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The fastest growing age group in Canada is seniors aged 65 years or older (Statistics Canada’s 2006 & 2007). The population of seniors is projected to increase to 6.7 million by 2021 and 9.2 million by 2041 (nearly one in every four Canadians) (Social Development Canada, 2006a; Statistics Canada, 2007b). Similarly, Population Estimates, Waterloo Region and Ontario, 2011 and Population Projections, Waterloo Region and Ontario, 2016, 2026 & 2036 (Region of Waterloo, 2012b, 2012c) indicate that the Region of Waterloo expects an increase in its senior population by 145.4% from year 2011 to 2036. Due to increased longevity and an increased percentage of older adults, this demographic shift poses challenges for communities, including increased healthcare costs and social isolation among seniors, which may threaten their active participation in the community. The research question ‘Do urban design guidelines of the Cities of Kitchener and Waterloo address the needs of an ageing population?’ motivates this study to examine the Urban Design Manuals of the Cities of Waterloo and Kitchener to determine the age-friendliness of the current urban design guidelines, and the role of the built environment in active ageing. The current urban design guidelines of the Cities of Kitchener and Waterloo are compared with the Design of Public Spaces Standards (Accessibility Standards for the Built Environment) by Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA); the Universal Design Principles; key findings based on the literature review (Levine, 2003; Story, Mueller, & Mace, 1998); and analysed with in-depth knowledge gained through semi-structured interviews with seniors, planners, and focus groups. The participation of the seniors provided information on the gaps between what already exists and what is required. The key finding of the report is that the urban design guidelines of the Cities of Waterloo and Kitchener are fairly comprehensive in addressing the needs of seniors, but there is inadequate implementation of these guidelines.

Building an identity is a broad based study of the monuments which two female patrons built from 1566 to 1666. It probes the impulse to commemorate, considers why memorials took the form that they did, and takes account of the social conventions which provided a framework for the behaviour of these patrons. Their reasons for commemoration provided a key to the comprehension of funeral monuments, whose forms and epitaphs went beyond remembering the worthy dead with a memorial, to a quite specific view of the deceased, which served these patrons' purposes of promoting their own identities in eternal stone in the public spaces of churches. The patronage of several monuments by Elizabeth Cooke, annotated with copious epitaphs, offered a repeated opportunity to observe the thinking behind her commemoration of members of her family. Visual evidence was greatly extended by substantial documentation of her career. Repeated expenditure on monuments by this woman called for an external perspective on her behaviour by investigation of the purposes of another patron. This was provided by Anne Clifford, who set up an even longer series of monuments, extending her commemoration from family to lower ranking people who were significant in sustaining her perception of her own identity. Because both patrons of multiple monuments were women, and so far as it is now possible to establish, these were the only female patrons of long series of memorials in England at this period, the study investigated gender status to find out how their patronage fell within accepted female practice and how they extended the domestic roles assigned to high ranking Englishwomen. This study of their lives and commissions showed these women to be assuming head of family functions, through which they claimed high rank for themselves, which was only marginally affected by their consciousness of inferior female gender.

Where about 2 million people perform Hajj and visit the Holy places in Makkah and al-Madina. Pilgrimage is considered one of the largest event in the world. The increase in the pilgrims' number does not follow with an increase in the accommodation and built environment needs. As a result, pilgrims find themselves in a built environment which is not designed according to their satisfaction level. The specific core proposition of this study is to analyse the results of pilgrims' satisfaction with all aspect of their existing accommodation as a micro built environment, as well as with their neighbourhood and the city of al-Madina as a macro level of the built environment.

Partnering emerged in the construction industry in the late 1980's and since then has developed into a mainstream management strategy for reducing traditional adversarialism and improving project,performance. The maturation of the approach reached a milestone recently with the publication of the first partnering contract. However the approach is still in its relative infancy and a myriad of definitions exist as to what it is. (Li, Cheng & Love, 2000). It has received considerable attention from practitioners and researchers alike yet it remains an alien approach to many and is consequently difficult to plan and implement. Even the recent partnering contract has been criticised for its complexity, while others believe partnering should remain an approach represented by management style not contractual documentation. The aim of this thesis is to develop a set of practical processes for the strategic development and implementation of partnering arrangements. It aims to develop, through the identification of best practice criteria, generic processes as well as recommend corresponding management techniques for both long term and Project Specific Partnering success. The generic processes can then be tailored to suit specific projects and business objectives. The work represents the first stage in the development of a dear and implementable partnering management tool for the construction industry. The further development required for industrial implementation has also been identified.

The behaviour of open spandrel brickwork masonry arch bridges (OSBMAB) was studied through model tests and finite element simulations. One three-metre and two five-metre span, full scale OSBMAB were constructed and tested to destruction. Two `partial' models including a combination of spandrel arches and piers, and a five-metre span single arch were also tested with intention of studying the functions of the components of the OSBMAB. To simulate the behaviour of the brickwork masonry arches, three finite element modelling techniques were developed: - (a) smeared modelling method (SMM), in which the failure of brickwork masonry caused by tensile cracking, compressive crushing or sliding is simulated as "loss of stiffness" in the corresponding directions within the domain of the geometry of the arch structure; and (b) discrete modelling method (DMM), in which the failure of brickwork masonry caused by tensile cracking or sliding is simulated as the change in the geometry of the arch structure, i. e., the geometrical discontinuity at prescribed locations; and (c) the mixed modelling method (MMM), in which the main arch, spandrel arches/piers are modelled using the SMM, and the interfaces between the fill and arch are modelled using the DMM. Parametric studies were carried out to investigate the effects of changes in material properties and finite element model related parameters on the behaviour of the OSBMAB, and to justify the values of those parameters adopted in the finite element models using the FE Package ANSYS 5.3. The comparisons were made between the finite element results and those obtained from the model tests. It has been demonstrated in terms of the ultimate loads, the modes of failure and the responses of loads vs. displacements that FE modeling can give good correlation.

Wildfires are a natural hazard that present an increasing risk to communities in fire-prone areas. This study examines the impacts of the municipal-level built environment upon fire damages in California, a particularly fire-vulnerable state. This study uses a multivariate linear regression model to isolate the effects of the human built environment upon reported monetary wildfire damages. Reported monetary losses from wildfires for the years 2007 to 2010 are examined against relevant built environment variables, while statistically controlling for biophysical and socio-economic variables. The fully-specified regression model indicates that wildfire property damage is driven primarily by the built environment. Socioeconomic and biophysical variables contribute comparatively little explanatory power to the model. Findings from this study will be of particular interest to fire management officials, land developers, and urban planners interested in creating a more fire-resilient future for cities within California.

Environments that support physical activity (PA) engagement are now seen as an important part of the solution for accumulating daily physical activity which confers health benefits, particularly transport-related PA (TPA). Despite this recognition, understanding the determinants of health-related PA has traditionally focused on identifying associations between the social environment and non-specific PA domains. As such, prior to commencing this thesis little was known about the relationships between the built environment and overall PA engagement within the New Zealand context. Little was also known about associations between TPA attitudes and behaviours, and urban design. This research sought to overcome this paucity of knowledge by investigating associations between overall PA and TPA engagement and perceptions, health outcomes, urban design, and socio-demographic variables from a public health perspective. The body of research was initiated with two literature reviews that formed the context for the following six empirical chapters. Data in the empirical chapters were drawn from three self-report surveys using adult samples. The research commenced by examining associations between urban design and overall PA engagement, and then narrowed towards TPA-specific relationships. TPA relationships were identified through the development and implementation of a reliable survey that captured associated behaviours and attitudes. Several new findings were drawn from this body of work. Overall, 21% of adults recognised they could replace automobile journeys on at least two days per week, and walking was deemed an acceptable travel alternative. Adult TPA engagement levels were low; 7% commuted to place of work/study and 32% travelled to the convenience shop by TPA modes. Furthermore, when compared with those who commuted to an occupation by TPA, respondents who used motorised travel were less likely to be classified as active (odds ratio (OR)=0.5) and be of normal body mass index (OR=0.5). No significant health relationships existed for convenience shop travel. As well, 4% of adults reported no automobile availability. When this group was compared with those with unrestricted automobile availability, they were less likely to be classified as active (OR=0.3), but were more likely to engage in TPA modes to access destinations (occupation, OR=6.3; convenience shop, OR=9.8). Occupation-related commute distances also revealed interesting findings. Overall, 50% of respondents perceived they could, and 10% of the sample actually did, commute by TPA modes for distances less than five kilometres, and relationships were strongly mediated by distance. Other urban design variables were objectively assessed with TPA engagement for occupation-related commute distances less than five kilometres. Those who travelled along the most connected street networks were more likely to engage in TPA modes (OR=6.9) when compared with respondents travelling along the least connected networks. No relationships were found with other urban design variables and TPA engagement.This research substantially contributes to this research area by identifying associations between overall PA and TPA engagement and perceptions with urban design. It is likely that shifting the perceptions of adults who recognise they can employ TPA modes, into actual TPA engagement will result in promising population health gains. Future PA initiatives with adults should consider promoting walking for transport as a sustainable solution. A lack of TPA interventions is evident; however, methodological issues need to be resolved before developing such initiatives. Although strategies aimed towards changing perceptions may be valuable for future TPA interventions, it is likely macro-scale urban design modifications (e.g., improved job-housing balance, highly-grained street networks) and legislation (e.g., automobile restrictions) will have the greatest success for increasing TPA engagement in the adult population.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / Many people believe that ‘purpose-built’ facilities will diminish some of the challenging behaviours exhibited by older people with dementia or psychiatric conditions. This study aimed to explore and understand what hands-on nurses in psychogeriatric assessment units experience and think of the built environment as a part of their day to day work. Twenty-one unstructured interviews were conducted with nurses at three psychogeriatric assessment units. The units ranged in style from an ancient adapted building to a contemporary 'purpose-built' facility. A critical hermeneutics derived from Gadamer was used to explore the interviews. It found that nurses think of the built environment in relation to the care needs of their patients, and feel bureaucratic restrictions in using the built environment more keenly than the shortcomings of the built environment itself. Nurses saw themselves and their patients as 'outcasts' or victims of those with money and power. The study concludes with suggestions for challenging the status quo, but also considers that being regarded as 'outcasts' allows opportunities to avoid being overly impressed by technological marvels.

abstract: Due to high level of integration in RF System on Chip (SOC), the test access points are limited to the baseband and RF inputs/outputs of the system. This limited access poses a big challenge particularly for advanced RF architectures where calibration of internal parameters is necessary and ensure proper operation. Therefore low-overhead built-in Self-Test (BIST) solution for advanced RF transceiver is proposed. In this dissertation. Firstly, comprehensive BIST solution for RF polar transceivers using on-chip resources is presented. In the receiver, phase and gain mismatches degrade sensitivity and error vector magnitude (EVM). In the transmitter, delay skew between the envelope and phase signals and the finite envelope bandwidth can create intermodulation distortion (IMD) that leads to violation of spectral mask requirements. Characterization and calibration of these parameters with analytical model would reduce the test time and cost considerably. Hence, a technique to measure and calibrate impairments of the polar transceiver in the loop-back mode is proposed. Secondly, robust amplitude measurement technique for RF BIST application and BIST circuits for loop-back connection are discussed. Test techniques using analytical model are explained and BIST circuits are introduced. Next, a self-compensating built-in self-test solution for RF Phased Array Mismatch is proposed. In the proposed method, a sinusoidal test signal with unknown amplitude is applied to the inputs of two adjacent phased array elements and measure the baseband output signal after down-conversion. Mathematical modeling of the circuit impairments and phased array behavior indicates that by using two distinct input amplitudes, both of which can remain unknown, it is possible to measure the important parameters of the phased array, such as gain and phase mismatch. In addition, proposed BIST system is designed and fabricated using IBM 180nm process and a prototype four-element phased-array PCB is also designed and fabricated for verifying the proposed method. Finally, process independent gain measurement via BIST/DUT co-design is explained. Design methodology how to reduce performance impact significantly is discussed. Simulation and hardware measurements results for the proposed techniques show that the proposed technique can characterize the targeted impairments accurately. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2015