Research in high-performance architecture has been focusing on achieving more computing power to solve computationally-intensive problems. Advancements in the processor industry are not applicable in applications that need several hundred or thousand-fold improvement in performance. The parallel architecture approach promises to provide more computing power and scalability. Cluster computing, consisting of low-cost and high-performance processors, has been an alternative to proprietary and expensive supercomputer platforms. As in any other parallel system, communication overhead (including hardware, software, and network) adversely affects the computation performance in a cluster environment. Therefore, decreasing this overhead is the main concern in such environments. Communication overhead is the key obstacle to reaching hardware performance limits and is mostly associated with software overhead, a significant portion of which is attributed to message copying. Message copying is largely caused by a lack of knowledge of the next received message, which can be dealt with through speculation. To reduce this copying overhead and advance toward a finer granularity, architectural extensions comprised of a specialized network cache and instructions to manage the operations of these extensions were introduced. In order to investigate the effectiveness of the proposed architectural enhancement, a simulation environment was established by expanding an existing single-thread infrastructure to one that can run MPI applications. Then the proposed extensions were implemented, along with the MPI functions on top of the SimpleScalar infrastructure. Further, two techniques were proposed in order to achieve zero-copy data transfer in message passing environments, two policies that determine when a message is to be bound and sent to the data cache. These policies are called Direct to Cache Transfer DTCT and lazy DTCT. The simulations showed that by using the proposed network extension along with the DTCT techniques fewer data cache misses were encountered as compared to when the DTCT techniques were not used. This involved a study of the possible overhead and cache pollution introduced by the operating system and the communications stack, as exemplified by Linux, TCP/IP and M-VIA. Then these effects on the proposed extensions were explored. Ultimately, this enabled a comparison of the performance achieved by applications running on a system incorporating the proposed extension with the performance of the same applications running on a standard system. The results showed that the proposed approach could improve the performance of MPI applications by 15 to 20%. Moreover, data transfer mechanisms and the associated components in the CELL BE processor were studied. For this, two general data transfer methods were explored involving the PUT and GET functions, demonstrating that the SPE-initiated DMA data transfers are faster than the corresponding PPE-initiated DMAs. The main components of each data transfer were also investigated. In the SPE-initiated GET function, the main component is data delivery. However, the PPE-initiated GET function shows a long DMA issue time as well as a lengthy gap in receiving successive messages. It was demonstrated that the main components of the SPE-initiated PUT function are data delivery and latency (that is, the time to receive the first byte), and the main components in the PPE-initiated PUT function are the DMA issue time and latency. Further, an investigation revealed that memory-management overhead is comparable to the data transfer time; therefore, this calls for techniques to hide the unavoidable overhead in order to reach high-throughput communication in MPI implementation in the Cell BE processor.

The study explored the differences that resulted when school districts participated in successful interdisciplinary community coalitions to improve the quality of and the opportunities for services for young children and their families—and ultimately enhance school success. The study examined the structure, function and impact of four successful intersectoral community coalitions in British Columbia. It determined that the coalitions’ work resulted in improved coordination, services and access to programs for the early learning of young children. The types of services examined were those that addressed local needs; were examples of collaboration of different service providers, including schools; addressed different needs of children and families; were designed to promote the community’s ability to care for its own families and to resolve issues and develop programs at the local level. The study employed case-study methodology—focus groups, interviews, data collection and analysis, and observations—to explore four diverse communities that had established programs in response to defined needs and had evaluated the effect of the services provided to children and families. The services examined were those that (1) capitalized on existing assets and resources; (2) planned for and accessed new resources through partnerships; and (3) promoted promising researchbased practices. The study focused on early-childhood initiatives that supported literacy development in the context of social, emotional, physical and cognitive development. The research questions examined the function and evolution of the intersectoral coalitions and the involvement of public schools in them; the characteristics that contributed to or impeded success; descriptions of programs and services initiated by the school district; and evidence of enhanced school success. The study noted social processes, relations, practices, experiences and actions. The study examined programs that evolved through the collaborative efforts of intersectoral professionals, and created social solutions for early learning issues. The study resulted in eight conclusions related to: (1) the pivotal role intersectoral coalitions play in community development, with four specific caveats; (2) the key role schools and school districts have to play if community coalitions are to reach their full potential; (3) the need for reliable data in order for proposed changes to be embraced; (4) the role of family literacy programs in meeting social and emotional needs as well as those of literacy; (5) the need for community coalitions to break down barriers to access in order to support the most needy families; (6) the momentum created by a sense of moral purpose and community consciousness as coalition work matures; (7) the need for sustainable and transformative leadership that changes as the coalition evolves and (8) the need for government to support grassroots movements by new service reorganization, funding mechanisms and related policy development. Through rich descriptions and respondents’ quotes, the study provides a variety of models that can be replicated by community agencies seeking to establish a broad, coherent approach to services for young families.

In southern central Yukon Territory, Canada, a northwest-trending 267 Ma ophiolitic assemblage defines the Tummel fault zone (TFZ), which juxtaposes Paleozoic miogeoclinal strata of Cassiar terrane with metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks of Yukon-Tanana terrane. Basalt, greenstone, and chert occur in the TFZ and are correlated with Slide Mountain terrane. Northeast of the TFZ, pelitic and semipelitic rocks of the Kechika Group are overlain by carbonate of the Askin Group in Cassiar terrane. Southwest of the TFZ, Yukon-Tanana terrane comprises Devonian-Mississippian quartzofeldspathic basement (the Snowcap Complex) overlain by Mississippian clastic and arc-derived rocks of the Drury, Pelmac, and Little Salmon formations. The ca. 105 Ma Glenlyon Batholith and its satellite plutons intrude Cassiar terrane and the TFZ, imposing a contact metamorphic aureole that overprints earlier metamorphic features in rocks of Cassiar and Yukon-Tanana terranes and the TFZ, and indicates pre-105 Ma juxtaposition of these three tectonic assemblages.

The Huckleberry Mine region experienced a complex ice-flow history during the Late Wisconsinan Fraser Glaciation. Cross-cutting and superimposition relationships observed in the field, constrain the relative timing of ice-flow events and indicate that a westerly-directed ice-flow event was followed by a smaller magnitude east to northeast event. This ice-flow reversal can be explained by the existence of an ice divide in the central interior of British Columbia during the Fraser Glaciation maximum. Although ice thickness exceeded relief in the region during the glacial maximum, and glaciers flowed west, up-valley towards the Coast Mountains, locally, ice-flow direction appears to still have been influenced by topography. Basal tills dominate the local Quaternary stratigraphy. These grey, overconsolidated, clayey-silt diamictons typically overlie Early Jurassic Telkwa Formation andesites, but they can also locally overlie advance-phase glaciofluvial sands and gravels. In the vicinity of the Main and East Zone areas, it is common to find visible pyrite and chalcopyrite grains (up to 3 mm in size), and mineralized clasts (pyrite +/- chalcopyrite) in the till matrix. At a 19 m vertical exposure, multiple till units were identified. These basal tills are distinguished primarily by changes in colour, matrix texture, and gravel content. Stratigraphic, sedimentological, lithological, and geochemical data from this exposure provide evidence of an ice-flow reversal in the Huckleberry Mine region during the Fraser Glaciation maximum. Till geochemical data define the locations of known sources of copper mineralization in the Huckleberry Mine region. Maximum, minimum, and median copper values in near-surface basal till samples are 8924 ppm, 29 ppm, and 216 ppm, respectively (n=106), while those for sub-surface basal till samples are 4167 ppm, 18 ppm, and 187, respectively (n=230). Locally developed dispersal trains indicate that mineralization from these sources has been transported towards the east and west. These dispersal trains are detectable in both near-surface and sub-surface basal till samples and also provide further evidence of an ice-flow reversal in the Huckleberry Mine region. Two westward-directed dispersal trains, that are isolated or disconnected from dispersal of the Main Zone area, suggest and that there could be undiscovered bedrock mineralization on Huckleberry Mine property.

There are numerous widely varying vocal styles and voice qualities in Western music. Popular music in the 21st century uses a particular voice quality for female voice that is quite different from the trained classical voice quality. Classical voice quality has been the subject of a vast body of research, whereas research that deals with non-classical voice quality and pedagogy is very limited. In order to learn more about these issues, the author chose to do research using a variety of standard voice quality tests to substantiate the existing literature, and perhaps generate new information. This thesis presents a review of the existing literature on voice quality in various different styles of singing: Classical, Belt, Legit, R&B, Jazz, Country and Pop. In addition, this thesis looks at spectral measurements from a small set of voice samples, elicited from a professional soprano. Laryngographic (LGG) data was generated simultaneously with the audio samples. To limit the data set for the scope of this thesis, singing samples using the vowel [i] are selected_ The analysis techniques used in this thesis are Spectrogram, LPC, FFT, and various LGG ratio measurements. The spectral measurements compared include the relative strength of the first two harmonics, the formant locations, relative energy from harmonic strength near the formants, summed energy in two quadrants (0-3000Hz, 3000-5000Hz), and the inharmonic or aperiodic activity seen in each quality. Data from the LGG is used to calculate the contact quotient (the time the vocal folds are in contact divided by the time for one cycle of the vocal fold vibration), speed quotient (the time between maximum contact of the vocal folds and vocal fold separation divided by the time between first contact and maximum contact) and ascending slope (the slope of the contacting phase of the vocal fold wave). The LGG waveform was also visually assessed. The acoustic and LGG data are compared to an auditory analysis by Dr. John Esling (Professor of Linguistics, UVic) and to the subject's descriptions of the physical configurations involved in producing these qualities. Physiological observations obtained from x-ray fluoroscopy & MRI scans of belt and classical voice qualities are included in Appendix B. The intention of the thesis is to reveal more about the workings of these voice qualities. The thesis also serves as a prototype for a series of 10 vowels and running samples that were elicited at the same time. Perhaps, even though this thesis presents a limited data set, it may be useful to pedagogues who are struggling to understand the complexities of the non-classical female voice, as well as to computer programmers and engineers who are developing voice enhancement devices and biofeedback tools.

The notion of ‘absolute’ power underpins my own interest in power relations in Child Welfare practice but I shift the focus to the perspective of frontline child protection social workers. Missing in social work literature are the stories from workers in child protection practice. How do workers conceptualize power? How is this grey space of practice – which is not easily discussed – understood by practitioners themselves, the academy, and the system in which they practice? My completed master’s research draws on narrative methodology, adopted from Fraser’s (2002) model. It is a collection of six narratives. By using this open-ended approach, practice narratives were shared without limitation or parameters. From this rich data I analysed workers’ experiences, drawing out examples of power relations. My conclusions include; (a) the ways that frontline workers conceptualize power are strongly impacted by dominant notions of power, (b) relational practice with clients is occurring – and does so in isolation of the larger system of child welfare, and finally, (c) there is value in examining the perspectives of frontline child protection social workers as they are the one which have the greatest potential to initiate structural change from the bottom-up through transformative practice, which is happening every day.

WT1 has two main isoforms: WT1(-KTS) and WT1(+KTS). Both are known to bind to a DNA consensus sequence with different affinities, and are thus postulated to play overlapping but distinct functional roles in the cell. WT1 is also known to bind to certain RNA moieties as well as to various protein partners (e.g. Ciao-1). This study focuses on the development of large scale protein purification protocols for WT1 zinc finger (ZF) proteins as well as Ciao-1. By using a combination of his-tag affinity and size exclusion chromatography we were able to purify milligram quantities of these proteins. It was also the intention to obtain crystals of the WT1 ZF protein in complex with any one of its known binding partners, in particular the protein Ciao-1 (a WD40 protein) and the 14 mer consensus sequence of DNA (known as WTE). In conjunction with structural studies it was determined that a previously made SELEX RNA library was not selective for the (+KTS) isoform of WT1 ZF, and therefore no RNA candidate could be identified for future structural studies.

Interactional feedback has received a lot of attention recently in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). In particular, the literature on the effects of recasts (correct reformulation of a learner’s utterance) has produced conflicting results. The object of the present study is to contribute to the recent investigation of interactional feedback on L2 acquisition by examining the effects of recast, elicitation, and recast plus elicitation on the development of question formation by ESL learners in a typical classroom environment. The study followed a pre-test/post-test design and was carried out over 7 weeks. Results provide some support for short-term effects of recasts, long-term effects of elicitations and delayed effects for recasts in combination with elicitation. These results suggest that recasts and elicitation may both be effective forms of feedback in different ways. As well, the results also imply that recasts may be most effective when their saliency is enhanced in some manner.

Sushi is a widely consumed food in North America. Along with other ethnic cuisine and food items it is subject to fusion and localization. This thesis explores the transformation of sushi in Victoria, BC, on the basis of an extensive survey, participant observation, and interviews with producers and consumers. The physical and symbolic transformation of sushi is analyzed both from the vantage point of business and cultural trends. It is shown that sushi became a food item different to what is known as sushi in Japan. This makes Victoria as one of the North American markets which threatens the Japanese national identity. This study thus not only reveals the local process of transformation of sushi but also shows how a food item becomes a multi-vocal symbol. While consumed by North Americans as healthy and exotic in its transformed style, it becomes a politically significant concern of national identity in Japan.

In the study of the economic and labour history of the West Coast Native people of British Columbia most research has centered on activities such as fishing, farming and forestry. This thesis turns the attention from what was primarily men's work in the dominant society to the Coast Salish wool working industry where women worked with the help of their children and husbands. I examine the significant economic and cultural contribution Coast Salish woolworkers had on West Coast society, the meeting place woolworkers' sweaters provided between the Coast Salish and the newcomers and the changes which took place in the industry during the last century. This story includes many voices most of which are recorded in newspapers, correspondence and journals, and in the memories of those that lived and worked in the industry.