This thesis deals with the online measurement of partial discharge (PD) in a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter station. The HVDC station is a particularly challenging environment for PD measurement due to elevated interference levels caused from the switching of the thyristor-controlled converters. Online PD measurements are performed on two specimens, one is an HVDC converter transformer and the other an HVDC converter wall bushing. The measurements are performed in the high-frequency range between 400-kHz to 30-MHz with a modern PD measurement instrument that employs a signal processing technique known as feature extraction. The results demonstrate that online measurement of PD in an HVDC station environment is possible. Input filtering and feature extraction methods can mitigate the converter interference. The feature extraction methods can also isolate individual PD phenomena, and allow for the trending and monitoring of insulation degradation. Furthermore, specific strategies for PD measurement and analysis are developed.

Odour emissions and instantaneous downwind odour plumes were measured on two 3000-sow swine farrowing farms located in a flat area of southern Manitoba, one farm (Farm A) with open earthen manure storage (EMS) and another (Farm B) with negative air pressure (NAP) covered EMS. Three commonly used dispersion models (ISCST3, AUSPLUME, and INPUFF-2) were used to predict downwind odour distributions on the two farms. Dispersion predictions were based on the measured odour emission data for each farm and on-site weather data recorded by a portable weather station. The peak-to-mean ratios of downwind odour intensity were computed from field odour intensity measurements and analysed against averaging time, downwind distance, and atmosphere stability class. It was found that the average odour emission rate from the negative pressure covered earthen manure storage (NAP EMS) was negligible in comparison with the open EMS (0.3 vs 20.3 OU/ s-m2). Downwind odour intensity measured by trained human sniffers on Farm A with covered manure storage was significantly (P<0.05) lower than that on Farm B with open manure storage at 100 and 500 m, but the difference in odour intensity at 1000 m was not significant (P>0.05) between the two farms. A 46% difference in odour emission rate between Farms A and B resulted in a 14% difference in the separation distance for odour annoyance-free between the two farms. When three commonly used dispersion models, namely AUSPLUME, ISCST3, and INPUFF-2, were used to predict downwind odour from the farms, the percentage of agreement between model predictions and field measurements was adequate for downwind distances of 500 and 1000 m, but relatively low for 100 m for all three models. Since the long-distance (>1000 m) predictions are of more practical value, all three models were considered to be adequate in predicting odour downwind from the swine operations. The peak-to-mean ratios of downwind odour intensity were computed from field odour intensity measurements and analysed against averaging time, downwind distance, and atmospheric stability class. The peak-to-mean ratio of field odour intensity increases with averaging time and downwind distance, and unstable atmospheric conditions.

This project seeks to investigate a hybrid type between the capsule and boutique hotel, aimed at business travelers. This will be achieved by extracting qualities of each typology through systematic analysis to establish an environment that responds to a niche user. Identifying key characteristics through a number of precedents provides the foundation for the investigation and the programming criteria for spatial development. Owing to the technological revolution, there is an increasing need to translate the multitude of computer-driven interfaces to human-centred interaction. Computers, portable music players, mobile phones and wireless connections have fundamentally impacted social dynamisms fostering artificial identities and negating traditional notions of physical distance. Forever remaining plugged-in has led to the dematerialization of built space, the denial to the user of their sensorial abilities, the rendering of one space just the same as another. By re-awakening the senses through interactive encounters, a sense of familiarity, personal experience, and the creation of memory is lent to individual environments. In this sense, the interior designer is no longer merely a form giver, but is rather placed in the position of a fundamental interpreter. Focusing on the psychological impacts of place and spatial identity, this exploration will take advantage of the possibilities provided by contemporary technologies. Translating these interfaces to perform in response to body movements and presence within spaces creates a user centered model. In effect, this design approach assists the user in recognizing their existing location establishing an association between body movement and interior surroundings.

The current research project investigated the anoxygenic phototrophic and metal(loid) transforming bacteria of hypersaline and deep ocean hydrothermal environments. The East German Creek brine springs, an unusual flowing hypersaline system, was enumerated using classical techniques. Subterranean sulfide supported purple sulfur and nonsulfur bacteria, but at the highly oxygenated surface, aerobic anoxygenic phototrophs (AAP) were numerically dominant (up to 16-36% of cultivable bacteria). Strains (EG8, EG13, EG17, EG19) with unusual phylogenetic affiliation and novel photosynthetic and metal(loid) reducing traits were described taxonomically. Chromocurvus halotolerans gen. nov., sp. nov. was proposed as a second example of a gammaproteobacterial AAP. It exhibited bent rod-shaped cells, unusual among AAP. Facultatively anaerobic Charonomicrobium ambiphototrophicum gen. nov., sp. nov. was capable of both aerobic and anaerobic anoxygenic photosynthesis, and incapable of photoautotrophy, distinguishing it from both AAP and purple nonsulfur bacteria. Roseovarius vanadiphilum sp. nov. surprisingly produced 4.5 times more biomass and 2 times more bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) at extremely high NaVO3 concentration (7.5 g/l) than in metal-free medium. A second novel metabolic mode, anaerobic respiration on the toxic metalloid tellurate, was described for a relative of non-phototrophic Shewanella frigidimarina (ER-Te-48), from deep ocean hydrothermal vent Paralvinella worms at Explorer Ridge in the Pacific Ocean. Other strains respired on SeO32- (ER-Se-17L), VO3- (ER-V-6), and VO43- (AV-V-25). These organisms provided the first examples of anaerobic respiration on Te, Se and V at hydrothermal vents. High level resistance of AAP to metal(loid)s prompted investigation of the influence of TeO32- on photosynthetic pigment production in species including Erythromicrobium ramosum (from a terrestrial hydrothermal system) and Erythrobacter litoralis (from a hypersaline supralittoral system). Tellurite enhanced photosynthetic pigment production up to 3.4 times, consistent with an antioxidant carotenoid-based defense mechanism. However, in E. litoralis BChl precursors such as Mg protoporphyrin or its monomethyl ester also accumulated, indicating biosynthetic pathway interruption. In hydrothermal and hypersaline ecosystems, largely devoid of eukaryotic phototrophs but often enriched in metal(loid)s, AAP and metal(loid) reducers are key modulators of nutrient and toxin availability. The presented results on their ecology, physiology and biochemistry have important implications for theoretical understanding of extreme environments and hold potential for biotechnological applications.

This thesis proposes the small signal model for the Interline Power Flow Controller (IPFC). Using this model, the damping performance of the IPFC with different power system configuration is investigated and also compared with the AC Transmission System (FACTS) based controllers such as the Unified Power Flow Controller (UPFC). The IPFC and the UPFC in constant power control mode can be viewed as effectively cutting the connected transmission line. This change on the structure of the network results in a significant change on the small signal stability. This thesis also addresses issues regarding the different levels of models that are required for the investigation of the behavior of FACTS. An effective validation approach that uses a minimum sized demonstration platform is proposed. This platform is small enough for detailed EMTP validation, yet large enough to exhibit the range of transient electrical and electromechanical behavior which is the focus for FACTS devices. To demonstrate the approach, the small signal models of the system embedded with the IPFC and the UPFC are developed respectively. The results obtained from small signal analysis are validated with EMTP-type simulation and show a close agreement.

Nature is often considered a site of pristine perfection existing outside of human interaction. It is this notion that has led humanity to draw away from the environment and has encouraged the continual degradation of the Earth today. This exploratory research investigates the world as a series of permeable and impermeable boundaries – a shifting interwoven-web of matter, where all things are drawn together. Nature is to be understood as the continual arena of interchange between all the things of the world. Humanity and all of its constructs are merely a subset embedded within the greater reality of the physical world. This practicum examines the phenomenological ways in which humanity is entwined within the natural world, with implications for how this concept may be applied to the field of landscape architecture. The result is an open-ended design for a park and interpretive center for Gillis Quarries, in Garson, Manitoba.

Social risk elicits an internal struggle between wanting to form significant relationships (i.e., connectedness goals) and avoiding rejection (i.e., self-protection goals). The current research tested an intervention designed to reduce perceptions of risk for low self-esteem individuals (LSEs). However, the intervention did not function as anticipated and regardless of self-esteem level, participants reported lower perceived acceptance and lower state self-esteem in the intervention condition compared to the control. In a post-session two weeks following the manipulation, high self-esteem individuals (HSEs) in the intervention appear to not only recover, but actually reported significantly more perceived regard and global self-esteem than HSEs in the control. A second study investigated the impact of the intervention in light of these surprising findings. Results suggest that viewing the intervention video in a socially risky situation caused both HSEs and LSEs to experience social threat. In contrast, the control video actually served to reduce social risk.

The thesis investigates the extent to which multiculturalism is addressed in the practice of landscape architecture in Canada, and proposes recommendations to increase the incorporation of multiculturalism into the profession. In the first chapter, the theoretical underpinnings of multiculturalism are discussed and the term is defined for the purposes of the remainder of the investigation. This is followed by an examination of multiculturalism in the Canadian context, and how it has evolved over time. The thesis then addresses the question; ‘Why should landscape architects care about multiculturalism?’. Once the importance of multicultural issues to the profession of landscape architecture is demonstrated, the thesis turns to discovering how these issues are currently dealt with in the profession. This investigation takes the form of a survey on multiculturalism which was distributed to the Canadian Society of Landscape Architecture (CSLA) and its component associations, as well as seven other types of professional associations in an effort to solicit their strategies for responding to cultural diversity. The results are then compared and analysed before recommendations are made on how the profession of landscape architecture can better include multiculturalism into Canadian practice.

Despite the increasing levels of education possessed by recent immigrants to Canada, the incomes and employment status of newcomers is declining. While there exists a significant body of research that tracks this decline, few focus on immigrants living outside the ‘traditional’ migrant communities of Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. This thesis uses data from the 2002 Ethnic Diversity Survey to investigate earnings and employment chances of immigrants and non-immigrants based upon educational achievement throughout Canada. This study divides Canada into four tiers based on the number of immigrants received in order to assess the economic outcomes of the two groups. Economic outcome is judged through the lens of social capital framework and human capital theory to evaluate the influence of social networks and individual accomplishments. Results of the regressions analyses indicate that those who are Canadian-born have stronger returns to education in all but the 3rd-tier though the differences appear to be relatively minimal. Specifically, among foreign-born migrants, living in the 3rd-tier coincides with better earning returns to education while schooling is only important for employment for those residing in 1st-tier centres. Additionally, the influence of social networks is negligible regardless of nativity status. Despite lesser returns to education, immigrants appear to earn more than their native-born counterparts based upon occupation, though the results for employment suggest that reaching this point may be more difficult than for those Canadian-born. Lastly, there seems to be economic opportunities for immigrants outside of the 1st-tier leading to better monetary outcomes. The findings of this project contribute to current immigration literature in Canada and hold implications for the Canadian immigration policy.

In parallel computing, MPI is heavily used due to its support of popular cluster based parallel machines and the Single Program Multiple Data (SPMD) model. Normally cluster nodes are dedicated to a single parallel job/application but MPI could also be used with nodes that are concurrently shared by multiple users. In this case, nodes could become overloaded with work from other users. Even a few overloaded nodes can result in application slowdown. Thus, it is desirable to relocate affected processes in a running application to lightly loaded nodes by partial checkpointing and migrating of those processes. In some MPI applications, groups of processes communicate frequently with one another. Such groups must be near one another to ensure communication efficiency. Thus, if any member of a group is to be checkpointed and migrated, all should be. It must therefore be possible to identify such groups. I have built a prototype, using LAM/MPI, that supports partial checkpoint, migration and restart of MPI processes. To identify process groups for checkpoint and migration, I adapted TEIRESIAS (an algorithm for pattern discovery from bioinformatics) to identify frequent, recurring patterns of communication using data gathered by LAM/MPI. I then created predictors that use the discovered patterns to predict groups of communicating processes that should be checkpointed and migrated together. I have assessed the effectiveness of my technique using synthetic and real communication data (for a small set of representative applications) to show that my predictors can accurately predict process groups for those applications. Additionally, I have created a simple simulation system to allow me to explore scenarios related to network characteristics and overload conditions under which my system might provide useful speedup. Not all MPI applications will benefit from my approach (e.g. those with unpredictable communication patterns or large groups of frequently communicating processes). However, my experimental and simulation results suggest that my technique should be effective for a number of common application types, network characteristics and overload conditions. Using partial checkpoint and migration should therefore allow many long running applications to finish faster than if a subset of their processes was left running on overloaded nodes.