2021 Master Sustainability Thesis Inventory
The Sustainability Master’s Thesis Inventory was developed by the Committee on the Environment, Climate Change, and Sustainability (CECCS). It gathers information about all Master’s theses with sustainability content at the University of Toronto since 2009. It includes 1,797 sustainability-oriented Master’s theses, representing approximately 22% of 8,260 Master’s theses since 2009. The purpose of the sustainability thesis inventory is to increase the visibility of such work, making it more accessible for the U of T community to access sustainability related scholarly work.
The approach to sustainability we take here addresses both human and environmental wellbeing (instead of simply focusing on reducing environmental damage), in accordance with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs were chosen as a basis for the inventory due to their comprehensiveness and widespread usage in the sustainability field. The inventory was created based on keywords from the SDGs, as shown in this table.
These SDG-related keywords, also used to develop the Sustainability Undergraduate Course Inventory, were developed in 2017 by the Expanded Student Engagement (ESE) Project in consultation with CECCS. SDG 17, “Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the goal partnership for sustainable development,” was excluded from the methodology, as it encompasses the act of achieving the other goals rather than bringing a new perspective to sustainability.
Using these keywords, titles and abstracts of Master’s theses were searched. Since 2009, the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) requires doctoral and masters graduates to submit a thesis to TSpace, a free research repository hosted by the U of T Libraries to disseminate and preserve the scholarly record of U of T faculty and graduate student research. SGS intends to house all available digitized Doctoral and Masters theses by U of T graduate students on TSpace. Thesis metadata was exported by a TSpace administrator and shared with CECCS in July 2020.
The search results were then manually reviewed for quality assurance by CECCS. Any output deemed irrelevant to the particular SDG based on the abstract has been removed. The following information was documented in the inventory: Author, Advisor/Supervisor, Title, Department, Date Issued, Abstract, Degree, Subject and the SDG(s) to which the thesis is related.
If you are an author or supervisor at the University of Toronto and think that a thesis should be included in or removed from the inventory, please contact ayako.ariga@utoronto.ca.
| Author | Advisor | Title | Department | Date issued | Abstract | Degree | Permanent URL | Subject | Keyword(s) | SDGs Covered | SDG1 | SDG2 | SDG3 | SDG4 | SDG5 | SDG6 | SDG7 | SDG8 | SDG9 | SDG10 | SDG11 | SDG12 | SDG13 | SDG14 | SDG15 | SDG16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giannitsopoulou, Shannon Jean | Todorova, Miglena||Sztainbok, Vannina | "What Happens Beyond the Talking": A Critical Policy Analysis of Sport and Recreation Equity Policies in Higher Education | Social Justice Education | 2020-11-01 | This thesis is a critical policy analysis of a Canadian urban university sport and recreation department’s equity policies. Through a documentary analysis and interviews, this research reveals the connection between what equity policies claim to achieve and the (in)equity experienced by students. Findings demonstrate that the policies advance discourses that evince neoliberal values of competition, commodification, and elitism. They also further notions of institutional excellence in equity, while simultaneously lacking a plan to achieve such equity. The study concludes with recommendations for policies rooted in anti-oppression principles that address the needs of marginalized students through structural change, including a measurable action plan. Equity policies should also name publicly histories of oppression and exclusion in Canada as the rationale for institutional commitments to supporting Muslim, transgender, queer, Indigenous, Black, and racialized students who do not identify with Eurocentric cultures of masculine and competitive athletics, or fitness routines revolving around normative bodies. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103265 | critical policy analysis||critical race theory||discourse||equity||social justice||sport and recreation | justice, institut, urban, queer, gender, educat | SDG4, SDG5, SDG11, SDG16 | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||||
| Wang, Si Tan | Lehn, Peter W. | A 3-phase Electric Vehicle Charger Integrated with Dual Inverter Drive | Electrical and Computer Engineering | 2020-11-01 | This thesis proposes a 3-phase electric vehicle (EV) charger which reemploys components of a dual inverter drive for charging when the EV is parked. Reemployment of drive components for charging can significantly reduce charging station infrastructure costs. The proposed charger's current source converter basis improves fault detection and prevents motor torque generation during charging. The dual inverter drive allows for integration of mixed energy storage media during driving and reduction of current ripple during charging. The proposed charger was tested through experimentation on a 10kW prototype. Experimental results showed the charger could perform constant-current constant-voltage charging of two isolated energy storage units from a 3-phase grid with >0.99 power factor. Charging wasperformed with balanced DC current passing through the EV's motor windings which prevented torque generation during charging. The prototype achieved an overall efficiency of 93% at rated power while meeting the international grid current harmonics standard IEC 61000-3-12. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103301 | dual inverter||electric vehicle||integrated charging||onboard charging | infrastructure, employment, wind, energy | SDG7, SDG8, SDG9 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Olanrewaju, Bolaji Akinola | Saxe, Shoshanna||Panesar, Daman K | A Comparison of Material Quantities Estimates to Onsite Material Use for Bridge Infrastructure Projects | Civil Engineering | 2020-11-01 | Material estimates play a crucial role in predicting project cost, project duration, and embodied CO2e emissions for construction projects. Several factors that occur during the implementation stage introduce discrepancies in material quantity estimates, which misinform critical decisions that affect project delivery. There is, however, a limited understanding of the variability in material estimates for construction projects, and its impacts on other estimating processes. This thesis compares construction stage quantities to detailed design estimates for eighteen Canadian-based bridges to quantify the variability in material quantities and to determine the driving factors. Results show a 3%-85%, 8%-23%, 5%-19%, and 11%-17% increase in concrete, rebar, structural steel, and asphalt quantities between estimates and onsite use. The results of this thesis inform our understanding of design estimates and their interpretation. Adjusting for the discrepancy between estimates and onsite measurements and targeting the driving factors will reduce environmental impacts, minimize cost overruns and limit delays. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103776 | Concrete||Construction||Detailed Design||Highway bridges||Material estimates||Material quantity variability | environment, infrastructure | SDG9, SDG13 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Storey, Emily Elizabeth | Helmy, Amr S | A Complete Portable and Low-cost Micro-opto-fluidic Raman Spectroscopic Measurement and Characterization System | Electrical and Computer Engineering | 2019-06-01 | There is a glaring, unmet demand for a healthcare analysis method which is non-invasive, rapid, portable, and flexible, to provide consistent results for novice and expert users alike. Such a technique would facilitate access to health solutions in rural settlements, where population health can suffer due to limited specialized facilities. Raman spectroscopy of biological fluids is ideal for this task. Widespread adoption requires a robust collection system and a model which can withstand routine spectrum variability, but current methods place the end-user in charge of these remedies. In this thesis we present a point-of-care system for fluidic analysis using Raman which eliminates sample preparation and optimizes analysis, independent of end-user proficiency. A micro-opto-fluidic device greatly enhances the Raman signal, and accompanying machine-learning suite optimizes preprocessing methods to compensate for routine signal variation. We demonstrate performance on artificial human tears and whole-blood, achieving user-independent predictive concentration precision below 500 microMolar. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/101812 | Biofluid Diagnostics||Machine Learning||Optofluidics||Photonic Crystal Fibers||Principal Component Analysis||Raman Spectroscopy | rural, health | SDG3, SDG11 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Teran, Alfonso Sebastian | Mercan, Oya | A Computational Wind Engineering Framework for Studying Climate Change on High-rise Buildings in Dense Urban Areas | Civil Engineering | 2020-11-01 | Structures in the built environment that are safe and serviceable under current wind loading conditions may experience problems in the coming decades as wind load characteristics get affected by rapidly changing climate. Given the high uncertainty in predicting future wind environment conditions, there is a need to formulate flexible adaptation strategies that mitigate climate change effects in urban regions. The present work proposes a multi-disciplinary framework to investigate and address the impact of climate change and the associated wind load effects on the built environment. As an example application of this framework, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are performed on a building located in downtown Toronto, under current and projected wind conditions to evaluate its response. The framework seeks to translate the range of predicted effects of climate change into actionable knowledge useful in the area of urban building design. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103240 | climate change||Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)||k-ω turbulence model||Wind load | environment, climate, urban, buildings, wind | SDG7, SDG9, SDG11, SDG13 | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||||
| Maghami, Amir | Posen, Daniel||Panesar, Daman | A Data-driven Method to Estimate the On-site GHG Emissions of Construction Activities in the Planning Phase | Civil Engineering | 2020-11-01 | The construction industry is a major contributor to global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Most of the studies in the literature focused on the embodied emissions of construction activities with little attention to the on-site emissions. This thesis demonstrates a method to estimate the on-site GHG emissions of construction activities in the planning phase. The method is then applied to 974 earthwork activities that are obtained from RS Means and the GHG emission per unit of output is estimated for each. Since during the planning phase detailed data about the construction activities is usually not available, this study has also developed statistical relationships between on-site GHG emissions and other better-known quantities (cost). In the case of the earthwork activities that are analyzed, I found that there is a strong correlation (R2 = 0.9) between the cost and on-site GHG emissions with a correlation factor of 0.31 (kg CO2 eq/$). | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103386 | Construction planning||GHG vs Cost||On-site GHG | greenhouse gas, industr | SDG9, SDG13 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Zhang, Shengbo | Touchie, Marianne||O'Brien, William | A Practical Simulation Framework for Thermal Sensation Analysis of Fenestration Designs | Mechanical and Industrial Engineering | 2020-11-01 | Buildings with highly glazed envelopes have gained popularity over the past decades. Though it is known that these buildings are less energy efficient, few attempts have been made to investigate their effect on thermal comfort apart from surveys. The gap between research and the industry arises because predicting thermal sensation is labourious and lacks suitable tools. In response, a simulation framework, which is the novelty of this work, is designed to reduce such effort. Direct solar radiation and ankle draught effects are considered since they have been shown to increase warm and cold sensation, respectively. Example applications using visualization and sensitivity analysis techniques suggest that window size increases both warm and cold sensation levels, which are also positively correlated with window overall solar heat gain coefficient and U-factor, respectively. The results from the example applications provide insights into how different window designs can affect thermal sensation within a similar context. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103611 | building design||direct solar radiation||draught comfort||thermal comfort||window design | buildings, industr, labour, solar, wind, energy | SDG7, SDG8, SDG9 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Webb, Denise | Allin, Sara||Mashford-Pringle, Angela | A Scoping Review: Comparing Federal Health Policy and the Associated Impacts on Access to Care in First Nations and American Indians/Alaska Natives Communities | Dalla Lana School of Public Health | 2021-06 | Canada and the United States each have a federal responsibility to deliver health services in First Nations (FNs) and American Indian/Alaska Natives (AIANs) communities. Yet, inequitable access to healthcare continues to disproportionately impact both communities. Little research has compared federal health policies between the two countries to see how they may help to explain the current state of healthcare access. This study aims to fill this gap. To do so, I completed a scoping review and three validation interviews with Indigenous health policy experts. The findings suggest that Canada exercises a greater use of informative policy instruments, compared to regulatory instruments in the United States. Policies in the two countries were frequently described as impacting similar dimensions of access. This study offers perspective on key policies involved in healthcare access, the contextual differences between the two countries Indigenous health policy making practices, and may inform future policy analysis. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104995 | Access to Care||American Indians/Alaska Natives||Canada||First Nations||Health Policy||United States | equitable, health | SDG3, SDG4 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Goldberg, Lauren Charisse | Peterson-Badali, Michele||Skilling, Tracey | A Systematized Review of Youth Mental Health Courts: An Evaluation of the Courts' Operations and Outcomes | Applied Psychology and Human Development | 2021-03-01 | In this study I reviewed the Canadian and international published literature examining youth mental health courts to provide an overview of their processes, mechanisms of change, and outcomes. A systematized literature review was conducted using the PRISMA-ScR checklist as a guideline following a search of PsychINFO, ERIC, ASSIA, MEDLINE, Sociological Abstracts, Social Services Abstracts, Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text, and Child and Adolescent Studies databases. Inclusion criteria stipulated that studies be original research, and examine at least one aspect of the courts’ operations or outcomes. Twenty articles satisfied inclusion criteria. Results showed considerable similarities among intake, referral and case monitoring procedures across courts, and recidivism outcomes. Youth reported courts to be collaborative and supportive, with stakeholders reporting reduced case processing times, improved access to treatment services and reduced recidivism. I highlight findings on operations and outcomes of youth mental health courts that have important implications for policy and practice. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/105013 | Court||Mental Health||Program Operations||Program Outcomes||Recidivism||Youth | justice, labor, health | SDG3, SDG8, SDG16 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Bridgehouse, Emily | Andrews, Robert C. | Addition of GAC Caps and Ozonation to Conventional Filters for Improved Organics Control and Disinfection By-product Reduction | Civil Engineering | 2021-03-01 | Granular activated carbon (GAC) caps are used in drinking water treatment facilities to help mitigate seasonal taste and odour events, however they may also provide additional water quality benefits, which have not been as widely examined. The objective of this pilot study was to compare filters utilizing GAC caps to conventional anthracite/sand filters in terms of disinfection by-product formation potential (DBP FP) reduction, organics removal and operational flexibility. Two different source waters (Otonabee River and Lake Erie) were examined such that differences in pre-treatment and organics composition may be considered. GAC caps employing biological and adsorptive filtration mechanisms, in combination with ozonation was observed to reduce HAA FP by 9±8 µg/L (12±10%) and DOC removal by 0.2 mg/L (6%) in Otonabee River samples. Application of GAC caps to the Lake Erie water system improved DOC reduction by 0.7±0.3 mg/L (44±17%) and DBP FP removal by 11±7 µg/L (33±19%) for HAAs and by 7±6 µg/L (23±17%) for THMs. As such, GAC caps may represent a cost-effective solution for facilities targeting specific components of regulatory importance. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/105050 | Drinking water treatment||GAC Caps||Granular Activated Carbon | water | SDG6, SDG14 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Babici, Isabelle | Wheelahan, Leesa | Advisement and Transtions in the Trades: A Process of Fustration in Ontario | Leadership, Higher and Adult Education | 2020-11-01 | Ontario, the most populous province in Canada, has the lowest apprenticeship completion rates compared to other provinces. This study seeks to understand the factors that contribute to these poor outcomes by researching policy and practices based on transition systems in Canada which work against the trades. The research focuses on the electrical trades in Ontario and utilizes interviews as its method. Interviews were undertaken with apprentices, electricians, union/association representatives and educators. Given the lack of policy and research about Ontario’s vocational dilemma, whereby poor organization affects access, qualitative methods based on constructivist theory are used to establish exploratory findings. The study seeks to understand how young people were able to enter the electrical trades, the nature of the transitions which supported or undermined these processes, including the kind of student advisement that they received. | M.Ed. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103475 | Advisement||Electricians in Ontario||Ontario Trades education||Ontario Vocational Education||Social Justice||Transition Systems | justice, trade, educat | SDG4, SDG10, SDG16 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Soczynska, Izabela | Maguire, Jonathon | Age of Cow Milk Introduction and Childhood Growth | Nutritional Sciences | 2019-06-01 | Recommendations on the age that children can start consuming cow milk vary between countries. In Canada and Denmark, cow milk can be introduced as early as 9 months; however, in most countries it is recommended to wait until 12 months. Through this thesis I aimed to determine if the age that cow milk is first introduced into the diet influences childhood growth. In this prospective study of healthy children enrolled in the TARGet Kids! cohort, introducing cow milk at a younger age was associated with greater height by age 3-5 years. Each month earlier that cow milk was introduced was associated with 0.03 higher height-for-age z score or 0.1 cm per month. There was no significant association between timing of cow milk introduction and adiposity. In this cohort of children aged 3-5 years starting to consume cow milk earlier in life contributed to gains in height, without adversely affecting adiposity. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/101813 | Child nutrition||cow milk||growth||Height | consum, health, nutrition | SDG2, SDG3, SDG12 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Ziebarth, Katie | Fortin, Marie-Josée||Rollinson, Njal | Alpha- and Beta-diversity of Amphibians and Reptiles in Ontario | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | 2021-03-01 | Reptiles and amphibians are experiencing a global decline. Anthropogenic factors (habitat loss and climate change) are among the many forces causing such decline. At a regional scale, understanding the drivers of amphibian and reptile diversity may be important in the establishment of protected areas. My study leveraged data from the Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas, a citizen science initiative of amphibian and reptile presence data, to uncover the regional-scale drivers of alpha- and beta-diversity of amphibians and reptiles in Ontario. Using univariate and multivariate regression trees, I found that temperature, agriculture, and road density were most strongly associated with alpha- and beta-diversity. My work emphasizes that amphibian and reptile diversity is greatest in southern and central Ontario, where human density is also highest. Future research should examine temporal changes in diversity while accounting for variation in sampling intensity, in order to recommend areas of conservation for wildlife corridors. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/105031 | Alpha-diversity||Amphibians||Beta-diversity||Ontario||Reptiles | conserv, climate, agricultur | SDG2, SDG13, SDG14, SDG15 | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||||
| Guo, Yawen | Sinton, David D.S. | Altered Biological Responses of Primary Producers to Multiple Stressors in the Presence of Nanoplastics | Mechanical and Industrial Engineering | 2021-03-01 | The interactions between nanoplastics and factors that simultaneous present in the aquatic environment, including climatic change stressors and local chemicals, are largely unknown. This thesis presents methods to understand how nanoplastics will affect species or interfere with their response to local chemicals in concert with climate change in freshwater ecosystems. With the aid of a high-throughput screening platform, we first discovered the interactive effects among nanoplastics, CO2, light, and temperature on freshwater algae, Scenedesmus obliquus. We then studied the control of CyanoHABs considering nanoplastics contamination and captured the non-additive combined effect of H2O2 and nanoplastics on freshwater cyanobacteria, Microcystis aeruginosa. Using these methods adopted here, one can screen a wide range of stressors combinations, identify interesting ones, then study chronic effects at those levels. They also provided improved accuracy and realism in nanoplastics exposure experiments to properly depict local aquatic conditions and investigate the subsequent ecological impacts on aquatic life. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104886 | ecolog, environment, climate, water | SDG6, SDG13, SDG14, SDG15 | X | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Olejarz, Daniel Adam | Roorda, Matthew J | An Assessment of the Use of Autonomous Ground Vehicles for Last-mile Parcel Delivery | Civil Engineering | 2020-11-01 | Last-mile parcel delivery is a particularly costly element of the freight supply chain. The high cost of last-mile delivery can be attributed to the complexities associated with business to consumer e-commerce and current labour-intensive delivery methods. This thesis quanties the cost savings associated with implementing an automated last-mile delivery system. A literature review focused on vehicle routing problems and their applications to automated delivery systems is presented. Parcel demand data are provided by a large courier company operating in Canada. These data are described with gures and summary statistics. A novel synchronized split-delivery vehicle routing problem is formulated, which ensures delivery vehicles arrive at their destinations at the same time as all others if deliveries are split between vehicles. The model is applied to the sample data to compare cost of operating an automated system with the current manual system. Finally, recommendations to the data provider on implementing such a system are made. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103750 | Automation||Autonomous Vehicles||E-Commerce||Last-Mile||Parcel Delivery||Vehicle Routing Problem | consum, labour | SDG8, SDG12 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Nathan, Colleen Ann | Gagné, Antoinette | An Autoethnographic Perspective on Restorative English Education in Marginalized Communities | Curriculum, Teaching and Learning | 2021-03-01 | In this autoethnographic study, the author explores how restorative English education can meet the needs of minoritized English learners with a particular focus on Indigenous learners of English. After reviewing the literature on several interrelated pedagogies, she braids together 1) stories from her childhood and adolescence in Toronto where she faced numerous types of discrimination as a Patois speaker and the child of Caribbean parents new to Canada, with 2) stories from her 10 years as a teacher in Attawapiskat as well as her time as a teacher in the ‘South”, and 3) stories shared by elders and other members of the Attawapiskat community. This autoethnography shines light on why it is problematic to impose a ‘one size fits all’ curriculum on minoritized English learners and provides concrete suggestions on how to implement restorative English education to help English learners develop a sense of self-worth while addressing social justice issues. | M.Ed. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104856 | Adolescents||Indigenous||Literacy||Marginalized||Pedagogy||Restorative | justice, educat | SDG4, SDG16 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Crawford, Rayna | Ferguson, Brian | An Empirical Investigation of the Role of Population Health in the Aggregate Production Function: A Multi-country Study | Health Policy, Management and Evaluation | 2021-03-01 | Adopting an aggregate production function approach, we investigate the role of population health on output per worker. A panel fixed-effects estimation is used to conduct the primary analysis and we employ the use of subsets to investigate the relationship at various life expectancy thresholds. Our results indicate that health capital, proxied by life expectancy at birth, has a U-shaped relationship with output per worker. In the subset analysis, we find that in shorter-lived countries, improvements to life expectancy at birth have a positive and significant relationship with output per worker. In longer-lived countries, improvements to life expectancy at birth have an insignificant impact on output per worker. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104990 | Aggregate||Health capital||Life expectancy||Production function||Solow | production, worker, health | SDG3, SDG8, SDG12 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Inceoglu, Defne | Brower, Matthew | Animal Bodies in the Climate Crisis: A Visitor Study at the Royal Ontario Museum | Information Studies | 2020-11-01 | This interdisciplinary research project focuses on The Royal Ontario Museum’s (ROM) ‘Life in Crisis: Schad Gallery of Biodiversity’. The vast majority of the objects within this gallery's displays are taxidermic animals and models from a wide variety of species. The gallery’s primary thematic concern is climate change, with an emphasis on the impact of human life on animal habitats. The research looks into the relationships of audiences to non-human animals in the gallery. It asks how these relationships may be reinterpreted to include an introspective look at human decisions to display animal bodies, with newfound emphasis on climate and animal advocacy, agency, collaboration and storytelling. Through interviews with museum patrons, this project explores the effectiveness of displaying animal bodies in achieving the gallery’s aims of promoting awareness of human responsibility for the current crisis. | M.M.St. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103374 | Animal Studies||Climate Change||Museum Studies||Natural History||Royal Ontario Museum||Taxidermy | biodivers, climate, labor | SDG8, SDG13, SDG15 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Hsu, MoWei | Liu, Hugh H.T. | AquaFly: A Tilt-rotor Vertical Take-off and Landing Aquatic Unmanned Aerial Vehicle | Aerospace Science and Engineering | 2020-11-01 | This thesis presents the development of a novel tilt-rotor aquatic unmanned aerial vehicle that can land and take-off from water surfaces with an innovative box tail design, named AquaFly. The box tail provides buoyancy and flotation stability for the vehicle on water surfaces while improving its flight stability in forward flight. Flight tests demonstrated successful autonomous and piloted water take-off and landing in the presence of wave and wind disturbances. A nonlinear hierarchical adaptive control framework is proposed. It is designed to cover all flight modes of AquaFly which include hovering, transition, and forward flight. The adaptive nature of the control framework allows compensation for modeling errors, uncertainties, and disturbances. Stability analyses are presented to show asymptotic tracking performance as well as the boundedness of all signals for the proposed control framework. Finally, simulation analyses are conducted and show control effectiveness for all flight modes. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103640 | AquaUAV||Control||Tiltrotor||Transition||UAV||VTOL | urban, innovat, wind, water | SDG6, SDG7, SDG9, SDG11, SDG14 | X | X | X | X | X | |||||||||||
| Monri-Fung, Haruna | Karney, Bryan | Assessing the Performance of Stormwater Management Facilities in Oshawa, Ontario | Civil Engineering | 2020-11-01 | Stormwater management facilities can protect against urbanization-induced downstream channel erosion, but detention-based approaches commonly used in Ontario tend to exacerbate the underlying issue. This thesis presents two case studies evaluating the performance of stormwater management alternatives in urban and suburban settings to protect against downstream channel erosion while maintaining flood protection requirements using a high-level modelling and estimation method intended to act as a screening tool. Performance results indicate that reducing runoff volume tends to reduce the potential for erosion. When performing assessments in practice, engineers are inevitably limited in resources, which may deter study approaches and simulation techniques best suited to address the objective. Maintaining the stability and ecological integrity of the downstream watercourse is the overarching purpose of stormwater management and facilities implemented on upstream sites should be designed and tested using a comprehensive set of metrics with an explicit link to this objective. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103204 | ecolog, urban, water | SDG6, SDG11, SDG14, SDG15 | X | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Bian, Jia | Andrews, Robert C||Bérubé, Pierre | Assessment of Ultrafiltration Membrane Ageing in Full-scale Water Treatment Facilities | Civil Engineering | 2021-03-01 | The incorporation of ultrafiltration has become increasingly prevalent in drinking water treatment. However, limited data exists regarding the impacts of membrane ageing over extended periods of full-scale operation. The present study examined performance factors (clean membrane resistance, fouling rate, and susceptibility to breach), as well as characteristics (presence of hydrophilic additive (HA) present in membranes) for polyvinylidene fluoride membranes that are widely employed. Clean membrane resistance remained constant over time, whereas the fouling rate decreased with age. Surface and bulk HA content were observed to decrease with age. However, poor correlations were observed between HA content and clean membrane resistance. Results suggest that although a reduction of HA occurs as membranes age, membranes continued to provide good treatment performance until they reached a certain level of HA content reduction that was site-specific. Overall, these findings provide important insights regarding the mechanisms associated with membrane ageing. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104937 | Membrane Ageing||Ultrafiltration | water | SDG6, SDG14 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Sidiqi, Aysha | Roth, Daniel E | Association of Dietary Protein Intake with Skeletal Muscle Mass in 4-year-old Children in Dhaka, Bangladesh | Nutritional Sciences | 2020-11-01 | Skeletal muscle mass (SMM) is a key determinant of metabolic health in children and adults; yet, despite its importance, there has been a lack of research on the determinants of SMM development, particularly in low-resource settings with emerging concerns related to the ‘double burden’ of malnutrition. In a cross-sectional study of 4-year-old children in Dhaka, Bangladesh, we measured appendicular lean mass (ALM) using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, dietary protein intake using repeated 24-hour recall, hand-grip strength, and anthropometry. Multivariable-adjusted linear regression models showed that there was no association between dietary protein intake and ALM (n=93). In a secondary analysis of an extended cohort of children (n=566), a 1 kg increase in ALM was associated with a 1.04 kg increase in muscle strength (hand-grip test) (p | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103456 | children||low or middle income countries||Protein||Skeletal muscle mass | energy, health, nutrition | SDG2, SDG3, SDG7 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Anderson, Nicole | Boler, Megan | Capturing Affect: The Agentic Power of The Colonial Photograph as a Form of Visual Testimony | Social Justice Education | 2020-11-01 | This thesis explores the affective properties of material representations of the colonial legacies of Indian Residential Schools in Canada. Considering the material and ontological turn that recognises the agency of objects, I argue that these material traces are bestowed with significant agentic, affective and pedagogical power. Specifically, I show how archival photographs act as forms of "visual testimonies" that prompt settlers to consider their responsibility to be ethical witnesses to systemic colonial violence. By examining these material legacies, I explore how agentic visual traces teach settlers to "see" differently; allowing settlers to recognise their habitual blindness towards past and present colonial injustice. I explore how certain pedagogical conditions enables their affective and agentic power, particularly how multi-sensory curatorial approaches blur the binaries of the past/present, Self/Other and subject/object. I argue that disrupting these bifurcations creates new relational ontologies that prompt a collective settler responsibility towards ongoing colonial violence. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103364 | Affect theory||Archival photographs||Critical curatorship||Indian Residential Schools||Transformative pedagogies||Witnessing | justice | SDG16 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Krause, Kevin Aaron Chen | Bazylak, Aimy | Characterizing Unstable Operation in Flow Cells for CO2 Electroreduction | Mechanical and Industrial Engineering | 2021-03-01 | Carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction flow cells are a promising means of curtailing anthropogenic CO2 emissions by reducing CO2 to generate useful carbon fuels when coupled with renewable energy sources. However, operating these devices at commercially relevant conditions is typically accompanied by mass transport issues related to unstable performance that is often overlooked. This thesis contains two studies focused on identifying and characterizing the source of unstable performance in these devices. In the first study, the effect of gaseous accumulation at the cathode gas diffusion electrode interface on the performance of an alkaline flow cell was investigated. In the second study, the relationship between unstable operation and the electrolyte layer gas saturation in a flow cell was characterized. These two studies aim to provide the necessary first steps in addressing unstable operation in CO2 reduction flow cells towards achieving stable, commercially relevant operation. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104877 | CO2 electrolysis||flow cell||gas evolution||neutron radiography||synchrotron X-ray radiography||unstable performance | renewabl, energy | SDG7 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Gill, Inderpreet Kaur | Starmans, Christina | Children’s Judgements of Fairness and Reparations | Psychology | 2021-03-01 | Do children, like adults, consider the original cause of the inequality as well as when the inequality happened? In two experiments, we investigate how children reason about whether and when past inequalities due to differences in hard work, bias and luck should be corrected. Younger (5-6 years) children distribute coins equally regardless of the cause of the inequality or when it happened (i.e. past or present). Older (7-8 years) children distribute more coins to the child who worked harder (thus increasing inequality), and to the child who was biased against or unlucky (thus decreasing inequality) when the inequalities happened in the present. However, they were more likely to distribute coins equally when the inequality happened in the past. These findings suggest younger children have strong preferences for equal distributions despite existing inequalities and older children are less likely to rectify inequalities created in the past than those created recently. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104960 | inequality, equality | SDG5, SDG10 | X | X | |||||||||||||||
| Krzyzanowski, Daniel | Remington, Gary||Goghari, Vina | Cognitive Discrepancies, Values and Subjective Well-Being in People with Schizophrenia | Psychological Clinical Science | 2020-11-01 | Past research indicates that people with schizophrenia often achieve similar levels of subjective well-being (SWB) compared to healthy individuals despite prominent symptomatology and significant functional, social and cognitive difficulties. People with schizophrenia also report more conservative value systems (less openness to change and greater emphasis on tradition), suggesting that changing motivations and personal values may contribute to SWB and the apparent motivational deficits commonly reported in this population. In the current study, middle-aged people with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (n=29) and community control participants (n=23) rated their current SWB, life satisfaction, hope, and values. They also completed a battery of cognitive tests and diagnostic interviews. Patients reported similar levels of SWB in the context of significant cognitive, social and functional difficulties, more conservative value systems, and a greater propensity for goal disengagement compared to controls. These results are discussed in relation to lifespan development and motivational theory. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103269 | Lifespan development||Psychosis||Schizophrenia||Subjective well-being||Values | conserv, well-being, health | SDG3, SDG14, SDG15 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Chari, Malini | Quiñonez, Carlos | Comparing the Magnitude of Oral Health Inequality in Canada, United States and United Kingdom | Dentistry | 2020-11-01 | Objectives: To compare the magnitude of oral health inequality over time in Canada and United States (US), and at a single point in time between Canada, US and United Kingdom (UK). Methodology: Data was obtained from five national surveys; two Canadian, two American and one from the UK. The slope index and relative index of inequality were used to estimate absolute and relative inequality, respectively. Results: In both Canada and the US, absolute inequality in oral disease declined while relative inequality increased; however, inequality for filled teeth declined significantly. Inequality in untreated decay was highest in the US, and in Canada for edentulism. Inequality was lowest in the UK for both untreated decay and filled teeth. Conclusion: Despite what appears to be greater utilization of restorative care among the poor over time, inequality in oral disease prevailed in all three countries and was consistently higher in the US, followed by Canada and lowest in the UK. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103155 | oral health||Socioeconomic inequality | inequality, equality, health, socioeconomic | SDG1, SDG3, SDG5, SDG10 | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||||
| Blackford, Christopher | Fortin, Marie-Josée||Krkošek, Martin | Connectivity Coarse Filter Approach for Marine Protected Area Network Design | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | 2018-11-01 | Human use of the ocean is impacting biodiversity sustainability. To mitigate human pressure, governments have committed to protecting 10% of their oceans/coasts as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Determining the most effective placement of MPAs for conserving biodiversity should be done at a network scale such that MPA networks are placed to provide the greatest protection for multiple species. I propose a methodology to determine priority conservation areas for distinct species assemblages, located at different depths, to determine MPA network placement, using the Pacific Ocean in Canada as a case study. I found dispersal ability had a larger impact on MPA network configuration for species spending a long time as larvae compared to species spending a short time as larvae, and that climate change is likely to shift priority-area locations. The methodology proposed for MPA design relies on limited data and can be applied to other regions and ecosystems. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/102809 | Biophysical Model||Climate Change||Marine Protected Area||Marxan||Pelagic Larval Duration||Spatial Ecology | ecolog, biodivers, conserv, marine, ocean, climate | SDG13, SDG14, SDG15 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Boyne, Holly | Hamza, Chloe A | Depressive Symptoms, Perceived Stress, and Nonsuicidal Self-injury Among Emerging Adults: An Examination of the Mediating Effect of Self-compassion | Applied Psychology and Human Development | 2020-11-01 | Many emerging adults report experiencing mental health challenges, such as depressive symptoms and stress, during the transition to university. These mental health challenges are also associated with increased risk for nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI; e.g., self-cutting without lethal intent). It may be that students who experience these mental health challenges have greater difficulty being compassionate towards themselves, leading to NSSI engagement as a form of self-derogation. However, longitudinal research has yet to examine the mechanism through which depressive symptoms, stress, self-compassion, and NSSI are associated. To address this gap in the literature, 1125 university students (Mage = 17.96 years, 74% female) completed an online survey three times in first year university. Path analysis revealed significant indirect effects from depressive symptoms and stress to NSSI, through self-compassion. These associations were bidirectional, such that NSSI engagement predicted increases in depressive symptoms and stress through self-compassion. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103702 | depression||emerging adulthood||nonsuicidal self-injury||post-secondary||stress | health | SDG3 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Yuan, Chuqiao | Andrews, Robert RCA | Development and Application of Sampling and Extraction Methods for Microplastics in Drinking Water | Civil Engineering | 2021-03-01 | To-date, no standardized methods have been proposed for analyzing microplastics in drinking waters. This study assessed known methods to collect and extract microplastics from treated drinking waters and identified two common limitations: use of insufficient water, and lack of method recovery assessment. In response, this study developed an in-line filtration method, which improved accuracy when compared to in-laboratory filtration methods. In-line filtration was shown to have higher recoveries for the reference microplastics examined (+37% for PVC fragments, +23% for PET fragments, +22% for nylon fibers and +7% for PET fibers) and a greater potential to reduce microplastic contamination. The filtration capacity of in-line filtration method was observed to exceed 350 L of treated water. Application of in-line filtration was validated using ultrafiltration (UF) influent and effluent from two full-scale drinking water treatment facilities. UF represents an effective technology which is capable of removing ~95% of microplastics from drinking water. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104914 | Drinking Water||Methods||Microplastics||QA/QC | labor, water | SDG6, SDG8, SDG14 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Lin, Shuting | Acosta, Edgar J | Development of an Expeller Extraction for Beta-carotene from Carrot Pomace via Lecithin-Linkers Microemulsions | Chemical Engineering Applied Chemistry | 2018-11-01 | This work introduces a new green extraction solvent, based on fully dilutable lecithin-linkers microemulsions (LLMs), that is used in a continuous expeller to recover -carotene from carrot pomace obtained after carrot juice production. The optimal LLMs for the extraction was identified via the HLD-NAC framework, and the predicted formulations confirmed via phase behavior studies. An expeller extraction method was developed and optimized for -carotene yield, with respect to LLMs. The results suggest that the combination of expeller and LLMs extraction have 3-6 fold increase in -carotene extraction as compared to other extraction methods. The optimal extraction is obtained with highly diluted LLMs, that lead to the lowest extraction costs. The LLMs containing extracted -carotene were microencapsulated via spray-drying to extend shelf life and prevent the release of -carotene at the stomach’s pH. The encapsulated product is a free-flowing powder that can be incorporated into a variety of products. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104687 | beta-carotene extraction||expeller extraction||food-grade microemulsions||HLD-NAC||Microencapsulation||Spray drying | production, food | SDG2, SDG12 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Burton, Katherine Isabelle | Stephan, Douglas W | Development of Carbon Lewis Acids for Hydrodefluorination Catalysis | Chemistry | 2021-03-01 | Industry relies heavily on costly noble metals for use in pharmaceutical, agrochemical and petroleum research. However, extraction of polymetallic ore deposits contributes to human rights violations and irreversible ecological damage. These concerns must weigh on the scientific community as rare-Earth feedstocks decline, and industrial means of satisfying demand grow more extreme. By contrast, metal-free main group elements exhibit considerable natural abundance and structural diversity, yet their use as catalysts remains underdeveloped. Chapter 1 discusses the development of novel carbon-based bipyridinium and phenanthrolinium dications. Applicability of these species towards catalytic hydrodefluorination (HDF) is reported in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 details the computations used to determine the Hydride Ion Affinity (HIA) of these species and to examine their participation in HDF. Overall, this thesis demonstrates application of novel main group initiators towards modes of reactivity potentially useful in the remediation of chemically persistent perfluorinated compounds. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104907 | rights, ecolog, industr | SDG9, SDG15, SDG16 | X | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Hennessy, Kelly | Wright, Virginia | Development of the Challenge-coach as a Contribution towards Understanding Physical Literacy in Children with Neuromotor Disabilities | Rehabilitation Science | 2020-11-01 | Background: Children with neuromotor disabilities often experience barriers to developing/advancing physical literacy (PhysLit) (i.e., physical competences, knowledge, motivation, confidence), and may benefit from a PhysLit-related on/offboarding assessment when they enter and complete a physical activity program. Purpose: (1) Reduce item length of the Ignite Challenge and Challenge-Fun (assessments of the physical competence component of PhysLit) to create coach-friendly versions; (2) explore child and caregiver interest in on/offboarding assessments; (3) elucidate PhysLit meaning for these children. Methods: Twenty-five children with neuromotor disabilities completed the Ignite Challenge or Challenge-Fun, with Ignite-Coach and Fun-Coach candidate item sets extracted and analyzed. Fourteen children and 19 caregivers were interviewed post-Challenge assessment. Results: The 5-item Ignite-Coach and 4-item Fun-Coach met the targets for use in a community-based on/offboarding process. Participants expressed interest in on/offboarding. A more inclusive PhysLit definition was created. Impact: Coaches can apply study findings to encourage a PhysLit-based approach within their programs. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103728 | Adapted physical activity||Children||Disability||Neuromotor Disability||Physical activity||Physical literacy | inclusiv | SDG4 | X | |||||||||||||||
| La Mantia, Claire | Tarasuk, Valerie | Diet Quality in Relation to Income, Education, and Food Insecurity among Canadian Adults | Nutritional Sciences | 2020-11-01 | Given the social gradient in nutrition-related conditions in Canada, we investigated the relationships between Canadian adults’ socioeconomic characteristics and diet quality. Using the Canadian Community Health Survey 2015: Nutrition, we compared one-day mean intakes foradults aged 25-64 (n=8,109) by income quintile, education, and food insecurity status. While few differences were identified based on income quintile, post-secondary education and food security benefitted Canadians’ intake of micronutrients, fibre, fruits/vegetables, percent of energy from ultra-processed foods and/or Healthy Eating Index scores. High income/education in women was also associated with higher diet quality in most indicators analyzed. However, sodium and saturated fat intakes did not differ by socioeconomic characteristics. Our results indicate that higher socioeconomic status, particularly in women, is associated with higher diet quality. Moving forward, nutrition policy should consider the relationships between socioeconomic status and diet quality to optimize interventions and reduce the likelihood of exacerbating the nutrition disparities observed. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103163 | Canada||Diet quality||Nutrition disparities||Socioeconomic status | energy, women, educat, health, nutrition, food, socioeconomic | SDG1, SDG2, SDG3, SDG4, SDG5, SDG7 | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| Tian, Xinyi | Bobicki, Erin | Diethylenetriamine (DETA) Mitigation at Strathcona Mill: Adsorption Isotherms and Geochemical Modelling | Materials Science and Engineering | 2020-11-01 | Diethylenetriamine (DETA) is an effective reagent for pyrrhotite depression in the flotation of copper-nickel sulphide ores. The rejection of pyrrhotite can increase the concentrate grade and decrease smelter SO2 emissions. DETA can form soluble and stable complexes with nickel and copper at alkaline pH. Thus, the use of DETA in mineral processing can result in soluble metal complexes in the effluent that cannot be removed by conventional wastewater treatment facilities. The objective of this thesis is to understand how DETA behaves in the tailings management area using geochemical modelling and sorption tests. The geochemical modelling showed that Cu and Ni form stable complexes with DETA through pH range 2 to 14 and 4 to 14, respectively. The adsorption tests indicated warm temperature and acidic pH promote the adsorption. Upon dilution, DETA desorbs off from the solids. These results can provide guidance for the development and assessment of DETA mitigation plan. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103159 | waste, water | SDG6, SDG12, SDG14 | X | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Seshadri, Akshay | Naguib, Hani E | Direct Sensing of Hydrocarbon Pollutants via Soluble Polymeric Sensors | Materials Science and Engineering | 2018-11-01 | Hydrocarbon leakages are a prominent environmental and economic issue in today’s oil and gas transportation infrastructure. In the US alone, over 100 hydrocarbon spills occur yearly, resulting in billions of dollars of civil and environmental damage. To mitigate the impacts of this issue, development and implementation of leak detection systems are prominently applied in industry. However, current state-of-the-art sensor systems utilize indirect methods of sensing that feature poor hydrocarbon selectivity and low detection accuracies of 16-17%. Herein we employ hydrocarbon-soluble polymers in fabrication of sensor designs for direct and selective crude oil sensing. Composite EVA/carbon fiber sensors are fabricated and show 421% sensor responses after 6 hours of oil exposure, while reflectometry sensing via EVA and silicone coaxial cables show sensor responses of 9.71% to 115% after 24 hours of oil exposure. Overall, high efficacy in hydrocarbon leak detection is achieved, validating the sensing effectiveness of hydrocarbon-soluble polymers. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/102831 | Composites||Environment||Hydrocarbons||Pollutants||Polymers||Sensors | pollut, environment, industr, infrastructure | SDG9, SDG13, SDG14, SDG15 | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||||
| Saleh, Thomas D | Ekers, Michael | Economics of Vulnerability: Infrastructures of Climate Change Adaptation in the Rupununi, Guyana | Geography | 2020-11-01 | This thesis examines the recent emergence of “vulnerability to climate change” as a framework for development in rural Guyana. More specifically, I study experts’ use of the term “vulnerability” throughout the implementation of four recent water infrastructure projects on Indigenous lands in the Rupununi savannah bordering Brazil. The research draws on scholarly analyses of Guyanese postcolonial governance in conjunction with maps, semi-structured interviews, and secondary economic and climatological data. With this evidence, I demonstrate that each project approaches “vulnerability” as a justification for imposing technocratic governance through infrastructure. Examining the planning process more closely, I further find that Guyana’s push for climate change adaptation is marketized, granting decision-making power to funders and contractors over “beneficiaries”. Thus, the new infrastructures in the Rupununi reproduce many of the historical patterns of power originally responsible for the region’s present vulnerabilities. The thesis concludes by discussing alternate approaches to addressing climate change in Guyana. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103344 | Climate change adaptation||Guyana||Indigenous||Infrastructure||Land Use||Political Ecology | governance, land use, ecolog, climate, rural, infrastructure, water | SDG6, SDG9, SDG11, SDG13, SDG14, SDG15, SDG16 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||||||||
| Anderson, Jonathan David | Hum, Sean V | Electromagnetic Surface Treatments for Improving Ground Penetrating Radar | Electrical and Computer Engineering | 2020-11-01 | Autonomous vehicle development and research has recently become a focus many vehicle manufacturers with billions of dollars of investment in recent years. It is shaping the future of the transportation industry. An open problem facing autonomous vehicles surrounds the development of a robust suite of sensors that is able to safely and reliably operate in all weather and road conditions. This thesis investigates the potential of localizing ground penetrating radar as a piece of that sensor suite while simultaneously demonstrating an approach to constructing an LGPR's antenna array by incorporating an artificial magnetic conductor with a resistively loaded dipole. This antenna array has a reduced profile and improved gain performance compared to the current implementation. Such an improvement in gain and profile reduction will allow such a sensor to be more easily incorporated into a vehicle's design and provides a potential road-map to further reduce the size of such arrays. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103620 | Artificial Magnetic Conductor||Ground Penetrating Radar||High Impedance Surface||Resistively Loaded Dipole||Tunable Surface | weather, industr | SDG9, SDG13 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Luzuriaga-Aveiga, Vanessa E. | Weir, Jason T. | Elevational Differentiation Increases Rates of Trait Evolution but not Diversification in Neotropical Passerine Birds | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | 2018-11-01 | The importance of ecologically-mediated divergent selection in elevating rates of trait evolution has been poorly studied in the most species-rich biome of the planet, the continental tropics. I performed a macroevolutionary analysis of trait divergence and diversification rates across closely-related pairs of passerine birds, belonging to the Amazon basin and adjacent Andean slopes, to assess whether the difference in elevational range separating species pairs influences the speed of trait evolution and diversification rates. Difference in elevation was used as a proxy for the degree of ecological divergence. I found that the amount of elevational separation is associated with faster differentiation of song frequency, a trait important for premating isolation, and several morphological traits, which may contribute to extrinsic postmating isolation. However, ecological differentiation does not primarily drive bird diversification and, thus, may have limited influence on patterns of species richness along the eastern slope of the tropical Andes. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/102842 | Birds||Ecological divergence||Elevation||Neotropics||Speciation||Trait evolution | ecolog | SDG15 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Bell, Natalie Gretchen | Mubareka, Samira | Environmental Sampling and Next-generation Sequencing as a Novel Approach for the Detection and Characterization of Influenza A Virus (IAV) in Swine | Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology | 2020-11-01 | Current influenza surveillance systems detecting zoonotic sources such as swine, are costly and labour-intensive. The genetic diversity due to reassortment of influenza A virus in swine underscores the need for a non-invasive, population based surveillance approach to improve pandemic preparedness. Aggregate, environmental samples from agricultural settings can be analyzed using high-throughput sequencing (HTS) techniques, providing an alternative approach to classic surveillance methods for influenza viruses of public health importance. We collected environmental samples from a swine barn in Southern Ontario, Canada. All samples were analyzed by RT-PCR for detection of the matrix gene. A subset of samples were sequenced using two HTS techniques for comparison. We derived viral genomic sequence from environmental samples and identified segment diversity of IAV of swine origin. We also demonstrated that personal samplers retained IAV from the breathing zone of personnel working with swine. The feasibility of environmental sample collection underscores its utility in IAV surveillance in swine production facilities. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103494 | Influenza||Sequencing||Swine | environment, production, labour, health, agricultur | SDG2, SDG3, SDG8, SDG12, SDG13 | X | X | X | X | X | |||||||||||
| Third, Laura | de Kerckhove, Dak||Chu, Cindy | Evaluating Model Uncertainty to Inform Offset Ratios for the Protection of Freshwater Fish Productivity in Canada | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | 2020-11-01 | Ecological models allow resource managers to evaluate human impacts on fish and their habitat. However, quantitative methods that incorporate and assess uncertainty in these models are rare. These models require fish life history information, which is often uncertain, and can thus lead to uncertain predictions and pose risks to either the environment or proponent. I utilized a multispecies size spectrum model to evaluate uncertainty surrounding estimates of three fish life history traits: (1) asymptotic weight; (2) the von Bertalanffy growth coefficient; and (3) weight at maturity. I then applied an existing framework for quantifying compensation ratios to achieve “no net loss” (NNL) in the context of a theoretical development project. The results of this study show that asymptotic size and forage fishes have the greatest influence on predictive uncertainty. I recommend that sampling effort be prioritized for these and demonstrate how to account for uncertainty in a precautionary management framework. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103600 | Aquatic science||Fish||Fisheries||Modeling||Offsetting||Uncertainty analysis | ecolog, fish, environment, water | SDG6, SDG13, SDG14, SDG15 | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||||
| Plue, Reilley Marie | Widener, Michael J | Evaluating the Role of Selective Daily Mobility Bias in Retail Food Environment Research | Geography | 2020-11-01 | Global positioning system (GPS) devices are increasingly being used to provide insight the into retail food environment and how it might be contributing to the ongoing obesity epidemic. Concern has recently been raised about the potential for GPS-based research to over-estimate the impact that exposure to food retailers has on food behaviour. This phenomenon, where it is difficult to discern using GPS data whether an individual is passively exposed or actively seeking a space out, is referred to as a ‘selective (daily) mobility bias’ (SDMB). Using GPS-generated activity spaces from the Canada Food Study, this thesis investigates whether or not including activity locations where food purchases occur changes the association between exposure to restaurants and self-reported consumption of fast food. No significant associations were found in any of the models, but suggestions are made for adopting a biopsychosocial approach in future work that aims to address SDMB within the context of food behaviour. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103509 | Biopsychosocial Approach||Built Environment||Food Behaviour||Geographical Information Science (GIS)||Global Positioning Systems (GPS)||Obesity | environment, consum, food | SDG2, SDG12, SDG13 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Rivera Sanchez, Miryam Lizeth | MacLean, Heather||McCabe, Brenda | Evaluation of Energy Efficiency Measures in High-rise Buildings from a Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions Perspective | Civil Engineering | 2020-11-01 | Due to its significant contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the building industry is taking action to fight climate change, developing measures for reducing the operational emissions of buildings. However, some of these well-intentioned measures can result in higher embodied emissions. Under certain conditions, this increase in embodied emissions can more than offset the reductions achieved during the building operational phase. This thesis evaluates the effectiveness of five passive energy efficiency measures to reduce GHG emissions from a life cycle perspective for high-rise residential buildings in Toronto, Canada. Decreasing the window-to-wall ratio was found to be the most effective measure to reduce total GHG emissions. Increasing the continuous insulation on walls and roofs with GHG intensive materials can increase total emissions. The thesis also compares the embodied GHG emissions of curtain walls and window walls finding no practical difference in embodied GHG emissions between the options studied. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103644 | Building Envelope||Energy Efficiency Measures||Greenhouse Gas Emissions||Life Cycle Assessment | greenhouse gas, climate, buildings, industr, wind, energy | SDG7, SDG9, SDG13 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Keon, Meaghan Rowan | Andrews, Robert C | Evaluation of Enzyme Activity for Monitoring Biofiltration Performance in Drinking Water Treatment | Civil Engineering | 2021-03-01 | Recent studies have proposed that enzyme activity may be used as an indicator of biofilter function, as supposed to adenosine triphosphate (ATP), as it provides a means to quantify biodegradation which may allow for a more accurate measure of biofilter performance. This study, 1) developed a methodology for enzyme extraction from filtration media, and 2) evaluated the use of enzyme activity for monitoring biological processes by examining full- and pilot-scale filters to assess impacts associated with pre-treatments, sources waters, and operating conditions. An optimized biomass extraction method for filter media is proposed. Results confirmed that ATP was not a reliable monitoring tool for organics reduction in biofilters whereas strong relationships between esterase and chitinase activity and organics reduction were observed. This study showed that enzyme activity may be appropriate for monitoring biological processes within drinking water filters and may act as a surrogate for the removal of organic compounds. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/105008 | water | SDG6, SDG14 | X | X | |||||||||||||||
| Hurtado Bolanos, Alonso Javier | Hofmann, Ronald | Evaluation of Mussel Control Strategies in Drinking Water Treatment Plants: Peracetic Acid, Earthtec QZ, and Preclorination | Civil Engineering | 2020-11-01 | Mussel macrofouling is a major concern for water treatment plants in the Great Lakes region. This research evaluated peracetic acid (PAA) and EarthTec QZ for mussel control by conducting batch and flow-through tests. Peracetic acid doses ≥ 5 mg/L and a dose of 60 μg/L EarthTec QZ were effective for adult mussel control. This research also explored potential impacts of applying PAA for mussel control on chlorine disinfection by developing a mathematical model running multiple simulations at different pHs. It was concluded that chlorine consumes the hydrogen peroxide in a few minutes, whereas PAA and AA concentrations were largely unaffected. A final component of the research was a multi-year monitoring program at two plants in Ontario to explore settlement rates as a function of temperature. The evidence suggested that temperature alone is not a reliable indicator of settlement activity, and that a calendar-based prechlorination program may be more effective. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103391 | consum, water | SDG6, SDG12, SDG14 | X | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Jenks, Bradley Wyatt | Karney, Bryan W.||Papa, Fabian | Evidence-based Water Loss Management: A Novel Approach to Data Collection and Performance Benchmarking in Ontario, Canada | Civil Engineering | 2021-03-01 | It is well understood that leakage in water distribution systems (WDSs) yields adverse financial and environmental impacts. Consequently, effective practices to manage and control leakage are becoming increasingly desired. Existing methodologies, however, have emerged mostly from the European context, giving rise to various limitations and forms of uncertainty when employed in North America. Accordingly, this research promotes field-based practices to enable the assessment of actual system performance, thereby mitigating the potential (and often appreciable) impact of such uncertainties. Central to this work is the development and deployment of a mobile testing unit to monitor flows, with and without pressure reduction, into temporarily configured district metered areas (DMAs). Results from an Ontario-wide testing program have informed various benchmarking metrics from which DMA performance can be objectively quantified. The research targets municipalities in their decision-making efforts through the provision of insightful information to better manage both system leakage and pressure. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104968 | District Metered Area||Monte Carlo Analysis||Performance Benchmarking||Pressure-Leakage Response||Water Distribution System Leakage||Water-Energy Nexus | environment, energy, water | SDG6, SDG7, SDG13, SDG14 | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||||
| Bansal, Jotthi | Chen, Charles | Examining Factors which Affect Self-esteem of Professional Immigrants in Canada | Applied Psychology and Human Development | 2020-11-01 | To benefit the economy, Canada accepts thousands of professional immigrants each year. However, they often encounter unforeseen hardships in acculturation and employment pursuits which negatively impact self-esteem: a predictor of career success and life satisfaction. Since existing supports for professional immigrants have proven unsatisfactory, the current study aimed to identify and understand impacts of adjustment barriers on self-esteem to inform development of resources including career counselling protocols. Methodologies included analysis of qualitative interviews with professional immigrants who underwent retraining in Canada. Results revealed fluctuations in self-esteem throughout adjustment periods. Self-esteem was highest prior to immigration and upon initial arrival in Canada but significantly decreased during primary attempts at job searching and acculturation. During retraining and post-retraining employment, self-esteem increased but was threatened by remaining adjustment barriers. Eleven key impactors on self-esteem were revealed. By identifying challenges for professional immigrants, results can inform development of resources to encourage health and success. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103277 | Career Psychology||Counselling Psychology||Education||Immigration||Self-esteem||Vocational Development | employment, educat, health | SDG3, SDG4, SDG8 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Mandla, Serena Marie | Radisic, Milica | Examining the Efficacy and Mechanism of a Peptide Modified Hydrogel for Wound Healing Applications | Biomedical Engineering | 2019-11-01 | Wound healing is a pandemic, challenging doctors, patient quality of life, and healthcare dollars. Current research is focused on developing a multi-modal approach which seeks to heal wounds during all phases of healing, as opposed to tackling one. Using the QHREDGS (Q- peptide)-hydrogel, we seek to elucidate the mechanistic effect of the Q-Peptide on the immune system, specifically evaluating macrophage polarization and how this may affect scar formation. When cultured in the presence of the Q-Peptide, bone marrow derived macrophages differentiated into a novel polarization that is favourable in promoting wound healing. Further, in a clinically relevant model of healthy human healing, the Q-Peptide accelerated and attenuated scarring. This research suggests that the Q-Peptide hydrogel supports wound healing by enacting a response on all phases of healing, adding motivation driving the clinical translation of this biomaterial. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/102998 | Biomaterials||Hydrogel||Immune-modulating||QHREDGS||Wound Healing | health | SDG3 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Sikma, Douglas Clarence | Sandwell, Ruth | Experiences and Perceptions of Rural Students in an Urban Situated Regional Faith Based School | Curriculum, Teaching and Learning | 2020-11-01 | Research considering urban and rural student participation, achievement, and experiences in schools notes differences based on geography and cultural milieus. Regional faith-based schools are often populated by students from both rural and urban areas leading to convergence of cultural contexts. Regional schools located near urban centers are typically administered by urban located teachers and other staff, teaching a curriculum that is urban oriented, which has the potential to disadvantage rural students in a variety of ways. A faith-based regional school is meant to alleviate some rural/urban cultural differences by uniting all students and teachers through shared faith and doctrine. This study explores how an urban located regional faith-based school in Southern Ontario services rural students and gives these students voice to share how the school fosters either a more unified faith community through cultural exchange or entrenches a more fragmented collection of cultural communities by reinforcing rural/urban prejudices. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103359 | cultural milieu||education||faith based||habitus||regional||rural | rural, urban, educat | SDG4, SDG11 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Yusuf, Entisar | Lopez, Ann | Experiences of Institutional Racism: Black Graduate Students Navigating Higher Education | Leadership, Higher and Adult Education | 2020-11-01 | There is an educational problem that is ongoing and evident – namely, the paucity of Black students in higher education across Canada. Black students who are enrolled in these institutions experience challenges navigating them. The purpose of this qualitative study is to gain deeper insights into the experiences of Black students in predominantly White higher education institutions. Data were obtained through in-depth semi-structured interviews with five Black students, who attended a predominantly White institution in the Greater Toronto Area. Critical Race Theory, which validates the narratives and counter narratives of marginalized groups, framed this research. The following themes emerged as impacting Black students: a) issues of degree attainment, b) navigating campus climate and, c) impact of ongoing activism and burnout. It is hoped that this research will assist post-secondary institutions in implementing programs not only to attract and retain Black students, but offer supports to serve their needs and academic success. | M.Ed. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103485 | Activism and burnout||Black students||Campus climate||Canadian education||Institutional racism||Predominantly White Institutions | institut, climate, educat | SDG4, SDG13, SDG16 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Rajapakse, Sarin Yasas Sri | Lehn, Peter W | Experimental Implementation of DC Microgrid with Energy Management System | Electrical and Computer Engineering | 2020-11-01 | Due to the impacts of climate change, there is a need to reduce emissions from fossil fuel based electricity generation. DC microgrids are effective for integrating solar photovoltaics and battery energy storage together with local loads due to simple power conversion and control systems. This thesis focuses on a decentralized energy management strategy for a DC microgrid operating in islanded mode to ensure long-term health and protection of the battery energy storage systems. The energy management system utilizes variable-intercept droop characteristic adjustments to balance the state-of-charge of multiple storage elements, and a renewable source limiter to avoid overcharging batteries. The functionality of the energy management approach was validated through PSCAD/EMTDC simulations, and an experimental DC microgrid consisting of a PV source, two energy storage systems, and a DC load. The proposed decentralized energy management system achieved the intended objectives and proved its successful application to practical DC microgrids. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103583 | DC||Energy Management||Microgrid||Power Electronics||Renewable Energy||Solar | climate, solar, renewabl, energy, health | SDG3, SDG7, SDG13 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Togone, Iman | Mirchandani, Kiran | Exploring Counter-space Adult Literacy Practices in Kingston Galloway Orton Park | Leadership, Higher and Adult Education | 2020-11-01 | Classifying adult literacy as an essential skill for the job market in Canada perpetuates capitalistic and elite structures. Through policy changes and shifts, adult literacy programs have been structured as a pathway to employability. However, only 5 to 10 percent of adults who require literacy and upgrading ever enroll in a program, and many of those who do, drop out (Pound, 2006). This research employs Henri Lefebvre's philosophies on the counter-space theory which focuses on the rejection of dominant structures and emphasizes the importance of creating spaces of resistance. The Kingston Galloway Orton Park Adult Literacy Program (KGO ALP) located in Toronto, Canada is an example of a program which uses counter-space literacy practices. The program operates on the assumption that adult literacy learning is a process of self-development. Using a case study design, I found KGO ALP’s counter-space practices reveal learner-centered and progressive practices that allow for more creative, flexible, and innovative solutions. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103404 | Adult education||Adult literacy||Community||Counter-space||Literacy||Scarborough | innovat, educat | SDG4, SDG9 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Sekulovich, Bronwyn | Miller, John P | Exploring Ecologies of the Heart: a Pedagogy for Healing | Curriculum, Teaching and Learning | 2020-11-01 | Throughout this work I outline the crucial role education plays in developing students’ capacities to lead a good life. Without an awareness of the nature of life as interdependent, the mind as self-deceptive and spirit as all encompassing, students are shielded from their capacity to emancipate from cognitive distortions and attune to the healing potential of nature. Without the engagement of contemplative practice from which ecologies of the heart can emerge to cultivate meaning and significance in life, education remains confined to recreating relationships of disconnect and contributing to a colonialist cycle of trauma and self-destruction. The entangled relationship between declining ecological diversity and student mental health and well-being reveals a problem with education. This problem is argued to be grounded in the narrative of human-nature duality (Orr, 2013; Louv, 2011; Zylstra et al., 2014). | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103536 | ancient knowledge||educating the soul||emotions||holism||human-nature||re-indigenization | ecolog, cities, educat, well-being, health | SDG3, SDG4, SDG11, SDG15 | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||||
| Nsouli, Lea | Lopez, Ann E. | Exploring the Impact of Schooling on Identity Development of Diverse Students in Quebec | Leadership, Higher and Adult Education | 2020-11-01 | This research utilized Crenshaw’s intersectionality theory and Cummins’ (1996) coercive and collaborative relations of power framework to explore the experiences of five students who self-identify with multiple cultural identities and who have graduated from the public-school system in Quebec. The study is a qualitative research that employed narrative inquiry methodology to obtain participants’ narratives and experiences. The following areas of schooling in Quebec have significant impact on the identity development of diverse students. These revolved mainly around development of curricula and the implementations of educational policies. Firstly, religious expression and home culture; secondly, school environments; thirdly, sense of belonging and power dynamics; and fourthly, influence of parents. The findings reveal that participants who self-identified with various cultural identities appeared to have experienced conflicting situations in which school values and family values were not aligned. The school system appeared to have neglected supporting the development of students with multiple cultural identities. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103519 | Diverse Students||Equity||Identity development||Intercultural Policies||Interculturalism||Intersectionality | environment, labor, educat | SDG4, SDG8, SDG13 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Hisey, Forrest Barnett | Olive, Andrea | Exploring the Saskatchewan Grasslands: An Investigation of Crown Land and Appropriate Use | Geography | 2020-11-01 | Canadian crown lands are a collection of landscapes which allow for a diversity of actors to interact with. These areas provide platforms for connections between users based on intra-societal values surrounding preservation and extraction. Understanding how actors use crown lands uncovers society’s value of public spaces; and how society influences and is influenced by socio-ecologic connections. Accompanying this is the intimate knowledge constructed through engagements with spaces and local communities. This thesis examines a Saskatchewan case study that focuses on divested crown land from the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Agency (PFRA) and performs analysis based on interviews surrounding reactions to the divesture. The analysis of citizens and environmental NGO’s (ENGOs) suggests that historic management of PFRA lands was overwhelmingly positive and important on many scales due to their socio-economic and ecologic valuations. Further, this thesis showcases management strategies which could provide similar benefits through administration of crown lands. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103463 | Crown Lands||Natural Resource Management | ecolog, environment, natural resource, socio-economic | SDG1, SDG12, SDG13, SDG15 | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||||
| Lin, Tian | Isaac, Marney E. | Farmer Advice Network Ties as Predictors of Organizational Leadership | Geography | 2020-11-01 | Increasingly, more farmers are turning to agroforestry, or the integration of trees with agriculture, to diversify their livelihoods while contributing to environmental sustainability. Despite the prominence of farmer groups in the diffusion of agroforestry, few studies have examined predictors of organizational leadership in these groups. By applying social exchange theory and principles of leadership theory, this study used social network analysis to investigate agroforestry advice ties between members of a farmer group in the Ayeyarwady delta region of Myanmar. Advice-seeking ties were found to be influential in predicting leadership status. Actors who received more advice requests and had more frequent interactions through these requests were more likely to be organizational leaders. Also, actors with more ties to elicit and provide advice were more likely to report higher levels of socio-cultural well-being. Study findings suggest farmer groups are well-suited to serve as learning and resource platforms for the adoption of agroforestry. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103726 | Advice networks||Agroforestry||Farmer group||Leadership||Myanmar||Social network analysis | forest, environment, well-being, agricultur | SDG2, SDG3, SDG13, SDG15 | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||||
| MacDonald, Brianna Allison | Childs, Ruth | First in the Family: On-campus Employment and Academic Success | Leadership, Higher and Adult Education | 2021-03-01 | This study is concerned with the university experiences of students who are the first in their family to attend university in Canada, and how on-campus work programs, such as Work Study, may affect their sense of belonging to the university campus. The results of this study are based on 14 semi-structured interviews with undergraduate and graduate students studying at a large, urban, research intensive university in Ontario, Canada. The students valued how on-campus work accommodated the demands of their studies and the career-relevant skills and networks that on-campus work helped them develop. They believed that, as first-generation students, they particularly benefitted from the opportunities on-campus work gave them to increase their knowledge about the university and to develop a sense of belonging to the university community. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/105060 | Academic success||First-generation students||On-campus employment||Ontario||University | urban, employment | SDG8, SDG11 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Kent, Jordyn | Christopoulos, Constantin | Flexure and Shear Base-mechanism for the Enhanced Resilience of RC Coupled High-rise Buildings | Civil Engineering | 2021-03-01 | This thesis presents the development and analytical investigation of a flexure and shear yielding base-mechanism that improves the seismic performance of RC coupled wall high-rise buildings. Although current design practice achieves life safety and collapse prevention during major earthquake events, there is often extensive damage located in the plastic hinging regions including the wall bases and coupling beams. A system of buckling-restrained braces located below the core is implemented as an alternative seismic fuse. With this system, the first-mode and higher-mode responses of the structure are limited through a combination of flexural and shear yielding. Nonlinear time-history analyses have been carried out comparing the performance of a reference structure to this alternative design. Results demonstrate that the base–mechanism improves the overall performance of the structure by limiting damage and improving safety at all hazard levels. Connection details for the system and design steps are also proposed. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104893 | base-mechanism||high-rise buildings||higher-mode effects||reinforced concrete coupled walls||seismic resilience | resilien, buildings | SDG9, SDG11 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Sundar, Suryavarshini | Acosta, Edgar||Ramachandran, Arun | Formulation of Oil Spill Dispersants using Biobased Surfactants and the Study of Flow-induced Breakup of Floating Oil Drops | Chemical Engineering Applied Chemistry | 2019-11-01 | This thesis deals with two challenges related to oil spills. First, the Hydrophilic-Lipophilic Difference (HLD) framework was used to develop a lecithin formulation containing food-grade lipophilic and hydrophilic linkers in combination with a non-volatile, mineral oil solvent with food additive status. The HLD parameters of the components were used to determine the lecithin-linker formulations and the interfacial tensions were of the order of 10-2 mN/m and emulsification effectiveness in the range of 75- 85%. The second part of this thesis addresses the breakup oil drops floating on water/aqueous medium under simple shear flow, using a counter-rotating circular Couette device. It was observed that floating drops produce fine droplets via tip-streaming in viscosity matched systems too. At a solvent to bitumen (S/B) ratio of 2, diluted bitumen drops formed a rigid network upon spreading on the interface, but at lower S/B ratios (0.5), they formed drops that rotated like rigid structures. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103112 | Couette flow||dispersant formulation||drop breakup||floating oil||HLD (Hydrophilic-Lipophilic Difference)||oil spill | water, food | SDG2, SDG6, SDG14 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Vela Alarcón, Andrea Melanie | Mojab, Shahrzad | Gender, Migration, and Newcomer Artists | Leadership, Higher and Adult Education | 2020-11-01 | The art world is grounded in the gendered and undervalued work of social reproduction. Thus, the high female presence in the newcomer arts scene is not circumstantial but a common trait of an increasingly gendered art world. Drawing from dialectical historical materialist anti-racist Marxist-feminism and existing literature, I explore the conditions in which newcomer female artists come to engage with the Toronto art world, and how do their experiences are imbricated with the power relations that constitute a gendered society. Through interviews to eight artists, I present not only a description of these women’s experiences, but their intersection with gender and racial hierarchies and capitalist social relations embedded in the art world in which they wish to be included. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103293 | art and social reproduction||Gender and Migration||Marxist feminism||Newcomer artist | production, women, gender | SDG5, SDG12 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Roy, Adrien | Posen, Ira D||McCabe, Brenda Y | Generalizable Approaches for Tracking, Estimating, Optimizing, and Quantifying Uncertainty of Fuel Use in Earthworks Operations | Civil Engineering | 2020-11 | Fuel use in earthworks processes are responsible for a considerable portion of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and are directly tied to operation costs. Environmental and financial interests are therefore tied to the mitigation of fuel use. There is limited research devoted to understanding how to estimate, and ultimately minimize fuel use in earthwork processes, prompting a detailed analysis into how factors related to equipment, operations, and worksite influence the consumption of fuel. These factors were investigated in a comprehensive review of literature related to earthwork emissions and fuel use. In seeking to address these inconsistencies found in reviewed fuel use tracking efforts, a set of recommendations for tracking influencing factors during earthworks fuel use studies was developed and outlined in detail. Additionally, a modelling approach was developed to accurately estimate fuel use, GHG emissions, activity duration, and cost in a variety of earthwork contexts. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103248 | Construction||Discrete Event Simulation||Earthworks||Fuel use tracking||Greenhouse Gas Emissions | environment, greenhouse gas, consum | SDG12, SDG13 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Zaraza, Julian | Posen, Daniel||McCabe, Brenda | Generative Design to Reduce Embodied GHG Emissions of High-rise Buildings | Civil Engineering | 2020-11-01 | Although countries have reduced their total greenhouse gas emissions by improving energy and transportation policies, the contribution of the building sector has been widely overlooked. Embodied emissions (EE) are particularly important since they are released upfront rather than over the lifespan of buildings, making them critical for accomplishing the 2030 Canadian emission reduction targets. Accordingly, this study developed a tool to reduce EE at the conceptual stage of high-rise residential buildings. The tool also incorporates goals and constraints that are inherent to conceptual building design, such as maximizing site use, views, and complying with building codes. In a case study, it was able to achieve a 7% reduction in EE when compared to a sub-optimal solution. This research elucidated the potential of using generative design in early-stage design, proposed novel systems for the generation and evaluation of design alternatives, and delivered GenGHG, a ready-to-use, open-source tool for conceptual building design. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103751 | design||embodied||emissions||generative||GHG||LCA | greenhouse gas, buildings, energy | SDG7, SDG9, SDG13 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| James-Wilson, Symon Ameliah | Cowen, Deborah | Geographies and Infrastructures of School Segregation: A Historical Case Study of Rochester, NY | Geography | 2020-11-01 | School segregation in the United States is at a crisis point. The educational landscape in Rochester, NY has become increasingly segregated along the lines of race, class, and geography in recent decades. This thesis investigates the geographies and infrastructures that laid the foundation for Rochester’s school segregation crisis. In particular, it asks how settler colonialism and racial capitalism have sculpted urban and suburban communities’ socio- spatial histories. This research aims to support academics, policymakers, and activists who are committed to developing more historically informed school desegregation policies, and to actualizing “equal educational opportunities for all.” | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103286 | Education Policy||Geographies of Education||Infrastructure Studies||Racial Capitalism||School Segregation||Settler Colonialism | urban, infrastructure, educat | SDG4, SDG9, SDG11 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Hubbard, Justin | Mandrak, Nicholas E||Drake, Andrew R | Global Climate Change Alters the Survival Potential of Freshwater Invasive Species | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | 2020-11-01 | Global climate change is predicted to alter environments and allow some freshwater species to survive in new areas. Estimates of potentially invasive species’ survival probabilities provide valuable information for resource managers to develop effective invasion mitigation strategies. The probability of species’ survival is commonly estimated by quantifying the similarity in climates between species’ existing ranges (source region) and an area of introduction (recipient region). I quantified the climate similarity between all pairs of source-recipient global watersheds and freshwater ecoregions under historical and future climate scenarios. Results indicated climate change will alter climate similarities between source-recipient pairs with varying intensity depending on the pairing and, consequently, influence survival probabilities at a global scale. Moreover, estimates of climate similarity tended to be higher for larger spatial scales. Risk assessments of non-native species estimating survival probabilities would benefit from incorporating climate change and applying a multi-scale approach to better inform management decisions. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103517 | Aquatic invasive species||Climate change||Climate similarity||Risk assessment | environment, climate, water | SDG6, SDG13, SDG14 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Bedward, AJ | hampton, rosalind||Sztainbok, Vannina | I Hate it Here: A Critical-creative inquiry into Notions of Freedom, Safety, and Privilege | Social Justice Education | 2020-11 | My research examines how Black critical thinkers theorize notions of freedom, safety and privilege. The research asks, how do Black radical understandings of these concepts overlap with, contradict, and challenge the ways in which freedom, safety and privilege are operationalized in liberal discourses? What are the implications and potentialities of Black radical notions of freedom, safety, and privilege for Black life in good relation with Indigenous Peoples? Building on Lisa William-White’s (2011) work of expanding the potentials of qualitative research methodology through evocative performance narratives that are created from journal entries, document analysis, music, poetics, spoken word performance, and sociological introspection; I situate Black critical-creative praxis as one that challenges whiteness, liberal multiculturalism, settler colonialism, patriarchy, transatlantic slavery, racial capitalism and high-education investment in perpetuating imperialism. I comment on “academic freedom”, “safe space”, and the “privilege” of entering the academy through an engagement with poetics, as I grapple with belonging, unbelonging, love, music, and aesthetics. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103690 | Black global Diaspora||Black Studies||Freedom||Liberalism||Privilege||Safety | educat | SDG4 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Arain, Ateeqa S | Campbell, Carol | Impact of Teacher Leadership on Teacher Self-efficacy | Leadership, Higher and Adult Education | 2020-11-01 | Being a teacher leader involves teachers understanding and believing in their ability to influence and lead change, which requires teachers to be self-efficacious. Teacher self-efficacy is an important catalyst for the development of students and schools. This paper explored the connection between teacher leadership and teacher self-efficacy, to highlight the importance of developing teacher leadership to improve the education system. I used previously conducted research and one-on-one interviews with teachers to gather data. An analysis of the interviews indicated that teacher leadership supports teachers beyond the classroom, nurtures collaboration and according to the participants it has the capacity to build teacher self-efficacy. It can also be concluded that both concepts bolster each other and collectively impact teacher practice and thus student achievement. Although there are limitations to this study, it forms the basis for understanding teacher leadership and how it supports teachers’ beliefs of their own practice. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103672 | challenges||collaboration||qualitative research||teacher leadership||teacher leadership impact||teacher self-efficacy | labor, educat | SDG4, SDG8 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| El Chawra, T Nevine | Buckner, Elizabeth | Implementing Digital Student Data Portability: Experiences and Lessons Learned | Adult Education and Counselling Psychology | 2020-11-01 | A number of institutions and government organizations have embraced Digital Student Data Portability (DSDP) to meaningfully support student mobility. This research examines the lived experience of organizations that implemented innovative DSDP projects. Participating institutions shared their experiences and lessons learned. A key commonality is that each of the participating institutions complemented their existing infrastructures with new platforms that helped translate student’s achievements through a portable, interoperable, comparable, authentic, transparent, relevant, encrypted, shareable, and instantly verifiable record. Perceived benefits that surfaced throughout the interviews are access, shareability, employability, fraud prevention, privacy, portability, and micro-learning. Factors that impacted the uptake of DSDP projects are values, priorities, and the leadership capacity of the organization. Finally, the findings of this study take on new significance in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis that erupted in March 2020. Now is a critical time to understand DSDP, its benefits, implications, and challenges. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103366 | Digital Student Record||Shareable Student Record||Student Data Portability||Student Mobility||Verifiable Student Record | institut, innovat, infrastructure | SDG9, SDG16 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Bateman, Alanna | Trbovich, Patricia | Improving Interprofessional Bedside Rounds in a Paediatric Critical Care Unit | Biomedical Engineering | 2020-11-01 | In critical care, communication is essential to patient safety. Patient care rounds are integral to communication and collaboration among interprofessional healthcare providers (HCPs). However, little research has explicitly aligned rounding interventions to HCP needs, which neglects the principle of tailoring interventions to local needs. This study aimed to elucidate HCPs rounding needs, to transform them into interventions within a paediatric critical care unit. First, needs were elucidated from interviews and surveys. Second, interventions were co-designed with HCPs using participatory design. Results uncovered collective and profession-specific needs and associated interventions were identified. To minimize undesirable variability from insufficient clarity on content that should be discussed, HCPs reached consensus regarding the main reasons for rounds. Aligned with these reasons, a rounding structured was created to collaboratively synthesize patient’s problem and develop corresponding care plans. Findings outline how a user-centred design approach can be adapted by institutions to tailor interventions to local needs. | M.H.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103671 | human factors||intensive care||interprofessional collaboration||interprofessional rounds||user-centered design | institut, labor, health | SDG3, SDG8, SDG16 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Boland, Jared | Bale, Jeff | In-service Skill Development on Queer and Trans Identities and Literacy Practices for Ontario French as a Second Language Professionals | Curriculum, Teaching and Learning | 2021-03-01 | French teachers are under significant and unique pressures to address gaps in curriculum and practice with regard to Two Spirit, queer, and trans students.Though a helpful tool, Miller’s (2015) queer literacy framework (QLF) has not been considered in published research in French as a second language (FSL) classrooms. In this study, I draw on sociocultural theory to offer professional development to FSL professionals regarding the QLF. The findings confirm a fear of consequences for integrating queerness into teaching. Additionally, the instruction of grammar is understood to be a vehicle for (safely) bringing queerness to the FSL classroom. It also shows how mediation was and was not possible in a digital environment. Finally, it suggests the importance of examining teacher beliefs and practices in professional development. Further work is required to confirm theorizing on the relationship between grammar and social justice and what more is required to integrate the QLF into FSL practice. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104946 | French as a Second Language||Professional Development||Queer||Teacher Development | justice, environment, queer | SDG5, SDG13, SDG16 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Amerian, Tasnim | Farnood, Ramin||Tabe, Shahram | Integrity assessment of ultrafiltration and nanofiltration membranes in tertiary treatment applications using fluorescent nanoparticles: bench-scale and pilot study | Chemical Engineering Applied Chemistry | 2018-11-01 | Development of a robust protocol for in-situ integrity assessment of membrane separation modules is of great practical interest for the effective operation of membrane technology in water and wastewater treatment. In this study, fluorescent polystyrene nanoparticles were used as non-biological virus-surrogates for indirect integrity assessment of nanofiltration and ultrafiltration membranes. A bench scale and a pilot scale membrane separation study were conducted using a tangential flow filtration (TFF) membrane module and four commercial flat sheet nanofiltration and ultrafiltration polymeric membranes. Fluorescent nanoparticles passing through breached membranes were successfully detected in laboratory and pilot tests using a fluorescence sensor. This result suggests that continuous injection of nanoparticles could be a reliable and efficient method for membrane breach detection. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/102783 | waste, labor, water | SDG6, SDG8, SDG12, SDG14 | X | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Besik, Ariana | Ensminger, Ingo | Intraspecific Variation in Chlorophyll Fluorescence and Pigment Composition in White Spruce (Picea glauca): New Physiological Traits for Identifying Trees Better Adapted to New Climates | Cell and Systems Biology | 2019-11-01 | Analysis of intraspecific variation in photosynthetic productivity and phenology can help us to better understand local adaptation and inform breeding decisions for optimally performing genotypes in extreme and changing environments. We used chlorophyll fluorescence, pigment composition, ground and drone-based spectral reflectance measurements to quantify the variation in photosynthesis of ten 5-year-old white spruce genotypes across a latitudinal gradient in summer, and within one site over a year to determine differences between the ten genotypes in seasonal changes of photosynthesis. The results reveal no genotype-environment interactions or differences between genotypes for pigment composition or fluorescence parameters likely due to a lack of stressful events. However one genotype performed consistently across environments, potentially having stable higher photoprotective capacity than other genotypes. The strong relationship found between vegetation indices measured from the drone and ground based physiological data will enable the high-throughput monitoring of the phenology of photosynthesis in conifer forests. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/102886 | chlorophyll fluorescence||climate change||intraspecific variation||phenotyping||photosynthesis||white spruce | forest, environment, climate | SDG13, SDG15 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Noordermeer, Devin | Ensminger, Ingo | Intraspecific Variation in Regulation of Water Status and Cold Acclimation in Interior and Coastal Douglas-fir in Response to Simulated Warmer and Drier Climate | Cell and Systems Biology | 2021-03-01 | Climate change in northern forests is causing increased water stress during summer droughts and potentially increased frost vulnerability following warmer autumns. Physiological responses to changing climate may vary among populations of tree species with broad ranges, such as Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). We aimed to characterize intraspecific variation in the responses of interior and coastal Douglas-fir to summer drought and autumn warming. We assessed photosynthesis, water use efficiency, xylem function, and freezing tolerance in seedlings under controlled conditions. Interior populations exhibited hydraulically safer but less efficient xylem whereas coastal populations exhibited more hydraulically efficient but less safe xylem. Differences in photosynthesis were minimal but suggested lower drought tolerance in the most coastal population. Autumn warming delayed downregulation of photosynthesis, however this did not impair development of freezing tolerance. This research will help determine which tree populations are best adapted to future warmer and dryer climates and thus improve forest regeneration efforts. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104970 | autumn cold acclimation||climate change||Douglas-fir||drought||intraspecific variation||xylem | forest, climate, water | SDG6, SDG13, SDG14, SDG15 | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||||
| Hutchison, Brian Robert Matias | Wallace, James S | Investigating the Influence of Fuel Volatility on Particle Emissions Phenomena in a Production Gasoline Direct Injection Engine | Mechanical and Industrial Engineering | 2021-03-01 | Due to both potential climate and health concerns, research interest in the formation of particulate matter in GDI engines remains strong. However, the processes driving the emissions are still not fully understood. This experimental study investigated the influence of fuel volatility on the particulate matter emissions, using both commercial and specifically targeted and controlled surrogate fuel blends to isolate the influence of fuel volatility from traditionally considered causative effects of fuel chemistry and properties. In non-ethanol containing fuels, high measured volatility fuels resulted in increased PM emissions in comparison to low volatility fuels, while also generating increased nitric oxide emissions. The effect of 10\% ethanol match blended in these fuels varied with volatility level, with E10 fuels always presenting high PM emissions, unlike their ethanol-free counterparts. A fuel injector deposit driven change in PM emissions was noted in the dataset, which appeared to show dependence on fuel volatility as well. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104880 | Deposits||Flash-Boiling||Gasoline||Injection||Volatility | climate, production, health | SDG3, SDG12, SDG13 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Mazullo Mascarenhas Pereira, Lais | Edwards, Elizabeth A | Investigation of Bioprocesses to Enhance Metal Extraction from Ores and Wastes in Mining Operations | Chemical Engineering Applied Chemistry | 2019-11-01 | Mine sites are a large source of genetic information that can be studied to explore ways of processing minerals using bacteria. This study investigates the bioleaching potential to extract nickel from ores and wastes at circumneutral pH and denitrifying conditions, and the cyanide biodegradation phenomenon at a gold heap leaching operation by examining naturally growing bacteria at two mine sites. Neutral pH bioleaching of nickel was achieved using nitrate as electron acceptor and oxidant. A mass balance revealed that about 20-30% of the original concentrate was leached over a period of more than 500 days. Faster rates could possibly be achieved by increasing biomass concentration. Thiobacillus was the dominant microbe identified in these microcosms. In gold heap leaching with cyanide, the microbial community was found to be almost entirely composed of a Hydrogenophaga with 16S sequence most similar to other alkaliphilic strains. This strain is presumably growing on the cyanide. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/102994 | waste | SDG12 | X | ||||||||||||||||
| Majeed, Hamnah | Sherwood Lollar, Barbara | Investigation of Soil Gas Geochemistry at Thorn North Forest Ring | Chemistry | 2020-11-01 | Forest rings are big circular features of low tree density. Studies conducted on Northern Ontario forest rings found CO2 enrichments compared to atmospheric levels in the soil gas at the ring edge. Previous researchers attributed such enrichments to microbial respiration. In this study, shallow and deep samples were obtained from colleagues at the Ontario Geological Survey and were analyzed for their gas composition and stable carbon isotope analysis of CO2 at Stable Isotope Laboratory. The average O2, N2, and CO2 concentrations were 20.79%, 79.00%, and 0.12% respectively. Values of δ13C(CO2) ranged from -11.5‰ to -22.2‰ with the most depleted δ13C(CO2) values associated with the highest CO2 concentrations, and was observed most clearly in the shallow samples, suggesting a larger contribution of microbially-derived CO2. The explanation for this is not yet completely understood, but likely related to greater microbial presence, root respiration, and organic matter decomposition at shallow depths. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103477 | Forest Ring||Geochemistry||Soil gas | forest, labor | SDG8, SDG15 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Roberts-Stahlbrand, Anika | Sumner, Jennifer | Is the Meal Hall Part of the Campus Learning System? Investigating Informal Learning in a University Residence Meal Hall | Leadership, Higher and Adult Education | 2020-11-01 | Food offers uniquely generative learning opportunities because it is both something to learn about (nutrition, ethical sourcing) and learn through (conversations over shared meals). This thesis bridges the fields of Food Studies, Higher Education and Student Affairs, and Adult Education by asking: What informal learning takes place in the university meal hall? I performed a qualitative case study on a meal hall with more than 1000 students from over 65 countries. My findings cluster around six themes: identity development, food literacy and embodied learning, community and social learning, learning and agency, habit and learning, and food systems learning. My findings point to the powerful promise of intentionally-curated learning in the meal hall to disrupt the invisibility of the modernist food system, and to maximize the pedagogical potential of food to contribute to the campus learning system. This research justifies further study of university meal halls as distinct learning communities. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103281 | Food equity||Food pedagogy||Informal learning||Student Housing and Residence Life||Student learning and development||Sustainable food systems | educat, nutrition, food | SDG2, SDG4 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Kirk, Jessica Paulina | hampton, rosalind | Mapping Livable Geographies: Black Radical Praxis within and beyond Toronto | Social Justice Education | 2020-11-01 | The mid-to-late-2010s involved radical responses to gentrification, surveillance and police violence toward Black diasporic communities in Toronto. My thesis research examines these realities and conditions of Black life in the city, engaging with the following areas of inquiry: The geographies in which Black community organizing and Black art practice take place in Toronto; How Black community organizers, artists and cultural workers relate to and support one another’s work, and how their work responds to historically and contemporarily absented issues concerning Black people in Toronto. Contextualized through theoretic engagement with Black geographies, Black Canadian studies and Black radical thought, this project offers critical insight through a focus group of local Black artists, organizers and community members in Toronto who refuse notions of belonging within a state founded on Black enslavement and Indigenous dispossession. Instead, they theorize tensions and possibilities for Black radical creative practice to generate livable geographies rooted in care. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103330 | activism||Black geography||Black radical traditions||creative practice||Toronto | worker | SDG8 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Pirmohamed, Jenna | Ivers, Noah M.||Vigod, Simone N. | Mental Health Care for Common Perinatal Mental Disorders: What Do Fathers Need? | Health Policy, Management and Evaluation | 2020-11-01 | Purpose: The purpose of this study was to understand fathers’ decision making processes around help-seeking for symptoms of common perinatal mental disorders. Methods: Using a cross-sectional survey, we recruited a large sample of fathers to identify their decision making needs and preferences for mental health services, in accordance with the Ottawa Decision Support Framework. Results: Our results revealed that fathers’ knowledge about mental disorders was relatively high. Knowing how a mental disorder impacts child development was an important reason to seek treatment. Only 50% of fathers reported being comfortable disclosing symptoms to a healthcare provider, and the preferred disclosure settings were an online survey or primary care provider. Fathers with a history of a perinatal mental disorder had greater acceptability towards pharmacotherapy, compared to fathers with no history. Conclusions: Our findings support the need for the design of targeted decision support to optimize fathers’ engagement in mental health services. Conclusions: Our findings support the need for the design of targeted decision making support that overcomes obstacles to help-seeking among fathers and optimizes their engagement in mental health services in the perinatal period. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103304 | Cross-Sectional Survey||Decision Making||Help Seeking||Men's Mental Health||Perinatal Period||Treatment Preferences | health | SDG3 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Gallage, Kavishka Subashana | Lovejoy, Nathan R||Mandrak, Nicholas E | Metabarcoding Approach to Identifying Early Life Stages of Great Lakes Fishes | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | 2020-11-01 | Accurately identifying fishes in their early life stages using morphology is challenging, time-consuming, and requires taxonomic expertise. Metabarcoding is a method that can be used to identify species in batch samples (Cruaud et al. 2017). Detection of early life stages of fishes is important for understanding life history patterns and critical spawning habitat. In this study, metabarcoding is used as an identification tool to identify 1119 egg and larva batch samples from Sydenham River and Rondeau Bay. I identified 34 species from Sydenham River and 8 species from Rondeau Bay and the spawning months of these species based on date of capture. I determined the materials and supplies cost of metabarcoding in this study to be $6597.33, compared to $62289.09 for individual-based barcoding. This study shows the potential of metabarcoding as a broad-scale detection and identification method for early life stages of Great Lake fishes. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103417 | Barcoding||Great Lakes||Icthyoplankton||Metabarcoding||Rondeau Bay||Sydenham River | fish, consum | SDG12, SDG14 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Xie, Yuanyuan | Evans, Greg J.||Brook, Jeffrey R. | Metals in Particulate Matter and Deciduous Teeth | Chemical Engineering Applied Chemistry | 2021-03-01 | Numerous studies have linked airborne metal exposure to adverse health outcomes. Inter-related characteristics of metals were investigated to gain a better understanding of metal exposure in Toronto including the metal composition of size-resolved road dust particles, potentially bioavailable fractions of metals (water-soluble metals) in PM2.5, spatial variability of PM2.5-bound metal concentrations, and the use of deciduous teeth as a novel biospecimen to reconstruct metal exposure timing. High crustal element content and low intrinsic toxicity were found for road dust particles. Local emissions and possible atmospheric processing were found to affect levels of water-soluble Fe, Cu and Mn in PM2.5. Land-Use Regression modelling of Fe, Cu, Ba, Mn, Zn and Pb in PM2.5 revealed different spatial patterns across Toronto. Microstructure identification and micro-spatial trace metal concentration measurement of primary teeth were performed to support Toronto children metal exposure studies. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/105017 | Deciduous teeth||Metal exposure||Metals||PM2.5 | water, health | SDG3, SDG6, SDG14 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Kung, Jo-Wen Jasmine | DeMartini, Nikolai N.A.D. | Modeling the Dynamics of Evaporator Wash Cycles | Chemical Engineering Applied Chemistry | 2021-03-01 | In the pulp and paper industry, black liquor evaporation is an essential step that leads to energy and chemical recovery. Fluctuations in liquor chemistry can result in evaporator scaling events, which negatively impacts thermal efficiency and mill production. Efficient evaporator washes result in scale dissolution and recovery of the heat transfer rate. Tool development is needed to improve the current evaporator washing strategies, which are primarily based on trial and error. The focus of this work was on the modeling approach and the evaluation of the impact of evaporator wash cycles on the fluctuations in sodium and oxalate in the feed liquor. The simulation was based on the evaporation plant of a South American pulp mill, and the dynamic model was developed in Matlab Simulink. The developed model demonstrated the potential to estimate the concentration of key ions that cause scaling, and to lead to improvements in evaporator washing strategies. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104878 | Black liquor||Dynamic simulation||Evaporator||Scaling||Soluble scale||Wash cycle | production, industr, energy | SDG7, SDG9, SDG12 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Yu, Shi Miao | Bilton, Amy | Modelling and Control of a Pico-scale Hydro Turbine for Pressure Regulation | Mechanical and Industrial Engineering | 2020-11-01 | Hydraulic pumping systems account for 8.6\% to 9.2\% of total global energy usage. Significant research has gone into improving pumping system efficiency. Pressure control devices, such as throttling valves, are a large source of inefficiency to any large hydraulic system. To offer an alternative to throttling valves, an inline pico-scale ( | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103343 | Control||Gaussian Process Regression||Hydro turbine||Modelling||Optimal Tracking||Process Identification | energy | SDG7 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Desai, Aditi | Gupta, Sumit | Morbidity, Mortality, and Healthcare Use Among Siblings of Children with Cancer | Medical Science | 2020-11-01 | We investigated the impact of childhood cancer on siblings by characterizing their long-term physical health outcomes. Population-based cohorts of exposed and unexposed siblings were created and linked to health services data. Outcomes compared between the two groups included: 1) physical health conditions (e.g., hypertension, diabetes); 2) acute healthcare use (hospitalizations and emergency department [ED] visits), and; 3) preventive healthcare use (e.g., periodic health checkups and influenza vaccinations). Compared to 30,364 unexposed siblings, 7,591 exposed siblings were at increased risk of hypertension [HR 1.8; 95CI 1.1-2.9; p=0.016]. They also had higher rates of ED visits [RR 1.1; 95CI 1.1-1.2; p | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103438 | Caregiver health||Health services research||Morbidity||Mortality||Pediatric cancer||Siblings | health | SDG3 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Li, Peixuan | Park, Chul B.||Lee, Patrick C. | Morphology and Mechanical Properties of In-situ Fibrillated Polyethylene Based Composites | Mechanical and Industrial Engineering | 2020-11-01 | Spunbond fibrillation, an industrial scaled technology, is utilized in a wide range of applications such as medical products, textiles, and others. Here, an in-situ fibrillated method was proposed to fabricate the fiber-in-fiber polymer composite using spunbond technology. In the study, we investigated four researches: Chapter 2 explored the influence of morphology of PBT domains on the crystallization, rheological, and mechanical properties of PBT/HDPE composites; Chapter 3 investigated the effectiveness of the coupling agent on the surface compatibility between PBT and PE interfaces and its mechanical behaviour; Chapter 4 discussed the impacts of the UV curing time and the second phase content on the morphology, and mechanical behaviours of the EPDM/PE composites; and Chapter 5 studied the morphology of the E-beam cured EPDM/PE (and mPE/PE) composites. The in-situ fibrillar strengthened/ toughened composites are promising for applications such as automotive, astronomy, medical services, and consumer goods, and so on. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103141 | in-situ fibrillation||photocrosslinking||polyethylene||polymer composites||polymer processing||spunbond | consum, industr | SDG9, SDG12 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Croxall, Mark Peter John | Goh, Cynthia | New Methods for Tracking the Photocatalytic Efficiency of BiOX and TiO2 Nanocomposite Materials using NMR | Chemistry | 2019-06-01 | Photocatalysis has been proposed as a green method of solving environmental and human health related issues such as wastewater treatment, anti-microbial treatment, and development of self-cleaning surfaces. Despite thousands of papers on photocatalytic materials and theory, photocatalytic materials have not been able to redefine our industrial landscape as once thought. I will describe the synthesis and characterization of new highly efficient photocatalytic materials, nanoplate- BiOCl and TiO2-NGQD nanocomposites. Further traditional methods, such as UV-Vis, TOC, and LC-MS, for evaluating efficiency and their shortcomings will be discussed. Finally, novel work in using NMR to track photocatalytic reactions and its potential to glean new insight into the mechanism is shown. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/102489 | Photocatalysis||Photocatalytic Intermediate Identification||Photocatalytic Mechanism | environment, waste, industr, water, health | SDG3, SDG6, SDG9, SDG12, SDG13, SDG14 | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| Dimayuga, Pia Isabel | Saxe, Shoshanna | Northern Ontario Air Transportation and Remote Community Resilience and Wellbeing | Civil Engineering | 2020-11-01 | This thesis explores the role air transportation plays in northern Ontario remote community wellbeing and resilience using mixed methods based on a modified resilience framework. Six years of cargo data and flight operations data from one airline in the region are analyzed to first, map how remote communities and their infrastructure systems are dependent on air transportation, and second, to analyze air transportation performance. Air transportation is the only mode of year-round travel in 31 northern Ontario communities and therefore plays an essential role in connecting communities to essential goods and services (e.g. food, healthcare). In terms of infrastructure interdependencies, the main cargo delivered by air is diesel fuel for energy, with a secondary good being construction materials. Performance-wise, air transportation faces both infrastructure challenges (e.g. lack of weather reporting, inadequate de-icing services) and operating challenges (e.g. poor weather) that are exacerbated by climate change effects. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103693 | Air Transportation||Northern Ontario||Remote Communities||Resilience | weather, climate, resilien, infrastructure, energy, wellbeing, health, food | SDG2, SDG3, SDG7, SDG9, SDG11, SDG13 | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||
| Mirek, Patrick Michael | Mostaghimi, Javad | Novel Industrial Scale Radio Frequency Inductively Coupled Plasma Torch | Mechanical and Industrial Engineering | 2019-11-01 | A novel industrial scale radio frequency inductively coupled plasma (RF-ICP) torch design is proposed which uses a conical geometry. The objective of this thesis is to investigate whether this geometry can provide reduced gas power consumption and a higher quantity of spheroidized (i.e., melted) particles. The investigation is conducted using computational fluid dynamic simulations in ANSYS Fluent by simulating the injection of powder particles into the plasma discharge produced by the RF-ICP torch. Simulations are performed to optimize the conical torch and compare its performance to a conventional RF-ICP torch. It is found that the new conical torch achieves spheroidization ratios up to 2 times higher than the conventional torch, due to higher temperatures and an induction zone closer to particles. Additionally, it runs at 42% lower gas consumption and can achieve industrially acceptable spheroidization ratios at half the power level of the conventional torch. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103000 | computational fluid dynamics||heat transfer||industrial||nanoparticle synthesis||powder spheroidization||radio frequency inductively coupled plasma | consum, industr | SDG9, SDG12 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Kim, Junseob | Bazylak, Aimy | Novel Porous Transport Layers with Through Pores for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Electrolyzers | Mechanical and Industrial Engineering | 2021-03-01 | Development of cost-effective porous transport layers (PTLs) for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzers is crucial for the implementation of clean energy systems. In this thesis, novel PTLs with through pores have been investigated. Limited mass transport in the in-plane direction was observed in through pore PTLs, using in operando synchrotron X-ray radiograph. Furthermore, the limited in-plane mass transport led to dehydration of the catalyst layer (CL). Therefore, the placement of through pores play a critical role in the performance of PEM electrolyzers. Next, through pore PTLs consisting of woven meshes were studied. The contact resistance between the woven mesh PTL and the CL dominated performance losses, and smaller pore sizes improved the contact resistance. Stacking meshes with different pore sizes resulted in inhomogeneous compression of the CL, significantly degrading the PEM electrolyzer performance. The results from this thesis contribute to the development of cost-effective PTLs for next generation PEM electrolyzers. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104998 | Mass transport losses||PEM electrolyzer||Porous transport layer||Synchrtron X-ray radiography | energy | SDG7 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Potvin-Bernal, Julian | Shu, Lily H | Nudging Eco-driving Behaviour using Motive Substitution | Mechanical and Industrial Engineering | 2020-11-01 | The behaviour change technique of motive substitution may be a more effective method of motivating drivers to adopt an energy efficient driving style than existing strategies. Previous research has tested dashboard displays that inform, score, and advise drivers, but do little to overcome attitudinal barriers, intention-action gaps, and apathy. An animated sloshing coffee-cup display applies motive substitution by providing an alternate gameful experience that is intuitive, engaging, and congruous with the goal of low-acceleration driving. This intervention incorporates principles from cognitive and social psychology, human factors engineering, and behavioural economics to influence driver behaviour while managing distraction risks. The intuitive elements of the display were tested in an online survey with drivers reporting a significant preference for the coffee-cup display over an acceleration dial gauge. A driving simulator study was developed to test the behavioural impacts of a functional prototype using measures of acceleration, fuel consumption, and eye glance durations. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103762 | Design for Behaviour Change||Eco-Driving||Gameful Design||Motive Substitution||Nudge||Pro-Environmental Behaviour | environment, consum, energy | SDG7, SDG12, SDG13 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Donia, Joseph | Shaw, Jay A.||Jadad, Alex R. | Patient and Public Co-design of Smart Technologies for Health Care: A Meta-narrative Review | Health Policy, Management and Evaluation | 2020-11-01 | This thesis reports on how patient and public co-design of smart technologies for health care has been conceptualized in the academic literature. Drawing on perspectives from critical data studies, it analyzed findings to generate insights into the circumstances under which co-design might create a positive future with these technologies as they become more deeply embedded in health care. Three meta-narratives animating the literature on co-design of smart technologies for health care were identified: co-design as usable design, co-design as responsible design, and co-design as design by society. The study concludes with the presentation of a series of ‘myths and misconceptions’ related to co-design of smart technologies for health care. It suggests that these myths serve particular interests over time, and that alternative formulations might serve as a starting point for illuminating strategies that enable co-design to engage with the broader range of normative issues raised by digital capitalism. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103786 | Co-design||Data||Health Care||Internet-of-Things||Participatory Design||Smart Technology | health | SDG3 | X | |||||||||||||||
| neufeld, megan christine caldwell | Bialystok, Lauren | Pedagogy Otherwise: Queer Temporality and Social Justice Education | Social Justice Education | 2020-11-01 | Social change is an engagement with time: it alters, reframes, and reckons with temporal experiences and expectations. Social change engages time to improve the justice of our conditions. As such, social justice education should be conscious of the ways that its pedagogies engage time. This thesis looks to critical pedagogies and community education to draw out how time is already considered in social justice education, and to suggest how else time might be taken up in pedagogy. To do this, the thesis looks at how education can broaden possibilities by rejecting the dominant order as the only reality. The thesis looks at the various ways that queer theorists understand thinking about the future, and what these conceptions of time mean for social justice pedagogies. The findings of this thesis are collected under the concept of Pedagogy Otherwise, which offer an initial sketch of how temporal conceptions can support social change through education. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103272 | community education||critical pedagogy||future||queer theory||queery temporality||social justice education | justice, queer, educat | SDG4, SDG5, SDG16 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Cevallos Nunez, Melanie Domenica | Hofmann, Ronald | Peracetic Acid Disinfection Synergy With Alum and Direct Reaction With Chlorine | Civil Engineering | 2021-03-01 | Peracetic acid (PAA) is an effective disinfectant during wastewater treatment. Anecdotal reports suggest that its disinfection efficiency increases when combined with residual alum from upstream coagulation. This research focused on determining if PAA and aluminum could initiate an advanced oxidation process. Two probes were used during this study to test the presence of hydroxyl radicals (OH•), and neither showed OH• formation. E. coli inactivation was also assessed, with no significant increase in log reduction observed when alum was present during PAA disinfection. This research also focused on the effect of PAA on chlorine disinfection when used as a pretreatment for DBP and mussel control during drinking water treatment. A kinetic model was developed to simulate the impact of PAA on chlorine consumption as a function of pH. It was determined that chlorine decay was attributed mainly to the reaction with the slow formation of H2O2 associated with PAA decomposition. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104887 | alum||chlorine||peracetic acid||radicals||synergy | waste, consum, water | SDG6, SDG12, SDG14 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Fernandes, Timothy John | McMeans, Bailey C. | Physiological Consequences of Seasonality in Temperate Fishes: The Effect of Thermal Preferences on Energy Storage Strategies | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | 2019-06-01 | Aquatic ectotherms are faced with seasonal fluctuations in metabolic rates and prey density that can drive distinct patterns in energy storage. Lipids are crucial for overwinter survival and successful reproduction in many aquatic organisms. My thesis investigated the effect of seasonality on lipid dynamics in fish with different thermal preferences. I conducted a comprehensive literature review of seasonal lipid levels in freshwater fishes. Then, I compared lipid and protein dynamics in a warm and cold water fish species sampled from Lake of Two Rivers in Algonquin Park. Seasonal lipid variation appeared widespread across thermal guilds, suggesting that energy acquired during warm months is universally important for overwinter survival and reproduction. Across-species, larger bodied fish had dampened seasonal lipid variation. Algonquin lake trout (cold water) exhibited more variable seasonal energy levels than smallmouth bass (warm water). These findings provide a new perspective on general physiological responses to seasonality in freshwater fish. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/101801 | Fish||Lipid||Seasonality||Winter | fish, production, energy, water | SDG6, SDG7, SDG12, SDG14 | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||||
| Shi, Yuelun | Chan, Arthur AC | Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Settled House Dust | Chemical Engineering Applied Chemistry | 2021-03-01 | Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are organic compounds which generated from high-temperature incomplete combustion processes. A major route of exposure to PAHs occurs in the indoor residential environment. PAHs can sorb into dust particles, and resuspension of these particles mobilizes potentially toxic compounds. The sources of indoor PAHs are still poorly understood. In this study, we examine the results from the Fire Ash Characterization and Evaluation of Toxicity (FACET) study. We found that the profile of PAHs in indoor house dust resembled that from vehicular emissions and/or local oil sand processing operations. We also investigated the effects of the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire and found limited impacts on PAH levels. Total PAH levels are lower in the winter, likely due to an increase in wet deposition to snowfall. The change of vapor pressure of PAHs under different seasons also shapes the overall PAH profile in Fort McMurray. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/105044 | environment | SDG13 | X | ||||||||||||||||
| Gillis, Daniel Paul | Minns, Charles K||Shuter, Brian J | Predicting Open-water Thermal Regimes of Temperate North American Lakes | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | 2020-11-01 | Temperature affects lakes’ physical, chemical, and biological attributes, and is influenced by several abiotic factors. Lake temperature modelling permits regional estimates of seasonal fish thermal habitat; however, this requires accurate models for large spatial scales. To address this, I fit a semi-mechanistic seasonal temperature-profile model (STM) to 369 North American lakes with data spanning 1971-2016. STM with a fixed-depth thermocline formula accurately modelled lake temperature (median lake-year-specific RMSE: 1.13 ºC). I selected candidate predictors using random forests, then used linear mixed-effects modelling to create empirical equations to predict STM parameters from lake-specific morphometry and climate. I tested the accuracy of my equations with 776 Ontario lakes and found good agreement between predicted and observed temperatures (median lake-year-specific RMSE: 2.28 ºC) and stratification occurrence (91.9%). These findings enhance our understanding of factors that influence lake temperatures and could identify lake types and regions that may be especially susceptible to climate change. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103444 | Lake||Modelling||Semi-mechanistic||Stratification||Temperature||Thermal habitat | forest, fish, climate, water | SDG6, SDG13, SDG14, SDG15 | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||||
| Patel, Nirali | McCready, Lance T | Reimagining Informal Place-based Learning: An Exploration through Narratives of Scarborough Residents | Leadership, Higher and Adult Education | 2021-03-01 | Scarborough, a region marred by its representation as a “dangerous” region has arguably left residents with internalized otherness, along with complicated understandings of themselves and their surroundings. Using narrative inquiry, this qualitative study explores how Scarborough residents conceptualize informal learning in connection to place. Interviews were conducted with six residents from the Malvern and Kingston-Galloway/Orton Park (KGO) neighbourhoods to better understand their lived experiences and interactions with informal learning. Critical pedagogy of place and critical consciousness are the theories informing the conceptual framework and guiding this study. Emerging from the data are four themes: shared understandings of community, barriers to learning and opportunity, meaningful informal learning experiences and representative and reciprocal relationships. In using place as a guiding framework for inquiry, residents describe the creation of informal spaces of gathering and storytelling as tools in countering the hegemonic narratives of Scarborough and its many communities. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104957 | adult education||educational leadership||informal learning||narrative inquiry||place-based learning||Scarborough | educat | SDG4 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Chang, Ya-Ching | Gauvreau, Paul | Relationship Between Lateral Load and Interstorey Drift in Total Precast Concrete Buildings | Civil Engineering | 2021-03-01 | This thesis documents the first phase of the project in which the end goal is to develop a model that characterizes the relationship between lateral load and interstorey drift in total precast concrete buildings. CSA Standard A23.3 and the CPCI Design Manual will be used as the main source of design codes and standards for this project. In this thesis, the lateral load-deflection response of the welded plate connection, which is one of the two main connection types used in total precast concrete buildings, has been developed based on a series of experiments. The following have also been completed in this thesis: 1. The experimental design for characterizing the tensile load-deflection response of the grouted dowel connection, which is the other main connection type, and 2. The preliminary experimental design for a storey test, which aims to characterize the behaviour of a storey within a total precast building. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104915 | grouted dowel connection||interstorey drift||Relationship Between Lateral Load and Interstorey Drift||total precast building||Total Precast Concrete Buildings||welded plate conncection | buildings | SDG9 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Mazur, Natalie Monica | Piccardo, Enrica | Research Perspectives on the Marginalization of Core French Teachers: A Qualitative Meta-analysis and Research Agenda for Elementary-level Ontario Core French Education | Curriculum, Teaching and Learning | 2020-11-01 | French as a Second Language (FSL) education is mandatory in Ontario. Research on elementary Core French education in Ontario has shown that its teachers are marginalized in practice. How this marginalization is positioned by researchers and what researchers recommend to end it are key foci of this thesis. Using a hybrid framework of complexity theory, critical theory, and language as right, the research perspective on the marginalization of Core French teachers is examined in order to form an agenda for future research. Dichotomy and variability in researchers’ positioning of the issue as well as in their recommendations are uncovered. A move toward grassroots-level activist research is highlighted, with a salient theme of agency and empowerment. A major implication of this research is the need to address the place of Core French within national bilingualism. Suggestions for future research include larger sample sizes, quantitative investigations, and interventionist research. L'enseignement du français langue seconde (FLS) est obligatoire en Ontario. La recherche sur l'enseignement du français de base au niveau primaire en Ontario ont montré que les enseignant.es sont marginalisé.es. Comment cette marginalisation est positionnée par les chercheurs et ce que les chercheurs recommandent pour y mettre fin sont les axes clés de cette thèse. En utilisant un cadre hybride de théorie de la complexité, de théorie critique, et de langage comme juste (Language-as-Right), les perspectives de la recherche sur la marginalisation des enseignants de français de base est examinée afin de former un agenda pour les recherches futures. La dichotomie et la variabilité du positionnement des chercheurs sur la question et aditionellement dans leurs recommandations sont découvertes. Un mouvement vers la recherche militante au niveau local est souligné, avec un thème saillant de l'agence et de l'autonomisation. Une implication majeure de cette recherche est la nécessité d'envisager la place du français de base dans le bilinguisme officiel du Canada. Les suggestions de recherche future comprennent des échantillons plus grands, des enquêtes quantitatives, et de recherche interventionniste. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103244 | Core French||Education||Elementary Education||FSL||Ontario||Second Language | educat | SDG4 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Goel, Natasha | Wakefield, Sarah | Residential Segregation and Inequality: Considering Barriers to Choice in Toronto | Geography | 2021-03-01 | Segregation of visible minorities has persisted throughout time in Toronto. In examining these concentrations, the literature has been heavily focused on the notion that visible minorities are choosing to live in proximity of their respective ethno-racial groups and that these are spaces of aspiration rather than marginalization in Canada. This thesis raises questions about the assertion of ‘self-segregation’ by emphasizing affordability constraints on residential choices that are often rooted in discrimination and inequality in the housing and labor markets. Census data from 2016, the dissimilarity index and an adopted neighborhood classification scheme was used to understand the spatial patterning of visible minorities in the Toronto CMA and highlight differences in the socio-economic characteristics of visible minority dominant and white dominant census tracts. The findings invite the inference that economic opportunities play a critical role in the residential choices of visible minorities and raise concerns about the quality of life in visible minority neighborhoods. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104862 | Neighbourhood Inequality||Residential Segregation||Toronto | inequality, labor, equality, socio-economic | SDG1, SDG5, SDG8, SDG10 | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||||
| Abdelwahab, Bilal | Shalaby, Amer||Farber, Steven | Ridesharing and Social Inclusion: The Role of Ridesharing in Improving Job Access for Disadvantaged Populations | Civil Engineering | 2020-11-01 | Research has shown a lot of promise that ridesharing services could be contributing to more- equitable transportation systems by improving job access to groups at high risk of social exclusion. Since the main purpose of transportation is giving individuals access to the destinations that they value, it is most appropriate to evaluate ridesharing through the lens of accessibility. This study investigates how ridesharing contributes to job access in the city of Toronto through a multimodal accessibility assessment. Specifically, the study uses the generalized cost to construct contours of the cumulative opportunities and evaluates the benefit of ridesharing in terms of the accessibility improvement that this mode provides – as seen by socially disadvantaged groups. The findings suggest that ridesharing offers the most benefit in areas with lower transit service levels and with higher job concentrations. Also, using ridesharing as an ingress mode to higher-order transportation lines offers very little benefit. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103558 | Access||Accessibility||Equity||Job Access||Ride Hailing||Ridesharing | equitable | SDG4 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Watterworth, Jessica Charlotte | Roth, Daniel E. | Risk factors for low physical activity levels in preschool-aged children in urban Bangladesh | Nutritional Sciences | 2018-11-01 | Physical activity (PA) is a known determinant of health and is important in the development of young children. Risk factors for PA may be different in low- and middle-income countries, such as urban Bangladesh, where the environment is densely populated and nutritional deficits are common. We aimed to describe the PA levels of preschoolers in Dhaka, Bangladesh, as well as estimate the associations between preschooler PA levels and household and nutritional factors. We conducted a cross-sectional, observational study, collecting accelerometry, hemoglobin concentration, socioeconomic status, anthropometry, and data on the home built environment. Linear mixed-effects models were used to assess the associations between PA and the exposures of interest. The entire sample were found to meet Canadian preschooler PA guidelines for daily activity. There were no associations between PA and characteristics of the built environment of the home, nor hemoglobin concentration, suggesting a need for further exploration of potential influential factors. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/102821 | Accelerometry||Anemia||Bangladesh||Built environment||Physical activity | environment, urban, health, nutrition, socioeconomic | SDG1, SDG2, SDG3, SDG11, SDG13 | X | X | X | X | X | |||||||||||
| Yu, Zhu Hao | Passeport, Elodie | Role of Salinity, Genotypic Variation, Microbial Communities, and Algae on the Elimination of Benzotriazole by Duckweed Lemna minor | Chemical Engineering Applied Chemistry | 2020-11-01 | Benzotriazole is an emerging contaminant incompletely removed by wastewater treatment plants. This work investigated several environmental factors that may influence the transformation of benzotriazole by wetland model plant duckweed Lemna minor, including salinity, variation among duckweed genotypes, microbial communities, and algae Chlorella vulgaris. Results show that high salinity (10 g/L) reduced the phytotransformation (transformation by plant) of benzotriazole. Intermediate salinity (0.8 g/L) modulated the formation of phototransformation (transformation driven by light) products aniline and 3-aminophenol. Microbial inoculation promoted the formation of a phytotransformation product, benzotriazole acetyl-alanine. Variation among duckweed genotypes in transforming benzotriazole suggests that constructed wetlands could be designed to increase benzotriazole depletion and reduce effluent toxicity by selecting appropriate duckweed genotypes. Algae also depleted benzotriazole, but it did not influence the depletion kinetics by duckweed in a symbiotic manner. Other plants and algae could potentially phytotransform benzotriazole as the proposed pathways are shared among plants and algae. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103321 | algae||benzotriazole||constructed wetlands||duckweed||phytotransformation | environment, waste, water | SDG6, SDG12, SDG13, SDG14 | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||||
| Yang, Ruifang | McCabe, Brenda Y | Safety in Construction: Connecting Safety Climate, Safety Performance, and Leading Indicators | Civil Engineering | 2021-03-01 | Due to the injury-prone nature of the general construction industry, identifying the sector as the better performer in safety would provide insights on aspects requiring further improvement, and determining the leading indicators of injury can help companies develop preventive measures towards increasing injury reports. The two objectives were achieved into two sub-studies. Based on self-administrated survey data, comparisons on workers’ demographic information, their safety perception, and safety performance were conducted between the nuclear sector and the general construction industry through Mann-Whitney test. The nuclear sectors was found to have better safety performance, and factors where the nuclear sector is the better performer were also identified. Besides, based on a 2019 incident dataset, time-dependent relationships between injuries and near miss events were developed using time series analysis. It was found that near miss and physical injuries are interacting with each other closely with lag-time of 1 or 2 weeks. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/105000 | Construction management||Leading indicators||Near misses||Safety||Time series analysis | climate, industr, worker | SDG8, SDG9, SDG13 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Versteeg, Evan John | McMeans, Bailey C | Seasonal Variation of Brain Size and Structure in a Freshwater Top Predator | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | 2021-03-01 | Teleost fishes occupy a range of ecosystem and habitat types subject to large seasonal fluctuations. Strategies for surviving theses seasonal environments can vary widely and are commonly accompanied by variation in brain structure. However, our understanding of how predictable changes in behavior across seasons shape, or are shaped by, the nervous system is limited. Here I investigate how patterns in the brain size and brain region sizes of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) coincide with seasonal changes in habitat and behavior using Generalized Linear Models (GLMs) and bioacoustic telemetry. There was significant seasonal variation in whole brain size, as well as the size of some regions, which coincided with movement of lake trout between nearshore and offshore habitats. Successful completion of annual life history events (i.e., reproduction, habitat use, and diet shifts) could therefore be supported by seasonally responsive brain size flexibility that allows for a cognitive capacity more tailored to different parts of the year. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/105036 | Behavior||Brain Size||Flexability||Seasonal||Telemetry||Winter | fish, environment, production, water | SDG6, SDG12, SDG13, SDG14 | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||||
| Rutayisire, Emmanuel | Springgay, Stephanie | Sensuous Clothing – Cultivating a Hidden Fashion Curriculum that Moves and Bends with Living Atmospheres | Curriculum, Teaching and Learning | 2021-03-01 | In this thesis I theorize what I call ‘fashion atmospheres’ as a pedagogical mode that considers both the visible and invisible aspects of clothing. I theorize a fashion pedagogy that considers both human and more-than-human presences. I use non-representational theories along with feminist new materialisms and anti-colonial theories to argue for relational, affective and equitable fashion systems. As a research-creation project, I theorize with three textile-based artworks that work to unsettle the idea that clothing is empty of meaning outside of human use and capital gain. Instead, I argue that fashion and clothing are complex sites of knowledge that needs to be taken seriously. I challenge the idea that a garment is a dead object waiting for human extraction by attuning to the many possibilities of a garment as a relational and affective object that has always been influenced by the ways we come to relate to each other and to the more-than-human. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104882 | equitable | SDG4 | X | ||||||||||||||||
| Tsang, Tara | Ratto, Matt | Social Responsibility in Future Worlds: Using Student-led Futures Thinking Practices to Assist in Redesigning Engineering Education | Information Studies | 2021-03-01 | This research explores the potential for integrating futures thinking and speculative design practices in undergraduate engineering education, as a move to push Canadian engineering pedagogy into student-led spaces for more creative, reflective, and civic-oriented thinking. The research examines iterative design and development sessions, which detail the transformation of an educational, student-led intervention into an exploratory, futures-based workshop— Undiscipline. Though pilot play sessions, the potential of this tool is examined, particularly in its encouragement of participants to continually question their perception of the future, their understanding of society, and their role and responsibility to shape a preferable future. Lastly, this study discusses the potential for this game as a tool for student-led and values-driven education, to propose the implementation of futures studies in mainstream education as a method for reflective and creative growth, and how Undiscipline can be used as a lens to examine institutional pushback and burgeoning possibilities for educator implementation. | M.I.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104902 | Civic Design||Design Fiction||Futures Studies||Holistic Engineering||Speculative Design||Student-led | institut, educat | SDG4, SDG16 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Vallieres, Morgan | Donaldson, D.James | Studies of Photochemistry in Some Indoor and Outdoor Environments | Chemistry | 2021-03-01 | The impacts of photochemistry can be observed in our everyday lives. This thesis explores two small portions of this daily importance, by highlighting its impact on tracking our oceans’ primary productivity, and the air we breathe inside our homes. Chlorophyll fluorescence can be correlated to phytoplankton in our oceans. We look at chlorophyll, to examine the fluorescence quenching rate constants of common seawater components such as halides (Cl-,Br-,I-) and Iron(III). We do this by comparing spectra which show fluorescence intensity of pure chlorophyll in comparison to this same solution’s fluorescence in the presence of sea water quenchers. In a second study, we show that paints specifically marketed to be photoactive can produce NOx compounds such as (NO,NO2,HONO) from the aqueous deposition of nitrate (NO3-) and gas (NO) phase at 0 and 50 % RH, under illumination sources found indoors (fluorescent ,xenon, incandescent). These gaseous species can be important sources of indoor ozone and OH, which impact the oxidation capacity indoors | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104943 | ocean, environment, water | SDG6, SDG13, SDG14 | X | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Courts, Rachel | Childs, Ruth | Supporting Students’ Well-being through Student Voice Initiatives: An Exploration of Well-being Teams in Ontario Secondary Schools | Leadership, Higher and Adult Education | 2020-11-01 | As mental health concerns among youth persist, there is a growing need for schools to better support students’ well-being and to also involve students in these efforts. Using a qualitative research design, this study explores student-led well-being teams across secondary schools in Ontario, Canada. Interviews were conducted with four students involved in their school’s well-being team in order to better understand their perceptions of their roles and experiences on these teams. This study’s conceptual framework was informed by the literature related to student voice and its connection to well-being. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), three superordinate themes were identified in this study: Independent/Dependent Nature of Roles, Integral to and Integrated in School Community, and Experiencing Growth. Overall, students described aspects of both positive and negative well-being as a result of their experiences, which demonstrates the importance of establishing certain conditions that allow for student voice and well-being to thrive. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103649 | education policy||mental health||student leadership||student voice||well-being | educat, well-being, health | SDG3, SDG4 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Sahib, Khatija | Prudham, Scott | Supporting Urban Stormwater Management Programs with a User-fee: The Evaluation of Experiences from New South Wales/Blacktown City Council, Philadelphia and Mississauga | Geography | 2020-11-01 | In the absence of adequate and consistent funding from traditional revenue sources, cities consider or implement a user-fee to sustainably support stormwater management initiatives. User-fees are policy tools charging customers for their consumption and utilization of a service the government delivers. Cities report favourable results as user-fees provide dedicated funding due to purposeful collection. However, it is challenging to design and administer a stormwater user-fee as staff must balance various considerations while responding to those in opposition. In fact, opposition has halted implementation in multiple cities. For instance, officials and the City of Toronto’s electorate viewed the 2017 Stormwater Charge as regressive, resulting in the initiative's abandonment. By assessing user-fee programs in three broadly comparable cities to Toronto – New South Wales/Blacktown City Council (Australia), Philadelphia (USA), and Mississauga (Canada) – this research determines if key recommendations from broadly comparable cities can inform the design and administration of a user-fee for Toronto. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103796 | Municipal Works Infrastructure||Policy Tools||Stormwater Financing and Funding||Stormwater Management||Sustainablity||User-Fee | consum, urban, cities, infrastructure, water | SDG6, SDG9, SDG11, SDG12, SDG14 | X | X | X | X | X | |||||||||||
| Avery, Teresa Lynn | Brett, Clare||Hewitt, Jim | Teacher Presence Pedagogy, a thematic interview discussion about online learning | Curriculum, Teaching and Learning | 2018-11-01 | This paper examines drivers of online instruction methods, through thematic open-ended interviews with 10 graduate-level faculty, active in online and blended learning courses in a major Canadian public university. The research forms a bounded case study of ten instructors who teach online courses using a web-based environment, PeppeR. The research question motivating this study is: How do online instructors describe the processes and activities they try to nurture in online courses, and what sort of decisions and methods do they use? Educators are conscientious about being stakeholders, giving concrete examples, and offering suggestions that are meaningful. Findings highlight detailed responses from educators which emphasize design and organization, facilitating discourse, and direct instruction in a computer-mediated environment. Ideas around effective online teaching presence echo in the pedagogy of stakeholders in an environment of engaged learners and faculty. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/102797 | Asynchronous discussion||Community of Inquiry||Knowledge building||Online learning||Teacher presence | environment, educat | SDG4, SDG13 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Ahmad, Shayla Nahar | Labrie, Normand | Teachers’ Beliefs about Assessment: A Multiple Narrative Case Study of Internationally Educated Teachers’ Assessment of Speaking Skills in Canadian ESL/EAP Classrooms | Curriculum, Teaching and Learning | 2021-03-01 | This multiple narrative case study examines the assessment beliefs of internationally educated teachers in assessing speaking skills in Canadian ESL/EAP classrooms. Research highlights how teachers’ assessment beliefs influence the way they conceptualize assessment purposes and integrate them into curriculum and lesson planning. With the increasing number of internationally educated English language teachers working in various K-12 and post-secondary contexts in Canada, it is important to understand how their previous assessment beliefs and practices impact their assessment in a new teaching context. The study revealed IETs held multi-layered beliefs focused on the purpose of assessment, types of and tools for speaking assessment, and feedback. Also, numerous contextual factors including classroom contexts, institutional requirements, and curriculum expectations seem to contribute to their change in speaking assessment practices in varied contexts. The results implicate IETs as a heterogeneous group of professionals who require differentiated professional development opportunities and mentorship programs to better integrate in Canadian ESL/EAP classrooms. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104949 | Assessing Speaking Skills||ESL/ EAP Classrooms||Internationally Educated Teachers||Techer Beliefs | institut, educat | SDG4, SDG16 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Brulé, David | Boon, Heather | Telemedicine use Amongst Homeopaths and Naturopaths in Ontario, Canada | Pharmaceutical Sciences | 2020-11-01 | Telemedicine, in the form of online video consultations, holds great potential for the delivery of medical care. This research aims to investigate the extent of, rationale for, and the motivations for telemedicine use by homeopaths and naturopaths. State-regulated homeopaths and naturopaths in Ontario were surveyed. Survey questions captured telemedicine use, demographic and socio-economic data, and opinions regarding respondents’ motivations behind telemedicine use. The survey, conducted between October 2018-January 2019, had 183 homeopath and 366 naturopath respondents. Telemedicine consultations were performed by 65.6% of homeopaths and 32.5% of naturopaths in the previous 6 months. There were no significant differences between telemedicine users and non-users for gender, geographical location, and age. The best fit regression model of motivational factors comprised of attitude towards telemedicine and perceived ability to use telemedicine (Nagelkerke R-squared=.281). Telemedicine is used substantially by Ontario homeopaths. Attitude and perceived ability to use telemedicine were associated with telemedicine use. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103242 | Complementary and Alternative Medicine||Health Services||Telemedicine | gender, health, socio-economic | SDG1, SDG3, SDG5 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Boccia, Christopher Kevin | Mahler, D. Luke | Testing for Convergent Evolution in Semi-aquatic Anolis Lizards | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | 2018-11-01 | Twelve species from six different clades of Anolis lizard exhibit a semi-aquatic lifestyle. These unusual species are found only along neotropical streams, and are known to swim, capture aquatic prey, and dive to escape predators. Based on ecomorphology theory, and anoles’ famed predisposition for convergence, we would predict that these anole lineages should have undergone convergent evolution. However, previous morphometric research suggested that semi-aquatic anoles are not convergent. This thesis reinvestigates whether semi-aquatic anoles have convergently evolved using novel morphometric and experimental approaches. I assessed the morphology, swimming speed, and diving performance of semi-aquatic and non-aquatic anole species from throughout the neotropics. My results suggest that semi-aquatic anoles have converged upon similar morphologies, superior swimming performance, and a previously undiscovered potential adaptation for diving: underwater rebreathing. Semi-aquatic anoles show evidence of repeated multidimensional convergence, and, somewhat uniquely for Anolis, provide strong evidence for convergence between mainland and island forms. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/102837 | Anolis lizards||Convergent evolution||Macroevolution||Morphology||Swimming performance | water | SDG6, SDG14 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| So, Cameron | Weis, Arthur E | The Adaptive Potential of Lifetime Fitness Increases under a Future Climate Change Scenario in a Population of Brassica rapa | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | 2020-11-01 | The persistence of any declining population in the face of an environmental perturbation may depend on how fast natural selection restores fitness, a process called “evolutionary rescue”. Evolutionary rescue depends on the adaptive potential for fitness: the additive genetic variance for fitness (VA(W)) divided by mean fitness (W ̅). I conducted an outdoor warming experiment to estimate the change in VA(W) and W ̅ in the annual Brassica rapa using a predicted 2100 temperature regime. Surprisingly, plants exposed to a warmer climate exhibited greater W ̅, suggesting plasticity may enable population persistence to climate change, but could also hinder the adaptive potential by increasing denominator W ̅. Nevertheless, the magnitude of VA(W) expressed under heated conditions was considerably higher, thereby a greater adaptive potential was observed. My findings suggest that standing genetic variation in B. rapa may be sufficient to buffer and facilitate rapid adaptive evolution to warmer temperatures imposed by climate change. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103186 | adaptive potential||Brassica rapa||climate change||fitness||Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection||population genetics | environment, climate | SDG13 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Brown-Walkus, Janelle Jennifer Carrie | Lawrence, Herenia P. | The Development and Assessment of a Measure of the Quality of Preventive Oral Health Services for First Nations Communities | Dentistry | 2021-03-01 | Indigenous populations face inequities in oral health compared to the Canadian population. Prevention is key in reducing this gap. This thesis develops and assesses the sensibility and initial validity of a novel instrument for preventive oral health care delivery to Indigenous communities in Canada. Using a mixed-methods sequential approach and concept mapping methodology, the resulting Quality Preventive Oral Health Services for Indigenous Communities (QPOHSIC) scale contains 53 items organized into 7 domains, which present new themes that are not included in previous measures of oral health care delivery, while maintaining themes captured by frameworks and measurements of quality oral health services. The QPOHSIC demonstrated excellent sensibility. Initial construct validity supports that the QPOHSIC measures dental satisfaction, with additional measures of quality pertaining to Indigenous peoples that do not exist in other dental satisfaction measures. Further reliability and validity testing will be performed to complete psychometric assessment of the QPOHSIC scale. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/105032 | Indigenous||Measurement||Preventive dentistry||Quality of care | health | SDG3 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Baddour, Jermeen | Chen, Dr. Xi | The Development of English and Arabic Language and Literacy Skills of Syrian Refugee Children and Youth in Canada | Applied Psychology and Human Development | 2020-11-01 | Language and literacy skills are crucial for the integration and academic achievement of refugee students. In particular, heritage language (L1) maintenance and majority language (L2) acquisition are key to achieving optimal acculturation outcomes. This study examined the performance of Syrian refugee children and youth in word reading, vocabulary and reading comprehension in Arabic and English over a one-year time period. In addition, the extent to which proximal and distal factors pertaining to the child/youth predict performance on the three measures was investigated. Findings suggest that one school year of English instruction enhanced students’ English performance and reduced the gap between them and their monolingual peers. Evidence of Arabic language progress was also demonstrated. Moreover, age and parental education were among the factors predicting English and Arabic language proficiency. Implications are discussed as well as recommendations to promote Arabic and English language and literacy skills in school-aged Syrian refugees. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103794 | Children and Youth||Language and Literacy||Refugees | educat | SDG4 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Gagliano-Veiga, Christina Maria | Besco, Laurel | The Development of Green Building Standards in Canada | Geography | 2020-11-01 | This research looks to understand where green building standards exist in Canada and what factors motivate the uptake of this type of sustainability practice. Although literature has highlighted the use of standards, there is a lack of research done in Canada. A mixed-method approach is used to answer these questions and includes geographical information system mapping of green certified buildings across Canada and the analysis of policy, demographics, and economic variables to evaluate when and where standards have been used. The findings show a concentration of green building standards in Canadian cities. Median income, number of buildings, and population density are also shown to have a positive and statistically significant relationship with green building standard use. Further, the findings highlight that policy is a driving factor for the increase in overall standard use and building type certified and that economics is a motivating factor for the type of standard used. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103408 | BOMA||Energy Star||green building||green building standards||LEED||sustainability | cities, buildings, energy | SDG7, SDG9, SDG11 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Ettahiri, Anas | Ramchandran, Arun | The Generation of Extremely Fine Water-in-Bitumen emulsions via the Satellite Drop Formation Mechanism | Chemical Engineering Applied Chemistry | 2018-11-01 | This thesis is concerned with the generation of fine water-in-bitumen emulsions through drop fracture during the bitumen froth treatment process. Due to their negative economic and environmental impact, the stability of these emulsions has received tremendous attention; however, little work has been conducted on the manner through which they form. In this study, we use a novel microfluidic platform to study the satellite drop generation mechanism via drop fracture. Using this technique, satellite drops several orders of magnitude smaller than the mother drop were generated and characterized. The smallest satellite drops observed were below 2μm in radius. The range of satellite. The effects of industrially relevant parameters, namely, water pH, solvent dilution and capillary number, are investigated. The satellite drop volume and number of drops were found to increase with the capillary number and dilution while process water pH was found to have a smaller effect. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/102792 | Drop Breakup||Froth Treatment||Satellite Drops||Water-in-bitumen emulsions | environment, industr, water | SDG6, SDG9, SDG13, SDG14 | X | X | X | X | ||||||||||||
| Babij, Stephanie Nicole | Cairney, John | The Impact of Dance on Physical Literacy in Children: An Evaluation of the Sharing Dance Program | Exercise Sciences | 2020-11-01 | Regular participation in physical activity (PA) provides numerous health benefits for children, yet the recommended PA guidelines are not being met. Experts have argued this may be due to the lack of physical literacy (PL) among children. The objective of this pilot study was to explore the impact of the Sharing Dance program offered by the National Ballet School of Canada (NBS) on total PL and its main components, and the effect of gender, in children (N = 70, ages 8-12). A paired samples t- test was conducted to analyze the changes in PL and its main components, and residualized regression was conducted to examine the effect of gender. Results showed a significant increase in movement competence scores from pre- to post intervention (p | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103342 | Children||Dance||Physical Activity||Physical Literacy | gender, health | SDG3, SDG5 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Osborne, Emily | Bialystok, Lauren | The Impact of the Repeal of the 2015 Health Physical Education Curriculum on Ontario Teachers | Social Justice Education | 2019-11-01 | This project analyzes how the repeal of the 2015 Health Physical Education curriculum for Grades 1-8 impacted Ontario teachers. Eight Grades 7-12 teachers from one school board in southern Ontario were interviewed. Interviews found that participants faced major constraints in teaching sex education, both before and after the repeal. All participants disagreed with the repeal of the 2015 curriculum and felt the 2018 interim curriculum did not meet the needs of students. Both elementary and secondary teachers expressed concern over teaching sexual health topics over the 2018-2019 school year due to the political tension surrounding sex education. Teachers who felt supported by their school administration felt more comfortable teaching sex education over the 2018-2019 school year than those who lacked administrative support. This study emphasizes the chaos surrounding sex education following the 2018 Ontario election, the danger of relying on outdated curriculum, and the importance of comprehensive sexuality education. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103053 | Comprehensive Sexuality Education||Doug Ford||Health Physical Education||Ontario||Sex Education||Sexuality Education | educat, health | SDG3, SDG4 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Bird, Elizabeth Atik | Nixon, Stephanie | The Percy Papers | Rehabilitation Science | 2020-11-01 | The Indian Residential School era took its toll on the health and wellbeing of the entire Indigenous population in Canada. How does one rehabilitate after suffering tremendous loss of culture, language, voice, and self? My father, Percy James Bird, spent 15 years in an Indian Residential School. He then worked nineteen years with the federal government. After retirement, he took a creative writing course, producing 21 stories. A critical read of the stories, using Indigenous story telling methods, begins the process of tearing down a negative colonized version of Percy. As a silent survivor, his stories diffuse much of the violence from his past. The objective of this rehabilitation science inquiry is to use an Indigenous storywork research approach to explore patterns of healing and examine how Percy’s personal healing led to his later aspirations to create systems of healing for his people. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103455 | Health||Indian Residential School||Indigenous||Storywork | wellbeing, health | SDG3 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Shamaly, Sheikh Sharmin | Vieta, Marcelo||Ryan, Sherida | The Quest for Autonomy: Transformations of South Asian Women Immigrants in Canada | Leadership, Higher and Adult Education | 2020-11-01 | This study explores how South Asian immigrant women in Canada perceive autonomy and the transition of their decision making process after experiencing Canadian post-secondary education. Through using feminist standpoint as a theoretical framework and narrative inquiry as a research approach, the study found out: The prevalence of patriarchy was stronger before immigration. A greater sense of autonomy has been achieved through Canadian educational and professional experience and financial independence. Awareness regarding patriarchy exists among the participants, with evidence of acceptance of patriarchy and resistance towards patriarchy. Greater happiness and confidence are achieved after immigration through sacrifice, struggle, and conformation with evidence of a subdued presence of patriarchy. This study has shown a nuanced way of understanding autonomy. The participants try to find subtle ways of showing their confidence which contributes to the current feminist literature concerning the autonomy of educated South Asian immigrant women. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103190 | Autonomy||Feminist standpoint||Immigrant Women||Narrative inquiry||Patriarchy||South Asia | women, educat | SDG4, SDG5 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Baskararajah , Nishani | Persaud, Nav | The Relationship Between Number of Medicines Prescribed, Free Medicines, and Adherence | Health Policy, Management and Evaluation | 2020-11-01 | Introduction: The number of medicines prescribed to a patient can be an obstacle to medicine adherence. CLEAN Meds randomized clinical trial aimed to determine the provision of essential medicines at no charge. Providing free medicines improved adherence. However, free medicine provision, might have different effects depending on the number of medicines prescribed to a patient.Objective: To determine whether the number of prescribed medicines modifies the beneficial effect of free medicine distribution. Methods: Using binary logistic regression, the analysis determines whether the number of medications modified the intervention of free medicine distribution while correcting for confounders. Results: While providing medicines free of charge improves adherence (P= 0.02), this effect was not modified by the number of medicines prescribed (p = 0.52). Conclusion: The beneficial effect of free medicine distribution does not depend on the number of medicines prescribed. These findings can help inform changes to medicine access policies in Canada. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103165 | Health Policy||Health Services Research||Medicine Access||Patient Health||Pharmacare||Public Health | health | SDG3 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Khanjani, Marjan | Chen, Charles | The Role of Career Self-determination Theory in the Retraining Experiences of Professional Immigrants in Canada | Applied Psychology and Human Development | 2020-11-01 | Professional immigrants come to Canada with valuable skills, education, and hopes for future career success. However, they are often met with barriers to desired employment which impact vocational, physical, and psychological well-being. During the adjustment process, immigrants strive to fulfill basic needs, both physical and psychological in nature. This study explored the role of a recent psychology theory titled career self-determination theory (CSDT) in the retraining experiences of professional immigrants in Canada. Specifically, this study examined how professional immigrants negotiated, fulfilled, and were influenced by, three key determinants in CSDT: career autonomy, career competence, and career relatedness. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, qualitative interviews were analyzed. Results indicated evidence for the key themes posited by CSDT, as well as relevant subthemes, and suggest the importance of need fulfillment within vocational contexts and a consideration of self-determination in career development. Findings provide preliminary theoretical contributions to the CSDT framework and practical implications for supporting professional immigrants. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103205 | Career Psychology||Career Self-Determination Theory||Immigrant Professionals||Immigration||Vocational Wellbeing | employment, educat, well-being, wellbeing | SDG3, SDG4, SDG8 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Brown, Kaitlyn Sarah | Gilbert, Benjamin | The role of trophic interactions in shaping species persistence and coexistence outcomes | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | 2018-11-01 | What maintains species diversity? While trophic interactions are hypothesized to promote species diversity, there are few empirical tests of how trophic interactions influence rare species persistence and coexistence. Here, I ask how fitness in rare plant species is indirectly influenced by the surrounding community via pollinator interactions. I found that the surrounding community can increase rare species fitness, but only when neighbouring species have a similar pollinator niche. This suggests that the effect of the surrounding community on rare species fitness depends on the overlap in trophic partners (mutualists, antagonists), and by promoting rare species fitness and persistence, trophic interactions can facilitate rare species establishment, invasion, and potentially coexistence in communities. I test these questions in an on-going experiment asking how herbivory influences plant species coexistence. Together, these results suggest that trophic interactions play a critical role in maintaining species diversity via rare species persistence, invasion and coexistence in communities. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/102802 | coexistence||community ecology||herbivory||persistence||pollination||population ecology | ecolog | SDG15 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Jeswani, Kevin Kamlesh | Christopoulos, Constantin | The Seismic Resilience of Critical Spatially-distributed Building Portfolios: A Case Study of Public School Buildings in Makati and Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines | Civil Engineering | 2021-03-01 | This thesis presents an integrated seismic resilience framework that links advanced building-specific earthquake engineering techniques and portfolio risk methodologies for evaluating large building portfolios in a computationally efficient manner. The framework is applied to a spatially-distributed infrastructure portfolio composed of over 1,000 public school buildings across two cities.The near-fault seismic hazard of the region was defined using state-of-the-art tools. A rapid visual screening of approximately 200 buildings was conducted to enhance high- level inventories and inform the development of detailed non-linear structural models of the key archetypes. Building response simulations under a range of seismic intensities were coupled with the FEMAP-58 and Arup REDi Monte Carlo analyses, requiring the adaptation of existing post-earthquake consequence functions. Normalized archetypal vulnerabilities were developed and assigned to all the buildings before simulating portfolio losses under various seismogenic sources. The impacts of proposed portfolio-level mitigations strategies were then discussed. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104931 | Earthquake||Engineering||PBEE||Resilience||Seismic||Structural | resilien, cities, buildings, infrastructure | SDG9, SDG11 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Luo, Ruiping | Gilbert, Benjamin | The Timing and Extent of Water Limitation Structures Trophic Interactions in a Terrestrial Plant-insect System | Ecology and Evolutionary Biology | 2021-03-01 | In many terrestrial systems, water is an important resource that impacts plant growth, survival and responses to herbivory. These impacts often cascade to affect herbivores and their predators, altering trophic interactions. Working with milkweed plants and aphid herbivores, I investigated: 1) The interactive effects of water availability and temperature on plant-herbivore-predator dynamics and 2) The effect of drought timing on plant-herbivore interactions. I show that water is important in shaping trophic dynamics. While I did not find evidence for interactions between temperature and water availability impacting trophic dynamics, my first study demonstrates the influence of water and temperature on herbivore populations differed over time, and my second study showed both plants and herbivores to be highly sensitive to changes in the timing of short-term drought. This research illustrates the significance of considering temporal scale when examining environmental change and trophic dynamics. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104910 | environment, water | SDG6, SDG13, SDG14 | X | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Laufer, Eitan Dov Shour | Burke, Carol-Ann||Gaztambide-Fernandez, Rubén | The Underrepresentation of Youth from Low-income Communities in STEM Education: A Case Study Illustration from One Organization Seeking to Confront this Situation | Curriculum, Teaching and Learning | 2020-11-01 | This study explores the underrepresentation of youth from low-income communities in STEM education. The data for this thesis is taken from a larger study looking at community responsiveness in STEM clubs belonging to a single organization. Data collection occurred through semi-structured interviews. This study uses social dominance theory to carry out a case study analysis. Social dominance theory encourages examination of group-based hierarchy as three related social dimensions: age, gender, and “arbitrary set.” In this study social dominance theory is explored focusing on hierarchy enhancing and hierarchy attenuating forces. The interviews reveal that the STEM clubs are uniquely positioned in the minds of youth participants as a positive STEM learning environment. However, the extent to which these attributes can reverse underrepresentation trends of youth from low-income communities is confronted by inequities in STEM education. This thesis ends by making a call for the STEM clubs to enhance community-oriented STEM education. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103793 | environment, gender, educat | SDG4, SDG5, SDG13 | X | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Wei, Linzhuo | McCabe, Brenda||Hyatt, Douglas | Towards Effective Safety Benchmarking: Scope and Factor Selection | Civil Engineering | 2020-11-01 | The construction industry is known for its high safety risk compared with other industries and effective safety benchmarking is essential to continuously monitor and improve safety performance. In this research, the safety culture and three categories of safety performance, namely physical injuries, psychological stresses, and unsafe events, were investigated with a self-administered survey and the data were analyzed using statistical and machine learning approaches. Two foundational elements to achieve effective safety benchmarking were examined: benchmarking scope and benchmarking factors. It was found that safety culture and performance can differ between construction sectors and geographic regions. Thus, they should be considered during the benchmarking scope determination. Factors influencing safety performance were ranked according to their importance and the top-ranked factors are recommended priority when limited resources for safety management occur. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103801 | Benchmarking||Boruta feature selection||Construction safety||Construction sector||Safety culture||Safety indicator | industr | SDG9 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Dorakhan, Roham | Chin, Ya-Huei (Cathy) | Tuning of Pd Clusters and their Local Environment for CH4 and CO Oxidation Reactions | Chemical Engineering Applied Chemistry | 2020-11-01 | Pd clusters are active catalysts for oxidation of CH4 and CO, the major components of exhaust gas emissions and significant greenhouse gasses. Addition of Pt enhances the reactivity of Pd for either oxidation reaction by modifying the electronic properties of the Pd. This thesis explored (i) the optimum Pd-to-Pt atomic ratio for CH4 and CO oxidation reactions and (ii) the effects local Pd site environment alteration by confining of the clusters in SSZ-13 zeolite pores and the resulting dynamic interconversions among small and large Pd clusters. The optimal Pt-to-Pd atomic ratio was between 0.2 and 0.3, maximizing Pd-Pt interactions. In SSZ-13 zeolites, reversible re-dispersion was achieved using subsequent treatments under O2 and H2, and 10 kPa O2 partial pressure during CH4-O2 reactions was found to maximize the Pd cluster dispersion. The modifications on Pd clusters explored in this thesis could help produce more active (Pt incorporation into Pd) and stable (Pd supported on SSZ-13) exhaust emission catalysts that are less prone to sintering. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103295 | Catalysis||Kinetics||Methane Oxidation||Zeolite | environment, greenhouse gas | SDG13 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Maloney, Jamie Lauren | Malcolm, Jay | Using Insect Communities from Window-pane Traps to Test the Sustainability of Forest Management in Northern Temperate Hardwood Forests | Forestry | 2020-11-01 | Conservation of biodiversity is an essential component of single-tree selection (STS) harvesting in Ontario’s hardwood forests. Here, I compare family-level insect communities (Coleoptera, Diptera, and Hymenoptera) between mature STS-managed and unmanaged stands. I also investigate the effects of trap placement on insect communities, including traps located in the lower-canopy and understory of sugar maple and eastern hemlocks and adjacent to early- and late-decay snags and downed woody debris (DWD). Finally, I explore insect community variation as a function of tree community composition and the quality and quantity of DWD and snags. In total, 57,434 insects were collected, and no overall statistical differences were observed between communities in differently managed stands. However, strong effects on insect community composition and larval trophic guilds were observed due to trap placement. I found little evidence that insect communities varied with habitat features, although abundances of several coleopteran and hymenopteran families varied with DWD quantity. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103564 | DWD||Single-tree selection||Snag||Temperate||Vertical stratification | biodivers, forest, conserv, wind | SDG7, SDG14, SDG15 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Sultani, Be Be Fatima Zakaia | Simpson, Myrna J | Variations in Silviculture Practices Alters the Composition and Degradation of Soil Organic Matter in the Snowden Demonstration Forest, British Columbia | Chemistry | 2018-11-01 | Forest management practices such as clear-cutting may result in the loss of soil carbon (C) potentially accelerating global warming from enhanced soil priming. Green tree retention (GTR) is an emerging silviculture treatment that retains forest cover and is suggested to be a better alternative. However, molecular-level analysis of soil organic matter (SOM) of GTR is lacking. Two different GTR practices and clear-cutting were evaluated at the Snowden Demonstration Forest. SOM biomarkers were analysed with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) complimented with solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Results suggests that harvesting of forest biomass resulted in significant differences in the composition of SOM (specifically lignin-derived inputs) compared to the uncut treatment 13 years post-harvest. Additionally, degradation of bulk soil (alkyl/O-alkyl ratio) was a result of lignin oxidation by fungi. Analysis of SOM with forest management practices employed in the logging industry will assist with the development of sustainable forest management practices. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/102806 | Forest harvesting||Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry||Nuclear magnetic resonance||Pacific Northwest||Sequential biomarker analysis||Soil organic matter | forest, global warming, industr | SDG9, SDG13, SDG15 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Behzadpoor, Doreh | Quiñonez, Carlos | Work-life Balance among Female Dentists In Canada | Dentistry | 2020-11-01 | Work-life balance is increasingly gaining attention as a possible predictive factor in emotional exhaustion and burnout among professionals. While there are studies that point to challenges to work-life balance among female dentists in the United States, there is no study that looks into these issues in Canada, nor has the specific nature of these issues among female dentists been documented anywhere. The first part of our study consisted of secondary statistical analysis of previously collected survey data from a random sample of 3000 dentists practicing in Ontario in 2012 showing significant gender differences, such that female dentists appear to face more obstacles to a well-balanced work and life. In the second part, a qualitative study into what and how female dentists encounter challenges to work-life balance showed nature of the profession of dentistry, dental practice structure, personal life factors, and personal attributes to be contributing factors to such challenges. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103659 | Dentistry||Female Dentists||Work-life Balance | gender | SDG5 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Tang, Mingliang | Esmaeili, Kamran | Advances in Heap Leach Pad Surface Moisture Mapping using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Technology and Aerial Remote Sensing Imagery | Civil Engineering | 2020-11-01 | As easily accessible high-grade mineral reserves are depleting, heap leaching (HL) is gaining an increased interest in the mining industry due to its economic feasibility for processing low-grade ores. For HL operations, monitoring heap leach pad (HLP) surface moisture distribution is essential to ensure optimal leaching conditions and to achieve a high metal recovery. Conventional monitoring methods rely on manual sampling and naked-eye observation by technical staff, which are labour-intensive and expose personnel to hazardous leaching reagents frequently. To complement the conventional approaches, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) combined with aerial imaging techniques can acquire representative data depicting the moisture status across the HLP surface. This thesis presents a practical framework for HLP surface moisture monitoring, consisting of UAV-based data collection and advanced data analytics to generate HLP surface moisture maps, which provide direct visualization of the surface moisture distribution and are effective tools to streamline the HLP monitoring process. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103768 | Heap leach pad monitoring||Heap leaching||Moisture mapping||Remote sensing||Unmanned aerial vehicle | industr, labour | SDG8, SDG9 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Roher, Sophie Isabelle Grace | Gibson, Jennifer L | An Exploration of How Male Adolescents who had Childhood Cancer Make Sense of Infertility as a Long-term Effect of Cancer Treatments | Health Policy, Management and Evaluation | 2016-06-01 | Clinical practice guidelines recommend that healthcare professionals (HCPs) discuss fertility preservation (FP) with cancer patients, however studies show that many HCPs do not initiate these discussions with male adolescents. Research examining male adolescents’ perceptions of potential infertility is also limited. Using Frank’s three narrative typologies (restitution, quest, and chaos narratives) as a conceptual framework through which to examine a collection of interviews with 14-18 year old males, this study examines how male adolescent childhood cancer survivors make sense of infertility as a long-term effect of cancer treatments and explores how their experiences of cancer shape their identities. Findings: i) all three narrative types were evident in the interviews with an emphasis on the restitution and quest narratives; ii) the narratives highlighted the important role of family in the adolescents’ understanding and experience of infertility; and iii) the narratives shed light on the importance of biological parenthood to the participants. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/105894 | Adolescent||Cancer||Fertility preservation||Narrative methods||Quality of Life | health | SDG3 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Mueller, Megan Elizabeth | Volpe, Richard | An Exploration of the Emotional and Mental Challenges Children Experience following Sport-related Concussions | Applied Psychology and Human Development | 2020-11-01 | Recent consensus statements on sport-related concussions (SRCs) highlight the need for further research investigating emotional challenges following SRC in children (Graham et al., 2014; McCrory et al., 2013). The current study used an exploratory retrospective approach to gain a better understanding of the emotional and mental experiences post-concussion. Twenty-one athletes ages 15-24 years participated in semi-structured telephone interviews regarding their concussion and recovery. Thematic content analysis was conducted to identify themes among responses. Results indicated three overarching domains with underlying themes and subthemes within: 1) Acute Challenges Post-Concussion (difficulty accepting unknowns, self-image and mattering, school, missing out and isolation, feelings of hopelessness), 2) Coping with Acute Challenges Post-Concussion (support, previous concussions, prioritizing mental health) and 3) Take Aways Post-Concussion (learning about injury, self-growth, long lasting impacts on overall health). The current results suggest that child athletes face numerous emotional challenges post-concussion and better interventions and support are critical to help athletes overcome these challenges. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103781 | Emotional Challenges||Mental Health||Recovery Outcomes||Rehabilitation||Sport-Related Concussion | health | SDG3 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Lumia, Celeste Marie | McPherson, Amy C | An Exploration of the Health and Wellness Experiences of Young People with Spina Bifida | Rehabilitation Science | 2021-03-01 | Introduction: Young people with spina bifida (SB) have unique abilities and challenges that can affect their experiences of health and wellness. Objective: To better understand the health and wellness experiences of young people with SB. Methods: 1. An overview of how the experiences of children and young people with disabilities have previously been explored. 2. A rapid scoping review of how photo-elicitation has been used to engage children and adolescents with disabilities 3. Photo-elicitation interviews with two young people with SB. Results: The voices of children and young people with disabilities have been frequently overlooked. Photo-elicitation can support their expression of ideas. The health and wellness experiences of young people with SB are nuanced and multi-dimensional, characterized by six key features. Discussion: Exploring how young people with disabilities experience health and wellness more broadly furthers understandings of how to promote health and wellness in ways that are important to them. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/105070 | Disability||Health promotion||Photo-elicitation||Spina Bifida||Wellness | health | SDG3 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Mandekic, Claudia | McDougall, Douglas | BallMatics Program - Basketball Court as a Middle-school Math Classroom: A Mixed Methods Study | Curriculum, Teaching and Learning | 2021-03-01 | Sport has a plethora of documented benefits, and evidence suggests that physical activity can significantly improve academic abilities of students. I propose that sports-based mathematic programming can support academic advancement of youths by actively embedding sports into academic mathematics programming. In this study, a mixed-methods design with one intervention group of 19 middle school youths participating in a movement-based mathematics afterschool program, called BallMatics, was delivered for ten weeks. Qualitative methods were employed to learn about participants’ academic identities and their perceived experience in the movement-based mathematics program. Thematic analyses based on social cognitive theory (SCT) revealed several recurring themes. Paired-samples t-tests demonstrated statistically significant increase in participants’ math knowledge and self-efficacy. Findings revealed increased participant engagement in mathematics content taught, motivation to complete mathematics tasks, eliciting of positive emotions and positive associations with mathematics. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/105048 | BallMatics||Mathematics Education||Mixed Methods||Movement-based mathematics||Qualitative||Quantitative | educat | SDG4 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Kaspy, Matthew | Hanley, Anthony J | Combined Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors: Metabolomic Effects and Implications for Type 2 Diabetes Prevention | Nutritional Sciences | 2021-03-01 | A combination of healthy lifestyle behaviors has been consistently associated with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) although these associations in a multiethnic cohort remain unknown. The aims of this research were to: 1) systematically review published literature on the metabolomic profile of combined healthy lifestyle behaviors and, 2) assess the associations between combined healthy lifestyle behaviors and incident T2DM in a multiethnic cohort. Three databases were searched for studies outlining the metabolomic profile of combined healthy lifestyle behaviors. Multivariable logistic regressions explored their associations with incident T2DM in a multiethnic cohort. Results showed: 1) a positive association between combined healthy lifestyle behaviors and beneficial fatty acids and phosphocreatine as well as inverse associations with TMAO and other biomarkers; and 2) a significant association (OR=0.85, CI: 0.75-0.96, p=0.009) with incident T2DM. Regular adoption of multiple healthy lifestyle behaviors leads to beneficial metabolomic changes and lower risk of T2DM. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104982 | healthy lifestyle||healthy lifestyle behaviour||Insulin resistance atherosclerosis study||metabolomic signature||multiethnic cohort||type 2 diabetes | health | SDG3 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Tomlinson, Aidan Charles Andrew | Rini, James M | Coronavirus Evolution and Immune Evasion | Biochemistry | 2018-11-01 | Coronaviruses are emerging pathogens that threaten human health and prosperity. Each year, hundreds of millions of people are infected with continually circulating coronaviruses that cause the common cold in healthy individuals and kill the most vulnerable of us. Coronaviruses adapt to environmental change at a remarkable rate. The HCoV-229E coronavirus has adapted and evolved over the last 50 years by mutating residues in the receptor-binding loops of the receptor binding domain (RBD) of its spike (S) protein. These sequences phylogenetically segregate into Classes whose viruses have successively replaced one another in the human population. These Classes possess different receptor (hAPN) and antibody binding characteristics and the crystal structures of RBD-hAPN complexes have been solved. Structural insights into the ever-changing RBD and its interaction with hAPN show the use of secondary structure-less loops facilitate tremendous structural variability, a trait that likely enables changes in viral fitness and immune evasion. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/102829 | Adaptation||Coronavirus||Crystallography||Evolution||Immune||Phylogeny | environment, health | SDG3, SDG13 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| deJonge, Melissa Lynne | Sabiston, Catherine M | Exercise as an Alternative Depression Treatment: Perspectives and Practices of Canadian Post-secondary Mental Health Care Providers | Exercise Sciences | 2021-03-01 | Post-secondary campuses are experiencing challenges with increasing reports of depression symptoms among students. Exercise is an evidence-based treatment for depression, and prescriptions initiated by mental health care providers (MHCPs) could improve uptake to exercise as a treatment. Campuses provide recreation facilities and exercise programs that could be used to support prescription practices, yet the exercise prescription practices among on-campus MHCPs are currently unknown. The purpose of this mixed methods research was to explore post-secondary MHCPs’ practices and beliefs towards prescribing exercise for depression. Participants (N = 153) completed a self-report questionnaire to assess exercise prescription practices, beliefs, and theoretical determinants of prescription practices. Semi-structured interviews (N =12) were conducted to provide contextual details. Based on the integration of the findings, favourable perceptions towards exercise were reported and results provide implications for developing theory-informed resources and training opportunities to leverage on-campus exercise programs as an alternative depression treatment approach. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/105033 | Alternative treatment||Depression||Exercise||Mental health||Physical activity||Post-secondary student | health | SDG3 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Bui, Sunny | Lindsay, Sally | Exploring the Development of Playfulness among Youth with Disabilities in the HB FIRST® Robotics Program | Rehabilitation Science | 2021-03-01 | Background: Youth with disabilities often have less opportunities to play than their typically developing peers. An adapted robotics program is a promising way to help address problems in play development while learning educational content relevant for success across the lifespan.Objective: To understand the impact of using an adapted robotics program on the development of playfulness among youth with disabilities, aged 9 to 14 years. Methods: Observational research design using a pre-post video analysis on video-recorded raw data using the normalized and standardized assessment tool, the Test of Playfulness. Results: Participants exhibited significantly more playful behaviours following the completion of the adapted robotics program (Δ=0.8, p=0.001). Prior enrollment in the program also significantly impacted playfulness (F(1.0, 25)=10.0, p=0.004) Age, gender and disability type did not improve playfulness. Conclusion: The adapted robotics program improved the playfulness scores of youth with disabilities while enrolled in the program. These findings suggest that youth with disabilities can improve their playfulness through recreational and/or leisurely means. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104884 | children||disability||paediatrics||rehabilitation||robotics||youth | gender, educat | SDG4, SDG5 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Kavalsky, Lance Samuel | Singh, Chandra Veer | First-principles Investigation of 2D Phosphorus for Energy Storage Applications | Materials Science and Engineering | 2019-11-01 | Allotropes of 2D phosphorus have presented themselves as appealing candidate materials for improved energy storage systems to meet current demands. In this thesis, first-principles simulations were conducted to predict the performances of these materials. Blue phosphorene was studied as an anode material for Na-ion and K-ion batteries, and predictions of key performance indicators showed its potential. Additionally, phosphorene’s catalytic properties towards discharge and charge at the cathode for Li-air batteries were estimated. Using overpotentials as a measure of efficiency, phosphorene was able to contribute towards reasonable values showing its promise for future implementation. As phosphorene’s ambient degradation limits its more widespread implementation, strain engineering was explored as a method towards increased stability. It was found that compressive strain can induce an activation barrier towards singlet oxidation splitting, thereby inhibiting the first step of the degradation process. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103872 | batteries||density functional theory||energy storage||phosphorus||two-dimensional materials | energy | SDG7 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Castelle , Kahlia | Ryan, Sherida | Innovation in Workplace Learning: Perceptions of the Value of Game-based Learning among Training and Development Professionals | Leadership, Higher and Adult Education | 2020-11-01 | Games are a fundamental part of the fabric of human existence. Their utility extend beyond the sole purpose of entertainment and transcends to the realm of games for learning. The impetus of this study was to examine the perceptions of game-based learning (GBL) through the lens of training and development professionals in Canada. Employing a mixed-method approach, a survey questionnaire was used to explore experience using GBL, intention to use GBL and barriers to adoption. A descriptive analysis of frequencies was performed on the quantitative data and content analysis for the open-ended qualitative survey responses. Based on the results of 172 respondents, only 43.6 percent were using GBL. Majority of respondents lacked GBL knowledge and experienced low self-efficacy for GBL design and application. This was exacerbated by social, organizational and systems-wide barriers. Increased GBL knowledge and support from leadership and peers were among the factors to mitigate GBL adoption barriers. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103681 | Game-Based Learning||Learning Innovation||Training and Development||Workplace Learning | innovat | SDG9 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Cardenas, Analyssa | Fehlings, Darcy | Inpatient Rehabilitation Exergames in Children with Cerebral Palsy after Lower Extremity Orthopaedic Surgery | Rehabilitation Science | 2020-11-01 | Children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) often require lower extremity orthopaedic surgery, with recovery consisting of pain and fewer opportunities for social interaction. The Liberi Exergames, a multi-player exergame powered by pedaling a stationary bicycle and using game-controllers, may provide opportunities for children with CP to cycle, decrease pain and enhance well-being. The objectives were to assess the feasibility of incorporating exergames for children with CP and to explore pain and well-being. Ten children with CP recovering from lower extremity orthopaedic surgery were recruited; the first five received physiotherapy (“comparison group”), and the next five received 15 exergame sessions and physiotherapy (“case group”). Questionnaires evaluating pain and well-being were administered. All feasibility indicators were met, reduced pain scores were reported for both groups, and improved well-being scores were reported for the case group. This project provides the basis for developing larger studies to evaluate exergames for inpatient pediatric orthopaedic populations. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103613 | exergames||neurotechnology||orthopedic||rehabilitation | well-being | SDG3 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Biscardi, Melissa | Colantonio, Angela | Long Term Reproductive Health Outcomes in Women with Perisistent Symptoms Following Traumatic Brain Injury | Rehabilitation Science | 2019-06-01 | Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a public health concern, yet little is known about the long-term effects unique to women. This study examined the 1) feasibility of recruitment and study procedures; and, 2) long-term reproductive health outcomes in women living with TBI. A convenience sample of 10 women was consecutively recruited from the largest adult TBI rehabilitation program in Canada. Eligible participants were premenopausal women who sustained a TBI one or more years ago. Participants attended the research clinic and completed a structured questionnaire, Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neurological Status and provided a serum sample for Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH). Of the participants, 50% experienced low levels of AMH and all participants experienced high levels of symptomology when compared to the general population. These findings suggest monitoring of reproductive health in the long-term post TBI is needed and future research should be sufficiently powered to expand on these findings. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/101800 | anti-mullerian hormone||concussion||long-term||outcomes||reproduction||traumatic brain injury | production, women, health | SDG3, SDG5, SDG12 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Zgardau, Alina | Nathan, Paul C | Maternal and Perinatal Outcomes in Female Survivors of Childhood, Adolescent, and Young Adult Cancer | Medical Science | 2020-11-01 | Childhood, adolescent and young adult cancer survivors may develop long-term health issues. Data are lacking on reproductive complications. Using health administrative data, an Ontario provincial cohort of 3,486 survivors and 17,428 matched cancer-free individuals was assembled. Outcomes included recognized pregnancies, maternal and perinatal complications. Overall, survivors were significantly less likely to have a pregnancy compared to cancer-free individuals [Hazard Ratio 0.79,95%CI 0.73-0.86], especially those who received hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT),and cranial radiation. Survivors had a significant relative risk (RR) for severe maternal morbidity (SMM) (RR 2.31,95%CI 1.49-3.59) and cardiac morbidity (RR 3.23,95%CI 1.58-6.60). Among survivors, SMM predictors included CNS tumour and pre-existing kidney disease. Newborns of survivors were at risk for preterm birth (RR 1.56,95%CI 1.23-1.98). Predictors of preterm birth included alkylating agent chemotherapy and HSCT. This study suggests that survivors are less likely to have a pregnancy and are at risk for SMM, cardiac morbidity, and preterm birth. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103427 | AYA||Childhood Cancer||Late-effects||Obstetrical||Perinatal||Survivorship | health | SDG3 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Violette, Nadine Julie | Bialystok, Lauren | Neoliberal Developmentalism: Challenging Dominant Educational Narratives of Human and Economic Development | Social Justice Education | 2020-11-01 | Educationalists have argued that career and guidance curricula often reflect the structural need to produce a future working population fit to service neoliberal capitalism, a system that demonstrates grave incompatibilities with human well-being. I observe this trend in a New Brunswick curriculum document called Personal Development and Career Planning (PDCP), which has been criticized in the past for its effect on marginalized students. I argue that PDCP effaces the distinction between what it means to be a “person” and a “worker” by conflating one’s ‘mental fitness’ for work with a positive self-concept and self-esteem, and I observe of this pairing a kind of social Darwinian educational schematic. Drawing from a breadth of disciplines, I analyze how students’ expected disillusionment is channeled into forms of “proper adjustment” and “proper resistance” to the oppressive structure of capitalism, whereby the progressive pedagogical tendencies of PDCP are squandered by its main objective. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103705 | Critical theory||Curriculum||Developmentalism||Neoliberalism||New Brunswick||Philosophy of Education | worker, educat, well-being | SDG3, SDG4, SDG8 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| van der Tempel, Jan | Moodley, Roy | Spontaneous mystical experiences, mental health, and wellbeing: A qualitative study among atheist young adults | Applied Psychology and Human Development | 2018-06-01 | Spontaneous mystical experiences (SMEs) are common, spontaneously occurring, anomalous states, often involving spiritual/religious insight and change. Outcomes range from enhanced wellbeing to various mental health problems, and are mediated by spirituality/religiosity. This study employed a qualitative methodology to explore how atheist young adults interpret their SMEs and how their mental health and wellbeing are affected. Data was collected via semistructured interviews with adult participants, and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Participants’ SMEs comprised an altered sense of self and connectedness, precipitating changes in self-identity, worldview, values, and goals that facilitated wellbeing across domains of functioning. Difficulties explaining the SME to self and others were linked to uncertainty and rumination, feelings of isolation and alienation, and worries about mental illness, suggesting that atheists may be at increased risk for mental health problems associated with SME. Implications for clinical practice and theory are provided, along with recommendations for future research. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/101597 | atheism||mental health||mystical experience||religion||spirituality||wellbeing | wellbeing, health | SDG3 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Saly, Lauren Antonia | Scratch, Shannon E.||Martinussen, Rhonda | Teaching Educators About Acquired Brain Injury: A Usability Study Evaluating the Teach-ABI Module | Applied Psychology and Human Development | 2021-03-01 | Acquired brain injury (ABI) is a leading cause of death and disability in children, yet it is a “silent voice” in the Ontario education system and Ontario educators do not receive any related training. This study examined Ontario educators’ satisfaction with the Teach-ABI module, an innovative, e-Learning module that provides information about ABI, its outcomes, and classroom strategies to support students with ABI. Eight educators engaged in one-on-one usability sessions over Zoom, involving a concurrent think-aloud protocol, task completion and participant observation, completion of the System Usability Scale, and an exit interview. Educators identified no significant usability issues with the module and were very satisfied with its content, design, and navigation. Results also revealed that educators were very engaged with the content and felt that it increased their knowledge of ABI. The implications of this study on the development of the Teach-ABI module and future research are discussed. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/105018 | acquired brain injury||online module||pediatric||school-based rehabilitation||teacher training||usability study | innovat, educat | SDG4, SDG9 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Crampton, Noah | Shachak, Aviv | Teaching Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Data Discipline to Clinical Trainees: A Canadian Pilot Study | Health Policy, Management and Evaluation | 2020-11-01 | Evidence suggests that patients whose electronic medical records (EMR) are documented with high quality data obtain higher quality care. However, most clinicians do not routinely document with this data discipline, and to date how to instruct this has not been clear. In this study, the key components of such an educational session for Canadian family medicine trainees were determined, with a particular focus on improving trainee awareness of the importance of data discipline and their understanding of data consistency. We piloted our developed session in three academic teaching sites and found no statistically significant difference when comparing two instructional methods – exploratory case simulations versus didactic only. However, trainee performance in general was satisfactory, suggesting robust immediate learning regardless of teaching method. Trainees also confirmed a strong desire for education on data discipline. Going forward, the educational session can be improved, become embedded in curricula, and evaluated using real-world EMR data. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103597 | data quality||electronic medical records||medical education | educat | SDG4 | X | |||||||||||||||
| O'Rourke, Roxy Helliker | Arbour-Nicitopoulos, Kelly P. | The Relationship Between Physical Activity and Mental Health in Adults with Chronic Disabilities | Exercise Sciences | 2020-11-01 | Compromised mental health (MH) is a common secondary outcome for adults with disabilities. While physical activity (PA) has psychological benefits, PA levels remain low in adults with disabilities. Guided by self-determination theory and Lubans and colleagues’ PA-MH model, this thesis examined the PA-MH relationship in adults with disabilities (N = 100, Mage = 36.61). Three moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) modes [combined (p = .34, p = .01), strength (p = .36, p = .01), aerobic (p = .38, p = .01)] were positively correlated with MH. Autonomy, competence, and relatedness were positively correlated with MVPA and MH. Athletes reported significantly greater MVPA (t(98) = 6.31, p | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103629 | disability||ill-being||mental health||physical activity||well-being | well-being, health | SDG3 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Herrera Caceres, Jaime Omar | Fleshner, Neil||Berlin, Alejandro | Use of Adjuvant Androgen Deprivation Therapy with Primary Radiation Therapy for Patients >75 Years Old with Prostate Cancer: Pooled Analysis of RTOG Data | Medical Science | 2020-11-01 | The use of adjuvant androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in men with intermediate and high-risk prostate cancer who undergo primary radiation therapy is recommended by multiple clinical practice guidelines. Nonetheless, ADT has been associated with side effects that can impact the health of men, especially in a population who already has an increased prevalence of comorbidities and can be more prone to complications. We did a pooled analysis of randomized clinical trials looking into survival outcomes in men >75 years old. In the elder population, the benefit of ADT on cancer-specific mortality is clear, although it increases the risk of other cause mortality, resulting in a null effect on overall survival. We had similar findings in the younger population. In terms of length of adjuvant ADT, the use of 24 months of ADT could improve overall survival, compared to 4 months. | M.H.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103707 | Androgen Deprivation Therapy||Geriatric||Prostate Cancer||Radiation Oncology||Survival analyses||Treatment complications | health | SDG3 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Gillies, Rolland Christian | Lam, Ernest WN | X-ray Imaging Practices of General Dentists in Ontario, Canada | Dentistry | 2020-11-01 | The objective of this thesis is to determine how general dentists in Ontario currently practice oral and maxillofacial radiology. In this cross-sectional study, an email survey was sent to all general dentists in Ontario; 1,330 dentists responded (14.7% response rate). There is widespread adoption of 2D and 3D digital imaging technologies. Approximately 42.8% of dentists take an individualized approach to ordering images for new adult dentate patients. When dentists are presented with clinical case scenarios and asked to make decisions about imaging, between 18.8% and 57.2% of dentists make decisions that do not conform with established guidelines (depending on the scenario), and over-prescribe x-ray imaging far more commonly than they under-prescribe. Numerous dentist and practice factors correlate significantly with over-prescription of imaging. Changes in dental education, continuing education course offerings, and possibly regulatory requirements are needed to ensure that ionizing radiation is used appropriately in general dentistry in Ontario. | M.H.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103496 | dental radiography||radiation dosage||radiation protection||x-ray imaging technology||x-ray prescription | educat | SDG4 | X | |||||||||||||||
| English, Simon G. | Welch Jr., Kenneth C. | An Integrative Analysis of the Effects of Neonicotinoid Pesticides on North American Hummingbirds | Cell and Systems Biology | 2020-11-01 | Neonicotinoids are neurotoxic systemic insecticides applied extensively worldwide. The impacts of neonicotinoid exposure on invertebrates are widely studied, however effects on essential vertebrate pollinators like hummingbirds have received little attention. My study into the effects of imidacloprid, a common neonicotinoid, on hummingbirds integrates lab-based and field-based assays with emphasis on cellular, systems, whole-organism, and behavioural levels. Within 2 h of exposure, hummingbirds exhibited a significant depression in energy expenditure (up to 25% +/- 11%). I did not observe effects on feeding behaviour, immune response, or cholinesterase activity in the lab, or stress hormone deposition in feathers collected in the field. I also determined that hummingbirds excrete imidacloprid quickly (elimination half-life of 2.1 h +/- 0.1 h) relative to other bird species. Hummingbirds exist on narrow energy margins, especially during migration and breeding seasons. Therefore, changes in their metabolism following exposures to imidacloprid observed herein could bear important energetic consequences. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103588 | dose-response||hummingbirds||imidacloprid||integrative biology||neonicotinoid pesticides | energy | SDG15 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Wong, Timothy Sheung Bun | Newman, Roger C | Application of Nanoporous Gold to Gas Phase Sensing of Volatile Organic Compounds | Chemical Engineering Applied Chemistry | 2020-11-01 | Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are a core component of many applications in modern society. While beneficial due to their various chemical properties, VOCs can pose significant challenges to work with due to their health risks and volatile nature. Existing VOC sensors are insufficient in meeting the sensing challenges posed by chemical and physical nature of VOCs, creating significant personal and societal health and safety risk. Nanoporous gold (NPG) sensors are an excellent candidate material in tackling these challenges. In this work the change in the electronic properties (electrical resistance and capacitance) are used to characterize changes in environmental volatile compounds. Leveraging changes in the impedance at different frequencies, classification and quantification of several model VOCs was achieved. Due to the complex nature of the responses, modern machine learning techniques were leveraged to achieve sensing tasks. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103650 | environment, health | SDG9 | X | X | |||||||||||||||
| Rayan, Tamara | Duff, Wendy||Cowen, T.L. | Archival Imperialism: An Analysis of Racial Hierarchy in the Six Day War Files | Information Studies | 2020-11-01 | Using a theoretical framework of critical race theory, settler colonialism, and symbolic annihilation, this research investigates how records creators and archivists of the Six Day War Files Collection have constructed their own narrative of the War, thereby legitimizing a racial hierarchy between Palestinians and Israelis and sustaining Israeli imperialism. Chapter One problematizes why there is little written about Palestine from the archival perspective, despite the abundance of scholarship on the colonial power of the archive. Chapter Two analyzes the content of the Collection, investigating how records creators used symbolic annihilation to construct Palestinians as a racialized Other. Chapter Three analyzes the context of the Collection, investigating how archival practices have sustained the colonizer’s representation of the colonized and furthered racial inequality. This thesis offers a novel perspective to the current archival scholarship regarding Palestine, revealing how symbolic annihilation in the archive extends, and is an extension of, systemic annihilation. | M.I.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103129 | Archives||Colonialism||Israel||Palestine||Recordkeeping||War | inequality, equality | SDG5, SDG10 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Charest, Maxime | Gillis, J. Roy | Changes in Sexual Behaviours among Gay, Bisexual and Other Men who Have Sex with Men Occurring during the COVID-19 Pandemic | Applied Psychology and Human Development | 2021-03-01 | As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, physical distancing measures and stay-at-home orders have been put in place around the world to limit the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, several studies outside Canada have found that some individuals, including gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) have continued to engage in sexual activity. As such, the current research explored changes in sexual behaviours as a result of the pandemic among Canadian GBMSM. Findings revealed that Canadian GBMSM did report a reduction in sexual activity. Factors that predicted current high-risk sexual behaviour were identification with the bareback scene, sexual satisfaction and prior high-risk sexual behaviour. Our findings suggest that some Canadian GBMSM have continued to engage in sexual activities with casual and regular partners during the initial height of the pandemic, which has important implications for public health policies and health promotion as the pandemic endures. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104925 | COVID-19||LGBTQ||MSM||Sexual Health||Sexuality | health | SDG3, SDG5 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Umbrio, Dana | Evans, Greg | Comparing the Oxidative Potential of Fine Ambient Particulate Matter Across Airsheds in Canada | Chemical Engineering Applied Chemistry | 2021-03-01 | Oxidative potential (OP) and oxidative burden (OB) are being explored as more health-relevant metrics for assessing the risk of particulate matter. Correlations with different metals have been reported, although the findings are often conflicting, and thus not readily generalizable across locations or airsheds. Approximately 1000 PM2.5 samples, collected from June 2016 until December 2018 in forty cities across Canada, were analyzed using three standardized acellular assays: ascorbate (AA), glutathione (GSH) and dithiothreitol (DTT). Linear and multilinear correlations analyses revealed that different metals were influencing OP and OB to different degrees across the airsheds. In particular, OB values for all three assays were associated with Cu and Fe, and in addition, OBAA with S and K and OBGSH with K. The highest OP and OB values were seen in the East Central airshed, while the lowest were in the Southern Atlantic and Northern airsheds. AA and DTT activity are associated with coal combustion and combustion emissions while GSH activity is associated with anthropogenic metals. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/105001 | Canada||OPERA||Oxidative Burden||Oxidative Potential||PM2.5 | cities, health | SDG3, SDG11, SDG13 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Samson, Hugh Kevin | Hartel, Jenna | Contemplating Infrastructure: An Ethnographic Study of the University of Toronto Faculty of Information Inforum’s iRelax Mindfulness Resource Area | Information Studies | 2021-03-01 | Created in 2016, the iRelax area is an innovative meditation and yoga resource hub situated within the University of Toronto Faculty of Information’s Inforum. Comprised of approximately fifty interconnected digital, physical, and textual resources, the iRelax area possesses a distinctly open and visible spatial profile intended to promote open conversations about mental health. This ethnographic case study of the iRelax area examines the initiative’s aesthetic, informational, organizational, and spatial properties, as well as individuals’ encounters and interactions therewith. The iRelax area’s associated Mindful Moments program, or free, guided meditation sessions offered within the learning commons one day per week, is also examined. In order to develop a detailed understanding of the relationship between the iRelax area and this program, the study’s design was broadened to include consideration of contemplative inquiry as a complement to ethnography. The study casts the iRelax area and its associated Mindful Moments program as contemplative infrastructure. | M.I.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/104974 | academic libraries||contemplative practice||ethnography||infrastructure||mindfulness meditation||yoga | innovat, infrastructure, health | SDG3 | X | |||||||||||||||
| Leng, Jiye | Chen, Jing M | Downscaling the Maximum Carboxylation Rate (Vcmax) Derived from Satellite Sun-induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence Data Using High-resolution Remote Sensing Products | Geography | 2020-11-01 | The maximum carboxylation rate (Vcmax) influences the magnitude of gross primary productivity (GPP). Currently, reliable global Vcmax products derived from satellite sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) data are at coarse resolutions, which cannot meet the demand of global ecological research. In this thesis, the Vcmax25 (Vcmax normalized to 25°C) dataset derived from satellite SIF at a coarse resolution (0.1°, ~11 km) is downscaled to a higher resolution (1 km) through a downscaling scheme using photochemical reflectance index (PRI) and spatial scaling algorithms based on leaf chlorophyll content (LCC) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). The Boreal Ecosystem Productivity Simulator (BEPS) is used to evaluate the downscaled Vcmax25 using tower flux data. The results show that the LCC-downscaled Vcmax25 data appreciatively improve GPP simulations at the tower sites, indicating LCC as a feasible way for downscaling the Vcmax25 dataset. GPP estimations at the 0.1° resolution decrease by 2-7% after Vcmax25 downscaling. | M.Sc. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103407 | Downscaling||Global Carbon Cycle||Maximum Carboxylation Rate||Spatial Heterogeneity||Vcmax25 | ecolog | SDG13, SDG15 | X | X | ||||||||||||||
| Ray, Ishita | Amza, Cristiana||de Lara, Eyal | Effect of Skin Tone on the Confidence of WearOS Smartwatches | Electrical and Computer Engineering | 2020-11-01 | Smartwatch technology has the potential to make monitoring chronically ill people continuously without hampering their daily life easier. Physiological information e.g. heart rate can be collected and monitored remotely by smartwatches which can be useful in long term studies, monitoring chronic conditions, timely intervention. However, before we can use the smartwatch data for an error-sensitive clinical setting, we need to be sure about the reliability of the data, both in terms of quality and quantity. In this work, we investigate the effect of skin tone on the heart-rate reliability estimation of seven consumer-grade WearOS based smartwatches by collecting data from 18 individuals. We find that watches tend to report fewer high-confidence measurements for dark skin tones, despite no substantial difference in the actual error of heart rate reading. We also report a wide variation in the behavior of those watches even though they implement the same API for data collection. | M.A.S. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103651 | Data analytics||Health monitoring||Heart rate||PPG||Smartwatch | consum, health | SDG3, SDG10, SDG12 | X | X | X | |||||||||||||
| Schwartzman, Emily | Rule, Nick | Implicit and Explicit Responses to Male Gender Inversion Stereotype Violation: A Mouse-tracking Study | Psychology | 2020-11-01 | Gender inversion stereotypes characterize straight men as masculine and gay men as feminine. Because people automatically employ stereotypes to conserve cognitive resources, processing masculine gay and feminine straight targets might require more effort. I tested that possibility here by using a mouse-tracking task to examine how perceivers reported the sexual orientation of stereotypical (masculine straight and feminine gay) versus counterstereotypical (feminine straight and masculine gay) men. Results from two studies showed that stereotypes affect accurate identification of men’s sexual orientation in explicit but not implicit judgments: participants in Study 1 were less accurate in explicitly reporting the sexual orientation of counterstereotypical targets (especially feminine straight men) and participants in Study 2 were less accurate in explicitly reporting the sexual orientation of all gay targets, regardless of their stereotypicality. Stereotype-based expectations therefore affect perceptions of male sexual orientation, though additional research will need to further interrogate the nature of these stereotype-based errors. | M.A. | http://hdl.handle.net/1807/103720 | mouse-tracking||sexual orientation||social perception||stereotypes | conserv, gender | SDG5 | X |