cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Controlled human exposures to wood smoke: a synthesis of the evidence
Creators: name: Schwartz, Carley
name: Bølling, Anette K.
name: Carlsten, Christopher Russell
Publisher: name: BioMed Central
Year: 2020

description: Background Exposure to particulate matter (PM) from wood combustion represents a global health risk, encompassing diverse exposure sources; indoor exposures due to cooking in developing countries, ambient PM exposures from residential wood combustion in developed countries, and the predicted increasing number of wildfires due to global warming. Although physicochemical properties of the PM, as well as the exposure levels vary considerably between these sources, controlled human exposure studies may provide valuable insight to the harmful effects of wood smoke (WS) exposures in general. However, no previous review has focused specifically on controlled human exposure studies to WS. Results The 22 publications identified, resulting from 12 controlled human studies, applied a range of combustion conditions, exposure levels and durations, and exercise components in their WS exposure. A range of airway, cardiovascular and systemic endpoints were assessed, including lung function and heart rate measures, inflammation and oxidative stress. However, the possibility for drawing general conclusions was precluded by the large variation in study design, resulting in differences in physicochemical properties of WS, effective dose, as well as included endpoints and time-points for analysis. Overall, there was most consistency in reported effects for airways, while oxidative stress, systemic inflammation and cardiovascular physiology did not show any clear patterns. Conclusion Based on the reviewed controlled human exposure studies, conclusions regarding effects of acute WS exposure on human health are premature. Thus, more carefully conducted human studies are needed. Future studies should pay particular attention to the applied WS exposure, to assure that both exposure levels and PM properties reflect the research question.
Developing an Electronic Hospital Trigger for Bleeding – The Ottawa Hospital ETriggers Project
Creators: name: De Wit, Kerstin
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2014
Subjects: bleeding
electronic medical records
electronic identification

description: Background Bleeding can be an adverse side effect from hospital treatment. The aim was to develop an electronic identification method for patients who are bleeding within The Ottawa Hospital. Methods A retrospective exploratory cohort (N=1000) was used to identify potential candidate markers for bleeding. Electronic data were extracted to evaluate candidate identifiers. Data which were associated with bleeding events were assessed in a model derivation cohort (N=700). Multivariate analysis was used to establish the best model for identifying all bleeding events and in-hospital bleeding events. Results Overall 38% of the exploratory cohort had bleeding. In the model derivation set 29% had bleeding. The model predicting all bleeding included number of transfusions, admitting specialty, re-operation and endoscopy (C-statistic 0.82, 95%CI 0.79-0.86). The model predicting in-hospital bleeding included number of transfusions, admitting specialty and re-operation (C-statistic 0.78, 95% CI 0.73-0.84). Conclusion We have developed two models for identifying hospital bleeding events from The Ottawa Hospital electronic medical records. These should be validated prospectively on the hospital-wide population.
Mobilizing Misoprostol: Exploring Policies and Practices in Refugee, Conflict, Crisis, and Emergency Settings
Creators: name: Arnott, Grady
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2014

description: Misoprostol is medication used globally for the prevention and treatment of post-partum hemorrhage, incomplete abortion management, and early induced abortion. The drug is widely recognized as a life-saving commodity in low-resource settings due to its thermostable properties, manageable routes of administration, and cost-effectiveness. Currently, there is limited research regarding misoprostol use in refugee, conflict, crisis, and emergency settings. The purpose of this study is to document policies regarding misoprostol use in crisis settings, clarify the position and alignment of these policies, and understand how policies affect misoprostol use on the ground. Using policy analysis and key informant interviews, this study concludes that misalignment among misoprostol policies and implementation gaps exist. Study recommendations are to integrate misoprostol in updated reproductive health kits, include the drug on the EML for currently excluded indications, map its use in crisis settings, and support relationship building between development and humanitarian sectors for improved programming.
A critical review of student change and development theories
Creators: name: Lang, Catherine
Publisher: name: Swinburne
Year: 2024

description: There are commonalities in substance in many student change and development theories that have been categorized and summarised over the last 15 years. Many of the models that have evolved from theorists are based on the American college model and its associated values. This model cannot readily be applied to other higher education systems, including the Australian higher education system. The structure of higher educations institutions in both countries is quite different. The nature of the organization of under-graduate degrees can be associated with the value system of a country. There are differences between countries in the cultural perception of the role that higher education plays in preparing students for society. These differences are highlighted by recent discussion papers issued by the Australian government to instigate a review of Higher Education in this country. These discussion papers indicate that the main issue in higher education in Australia is “Who pays?” and the impression that there is an inherent problem in Australia’s higher education system that has nothing to do with reduced government funding and over-stretched resources. This paper discusses the various change and development models and typologies that have evolved in higher education over the last 15 years and their impact on innovation in teaching. The Australian higher education system is used as a case study to highlight the need to treat the US model with caution when applying to other countries and cultures.
Evaluating Risk of Delayed Major Bleeding in Critically Ill Trauma Patients
Creators: name: Castellucci, Lana Antoinette
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2016
Subjects: Bleeding
Trauma
Critically Ill
Venous Thrombosis

description: Background: Up to 40% of trauma patients die during the first 24 hours after injury due to massive hemorrhage. In patients who survive this critical time period, no information is available on rates of delayed major bleeding or factors associated with delayed major bleeding. Methods: A retrospective chart review of 150 critically ill adult trauma patients was used to determine the incidence of delayed major bleeding events. Cox proportional hazards multivariate analysis was performed to assess for risk factors associated with delayed major bleeding events. The anticipated rate of delayed major bleeding events was 10%. Results: The incidence of delayed major bleeding in this cohort of critically ill trauma patients was 44%. Predictors that were statistically significantly associated with delayed major bleeding included: male gender, pre-injury use of the antiplatelet agents aspirin and/or clopidogrel, presence of intracranial bleeding, higher injury severity scores, requirement of massive transfusion, and low pH values. Use of anticoagulant prophylaxis was not associated with delayed major bleeding. Conclusion: The rate of delayed major bleeding was higher than estimated. Larger retrospective and prospective cohorts are needed to confirm these findings.
Coumarinyl-Caged Ceramides, a New Tool for Assessing the Biological Effects of Ceramide In Cells
Creators: name: Day, Jenna
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2015
Subjects: Ceramide
Photocage

description: Ceramide, a sphingolipid, is an important lipid second messenger that is involved in regulating a number of cellular processes, including programmed cell death, cell growth and differentiation, as well as cellular responses to stress stimuli. Many of the biological effects of ceramide are linked to its ability to modulate the biophysical properties of membranes and cause clustering of signalling molecules in ceramide-rich domains, which allows for more efficient signal transmission in the cell. However, the specific roles of different ceramide species in these signaling pathways have yet to be clearly established. Assessing the effects of long N-acyl chain ceramides in cells involves some limitations due to their poor solubility and their low membrane permeability. Caging these molecules with photolabile protecting groups allows for their delivery into cells where photochemical uncaging of the biologically active compound can be achieved with spatial and temporal control. A series of coumarinyl-caged ceramides has been prepared in order to probe the biological effects of ceramide in cells. This unique series of compounds was used to investigate the dependence of these cellular effects on N-acyl chain length. Hereafter, I describe the photophysical and photochemical characterization of these novel caged ceramides, assess their uptake and measure the biological effects of the different ceramides which are generated photochemically in HeLa cells. The caged ceramides were shown to be taken up by the cells and to cause a decrease in viability, with UV irradiation, that can be detected after 24 hours of treatment. An investigation of the mechanism of cell death induced by coumarinyl-caged ceramides in HeLa cells revealed that cell death proceeds in a caspase-independent manner and involves the mitochondria. The role of the mitochondria in this cell death pathway, however, remains to be studied further. RIP1 kinase activity, which was also probed in the cells, was determined to not be implicated in cell death caused by photochemically generated ceramide. Intracellular ROS generation, however, was shown to occur in this system, but results primarily from UV irradiation of the free coumarin. Overall, the results from this study have provided insight into the signalling pathways triggered by treatment of HeLa cells with the bioactive lipid ceramide using coumarin photocages.
The Blue Glow From the Back Row: The Impact of New Technologies on the Adolescent Experience of Live Theatre
Creators: name: Richardson, John M.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2010
Subjects: autoethnography
qualitative research
National Arts Centre
theatre
new technologies
literacies
school audience
youth audience
audience studies
space
discourse

description: This article considers the impact of new technologies on the adolescent experience of live, literary theatre. Drawing together the work of theorists in literacies, new technologies and audience studies, together with brain research, and the results of a focus group of four secondary students who have seen four plays at Canada’s National Arts Centre, it examines the consequences of young people’s immersion in digital culture and the new mindset that often results. The expectation of instant access to data, inter-connectivity, stimulation and control can make it difficult for adolescents to decode the metaphorical aspects of a theatrical performance. The article concludes that language arts and dramatic arts educators have a key role in teaching students how to decode—and therefore enjoy and appreciate— a play.
Surface plasmon enhanced light-trapping in polycrystalline silicon thin-film solar
Creators: name: Varlamov, S.
name: Ouyang, Z.
name: Zhao, X.
name: Jung, D. S.
Publisher: name: Swinburne
Year: 2024

description: The paper reports a development and implementation of light trapping based on light scattering from plasmonic metal nanoparticles. The nanoparticles were formed on the surface of planar polycrystalline Si thin-film solar cells by annealing of a precursor Ag film. The light absorption by the cells and resulting photocurrent enhancement is maximised by optimising the design of the nanoparticle light-trapping scheme, which includes the nanoparticle size and location, the local dielectric environment, and an application of a supplementary back surface reflector. A large photocurrent enhancement is achieved due to high scattering and coupling efficiencies of the incident light from Ag nanoparticles into the thin-film cells. For the optimum design comprising a 'Si-film/nanoparticles/magnesium fluoride/diffuse white paint' structure short-circuit current enhancement of 44% is demonstrated for the cell fabricated by e-beam evaporation on 3 mm thick planar glass superstrate. The enhancement is further increased up to 50% when the developed light-trapping scheme is applied to the cell fabricated by PECVD on 1 mm thick planar glass superstrate.
Decreasing Error in Functional Hip Joint Center Calculation using Ultrasound Imaging
Creators: name: Upadhyaya, Swati
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2013
Subjects: Functional Hip Joint Center
Ultrasound

description: The hip joint center (HJC) is needed for calculation of hip kinematics in various applications. In the functional method, the center is determined by moving femur with respect to acetabulum. A popular way for measuring this movement is through an optical motion capture system. This method is fast and economical for most applications where we require an instant HJC even though the reconstruction error in bone position calculation exists due to skin artifact. This error is caused by movement of markers placed on skin rather than on actual bone. Here we introduce ultrasound imaging as an additional modality to measure the change in soft tissue thickness above bone while hip is flexed. We use this information on the tissue thickness change to recalculate position of markers placed on skin to match the movement of bone. A good advantage of using ultrasound machine is its non-invasiveness. We calculated HJC using a symmetric center of rotation estimation (SCoRE) algorithm, which uses the concept of coordinate transformation on 3D marker position data. The algorithm gives the 3D position of two centers, one for each hip bone. The distance between these two centers (SCoRE residual) gives us a hint on the accuracy of the HJC calculation and has been proved to be proportional to the error with respect to actual center in previous studies. These two centers should ideally coincide as they collectively form a spherical joint. Our new algorithm for HJC calculation with tissue thickness compensation, measured using ultrasound imaging shows the error has been reduced from 9.13 mm to 4.87 mm
Weak Governance, Divided Residents: The Development of Gated Communities in Guatemala City
Creators: name: Dalby, Laura
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2013
Subjects: Weak Governance
Gated Community
Guatemala City
Central America
Habitus
Security
Neo-Liberalism
Social Status
Fear
Public-Private Space
Spatial Organization

description: This thesis asks the question: how can one describe the development of gated communities in Guatemala City? It collects and analyzes data on gated communities in Guatemala City in order to explore the nature of their development in a violent geographical region, which has also been neglected by the academic community. It argues that the development of gated communities in Guatemala City does not fit the mutually exclusive ‘security’ argument as scholars have made. Instead, a mixture of economic factors, social status, weak governance, and security concerns are involved as large private corporations draw upon security-related fears, unregulated development of real estate and weak governance, resulting in a disorganized model of spatial organization. This study adds to the growing body of literature on gated communities by laying the groundwork needed to fill the gap that currently exists in Central America.
Protracted Magmatism within the North Caribou Terrane, Superior Province: Petrology, Geochronology, and Geochemistry of Meso- to Neoarchean TTG Suites
Creators: name: Van Lankvelt, Amanda L.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2013
Subjects: Geochronology
TTG
North Caribou Terrane
Zircon chemistry
Petrology
Alteration
Archean
Geobarometry

description: The North Caribou Terrane forms the core of Superior Province and records a protracted history of crustal growth and modification. At the centre of the North Caribou Terrane, lies the North Caribou greenstone belt, which is surrounded by granitoids of diverse compositions and ages. This study reports whole-rock geochemistry, zircon and titanite geochronology, and hornblende geobarometry on these plutonic rocks. Although zircons as old as 3132 ± 7 Ma were found, the main magmatic pulse occurred between 2880 and 2830 Ma, and geobarometry indicates tectonic thickening during this period. This was followed by widespread hydrothermal alteration and limited magmatism from 2760 to 2680 Ma, and shallow, brittle-ductile intrusions at circa 2630 Ma. From 2730 to 2630 Ma, intrusions were emplaced at increasingly shallow crustal levels. All of the rocks, except for the youngest pegmatitic intrusions, show similar patterns in major and trace elements, with a general trend toward more evolved compositions through time. These patterns indicate that the granitoids record mostly reworking of early intrusions, which is also consistent with patterns observed in the geochronology.
Bose-Einstein condensation in micro-potentials for atom interferometry
Creators: name: Scharnberg, Falk
Publisher: name: Swinburne
Year: 2024

description: Interferometry with atoms is a young discipline of physics. The ¯rst interfer- ometers were realised in the early 1990s, using light pulses as beamsplitters in momentum space. Recent developments in atom optics have led to new proposals for interferometers, where the splitting takes place spatially. Mag- netic and optical traps are both suited for this kind of interferometer if a well de¯ned and highly controllable trap is realised. In this thesis results from two experiments that in principle allow the creation of such traps are presented. After reviewing the principles and techniques of atom optics necessary for the understanding of this thesis, a theoretical discussion about the spatial single atom interferometer in a double well potential follows. It is shown that within reasonable limits the system can be reduced to two levels and solved by the Bloch equations. Using the realistic case of a not perfectly symmetric double well potential allows an understanding of the physics behind such an interferometer: how phase is accumulated and how localisation of the atoms leads to the loss of the interferometric signal. Then two experiments are presented. One experiment was newly built up as part of this thesis: it uses a novel hybrid atom chip' with a combination of a magneto-optical ¯lm and current-carrying structures to produce the magnetic trapping potentials. This experiment allowed 5¢108 87Rb atoms to be captured in a magneto-optical trap, where the atom-chip's surface acts as a mirror. The atoms were then transferred into a purely magnetic trap which was created by current carrying structures on the chip. From there on, RF radiation enforced evaporative cooling, so that a quantum degenerate Bose-Einstein condensate of up to 105 atoms was created. It was also shown that the magneto-optical ¯lm is able to hold and trap the atoms. In the second experiment atoms are trapped in the spatially varying inten- sity of light of 1.03 ¹m wavelength. This experiment used an existing set-up as a basis and was modi¯ed and improved for this new project. This experiment starts with 109 87Rb atoms in a 6-beam magneto-optical trap. After examining and optimising the loading process, 1:5 ¢ 105 atoms could be loaded directly from the Magneto-optical trap into the optical dipole potential of two crossed laser beams at 1.03 ¹m. Evaporative cooling was demonstrated though the phase transition to quantum degeneracy was not reached.
Construction of a Synthetic Human VL Phage Display Library and Isolation of Potential Neuropilin-1-specific VL Therapeutics from the Library
Creators: name: Keklikian, Artine
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2011
Subjects: Antibody phage display
Single domain antibody
VL

description: Antibody phage display technology mimics the natural immune system, and has been widely used for rapid isolation of single-domain antibodies (sdAbs) with various binding specificities and affinities in the micromolar to low nanomolar range. SdAbs are the variable regions of immunoglobulins (e.g., VH, VL, VHH) and serve as potential probes with therapeutic value. The small size, high solubility, high expression and stability, and high specificity and affinity for the cognate antigen, make sdAbs ideal in improving drug delivery and the overall therapeutic value of antibodies. The main objective of this thesis was to construct a large VL phage display library (~1010 diversity); analyze it via sequence analysis, and to subtractively pan the library for isolation of Neuropilin-1 (NRP1)-specific VLs. Neuropilin-1 (NRP1), a cell-surface receptor for both vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and class 3 Semaphorins (Sema3A), contributes to neuron cell death through its interaction with Sema3A in stroke patients. Disruption of this NRP1-Sema3A interaction would allow for axonal outgrowth and neuron regeneration in the area of the brain affected by stroke. Construction of the synthetic phage antibody library utilized a single VL framework with selected positions in the complementarity-determining regions (CDRs) targeted for randomization in vitro using synthetic oligonucleotides that introduced sequence degeneracy. Specific VLs were then selected from the repertoire through subtractive panning against a cell line endogenously expressing NRP1 (PC12) as well as a negative cell line that does not express NRP1 (HEK293) with competitive elution carried out using a synthetic Sema3A-derived peptide. Fifteen VL clones were isolated, cloned in E. coli, expressed and purified, and of these, nine were determined to be non-aggregating by size exclusion chromatography. Further studies will determine the potential therapeutic use of these VL sdAbs as agents in recovery from stroke and neuron degeneration.
Exploring Physical Activity Commitment and Lapses: A Comparison of Sport and Exercise Motives and Involvement Opportunities
Creators: name: Vallerand, James
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2013

description: This thesis aimed to determine which psychological factors enable adults to remain committed and to avoid lapses in physical activity (PA), and explored whether factors differed between sportspersons and exercisers. Three studies explored the importance of individual participatory motives (Markland & Ingledew, 1997), the total number of reasons motivating PA (Kruglanski et al., 2013) and the accommodation of involvement opportunities (Young & Medic, 2011), respectively. 252 (MAge = 47.2, SD = 6.0) active adults completed online questionnaires and self-identified as either being sportspersons or exercisers. Results show that greater number of motives, greater affordance of involvement opportunities, and three motives (enjoyment, stress relief, and social affiliation), facilitate commitment and lapse avoidance for sportspersons and exercisers alike. Sportspersons may also benefit from personal goals/challenges, but not from appearance motives. Overall, results indicated more similarities than differences between organized sport and exercise contexts for how motivational factors associated with adherence outcomes.
An Explorative Analysis of Electronic Retailing Customer Adoptions in the Context of Saudi Arabia
Creators: name: Basahih, Eman
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2013
Subjects: Electronic Retailing
Factors for Customer Adoption of E-Retailing
Quantitative Evaluation
Saudi Arabia Online

description: ABSTRACT An Explorative Analysis Evaluation of Electronic Retailing Customer Adoptions In the Context of Saudi Arabia To learn more about what people in Saudi Arabia thought about online shopping, a survey was distributed throughout public locations in three major cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, and Medina. The questionnaires investigated consumers’ intersecting views regarding online and in-store shopping, and attempted to learn more about the perceived usefulness and attractiveness of online shopping in Saudi Arabia, as well as privacy or trust issues related to online shopping that are relevant for Saudi customer. The main findings of this study revealed several important tendencies. For one, the study found that males favoured shopping online more than females. Moreover, respondents appeared to find online shopping to be relaxing due to reduced sales pressure. Also, proficiency in the English language seemed to be a determining factor in the consumer’s preference to shop online. In addition, people who seemed to dislike physical shopping favoured the idea of e-shopping. The findings above are exploratory in nature due to the limited sample size and sampling process. Additional study with expanded sample across a broader Saudi Arabian geographic base could be used to confirm the use initial exploratory findings.
Constitutional Jurisprudence in the Supreme Court of Venezuela
Creators: name: Dordelli Rosales, Nelson Richard
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2013
Subjects: subject: Constitutional Law
subject: Legal Theory
subject: Jurisprudence
subject: Venezuela
subject: Law
subject: FOS: Law

description: The prime focus of this dissertation consists in exploring constitutional jurisprudence in the Supreme Court of Venezuela over the last five decades, making use of arguments drawn from Venezuelan history and the existing jurisprudential approaches to theories about the general character of law as integrated in numerous public law cases. This study offers a new approach, one that focuses on ensuring that fundamental constitutional principles are aligned with the concrete objectives (purposes) that the Constitution sets out to achieve. This account is developed through a theoretical framework comprising of: I. A historical overview from independence (1811) to democratization (1947 and beyond), emphasizing the fundamentals of the Constitutions of 1961 and 1999, to portray a vivid and accurate picture of the origins of Venezuela’s constitutional democracy; II. A survey, of constitutional cases that illustrates the evolution of the Venezuelan constitutional jurisprudence under the overt or subliminal use of certain default legal theories, namely, legal positivism in the era of the 1961 Constitution, legal realism and Ronald Dworkin’s adjudication theory in the era of the 1999 Constitution III. An insightful discussion of the main arguments of Ronald Dworkin’s principled theory and Justice Aharon Barak’s purposive theory, in an effort to build theorectical support, which links the various points of their respective theories in order to articulate one in the context of the Venezuelan jurisprudence; IV An original attempt to build a theoretical approach based on the Venezuelan constitutional system, history, culture, and identity to bring together the priorities of formalism, particularly the written principles of the Constitution and the priorities of functionalism and social welfare. This is to ensure that the Supreme Court decides accordingly with the constitutional principles as much as their underlying purposes to provide solutions to legal conundrums.
Steady State Analysis of Nonlinear Circuits using the Harmonic Balance on GPU
Creators: name: Bandali, Bardia
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2013
Subjects: BKLU
Circuit Simulation
GPU
Harmonic Balance
KLU
OpenCL
Steady State

description: This thesis describes a new approach to accelerate the simulation of the steady-state response of nonlinear circuits using the Harmonic Balance (HB) technique. The approach presented in this work focuses on direct factorization of the sparse Jacobian matrix of the HB nonlinear equations using a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) platform. This approach exploits the heterogeneous structure of the Jacobian matrix. The computational core of the proposed approach is based on developing a block-wise version of the KLU factorization algorithm, where scalar arithmetic operations are replaced by block-aware matrix operations. For a large number of harmonics, or excitation tones, or both the Block-KLU (BKLU) approach effectively raises the ratio of floating-point operations to other operations and, therefore, becomes an ideal vehicle for implementation on a GPU-based platform. Motivated by this fact, a GPU-based Hybrid Block KLU framework is developed to implement the BKLU. The proposed approach in this thesis is named Hybrid-BKLU. The Hybrid-BKLU is implemented in two parts, on the host CPU and on the graphic card’s GPU, using the OpenCL heterogeneous parallel programming language. To show the efficiency of the Hybrid-BKLU approach, its performance is compared with BKLU approach performing HB analysis on several test circuits. The Hybrid-BKLU approach yields speedup by up to 89 times over conventional BKLU on CPU.
"Through Marriage Marvelously Blended": Visual Representations of Matrimonial Rituals in the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands, 1384 to 1555
Creators: name: Mitchell, Laura
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2014
Subjects: Marriage
Matrimony
Betrothal
Wedding
Ceremony
Ritual
Netherlands
Dutch
Low Countries
Visual Art
Early Netherlandish Art
Medieval History

description: The Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands constitute an interesting case for studying the function and symbolism of matrimony. This period marked an active time of change in the Low Countries: there was ongoing antagonism between the dukes of Burgundy and their Dutch subjects; shifts in the mercantile industry caused economic flux; the Reformation sparked religious tension; and the rapid expansion of the art market created a Europe-wide demand for Netherlandish fine and decorative art. In the face of upheaval, the act of marriage and the ideology surrounding it remained relatively consistent. Betrothal and marriage ceremonies in the Low Countries were quite formal compared to those in southern Europe; the quintessential northern ceremony customarily involved a priest, witnesses, and symbolic hand gestures. The images discussed in this thesis overwhelmingly reflect the importance of ritualistic behaviour in the late medieval Netherlands; the majority of them depict proper in facie ecclesiae unions, meaning “in the face of the Church.” These images of ideal marriage rituals were most commonly commissioned by members of the court or Church, and were used primarily to display wealth and power, to enhance the pageantry of court life, to draw connections with the mythic or biblical past, to promote canon law, and to reinforce cultural values. The fifty-three images studied in this thesis not only relate to discourses on medieval marriage and art history; they also fit into the larger narratives surrounding civic authority, religious tension, economic change, and social mores. In this thesis, I use an interdisciplinary approach to reveal the main functions of matrimonial ceremonies in Early Netherlandish art, and to examine the gap between image and reality. This thesis contributes to a better understanding of ritual and visual expression in the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands.
Comparing the Effect of Reflections, Written Exercises, and Multimedia Instruction to Address Learners’ Misconceptions Using Structural Assessment of Knowledge
Creators: name: Sarwar, Gul Shahzad
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2012
Subjects: misconceptions
pathfinder networks
concept map
structural assessment
instruction
reflection
written exercises
multimedia instruction
formative assessment
feedback

description: The study assessed the knowledge structure of Grade 11 physics students and their instructors using Pathfinder networks. Instructors’ structural knowledge was averaged to create a referent pathfinder network. Each student’s pathfinder network was compared with the referent pathfinder network in order to identify misconceptions. These misconceptions served as the basis for remedial instruction. The study was conducted in six sections of Grade 11. Three different types of remedial instruction based on three different chapters from the Grade 11 physics textbook were given to the students at three separate stages. In the first section, students were shown their own and referent pathfinder networks as an intervention during the first stage. The students were asked to reflect on the similarities and differences between them. The researcher gave written concept-oriented exercises based on the differences at the second stage, and multimedia concept-oriented instruction based on the differences was given to the students at the third stage. The order of instruction was counterbalanced in all the six sections. After each stage, students’ pathfinder networks were reassessed and the similarities between students’ and the referent pathfinder networks were calculated to measure the effect of a particular intervention. The study tried to determine which type of remedial instruction given to students best improved the knowledge structure of the students in the domain of physics. Results revealed that the similarity indices around the treatment concepts in the pathfinder networks of the students increased the most from pre- to post-intervention phase because of their reflections, followed by multimedia concept-oriented instruction and written concept-oriented exercises. Most likely, the major reason for this change was the interventions around the treatment concepts by the researcher at three different stages which stimulated and probably changed some of students’ misconceptions. To address the issue of validity, the similarity indices of control concepts in the students’ pathfinder networks were also checked for improvement. The result shows that there is no appreciable improvement in control concepts as there was no intervention around those concepts. Findings support the use of structural assessment of knowledge with pathfinder scaling technique to check the effectiveness of a classroom instruction.
Supplementary document for MoS2-based multiple surface plasmonic coupling for enhanced surface-enhanced Raman scattering and photoelectrocatalytic platform utilizing the size effect - 5410675.pdf
Creators: name: Zhang, C
name: Ji, Chang
name: Yu, Jing
name: Li, Zhen
name: Li, Zhaoxiang
name: Li, Chonghui
name: xu, shicai
name: Li, Weifeng
name: man, yuan
name: Zhao, Xiaofei
Publisher: name: Optica Publishing Group
Year: 2025
Subjects: Uncategorized

description: This supplementary information is about some characteristic of SEM, XPS, XRD and other Raman spectra.
Straddling (In)Visibility: Representations of Bisexual Women in Twenty-First Century Popular Culture
Creators: name: Cocarla, Sasha
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2016
Subjects: Bisexuality
Popular Culture
Queer Theory
Representations
Television
LGBTQ

description: Throughout the first decade of the 2000s, LGBTQ+ visibility has steadily increased in North American popular culture, allowing for not only more LGBTQ+ characters/figures to surface, but also establishing more diverse and nuanced representations and storylines. Bisexuality, while being part of the increasingly popular phrase of inclusivity (LGBTQ+), however, is one sexuality that not only continues to be overlooked within popular culture but that also continues to be represented in limited ways. In this doctoral thesis I examine how bisexual women are represented within mainstream popular culture, in particular on American television, focusing on two, popular programs (The L Word and the Shot At Love series). These texts have been chosen for popularity and visibility in mainstream media and culture, as well as for how bisexual women are unprecedentedly made central to many of the storylines (The L Word) and the series as a whole (Shot At Love). This analysis provides not only a detailed historical account of bisexual visibility but also discusses bisexuality thematically, highlighting commonalities across bisexual representations as well as shared themes between and with other identities. By examining key examples of bisexuality in popular culture from the first decade of the twenty-first century, my research investigates how representations of bisexuality are often portrayed in conversation with hegemonic understandings of gender and sexuality, specifically highlighting the mainstream "gay rights" movement's narrative of "normality" and "just like you" politics. Finally, it is in recognizing how representations of bisexuality are framed by specific reoccurring themes/tropes, as well as how these themes/tropes work together within larger social, cultural, and political climates, that it becomes possible to challenge existing gender and sexuality norms and ideals and create a more nuanced and complex understanding of bisexuality.
Episodic Foresight in Typically-Developing Children and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Creators: name: Hanson, Laura K
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2013
Subjects: Autism
Episodic Foresight
Future Thinking
Theory of Mind
Executive Function

description: The capacity to mentally project the self into the future or, what has recently been termed “episodic foresight” is an emerging topic of study in developmental psychology. The aim of this dissertation was to review available research on this topic and explore its development in two groups of children: typically-developing preschoolers and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This dissertation had two main goals. The first goal was to explore whether tasks thought to measure episodic foresight in children are related and whether, as has been hypothesized, they were related to theory of mind (ToM) and executive function (EF). Study 1 showed that after controlling for age and language ability, episodic foresight tasks were not intercorrelated, nor were they individually related to ToM or EF tasks. Importantly, however, an episodic foresight composite score was related to several EF tasks. Specifically, the results suggested a significant relation between episodic foresight and inhibitory control. The second goal of this dissertation was to explore the development of episodic foresight in children with ASD. Specifically, I tested whether children with ASD would perform more poorly on a series of episodic foresight tasks than a mental-age matched group of typically-developing children. Study 2 revealed significant group differences on several episodic foresight tasks, suggesting that children with ASD showed impairments in thinking about themselves in the future. These results are a timely contribution to the research on episodic foresight and will hopefully aid in the further development of tasks that adequately measure this important cognitive ability in children.
Determining the primary endpoints for diagnostic test accuracy reviews of substance use disorders
Creators: name: Klimas, Jan
name: Dormuth, Colin
name: Wood, Evan
Publisher: name: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Year: 2020

description: Diagnostic test accuracy reviews increasingly are being used in substance use research, yet the majority of the studies considered in these reviews do not account appropriately for the primary endpoints of interest. Recently, the DSM-5 criteria have been largely criticized as poorly able to properly distinguish those with problematic use from those with substance use disorders.
Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Properties of Self-assembled Quantum Dots Containing Magnetic Ions
Creators: name: Trojnar, Anna
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2013
Subjects: quantum dots
magnetic ion
single spin control

description: There is currently interest in developing control over the spin of a single Manganese (Mn) ion, the atomic limit of magnetic memory, in semiconductor quantum dots (QDs). In this work we present theoretical results showing how one can manipulate the spin of Mn ion with light in a QD by engineering Mn-multi-exciton interactions through quantum interference, design of exciton and bi-exciton states and application of the magnetic field. We develop a fully microscopic model of correlated exciton and bi-exciton interacting with the Mn ion. The electrons and heavy holes, confined in the QD, approximated as a two-dimensional harmonic oscillator (HO), interact via direct and short- and long-range exchange Coulomb interactions. The matrix elements of the exchange interaction are computed for the first time in the harmonic oscillator basis and for arbitrary magnetic fields. The exciton and bi-exciton energies and states are computed using the configuration interaction method. The interaction between carriers and the Mn spin is accounted for by the Heisenberg electron-Mn and Ising hole-Mn exchange interactions. For a single exciton confined in a magnetic dot, a novel quantum interference (QI) effect between the electron-hole Coulomb scattering and the scattering by Mn ion is obtained. The QI significantly affects the exciton-Mn coupling, modifying the splitting of the emission/absorption lines from the exciton-Mn complex depending on the degree of electronic correlations in the exciton state. The second signature of the QI are the nonuniform energy gaps between the consecutive emission peaks due to the scattering of carriers by Mn among single-particle orbitals. Magneto-photoluminescence experiments show that the coupling between the exciton and Mn ion does not change in the magnetic field. We report that electron-hole correlations counteract the magnetic squeezing of the single-particle wave functions strengthening the carrier-Mn interactions. As a result, the rate of change of the magneto-photoluminescence spectra with magnetic field is reduced as observed in the experiment. We develop here for the first time a microscopic theory of bi-exciton-Mn complex, and report the presence of the fine structure of bi-exciton-Mn complex, even though as a spin-singlet it is expected to decouple from the localized spin. Theoretical results are compared with experiments in Grenoble and Warsaw.
Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Characteristics and Behaviour of Landfill Biocovers
Creators: name: Khoshand, Afshin
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2014

description: Landfill gas (LFG) which mainly consists of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2); is produced by the biodegradation of organic waste in landfills. CH4 is a greenhouse gas with a global warming potential (GWP) 23 to 25 times that of CO2. Landfills are one of the significant sources of anthropogenic CH4 emissions and thereby urgent control of CH4 emissions from landfills is necessary. One of the most promising approaches for reducing the environmental impacts of landfill emissions is to passively vent LFG through a biological cover soil or biocover in order to oxidize CH4 into CO2 through a natural biological process. It is well known that stabilized compost and peat based materials have high porosity and water holding capacity (WHC), as well as appropriate nutrient levels, and therefore can be a suitable medium for CH4 oxidation. The geotechnical and geoenvironmental properties of biocovers are of prime importance for the design, construction and maintenance of any type of biocover. Moreover, the performance of biocovers is strongly influenced by the simultaneous evolution of thermal (T), hydraulic (H), mechanical (M), and chemo-biological (C-B) processes, and also interactions between them during the lifetime of a biocover. The geotechnical and geoenvironmental characteristics, evolution of the T, H, M, and C-B processes, and their interactions have been mainly ignored in previous studies, and thus minimally understood. Therefore, the objective of the present thesis is to address the aforementioned knowledge gaps. This research is categorized into two main parts. In the first part, the geotechnical properties of compost and peat based biocovers are evaluated in order to assess the feasibility of the application of compost and peat based materials as biocover material from a geotechnical viewpoint. In the second part, the simultaneous evolution of T, H, M, and C-B processes and their interactions in compost, compost-sand (with a mix ratio of 3:1 (w/w)), and peat biocovers are studied through laboratory column experiments. The derived results showed performance of the compost-sand biocover with a mix ratio of 3:1 is steadier over time and no significant decline in CH4 oxidation rate occurred during the period of operation.
Sociodemographics and their impacts on risk factor awareness and beliefs about cancer and screening: results from a cross-sectional study in Newfoundland and Labrador
Creators: name: Shi, Fuyan
name: Shaver, Lance G
name: Kong, Yujia
name: Yi, Yanqing
name: Aubrey-Bassler, Kris
name: Asghari, Shabnam
name: Etchegary, Holly
name: Adefemi, Kazeem
name: Wang, Peizhong P
Publisher: name: BioMed Central
Year: 2020

description: Background: Our objective was to examine cancer risk factor awareness and beliefs about cancer treatment, outcomes, and screening, and how these are mediated by sociodemographic variables, among Newfoundland and Labrador residents. Methods: Participants aged 35 to 74 were recruited through Facebook advertising, and a self-administered online questionnaire was used to collect data. Descriptive statistics, Spearman rank correlations, and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. Results: Of the 1048 participants who responded and met the inclusion criteria for this study, 1019 were selected for this analysis. Risk factor recognition was generally good, though several risk factors had poor awareness: being over 70 years old (53.4% respondents aware), having a low-fiber diet (65.0%), and drinking more than 1 unit of alcohol per day (62.8%). Our results showed that the participants’ awareness of risk factors was significantly associated with higher income level (rs = 0.237, P <  0.001), higher education (rs = 0.231, P <  0.001), living in rural regions (rs = 0.163, P <  0.001), and having a regular healthcare provider (rs = 0.081, P = 0.010). Logistic regression showed that among NL residents in our sample, those with higher income, post-secondary education, those in very good or excellent health, and those with a history of cancer all had higher odds of having more positive beliefs about cancer treatment and outcomes. Those with a history of cancer, and those with very good or excellent health, also had higher odds of having more positive beliefs about cancer screening. Finally, compared to Caucasian/white participants, those who were non-Caucasian/white had lower odds of having more positive beliefs about cancer screening. Conclusion: Among adults in NL, there was poor awareness that low-fiber diets, alcohol, and age are risk factors for cancer. Lower income and education, rural residence, and not having a health care provider were associated with lower risk factor awareness. We also found a few associations between sociodemographic factors and beliefs about cancer treatment and outcomes or screening. We stress that while addressing awareness is necessary, so too is improving social circumstances of disadvantaged groups who lack the resources necessary to adopt healthy behaviours.