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Abbasi, S., M.Sc., University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, September 2013. Adaptation to Drought in Saskatchewan Rural Communities: A Case study of Kindersley and Maidstone, Saskatchewan. Joint Supervisors: S. Kulshreshtha and E. Wheaton The main aim of this thesis is to gain knowledge of the processes of adaptation that have enabled communities and agricultural producers to function in a relatively dry and drought prone region of Saskatchewan. This investigation was limited to two rural communities – Kindersley and Maidstone. Historically, vulnerability to natural hazards has been considered only a physical phenomenon. As a result, the social characteristic of a place\system, which contribute to vulnerability to natural hazards, are not well studied. This study used both secondary (quantitative in nature) and primary (qualitative in nature) methods to understand exposure, sensitivity and adaption to droughts in two study communities. Quantitative method included estimating drought condition from time series data for both communities. Intensity of the drought was based on Palmer Drought Severity index and Standard Precipitation Index. Given this background, qualitative techniques (semi-structured interviews and participation observations) were employed to explore the sensitivity and adaptation to droughts in the two communities. The results indicated that drought had caused significant economic hardships for farmers and ranchers during the 2001- 2003 period. Crop yield declined more than 50% of normal level for some crops during this period. Producers had undertaken some adaptive actions to counteract the adverse effect of the drought. These included changing their farming practices -- intensive tillage to minimum or zero tillage, diversification in terms of types of crops grown, off-farm employment, and participation in business risk management programs. Respondents reported that drought was not the sole cause of their vulnerability. Social factors such as changing government policies, reduced profit margins, insufficient business risk management programs, and international markets shaped their vulnerability to climate-related natural hazards. The study found a strong sense of alienation between respondents and federal government agencies. The combination of economic stress, inadequate government risk management programming translates into a very narrow window of sustainability for producers should they face a severe multi-year drought in the future.

In this thesis, the 2×2 MIMO performance of several low mutual coupling antennas has been investigated in indoor and hallway scenarios. Three compact antennas intended for mobile applications with low mutual coupling between the input ports are presented in this thesis. To gauge the performances of the three designed antennas, two reference antennas are also used. Channel capacity measurements were conducted in Bahen Center Antenna Lab room 8175 and the Bahen Center 8th floor hallway by using the five antennas as receivers. The antenna spatial location, orientation, line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight situation and richness of multipath effect were considered in the measurements. By averaging the results, it is found that in an indoor environment, low mutual coupling antennas can outperform the reference high mutual coupling antennas especially in higher SNR scenarios. In the hallway environment, low mutual coupling antennas always outperform the reference high mutual coupling antennas due to pattern diversity.

In this thesis, the 2×2 MIMO performance of several low mutual coupling antennas has been investigated in indoor and hallway scenarios. Three compact antennas intended for mobile applications with low mutual coupling between the input ports are presented in this thesis. To gauge the performances of the three designed antennas, two reference antennas are also used. Channel capacity measurements were conducted in Bahen Center Antenna Lab room 8175 and the Bahen Center 8th floor hallway by using the five antennas as receivers. The antenna spatial location, orientation, line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight situation and richness of multipath effect were considered in the measurements. By averaging the results, it is found that in an indoor environment, low mutual coupling antennas can outperform the reference high mutual coupling antennas especially in higher SNR scenarios. In the hallway environment, low mutual coupling antennas always outperform the reference high mutual coupling antennas due to pattern diversity.

Adaptation is now recognized as an important aspect of responses to climate change. Rural communities in the prairie provinces of Canada are considered to be sensitive to the impacts of climate change due to socio-economic and geographical factors. This study examines the ways in which governance institutions shape the ability of two rural communities in Alberta to adapt. 32 semi-structured interviews were done with decision-makers in the communities of High Level and Canmore, and with provincial-level governance actors. A vast array of secondary documents was also examined. The comparison of these two case studies shows that institutional capacity in Canmore supports proactive adaptation. In contrast, several features of governance institutions in High Level detract from adaptive capacity. Provincial governance institutions were found to contribute both positively and negatively to the capacity of rural communities to adapt to climate change. / Rural Sociology

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Understanding the toxicity of carbon nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes and graphenes, is important for the development of nanotechnology. Studies have shown that surface redox capability is an important factor for toxicity of carbon nanomaterials. We have measured the surface reductive capacity for a number of carbon nanomaterials in previous studies, but the effects of various engineering processes on surface redox capability have not been investigated until this study. In this study, commercially available carbon black, carbon nanotubes, standard reference materials, fullerenes, graphenes and acetylene soot generated in the lab were used. The carbon nanomaterials were subjected to heating at various temperatures in various atmospheres up to 500 ˚C, and soaking in water at room temperature under various atmospheres, and weathering in the powder form at room temperature under various atmospheres. The redox capability of the carbon nanomaterials was quantified in terms of the reductive capacity towards Fe3+ ions (RCFI). The RCFI values of the asreceived nanomaterials and that of the nanomaterials after various treatments were compared. The carbon nanomaterials were also characterized using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), for understanding the surface chemistry mechanisms of RCFI and the effects of various treatments. In general, heating induced a significant increase in RCFI, regardless of the atmosphere under which the nanomaterials were heated. On the other hand, aging in O2- containing atmospheres brought about significant decrease in RCFI, either in water suspension or in the powder form. Water vapor enhanced the aging effect of O2. CO2 was found to affect the RCFI and the aging of carbon nanomaterials. The extent of RCFI change due to heating or aging was dependent on the type of material. According to the XPS results, the RCFI of some carbon nanomaterials such as carbon black may be correlated with the C-O surface functional groups. However, the definitive correlation between the oxygen-containing surface functional group and RCFI for all carbon nanomaterials couldn’t be determined by the XPS result. This indicates that the RCFI changes of carbon nanomaterials after treatments mainly derived from the factors such as the active sites of edges other than the oxygen-containing surface functional group changes as other studies show. This suggests that the RCFI measurement cannot be replaced by XPS analysis. The effects of heating and aging on RCFI, and more generally the surface redox capability of carbon nanomaterials, reveals that various engineering and environmental processes may significantly change the toxicity of carbon nanomaterials. The findings of this study suggest that it is important to take into account the effects of engineering and environmental processes when assessing the toxicity of carbon nanomaterials.

This thesis studies the influence of horizontal competition on supply chain performance. Unlike most of the existing literature which focuses on horizontal competition between echelon levels, we look at both the supply chain and the individual company??s performance with the presence of supply chain to supply chain competition. Specifically, this thesis is composed of three individual research papers. The first paper deals with chain-to-chain horizontal competition and considers price competition among an arbitrary number of supply chains by comparing two cases. In the first case each supply chain is vertically integrated, while in the second, decentralised, case the manufacturers and retailers act independently. We explore the effect of varying the level of price competition on the profitts of the industry participants and demonstrate the important role played by the spread of underlying market shares. The coefficient of variation of these market shares determines whether decentralised supply chains can outperform integrated supply chains with an appropriate level of competition. The second and third papers focus on in-chain horizontal competition with capacity constraints. In the second paper, we look at a supply chain with one manufacturer and two downstream retailers. Based on total capacity available, the manufacturer needs to find ways to best use the capacity by determining whether or not to release the capacity information to retailers. The third paper looks at competition in a more complicated supply chain structure. A retailer buys three brands of products from two manufacturers. One manufacturer produces both branded and private label products, and the other one manufactures a branded product only. With our model, we are able to determine the profits of each supply chain agent. At the end of the paper, we use data from the Australian milk industry and discuss a problem in which a manufacturer needs to decide how to allocate capacity between the national brand and the private label when there is a capacity shortage.

This research explored how my own life experiences and leadership journey have informed my professional practice in Indigenous capacity building. The relationship between Indigenous capacity building and the promotion of Ieadership development is the underlying basis of my research. This is an increasingly important area in Aboriginal Affairs and public policy given the currency of debates around Indigenous capacity building as a strategy towards overcoming entrenched disadvantage experienced by so many Indigenous people. This is juxtaposed with the increasing recognition of the need to promote new and emerging Indigenous leadership as a strategy to ensure the future survival and growth of strong, self-determining Aboriginal communities. A key element of my research is the development and construction of a model which describes the key characteristics or determinants of Indigenous capacity building through developing Indigenous leadership. This has been constructed from my own experiences, research and analysis and reflects the primacy of leadership in debates around Indigenous capacity building. The model demonstrates that there are three key separate yet interrelated components of Indigenous capacity building through promoting leadership development. Interwoven through and between each of these components is the importance of culture which is the all permeating centre of the model and cannot be underestimated. The first component in the model focuses on the importance of internally based capacity building which I have described as 'intra capacity building.' This represents a cluster of interdependent characteristics that combined together, contribute towards building stronger 'internal' capacities as a necessary strengthening factor which builds resilience and are all essential leadership qualities. They includes attributes such as the development of self knowledge, self confidence and self awareness, cultural identify and healing from the impacts of colonisation. The second component in the model focuses on the importance of the more externally developed 'inter capacity building' which explores the importance of connection to supportive and quality relationships, an increase in the building of networks and their application to the workplace as well as pathways to employment and education. The third component of the model focuses on the combined impact of intra-personal and inter-personal capacity development on the broader Aboriginal community through contributing towards growing and sustaining the leadership base and ensuring on-going community engagement through governance arrangements. This exegesis will provide a major contribution to the growing amount of work on Indigenous capacity building and recognition of the integral role of leadership development in this context. The project element of my research will further contribute to this by promoting key learnings from my research by making available a training resource guide for use in education, training and community settings. My conclusion acknowledges the significant life experiences and leadership journey I have personally experienced, which are parallel in nature to the experiences of the many Koorie leadership participants.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, 2002. / Title from PDF t.p.