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This dissertation explores the relationship between the ‘rise’ of the British novel and the critical changes happening in contemporary English marriage law from early eighteenth-century to the end of the nineteenth-century. While citing landmark legal treatises and acts and positioning these novels as the medium through which to see the way these legal moments significantly shaped British culture and society, equity is ultimately at the heart of this study, with equity functioning as part of law but a corrective to it. Running parallel to this protocol of reading through equity is a reading informed through moral philosophy, drawn predominantly from the work of Adam Smith and other thinkers from the Scottish Enlightenment. They encourage us to think about obligation, and the relationship between intentions, expectations, and consequences on the point of promise and contract. Beginning with Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders (1722), I show the moral and legal difficulties that arise when promises are based purely on verbal contracts. I then move to Samuel Richardson’s Pamela (1740) and Pamela in Her Exalted Condition (1741) to address the importance and utility of contract, but also the need to outline and endorse a system—introduced through Hardwicke’s Act (1753)—that would provide a more reliable structure for the marriage narrative. Mary Wollstonecraft’s Maria (1798) and Sir Walter Scott’s The Bride of Lammermoor (1819), both of which I call historical novels, pinpoint legal structures that are both oppressive and obsolete, and those who fall victim to the insufficient common law require a more equitable judgment. George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda (1876) encourages readers to think about the potency behind intentions, both expressed and implied, and how resulting consequences can often run counter to the original intentions and expectations. I posit each text as a ‘case’ warranting treatment and judgment in a court of equity, where the particular details are judged in and of themselves but then stand as an offering for ways to continue to think about the general pattern and evaluation of human nature and morals. / English

Adaptation to any undesirable change in the environment helps to ensure the survival of many microorganisms. During nutrient starvation, bacteria undergo a stringent response characterized by the accumulation of the alarmone (p)ppGpp. This results in the repression of stable RNA species and a change in colony morphology. In Gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli, RelA and SpoT synthesize and hydrolyze these nucleotides, respectively, under conditions of nutrient starvation. In Gram-positive bacteria, the bifunctional enzyme Rei is responsible for the accumulation of (p)ppGpp. These enzymes catalyze the transfer of a pyrophosphate moiety from ATP to the 3' end of either GTP or GDP. The overproduction of (p)ppGpp has many diverse consequences on bacterial physiology such as sporulation, virulence, long term persistence of pathogenic bacteria, cell morphology, antibiotic synthesis and fatty acid metabolism. In Bacillus subtilis a novel (p)ppGpp synthase, YwaC, is also involved in the accumulation of (p)ppGpp but does not associate with the ribosome. Transcriptional analysis of ywaC has implicated it with cell wall stress especially associated with lesions in the teichoic acid biosynthetic pathway. The work described here includes a steady state kinetic analysis of the reaction catalyzed by YwaC. Recombinant YwaC was over-expressed in E. coli and purified to homogeneity. Steady-state kinetic experiments were performed utilizing a high-performance liquid chromatography assay. This examination yielded Km values for GDP and GTP of 5 J.1M and 6 J.1M respectively, while the kcat was measured to be 0.13 min"1 and 0.11 min"1 respectively. As is common with other (p)ppGpp synthases, the low activity ofYwaC may be increased in the presence of the appropriate effector molecule. To explore the functional phenotype associated with ywaC a deletion strain was made by replacing the gene on the chromosome of B. subtilis with a spectinomycin resistance cassette. A variety of antibiotics were used to probe the ywaC deletion strain in an attempt to detect antibiotic sensitivity in comparison to wildtype cells. In addition, the morphology of the ywaC deletion strain was investigated using phase contrast confocal microscopy. Length and shape remained the same in a ywaC knockout. Growth profiles performed over a 24-hour period showed that the knockout strain grew similarly to wildtype B. subtilis. Thus, the phenotype analysis described herein failed to further elucidate the function of YwaC. Nevertheless, rigorous biochemical analysis described here have established the enzymatic role of (p)ppGpp synthesis for YwaC, but there remains much room for further investigation. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

<p> Wetlands are a valuable resource, providing many ecosystem services, but unfortunately, coastal wetlands in the Great lakes are under threat from human development, including water quality impairment, introduction of exotic invasive species as well as physical damage such as dredging, draining, and filling in of wetland habitat. These actions have a negative impact on the native flora and fauna in wetlands, making wetland conservation and important topic. </p> <p> Wetland macrophytes play a vital role within wetlands, not only providing food for water fowl, migratory birds, fish, and mammals, but also providing the physical structure that is necessary for fish spawning, and they provide habitat for macroinvertebrates and zoobenthos. Different macrophyte species have been found to be associated with varying water quality conditions, and because of this wetland macrophytes are useful indicators of water quality conditions. I have developed a Wetland Macrophyte Index (WMI) using 127 wetlands throughout all five Great Lakes (Chapter 1 ), which relates plant species presence/absence data to water quality conditions, making it a useful indicator of fish habitat. The WMI was validated using historical data from two wetlands from before and after a remedial action plan was put in place and also it was successfully applied to two Canadian National Parks. </p> <p> Information on the presence/absence of wetland macrophytes can be a very important tool in wetland conservation, but, unfortunately, there is no standard method for sampling macrophytes. In the second chapter I will compare two common macrophyte sampling methods (grid and transect) to a novel method (stratified) in six wetlands (three pristine and three degraded). The stratified method has proven to be beneficial for determining the macrophyte biodiversity within a wetland because more species, more unique species, and more rare species were found with the stratified method compared to the grid and transect methods. </p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

<p> Although successful in laboratory studies, field applications of in situ remediation of chlorinated solvents in groundwater have met with limited success. This is most often attributed to the inability to deliver the amendment evenly throughout the target zone, especially in low permeability and heterogeneous materials. The goal of this research was to employ a prototype of a novel delivery system to evenly deliver amendment across the depth and breadth of the subsurface in a cost-effective method. The research was conducted at 42 Voyager Court, Toronto, ON where concentrations of vinyl chloride in groundwater were in excess of Ontario Ministry of the Environment guidelines (O.Reg.153/04). The subsurface consisted of sandy and clayey silt fill underlain by sandy silt till.</p> <p> The delivery system comprised 29, 1/4" diameter, delivery points with small perforations along the length, installed in a fence perpendicular to groundwater flow, approximately 0.5 m upgradient of the area of concern. The delivery system used low flow rates (approximately 13 to 23% of total groundwater flow) and discrete delivery holes to deliver a potassium permanganate solution (approximately 40 g/L) amended with sodium bromide (approximately 0.8 g/L) across the depth of the subsurface. Fourteen multi-level monitoring wells, each with five sampling ports were installed to monitor the effectiveness.</p> <p> After six months of delivery, sample results indicated that oxidant demand hindered the ability of potassium permanganate to reach and degrade the vinyl chloride. However, elevated bromide concentrations were detected at all downgradient sampling ports within a 1.5 m distance. Thus, the delivery system was successful at delivering the amendment across the depth and breadth of the target area and achieving even delivery.</p> <p> Problems, typically leaks, were encountered with the delivery system design. Additional engineering would be required to improve the header system prior to commercializing this process. This would be a beneficial endeavor, as results of this work indicate that this passive delivery fence technique meets a real need in the remediation industry, which is the even distribution of amendment to target zones in the saturated subsurface, including zones of low permeability.</p> / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Some pages are blank, but are kept to satisfy the page count of the thesis. / <p> Indoor optical wireless links can potentially achieve high bitrates because there is a wide and unregulated bandwidth in the optical spectrum. Moreover, optical wireless links can be implemented using simple and inexpensive devices. However, indoor optical wireless links have their own drawbacks such as limited power due to safety issues and incapability of passing thorough opaque objects, which limit their mobility, range and bandwidth and have prevented them from being used widely in commercial systems. Therefore, there has been much effort to find new configurations for indoor optical wireless links which are able to overcome these limitations. In this thesis, a novel configuration for indoor optical wireless communication, termed the dynamic spot diffusing (DSD) channel, is proposed. In the DSD system, the transmitter sends optical signals to a small moving area on the ceiling termed a spot. The receiver receives reflections of optical signal from the spot when spot is in field of view of the receiver. This configuration is shown to achieve high bitrates and provide a good deal of mobility for users inside the room. In this work, a theoretical model for the DSD channel is proposed and the DSD channel capacity is discussed and computed. Furthermore, the DSD system design is explained and design issues are discussed in order to approach capacity. Finally, using computer simulations, achievable rates inside a room are computed and shown to be close to calculated channel capacity.</p> / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)