<p> The Dundas Valley is a deep bedrock valley underlying the Hamilton-Wentworth region of southern Ontario that has been infilled with up to 180m of Quaternary sediment. These sediments contain a valuable record of past environmental change, as well as control groundwater and contaminant migration pathways throughout the region. Unfortunately, the nature, origin and spatial distribution of sedimentary units comprising the infill are poorly understood. This thesis demonstrates the use of 3-D modeling of subsurface geological data obtained from water well and borehole records, engineering and construction reports to delineate the form and geometry of the sedimentary infill of the Dundas Valley. ROCKWORKS 2002 is used to analyze and model over 2000 data points and create a variety of 3-D images used as an aid to the interpretation of the late Quaternary geological history of the study area. </p> <p> Sediments identified within the valley include fine-grained diamicts, clays, silty clays, sands, gravels and silty sands. These sediment types are grouped into five stratigraphic units that record changing environmental conditions during the late Quaternary. Unit 1 represents the eroded Paleozoic bedrock surface and is overlain by a patchy veneer of sandy gravel (Unit 2), probably deposited under fluvial or shallow lacustrine conditions. Fine-grained deposits of Unit 3 record glacially-influenced lacustrine deposition in the Dundas Valley, possibly during a subsequent episode of ice advance. Unit 4 consists of coarse-grained nearshore deposits associated with the development of post-glacial Lake Iroquois and uppermost silts and sands of Unit 5 record the development of protected lagoonal conditions at the western end of the Ontario basin. </p> <p> The 3-D images of the Dundas Valley infill are also used to identify and delineate the geometry of aquifers and aquitards and to help predict potential directions of groundwater flow and potential contaminant movement. </p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Macrobenthos and macrophytes of the north shore littoral zone of Hamilton Harbour were extensively sampled in late August 1994. Benthic community structure is described, including the presence of several oligochaete and chironomid genera previously unreported in the harbour. Community structure is scale dependent and identifying which spatial scales contribute important structure is a useful step in determining which environmental factors have the greatest impact on the benthic community. This information can be used to plan efficient benthos monitoring programs, and to construct spatially explicit models of the harbour ecosystem. Most of the variation in the data set (approx. 88%) is due to small scale patchiness, probably related to patchiness of the macrophyte community and sediment grain size, as well as biotic processes such as predation and competition. Large scale structure is related to a water depth gradient, probably involving changes in dissolved oxygen concentrations, light attenuation, and sediment grain size. Macrophytes also respond to this gradient. There is little important structuring of the benthos community at intermediate spatial scales. Models of benthic communities in the harbour must deal with spatial pattern effects such as autocorrelation. Additionally, spatial patterns provide information useful for understanding causes of community structure. A method is developed for the spatial pattern analysis of the benthic community data, which allows the simultaneous evaluation of patterns at various scales, with minimal mixing of information between scales. / Thesis / Master of Science (MS)

The present study is an exploratory qualitative analysis of public perceptions of health and the environment. In-depth interviews were employed to examine perceptions of the connection between health and the environment amongst a sample of men and women of both higher and lower socio-economic status in Greater Hamilton, Ontario. The study attempts to highlight the nature of health and environment perceptions in lay publics, the variations in perceptions of health and environment within and across social groups, as well as plausible reasons for these variations in perceptions according to cognitive information processing, value orientations, and cultural models. Variations in perceptions of the connection between health and the environment were seen to exist across social groups, namely by gender and socio-economic status. Differences in perceptions amongst those in the sample result from a myriad of possible factors ranging from social characteristics to personality traits to information processing networks. While health was largely perceived to be concrete and personalized, the environment was largely abstract and nebulous. Health was clearly articulated by those in the sample, while environment was less well-understood. Perceptions of the connection between health and environment were articulated usually with reference to the self, seemingly significant through possible threats to health. Health was viewed as under personal control through lifestyle choices, however, the environment was perceived to be external and not within the control or responsibility of individuals. A dichotomy in the form of “health is me” and “environment is external”, representing power, control, and responsibility and nested in social values and normative frameworks, became implicit in the findings. Social cognition research was employed to account for variations in interpretation of information related to health and the environment in order to account for differences in perceptions. Cognitive structures were then employed in an attempt to locate perceptions of health and the environment with value orientations from within a cultural or mental model of these connections. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Climate change is expected to affect Canada through extreme heat events (EHEs). Already vulnerable populations, including newcomers and immigrants, will especially be vulnerable to the health impacts associated with EHEs. This population is important to consider for a country as diverse as Canada. With a focus on Hamilton Ontario, this thesis will assess barriers that immigrants and newcomers face with coping to EHEs. Adverse impacts they face will also be discussed. Current formal and informal coping methods will also be highlighted. Quantitative analysis will also be used to explore the relationship between EHEs, air quality (as measured by the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI)), forward sortation areas and hospital admission for heat-related illnesses. The results of this study highlight that unique factors influencing heat health vulnerability among immigrants and newcomers in Hamilton. The benefits of current formal and informal coping mechanisms will also be discussed, as well as areas for improvement. Quantitative analysis also highlights that the AQHI, maximum temperature and a heat event can impact if an individual is admitted to the hospital for a heat-related illness. However, age, gender and most FSAs were not statistically significant. This thesis highlights the importance of considering the immigrant and newcomer population for EHE and general climate change adaptation efforts. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

I present two differential-algebraic (DA) methods for approximately solving the Hamilton- Jacobi (HJ) equation. I use the “automatic differentiation” property of DA to convert the nonlinear partial-differential HJ equation into a initial-value problem for a DA-valued first-order ordinary differential equation (ODE), the “HJ/DA equation”. The solution of either form of the HJ/DA equation is equivalent to a perturbative expansion of Hamilton’s principle function about some reference trajectory (RT) through the system. The HJ/DA method also extracts the equations of motion for the RT itself. Hamilton’s principle function generates the canonical transformation, or mapping, between the initial and final state of every trajectory through the system. Since the map is represented by a generating function, it must automatically be symplectic, even in the presence of round-off error. The DA-valued ODE produced by either form of HJ/DA is equivalent tc a hierarchically-ordered system of real-valued ODEs without “feedback” terms; therefore the hierarchy may be truncated at any (arbitrarily high) order without loss of self consistency. The HJ/DA equation may be numerically integrated using standard algorithms, if all mathematical operations are done in DA. I show that the norm of the DA-valued part of the solution is bounded by linear growth. The generating function may be used to track either particles or the moments of a particle distribution through the system. In the first method, all information about the perturbative dynamics is contained in the DA-valued generating function. I numerically integrate the HJ/DA equation, with the identity as the initial generating function. A difficulty with this approach is that not all canonical transformations can be represented by the class of generating functions connected to the identity; one finds that with the required initial conditions, the generating function becomes singular near caustics or foci. One may continue integrating through a caustic by using a Legendre transformation to obtain a new (but equivalent) generating function which is singular near the identity, but nonsingular near the caustic. However the Legendre transformation is a numerically costly procedure, so one would not want to do this often. This approach is therefore not practical for systems producing periodic motions, because one must perform a Legendre transformation four times per period. The second method avoids the caustic problem by representing only the nonlinear part of the dynamics by a generating function. The linearized dynamics is treated separately via matrix techniques. Since the nonlinear part of the dynamics may always be represented by a near-identity transformation, no problem occurs when passing through caustics. I successfully verify the HJ/DA method by applying it to three problems which can be solved in closed form. Finally, I demonstrate the method’s utility by using it to optimize the length of a lithium lens for minimum beam divergence via the moment-tracking technique. / Ph. D.

This paper was written to explain the conditions existing in Barton Township and to show the relationship existing between the township and the city of Hamilton. The problem was attacked from a land utilization angle. The land utilization map of Barton was produced in January 1950, after an extensive and careful field survey during the Fall of 1949. The physical geography of the township and the surrounding area is described. The historical geography is given because the author believes the historical forces must be recognized in any study of settlement. That part of Hamilton, lying along the top of the escarpment (Mount Hamilton) was included in the physical and historical setting because of its proximity and connection with the area under investigation. Hamilton’s southern city limit is 100 feet south of Fennel Avenue but for obvious purposes, the centre of the Avenue was taken for the boundary line between the city and the township. The main body of the paper reveals the close interrelationships between the city and the township. It is a good example of how a city does not terminate abruptly at its boundaries. This close connection between the city and its contiguous rural municipalities has created an urgent need for planning on a regional basis. Regional planning, if instigated, would help to regulate the future growth within the township and the encroachment of the city on the township. Agriculture and suburban developments would then be on a much sounder foundation. / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Hamilton-Jacobi equations are a class of partial differential equations that arise in many areas of science and engineering. Originating from classical mechanics, they are widely used in various fields such as optimal control theory, quantitative finance, and game theory. Stochastic homogenization is a phenomenon used to study the behavior of solutions to partial differential equations in stationary ergodic media, aiming to understand how these solutions average out or 'homogenize' over large scales. This process results in effective deterministic descriptions, called effective Hamiltonians, which capture the essential behavior of the system. We consider nonconvex Hamilton-Jacobi equations in one space dimension. We provide a fully constructive proof of homogenization, which yields a formula for the effective Hamiltonian. Our proof employs sublinear correctors, functions extensively discussed in the literature. The proof involves strong induction: we first show homogenization for our base cases, then use gluing processes to generalize the solution for the strong induction. Finally, we extend the result to a wide class of functions. We study the properties of the resulting effective Hamiltonian and investigate the occurrence of flat pieces. Additionally, we develop a Python-based computational tool that performs the same homogenization steps in a computing environment, returning the effective Hamiltonian along with its graph and properties. / Mathematics

Des récepteurs de barbiturates greffés avec des groupements anthracène photoactifs possédant différentes fonctions d’ancrage ont été synthétisés et caractérisés, en vue de transférer leurs propriétés de reconnaissance photocontrôlable à des substrats par diverses techniques de modification, comme la formation de liaisons amide, de liaisons thioacétate, ou par réaction click. Les propriétés photophysiques et photochimiques de ces récepteurs ont été étudiées en solution, et la fluorescence, la durée de vie et le rendement quantique ont été mesurés à différentes températures. Des surfaces d’or modifiées ont été fabriquées et caractérisées par ellipsométrie, mesure d’angle de contact, AFM et PM-IRRAS. Les résultats montrent qu’il est possible de moduler les propriétés de reconnaissance moléculaire des récepteurs de manière réversible via une combinaison d’irradiation lumineuse (365 nm) et de chaleur (80 °C). / Anthracene-appended photoactive barbiturate receptors possessing various anchoring groups are synthesized and characterized in view of transferring their photocontrolled binding properties onto substrates through various surface grafting techniques, such as amide bond formation, direct thioacetate linkage, or post click reaction modification. The photophysical and photochemical properties of the synthesized receptors were investigated in solution using variable temperature fluorescence, lifetime measurement and reaction quantum yield measurements. Receptor-modified gold substrates were characterized using ellipsometry, contact angle, AFM and PM-IRRAS experiments. The results showed that it is possible to reversibly modulate the binding properties of the anthracene-appended receptors through a combination of the irradiation with light (365nm) and heat (80℃).

Ce travail porte sur la modélisation et la simulation du trafic routier sur un réseau. Modéliser le trafic sur une section homogène (c'est-à-dire sans entrée, ni sortie) trouve ses racines au milieu du XXème siècle et a généré une importante littérature depuis. Cependant, la prise en compte des discontinuités des réseaux comme les jonctions, n'a attiré l'attention du cercle scientifique que bien plus récemment. Pourtant, ces discontinuités sont les sources majeures des congestions, récurrentes ou non, qui dégradent la qualité de service des infrastructures. Ce travail se propose donc d'apporter un éclairage particulier sur cette question, tout en s'intéressant aux problèmes d'échelle et plus particulièrement au passage microscopique-macroscopique dans les modèles existants. La première partie de cette thèse est consacrée au lien existant entre les modèles de poursuite microscopiques et les modèles d'écoulement macroscopiques. Le passage asymptotique est assuré par une technique d'homogénéisation pour les équations d'Hamilton-Jacobi. Dans une deuxième partie, nous nous intéressons à la modélisation et à la simulation des flux de véhicules au travers d'une jonction. Le modèle macroscopique considéré est bâti autour des équations d'Hamilton-Jacobi. La troisième partie enfin, se concentre sur la recherche de solutions analytiques ou semi-analytiques, grâce à l'utilisation de formules de représentation permettant de résoudre les équations d'Hamilton-Jacobi sous de bonnes hypothèses. Nous nous intéressons également dans cette thèse, à la classe générique des modèles macroscopiques de trafic de second ordre, dits modèles GSOM / This work focuses on modeling and simulation of traffic flows on a network. Modeling road traffic on a homogeneous section takes its roots in the middle of XXth century and it has generated a substantial literature since then. However, taking into account discontinuities of the network such as junctions, has attracted the attention of the scientific circle more recently. However, these discontinuities are the major sources of traffic congestion, recurring or not, that basically degrades the level of service of road infrastructure. This work therefore aims to provide a unique perspective on this issue, while focusing on scale problems and more precisely on microscopic-macroscopic passage in existing models. The first part of this thesis is devoted to the relationship between microscopic car-following models and macroscopic continuous flow models. The asymptotic passage is based on a homogenization technique for Hamilton-Jacobi equations. In a second part, we focus on the modeling and simulation of vehicular traffic flow through a junction. The considered macroscopic model is built on Hamilton-Jacobi equations as well. Finally, the third part focuses on finding analytical or semi-analytical solutions, through representation formulas aiming to solve Hamilton-Jacobi equations under adequate assumptions. In this thesis, we are also interested in a generic class of second order macroscopic traffic flow models, the so-called GSOM models

As memórias The Speckled People e The Sailor in the Wardrobe, lançadas em 2003 e 2006 respectivamente, narram de forma ficcional a infância, adolescência e início da vida adulta do escritor irlandês Hugo Hamilton. A narrativa relata a complicada formação identitária do autor-personagem no período de grandes transformações depois da Segunda Guerra Mundial e em meio as suas ascendências alemã e irlandesa. O ponto de partida desta pesquisa é a afirmação de que a identidade herdada de seus pais é como um pecado original e que ele deve crescer para encontrar a sua inocência. Essa afirmação inicia um projeto de transformação identitária. O objetivo da presente dissertação de mestrado é analisar e problematizar o percurso de transformação identitária vivido pelo personagem. Entendemos que há um sentimento de culpa, individual e histórica, em sua relação as suas identidades herdadas. Dessa forma, buscamos averiguar como esse sentimento o interpela em sua busca pela inocência e por um novo tipo de identidade. Além disso, nos propomos também a estabelecer um diálogo com várias perspectivas teóricas acerca do conceito de identidade para compreender os possíveis desdobramentos desse percurso e constatar se o personagem consegue encontrar a inocência que deseja através da reformulação de sua identidade hereditária. / The memoirs, The Speckled People and The Sailor in the Wardrobe, written by the Irish writer Hugo Hamilton and published in 2003 and 2006, narrate the authors complex process of identity formation, considering his German, Irish and English ancestry in a period of great transformations after the World Wars. According to the author, his identity was inherited at birth and he carried the Irish and German traditions, like an original sin. He says he wants to grow up and gain his innocence. This marks the beginning of his project to transform his identity. The objective of this M.A. dissertation is to analyse the process of his identity transformation. As we see it, there is an individual and historical feeling of guilt attached to his inherited identity. Therefore, we seek to understand how this feeling interferes in his pursuit of innocence and of a new kind of identity. In order to do so, this work aims to establish a dialogue with various theoretical perspectives in relation to the concepts of identity to understand the possible effects of this process of his self-assertion and whether he can eventually gain his innocence