As the importance of water use in the power generation sector increases across the nation, the ability to obtain and analyze real power plant data is pivotal in understanding the water energy nexus. The Navajo Generating Station in Arizona and the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Alabama are examples of where water shortages have threatened the operation of power generators. The availability of freshwater in the United States is beginning to dictate how and where new power plants are constructed. The purpose of this study is to provide and analyze cooling system parameters using 2008 data provided by the Energy Information Administration. Additionally, the cost of water saved among different categories of power plants is calculated. In general, the conditions which cause cooling systems to withdraw less water are not necessarily the more expensive conditions, and vice versa. While not all the variability in the cost of cooling systems is being accounted for, the results from this study prove that nameplate capacity, capacity factor, age of power plant, and region affect the costs of installed cooling systems. This study also indicates that it would be most cost effective for once-through cooling systems to be replaced with recirculating- pond instead of recirculating- tower systems. The implications of this study are that as power plant owner's struggle in balancing cost with water dependence, several parameters must first be considered in the decision-making process. / Master of Science

Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) refers to the withdrawal symptoms experienced when an infant has been exposed to certain substances (e.g., opioids) in-utero, resulting in health challenges for infants. Previous studies have reported substantial variations in the clinical management of NAS, suggesting that some infants may not be receiving optimal care. High-quality clinical practice guidelines are crucial to support optimal patient outcomes and standardize care. In response, I conducted a systematic review and quality appraisal of available NAS guidelines and recommendations using the AGREE-II and AGREE-REX tools. I also developed and piloted a tool to measure family-centred care in guidelines. Most guidelines received low-quality appraisal scores on the AGREE-II and the AGREE-REX appraisals (16/20 and 10/20, respectively) and have conflicting pharmacological recommendations. Findings will improve clinicians’ awareness of the variation in the quality of guidelines and assist them to make care decisions that are from the best available evidence and family-centred.

Children are dropping out of sport at alarming rates. With the highest numbers of dropout occurring between the ages of ten and seventeen, the focus of this research is on the drop-out rates of adolescents from sport. Athletic participation has been linked to positive academic performance, key development of leadership skills, and increased engagement in the community. The research that has been conducted related to sport persistence has had a greater focus on examining factors related to the physical domain. Attention is now beginning to shift however, and researchers are looking outside the physical domain and analyzing sport attrition more through sociological and psychological domains. The purpose of this research is to conduct a literary analysis on the psychological factors that impact the drop-out rate of adolescents from sport with adolescents being defined as children between the ages of ten and seventeen. Research in this domain is fairly limited; however numerous psychological theories have recently emerged as framework for conducting research as it relates to participation and drop-out in adolescent sports. These include self-determination theory, basic needs theory, achievement goal theory, and leisure constraints theory. The developmental model of sport participation is also a tool that is widely used to study sport persistence and drop-out. Foundationally based on psychology, this literature analysis was constructed to explore drop-out factors related to adolescent sport with the intent to collect data that either supports or disputes the relational connections between sport attrition or persistence. These relationships include but are not limited to the athlete/athlete, athlete/coach, athlete/parent, and athlete/self.

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This study evaluated effects of driving torques on screw direct withdrawal resistance (SDWR) from wood-based composites. The results on the screw seating torques indicated that the face-grain orientation of each material type had the highest mean load. The face-grain orientation of OSB had the highest mean load of 11.1 lb.in., and the MDF had the lowest mean load of 7lb.in.. For the screw stripping torques, the result showed the face-grain orientation of each material type had the highest mean load. The face-grain orientation of OSB had the highest load of 55.9 lb.in. Effects of torque levels on SDWR, the results indicated that the SDWR was lower at the torque level closer to the seating and stripping torque levels in OSB, whereas the SDWR was only lower in the torque level closer to the stripping torque within MDF and PB. Face-grain orientations of the each wood material had the highest SDWR.

Nicotine addiction is a multifaceted disease that can be influenced by several factors. Emerging evidence indicates that the neural substrates of nicotine addiction overlap with the neural substrates of learning and memory. Nicotine modulates various types of learning and memory and the ability of nicotine to alter cognitive processes may contribute to its addictive liability. Acute nicotine enhances contextual conditioning in mice, tolerance develops to this effect with chronic administration, and withdrawal from chronic nicotine produces cognitive deficits. While tolerance and withdrawal deficits both occur following chronic administration, it is unknown if they share similar mechanisms. The series of experiments in Chapter 2 were designed to provide evidence that tolerance and withdrawal are dissociable. C57BL/6J mice were implanted with osmotic minipumps that delivered constant nicotine or saline for various durations and then were trained and tested in contextual conditioning either during chronic nicotine administration or 24 hours after pump removal. Chronic nicotine enhanced contextual conditioning in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Tolerance developed quickly to the enhancing effect of chronic nicotine. Furthermore, the duration of chronic nicotine treatment required to produce cognitive deficits upon cessation of treatment differed than that required to produce tolerance, which suggests that tolerance and withdrawal are mediated by separate mechanisms. Chapter 2 concludes by presenting a model that integrates nicotinic acetylcholine receptor desensitization and upregulation to explain the present findings. The model presented in Chapter 2 predicts that there will be enhanced sensitivity to acute nicotine during a period of nicotine withdrawal. Previous research indicates that prior exposure to nicotine enhances sensitivity to acute nicotine injections, but it is unclear if this enhanced sensitivity is due to prior nicotine exposure or enhanced sensitivity to nicotine during withdrawal. Therefore, the experiments in Chapter 3 were designed to determine if prior exposure to nicotine or nicotine withdrawal altered sensitivity to acute nicotine injections. This was accomplished by assessing the effects of acute nicotine on contextual conditioning immediately after cessation of chronic nicotine treatment and two weeks later, a time period not associated with withdrawal-related changes in cognitive function. Results of the study showed that acute nicotine enhanced contextual conditioning across a wide range of doses in both saline- and nicotine-withdrawn mice. However, a greater enhancement of contextual conditioning was observed in mice withdrawn from chronic nicotine treatment for 24 hours than all other withdrawal groups, suggesting enhanced sensitivity during withdrawal. The enhanced sensitivity to acute nicotine suggests altered nAChR function during withdrawal. In addition, the lowest dose of acute nicotine did not enhance contextual conditioning in groups that received chronic nicotine but did in other groups. The simultaneous observation of a hyper and hyposensitive nAChR system during withdrawal suggests that there may be a phasic response to chronic nicotine. Together, the results of the present study suggest that tolerance and withdrawal operate under separate mechanisms, and that there is overall enhanced sensitivity to nicotine during periods of nicotine withdrawal. / Psychology

Resource withdrawal from unnecessary medical services is an important issue as the cost of health care continues to rise. In many countries, resource withdrawal is primarily determined by government policies that remove, restrict, reduce, or limit the availability of publically insured medical services. Ideally, resource withdrawal is the result of a careful assessment of clinical and economic evidence regarding a service’s safety and effectiveness in order to ensure that it is the most efficient use of resources. Despite advocacy for a routinized and systematic approach to the withdrawal of resources from medical services, research has indicated that political and social factors often influence government, resulting in decisions that are neither consistent nor transparent. In this dissertation I seek to understand factors that may influence resource withdrawal decisions in an attempt to promote a more routinized and systematic approach. In order to understand the resource withdrawal landscape and provide greater conceptual clarity, the first study in this dissertation identifies and explores its characteristics (antecedents, attributes, and outcomes). Definitions of two prominent terms, disinvestment, and rationing are proposed. In the second study, a qualitative analysis of two examples of resource withdrawal reveals how the characteristics of problem frames affect the shape and timing of government resource withdrawal policies. Findings support the proposition that the complexity of the story told within the problem frame affects the shape of the policy; while visibility affects the timing. In the third study, I analyzed the perspectives of key informants about the Choosing Wisely Canada (CWC) campaign, which has the aim of reducing unnecessary services by encouraging a discussion between physician and patient. Findings reveal that CWC was designed to address pressures from government, patients, and the public. However, CWC was not designed in a way that is expected to address the underlying reasons unnecessary services are provided, including limited time in the clinical encounter, patient demands, uncertainty in the care pathway, and physician fear of litigation. Results from all three studies help establish a common language, identify influences on government led resource withdrawal and reasons why CWC is unlikely to reduce unnecessary services. Together this thesis provides insights into some of the factors affecting resource withdrawal from medical services, and findings may be used to help assess ways to improve the formulation of resource withdrawal policies. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Currently several governments pay for unnecessary medical services, leading to suboptimal patient health outcomes and a waste of public resources. Several researchers and organizations have proposed methods to identify and assess medical services to determine if they are unnecessary; however, governments have been slow to adopt such methods on a routine basis. It is clear that evidence is rarely sufficient to motivate governments to withdraw resources from unnecessary medical services. Instead, governments are often influenced by social and political factors when they make such decisions. Through a better understanding of these factors, we may be able to find ways to incorporate evidence into governments’ decisions to withdraw resources from medical services. Qualitative methods were used to investigate how resource withdrawal is defined, factors influencing government resource withdrawal decisions in Ontario, and the effectiveness of Choosing Wisely Canada, an initiative led by the medical community to reduce unnecessary services.