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Applications Of Stochastic Control In Energy Real Options And Market Illiquidity, Christian Maxwell

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

We present three interesting applications of stochastic control in finance. The first is a real option model that considers the optimal entry into and subsequent operation of a biofuel production facility. We derive the associated Hamilton Jacobi Bellman (HJB) equation for the entry and operating decisions along with the econometric analysis of the stochastic price inputs. We follow with a Monte Carlo analysis of the risk profile for the facility. The second application expands on the analysis of the biofuel facility to account for the associated regulatory and taxation uncertainty experienced by players in the renewables and energy industries. A …

Measures Of Acoustic Reflexes In Typically Developing Children And Children With Suspected Auditory Processing Disorder, Udit Saxena

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A series of studies were conducted to examine the acoustic reflex in normal hearing adults, typically developing children and children with suspected auditory processing disorder (APD). Elevated acoustic reflex thresholds (ART) and shallower acoustic reflex growth functions (ARGF) were found in children with suspected APD in comparison to typically developing children and normal hearing adults. These effects were strongest in the crossed condition. There were no group differences for acoustic reflex latency (ARL) or acoustic reflex decay (ARD).

In all studies the children with suspected APD were divided into two groups based on the diagnosis made on the basis of …

The Christian As Witness In View Of The True Witness, Emily Patricia Wilton

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis examines Karl Barth’s understanding of what it means for Christian individuals to be witnesses of Jesus Christ. By analyzing the structure of Barth’s doctrine of reconciliation, with attention to his view of Jesus Christ as mediator, the thesis establishes the christological context of Barth’s concept of witness. The thesis demonstrates how Barth arrives at the conclusion that witness is central to the definition of Christian existence and identifies key features of Barth’s view of witness, namely, its theocentrism, its basis in ontology, and its enactment in human history. The thesis engages secondary scholarship in a critical appraisal of …

Power Management Strategies For Islanded Microgrids, Hisham Mahmood

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The focus of this thesis is on developing power management strategies for islanded microgrids, at the primary and the secondary hierarchal control layers. At the Primary Control Layer, the main objective of the proposed strategies is to achieve decentralized power management of Photovoltaic (PV) and battery storage in islanded microgrids. In contrast to the common approach of controlling the PV unit as a current source, in the proposed strategies, the PV unit is controlled as a voltage source that follows a multi-segment adaptive power/frequency characteristic curve. The strategies are implemented locally at the units using multi-loop controllers without relying on …

A Stable Isotope Analysis Of Faunal Remains From Special Deposits On Ontario Iroquoian Tradition Sites, Laura Booth

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The deliberate interment of bears, deer, and dogs on Ontario Iroquoian Tradition sites (900-1650 AD) suggests these animals had social and ideological meaning. This thesis uses stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis from bone collagen of faunal remains from both special and refuse contexts on eight sites in Southern Ontario to investigate the possible relationship between an animal’s burial context, diet, and value. Results indicate that most animals consumed a diet typical for their species regardless of context, suggesting the ideological value of specially deposited animals was augmented through human-animal interactions other than dietary manipulation. Bears from the Dorchester site …

Role Of Peptidoglycan Modifications In Predation By Bdellovibrio Bacteriovorus 109j, Diane C. Szmiett

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is a prey dependent bacterium that traverses the outer membrane and peptidoglycan, and enters the periplasmic space of gram negative bacteria, from where it utilizes the cytoplasmic contents for growth. Soluble lytic transglycosylases could be responsible for creating the entry pore during predation. Bacteria can modify their peptidoglycan by the addition of acetate to the C-6 hydroxyl group of the N-acetylmuramic acid residues, which renders the peptidoglycan insensitive to cleavage by lytic transglycosylases. It was hypothesized that the degree of peptidoglycan O-acetylation of the prey cell affects predation efficiency. In this study it was shown that; …

Production And Applications Of Formaldehyde-Free Phenolic Resins Using 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural Derived From Glucose In-Situ, Yongsheng Zhang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resin manufacturing industry is facing a growing challenge with respect to concerns over human health, due to the use of carcinogenic formaldehyde and sustainability due to the use of petroleum-based phenol in PF resin manufacture. Glucose and its derivative, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), have proven to be potential substitutes for formaldehyde in the synthesis of phenolic novolac resins.

This thesis investigated a number of glucose and 5-HMF resin systems including the curing of phenol-glucose novolac resin (PG) with a bis-phenol-A type epoxy. The curing process was modeled according to the Sestak-Berggren equation (S, B) using Málek methods. This was …

Computing Intersection Multiplicity Via Triangular Decomposition, Paul Vrbik

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Fulton’s algorithm is used to calculate the intersection multiplicity of two plane curves about a rational point. This work extends Fulton’s algorithm first to algebraic points (encoded by triangular sets) and then, with some generic assumptions, to l many hypersurfaces.

Out of necessity, we give a standard-basis free method (i.e. practically efficient method) for calculating tangent cones at points on curves.

Thématiques Dans Les Récits Des Enfants Cachés Dans L'Univers Catholique En France, Carmen P. Mccarron

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Cette thèse examine des thématiques communes à une vingtaine de récits publiés en français par des enfants de la Shoah qui ont été cachés dans des familles et des institutions catholiques, surtout en France. La bibliographie étendue de l’Institut de recherche sur la littérature de l’Holocauste nous a donné la possibilité de rassembler et d’étudier ces textes en un corpus cohérent, pour la première fois. Nous lisons les récits dans une perspective pluridisciplinaire, tout en les situant selon l'histoire sociale, afin de relever les préoccupations centrales des enfants juifs lorsqu’ils prennent la décision délicate de partager leur histoire avec le …

Improved Non-Local Means Algorithm Based On Dimensionality Reduction, Golam Morshed Maruf

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Non-Local Means is an image denoising algorithm based on patch similarity. It compares a reference patch with the neighboring patches to find similar patches. Such similar patches participate in the weighted averaging process. Most of the computational time for Non-Local Means is consumed to measure patch similarity. In this thesis, we have proposed an improvement where the image patches are projected into a global feature space. Then we have performed a statistical t-test to reduce the dimensionality of this feature space. Denoising is achieved based on this reduced feature space and the proposed modification exploits an improvement in terms of …

Clyfford Still In The 1930s: The Formative Years Of A Leading Abstract Expressionist, Emma Richan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In 2011, Clyfford Still’s painting 1949-A-No.1 sold for $61.7 million at Sotheby’s auction house. This painting was one of four up for auction by the artist that night, fetching a total of $114 million to build the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver to house his entire estate. Still was among the most celebrated and notorious of the Abstract Expressionists, receiving the highest praise from Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, and Clement Greenberg during his lifetime. Still’s legacy has faltered since his death in 1980. Until 2011, 95% of his life’s work was stored in a barn in Maryland, hidden from view. …

Hydrolytic Depolymerization Of Lignin For The Preparation Of Polyols And Rigid Polyurethane Foams, Nubla Mahmood

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This doctoral study was aimed to produce bio-polyols from Kraft lignin (KL) and hydrolysis lignin (HL) via depolymerization and utilize the lignin-derived bio-polyols in the preparation of bio-based rigid polyurethane (BRPU) foams at high percentage of bio-contents (50-70 wt.%). This study demonstrated that depolymerization is a practical and effective approach to unleash the potential of utilization of lignin, of complex structures and low reactivity/functionality, for bioproducts and biomaterials.

Depolymerization of KL was realized in alkaline medium using water alone as a solvent or employing water-ethylene glycol (EG) mixture via a low pressure (psig) proprietary process, both effective for producing low …

Response Of Soil Nitrification To The Veterinary Pharmaceuticals Monensin, Ivermectin And Zinc Bacitracin, Magda A. Konopka

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Pharmaceutical residues can reach agricultural land through amendment with animal or human waste. Since 2010, a series of replicated plots received annual applications of ivermectin, monensin and zinc bacitracin, either singly or in a mixture, at 0.1 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg concentrations. I collected soil samples before and after the fourth annual application of pharmaceuticals and assayed them for functional changes and amoA gene abundance, a gene needed for ammonia oxidation. In 2013, I exposed the soils to 100 mg/kg in a laboratory experiment which resulted in acceleration of nitrification. Under 10 mg/kg treatments in the field the abundance of …

Star Cluster Populations In Compact Groups Of Galaxies, Konstantin Fedotov

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this thesis, I have explored the star cluster populations of several compact groups of galaxies, based on observations with the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope. Low velocity dispersions and high galaxy number densities, the conditions of compact groups (in particular Hickson Compact Groups), represent an environment with frequent and prolonged interactions. Such environment can trigger the formation of star cluster populations associated with specific events. The BVI study has shown that star clusters can be used as a powerful tool for studying such events triggered by mergers and …

Protein-Protein Interaction Network Alignment, Yu Qian

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Proteins are some of the building blocks of organisms. They usually perform their functions by interacting with each other and forming protein complexes. A protein -protein interaction network is a graph that consists of proteins as vertices and their interactions as edges. Protein-protein interaction network alignment is very important in identifying protein complexes and predicting protein functions. Many algorithms based on graph theory have been developed to improve the accuracy of alignment, but due to the sparsity of protein-protein interactions, the result is far from satisfactory.

We propose to improve the network alignment through adding protein interactions to existing PPI …

Wind And Thermal Effects On Ground Mounted Photovoltaic (Pv) Panels, Chowdhury Mohammad Jubayer

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A combination of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations and wind tunnel experiments are carried out to investigate the effects of wind on the aerodynamic loading and heat transfer of a ground mounted stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) panel with tilt angle of 25^o in open country atmospheric boundary layer. Several azimuthal wind directions are considered: Southern 0^o, Southwest 45^o, Northwest 135^o and Northern 180^o. Three dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) approaches with an unsteady solver using Shear Stress Transport (SST) k-ω turbulence closure are employed for the CFD simulations, whereas Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and …

Effect Of Reverberation Context On Spatial Hearing Performance Of Normally Hearing Listeners, Renita E. Sudirga

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Previous studies provide evidence that listening experience in a particular reverberant environment improves speech intelligibility and localization performance in that environment. Such studies, however, are few, and there is little knowledge of the underlying mechanisms. The experiments presented in this thesis explored the effect of reverberation context, in particular, the similarity in interaural coherence within a context, on listeners' performance in sound localization, speech perception in a spatially separated noise, spatial release from speech-on-speech masking, and target location identification in a multi-talker configuration.

All experiments were conducted in simulated reverberant environments created with a loudspeaker array in an anechoic chamber. …

"Rank Corpuscles": Soil And Identity In Eighteenth-Century Representations, Nina Patricia Budabin Mcquown

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this dissertation, I analyze scenes of encounter between human beings and human dust in eighteenth-century texts. Ploughmen exhume bones and armor in the arable, consumers taste other people’s excrement in their vegetables, and improvers lime the earth to break down ancient corpses. In process, I find that eighteenth-century British authors recognized the soil as an agent of continuity, with the capacity to preserve, mobilize, and disseminate the material constituents of identity from one body into another. At times, the soil’s powerful co-operative agency is threatening to the integrity of the human self, but I argue that authors negotiate between …

A Phenomenological Study Of Prescription Drug Abuse Among Children And Youth, Eric A. Collins

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Prescription drugs ranked as the third highest substance used/abused among Canadian youth (Health Canada, 2014). This research is a retrospective phenomenological study on child and youth prescription drug abuse. Currently, there is a lack of qualitative research in this area. The primary goal of this study is to understand the lived experiences of child and youth prescription drug abuse in order to provide greater depth and breadth into the complexities of this behaviour. Based on the aim of this study, I developed the following research question: what are the lived experiences of prescription drug abuse during childhood and adolescence? Six …

The Impact Of Financial Incentives For Cervical Cancer Screening In Ontario's Primary Care Delivery Models, Ciara Pendrith

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Physicians practicing in capitation-based Family Health Organizations and fee-for-service-based Family Health Groups receive bonuses for delivering preventive care, including cervical cancer screening, while those practicing in the traditional fee-for-service model do not. Financial incentives were introduced to increase Ontario’s cervical screening rate to 85%. To date, the impact of incentives for cervical screening on screening rate and cost-effectiveness have not been assessed. Patient-level data obtained from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences were used to estimate primary care model screening rates and cancer treatment costs. A microsimulation model was developed from published cervical cancer natural history models and parameterized using …

'What's In A List?' Cultural Techniques, Logistics, Poeisis, Liam Cole Young

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This research explores the list as a cultural and communicative form. Inspired by the ubiquity of rankings, bullet points and registries in contemporary ‘list culture,’ and by Jack Goody’s famous question ‘What’s in a list?’ (1977), I ask: how can this seemingly innocuous form be studied? What does its analysis tell us about historical and contemporary media environments and logistical networks? What can studying this unconventional object bring to media studies?

I offer four intersecting arguments. The first proposes that media studies benefits from the incorporation of approaches and concepts that I group together as ‘media materialism.’ Approaches such as …

Applying Probabilistic Methods To The Nato Military Load Classification System For Bridges, Andrew J. Macdonald

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Military vehicles frequently use civilian bridges. The loading effects of military vehicles, both wheeled and tracked, are specific and different than those of civilian vehicles in normal traffic. Calibration to determine appropriate load factors for military loading of civilian bridges has not been fully performed and the corresponding levels of safety have not been quantified. This lack of calibration prevents the implementation of limit state design methods for military bridges and the evaluation bridges for military loading. This thesis quantifies probabilistically the single lane traffic load effects on interior girders of simply supported slab-on-girder bridges for three military vehicles in …

The Production Of Unequal Vulnerability To Flood Hazards In Metro Vancouver, Canada, Greg S. Oulahen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Flood risk is a growing concern in Canada’s cities. Residents of these cities have differential risk according to their unique vulnerability and exposure to flood hazards. Factors related to societal structural forces, human agency, and place interact to produce vulnerability to hazards. Analysis of the factors that influence vulnerability will lead to a better understanding of how unequal vulnerability to hazards is produced among residents of a city. This dissertation investigates the factors that influence vulnerability to flood hazards in a Canadian coastal urban region, Metro Vancouver. It develops and applies a conceptual framework for looking across scales and across …

Metabolic Correlates In Spinal Cord Compression Measured By Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy In The Motor And Sensory Cortices, Sandy Goncalves

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Surgical outcome for patients suffering from cervical myelopathy (CM) is unpredictable with varying motor and sensory symptom recovery. Previous in-vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) studies of patients surgically treated for CM have demonstrated decreased N-acetylaspartate (NAA)/creatine levels in the motor cortex indicating reduced neuronal function. The goal of this thesis was to determine whether absolute NAA changes in the motor and sensory cortices mirror the pattern of motor and sensory functional change observed in patients post surgical treatment.

MRS data were acquired on a 3.0 Tesla Siemens MRI along with clinical outcome measures at baseline, 6-weeks and 6-months post-surgery. …

Global Assessment Of Severity Of Epilepsy (Gase) Scale In Children With Epilepsy: Construct Validity, Stability, And Responsiveness, Cindy J. Chan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Global Assessment of Severity of Epilepsy (GASE) Scale is a single-item, 7-point global rating scale designed for neurologist-report of overall severity of epilepsy in children. Preliminary evidence suggested it may be valid and reliable for research and clinical use. Data from the Health-Related Quality of Life in Children with Epilepsy Study (HERQULES) was analyzed to evaluate validity, stability, and responsiveness of GASE scores. Spearman’s Rho indicated that GASE was moderately correlated with key aspects of epilepsy but weakly correlated with parents’ perceptions of child health. Frequency and intensity of seizures and interference of epilepsy or drugs with daily activities …

Using Worked-Out Examples Of Written Explanation For Writing-To-Learn In Evolutionary Biology, Amy M. Yu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Content learning can be enhanced through writing-to-learn. Research into cognitive load theory suggests that the use of backwards faded, worked-out examples increases schema acquisition and concept transfer. However, these effects have not yet been demonstrated for writing-to-learn, particularly for the conceptual understanding of evolution. The effects of two writing conditions were investigated in a pre-test post-test quasi-experimental design. Groups in two conditions wrote explanations of evolution using six Darwinian principles: students in the completion condition completed backwards faded, worked-out examples of explanations; students in the problem solving condition wrote full explanations, thought to require means-end problem solving. The dependent variables …

Assessing The Structural Validity Of The Measure Of Processes Of Care (Mpoc-20) In Children With Epilepsy, Kariym Christopher Joachim

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The goal of this thesis was to determine whether the 20-item Measure of Processes of Care (MPOC-20) questionnaire remains structurally/factorially valid among children with epilepsy, and to propose adaptations if it did not. Establishing the MPOC-20’s structural validity in this population makes it possible to draw conclusions on the potential effects of parent-perceived Family-Centred Care (FCC) on health outcomes within this population. Data came from the Health-related Quality of Life for Children with Epilepsy Study (HERQULES). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) indicated that the original five factor model fit poorly in children with epilepsy. An exploratory analysis within a CFA framework …

The Lunches Study: Elementary School Children's Packed Lunch Contents And Intake In The Traditional Vs. Balanced School Day Schedule, Lisa Neilson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Balanced School Day (BSD), an alternative to the Traditional Schedule (TS), provides two 20-minute eating periods during the school day, rather than a midday lunch break. Widespread implementation of the BSD schedule has occurred across Ontario with limited systematic evaluation of potential health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to compare the food and nutrient value of grade 3 and 4 students’ packed lunch contents and consumption in the BSD versus TS, by direct observation. When compared to the TS, more BSD students had a sugar-sweetened beverage packed in their lunch. Greater portions of snack items were also …

Effects Of Reduced Muscular Strength On Running Kinematics Relating To The Planus Foot, Adam D. Froats

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The potential for injury is present in all forms of physical activity, particularly events involving repetitive motion. In attempt to identify kinematic changes following running induced reductions in muscular strength, 15 participants completed recorded treadmill runs before and after an outdoor run. Kinematics were recorded using a Vicon motion capture system and processed using 3D GAIT custom software. Using repeated measures ANCOVA with side (dominant and non-dominant) and time (pre-run and post-run) as within subject factors, and strength and arch height as covariates, no statistically significant differences were obtained. Using Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficients to compare successive strides, post-run reductions …

Characterizing Persistent Developmental Dyscalculia: A Cognitive Neuroscience Approach, Stephanie D. Bugden

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Developmental dyscalculia (DD) is a specific learning disorder of calculation abilities. In the present thesis I report a series behavioural and functional neuroimaging studies to further elucidate the core numerical deficits underlying DD. I recruited a sample of children with DD who demonstrated persistent impairments in arithmetic. In Chapter 2, to validate the selection criteria, I compared the performance of children with and without persistent DD on a test of numerical magnitude processing. The data showed that only children with persistent DD presented with deficits in numerical magnitude processing, while those with inconsistent DD perform at the level of age-matched …