Engineering Commons^™

Assessment Of The Regionalization Of Precipitation In Two Canadian Climate Regions: A Fuzzy Clustering Approach, Sarah E. Irwin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Regional frequency analysis (RFA) is used to obtain reliable estimates of local precipitation events for a variety of applications in water resources engineering. The focus of the presented research is on an initial step of the RFA process; that is the formation of precipitation regions (also referred to as regionalization). The aim of this study is to dissect the regionalization procedure into its individual components that require subjective user input, and to evaluate their respective influences on the results. All assessments are conducted in two of Canada's climate regions; namely the Prairie and Great Lakes-St. Lawrence lowlands. Additionally, a new …

Production Of Activated Carbons From Pyrolytic Char For Environmental Applications, Anastasia Colomba

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Biomass pyrolysis has the potential to become a major component of future biorefineries, since biomass is cracked to produce gases, liquid products (bio-oil) and solid products (bio-char). In order for the process to be economically feasible, it is necessary to obtain the maximum value from each stream, thus no by-product can be regarded as a waste.

Bio-char is normally regarded as a by-product of fast pyrolysis, which is optimized to target bio-oil production. However, there are many potentially attractive applications for it: for example, it can be used for the production of activated carbons, which are the most commonly used …

Counteracting Bloom Filter Encoding Techniques For Private Record Linkage, Vasundhara Sharma

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Record Linkage is a process of combining records representing same entity spread across multiple and different data sources, primarily for data analytics. Traditionally, this could be performed with comparing personal identifiers present in data (e.g., given name, surname, social security number etc.). However, sharing information across databases maintained by disparate organizations leads to exchange of personal information pertaining to an individual. In practice, various statutory regulations and policies prohibit the disclosure of such identifiers. Private record linkage (PRL) techniques have been implemented to execute record linkage without disclosing any information about other dissimilar records.

Various techniques have been proposed to …

Development Of A Physical Shoulder Simulator For The Training Of Basic Arthroscopic Skills, Laura C. Mccracken

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Increasingly, shoulder surgeries are performed using arthroscopic techniques, leading to reduced tissue damage and shorter patient recovery times. Orthopaedic training programs are responding to the increased demand for arthroscopic surgeries by incorporating arthroscopic skills into their residency curriculums. A need for accessible and effective training tools exists.

This thesis describes the design and development of a physical shoulder simulator for training basic arthroscopy skills such as triangulation, orientation, and navigation of the anatomy. The simulator can be used in either the lateral decubitus or beach chair orientation and accommodates wet or dry practice. Sensors embedded in the simulator provide a …

Bioactive Glass-Ceramic Coating Of Titanium Substrates By Alkaline Hydrothermal Process, Mohamed Gebril

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Surface modification is a well-known approach to enhance the osseointegration of titanium dental implants. In this study, a novel hydrothermal method for coating titanium surfaces with bioactive glass was developed. Our method included sol-gel synthesis of bioactive glass, followed by hydrothermal coating of titanium under different NaOH concentrations. The surface properties of coated substrates were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and surface profilometry. By varying the alkalinity of the hydrothermal process, different surface topographies, crystalline phases and chemistries could be obtained. Soaking the hydrothermally coated titanium substrates in simulated body fluid resulted in hydroxyapatite …

Design Of Novel Sensors And Instruments For Minimally Invasive Lung Tumour Localization Via Palpation, Anish Srinivasan Naidu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Minimally Invasive Thoracoscopic Surgery (MITS) has become the treatment of choice for lung cancer. However, MITS prevents the surgeons from using manual palpation, thereby often making it challenging to reliably locate the tumours for resection. This thesis presents the design, analysis and validation of novel tactile sensors, a novel miniature force sensor, a robotic instrument, and a wireless hand-held instrument to address this limitation. The low-cost, disposable tactile sensors have been shown to easily detect a 5 mm tumour located 10 mm deep in soft tissue. The force sensor can measure six degrees of freedom forces and torques with temperature …

Synthesis And Evaluation Of A Novel Polymer Microfiber Drug Delivery System, Julie La

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Skin cancer is the most prevalent cancer diagnosis worldwide. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is one of the most common diagnoses. Fortunately, these cancers are rarely fatal if detected and treated early on. However, current treatment options can be painful, disfiguring and can require long-term treatment courses, resulting in poor patient compliance and cancer progression. Since SCC begins as precancerous lesions, an opportunity exists for early preventative interventions which this work aims to address. We produced stabilized microfibers via centrifugal spinning and UV photocrosslinking composed of poly(ethylene oxide) functionalized with cinnamoyl chloride. Curcumin, a molecule known for its anti-cancer properties was …

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Compatible Remote Catheter Navigation System, Mohammad Ali Tavallaei

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Many vascular and cardiac diseases are diagnosed and treated using a medical technique known as percutaneous transluminal catheter intervention (PTC). In PTC, the interventionalist inserts a catheter into the vasculature, and using the vessel as the guiding passageway, the catheter is navigated to desired anatomical targets where it would be used for various purposes such as catheter ablation for the treatment/management of cardiac arrhythmias. The catheterization procedure is conventionally guided with x-ray fluoroscopic imaging and more recently, but rarely, with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). X-ray imaging irradiates the patient directly during the procedure, and the staff and interventionalists indirectly through …

Statistical Analyses Of Historical Pipeline Incident Data With Application To The Risk Assessment Of Onshore Natural Gas Transmission Pipelines, Chio Lam

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Statistical analyses of the pipe-related incident data for onshore gas transmission pipelines between 2002 and 2013 collected by the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) of the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) are conducted. It is found that the total length of the onshore gas transmission pipelines in the US is approximately 480,000 km as of 2013. The third-party interference, external corrosion, material failure and internal corrosion are the leading causes for the pipe-related incidents, responsible for over 75% of the total incidents between 2002 and 2013. Based on the pipeline mileage and incident data, the average rate …

Hydrotreatment Of Lignin Into Green Fuels And Chemicals, Matthew Tymchyshyn

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Concerns about declining non-renewable fossil resources, energy security, climate change and sustainability are increasing worldwide. This has resulted in an increased interest in the development of alternatives to fossil resources not only for energy, but particularly for chemical production on a global level. There are a number of promising alternatives to fossil resources, however, lignocellulosic biomass such as forestry residues and wood waste (limbs, bark, sawdust, etc.) seem to be the most promising. They are widely available, renewable and a non-food resource. Therefore woody biomass holds the promise of being a sustainable resources for both energy and chemical production.

The …

Non-Linear Chirp Spread Spectrum Communication Systems Of Binary Orthogonal Keying Mode, Quan Wang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Chirp spread spectrum (CSS) is a suitable choice of modulation signals for wireless communications, due to its inherited advantages such as low transmission power, simplicity of implementation, good interference rejection capability. Linear chirps are common choices in practical CSS systems of binary orthogonal keying (BOK) mode. However, linear chirps generally require the time-bandwidth product of each chirp signal to be 60 sHz or more in order to achieve desirable orthogonality requirements. Thus, a BOK CSS system based on linear chirps has to occupy very wide bandwidth, which is a very precious resource for wireless communication. Clearly, the requirement on broad …

A Maturity Model For Mobile Learning, Muasaad Alrasheedi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Higher education is becoming increasingly interested in adopting innovative and modern technologies as a mode of imparting education. Mobile technologies are considered to be the next frontier of educational platforms as they have the capability to provide high-quality learning experiences and to satisfy the increasing demand for mobility and flexibility. In view of the ubiquitous nature of mobile technology and the immense opportunities it offers, there are favorable indications that the technology could be introduced as the next generation of learning platforms. The present research aims to develop a comprehensive framework based on the well-known Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and …

Monotonic And Cyclic Performance Of Spun-Cast Ductile Iron Helical Tapered Piles, Ahmed Fahmy

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The performance of a novel piling system is investigated, which involves a spun-cast ductile iron (SCDI) tapered shaft fitted with a lower helical plate. It combines the efficiency of the tapered section, the competitive cost, effectiveness and durability of spun cast ductile iron with a rough surface and the construction advantages of helical piles. The system is installed using a fast, low vibration and reduced noise process. Seven instrumented piles including five SCDI tapered and two steel straight pipes were installed in sand using mechanical torque. The piles were subjected to cyclic and monotonic compression, uplift and lateral load tests. …

Hardware Implementations For Symmetric Key Cryptosystems, Hayssam El-Razouk

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The utilization of global communications network for supporting new electronic applications is growing. Many applications provided over the global communications network involve exchange of security-sensitive information between different entities. Often, communicating entities are located at different locations around the globe. This demands deployment of certain mechanisms for providing secure communications channels between these entities. For this purpose, cryptographic algorithms are used by many of today's electronic applications to maintain security. Cryptographic algorithms provide set of primitives for achieving different security goals such as: confidentiality, data integrity, authenticity, and non-repudiation. In general, two main categories of cryptographic algorithms can be used …

Studies Of Periodic And Quasiperiodic Gold Nanohole Arrays And Their Applications, Zhaoliang Yang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Wavelength to refractive index sensitivity and resonance wavelength position are two very important performance characteristics for nanohole array based surface plasmon resonance sensors while these characteristics are mostly researched on periodic nanohole arrays, instead of quasiperiodic nanohole arrays. This thesis deduces theoretical equations about the wavelength to refractive index sensitivity and resonance wavelength position of quasiperiodic nanohole arrays. Theoretical analysis shows that wavelength to refractive index sensitivity is not associated with geometry pattern, hole size or pitch but with the wavelength. A novel surface plasmon resonance platform is built by transferring gold films patterned with quasiperiodic nanohole arrays to the …

Control System Design, Analysis, And Simulation Of A Photovoltaic Inverter For Unbalanced Load Compensation In A Microgrid, Elizabeth K. Tomaszewski

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis presents a control scheme for a single-stage three-phase Photovoltaic (PV) converter with negative sequence load current compensation.

In this thesis a dual virtual impedance active damping technique for an LCL filter is proposed to address the issue of LCL filter resonance. Both inverter-side current and the capacitor current are used in the feedback loop. Using both signals provides higher DC rejection than using capacitor current alone. The proposed active damping scheme results in a faster transient response and higher damping ratio than can be obtained using inverter-side current alone. The feedback gains can be calculated to achieve a …

Application Of Polyurethane Products In Accelerated Construction Of Innovative Noise Barrier, Bahman Daee

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Noise barriers (sound walls) are usually constructed along roadways to mitigate the airborne noise emanating from vehicles. They are currently built using various materials including precast concrete panels, masonry, wood and transparent sheets. The main challenge in roadside construction is the obstruction of roadways during the construction, which may result in traffic congestion, public dissatisfaction, car collision and subsequently fatalities. In order to decrease the risk of roadside construction, accelerated and non-obstructive methods are highly preferred by transportation authorities.

An innovative wall system comprised of polyurethane products is proposed, developed and investigated for application in accelerated construction of noise barriers. …

Biosorption Processes For Removal Of Toxic Metals From Wastewaters, Shahram Amirnia

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Excessive and cumulative release of toxic metals from industrial effluents due to rapid industrialization has posed hazard to aquatic ecosystem integrity and environmental/ human health. The inadequacy and high cost of traditional metal treatment technologies coupled with the imposition of stricter environmental regulations and guidelines for industrial point source discharges have increased the demand for economically feasible alternative methods.

Application of natural and abundant sorption material known as biosorbents comprising microbial biomass, agriculture waste, and industrial waste biomass, has gained international attention in scientific world as a low-cost and effective method for removal of heavy metals from aqueous solutions. However, …

Exploring The Chemistry Of Phosphorus For Photopolymer Applications, Ryan Guterman

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Prior to this thesis, phosphorus-containing polymers and photopolymerization represented two distinct, non-overlapping fields of study. This thesis examined the prospect of combining these two approaches to create a system possessing the benefits of both techniques. By exploiting the chemistry of phosphorus, and using photopolymerization as a fabrication method, new materials were developed and assessed for their use in various applications.

Among the many phosphorus compounds that may be used in polymer science, phosphonium salts and primary phosphines were of specific focus. First, highly fluorinated phosphonium monomers were developed to create photopolymerized hydrophobic surfaces. A structure-activity relationship was established, as both …

Design And Fabrication Of A Multifunctional Nano-On-Micro Delivery System, Alexandra D. Bannerman

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The treatment of tumours using microbeads for embolization and drug delivery is a widely used, but often ineffective, technique. In this work, we aim to produce microbeads for this application with four main improvements: visibility, target-ability, degradability, and an alternative route for drug loading. We accomplish this through the fabrication of ~100μm diameter microbeads composed of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), iron oxide nanoparticles, and cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) using a custom-designed microchannel system. Characterization demonstrated that microbeads were magnetic, as well as visible under clinical CT. Separately, the dissolution of PVA iron oxide hydrogels exposed to different environmental conditions was studied. Iron …

Stormwater Management Performance Of Green Roofs, Andrew W. Sims

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Green roofs are gaining recognition in North America as effective tools for managing stormwater runoff in urban areas. A greater understanding of how green roofs perform with respect to fundamental stormwater management criteria, such as stormwater retention and peak flow attenuation is required. This study investigated the impact that changing climates have on the retention performance of three green roofs in London, Calgary, and Halifax. It was found that Calgary (67%) has significantly better retention performance then both London (48%) and Halifax (34%). However, London retained the greatest volume of stormwater (758 mm), followed by Halifax (517 mm) then Calgary …

A Software Framework For Task Based Performance Evaluation, Justin J. Mackenzie

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

It is difficult to objectively measure performance of complex tasks such as a surgical operation and surgical simulators require the ability to evaluate performance whether to predict surgical outcome, determine competence, provide learning feedback, etc. With no standard software framework for collecting, analyzing and evaluating performance data for complex tasks in simulations, it is investigated whether a solution can be implemented that allows for custom data collection schemes, all while being general enough to be used across many simulation platforms and can be used in a simple simulator.It is also investigated whether the implemented framework can perform its functionality while …

Improving Galvanizing Bath Hardware, Amir Kargar Neghab

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Suspended dross particles in galvanizing bath can interact with moving rolls that guide the strip and eventually accumulate on it. They can cause the roll to function improperly and reduce the surface quality of galvanized steel sheet.

In this research, a turbulent flow simulation of a continuous sheet galvanizing bath is carried out using the computational fluid mechanics in Ansys FLUENT to determine the flow profile inside a galvanizing bath. Multiphase flow modeling has been performed to understand the particle-surface interactions by coupling the particulate models for solid phase with computational fluid dynamics for fluid phase.

A strong fluid flow …

Response Of Endothelial Cells To Quantified Hemodynamic Shear Stress, Hamed Avari

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the number one cause of death globally. Arterial endothelial cell (EC) dysfunction plays a key role in many of these CVDs, such as atherosclerosis. Blood flow-induced wall shear stress (WSS), among many other pathophysiological factors, is shown to significantly contribute to EC dysfunction.

The present dissertation is an in vitro investigation of quantified WSS on ECs to quantitatively analyze the EC morphometric parameters, as well as cytoskeletal remodeling.

A hemodynamic facility based on the parallel plate flow chamber (PPFC) concept. The Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) method with a custom set-up was implemented to suit the needs …

Power Management Strategies For A Wind Energy Source In An Isolated Microgrid And Grid Connected System, Devbratta Thakur

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis focuses on the development of power management control strategies for a direct drive permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) based variable speed wind turbine (VSWT). Two modes of operation have been considered: (1) isolated/islanded mode, and (2) grid-connected mode.

In the isolated/islanded mode, the system requires additional energy sources and sinks to counterbalance the intermittent nature of the wind. Thus, battery energy storage and photovoltaic (PV) systems have been integrated with the wind turbine to form a microgrid with hybrid energy sources. For the wind/battery hybrid system, several energy management and control issues have been addressed, such as DC …

Synthesis, Characterization And Applications Of Lignin-Based Epoxy Resins, Fatemeh Ferdosian

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Epoxy resin is one of the most versatile thermosetting polymers with diverse applications. Epoxy resins are mainly produced from the reaction of bisphenol-A (BPA) and epichlorohydrin. The consumption of bisphenol-A is facing growing concerns over its carcinogenic effects and its sustainability. Lignin can be a promising renewable substitute of bisphenol-A in the synthesis of epoxy resins.

In this thesis work, a novel method has been developed for the synthesis of bio-based epoxy resins with reduced side reactions, employing de-polymerized lignin from organosolv lignin (DOL), kraft lignin (DKL) and hydrolysis lignin (DHL) under alkaline condition in the presence of a phase …

Force Sensing In Arthroscopic Instruments Using Fiber Bragg Gratings, Daniel S. Yurkewich

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Minimally-invasive surgery has revolutionized many medical procedures; however, it also impedes the ability to feel the interaction between the surgical tool and the anatomical part being operated on. In order to address this problem, it is necessary to obtain accurate measurements of the interaction forces exerted on the surgical tools during surgery. These forces can then be manifested to the surgeon via a haptic device or presented visually (visual-force feedback). This thesis describes the use of a fiber optic device to measure and display to the surgeon interaction forces acting on an arthroscopic tool. The sensorization of the tool involves …

Privacy In Cooperative Distributed Systems: Modeling And Protection Framework, Afshan Samani

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A new form of computation is emerging rapidly with cloud computing, mobile computing, wearable computing and the Internet-of-Things. All can be characterized as a class of “Cooperative Distributed Systems” (CDS) in open environment. A major driver of the growth is the exponential adoption by people and organizations within all aspects of their day-to-day matters. In this context, users’ requirements for privacy protection are becoming essential and complex beyond the traditional approaches. This requires a formal treatment of “privacy” as a fundamental computation concept in CDS paradigm.

The objective is to develop a comprehensive formal model for “privacy” as base …

Advanced Compression And Latency Reduction Techniques Over Data Networks, Fuad Shamieh

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Applications and services operating over Internet protocol (IP) networks often suffer from high latency and packet loss rates. These problems are attributed to data congestion resulting from the lack of network resources available to support the demand. The usage of IP networks is not only increasing, but very dynamic as well. In order to alleviate the above-mentioned problems and to maintain a reasonable Quality of Service (QoS) for the end users, two novel adaptive compression techniques are proposed to reduce packets’ payload size. The proposed schemes exploit lossless compression algorithms to perform the compression process on the packets’ payloads and …

Application Of Mechanically Fluidized Reactors To Lignin Pyrolysis, Valentina Lago

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Lignin has great potential for the production of aromatics currently derived from petroleum, since it is the most abundant source of aromatics in nature. At present, Kraft lignin is used as fuel within the pulping process but, alternatively, it could be converted to high-value chemicals using thermochemical processes such as pyrolysis. Kraft lignin, however, is a very cohesive and thermally sensitive powder with foaming and agglomerating tendency under reaction conditions. Therefore, new reactor designs are necessary to efficiently process this raw material.

Consequently, a novel reactor design, designated as Mechanically Fluidized Reactor (MFR) has been developed to successfully process Kraft …