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2024 — Analyzing distributions using a systematic programmable approach as persistent homologyAbstract
Persistent homology is a tool in mathematics used for analyzing data topologically. This analysis is made possible through one of its components called a filtered simplicial complex, which is a sequence of nested simplicial complexes. With this, we can obtain our persistent π0 (gaps) which is the number of connected components, and also apply homology on the filtration to obtain the persistent homology. This thesis focuses on the comparison of three fundamental probability distributions which are the Normal distribution, Uniform distribution, and Exponential distribution, using a Python code to derive a filtration, which we analyze to obtain persistent homology. The … Read more
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2015 — Experimental Studies on Polymer and Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer Flooding to Improve Heavy Oil RecoveryAbstract
Polymer flooding is considered a non-thermal secondary/tertiary oil recovery method. Polymer flooding is intended to reach the goal of improving mobility ratio by injecting long chain polymer molecules with high molecular weights in order to increase the viscosity of displacing water. Viscous water assists by having a piston like displacement of heavy oil, which mitigates fingering phenomena to some extent. This work aims to investigate the potential of highly concentrated polymer solutions from different polymers, with respect to enhancing heavy oil recovery. This work also validates the feasibility of combining alkaline-surfactant-based solutions and polymer flooding, called Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer (ASP) flooding, to … Read more
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2021 — On Concept Classes With Low No-Clash Teaching DimensionAbstract
Computational Learning Theory studies the complexity of learning for various formal models of machine learning. Such models use a learning algorithm A fed with a set of labelled data for a target concept belonging to a given class of concepts, and A produces a mapping that is used to accurately predict the correct labels of unseen instances. Machine teaching is concerned with settings in which a teacher provides the learners with helpfully chosen data. Different learning constraints, such as the way a teacher and a learner interact with each other, produce a variety of teaching models for which one task … Read more
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2016 — The Impact of Intolerance of Uncertainty and Social Threat on Decision-Making in Socially Anxious IndividualsAbstract
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterized by intense fear or anxiety in response to social situations (APA, 2013). Individuals with SAD experience clinically significant distress and impairment and, if left untreated, the disorder typically follows a chronic and unremitting course (APA, 2013; Hofmann, Heinrichs, & Moscovitch, 2004). Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is “an individual’s dispositional incapacity to endure the aversive response triggered by the perceived absence of salient, key, or sufficient information, and sustained by the associated perception of uncertainty” (Carleton, 2016, p.31). Several studies have implicated high IU as a potential risk factor underlying the development and maintenance of … Read more
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2013 — Development of CO2 EOR Techniques for Unlocking Resources in Tight Oil FormationsAbstract
Tremendous resources of tight oil are located in North America and widely distributed in 24 oil reservoirs, which are characterized by both low permeability and low porosity. Although long horizontal wells together with massively fracturing techniques have been utilized to promote fluid injectivity and productivity, primary recovery factor of a tight oil reservoir still remains as low as only 5-10 % of original oil in place (OOIP). Due to low permeability, waterflooding results in low injectivity. Although CO2 injection may be the most suitable enhanced oil recovery (EOR) option under immiscible or miscible conditions, its flooding mechanisms and performance have … Read more
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2019 — Multi-Level Factorial Sensitivity Analysis of REGCM4 Physical Scheme Combinations Over CanadaAbstract
Climate change has been considered as one of the most important problems around the world since it always causes severe, extensive and irreversible consequences. It is thus desired to generate reliable high-resolution climate projections for supporting impact assessments under changing climate conditions. In this study, a multi-level factorial design has been proposed to conduct the sensitivity analysis of RegCM4 physical scheme combinations. In detail, the major contributing factors for four climatic variables are selected based on the predetermined contribution level; then the F-test has been applied to evaluate the statistical significance of each individual physical scheme or the interaction among … Read more
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2024 — Bayesian probabilistic projections of future climate over Canada based on the RCM ensembleAbstract
In this research, a series of approaches are proposed to address the challenges in generating robust probabilistic projections of climatic variables (e.g., temperature, precipitation, and Intensity-Duration-Frequency curves) and analyzing the associated uncertainties based on the Regional Climate Model (RCM) ensemble. The proposed approaches have been applied to Canada for demonstrating their effectiveness. Specifically, a new discriminant-Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) ensemble climate modeling (DBEC) approach is developed to help address the neglected spatiotemporal variations of model biases. Through the proposed method, the BMA weights are used as prior distributions to drive the Bayesian discriminant analysis in order to generate refined weights … Read more
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2013 — An Agent-Based Wellness Visualization SystemAbstract
This research presents the conceptual design of a personal wellness indicator and the proof of concept. An agent-based wellness indicator is an information visualization system designed to present wellness information to people in a simple graphical format complemented by anomalies found, simple descriptions, suggestions and supporting tools. The visualization system is designed to give people a better understanding of their wellness conditions and fast access to relevant information, which could potentially help them improve their wellness levels. The wellness and decision-support information of individuals are also visualized to their caregivers by elaborating the data provided by existing resources. The wellness … Read more
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2018 — Attuning to the Quantum Leap: New Materialism and Field Experience in Teacher EducationAbstract
While practicum experience is considered foundational to most teacher education programs, its methods of analyses often perpetuate humanist behaviorism. This is problematic in a world increasingly understood as dynamic and agential outside of categories of human determination, including those of subjectivity. Specifically, this dissertation addresses methods, in practica experience, as apparatuses which include practical exercises for reassembling subjectivities of participants in ways that extend awareness of a broader social regime. I ask what more the practicum might offer after the insight that observation and experience are inseparable from social and theoretical assumptions and where the field experience’s intra-activity changes and … Read more
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2019 — Identification of an antibiotic biosynthetic gene cluster in pantoea agglomerans B025670Abstract
The rise of multi-drug resistant isolates of several pathogens, including Gram-negative members of the Enterobacteriaceae, requires the identification of new antimicrobials that can target them. Members of the genus Pantoea, a Gram-negative bacterial group, produce natural products with antimicrobial properties. A survey of a Pantoea collection against clinically relevant pathogens, including VRE, Enterobacter, Klebsiella, Citrobacter and Kosakonia, revealed 25 strains that produce at least one antibiotic against one or more of these pathogens. Of these strains, Pantoea agglomerans B025670 produces at least one antibiotic (denoted PNP-4) that has activity against strains of Enterobacter and Kosakonia. The conventional genetic approach was … Read more
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2016 — Treatment Acceptability and Preference Among Primary Care Patients Experiencing Severe Health Anxiety: The Role of Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behaviour TherapyAbstract
Severe health anxiety is characterized by persistent and excessive anxiety about one’s health and is prevalent in primary care settings. While cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is an established treatment for health anxiety, barriers to service access limit the number of individuals who receive this treatment. Internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (ICBT) has the potential to improve patient access to treatment and has been shown to be an effective intervention for health anxiety. Nevertheless, because ICBT is a novel treatment, it remains unclear whether the service would be perceived by primary care patients as acceptable. The goal of the present study was … Read more
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2021 — Online Motivational Interviewing for Enhancing Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behaviour Therapy: A Randomized Controlled TrialAbstract
While the efficacy of internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (iCBT) for anxiety and depression is well established, not all clients benefit from treatment. Given that the integration of motivational interviewing (MI) and face-to-face therapy for anxiety enhances response and completion rates, combining iCBT with MI may also prove beneficial; however, there is limited research on the combined effects of MI and iCBT. In the current study, a brief, interactive online MI pre-treatment was designed to increase intrinsic motivation to engage in iCBT for anxiety and depression. Once the protocol was developed and piloted, the efficacy of the online MI pre-treatment was … Read more
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2020 — Online Motivational Interviewing for Enhancing Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behaviour Therapy: A Randomized Controlled TrialAbstract
While the efficacy of internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (iCBT) for anxiety and depression is well established, not all clients benefit from treatment. Given that the integration of motivational interviewing (MI) and face-to-face therapy for anxiety enhances response and completion rates, combining iCBT with MI may also prove beneficial; however, there is limited research on the combined effects of MI and iCBT. In the current study, a brief, interactive online MI pre-treatment was designed to increase intrinsic motivation to engage in iCBT for anxiety and depression. Once the protocol was developed and piloted, the efficacy of the online MI pre-treatment was … Read more
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2024 — Advanced approaches to ruin probability and novel extensions of Hoeffding Inequalities in insurance mathematicsAbstract
In the ever-evolving domain of risk theory, understanding the intricate relationships between ruin probability, risk management, and the complexities of financial mathematics has never been more imperative. This thesis provides a comprehensive exploration into the nuances of ruin probability and its critical importance in the modern financial landscape. By delving deep into the mathematical intricacies, the study generalizes Hoeffding inequalities for random variables belonging to an extended acceptable class. This generalization is pivotal, leading to the establishment of the minimum premium rate. The thesis achieves this through the construction of an exponentially decaying upper bound for the ruin probability, built … Read more
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2023 — Forged within power relations: A narrative study about non-academics becoming community-based research facilitatorsAbstract
This dissertation is rooted in my lived experience as an adult educator and my commitment to community-led development. I am committed to seeing more community groups organize themselves and lead change processes to dismantle unjust structures and create a better world. This process commonly occurs through loops of knowledge production, learning, and action known as community-based research (CBR). Although CBR started as a grassroots movement in the Global South, it became institutionalized as an action-oriented research approach which engages community members throughout the participatory project. To date, scholars have given little attention to experiences in which community members function as … Read more
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2021 — Exploring the Evolution of Pathogenicity in a Mult-host Bacterial Pathogen Using Comparative GenomicsAbstract
Pantoea is a Gram-negative bacterial genus within the recently created Erwiniaceae. Pantoea members are found in association with a wide range of hosts, and some species have been reported as the causative agent of human infections. Despite this, little research has focused on the human pathogenicity of Pantoea. This thesis aims to explore the evolution of pathogenicity in Pantoea using phylogenetic and comparative genomic approaches, with a focus on human pathogenicity. Chapter 1 provides a broad review of Pantoea, virulence, and phylogenetic and genomic concepts. Chapter 2 describes molecular typing of clinical Pantoea isolates obtained from hospital patients. Of 54 … Read more
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2016 — Hope, Literature, and Romanticism: The Political Philosophy of Richard RortyAbstract
The purpose of this thesis is to explore the political philosophy of Richard Rorty, and to examine the three main pillars of his liberal thought: hope, romanticism, and literature. These concepts are central to Rorty’s political philosophy because they are necessary to create an ideal future. In the first chapter, I describe Rorty’s reconceptualization of the political spectrum. He proposes that we abandon the traditional, value neutral political spectrum and replace it with one that assigns value to political perspectives that produce hope in the future and encourage political participation. In the second chapter, I examine the philosophical and ideological … Read more
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2021 — “Pull Out His Eyes, Apologize”: Confession and the Body in James JoyceAbstract
In this thesis, I trace the development of confession in James Joyce. From A Portrait of The Artist as a Young Man to “Circe” and “Penelope” in Ulysses, Joyce’s model of confession works to forward characters' capacity for community, intimacy, and art, an ethical and artistic approach to art. The framework for confession in Joyce is introduced via depictions of the Catholic Sacrament in A Portrait, albeit its function is maintained even as it develops in “Circe” as a secular, psychoanalytical, and legal expression. It is in “Penelope” where confession transforms into profession in Molly’s monologue and in the way … Read more
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2015 — Bridging the Gap Between Students’ Cultural Norms and the Cultural Norms of Science: A Self-Study on Students’ Perceptions of Inquiry Activities and Culturally Relevant LessonsAbstract
Relevant literature recommends good teaching practices to help students bridge the gap between their personal cultural norms and the cultural norms of secondary science teaching. Some students’ cultural practices encourage developing a strong ability to memorize and students use their strong ability to maintain good grades in their secondary science courses. However, good teaching practices may not effectively enable students to move from rote learning to meaningful knowledge construction. The purpose of the self-study is to critically examine the use of inquiry and culturally relevant lessons to enable students to meaningfully construct knowledge in their secondary physics and chemistry classes. … Read more
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2014 — Conversations With Coyote: Philosophizing Through StoriesAbstract
From the time of Plato, stories have been important epistemological tools that aid and promote understanding in Western culture. Today this tool is often relegated to the realm of the primitive with no contemporary value or power. In this thesis, I argue that the stories we tell inherently and irrevocably matter. Understanding one another can be aided by attending to the stories we have told and continue to tell. In Canada, stories have shaped (for good or for ill) our identities, institutions and ways of being in the world. Due to the ability of stories to shape social and political … Read more
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2012 — A Rough Set Analysis of Facial Similarity JudgementsAbstract
Facial recognition is routine for most people; yet the process of facial recognition or describing a face to be recognized, reveals a great deal of complexity inherent in the activity. Eyewitness identification remains an important element in judicial proceedings: it is very convincing, but it is not very accurate. A study was conducted in which participants were asked to sort a collection of facial photographs into an unrestricted number of piles, based on their individual judgements of facial similarity. Participants then labelled each pile. Stimuli photos were equally divided between two racial groups. These judgements were analyzed to determine if … Read more
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2014 — Ordinary Ethics and the Ethics Code of the American Anthropological AssociationAbstract
The anthropological theory of “ordinary ethics” makes the established case that ethics involves judgements made in specific situations and using criteria acquired through social interaction, but emphasises that ethics are usually relatively implicit, becoming explicit in response to crisis, controversy, and change. One of the questions raised by this theoretical perspective concerns the relationship of implicit ethical judgments to more explicit forms of ethics, such as an ethics code. To address this question, this study applies the theory of ordinary ethics to the ethics code of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), the largest professional association for anthropologists. This thesis also … Read more
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2023 — Using unmanned aerial vehicles to examine how aboveground forest biomass and bat activity are related to three-dimensional canopy structureAbstract
Canopies are emergent properties of a large number of individual trees and provide the underlying structure which affects many other components of forest ecosystems. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) data fills an important gap in aerial imaging by offering an affordable and repeatable source of data to assess variation between forest stands across a given landscape. Individual tree crowns can be segmented from canopy height models to provide detailed information about forest and canopy structure, and photogrammetric point cloud data can be used to identify key habitat variables which affect bat activity. A greater density of biomass may reflect higher productivity … Read more
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2012 — Environmentally-Friendly Corrosion Inhibitors for the Amine-Based CO2 Absorption ProcessAbstract
Corrosion in an amine-based carbon dioxide (CO2) absorption process is one of the most serious operational problems affecting both plant safety and economics. Corrosion inhibitors are widely applied for corrosion control, mainly due to their adaptability. However, the most effective corrosion inhibitors are generally toxic or heavy metal based, which makes their handling and disposal difficult and expensive. Owing to increasing environmental regulations, the search for an environmentallyfriendly corrosion inhibitor is more relevant now than ever before. In this work, a pool of environmentally-friendly corrosion inhibitors for the CO2 absorption process was identified based on the principles of hard and … Read more
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2013 — Physical and Chemical Resistance of Elastomers in Carbon Dioxide-Loaded Aqueous Monoethanolamine Solutions During Amine-Based Carbon Dioxide CaptureAbstract
Developing processes for the removal of carbon dioxide (CO2), the most abundant greenhouse gas (GHG), has been of tremendous research interest due to the serious global warming problems associated with CO2 emissions. Among other sources, CO2 that is produced from human activities such as energy production (especially from large point sources) are the main targets for CO2 emissions mitigation. One of the mature methods for CO2 removal from low-pressure gas steams is absorption using a chemical solvent such as monoethanolamine (MEA). Most of the literature has focused on corrosion characteristics of equipment exposed to the MEA environment. However, the characteristics … Read more
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2017 — Heat Duty Evaluation for Solid Acid Catalyst-Aided CO2 Desorption in Amine-Based Post combustion CO2 Capture and Option for Integration of Process with a Coal-Based Electricity Generating Power PlantsAbstract
This research introduces a novel idea for CO2 absorption technology used in post combustion capture in coal based electricity generations. It has as its objective the reduction of the energy requirement for the regeneration of amine solvents with the aid of solid acid catalysts. The work included two major components: laboratory experiments and process simulations of the integration of the CO2 capture process with a coal fired power plant. The experiments were performed in a bench scale CO2 capture apparatus. The absorber and desorber were stainless steel pipes with inside diameter of 0.05 m and height of 1.50 m. The … Read more