Domestic violence is a pervasive social problem among Canada’s Aboriginal population, occurring at a rate three times higher than the national average. Historical factors including colonization, residential schools, and loss of cultural identity have been identified as some of the root causes. Therefore,the need exists for a culturally appropriate shelter for women and children to escape abusive situations. This interior design practicum project responds to this need by proposing the design of an Aboriginal women’s crisis shelter, Ikwe-Widdjiitiwin. The focus of the design is to provide a culturally sensitive environment where residents feel safe and supported, thus promoting healing through reattachment to Aboriginal culture. The design is informed by an exploration of traditional Aboriginal architecture and gendered space; and by photo-elicitation interviews with staff members of Ikwe-Widdjiitiwin, an Aboriginal women’s shelter in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

An investigation was undertaken to identify and develop a practical method for improving the lift to drag ratio (LID) of the contemporary windsurf fin. It was established that the contemporary windsurf fin is at an advanced stage of evolution and that a fundamental reworking of the design is required to attain significant L/D gains. In particular the symmetrically foiled cross-section (required for equal performance on each sailing tack) limits the performance potential of the device. The benefits of using camber in the design of lifting sections for high lift and low drag are well known. Traditional variable camber lifting surfaces utilise leading and trailing edge flap technologies to vary the geometry (camber) of the cross-section. However, this method for generating variable camber is not considered to be suitable or practical for the windsurf fin, primarily due to the increases in drag associated with conventional flaps. An alternative approach for developing a variable camber windsurf fin is therefore considered. It is proposed to use hydroelastic tailoring techniques to realise a reversible and finitely variable camber cross section for the fins used in the sport of windsurfing. The camber in the cross-section is invoked by the pressure differential acting on the two surfaces of the fin when it is at an incidence angle to the freestream. The magnitude of the camber is adaptive and responds passively by design, material usage and sailor input. As part of the preliminary investigation a computer based analysis tool was developed to perform the two dimensional investigation into the coupling effect between the fluid flow and the hydroelastically tailored cross section. Based on the outcome of this work a prototype windsurf fin employing a hydroelastic cross section was fabricated and tested. Results from this preliminary investigation establish the potential for using a hydroelastically tailored cross-section to significantly increase the L/D performance of a windsurf fin of nominal surface area (when compared with contemporary designs).

In recent years, the theories of natural selection and biological evolution have proved popular metaphors for understanding and solving optimization problems in engineering design. This thesis identifies some fundamental problems associated with this use of such metaphors. Key objections are the failure of evolutionary optimization techniques to represent explicitly the goal of the optimization process, and poor use of knowledge developed during the process. It is also suggested that convergent behaviour of an optimization algorithm is an undesirable quality if the algorithm is to be applied to multimodal problems. An alternative approach to optimization is suggested, based on the explicit use of knowledge and/or assumptions about the nature of the optimization problem to construct Bayesian probabilistic models of the surface being optimized and the goal of the optimization. Distinct exploratory and exploitative strategies are identified for carrying out optimization based on such models—exploration based on attempting to reduce maximally an entropy-based measure of the total uncertainty concerning the satisfaction of the optimization goal over the space, exploitation based on evalutation of the point judged most likely to achieve the goal—together with a composite strategy which combines exploration and exploitation in a principled manner. The behaviour of these strategies is empirically investigated on a number of test problems. Results suggest that the approach taken may well provide effective optimization in a way which addresses the criticisms made of the evolutionary metaphor, subject to issues of the computational cost of the approach being satisfactorily addressed.

Thesis (MEducation)--University of South Australia, 2002.

Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 1999

No description available.

Thesis (MEducation)--University of South Australia, 2002.

Thesis (M.A. Sc.)--University of Toronto, 2005. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 44-02, page: 0954.

Thesis (Ph.D.) Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Adelaide, 1979. / Typescript (photocopy).

Thesis (MA--Art and Design) -- Auckland University of Technology, 2005. / Also held in print (111 leaves, col. ill., 21 cm.) in Wellesley Theses Collection. (T 745.20993 MCG)