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The Spiral Generator : Theory And Methods For Modeling And Fabrication, Jacob Kinsey

Theses

This thesis attempts to confront shortcomings of spiral generator knowledge of testing at low voltages, design techniques of spiral generators, and fabrication methods. To achieve this, basic fabrication methods were employed for generators to be tested at low and high voltage. This effort allowed development of a simple two-frequency model and winding machine. This two-frequency model depicts output waveform amplitude as a scaler of charging voltage and has been found to be adequate for using the model in comparison to less trivial models which can be less accurate in time-domain behavior. An updated winding machine was proposed as a result …

Solar Flare Forecasting : A Study Of Flare Coincidence, Christian W. Hall

Theses

Data mining techniques that can support the forecasting of solar flares are explored. The main focus is to investigate the effects of flare coincidence on the evaluation of forecasts. Coincident flares are solar flares in a region of the Sun in which another flare has occurred recently, whereas other flares are denoted as non-coincident flares. Dimensionality reduction and classification are two of the types of techniques examined, where binary classification is used to issue yes/no forecasts of major solar flares. Five algorithms are considered as binary classifiers: k-nearest neighbors (k-NN), logistic regression (LR), support vector machines (SVM), random forest classifiers …

The Effectiveness Of System-Wide Trust Repair Strategies, J. Andrew Atchley

Theses

This study considered whether contagion effects for trust extend to an interactive task that includes tasks that are visually incongruent and perform dissimilar task functions, and if trust repair strategies operate on a system-wide basis. Participants supervised three automated tasks over three blocks. The animal task decreased in reliability in block 2, and a trust repair strategy was issued prior to block 3. The findings indicated that there was a decrease in trust for the animal task only. The trust repair strategies were also ineffective for restoring trust. This study supported the idea that contagion effects do not extend to …

A Comprehensive Study Of Algorithmic Bias : Fairness In Ai, Ethical And Social Implications In Real World Applications, Lakshitha Rikhab Chand Jain

Theses

Algorithmic bias, also known as algorithmic discrimination or AI bias, is a pervasive phenomenon marked by the systematic and unjust treatment of specific demographic groups based on attributes like race, gender, age or other distinguishing characteristics. The widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms across various domains has amplified concerns surrounding algorithmic bias, which has the potential to perpetuate discrimination and deepen societal inequalities. This thesis embarks on a comprehensive exploration of algorithmic bias, delving into its multifaceted nature. It dissects various forms of bias, including selection bias, confirmation bias, and measurement bias, shedding light on the …

Analysis Of Hippo Pathway Signalling In Schwannoma And Meningioma, Julio Grimm De Guibert

Peninsula Medical School Theses

This project focuses on two tumours of the nervous system, schwannoma and meningioma. A large group of schwannomas and meningiomas display the inactivation of the NF2 gene. The NF2 gene codes for the tumour suppressor protein Merlin and its loss is associated with a multitude of pro-tumourigenic mechanisms leading to the occurrence of schwannomas and meningiomas. The loss of Merlin function causes augmented Hippo signaling i.e. interaction of YAP and TAZ, both co-activators of gene expression and the two main effectors of the Hippo signalling pathway, and TEAD, a group of transcription factors binding to YAP and TAZ. There resulting …

Anastomotic Leakage In Rectal Surgery: Where Are We And Where Do We Go From Here?, Benjamin William Peter Rossi

Peninsula Medical School Theses

Anastomotic leak in colorectal surgery is a significant complication which is feared by surgeons and has considerable consequences for patients. It affects up to 17% of rectal resections and although there is significant knowledge regarding its detection and treatment, there are still no reliable methods for its prevention. We proposed the routine use of intra-operative endoscopy as a method of reducing the risk of anastomotic leak. This thesis explores current knowledge regarding anastomotic leaks, including the causes, prevention and management. We also present the findings from a feasibility trial into intra-operative endoscopy as a method for reducing anastomotic leak rate. …

Postmaterialism And Corporate Tax Avoidance, Yujia Cui, Jiwei Wang, Kangtao Ye

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Using a proprietary dataset of China tax audits, we found that firms owned by investors from countries with higher postmaterialism values were less likely to engage in tax-avoidance behavior in China. In addition, we found some evidence that the negative association between postmaterialism and tax avoidance is more pronounced when tax enforcement is stronger, indicating that national culture and formal institutions act as complements. To check the external validity of our main results, we further used a cross-country sample from 21 countries over 22 years. The evidence from the cross-country sample was consistent with the findings obtained from the China …

Bilingual Interactional Contexts Predict Executive Functions In Older Adults, Hwajin Yang, Yue Qi Germaine Tng, Gilaine Rui Ng, Wee Qin Ng

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Drawing on the adaptive control hypothesis, we examined whether older adults' bilingual interactional contexts of conversational exchanges would predict important indices of executive functions (EF). We assessed participants' engagement in each bilingual interactional context - single-language, dual-language, and dense code-switching - and their performance on a series of nonverbal EF measures. Sixty-nine healthy older adults (M-age = 70.39 years; ages 60-93) were recruited from local community centers. We found that the dense code-switching context was associated with enhanced overall EF, but not individual facets of EF (inhibitory control, shifting, and updating). These findings held true when we controlled for a …

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Natural Language Processing In The Legal Domain, Daniel Martin Katz, Dirk Hartung, Lauritz Gerlach, Abhik Jana, Michael J. Ii Bommarito

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In this paper, we summarize the current state of the field of NLP and Law with a specific focus on recent technical and substantive developments. To support our analysis, we construct and analyze a corpus of more than six hundred NLP and Law related papers published over the past decade. Our analysis highlights several major trends. Namely, we document an increasing number of papers written, tasks undertaken, and languages covered over the course of the past decade. We observe an increase in the sophistication of the methods which researchers deployed in this applied context. Slowly but surely, Legal NLP is …

Religious Exemption, Lgbt Rights, And The Social Construction Of Harm And Freedom, Emily Kazyak, Kelsy Burke, Maia Behrendt, Marissa Oliver

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

In this article, we examine how courts make decisions in religious exemption cases that implicate LGBT rights in a wide range of contexts including education, employment, and medical care. Through an in-depth qualitative analysis of 50 federal cases decided between 1990 and 2020, we demonstrate a shift in how anti-LGBT sentiment is expressed by parties bringing religion-based claims—from a broad condemnation of LGBT identity to a narrow condemnation of same-sex marriage—and find that courts are more likely to rule in favor of the latter. We show how courts construct competing understandings of harm and religious freedom depending on the context …

Efficacy Of A Compound Swallowing Training Program Incorporating Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation On Postoperative Chronic Dysphagia In Patients With Tongue Cancer, U-Hin Lai, Yu-Chi Huang, Ching-Yi Liao, Xiao-Rou Ding, Chau-Peng Leong

Rehabilitation Practice and Science

Objective: To investigate therapeutic effects of a compound swallowing training program(CSTP) that includes neuromuscular electrical stimulation, swallowing muscle strengthening, posture training, food texture modification, and the use of adaptive feeding devices on chronic dysphagia after surgical treatment of tongue cancer(TC), and review the long-term swallowing outcomes and possible adverse effects.

Materials and methods: In this retrospective longitudinal study, we included patients with chronic dysphagia after surgical treatment of TC, who received a total of 10 CSTPs three times weekly, for one hour each time. Penetration-Aspiration Scale (PAS), Functional Dysphagia Scale (FDS), and Swallowing Performance Rating Scale (SPS) scores were compared …

The Development Of A Maturity Model To Assess Supplier Relationship Management (Srm) Performance In The Egyptian Food Processing Sector, Lobna Hafez

Plymouth Business School Theses

The food processing sector is one of the most important industrial sectors in Egypt. The sector, however, faces various challenges arising from the local supply side, leading to the inconsistent quality of inputs. This could be traced to poor cultivation practices, low quality and unavailability of inputs, lack of quality assurance and quality control and limited skills. Supplier relationship management (SRM) can provide a solution to these challenges. If buying firms worked on improving their relationship with suppliers, mutual benefits could be achieved. For this reason, this research focuses on developing a maturity model to assess the level of SRM …

Exploring The Impact Of Big Data Analytics Capability On Port Performance: The Mediating Role Of Sustainability, Xiaotian Xie

Plymouth Business School Theses

Many ports are redefining business processes and operations by adopting digital technologies. These can help them to provide efficient and competitive port operations and meet the growing demand for comprehensive port logistics services. Digital technologies provide a harvest of immense amounts of data, known as Big Data. Port management needs the capability to store, process and analyse Big Data to provide meaningful information and thus to maximise organisational performance. Furthermore, one of the most important trends in port development is increased sustainability awareness by regulators and customers. Port managers can employ Big Data technology to reduce environmental pollution and use …

Transformational Leadership And Employee Innovative Behaviour In The Egyptian Travel Agents: A Mediation – Moderation Model, Ahmed Hammad

Plymouth Business School Theses

The tourism industry is one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the world. Specifically, tourism is a vital industry in the Egyptian economy as it is an essential source of its national income. Unfortunately, since 2010, tourism has been severely affected in Egypt due to terrorist attacks, attacks against tourist areas, and recently, the devastating impact of COVID-19, impacting Egypt as a tourist destination. Accordingly, to encounter these challenges, frontline employees’ innovative behaviour (EIB) is significantly needed as they personally engage with clients and meet their needs, and so, their input is crucial to the tourism industry’s survival. …

What Factors Influence Individuals’ Level Of Engagement In A Banking Relationship In Jordan?, Nawal Wafa Tarazi

Plymouth Business School Theses

In a study (NFIS 2018-2019), conducted by the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) in cooperation with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, it was reported that 67% of people in Jordan above the age of 15 years do not have access to the formal financial system in terms of bank account ownership; 38.0% of adults are excluded from any formal financial services and 24.8% of adults are completely excluded from any formal and informal financial services. Only 33% of adults in Jordan, 27% of women, are financially included in terms of bank account ownership, which is a low percentage …

Examining The Lived Experiences Of Families With Children With Developmental Disabilities Participating In Recreational Dance Programs, Isabella Seguin

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Objective

Families with children with developmental disabilities (DDs) experience effects on family functioning and will often turn to physical activity (e.g., dance) to mitigate these effects. This research examines the lived experiences of families with children with DDs participating in recreational dance programs to understand the myriad of effects on all participants: children with DDs, families, and dance instructors.

Methods

In order to fully understand the lived experiences of participants, phenomenology was used as the theoretical orientation to guide this research. Each case (5 cases, N=19) consisted of a primary parent, a child with a developmental disability, sibling(s) (if applicable), …

Temperature Regulation Of Pipecolic Acid-Mediated Plant Systemic Immunity In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Alyssa Shields

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Significant crop losses are caused by pathogenic infections annually, which are exacerbated by increasing global temperatures due to climate change. One way by which plants respond to pathogenic attacks is through the activation of pattern-triggered immunity (PTI), effector-triggered immunity (ETI), and systemic acquired resistance (SAR), which lead to production of the central defence phytohormone salicylic acid (SA). Accompanying SA release is the putative mobilization of pipecolic acid (Pip), which acts as an immune regulatory plant metabolite that works with and independently from SA. As demonstrated in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana following infection with the model bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae …

The Effect Of Alkalinity On Lampricide Effectiveness And Gill Physiology In Invasive Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon Marinus), Alexandre J. Walsh

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The pesticides, 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) and niclosamide are used to control populations of invasive sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) in the Laurentian Great Lakes of North America. Added to streams infested with larval sea lamprey, the effectiveness of these pesticides, commonly called lampricides, are strongly influenced by water pH, with greater toxicity for both TFM and niclosamide in lower pH than higher pH water. However, the TFM and niclosamide sensitivity of sea lamprey are also greater in poorly buffered, low alkalinity water than in high alkalinity water but it is unclear why. One goal of my thesis was to propose …

“To Be Involved In A Meaningful Way”: Mobilizing Indigenous Knowledge In Environmental Monitoring Practices In Northern Ontario, Alanna Robbins

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A steady shift in the environmental management literature encourages greater inclusion of traditional knowledge (TK) alongside Western science, much of it seeking to directly support Indigenous communities develop their own frameworks for environmental monitoring and stewardship. To date, little attention has been placed on research practices themselves as sites where interdisciplinary and intercultural work takes place to bridge between different knowledge systems and develop best practices for effective collaboration. Matawa Water Futures (MWF), the object of study for this thesis project, is a three-year water stewardship project involving Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers, environmental managers, and community interns, working with the …

Vapourized Cannabis Extract Administration Impairs Memory And Alters Neural Activity In Laboratory Rats, Megan Chladny

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Although people have smoked cannabis for millennia, administration of cannabis by heating the dried plant material or distilled extracts to a temperature just below the combustion point (i.e., vapourization or "vaping") has rapidly increased over the past few years (Javadi-Payder, Cole, and Taffe, 2018; Manwell, Charchoglyan, Brewer, Matthews, Heipel, and Mallet, 2014). Conversely, most of the cannabinoid research using rodent models has used parenteral routes of administration to examine the effects of purified cannabis extracts such as ∆⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), making it difficult to directly compare laboratory research to human drug use. Building on previous studies showing that THC …

Towards Ending Incarceration Of Indigenous Peoples In Canada: A Critical, Narrative Inquiry Of Hegemonic Power In The Gladue Report Process, Judah Oudshoorn

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Abstract

This study is concerned with the possibility that Gladue perpetuates the hegemonic powers of settler colonialism, white supremacy, patriarchy, and neoliberalism. Gladue is intended to remediate systemic anti-Indigenous racism by requiring judges to consider all alternatives to incarceration when sentencing Indigenous peoples, yet Indigenous incarceration rates continue to rise precipitously. On the surface, Gladue does not appear to disrupt the hegemonic status quo. How is it that the Canadian state, even when ‘remediating,’ keeps producing the same – colonial, oppressive, and tyrannical – result?

This qualitative study used a critical, narrative methodology, interviewing Gladue report writers (n=9) and judges …

Inspirational Bullshit: The Good, The Bad, And The Vacuous, Esther Abel

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

There are myriad methods offered in the “self-help industry” and on social media promising to improve happiness. Some messages are evidence-based, often drawn from positive psychology research, and suggest actions requiring time and effort, while other messages may offer feel-good platitudes that are devoid of meaningful guidance; we label this latter type of content “inspirational bullshit.” Across two manuscripts, we investigate the predictors of liking different kinds of positive self-help content, from meaningless randomly-generated phrases to vacuous positivity to evidence-based advice. In the first manuscript, across three studies, bullshit receptivity (a tendency to judge pseudo-profound statements as profound) and people’s …

Exploring Graduated Court Diversion Clients' Experience Of Psychotherapy In Their Community Reintegration, Daniel Oduro Sem

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Court Diversion Program (CDP) seeks to reduce the criminalization and reoffending among people living with mental illness to ensure their community reintegration (Schneider, 2010). The complex nature of achieving this goal calls for a comprehensive strategy, which requires a collaborative effort of legal, health care, and allied professionals including psychotherapists. However, because most CDP clients frequently receive medication treatment, not much is known about how CDP clients find psychotherapy services even though psychotherapy is effective for addressing mental illnesses and offending behaviors (Feingold & Fox, 2018; Feucht & Holt, 2016), To gain more insight into the issue, this study applied …

The Long-Term Effects Of Cannabis On Attention To Motion, Rachel Mccaig

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The purpose of the following study was to investigate the long-term effects of cannabis use on attention to motion.

Methods: Cannabis users, who varied in age of onset of use, were compared to control participants after abstaining from cannabis for at least 24 hours. One-hundred and ninety-seven participants engaged in a cognitive assessment followed by a motion discrimination task and an attention to motion task. The assessment consisted of a series of standard tasks that measured a range of cognitive processes such as attention, memory, and executive functioning. The motion discrimination task assessed the participants’ abilities in discriminating between various …

Examining The Effects Of Noise And Task Dependent Performance In Prosody Perception In Autistic Individuals, Zehranur Sasal

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

ABSTRACT

Objective: It is known that autistic individuals have enhanced abilities in pitch discrimination and tend to excel in low-level tasks requiring lower cognitive processing. On the other hand, noise is a distracting factor in many areas of life, including prosody perception. The studies presented in this thesis aimed to understand prosody perception through different levels of cognitive tasks and under the influence of speech background noise.

Methods: In total, 256 non-autistic and 39 high-functioning autistic adults participated in these studies. In the first study, participants were asked to listen to brief utterances conveying one of six universally accepted emotions …

The Power Of Dissent: Mitigating False Polarization And Cross-Party Dislike In Online Interactions, Victoria Parker

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

While actual polarization is on the rise in the United States, perceived polarization (i.e., false polarization) is growing at an even faster rate, contributing to increased cross-party hostility. A meaningful amount of out-party dislike may be produced by partisans’ dramatic overestimates of the prevalence of extreme, undesirable views among political opponents. In the current research, we examine whether exposing people to out-party dissenters who challenge their copartisans’ extreme views might help reduce people’s misperceptions of their opponents’ extreme views, and possibly mitigate animosity. Across five studies (N = 3789), we explore how seeing public ingroup dissent (in the form of …

Examining Adjacent Disc Disease: A Novel In-Vitro Tissue Approach, Noah Chow, Noah Chow

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

When a patient experiences extreme degeneration of an intervertebral disc, a spinal fusion may be considered as a viable treatment plan. However, any implementation of hardware will change the biomechanics of the spine. This premise has led to the debate around adjacent disc disease (ADD) which is defined as the disc adjacent to a fused functional spine unit experiencing an accelerated rate of degeneration. There is a large controversy regarding ADD as a relevant pathology; however, it is largely unknown how spinal fusions effect the mechanical properties of the adjacent annulus fibrosus. Therefore, this thesis aims to examine the effect …

Collision Avoidance Strategies Of Middle-Aged Children And Young Adults In A Virtual Environment, Megan Hammill

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The ability to perceive and react to visual information is critical for avoiding a collision with an approaching obstacle. The perception-action system undergoes a prolonged period of development and as a result, children make more last-minute locomotor adjustments than adults when avoiding stationary obstacles. The purpose of this thesis was to compare the avoidance behaviours of middle-aged children (10-12 years old) to young adults (YA) during a head-on collision course with an approaching virtual pedestrian (VP). Children (N=16, 10.8 0.75 years; 8 males) and YA (N=16, 22.94 2.08 years; 7 males) were immersed in a virtual environment using the HTC …

(Re)Mediating History In Canadian Auto/Biographic Long Poems Since 1970, Heather Olaveson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Responding to current topics of national debate around cultural appropriation, authenticity of voice and identity, historical commemoration, and foundational systems of social injustice, this dissertation takes as its launching point the question of how we are implicated in each other's histories. It examines the politics of rewriting history in Canadian auto/biographic long poems from 1970 to the present, reconsidering historiography as it intersects with life writing, gender, race, and the performance of voice. What narratives are reimagined about the lives of Canadian historical figures, how are such stories articulated, and who is permitted to perform the telling? As a whole, …