Theories of age-related memory decline debate whether the problem lies at the level of encoding or consciously accessing information at the level of retrieval. Deficits at encoding may be due to the inability to bind relations among objects. The present research implements eye movement monitoring into an associative memory task to explore age-related memory at encoding and retrieval. Eye movements of older and younger adults are compared. Three solitary items were presented during the study phase, and test responses were whether the spatial relation of these objects to one another was intact or manipulated when subsequently presented all together. Observed differences at the level of encoding in addition to the level of retrieval clarifies that there is not a deficit in consciously accessing encoded representations. Further, differences in relational binding at the level of encoding were observed, which supports the association deficit theory of memory and aging.

The traditional bridge evaluation process contains uncertainty that affects management decisions. Numerical models require assumptions regarding structural response, and code load models are inherently conservative to ensure uniform applicability. This research investigated how structural monitoring could reduce uncertainty in the evaluation and management process. Targeted instrumentation was implemented on the MacKay Bridge. Controlled load testing was conducted to refine an existing numerical model. Long-term monitoring was completed to compare extreme in-situ traffic effects with the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code. Throughout the project, accuracy of information collected was a priority; deviation from code recommendations requires absolute confidence in the data. Outputs from controlled testing indicated that the existing numerical model for load distribution and structural response required minimal tuning. Long-term testing indicated that actual load effects are less than code requirements. Results from this thesis show that structural monitoring can reduce uncertainty in structural evaluation and management decisions for infrastructure.

The analyses of benthonic foraminifera in surface sediments for two-years (Oct. 2007-August 2009) and cores from Halifax Harbour (HH) were essential for short-term monitoring, and reference environment reconstruction for the remediation that started in 2008. The distribution of foraminifera in the surface sediments indicates a lateral environmental variation and positive correlation to the pollution rate in HH as the environmental purity increases seawards. The treated area, Inner Harbour, recorded a rapid environmental recovery during treatment period (2008), and reverted to its former characteristics after treatment stopped (early 2009). This recovery represented by an increase in both diversity (from <12 to >20 species) and abundance (from 120–880 to 1350-1750 individuals). Additionally, the assemblage during that period witnessed a decrease in opportunistic species (<50%), shell deformities (<11%), and inner linings (17%), and a significant increase in calcareous species. The assemblage in pre-impact environment, as inferred from cores, has a high diversity (>30 species) and abundance (>4000 individuals), a dominant calcareous record (>60%), and lower deformities (3-4%). The gradual environmental degradation due to organic enrichment in the harbour caused an increasing foraminiferal decimation to reach dramatic levels with the huge growth of Halifax city since late 1950s. This decimation led to dominance of opportunistic species (e.g., agglutinated forms such as Eggerella advena, and Reophax scottii), abundance of shell deformities, and complete absence of calcareous tests, leaving only their inner linings. Analysis of benthonic foraminifera in two cores from Sydney Harbour (SH) helped to compare contamination types in both areas (domestic in HH vs. industrial in SH). The domestic pollution in HH developed an agglutinated assemblage with low diversity, low abundance, and high ratios of inner linings. In SH the assemblage showed higher diversity (>22 species) and abundance (>4000 individuals), dominant calcareous record (>50%), and low inner linings (<10%) together with some species that had never been observed in such cold waters in Nova Scotia (Ammonia beccarii).

This thesis is an investigation of the reproductive performance of dairy herds managed using automated activity monitoring systems for heat detection (AHD) in comparison to herds using timed artificial insemination programs (TAI). Two approaches were taken: a randomized clinical trial and a retrospective cross-sectional study. In the field trial, pregnancy risk (PR) was not different between the AHD (14.6%) and TAI program (15.9%). Overall, time to pregnancy, time to 1st service and time to 2nd service were not different between breeding programs. In the observational study, annual herd-summary reproductive performance in farms using AHD and TAI were not different. Finally, a retrospective analysis in herds that were using AHD for more than one year compared the years before and after adoption of the system. A significant increase of PR and insemination risk was found. In conclusion, AHD systems had comparable reproductive performance to TAI-based programs. / Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Gencor and SCR Engineers Ltd.

In a series of field and watershed scale studies, the genetic diversity of Escherichia coli in secondary habitats (e.g. soils and sediments) of an agricultural watershed was assessed in order to examine the dynamics of E. coli inhabiting these matrices and to determine their contribution to waterborne populations. Using replicated field plots, persistent subpopulations of E. coli were observed to be significantly affected by hillslope position due to inherent differences in soil texture and moisture content. The dynamics of E. coli populating tile drainage effluent in a working cultivated field were monitored and it was observed that putatively naturalized E. coli dominated the effluent after approximately 55 days following manure amendments. The contribution of tile drainage effluents to the waterborne E. coli population in an adjacent stream was exponentially related to tile discharge rates, regardless of whether the effluent was populated by manure-associated or naturalized E. coli strains. Streambed E. coli populations differed according to stream geomorphological features, with strains responding to sediment texture and water velocity distributions among the features. In a temporal study of sediment E. coli, population turnover was observed to be affected by sediment redistribution in highenergy stream reaches and was stabilized by immigration from adjacent catchment sources in low-energy stream reaches. Reach-specific connectivity between sediment and waterborne E. coli populations was observed in this watershed. Reach- and catchmentscale hyporheic processes are speculated to be occurring, which may be in part influenced by strain-dependent attachment behaviour of E. coli strains in disjoint stream reaches influenced by different catchment sources of E. coli. The attachment of waterborne E. coli to suspended particles was observed to be associated with land use, water quality and suspended particle variables. The relationship of land use type to particle attachment reinforces the hypothesis that strain-specificity in attachment behaviour can affect the transport of E. coli in fluvial systems. This work provides evidence that putatively naturalized strains in cultivated fields can contribute a large part to waterborne E. coli, and that reach-specific hydrological factors need to be considered when relating sediment- to waterborne E. coli in fluvial systems.

No description available.

This study examines the relation between employee whistleblowing allegations and firms’ subsequent tax and financial reporting behavior. I draw on economic theory to develop expectations for and test firms’ tax and financial reporting responses to whistleblowing reports of corporate financial misconduct. I employ a difference-in-difference research design to test whether firm’s subject to employee whistleblowing allegations related to financial misconduct exhibit significantly less misreporting risk and tax avoidance in the period following the allegations relative to a control group of firms not subject to whistleblowing allegations. Using a unique sample of whistleblowing cases obtained from the U.S. government, I find that firms subsequently engage in significantly less aggressive financial reporting behavior and have significant increases in their effective tax rates following whistleblowing allegations. This study contributes to the literature by providing evidence on firms’ tax and financial reporting responses to employee whistleblowing and by highlighting the role that employees play in both tax and financial reporting oversight. In light of regulators’ recently heightened emphasis on whistleblower programs, the results of this study should be of interest to regulators, researchers, auditors, and investors.

Although teamwork is essential for quality care, outcomes based on successful teamwork are seldom achieved in healthcare. Negative attitudes prevent effective teamwork; therefore, it is important to explore attitudes of all members towards multi-disciplinary teamwork. This research investigated attitudes held by health professionals and staff of the Group Health Centre regarding multi-disciplinary teamwork and investigated if a relationship exists between work experience and attitudes towards teamwork. A descriptive correlational design was used. Data was gathered using the TeamSTEPPS Teamwork Attitude Questionnaire (T-TAQ). The T-TAQ assesses attitudes towards validated constructs of teamwork. Team members of the Group Health Centre have positive attitudes towards teamwork. The registered nurses do not have different attitudes compared to their colleagues from other health sciences or staff. However, clerical staff presents differences with respect to the constructs of situation monitoring and communication. There is no relationship between work experience and attitudes. These results have important implications for teams in primary care, specifically, the Group Health Centre.

Service-based software can be exploited by potentially untrustworthy service requestors while providing services. Given that, it is important to identify, analyze the trust relationships between service providers and requestors, and incorporate them into the service-based software. Treating trust as a nonfunctional requirement (NFR) during software development and monitoring allows clarifying these relationships and measuring the trustworthiness of service requestors. This analysis is facilitated by incorporating trust scenarios and trust models into the software. A trust scenario describes a trust relationship between interested parties based on a specific context. A trust model provides trust equations to measure the trustworthiness of service requestors based on the analysis of service-based interactions. Although much research has been devoted to monitor service quality, to date, no approach has been proposed to develop and automatically monitor service providing software from trust perspectives. In this thesis, we propose a trust-aware service-based software development framework which utilizes our proposed Unified Modeling Language (UML) extension called UMLtrust (UML for trust scenarios)to specify the trust scenarios of a service provider and incorporates our developed trust model called CAT (Context-Aware Trust) into the software to calculate the trustworthiness of service requestors. The trust scenarios are converted to trust rules to monitor service-based interactions. A service requestor is penalized for the violation of a trust rule and rewarded when no rule is violated. The trustworthiness of the requestor is then calculated (using the equations of CAT) based on the current request, outcomes of previous requests, and recommendations from other service providers. A trust-based service granting algorithm is presented to decide whether a service requestor should be granted the requested service. A trust monitoring architecture is presented which is assumed to reside in each service provider. The monitor uses trust rules from UMLtrust specifications and trust equations from CAT to analyze service-based interactions. The incorporation of the monitor into a provider makes it trust-aware. A trust monitoring algorithm is provided to analyze interactions and make decisions at run-time. A prototype of a file sharing service-based grid is implemented to evaluate the applicability of our framework that confirms the effectiveness of the framework. / Thesis (Master, Electrical & Computer Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2008-02-11 15:57:22.003 / Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)

This thesis investigated the monitoring and analysis of signals related to the vibration of large rotary blasthole drills. The research focused on a machine with electric drilling actuators: such machines are used as primary production equipment in the drill‐and‐blast cycle of the surface (open‐pit) mining process. The performance of such machines is limited by the onset of severe vibrations, which can arise due to the interaction of geology, bit, drill string, machine structure, and control settings. Experimental data for the thesis were obtained during field periods at an iron ore mine in Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range. The data acquisition and signal analysis techniques which were utilized are presented, including smoothing of signals and calculated variables such as specific energy. Ambient vibration sources and vibration aliasing issues are investigated. Results from analyzing structural response tests indicate that, as expected, the natural frequency of the drill mast decreases with increasing bit depth – although the mounting position of accelerometers distorts this trend. The pull down force (weight on bit) is shown to have no appreciable impact on the mast’s natural frequency, nor on the mast’s damping ratio. A strong relationship between rotary speed and the dominant vibration frequency peaks at 3x and 6x rotary speed is demonstrated, and a physical explanation of the 6x vibration peak is postulated. The rotary motor current is shown to consistently exhibit frequency peaks at 3x and 6x rotation speed, indicating that this variable is a good candidate for use either as a substitute for accelerometer feedback, or as an auxiliary signal to detect down‐the‐hole vibration when it is not manifested by the mast mounted accelerometers. System identification is used to demonstrate that the dynamic relationship between vibration and rotary current, while it can be modeled locally, varies with depth and geology and hence is essentially a time‐varying process. This results in the amplitude of rotary current not being usable as a proxy for vibration amplitude. Nonetheless, it is demonstrated that the root‐mean‐square (RMS) of the low frequency current oscillations, in a nonlinear combination with the RMS of the current signal as a whole, may be able to serve as a proxy for the RMS of the vibration signal. / Thesis (Master, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2010-09-27 12:15:07.644