During the past decade, web applications have evolved substantially. Taking advantage of new technologies, Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) make heavy use of client side code to present content. Web crawlers, however, face new challenges in crawling RIAs, such as how to explore and identify different client states. The problem of crawling RIAs has been a focus for researchers during recent years, and solutions have been proposed based on constructing a state-transition model with DOMs as states and JavaScript events as transitions. When faced with real-life RIAs, however, a major problem prevalent in current solutions is state space explosion caused by the complexity of the RIAs. This problem prevents the automated crawlers from being usable on complex RIAs as they fail to produce useful results in a timely fashion. This research addresses the challenge of efficiently crawling complex RIAs with two main ideas: component-based crawling and similarity detection. Our experimental results show that these ideas lead to a drastic reduction of the time required to produce results, enabling the crawler to explore RIAs previously too complex for automated crawl.

First Nations foodways have been altered through systemized efforts of colonization and were effectively reduced in part from the creation of stores and through limiting reserve systems. The current research seeks to understand the dietary choices and changes among three generations of Fist Nations women. Research takes place in a remote First Nation community in Northern Ontario. The differing food practices among the three generations of women highlight transformations resulting from a traumatic history. Decreases in the consumption of traditional, land based foods, as well as the practices around these foods (procurement, preparation, knowledge exchange and social engagement) alter the experiences of the younger generations. The conversations/exchanges around food take place within the culturally significant space of the teepee. The teepee is a core element. These exchanges have a tremendous bearing on the overall wellness of these women and their efforts to reclaim and remain culturally resilient.

In this thesis, a smectite rich bentonite ore deposit from Porto Santo Island (Portugal) was characterized and then applied to prepare clay-biopolymer nanocomposite material. Natural clay sample is mainly composed of Fe rich smectite, having also feldspar, calcite and magnetite-maghemite minerals. Both montmorillonite from the clay source repository (SWy-2) and the Porto Santo bentonite were used for the nanocomposite synthesis. An exocellular polysaccharide – scleroglucan was used as a biopolymer. The X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy results show that smectite is well dispersed in the scleroglucan matrix with partial exfoliation. The study of various experimental parameters reveal that only the scleroglucan/clay mineral mass ratios determine the level of the clay sheets’ dispersion in the polymer matrix. Compared to SWy-2, the Porto Santo bentonite shows a smaller degree of dispersion within the polymer matrix, but nevertheless its potential outstanding mechanical properties could be of interest for further studies.

Myotonic Dystrophy type 1 (DM1), the most common form of adult muscular dystrophy (~1:8000) currently has no effective treatment. In DM1, expansion of a tri-nucleotide repeat in the 3' UTR of the DMPK gene results in DMPK mRNA hairpin structures, aggregating as insoluble ribonuclear foci. The resulting mis-regulation of important splicing factors, causes the inclusion of fetal exons in dozens of transcripts that contribute to the disease phenotype. In order to identify novel gene targets and kinase signalling pathways for potential therapeutics we have performed a high-throughput RNAi. RNA foci were visualized and quantified by in-situ hybridization. From our screen, we have identified a novel gene, PACT, as a modulator of foci integrity and that PACT knockdown can induce MBNL1 protein levels. The identified signalling complex represents a valid target for DM1 therapeutics. Our data further emphasizes the utility of RNAi screens in identifying disease-associated genes.

This thesis offers a micro-level analysis of labour and women’s organizing in the context of globalization through the case study of the Comité Fronterizo de Obrer@s (CFO) from 1978 to 2009. We will see how one organization’s journey can give us insights into the complexities of local organizing and transnational networking in the context of globalization. This case study can be seen as a lens through which we can examine the changing context of labour and women’s organizing in the distinct maquiladora environment. My work positions itself in the “globalization from above” and “globalization from below” debate, specifically around the question of transnational social movements that form the “globalization from below” category in the context of a political economy analysis. However, where my thesis differs from a more traditional analysis of the resistance to globalization, such as that found in the global justice movements or alter-globalization movements, is in its focus on the complexities of organizing at the local level and the pressures that these local organizations feel from “above” from their transnational partners. What this thesis adds to the literature are the stories from the actual members of the organization, about the structure, the decision-making process of their organization, the role of the leadership and the connections between the local organizing and the transnational civil society partners. The complex history of an organization that has been there since the beginning of the maquiladora industry allows us a better understanding of the changing conditions and struggles these workers have faced. This journey through the history of the CFO, the richness of this empirical data encompassing more than 30 years of organizing in the maquiladora zone of Northern Mexico also allows us to explore “globalization from below” through different lens. This thesis brings in a micro-detail analysis of a specific organization in a specific context where we can see clearly transnational civil society linkages and the impact of globalizing capitalist neoliberal economy. As such, this research can offer us new insights into the intricacies of local-global linkages and thus contribute to an area often neglected or underdeveloped in international relations (IR).

Physical inactivity, a phenomenon on the rise in numerous countries, has gained global attention because of its negative effects on humans' physical wellness. It represents a stumbling block in the way of living a healthy lifestyle. Recent statistics of World Health Organization (WHO) ranked physical inactivity as the fourth leading risk factors for adults' mortality all over the world [1]. Also, physical inactivity is considered as one of the most prominent contributing factors in several severe diseases such as breast and colon cancer, diabetes and many heart- related diseases [1]. Therefore, improving daily physical activity levels is an urgent societal goal in order to tackle the physical inactivity problem. Achieving such challenging goal requires addressing the factors that affect adults’ physical activity. In fact, there are many factors that lead to physical inactivity such as the busy lifestyle, lack of awareness regarding required physical activity levels and other environmental factors. Physical activity advisory systems can be seen as a promising solution for the inactivity problem. In order to enhance their effectiveness, these systems must take into account most of the factors previously mentioned. In this thesis, we aim to provide a method to promote the increase of daily physical activity levels by leveraging biofeedback and context awareness features. In order to achieve this purpose, we design and develop an algorithm that provides a user with personalized physical activity advice. This advice increases the user's awareness through the use of calories expenditure. To add a context awareness component to our algorithm, we propose an extension of the Ubiquitous Biofeedback (UB) Model [2]. We believe that combining the biofeedback feature with context awareness component would make the system sensitive to the user’s status and thus increase the chances of her or him following it. This advice represents the daily-recommended amount of physical activity for maintaining healthy lifestyle according to [3, 4]and other international organizations' recommendations. In order to prove the concept of the proposed algorithm and extended UB Model, we design and develop a system called "CAB". It is a context aware biofeedback system that tracks user's physical movement and estimates the amount of calories burnt to provide the user with a personalized physical activity advice that considers user's current status, preferences and surrounding environmental context. The system utilizes a biofeedback sensor and a smart phone in order to provide the personalized advice that is delivered to the user in a form of multiple-mode feedback/notification (text, audio and haptic). In this thesis, we provide detailed information about the design requirements, the design model, the proposed system and its related hardware components and software modules. The qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the developed system CAB shows a positive impact on the experiment sample group by motivating the participants to reach or exceed the recommended number of calories to be burned daily for most of the evaluation days.

Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease resulting primarily from loss of dopaminergic innervation in the striatum subsequent to cell loss in the substantia nigra pars compacta. The abnormal accumulation of the normal pre-synaptic protein α-synuclein (αsyn) forms intraneuronal inclusions known as Lewy neurites and Lewy bodies. The origins of central Lewy pathology have been suggested to lie in the enteric nervous system, ascending through the vagus nerve to the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus. To ascertain gastrointestinal regions most likely to be the source of central Lewy pathology, αsyn expression was evaluated in the neural elements of gastrointestinal regions receiving the densest vagal innervation. The vermiform appendix was found to have the densest αsyn-immunoreactive innervation in all layers of the gut wall. In addition, macrophages in the appendiceal mucosa were laden with αsyn within lysosomes, consistent with attempts to prevent the spread of disease or to correct synaptic dysfunction.

There has been a growing demand for specific linear alpha olefins in the polyethylene industry in order to control polymer rheology. This growing demand thereby increases the need for highly active and selective ethylene oligomerization catalysts. Chromium-based catalysts continue to be of high interest for this application due to this metal’s versatility in both selective and non selective ethylene oligomerization. Ligand design is an important consideration in oligomerization chemistry: the ability of the ligand to stabilize low valent chromium and to support a two-electron redox process will allow the catalytic systems to follow the selective ring expansion mechanism for oligomerization. Chelating aminophosphane based ligands, previously studied by our group, have been shown to support both tri- and tetramerization of ethylene. We have explored modifications of one of the NP arms by replacing with a different coordinating group in an attempt to further stabilize the monovalent state of chromium and increase selectivity. Other ligands explored in this work are pyrrole based ligands, which have shown high activity and selectivity towards ethylene oligomerization. One example of this is the commercial Chevron-Phillips system. Recently, the co-polymerization of CO2 with epoxides has been studied as an environmentally friendly route to convert CO2 into biodegradable polymers. The first successful catalytic system to achieve these results consisted of a diethyl-zinc complex. More recently, aluminum, chromium, cadmium and cobalt have been studied as polycarbonate catalysts. To date, the only reported chromium catalysts for CO2-epoxide copolymerization are Cr-salen and Cr-porphyrin complexes, studied by Darrensbourg and Holmes, respectively. We were particularly interested in finding new chromium-based complexes able to catalyze epoxide/CO2 copolymerization by using molecules with the nitrogen donor motif embedded in different functions such as neutral pyridines with anionic pendants, pyrroles with either imine or amine pendants, or a combination of these.

Nowadays the World Wide Web increasingly provides rich multimedia contents to its users.In order to further enhance the experience of web-users, researchers have sought solutions to integrate yet another modality into the web experience by augmenting web content with haptic properties. In those applications, users are able to interact with web virtual environments (such as games and e-learning systems) enriched with haptic contents. However, it is not easy for designers without pro cient web programming background and basic knowledge regarding haptics, to develop a web application with haptic content enabled. Additionally, there is currently no standard to describe and reuse a well-described haptic application which can be played in web browsers. In this thesis, I present an MPEG-V based authoring tool for facilitating the development procedure of haptics-enabled web applications. The system provides an interface for users to create their own application, add custom 3D models, and modify their graphic and haptic properties. Haptic properties include the speci cation of collision detection mechanism and object surface properties which in turn directly a ect the force simulations. Finally, the user is able to export a haptic-enabled 3D scene in a standard MPEG-V format which can be reconstructed in a web haptic player. A detailed experiment is conducted to evaluate the force simulations, application development process and design of user interface. The results not only verify my proposed methodology, but also show the high acceptance level by users with all levels of programming knowledge of the system.

In the past, human rights have often been studied as philosophical or legal concepts. In this thesis, Norman Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis is adopted to examine them as social practices, specifically focusing on the human right to food. This is done through a discursive analysis of a corpus of documents drawn from FIAN International, a human rights organization advocating for the human right to food, and La Via Campesina, an international peasant organization which also aims to realize the right to food but is not itself a human rights organization. Findings highlight how each of the organizations define the right to food, and show that these differences are tied to the structure of the organizations themselves. This suggests that human rights organizations such as FIAN are more constrained by their need to balance legitimacy and programmatic visions than are other types of organizations in the struggle for meaningful social change.