Karman-Pohlhausen method. The Karman-Pohlhausen method has previously been used in several research works to analyze the flow through constrictions. In this Thesis, the effect of different flow parameters (Reynolds number, compressibility, and slip) on pressure, pressure gradient, centerline velocity, and on wall shear stress are analyzed. Our results show that the pressure gradient curves are most affected by increasing Reynolds number and compressibility, as well as for smaller slip values (ws0). Furthermore, the scaled centerline velocity was least affected by varying Reynolds and Mach numbers, whereas changes are observed in centerline velocity curves for different slip values. The wall shear stress was essentially unchanged by the Reynolds numbers, compressibility range and slip values considered in this Thesis.
Treatment of pancreatic cancer cells in vitro using ultrasound, microbubbles, and gemicitabine
Authors: Mariglia Julia Christine
Published: May 2021

Ultrasonically stimulated microbubbles can enhance the localized delivery and cytotoxic effects of chemotherapy drugs to cells by transient permeabilization of cell membranes in a process called sonoporation. However, there is insufficient data investigating whether ultrasound and microbubbles (USMB) enhances the delivery and cytotoxicity of the nucleoside analog (NA) gemcitabine. To address this gap in the literature, cancer cells were sonicated using low frequency ultrasound in combination with Definity® microbubbles in the presence of NAs. Viability analyses show that gemcitabine in combination with USMB additively enhanced cell death, suggesting that these two therapies mediate cell death independent of one another. This was confirmed when USMB treatment did not enhance (nor impair) the retention of a radiolabeled NA molecule. Altogether, these data suggest that the laws of diffusion forcing small molecules across a barrier cannot solely describe the efficacy of sonoporation; there are obviously important biological factors specific to the molecule intended to be delivered to consider as well.
Blind Source Separation in the Analysis of Electrocardiogram Pre-Shock Waveforms During Ventricular Fibrillation
Authors: Rasooli Marzieh
Published: May 2021

Ventricular fibrillation (VF) is a lethal cardiac arrhythmia and electric shock is the only available treatment option for it. Existing works focus on predicting shock success to help improve cardiac resuscitation outcomes. It is desirable to extract information from the electrograms that relates to the current theories on VF mechanism and associate them to the prediction of shock outcomes. To this effect this study used a unique human VF database to evaluate the independent sources (ISs) extracted from Blind Source Separation approach (BSS) and a correlation of 88% was observed between the dominant ISs extracted using a single lead ECG with the number of rotors (i.e., sources identified using multi-channel spatio-temporal phase maps) supporting the hypothesis that the ISs are associated with the rotors. In predicting the shock outcomes using features extracted from the ISs for the given database, we achieved a classification accuracy of 68%.
Enhancement of Wyner-Ziv video coding for wireless channels
Authors: Thambu Kuganeswaran
Published: May 2021

Wyner-Ziv video coding (WZVC) is a fast emerging video coding technique for wireless video sensor networks. WZVC moves the complexity from the encoder (sensor) to the decoder (receiver). This thesis proposes few enhancements to solve challenging problems in WZVC, namely 1) handling impairments of a fading wireless channel in WZVC environment, 2) investigating rate penalty of WZVC in wireless fading channels, 3) adaptive encoder rate control using inter-frame cross-correlation properties, and 4) better side information estimation with a bit-based noise variance computation technique.

In case (1), the decoder metric values in WZVC are calculated with respect to the correlation noise, channel noise, and fading. Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) diversity scheme is studied with WZVC for improving the reconstructed video output. Simulation results show that the average peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) of Foreman video is improved by ≈ 3 dB with the configuration of 2I4O compared to single input single output (SISO) channel at SNR = 2 dB.

In case (2), expressions for the rate penalty are analytically derived under different wireless channel conditions. WZVC scheme with receiver diversity (WZVC-RD) is proposed and also demonstrated that it alleviates the channel-induced rate penalty. Simulation results show that with adequate diversity, the channel induced rate penalty can be almost completely eliminated, i.e., the average rate penalty is reduced to be less than 20 Kbps in WZVC-RD for Foreman video at SNR = 2 dB.

In case (3), theoretical rate-distortion behavior of conditional decoding is compared with that of the practical WZVC. An encoder rate control algorithm is proposed with respect to the cross-correlation threshold (CCTH) at the decoder, where the definition of the threshold is derived based on cross-correlation statistics of the key frames. Additionally, an adaptive threshold algorithm (ATHA) is proposed to improve the PSNR versus rate relationship.

In case (4), correlation noise variance estimation is proposed with respect to the bit pattern of each pixel; it is named as “bit-based noise variance”. PSNR improvement of ≈ 4 dB is observed for the Foreman video frames with higher correlation noise.
A genetic algorithm approach to recommender system cold start problem
Authors: Sivapalan Sanjeevan
Published: May 2021

Recommender systems (RS) are ubiquitous and used in many systems to augment user experience to improve
usability and they achieve this by helping users discover new products to consume. They, however, suffer from cold-start problem which occurs when there is not enough information to generate recommendations to a user. Cold-start occurs when a new user enters the system that we don’t know about. We have proposed a novel algorithm to make recommendations to new users by recommending outside of their preferences. We also propose a genetic algorithm based solution to make recommendations when we lack information about user and a transitive algorithm to form neighbourhood. Altogether, we developed three algorithms and tested them using they MovieLens dataset. We have found that all of our algorithms performed well during our testing using the offline-evaluation method.
Numerical Modeling of Fat Embolism Syndrome for a Knee Replacement Operation
Authors: Gaber Omar Al-Amin
Published: May 2021

Knee replacement operations usually involve reaming the intramedullary canal of the femur bone and the insertion of an intramedullary device (e.g., nail or stem). The effect of reaming velocity on the pressure distribution within the bone was investigated numerically by solving the full three-dimensional momentum, equations together with the continuity equation, using the finite element technique. Viscosity was also varied to obtain a pressure envelope. It was found that all the experimental data follow the same trends as the envelopes predicted by the finite element model. It was clear that an increase in either the insertion reaming rate or the viscosity resulted in an increase in pressure in the intramedullary canal. Furthermore, the effect of hammering an intramedullary nail/stem was also studied. The permeability was varied in order to establish a pressure envelope. It was found that all experimental data follow the same trend obtained by the numerical model.
Film flow with temperature dependent fluid properties over heated inclined surfaces
Authors: Gonputh Neil Edward
Published: May 2021

The gravity driven film flow down a heated inclined ramp and how it is affected by temperature dependent fluid properties is examined. The five temperature dependent fluid properties examined were: surface tension, mass density, dynamic viscosity, thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity. The investigation utilized a theoretical model based on the conservation of mass, momentum and energy, including the physically appropriate Newton's Law of Cooling to incorporate temperature changes on the surface of the film. A two-scale model of his system was also considered and a Benney equation was derived. A depth-integrated model was also considered and modified Integral Boundary layer (IBL) equations were generated. A linear stability analysis was carried out in all cases. Numberical simulations were carried out on the nonlinear modified IBL equations and their agreement to the linear approximations was good. The nonlinear analysis was also used to determine the evolution of the unstable flow.
Modeling and simulation of power system protection relays in a transmission-level application
Authors: Kelly James P.
Published: May 2021

This report presents the findings of an in-depth literature review on protective relaying. The project focuses on protection system practices which are relevant to transmission-level applications. Various implementations of differential, phase distance and ground distance relays were investigated and ultimately modeled in the Matlab Simulink environment. A further model for a saturable iron-core current transformer was also investigated and developed. These models were tested to ensure compliance with expected results.

The developed relay and current transformer models are used to complete a detailed protection design for a sample power system. A small 230kV bulk-power transmission system is presented and modeled in the Simulink environment. A fault study is completed and current transformers are specified in accordance with IEEE standards. Bus and line protections are selected from the various implementations discussed in the report. The settings for all protection relays are developed in detail based on system analysis and the expert guidelines obtained from a wide literature review. The resulting protection design was tested in a systematic fashion and demonstrated to be effective.
Senior Immigrants from the Former Yugoslavia in Toronto: Access to Services and Community Connection
Authors: Vucetic Masa
Published: May 2021

This paper concerns the availability and accessibility of support services for senior immigrants from the former Yugoslavia, and the nature of their social networks and community capacity. Interviews were held with 10 seniors from the former Yugoslavia looking into their experiences of accessing services, community involvement and social connectedness. Seniors from the former Yugoslavia belong to a community that is dispersed, small and lacking coordination and organized leadership. For these reasons, seniors face challenges accessing linguistically and culturally appropriate community support services due to a lack of information and limited English language skills. Politics and religion appear more salient to earlier waves of immigrants from this region than to those who arrived in the 1990s.
Direct voltage control for stand-alone wind energy conversion systems with energy storage
Authors: Huang Wei
Published: May 2021

A control method for the stand-alone wind power generation system with induction generator and energy storage devices is proposed in this thesis. A fixed-speed self-excited induction generator is directly connected to the standalone power system, while battery powered energy storage devices are employed to balance the system power flow. A DC-AC power converter is connected between the energy storage device and the standalone power system, which maintains the voltage and frequency constant. Direct voltage control with current limits is developed for the converter with dynamic fast response. Mathematical models are developed to analysis the system performance as well as to design the lead-lag regulators in the control system. The proposed system is verified in the simulation and experiment.
The development of risk-based spill management criteria related to the beneficial use impairments in the St. Clair River
Authors: Cheng Vivian
Published: May 2021

Spills to the St. Clair River have caused the water treatment plant (WTP) intakes to shut down numerous times. A set of risk-based spill management criteria is developed to evaluate existing and future spill prevention and control measures in the policy planning stage. It estimates the explicit risk of a WTP shutdown due to the violation of the drinking water quality guidelines in a two-year period. The risk is determined by the joint probability of occurrence of the smallest spill chemical event mass and the highest number of WTP shutdown occurrences.

Based on the spill data from 1988-1997 and 1998-2007, the risk of WTP shutdown in a two-year period due to benzene spills is 86% and 50%, respectively; and vinyl chloride spills is 17% and 9%, respectively. The study concludes that the risk of WTP shutdown due to spills has been decreasing in the St. Clair River over the past 20 years.
Unidirectional Multi-Bit FPGA Architecture For Area Efficient Implementation of Datapath Circuits
Authors: Mutukuda Omesh
Published: May 2021

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are increasingly being used to implement large datapath-oriented application that are designed to process multiple-bit wide data. Studies have shown that the regularity of these multi-bit signals can be effectively exploited to reduce the implementation area of datapath circuits on FPGAs that employ the traditional bidirectional routing. Most of modern FPGAs, however, employ unidirectional routing tracks which are more area and delay efficient. No study has investigated the design of multi-bit routing resources that can effectively transport multiple-bit wide signals using unidirectional routing tracks. This paper presents such an investigation of architectures which employ multi-bit connections and unidirectional routing resources to exploit datapath regularity. It is experimentally shown that unidirectional multi-bit architectures are 8.6% more area efficient than the conventional architecture. Additionally, this paper determines the most are efficient proportion of multi-bit connections.
Geometric water-filling and radio resource management
Authors: He Zhiming
Published: May 2021

This thesis considers the radio resource management (RRM) of advanced wireless communication systems. With the emerging of more advanced and more complicated systems, such as cognitive radio, nodes with energy harvesting capacities (green communications), and the application of Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology, RRM problems introduce more difficulties and challenges to optimize system performances. Due to specific structure of communication systems, water-filling (WF) plays an important role in RRM. This thesis introduces the fundamental theory and development of WF algorithm. The proposed Geometric Water-Filling (GWF) is presented and compared with the conventional WF algorithms. It can break through the limitations of the conventional WF to solve the more complicated optimization problems in the advanced wireless communication systems. For the application of the proposed GWF to solve the RRM problems in the advanced MIMO communication systems, cognitive radio communication systems, green communication systems and the “dual problems”, which are the sum power minimization problems, of the throughput maximization problems is investigated in this thesis. Efficient algorithms are presented to achieve the optimal resource allocation.
Towards digital place(s): cultivating a language of digital design in architecture
Authors: Owens Michael
Published: May 2021

The term “place” has been used to identify meaningful locations or buildings in reference to limitless connections, be they sensorial or emotional that develop an embodied memory of space as experienced by the senses. In the contemporary age of digital society the level of technological depth that an individual may be submerged throughout their daily activities has created a barrier between space and its occupant that must be bridged before a sense of place can be established. The following thesis will explore the social impacts of technological advancements in contemporary society which has created a populace of high-tech nomads and the implications of those advancements for physical environment and architecture.
Finding ways of bridging that intangible barrier or a gap through architecture will drive space and its formal expression to new levels of interactivity and connectivity that are capable of resurfacing the digitally submerged, strengthening the existing and forging new relationships between people and places. This thesis will explore the bridging of the gap between digital technology and physical space through the advancement of interactive, adaptive spaces, materials, and forms that combine and embody a language and experience of digital design. Each section of the document works towards the establishment of the idea that it is firstly, possible to bridge that gap and to create harmony between the digital and the physical, and secondly to show that this harmony can be meaningful, impactful, and complimentary to the present richness that is the urban fabric.
This thesis will investigate the impact and implications of presence of digital technologies on the forms of societal and spatial interaction. As one’s daily life starts to operate within a digital platform independently of the realm of physical space, architecture can become reoriented to establish its new parameters.
An attempt to formulate a new language of digital design will allow the development of a new form of architecture, capable of engaging contemporary high-tech society in a new place making. As one begins to communicate and engage with his surroundings via his personal devices and vice versa a new system of interaction between occupants and occupied will emerge, as will new relationship between people and spaces.
10-GHz wide tuning-range linear voltage-controlled oscillator
Authors: Soliman Sameh
Published: May 2021

The current high-growth nature of digital communications demands higher speed serial communication circuits. Present day technologies barely manage to keep up with this demand, and new techniques are required to ensure that serial communication can continnue to expand and grow. The goal of this work is to optimize the performance of an essential building block of serial communication circuits, namely, the phase-locked loop (PLL), so that it can cope with today's high-speed communication. Due to its popularity, the optimization has targeted the charge-pump-based implementqation of the phase-locked loop. This goal is achieved by researching, designing, and evaluating high speed serial communication circuits. Research has involved an in-depth study of the state of the art in high-speed serial communication circuits ; high-speed, controlled oscillators, and CMOS technology. An LC, voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is designed in 0.18-micron, mixed-signal, 6-metal-2-poly, CMOS process. A novel tuning technique is employed to tune its output frequency. Simulation results shows that it provides quadrature and differential outputs, operates with 10 GHz center frequency, 600-MHz tuning range centered around its center frequency, and phase noise of -95 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset from the fundamental harmonic of its output, and draws 10 ,A of DC current from a single 1.8-V power supply. Also, it exhibits a good linearity throughout its tuning range. The new tuning technique increases the tuning range of the VCO to 6% of its center frequency compared to the 1-to-2% typical value. As its locking performance depends on the characteristic of the employed VCO and to demonstrate the effect of optimizing the tuning range of the VCO, a charge-pump PLL is designed. Simulation results shows that the PLL acquisition range is 300 MHz compared to a maximum value of 100 MHz when a conventional LC VCO is employed. Also, as a measure of its tracking range, the maximum frequency slew rate of its input has improved by 40%.
Investigation of Bone Density Evolution Before and After Total Knee Arthroplasty Using a Thermodynamic-Based Framework
Authors: Nazgooei Saeid
Published: May 2021

In this study, a new bone remodeling model which combines mechanical loading and bone metabolism factors is used to predict the evolution of bone density after Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA). A 3D finite element (FE) model of the distal femoral bone, coupled with a new thermodynamic-based theory (BRT), was developed in ANSYS. An axial load of 3000N was applied to the FE model, and the bone density distribution in the femoral bone was calculated. The results were then compared with those obtained from the strain energy density (SED) model and the clinical observations. This comparison showed that the bone density distribution predicted by the thermodynamic-based model before and after TKA is consistent with the structure of the distal femur obtained from X-rays. Furthermore, the predicted bone density distribution using BRT showed a gradual and uniform evolution contrary to the SED model, where there is no gradual bone density evolution.
Corporate Social Responsibility In The Apparel Industry: A Multiple Case Study Analysis
Authors: Kozlowski Anika
Published: May 2021

There has been a growing concern over apparel brands in improving their environmental impact and the social responsibility throughout their supply chains. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting has ncreased within the apparel industry as a response. This thesis presents a review of the CSR reporting on the websites of the 14 apparel brands belonging to the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. Qualitative and quantitative data are collected on all reported CSR initiatives, actions and indicators. The data are organized into the five elements that represent important aspects in developing a sustainable apparel system: product sustainability, design practice, sustainable supply-chain management, consumer engagement, and business innovation. A cross-case analysis of the apparel brands is conducted. The key findings of the study include a lack of comparability among reported CSR indicators. In addition, a similar distribution pattern of CSR indicators across the five elements was observed. The results highlight that CSR reporting currently is not effective in providing a true reflection of an apparel brands CSR actions and initiatives. This study shows that the means for evaluating effectiveness in CSR reporting has not yet been put in place.
Developing a standard methodology for testing field performance of residential greywater reuse systems: case study of a greywater reuse system installed in 23 homes in Southern Ontario
Authors: Craig Madeleine Jean
Published: May 2021

Using shower wastewater to flush toilets decreases the potable water demand of residential buildings, reducing pressure on existing water supplies. “Off- the-shelf” greywater reuse systems intended for single-family residential dwellings have recently become commercially available, but have variable field performance. A standard field testing methodology was developed and applied to a greywater reuse system installed in 23 homes in Southern Ontario. Performance was quantified by measuring the water balance, water quality, energy consumption, durability, maintenance requirements, installation process, economics and user satisfaction with the system. The tested system was found to save, on average, 40.9 litres per household per day, occasionally meet water quality guidelines and generally have less maintenance and durability issues than previous generations, resulting in satisfied users. However, due to low water rates and high capital costs, there is a need for government subsidization of these systems which will ultimately, reduce pressure placed on centralized water infrastructure.
Multiple Working Mode Based Door Opening Control and Fault Detection of Mobile Modular and Reconfigurable Robot
Authors: Ali Saleh Ahmad
Published: May 2021

The study in this thesis addresses the problem of opening a door with a modular and reconfigurable robot (MRR) mounted on a wheeled mobile robot platform. The foremost issue with door opening problems is the prevention of occurrence of large internal forces that arise due to position errors or imprecise modeling of the robot or its environment, i.e. the door parameters, specifically.

Unlike previous methods that relied on compliance control, making the control design rather complicated, this thesis presents a new concept that utilizes the multiple working modes of the MRR modules. The control design is significantly simplified by switching selected joints of the MRR to work in passive mode during door opening operation. As a result, the occurrence of large internal forces is prevented. Different control schemes are used for control of the joint modules in different working modes. For passive joint modules, a feedforward torque control approach is used to compensate the joint friction to ensure passive motion. For the active joint modules, a distributed control method, based on torque sensing, is used to facilitate the control of joint modules working under this mode. To enable autonomous door opening, an online door parameter estimation algorithm is proposed on the basis of the least squares method; and a path planning algorithm is developed on the basis of Hermite cubic spline functions, with consideration of motion constraints of the mobile MRR. The theory is validated using simulations and experimental results, as presented herein.

A distributed fault detection scheme for MRR robots with joint torque sensing is also proposed in this thesis. The proposed scheme relies on filtering the joint torque command and comparing it with a filtered torque estimate that is derived from the nonlinear dynamic model of MRR with joint torque sensing. Common joint actuator faults are considered with fault detection being performed independently for each joint module. The proposed fault detection scheme for each module does not require motion states of any other module, making it an ideal modular approach for fault detection of modular robots. Experimental results have attested the effectiveness of the proposed fault detection scheme.
The Experiences of Homelessness among First and Second Generation South Asian Youth: Does Culture Matter?
Authors: Saran Saveena
Published: May 2021

The successful settlement of first and second generation youth in Canada is vital to Canada’s ethnic dynamism. In spite of this, youth are sometimes wedged between two cultural worlds and two opposing sets of expectations. With the rise of transnational communities, scholars have recently started to research intergenerational conflict between first and second generation youth and their parents. This area of research is just starting to connect with issues of precarious living among newcomer youth. The purpose of this paper is to look at the experiences of homeless South Asian youth to examine whether cultural conflict has facilitated their precarious living situation. Using a qualitative approach, three interviews were conducted with South Asian youth. The youth were residing in shelters at the time of the interviews. The interviews revealed that cultural clash within the family can trigger their precarious life and their use of the shelter system.
Community Based HIV Prevention Interventions in Africa: A Systematic Review
Authors: Ibrahim Sarah
Published: May 2021

This systematic review is the first to examine the characteristics of community-based HIV prevention interventions, specifically the theoretical underpinning, type and number of components, dose, mode of delivery, and teaching method; and explore the effects of the intervention characteristics on HIV-related knowledge and engagement in risk behaviour among young persons in Africa. A total of 5 studies were included in this review. Conceptual and operational definitions of the intervention characteristics guided the coding and extraction of data from the reports. The overall results of this study showed variability in theoretical underpinning, dose, and mode of delivery of interventions. Multi-component interventions using mixed teaching method produced the desired effect on knowledge and risk behaviour. The examination of community based HIV prevention intervention characteristics provides direction for the development of efficient future interventions to decrease the transmission of HIV among young persons in Africa.
Impact of victimization during youth on adult high-risk sexual behaviour among gay and bisexual men
Authors: Tulloch Tyler  G.
Published: May 2021

Based on the minority stress model, this study examines the impact of general and gay-specific childhood teasing on adult high-risk sexual behaviour among gay and bisexual men, mediated by depression and social anxiety. High-risk sexual behaviour was operationalized as the number of acts of unprotected anal intercourse with a partner of opposite or unknown HIV status, and also as the number of partners of opposite or unknown HIV status with whom an individual engaged in unprotected anal intercourse. Depression, social anxiety, and retrospective self-report of childhood teasing were measured at baseline, and sexual behaviour was measured at 6-month follow-up. Results indicate that gay-specific teasing, but not general teasing, was indirectly associated with number of high-risk sex acts via depression. Additionally, both types of teasing were directly associated with number of high-risk sex partners after accounting for depression and social anxiety.
Narrative communication strategies: best practices for NGOs seeking funding from CIDA
Authors: Gamble Abigail
Published: May 2021

"In June 2010, at the G-8 Muskoka Initiative on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised that Canada would provide 2.85 billion dollars (over five years) in funding to support health initiatives for mothers and children in developing countries(Government of Canada, 2011).This focus on maternal and child health is in keeping with three of the eight Millennium Development Goals, which focus on empowering women, reducing child mortality and improving maternal health. AllUnited Nation member states have agreed to support these goals and achieve specified health, gender, environmental and educationaltargets by 2015(World Health Organization [WHO], 2011).Canada’s government has thus committed tremendous resources, both financial and administrative, to achieve these targets that relate to maternal and child health.  Seventy-five million dollars of this promised money is being disseminated by CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) to Canadian NGOs(Non-governmental organizations) who can provide program proposals that focus on maternal, newborn and child health initiatives in third world countries –most of the countries eligible for the funding are located in Africa(CIDA, 2010). It is from interest in the Muskoka initiative and the CIDA funding specifically that thisresearch project developed. When considering the relationship between NGOs and governmentas in this situation–and specifically in this case a Canadian NGO and the Canadian government –a few key questions arose. When producing proposals for government, specifically CIDA, what strategies do NGOs employ when communicating those proposals in the hopes that they will be allocated funds? How can these communication strategies be analyzed?" - p1
Plunging Into Precarious Work : Neoliberalism, Immigrant Labour and the Case of Bathroom Attendants in Toronto, the "Global City"
Authors: Quintero Mariana
Published: May 2021

This paper builds on Canadian research documenting immigrants' overrepresentation in 'precarious work', and the manifestations of poor working conditions in their daily lives. To do so the paper presents a two-fold analysis. The first section critically analyzes how the 'global city' and neoliberal restructuring reinforce structural and ideological barriers limiting immigrants from decent work and pushing them to precarious work. The second section introduces the case study of bathroom attendants working in Toronto's nightclubs. It contributes to the literature by documenting the organization of work and analyzing how the indicators of precarity pertain because of their location in the informal sector and the nightclub industry, in addition to their work arrangements and social location as immigrants. It concludes by documenting tactics of resistance deployed by these workers to contest their social powerlessness.
Old tradition, new technologies: comprehension and retention using augmented reality
Authors: Parker Olivia
Published: May 2021

Traditional media, especially printed media, such as newspapers, books, and posters, is static. The increased usage of smart devices has trigged the use of mobile augmented reality (AR) in commercial print media. This technology allows consumers to overlay supplemental multimodal content on the real-world environment through the use of an AR app on a smartphone or tablet. The addition of mobile AR provides an extra dimension through which to absorb or dismiss an advertisement’s content. The main objective of this study is to determine if the use of mobile augmented reality in print affects the customer’s ability to understand and remember the message of an advertisement. Assessing augmented reality’s affect on printed media will help determine the value of investing in this technology and its future potential in the advertising landscape. This experiment was designed to test whether participants in two groups, one that used Layar, an augmented reality application, and one that did not, were still able to understand and remember the messages and content of a Nissan car advertisement featured in the Toronto Star. Through interviews and questionnaires subjects were tested on their recall ability and message comprehension given the passage of time. The results indicate that AR poses no significant advantage or disadvantage when compared to traditional print media. It appears that regardless of the mode of communication the advertisement’s messages are successfully conveyed. The results have shown that over time the viewer is likely to remember what interests them independently of whether augmented reality is used or not.
"If We Don't Do It For Our Parents, Then Who Will?" Afghan Youth as Cultural/Language Brokers
Authors: Sarwary Shabnam
Published: May 2021

This paper looks at the role that immigrant adolescents play as cultural/language brokers for their families. Research shows that immigrant adolescents play exceptionally supportive roles as cultural/language brokers for their families during the early years of settlement. There is limited research examining this phenomenon of cultural brokering by immigrant adolescents in Canada, and perhaps no particular research focusing on Afghan youth. The paper presents insights from nine Afghan youth who through their cultural/language brokering are important sources of support for their families during settlement. It will also include a compilation of previous literature on this area. Despite the struggles of negotiating with their role as cultural/language brokers in the early years, the youth generally shared positive experiences of being able to be a source of assistance for their families. Additionally, the participants viewed their role as a cultural/language broker to be a part of their familial responsibility
The Effect of LFC Process Variables on Solidification and Thermal Response of AZ91E Magnesium Alloy Castings
Authors: Bichler Lukas
Published: May 2021

Magnesium alloys are gaining in popularity as materials of choice for automotive and aerospace applications. Magnesium alloys have the lowest density of all structural metals, effectively making their specific properties highly attractive. Lost Foam Casting (LFC) is a novel near-net-shape manufacturing process utilizing expanded polystyrene (EPS) as a mold filler. Presence of the EPS in the casting cavity promotes formation of unique casting defects.These include misruns, folds, entrapped polystyrene pyrolysis products and potentially increased levels of gas porosity. There is very little published literature on the feasibility of casting magnesium alloys by the LFC process. This research was an attempt to evaluate the effect of selected LFC process variables on AZ91R magnesium alloy castings produced by the LFC process. In this work, the effect of melt superheat, casting section thickness, EPS foam properties and the application of vacuum during mold filling were investigated and correlated to the casting quality and molten flow behavior. Further, detailed thermal analysis was carried out to determine the solidification history of the castings. The results of the thermal analysis were used to determine the effect of the cooling rate on the development of the casting microstructure. Moreover, the morphology and the mode of second phase (Mg17Al12) precipitation were studied and quantified. The results suggest that application of vacuum during the mold filling process increased the metal flow lengths. However, the casting soundness deteriorated due to the applied vacuum. Variations in the density of the vacuum cast horizontal bars were explained through the presence of partially solidified metal. The molten metal flow was further influenced by the foam density and bead fusion. Greater flow lengths were observed in the high density 1.6 pcf foam castings. in the low density 1.3 pcf foam castings, numerous casting defects were associated with the presence of the liquid-EPS pyrolysis products. In general, the thermal analysis suggested that non-equilibrium alloy solidification promoted the formation of the lamellar non-equilibrium Mg17Al12 precipitate, and this was confirmed by optical microscopy.
Perpetuating paranoia: citizenship, civil liberties and counter-terrorism
Authors: Abarca Carlos A.
Published: May 2021

The adoption of various anti-terror policies by Western governments post-9/11 has
generated discussion on the legitimacy of such counter-terror mechanisms and their
influence on the rights of citizens. This paper aims at establishing a connection between
counter-terrorism, civil liberties and citizenship with the intent of expanding the already
existing literature on citizen’s sentiments towards counter-terrorism measures. While
presenting data from various research studies from Western nation-states, it is my
intention to bring attention to the feelings of racialized citizens as primary targets of the
presented counter-terror tools. I will argue that there is reason to assume that such
counter-terrorism policies presented foster the development of what I refer to as paranoia
for racialized citizens living in Western countries. I will suggest that there is reason to
suspect that these mechanisms advance unintended consequences that may exacerbate
what the initial policies aimed at deterring.
Deriving pertinent systems requirements : a methodology
Authors: Sikdar Swapan
Published: May 2021

Poor understanding of needs results in incompletely captured requirements and causes project failures. Analysts and developers by training, practice preoccupation and lacking suitable methodologies are ill equipped to capture various dimensions of requirements. In early stages needs are vaguely expressed. They have to be extracted and reasoned with stakeholders using relevant vocabulary. Business reality limits time at stakeholders' disposal to participate in requirements development. Methodologies that are more workable are required.

Working with early stage goal oriented concepts from Goal Oriented Requirements Engineering (GORE) and fuzzy set theory based value aggregation, this thesis proposes a methodology to develop and select pertinent requirements. We use GORE concepts for identifying requirements and fuzzy aggregation to select alternatives. Use of fuzzy set theory and Ordered Weighted Aggregation (OWA) operators allows quantitative structuring of early stage decision problem consistent with human thinking and reasoning. The methodology is illustrated via two case studies.
Architecture of excess: navigating beyond the superficial
Authors: Tsang Rebecca
Published: May 2021

Contemporary architecture has become increasingly superficial as it relies on capricious visual excitement for appeal in the 21st Century. Architectural semiotics have been appropriated to become massively branded images in the urban landscape that aim for instant gratification, lacking experiential depth and qualities beyond visual delight. The aim for iconic and instant appeal in any building typology limits our understanding of architecture’s relationship to use, users, and context. Working both within and beyond the same culture of consumption and excess in the experience economy, this thesis posits that characteristics and values of entertainment architecture provide engaging experiential qualities for architectural design beyond superficial appeal. Entertaining values of educational leisure, themed environments, and consumption can in fact generate a more integrated and authentic relationship between architecture, people, and place in our society of the spectacle.