Reliable determinations of ecosystem scale fluxes of net carbon (C) and greenhouse gases for northern peatland ecosystems are of great value to determine the impact of soil warming and altered precipitation on emissions. Additionally, few studies have been performed which measure the C fluxes, particularly methane flux (FCH4), during the spring melt and fall freeze up periods, therefore making it difficult to provide adequate annual C estimates from northern peatland ecosystems. This study aimed to determine ecosystem scale FCH4 from a eutrophic Subarctic fen at Churchill, Manitoba (58°45'N 94°4'W), to understand (a) seasonal trends over two consecutive growing seasons,(b) if over-winter stored CH4 was released as a pulse during the spring-melt period, and (c) soil temperature - FCH4 relations for modelling FCH4 over the spring-melt period. An ecosystem scale methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) flux measurement system using the eddy covariance (EC) technique was used from late-June to mid-October of 2008 and early-June to late-September of 2009, with focus on the spring-melt period of late-May to mid-July of 2009. The EC flux measurement system consisted of a closed-path RMT-200 Fast Methane Analyzer (Los Gatos Research Inc.) along with a LI-7500 open-path CO2/H2O gas analyzer (LI-COR Biosci.) and a CSAT3 3-dimensional sonic anemometer (Campbell Sci.). The system was powered by a combination of wind, solar, and gas electric generation. The EC flux measurement system provided seasonal FCH4 values of 0 – 90 nmol CH4 m-2 s-1, similar to previous studies in Subarctic and Arctic peatlands which incorporated the EC technique. A melt period CH4 emission burst was not observed, rather a gradual increase in emission over the spring period. Modelled FCH4 using a temperature-response curve relationship with soil temperature at 5 cm depth over the spring-melt period (May 30 – July 19, 2009) showed the fen to be a net source of CH4, of 1.4 mmol m-2 CO2 equivalent.

Chronic pain is estimated to affect approximately 29% of the Canadian population and causes far-reaching lifestyle changes and difficulties that have personal, social, and economic impact. Managing pain is a complex task that recently has been recognized as requiring a multidisciplinary approach. Significant amounts of research have been conducted to understand the biological and cognitive bases of pain; and yet, spiritual aspects of chronic pain have received less attention. Despite this, spirituality remains an important coping strategy as reported by individuals managing chronic health conditions. Some interventions in use today have spiritual roots; however, western medical treatments of pain often do not recognize or utilize spirituality on a regular basis. Utilizing one such intervention, namely mindfulness meditation (MM), this study attempted to understand the role that MM plays in the management of chronic pain and the development of spirituality. This study measured self-reported pain, anxiety, depression, and spirituality in individuals engaged in an 8-week group process in which individuals were provided chronic pain related psycho-education either with MM or without. A repeated measures model was utilized to measure changes that occurred in reported pain experiences (using the McGill Pain Questionnaire) and in spirituality (using the Spiritual Assessment Scale ) to determine if changes could be associated with the teaching of MM. Differences in Affective pain ratings were observed and correlations between pain ratings and spirituality discussed. Reasons for the lack of significant findings, including sample size, power, and measures are discussed.

This thesis describes the production of adenovirus-based vaccines containing codon-optimized genes from Nipah virus and Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever virus. Genes encoding envelope proteins from Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus and Nipah Virus were codon-optimized for translation in human cells and constructed using a modified method of non-gapped gene synthesis, while the entire M segment encoding the glycoprotein precursor for Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus was commercially synthesized. Genes were cloned into recombinant human adenovirus serotype 5 and the resulting viral particles were amplified, titred and analyzed for in vivo efficacy. Results show that a modified method of non-gapped gene synthesis is an effective and efficient method of producing antigen-encoded DNA and at a fraction of the cost and time required for commercial synthesis. Furthermore, adenovirus-based vaccines induce both cellular and humoral immune responses providing for a highly efficacious vaccine during potential disease outbreaks, where time to completion is of utmost importance. This study has shown that recombinant adenoviral vaccines for Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever virus and Nipah virus can be produced rapidly and efficiently from virtual DNA sequence to optimized recombinant vaccines in just eight months.

Today’s high-speed interconnects at the chip, package, and board levels of integration can be rigorously modeled with the boundary element method based on the surface discretization of the electric field integral equation (EFIE). The accuracy of such models critically depends on the surface impedance model, which has to accurately map the behavior of the electromagnetic field inside the wire volumes to their surfaces. This thesis proposes a surface impedance model, which casts the accurate but computationally intensive volumetric EFIE formulation to the boundary element framework. This is accomplished via approximating the volumetric current density as a product of the known exponential factor corresponding to the skin-effect behavior of the field inside the wires and the unknown surface current density on the conductor’s boundary. The reduction of the volumetric EFIE to its surface counterpart results in a physically consistent surface impedance model allowing to achieve the volumetric EFIE accuracy within the boundary element formulation. The method is initially introduced for lossy 2D interconnects and later generalized to 3D interconnects under magneto-quasistatic approximation. Finally, this work is extended to the Rao-Wilton-Glisson (RWG) method of moments (MoM) solution of the full-wave EFIE. The alternative models exhibit various limitations. For example, in the double-plane model the planar interconnect structure is replaced by two infinitely thin metal sheets at its top and bottom surfaces. This model succeeds for several practical scenarios where the conductor width is sufficiently larger than its thickness, or when the operating frequency is sufficiently low for the current distribution across the conductor cross section to be assumed uniform. The alternative”multi-sheet model” represents the interconnect by a number of infinitely thin metal sheets, which uniformly span its cross section such that the spacing between each two consecutive sheets is small compared to skin-depth. The model succeeds in accurately extracting conductor loss, however, it may require a large number of sheets, which makes the number of unknowns in MoM discretization of the same order as the number of unknowns in volumetric models.

Dans le cadre de la littérature européenne, il existe un lien important entre la femme et la mer qui a au centre une polarité essentielle : femme créatrice ou monstre marin. Cette dualité d’image féminine transcende les limites géographiques et linguistiques pour s’insérer dans le corpus littéraire de la France, l’Italie et ’Espagne. Les mythes Gréco-romains mettent en vedette les éléments du vaisseau, l’orage, la mer turbulente, le naufrage. Une thématique riche entoure les éléments marins présentés dans les mythes et est au fondement des métaphores créées par les auteurs de la Renaissance. L’image du navire balayé par la mer est au centre d’une image d’orage féminin qui se présente dans Il Canzionière de Pétrarque, Les Amours de Ronsard et Cants d’amor d’Ausias March. Le bateau est symbole du poète et la mer turbulente son amour envahissant. Les poètes modèlent cette métaphore grâce à des éléments communs. Les attributs qui ont une parure de beauté chez la femme se métamorphosent en agent nocif qui s’assimile à l’image du navire, tel que les cheveux d’or. Il faut aussi remarquer là où une fissure existe entre la tradition et l’innovation, les nuances au niveau des images et des métaphores où s’ouvre une nouvelle voie littéraire.

To harness the wealth of success and computational power from the microelectronics industry, lab-on-a-chip (LOAC) applications should be fully integrated with silicon platforms. This works demonstrates a dielectrophoresis-based LOAC device built entirely on silicon using standard CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) processing techniques. The signal phases on multiple electrodes were controlled with only four electrical contacts, which connected to the device using three metal layers separated with interlayer dielectric. Indium tin oxide was deposited on a milled plastic lid to provide the conductivity and optical clarity necessary to electrically actuate the particles and observe them. The particles and medium were in the microfluidic chamber formed by using conductive glue to bond the plastic milled lid to the patterned silicon substrate. A correlation between the particle velocities and the electric field gradients was made using video microscopy and COMSOL Multiphysics ® simulations.

During storage of grain, there may have significant damage to its quality due to unfavorable physical and biological interactions and thus requires continuous monitoring. Therefore, an easy, cost-effective and environmentally friendly method is necessary for efficient monitoring of stored-grain. Arrays of sensors are being used for classifying liquors, perfumes, quality of food products mimicking mammalian olfactory systems. Monitoring of stored grain is a new application of sensor arrays. The main objective was to fabricate a carbon black polymer sensor array which can easily monitor incipient grain spoilage by detecting spoiling stored grain volatiles (benzene derivatives and aliphatic hydrocarbon derivatives) with minimum interference from relative humidity. Various aspects of a good sensor were analyzed using statistical analysis (RSD, LDA, PCA, t-test). The developed sensor array can identify red flour beetle-infected and uninfected wheat and fungal volatiles at ambient conditions as well as some stored grain conditions (MC 16%, RH 52%).

This study examines long-term direct and indirect Historic Copper Inuit-European and European intersocietal interaction in the western/central Canadian Arctic periphery. Utilizing theoretical perspectives deriving from World-System Theory and moderate relativist orientations, and, embracing ethnographic, ethnohistorical and archaeological methodologies, the historic process by which the Historic Copper Inuit living externally to the modern capitalist World-System, came into contact with and were gradually incorporated within this expanding global system of interconnected states is examined. The process leading to the ultimate incorporation of the Historic Copper Inuit within the World-System is scrutinized through chronological stages and, utilizing two-views; the perspective of the Historic Copper Inuit mediating the penetration of the World-System, and through a perspective based on World-System orientations.

In industrial experimentation, time and material costs are often at a premium. In designing an experiment, one needs to balance the desire for sufficient experimental runs to provide adequate data analysis, with the need to conduct a cost-effective experiment. A common compromise is the use of fractional factorial (FF) designs, in which only a fraction of the total possible runs is utilized. After discussing the basic concepts of FF designs, we introduce the fractional factorial split-plot (FFSP) design. Such designs occur frequently, because certain factors are often harder to vary than others, thus imposing randomization restric- tions. This thesis examines two techniques aimed at reducing run size that have not been greatly explored in the FFSP setting — nonregular designs and semifoldover designs. We show that these designs offer competitive alternatives to the more standard regular and full foldover designs and we produce tables of optimal designs in both scenarios.

The purpose of this project was to determine how Dlc-2 and Rho signaling modulate the ceramide induction of PGP synthase. This induction was studied at the transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and post-translational levels using cell culture, Real-Time RT-PCR, protein purification, phage display, and western blotting techniques. We have demonstrated that the PGP synthase gene is not controlled at the transcriptional level by ceramide and Rho, nor is the mRNA stability of PGP synthase affected. However, ceramide and Rho do seem to exhibit translational or post-translational control over the PGP synthase protein. The relationships between Dlc-2 (and Rho), ceramide, and PGP synthase (and CL) are important to understand. All three are involved in cancer and apoptotic responses. The knowledge gained by the experiments discussed in this thesis will contribute to an understanding of how these proteins and lipids interact. This knowledge may then be used in the future to develop cancer treatments.