The purpose of the current set of experiments was to investigate the interaction component of avian attachment behaviour. The latter is viewed as the outcome of several components, all of which potentially interact with each other. In these experiments, the visual, brood size, animate vs. inanimate, and familiarity components of avian attachment behaviour were held constant so that the effects of interaction were evaluated unambiguously. The results for Time 1 (T1) yielded various results for both Condition A (Interaction with the other species/breed) and B (Interaction with same species/breed). For T2 (Condition A), the four Experiments yielded various results. For T2 (Condition B), the four Experiments yielded consistent results. When experimental subjects interacted with their own species/breed (white Peking duckling), the preference for their own species/breed (white Peking ducklings) increased while the preference for the other species/breed (domestic chicks or mallard ducklings) decreased. In Experiment 3 and Experiment 4, there was a complete reversal of preference from T1 to T2.

The organization of Winnipeg from 1870 until 1885 can be described as an intense period of spatial transformation and expansion. After the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) surrendered Rupert’s Land and the North-West Territories to the Crown in 1870, the re-formulation of land tenure transformed the urban space. Different actors in the still young and small community used diverse mechanisms to secure common land as private property allowing the formation of a dynamic real estate market. During those years Winnipeg expanded rapidly and the availability of city lots soon became limited. Lot prices soared and land transformed into a commodity generated the conditions for the reproduction and circulation of capital in the city. The arrival of investors and financial institutions helped to create the real estate boom of 1881-82 and transform a small village into a modern capitalist city. By 1885, Winnipeg was ready to initiate an uneven and fast transition to industrial capitalism.

The purpose of this study was to consider to what degree each of two sexual offender programs offered by Manitoba Justice adhere to the research based practice principles of risk, need, and responsivity and to assess the degree of therapeutic alliance that is created in each group. In-person interviews were conducted with employees and past participants who are connected to each of the programs. Current participants of the two programs were asked to complete a questionnaire about therapeutic alliance. The findings indicated that neither of the programs adhere to the risk principle, both adhere to the responsivity principle, and only one adheres to the need principle. There was no difference on the clients’ perception of therapeutic alliance within the groups. Recommendations provided with regards to the sexual offender programming offered by Manitoba Justice include consistent programming, education/mentorship, utilizing a secondary risk assessment, and evaluation and research.

RNA interference (RNAi) is a gene silencing mechanism induced by double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). RNAi has been used extensively to create loss-of-function mutants in many species to identify the functions of genes, but it also has the potential to be used as a species-specific pesticide if the dsRNA can silence essential genes in pests. The mosquito Aedes aegypti is a vector of numerous viruses including Dengue and West Nile virus, and is frequently controlled by chemical insecticides. With growing concerns about the extensive use of broad-spectrum pesticides, new control methods are eagerly sought. In this study, I examined the efficacy of feeding pesticidal dsRNAs to mosquito larvae. A dose-dependent RNAi response and mortality was observed when larvae were fed dsRNA targeting several different genes. Unlike RNAi in the related dipteran Drosophila melanogaster, RNAi in A. aegypti also appeared to be systemic, spreading beyond the gut to other tissues. A degree of species-specificity was also observed, as dsRNA specific to the D. melanogaster β-tubulin gene killed D. melanogaster larvae but did not kill mosquito larvae. RNAi was also used to determine the function of a newly-identified A. aegypti cytochrome P450 (CYP) gene, Aacyp. This gene showed male-biased expression in the mosquitoes, and was expressed primarily in the male abdomen and/or thorax, but unlike some other insect male-biased CYPs, Aacyp was not highly expressed in the reproductive structures. While dsRNA injections successfully knocked down expression of Aacyp, no discernable change in reproductive or male-specific behaviours were noted. Nevertheless, RNAi is still considered a highly versatile tool for both gene function studies and has promising potential to be developed into a novel class of pesticides.

This thesis presents the design of a personal computer (PC) based needle insertion robotic manipulator for biopsy. The robot was designed and built using materials available in the research laboratory. The robot is intended primarily for use inside the confined area of a cylindrical magnetic resonance (MR) scanner. Selection of the robot geometry and novel locations for drive actuators allowed placement of actuators outside the MRI bore. The robot is modeled using Denavit-Hartenberg transformations. Custom developed software control is developed to test the functional aspects of the robot. The robot performs to the tolerance required for the stated clinical application. This thesis addresses only proof of concept chosen for the manipulator design and is not ready for any clinical trials. The work also addresses MRI compatible and safety issues and recommends appropriate materials for future development. Traditionally, neurosurgical navigation has relied on preoperative images and the assumption that anatomical structures of interest remain in the same position with respect to each other and the fiducial markers used for registration. However, during surgery, tissue deformation and shift disrupt the spatial relation between the patient and the preoperative image volumes. This results in localization errors. Developing a manipulator that works inside an imaging machine guided by real time images is expected to minimize the problem of “tissue shift” during the surgery.

Maximum likelihood is an ubiquitous method used in the estimation of generalized linear mixed model (GLMM). However, the method entails computational difficulties and relies on the normality assumption for random effects. We propose a second-order least squares (SLS) estimator based on the first two marginal moments of the response variables. The proposed estimator is computationally feasible and requires less distributional assumptions than the maximum likelihood estimator. To overcome the numerical difficulties of minimizing an objective function that involves multiple integrals, a simulation-based SLS estimator is proposed. We show that the SLS estimators are consistent and asymptotically normally distributed under fairly general conditions in the framework of GLMM. Missing data is almost inevitable in longitudinal studies. Problems arise if the missing data mechanism is related to the response process. This thesis develops the proposed estimators to deal with response data missing at random by either adapting the inverse probability weight method or applying the multiple imputation approach. In practice, some of the covariates are not directly observed but are measured with error. It is well-known that simply substituting a proxy variable for the unobserved covariate in the model will generally lead to biased and inconsistent estimates. We propose the instrumental variable method for the consistent estimation of GLMM with covariate measurement error. The proposed approach does not need any parametric assumption on the distribution of the unknown covariates. This makes the method less restrictive than other methods that rely on either a parametric distribution of the covariates, or to estimate the distribution using some extra information. In the presence of data outliers, it is a concern that the SLS estimators may be vulnerable due to the second-order moments. We investigated the robustness property of the SLS estimators using their influence functions. We showed that the proposed estimators have a bounded influence function and a redescending property so they are robust to outliers. The finite sample performance and property of the SLS estimators are studied and compared with other popular estimators in the literature through simulation studies and real world data examples.

This research analyzes fuel consumption and emissions of Turnpike double trailer combinations (Turnpikes) on a regional network in the Canadian Prairies. The research: (1) establishes current benchmarks for fuel consumption of Turnpikes and five-axle tractor semitrailers (3-S2s) with van trailers; (2) develops fuel consumption models for these vehicle types; (3) establishes an understanding of current operating characteristics of Turnpikes in the region; and (4) estimates their system-wide effects in terms of fuel consumption and emissions in Manitoba by applying the developed models. Canadian Prairie region-based carriers revealed an increase in Turnpike travel (from 2007-2009) of 44 percent after the twinning of the Trans-Canada Highway between Winnipeg and Regina in 2007 was completed. Turnpikes can save one third of fuel consumed when compared to 3-S2s; have higher fuel consumption in the winter months; and their use in 2009 reduced fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by five percent compared to 3-S2s.

In this thesis, a method of distortion analysis of electromagnetic field sensors using orthogonal polynomial subspaces is presented. The effective height of the sensor is viewed as the impulse response of a linear system. The impulse response corresponds to a linear transformation which maps every electromagnetic incident field waveform to a received voltage waveform. Hermite and Laguerre orthogonal polynomials are used as the basis sets for the subspace of incident electromagnetic field waveforms. Using the selected basis set, a transformation matrix is calculated for the sensors. The transformation matrices are compared to a reference transformation matrix as a measure of distortion. The transformation matrices can describe the sensor behavior up to a certain frequency range. The limits on this frequency range are investigated for both Hermite-Gauss and Laguerre functions. The unique property of Laguerre functions is used to prove that the transformation matrix has a particular pattern. This method is applied on case studied sensors both in computer simulation and measurements.

This thesis describes an automatic evaluation approach for estimating the quality of stereo displays and vision systems using image features. The method is inspired by the human visual system. Display of stereo images is widely used to enhance the viewing experience of three-dimensional (3D) visual displays and communication systems. Applications are numerous and range from entertainment to more specialized applications such as: 3D visualization and broadcasting, robot tele-operation, object recognition, body exploration, 3D teleconferencing, and therapeutic purposes. Consequently, perceived image quality is important for assessing the performance of 3D imaging applications. There is no doubt that subjective testing (i.e., asking human viewers to rank the quality of stereo images) is the most accurate method for quality evaluation. It reflects true human perception. However, these assessments are time consuming and expensive. Furthermore, they cannot be done in real time. Therefore, the goal of this research is to develop an objective quality evaluation methods computational models that can automatically predict perceived image quality) correlating well with subjective predictions that are required in the field of quality assessment. I believe that the perceived distortion and disparity of any stereoscopic display are strongly dependent on local features, such as edge (non-uniform) and non-edge (uniform) areas. Therefore, in this research, I propose a No-Reference (NR) objective quality assessment for coded stereoscopic images based on segmented local features of artifacts and disparity. Local feature information such as edge and non-edge area based relative disparity estimation, as well as the blockiness, blur, and the zero-crossing within the block of images, are evaluated in this method. A block-based edge dissimilarity approach is used for disparity estimation. I use the Toyama stereo images database to evaluate the performance and to compare it with other approaches both qualitatively and quantitatively.

The relationship between the cellulolytic Clostridium termitidis and the electrogenic Geobacter sulfurreducens was evaluated in terms of co-culture sustainability and hydrogen production. Batch co-culture experiments in triplicate balch tubes were conducted using cellobiose as the sole carbon source and fumarate as a terminal electron acceptor. Despite high initial concentrations of acetate, no formate and very low H2 concentrations were detected, supporting the hypothesis that a syntrophic association exists between both bacteria. Co-culture growth characterization experiments were repeated in three microbial electrolysis cells and cellobiose as the sole carbon source. Initially, 9.7 mol-H2 mol-1-glucose was produced. However, a sustainable co-culture could not be maintained despite efforts to reduce reactor temperature and triple the medium’s buffering capacity. Strategies to achieve a sustainable co-culture are to minimize the carbon flux through C. termitidis by using complex substrates, maintain neutral operating conditions, and introduce acetogenic bacteria to control the flux of metabolic intermediates.