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2015 — Global regulatory mutations contribute to antibiotic resistance in Salmonella TyphimuriumRésumé
Ciprofloxacin is one of the few drugs still effective against Salmonella infections. Ciprofloxacin binds the A subunit of type II topoisomerase enzymes, primarily GyrA (DNA gyrase) in Gram-negative bacteria and ParC (topoisomerase IV) in Gram-positive bacteria. Interaction of ciprofloxacin with topoisomerases disrupts enzyme function resulting in double stranded breaks in the chromosome, relaxation of DNA supercoiling, and the cessation of DNA replication. We tested the growth of Salmonella enterica SL1344 and mutants, fis, crp and rpoS, in LB containing 0%, 0.5% and 1% NaCl and sublethal concentrations of the antibiotics novobiocin, nalidixic acid, and ciprofloxacin. We observed that a Salmonella … Lire la suite
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2015 — An Efficient Lentiviral-based Proteomics Approach Identifies Mitochondrial Complexes with Neurodegenerative FunctionRésumé
Perturbations in proteins involved in the mitochondrial processes have emerged as a causative factor in a wide range of life-threatening human diseases, such as neurodegenerative disorders. In fact, mitochondrial dysfunctions are argued to be the first step in triggering the onset of other deleterious events that collectively act causally in the pathogenesis of diseases. Accordingly, dysfunctions in mitochondrial proteins influence the proper functioning of basic processes, such as energy metabolism and reactive species production. Indeed, biochemical and genetic evidence has provided molecular insights into the role of mitochondrial proteins and complexes in isolation, yet our understanding of how mitochondrial proteins … Lire la suite
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2015 — A Combinatorial Tweet Clustering Methodology Utilizing Inter and Intra Cosine SimilarityRésumé
Data mining techniques are well known and are often used to analyze and explore datasets for meaningful information. Social media, such as Twitter, has emerged as a source of data where millions of tweets are generated everyday. They include tweets from individuals who share thoughts, commentary and their feelings about a wide variety of subjects. Social media also attracts marketers and businesses for the purpose of advertising, brand imaging and getting feedback from users. Twitter’s significant popularity and mass usage has resulted in a very large dataset where virtually any subject that is queried from the Twitter API may return … Lire la suite
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2015 — An Action Research Study: EAL and Content Teachers Collaborating to Support All Students at a Secondary SchoolRésumé
As the number of English as an Additional Language (EAL) students increases in Saskatchewan schools, there is a need for language and content teachers to work collaboratively. This study describes the implementation of an action research project involving the researcher as an EAL teacher collaborating with three content teachers and another EAL teacher serving as a “critical friend” (Costa and Kallick, 1993). Teachers used the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2008) for structuring specialized instruction. Data included pre- and post-interviews, lesson plans and reflective journals. Grounded theory informed the theoretical framework and the data analysis. In order … Lire la suite
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2015 — An Enhanced Ensemble Classifier Framework for Sentiment Analysis of Social Media IssuesRésumé
Sentiment Analysis is the study of determining an author’s opinion from written text using artificial intelligence and data mining techniques. In this thesis, three different sentiment analysis techniques; Naïve Bayes Classification, Support Vector Machine and Ensemble Classification are studied and applied to social media datasets for extracting opinions. One of the uses of sentiment analysis is to act as a feedback mechanism to aid in decision making. In this thesis a Probabilistic Feature Weighting (PFW) technique is proposed using the principle of the Naïve Bayes Classifier and Bayesian Probability. The PFW helps in ranking the documents into further sub-categories and … Lire la suite
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2015 — Evaluation of Environmental performance of Hypothetical Canadian Oxy-Fuel Combustion Carbon Capture with Risk and Cost AnalysesRésumé
For at least the next few decades, fossil fuels will be used to supply energy globally, and without appropriate greenhouse gas control techniques, carbon dioxide (CO2) atmospheric emissions will continue to increase and pose an even more serious threat to humans and their environment. Therefore, the use of an effective CO2 capture technology has become important in ensuring the reduction of CO2 emissions. However, more raw materials and energy are required for the CO2 capture systems operation. Consequently, it is necessary to evaluate the environmental performance of the complete life cycle of the CO2 capture process in order to fully … Lire la suite
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2015 — The response of the avian community to 40 years of land cover change within the Aspen Parkland and Moist-mixed Grassland ecoregions of the Canadian prairiesRésumé
Since European settlement, over 80% of grassland habitat has been lost in the Canadian prairies, primarily in the Moist-mixed Grassland and Aspen Parkland ecoregions. Native grassland continues to be lost and degraded. Reduction of fire and overgrazing by livestock has allowed woody vegetation to encroach on grasslands. Grassland bird populations in the northern extent of their range have undergone steep declines whereas woodland bird populations have increased. It is unknown whether population fluctuations over the past 40 years are a result of land cover changes during this period. The goal of my research was to address this knowledge gap with … Lire la suite
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2015 — Irrigation Water Requirements under Climate Change and Drought Events in Saskatchewan,Résumé
This research considers the effects of climate change projected by global climate models (GCMs) on irrigated agriculture and water supply in Saskatchewan using 27 different combinations of GCMs, special reports on emissions scenarios (SRES), and time periods (2020s, 2050s, 2080s). Future drought events are extracted from the scenarios using the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) to identify extremely dry conditions, and downscaled to create a daily time-series of temperature and precipitation. The CROPWAT agroclimatic model is used to calculate irrigation water requirements (IWR) under given conditions for two crops commonly grown in rotation, canola and dry beans. This process allows for … Lire la suite
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2015 — Sites of Living Pedagogy in (French) Teacher Education: An Autoethnographic Self-StudyRésumé
The aim of this dissertation is to illuminate the sites of my living pedagogy as a teacher educator who works in a minority language context. Using a fragmented narrative approach and calling upon poststructural and feminist theory, this autoethnographic self-study privileges two guiding concepts. The first originates from the work of Bullough and Pinnegar (2001) who explain that, “the aim of self-study research is to provoke, challenge, and illuminate rather than confirm and settle” (p. 20). The second guiding concept is Aoki’s (2005) notion of living pedagogy. Aoki states that “for a teacher researcher, an insistent question is, “Where is … Lire la suite
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2015 — Integrating PVT Properties for the Description of Well Responses in Gas Condensate ReservoirsRésumé
A gas condensate reservoir exhibits complex behaviors when the bottomhole pressure falls below the dew point pressure at a given reservoir temperature. When the condensate oil begins to drop out from the gas, a two-phase fluid system develops and a bank of condensate oil builds up, inducing severe productivity losses. While the production rate is constant, different mobility zones are formed around the wellbore corresponding respectively to the original-gas-in-place (OGIP) away from the well, the condensate bank with only gas flow, and two-phase gas and oil flow near the wellbore. Thus, the behaviors of gas condensate systems are complex and … Lire la suite
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2015 — A Market-Based Arid-Region Water Resources Planning Model: Application to the Guhai Water Distribution System, ChinaRésumé
The arid regions in China, which own a pivotal position in national agriculture production, have confronted water supplying crisis triggered by the rapid growth of local economy. The Arid Zone of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (AZN) is one of the arid regions that severely suffer from water shortage. Since 1970s, local people has been relying on the water delivered from the Yellow River by water distribution systems, among which Guhai Water Distribution System (GWDS) is the largest and earliest one. Due to the limited capacity of GWDS and the decreasing precipitation caused by changing climate, the water availability in AZN … Lire la suite
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2015 — Targeted knockout of PpORS encoding an ancient type III polyketide synthase in the moss Physcomitrella patensRésumé
The ubiquitous presence of type III polyketide synthases (PKS) in the plant kingdom suggests their important roles in plant evolution. Among plant type III PKSs, PpORS from the model moss, Physcomitrella patens, has previously been suggested to closely resemble the most recent common ancestor of plant type III PKSs. In vitro analysis of PpORS revealed its function as a 2'-oxoalkylresorcinol synthase. PpORS is highly expressed in gametophores, but not in protonema. This, together with previous phytochemical analysis, suggested that in planta PpORS products may be incorporated into the moss cuticular structure to confer protection from environmental stresses. In this study, … Lire la suite
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2015 — A Post-Fabrication Tuning Method for a Varactor-Tuned Microstrip Filter using the Space Mapping TechniqueRésumé
The RF (radio frequency) and microwave filter is of great importance in the most of the microwave applications which are widely used in broadcasting radios, televisions, radar techniques, telecommunications and satellite applications. Most of the microwave devices contain microwave filter blocks for transmitting and receiving Megahertz to Terahertz frequency band signals. The technologies in the fields of materials, fabrication, design method and electromagnetic analysis are developing quickly in recent years for RF applications. This thesis focuses on an important topic in microwave filter applications, post-fabrication filter tuning. Post-fabrication tuning processes become more and more important with the development of microwave … Lire la suite
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2015 — Phase Behaviour of Alkane Solvent(s)-CO2- Water-Heavy Oil Systems at High Pressures and Elevated TemperaturesRésumé
As for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods in heavy oil reservoirs where the existing techniques find their limits, the solvent-based techniques have attracted extensive attentions recently. CO2 is found to be a prevailing solvent due to its superiority of diluting heavy oil as well as its potential of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, though its solubility is limited in heavy oil. The addition of light hydrocarbon solvent(s) (e.g., C3H8 and n-C4H10) in CO2 stream facilitates its dissolution in heavy oil, resulting in an enhanced viscosity reduction and swelling effect. Furthermore, water exists in the reservoir not only as the formation water … Lire la suite
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2015 — Characterization of Fluids Associated with Vein-type Uranium Mineralization in the Beaverlodge Uranium District, Northern Saskatchewan: Field, Petrographic, Fluid Inclusion and C-O Isotope StudiesRésumé
The Beaverlodge uranium district north of Lake Athabasca in northern Saskatchewan is known for vein-type uranium mineralization hosted in Archean to Proterozoic granitic and metamorphic rocks. Most of the Beaverlodge deposits are spatially related to major structures, and hosted by granitic rocks of various ages (and albitite derived from them) and by ca. 2.33 Ga Murmac Bay group amphibolite, both of which are unconformably overlain locally by deformed but unmetamorphosed redbeds of the ca. 1.82 Ga Martin group, and by the weakly deformed to non-deformed ca. 1.75-1.5 Ga Athabasca group. The uranium mineralization in the Beaverlodge uranium district is mainly … Lire la suite
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2015 — A Study of Cost-sensitive Attribute ReductsRésumé
An attribute reduct, that is, a minimal set of attributes with the same classi cation ability as that of the entire set of attributes, is an important concept in rough set analysis. There are di erent costs associated with attributes, such as money, time and other resources. Costs of an attribute reduct can be classi ed into two categories, namely, process cost and result cost for classi cations. An important task of rough set analysis is to obtain an attribute reduct with a minimal total cost. There are two types of costs. Many studies focus on only one type of … Lire la suite
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2015 — Analysis and Numerical Methods for Algebraic Riccati Equations Associated with Regular M-MatricesRésumé
The thesis is a further study about algebraic Riccati equations for which the four coe cient matrices form a regular M-matrix K. We prove a property about minimal nonnegative solutions of such an algebraic Riccati equation and its dual equation. And we show that Newton's method, SDA, ADDA are well-de ned and quadratically convergent in non-critical case. Then we prove that ADDA is linearly convergent with rate 1=2 in critical case. As compared to earlier work on solving regular MARE by ADDA, the results we present here are more general. This thesis extends the knowledge of doubling algorithms. Lire la suite
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2015 — Analysis of In Vitro Differentiation Cues in Adult Mouse Neural Stem and Progenitor CellsRésumé
Neural stem and progenitor cells (NSPCs) from the adult subventricular zone hold therapeutic potential for regenerative medicine. Specifically, differentiated oligodendrocytes can aid in remyelinating denuded axons in demyelinative disorders or spinal cord injury. The excitatory neurotransmitter, glutamate, has disputed roles in this multi-step process. The goal of my project was to determine if glutamate has an effect on myelination, with the primary focus on the differentiation aspect of NSPCs to oligodendrocytes. Changes to the gene expression profile of NSPC culture in response to oligodendrocyte driving media, glutamate, differentiation and attachment was investigated using reverse transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RTQPCR) … Lire la suite
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2015 — Women Leaders in Education: A JourneyRésumé
This narrative inquiry explores the journeys of women leaders in the educational landscape in an attempt to shed light on the phenomena of the experiences of women leaders with the purpose of sharing their experiences as a means of growth and learning for others and informing future leadership development and theory. The inquiry was born of personal interests as I began to puzzle about my own experiences and those of other women leaders as they journey into and attempt to navigate the historically male-dominated landscape of educational leadership and endeavour to balance their professional and personal lives. Two women leaders … Lire la suite
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2015 — Sacrificial Zone or Living on Borrowed Time: Oil Exploitation in Northern Alberta and its Impact on the Athabasaca Chipewyan First Nation CommunityRésumé
This research study explored the vulnerability and adaptive capacity of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) to the impacts of oil extraction in northern Alberta. The ACFN is one of many Aboriginal communities that have lived in northern Alberta for centuries. Historically, the community has relied on their natural environment for sustenance. The sources of livelihood for the ACFN have been affected at various levels by the negative impacts of oil extraction activities in the region. Such negative impacts on the environment and the people have exposed them to vulnerability issues, namely health and socioeconomic issues, and have equally challenged … Lire la suite
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2015 — Coaches’ Coping with Stressors: Hardiness in CoachingRésumé
In the field of competitive sports there is an emphasis on the growth of technical, tactical, and physical aspects as it relates to coach performance. However, little emphasis is placed on how coaches cope with stress and adversity that accompanies their career choice. The purpose of the present research is to establish the background of coping with the stressors by professional (paid to coach) hockey coaches using the conceptual model of hardiness. Hardiness has been used to describe stress resistant individuals (Kobasa, 1979). Kobasa (1979) indicates that hardiness involves the three C’s – commitment, control, and challenge. Commitment is the … Lire la suite
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2015 — A Feminist Poststructural Analysis of Aboriginal Women’s Positioning in a Colonial Context: NEHINAW ISKWEW AK E-PIKISKWECIKRésumé
This research examined the lives of single-parent Aboriginal women of Northern Saskatchewan. This group of women was interviewed to give them an opportunity to share how they see their lives being produced for them. Aboriginal women’s marginalization has become normalized through the systems, practices, and institutions that have materialized through the Indian Act, Christianity, Indigenous knowledges, and colonial relations with non-Aboriginal society. Discursive practices located in these structures establish and maintain ideas of how and who these women are supposed to be. How these women are positioned is largely a product of our Canadian colonial history. Aboriginal women continue to … Lire la suite
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2015 — Variable Resolution in WC-MPS Method for Fluid Flow ProblemsRésumé
This research is based upon a mesh-free particle method, so called as Moving Particle Semi-implicit method (MPS). MPS is used for solving fluid dynamics problems, in which the fluid is substituted by a set of particles that move with flow and carry on the fluid properties. This method has been shown to be suitable for modeling different cases of fluid flow with large deformations including free surface flows. In this study, a refinement algorithm based on the particle splitting is defined. A quadrilateral pattern is used for splitting candidate particles and generating “daughter particles”. The error of the refinement is … Lire la suite
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2015 — Policy Networks: Policy Change and Causal Factors, A Uranium Mining Case StudyRésumé
Policy networks have been studied for decades with the intent of understanding the interrelationships between policy actors, the policy regimes within which they are found and the exogenous and endogenous events that can impact policy making and change. Policy network theory has developed established relationships that can be used for policy research into the mechanisms that drive policy change. Howlett (2002, 2009) and Howlett and Cashore (2007) have developed analytical tools that form a model which first organizes policies into two broad categories –firstly, the components of the policy associated with its overall aims or policy goals; and secondly, the … Lire la suite
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2015 — Habitat Selection by Birds in Willow-Ringed Wetlands: Management Implications for Harvesting Willow BiomassRésumé
Increase in prices of fossil fuels and escalating environmental conflicts have generated renewed interest in bioenergy production. Abundant small wetlands ringed with willow species (willow rings) growing naturally in the Prairie Ecozone of North America may provide a source of natural biomass as a bioenergy feedstock. Subsequently, a bioenergy crop from these wetlands could increase their economic value and help reduce their drainage and loss. Little is known about the importance of willow vegetation to birds, and what habitat features may be important to consider when planning biomass harvest. To address this knowledge gap, I conducted point count surveys in … Lire la suite
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2015 — The Cultural Shaping of Depression: A Qualitative Investigation Into Afghan Women’s Perspectives on DepressionRésumé
In recent years, Major Depression has become one of the most widely researched areas in the field of cross-cultural psychology. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the number of people diagnosed as having this disorder has increased substantially not only in Western cultures, but also in Asian cultures. While much literature focuses on the rates of depression, less research has studied cultural variations of depression in various immigrant and refugee groups. Understanding culture-specific symptoms and idioms of distress will enable clinicians to identify psychiatric conditions and psychological distress and provide culturally sensitive services. Because little is known about Afghan … Lire la suite
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2015 — Capacitive Flow Meter Realtime Processing Using Cross Correlation HDL Design Methodology and PerformanceRésumé
Accurate low cost flow rate measurements of multiphase varying rate flows would be beneficial to the oil and gas industries in Saskatchewan. This thesis provides a design methodology, implementation and analysis of the performance characteristics for data processing in a low cost real-time flow-rate meter using embedded hardware and cross-correlation. While pure serial and pure parallel implementations are possible, this is not the most efficient solution. A combination of these two methods combined with pipelining was implemented as the most efficient HDL to be compared to a software solution. This implementation balanced the hardware between minimum silicon and maximum throughput … Lire la suite
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2015 — Characterization of novel genes involved in cell envelope function in Rhizobium leguminosarumRésumé
The complex structure of the rhizobial Gram-negative cell envelope is a crucial component for both survival in the environment, as well as for establishing a successful symbiosis with its legume host. The objective of this research was to identify and characterize novel genes involved in cell envelope development in Rhizobium leguminosarum. Previous studies have identified a positive correlation between cell envelope defective mutants and an inability to grow on peptide-rich media, as well as minimal media supplemented with 3 mM glycine. Identifying novel genes involved in cell envelope function through the use of transposon mutagenesis, and screening for growth sensitivity … Lire la suite
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2015 — An Evaluation of an Omni- Directional (Fisheye) Vision Sensor for Estimating the Pose of an Object,Résumé
Two case studies of enhanced field of view are presented in this work. In the first an omni-directional lens is mounted on a single digital camera. In the second three perspective digital cameras are combined into a unique assembly (placed in row with known position to each another) to increase the sensing capabilities of the camera system. To generate precise pose information from a fisheye camera, the unified/ generic model is employed. The model is utilized to define the geometry of the camera. Omni-directional images captured are remapped to construct perspective images. A callback function for a mouse click event … Lire la suite
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2015 — High-throughput Functional Genomic Screening using Saturating Transposon Mutant Libraries and Next Generation Sequencing in Rhizobium leguminosarumRésumé
To increase the rate of scientific discovery in the Rhizobiaceae family of bacteria there is a need to adapt high-throughput genetic screens like insertion sequencing. Here we describe the adaptation of a Rhizobiaceae-compatible MmeI-adapted mariner transposon, from a previous vector pSAM_Bt, that can be used with insertion sequencing for highthroughput forward genetic screening. The newly constructed mariner transposon pSAM_Rl mutagenized R. leguminosarum, S. meliloti, and A. tumefaciens at a high frequency. In R. leguminosarum, two high-throughput forward genetic screens were performed with the vector to identify genes involved in proper cell growth on complex and minimal media. Mutant pools of … Lire la suite
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2015 — From Damsel in Distress to Predatory Harlot: Historiography and the Fourtheenth-Century Queen Isabella, "She-Wolf of France"Résumé
Abstract Interpretations of Queen Isabella of France, known as both “the fair” and “the she-wolf of France,” have changed drastically since her life in the fourteenth century. Originally she was presented as a model queen and an exceptional wife. She supported her husband, Edward II of England, and excelled in diplomacy. Interpretations following her fall from power have, however, often presented her as inept and grasping. This dichotomy created two distinct Isabellas: the charming damsel of contemporary sources and the greedy harlot of her later biographers. Combining these two halves into a composite has proved challenging for historians of Isabella. … Lire la suite
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2015 — The Geography of Crime: Examining the Distribution of Break and Enters Across Regina Neighbourhoods Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS)Résumé
Crime is not a random event that occurs evenly across time and space; instead, it is clustered in certain areas known as hot spots (Sherman, Gartin, & Buerger, 1989). Understanding patterns of crime and the reasons why hot spots exist provides a foundation for crime control and prevention strategies. This study provides an analysis of the distribution of break and enters in Regina, Saskatchewan using calls for service, both emergency and non-emergency, made to the Regina Police Service (RPS) in 2006. The researcher coded and analyzed the data using ArcMap, a Geographic Information System (GIS). Pairing calls for service data … Lire la suite
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2015 — Defending Canada: Canadian Military Preparedness, 1867- 1902Résumé
There has been an impression created by scholars that Canadian politico-military actions were taken to benefit Great Britain and fulfill the needs of the Empire. This thesis contends that decisions surrounding military preparedness, defense spending and the militia made by the Canadian government were designed primarily to protect and foster Canadian state interests that slowly evolved over the three decades before the Boer War in 1899: in the first phase, continued military solidarity with the British was demonstrated, especially during the Red River Rebellion (1869-1870); in the second phase, new threats and armed deployments showed an obstinate desire for autonomy … Lire la suite
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2015 — Development of On-Line Analytical Technique for Determination of Composition of CO2-Loaded Formulated Amine Solvents Based on the Liquid Thermo physical Properties for a Post-Combustion CO2 Capture ProcessRésumé
One of the ways to boost the carbon dioxide (CO2) capture performance of amine based solvents is to blend a primary or secondary amine with a tertiary amine. This has been shown to be true in the blending of monoethanolamine (MEA) with either methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) or diethylaminobutanol (DEAB), resulting in quaternary amine systems of MEA-MDEA-H2O-CO2 and MEA-DEAB-H2O-CO2, respectively. However, one of the challenges is ensuring that the blending ratio remains constant throughout the entire duration of the CO2 capture operation considering the relative volatilities of the components of the blended amine solvent. In this work, two quaternary amine systems: MEA-DEAB-H2O-CO2 … Lire la suite
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2015 — The Effect of Food Supplementation on the Territorial Behaviour of a Nocturnal Bird: The Common Poorwill (Phalaenoptilus Nuttallii)Résumé
When animals have more energy available to them, they should be able to spend more time on other activities such as territory defense because they are able to spend less time searching for food. Most studies examining this relationship have been on diurnal organisms where the time available for these activities is quite long. In contrast, the focus of my study is on a visual-hunting nocturnal species where the time available each day is much shorter because of the constraints imposed by reductions in ambient light. I examined the influence of food availability on the territorial behaviour of the insectivorous … Lire la suite
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2015 — Children's Mathematics Anxiety and Its Effect on Their Conceptual Understanding of Arithmetic and Their Arithmetic FluencyRésumé
Research shows that children’s mathematics anxiety negatively impacts their performance on mathematics tests (e.g., Chernoff & Stone, 2012). However, no research to my knowledge has investigated how children’s mathematics anxiety impacts their conceptual understanding of arithmetic. The current study investigated the characteristics and development of Grades 4, 5, and 6 children’s mathematics anxiety and how it impacts their conceptual understanding and application of arithmetic using arithmetic concepts. For comparison, the current study also investigated how children’s mathematics anxiety impacts their arithmetic fluency using timed mathematics tests. As an exploratory and secondary component, the current study examined teachers’ mathematics anxiety and … Lire la suite
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2015 — Facing the Last Enemy: Death, Trauerarbeit, and Harry PotterRésumé
J. K. Rowling’s critically acclaimed and wildly successful Harry Potter series details an orphan hero’s quest to reclaim a lost family, and, yet, very little of the previous scholarship has explored the perennial, overarching grief that spans the length of the series. Death litters the landscape of the text—there are 57 young deaths alone throughout the series—and the story is continually propelled forward as Harry reacts to each new episode of loss. Yet, too little attention has been paid to the depth to which grief colours Harry’s story, and the then necessary and consolatory function of what Freud calls “grief … Lire la suite
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2015 — Prominent Social Anxieties Adapted: Three Film Adaptations of H.G. Wells’s The Time MachineRésumé
My thesis is concerned with three different film adaptation of H.G. Wells’s classic novella The Time Machine (1895). These adaptations are George Pal’s feature The Time Machine (1960), Henning Schellerup’s telefilm The Time Machine (1978), and Simon Wells’s Hollywood blockbuster The Time Machine (2002). There are certain elements in the source text that I identify as important that a film should engage with if it is likely to be considered an adaptation of The Time Machine. Absolute fidelity to the source text is not a requirement, I believe, to be an effective adaptation, but adaptations do need to respect the … Lire la suite
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2015 — Classification Methods for Temporal Gene Expressions and High-Dimensional DataRésumé
Temporal gene expression data is of particular interest to researchers as they contain rich information on characterization of gene function and have been widely used in biomedical studies and early cancer detection. Dense temporal gene expression data in bacteria shows that gene expression has various patterns under different biological conditions. In contrast to the rich literature available on how to estimate gene expression over time under a given condition, few researchers have considered identifying the different effects of multiple conditions on gene expression profiles. In this thesis we investigate the effects of multiple conditions on gene expressions and then classify … Lire la suite
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2015 — Evaluation of Antibiotic Production and its Regulation in Pantoea agglomerans Tx10Résumé
The prevalence of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens, such as methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), has prompted numerous efforts to identify new antimicrobials. One untapped source of antimicrobial products is the enterobacterial genus Pantoea. Although antibiotic discovery efforts in Pantoea have focused largely on agricultural applications, Pantoea remains an unexplored reservoir of antibiotics that may have utilization in a clinical setting. Using an agar overlay assay, Pantoea agglomerans Tx10 (Tx10)—an isolate from the sputum of a cystic fibrosis patient—was shown to inhibit the growth of several pathogens, including Gram-positive Staphylococcus and Streptococcus, and the Gram-negative Citrobacter, E. coli, Erwinia, and Salmonella. A genetic screen … Lire la suite
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2015 — An Analysis of Auxin Distribution and Activity during Photomorphogenesis and Skotomorphogenesis in the moss, Physcomitrella patensRésumé
Plant development varies depending on whether it occurs in the light (photomorphogenesis) or in the dark (skotomorphogenesis). This phenomenon has been studied in depth in flowering plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana but remains largely unexplored in more ancient plant groups such as the bryophytes, which include the model moss, Physcomitrella patens, despite decades-old awareness of the markedly different gametophytic morphologies that result from photomorphogenesis and skotomorphogenesis in this moss. Research undertaken with Arabidopsis has elucidated in detail roles for various phytohormones, including auxin, in regulating the reversible developmental interconversion of photomorphogenesis and skotomorphogenesis. By contrast, although auxin has previously been … Lire la suite
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2015 — Impacts of Snowfall, Low Temperatures, and their Interactions on Passenger Car and Truck TrafficRésumé
Winter weather conditions such as extremely cold temperatures, heavy snowfall, and high wind chills are common occurrences in Canada and many other countries around the world. Impacts of such adverse weather conditions on total highway traffic volume have been the subject of numerous research studies in the past. However, none of the past studies investigated thoroughly the impacts of severe cold and heavy snow fall on temporal and spatial variations of truck traffic on Canadian highways. Impacts of weather on route choice behaviour of truck and passenger car drivers have also not been addressed in the past. A detailed investigation … Lire la suite
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2015 — Design Method for Layered Bed Adsorber for Separation of CO2 and N2 from Natural Gas Using ZEOLITE13X, Carbon Molecular Sieve and Activated CarbonRésumé
Natural gas (NG) is a low-carbon fossil fuel that carries impurities such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen (N2). These two impurities reduce the heating value of NG. Also, CO2 causes corrosion in the pipeline and N2 produces nitrogen oxide (NOx) when combusted. These facts have forced NG transmission and distribution companies to limit the concentrations (mole percent) of CO2 (≤ 3%) and N2 (≤4%). Consequently, selective separation of CO2 and N2 from NG has gained considerable importance. There are many technologies that are in use for separation of these two constituents. Most of them are suitable for single component … Lire la suite
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2015 — The Roman Villas of WalesRésumé
Roman villas are a primary component of the landscape of the Roman Empire. Despite their varying architectural features and appearances, these elite rural settlements are an important element in examining the extent and effect of Romanization within the provinces of the Roman Empire, and are a primary factor in considering the way in which Roman villas developed in the western frontier region of Roman Britain; an area known today as the country of Wales. This thesis will examine the establishment, development and evolution of Roman villas in Wales. Particular attention will be placed on the elements which led to the … Lire la suite
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2015 — Complexity Parameters for Learning Multi-Label Concept Classes,Résumé
In Computational Learning Theory, one way to model a concept is to consider it as a member of the Cartesian products of instances (sets), where each instance may correspond to a binary or multi-valued domain. A concept class is a set of concepts, and the goal of learning algorithms is to identify the target concept in a concept class from a small number of examples, i.e., labeled instances. This thesis studies multi-label concept classes and three important learning complexity parameters for these classes. The first parameter examined in this work is the Vapnik-Chervonenkis-dimension (VCD) and its previously studied analogues for … Lire la suite
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2015 — Applications of Silicon Photomultipliers in Personal Radiation Detection and Nuclear ImagingRésumé
Originally developed as the readout for calorimeters in high-energy physics experiments, the silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) has found use in a wide range of fields requiring the detection of low-intensity light. This thesis discusses work on two such applications: in the development of a prototype personal radiation detector (PRD), and in the imaging of a radioactive source. The ability to detect above-background levels of radiation has received increased attention in recent years, not least from the perspective of national security agencies in, for example, tracking the movement of illicit radioactive materials, or in dealing with potential fall-out from nuclear accidents. In … Lire la suite
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2015 — A Saskatchewan Perspective of Psychologists’ Quality of Professional Life as a Determinant in Responsiveness when Working as Suicide Interventionist - A Mixed Methods StudyRésumé
Psychologists’ professional quality of life, defined by healthy supportive work environments and satisfaction derived from work, is one factor for determining positive client outcomes (Stamm, 2010; Figley, 2002). Self-care is essential to maintain psychologists’ fitness to practice and work quality (Smith & Burton-Moss, 2009; Skovholt, 2001; Radeke & Mahoney, 2000). Competence and fitness in practice, the demonstration of knowledge, skills, and capabilities to work responsively, safely and effectively, is a professional and ethical expectation pivotal in suicide intervention and ongoing suicide work (Neimeyer, Fortner, & Melby, 2001; Schmitz, Allen, Feldman, Gutin, Jahn, Kleespies, Quinnett, & Simpson, 2012). This concurrent mixed … Lire la suite
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2015 — Analysis of Recreational Water CharacteristicsRésumé
Users of natural recreational waters may be exposed to physical hazards and pathogens that are present in the environment. These pathogens may be natural or resulting from human activities, which in turn can be from point source and non-point source pollution. In Canada, recreational water quality monitoring generally falls under provincial and territorial jurisdictions. An environmental health monitoring program developed through this research attempts to characterize and communicate the physical and biological risks associated with recreational water use. Some items addressed during this research include: 1) Determination of the parameters correlated to water quality at beaches 2) Selection of beaches … Lire la suite
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2015 — Plasticity of the heat shock response and development of thermotolerance during embryonic development of Lake Whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis)Résumé
Thermal discharge produced by industrial facilities has the potential to impact development of fish by increasing background temperature of the surrounding area. The overall objectives of this study were to: 1) Examine the interplay between how temperature and frequency of heat shock and post-heat shock recovery time can modulate the heat shock response to a subsequent more severe stressor; 2) determine if this interplay is the same at different embryonic stages; and 3) assess whether transient heat shocks confer protection to the embryo. These objectives were addressed by exposing embryos to repeated transient heat shocks and high-level heat shocks and … Lire la suite
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2015 — Hypothesis Testing for Three Main Reliability ModelsRésumé
It is important to check what is lifetime distribution of a product in order to locate and remove the defect in future and to examine reliability of products. Here the subject of investigation is the construction of statistical tests for testing three main probability models in reliability theory consisting of model of aging and deterioration, model of weak link, and model of defect at birth. Six asymptotically locally most powerful tests will be constructed for pair wise distinction between aforementioned models and assess the tests by computer simulation. Lire la suite