Theses and dissertations

Challenges and Enabling Practices in Management of External Consultants In ICT Projects: an Exploratory Study of Managers’ Perspectives

Ronald Josipovic — Thu, 23 May 2013 06:06:31 PDT

While there are many external consultants who greatly contribute to the success of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) projects, not all consulting engagements are without challenges. In order to make the best use of consulting resources and increase return on investment (ROI), it is important to identify what challenges may arise in management of consultants and what practices can help managers in dealing with these challenges. Therefore, the objective of this research is to gain additional insights into potential challenges and enabling practices in management of consultants by examining experiences and perspectives of managers. This is an exploratory qualitative research that employs semi-structured interviews, and coding and thematic analysis. The empirical data is examined through the lenses of agency theory and transaction cost economics. A number of constructs from these two theoretical frameworks are extended into new sub-constructs that are grounded in the empirical data.
The findings of this research study indicate that managers may anticipate a number of challenges in management of external consultants, and that identified practices can enable managers to deal effectively with those challenges. This research makes a contribution to theory by providing a systematic presentation of all challenges and enabling practices in management of external consultants in ICT projects in an integrated model. Moreover, this research makes a practical contribution by providing recommendations on how to cope with the challenges in management of external consultants.

Keywords:
consultant, challenges with consultants, management of consultants, ICT project, project management, agency theory, transaction cost economics.

Economic Heroes, 'Bogus' Asylum Claimants, =and Genuine Refugees: a Discourse-Historical Analysis of Recent Changes to Immigration Policy, 2010 to 2012

Samantha Bezic — Thu, 23 May 2013 06:06:28 PDT

The neoliberalization and securitization of immigration policy have accelerated in recent years. My goal is to demonstrate this premise. Using the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA), I chart the contemporary history of Canadian immigration policy developments and how subjects of immigration policy have been discursively produced. I then introduce changes made to immigration policy between January 2010 and June 2012, how such changes have been introduced and how they have been justified by the current government. I do this by applying the DHA to a textual sample of parliamentary speeches, CIC news releases, and articles from two major newspapers. The three main discursive policy themes explored are (1) The current economic stream is too cumbersome for the new economy (2) The refugee determination system is in need of repair and (3) Canada's immigration system is in danger of being undermined due to illicit activities. Justification patterns within these discourses are analyzed.

Key words: neoliberalism; securitization; immigration policy; policy discourse

Modeling and Development of an Experimental Pneumatic Facility for Aircraft Bleed Air System Studies

Dale Molenaar — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:39:18 PDT

Research on aircraft bleed air systems has been performed at Ryerson University for the last eight years. During this time, the requirements of the test apparatus have been constantly expanding. This thesis work aims at developing a new reconfigurable rig that supports current and future research on aircraft bleed air control systems and takes advantage of lessons learned from previous test rigs. The new rig consists of two temperature control channels in a parallel arrangement to allow for flow sharing control, and a load tank with variable exhaust. Beyond the development of the test rig, research has been performed to improve mass flow measurement based on signals from traditional thermal mass flow and pressure sensors. The proposed method utilized these redundant means of indicating flow to obtain fast and accurate flow measurement through the use of a dynamically weighted average. This method has been experimentally investigated using the test rig.

Enhanced Stewardship Over Scarce Non-Profit Resources : Restructuring Non-Profit Accountability to Give Clients Greater Voice

Steven Wall — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:25:35 PDT

This study examines the accountability profiles of 44 non-profit social services organizations operating in the City of Toronto from the perspectives of Senior Executives working within them. Not unexpectedly, this study confirms an

accountability bias based on an imposed system of accountability dominated by upward financial accounting to government funders. This paper suggests that non-profit organizations must move beyond imposed systems of accountability to achieve a more productive, better balanced and holistic accountability. A proposal is forwarded for enhanced stewardship over non-profit resources through a strategy that calls for non-profit organizations to reorient their accountability profiles to give clients greater voice through mechanisms of downward accountability. This study provides an introductory framework for accountability to clients, as well as an inventory of the downward mechanisms of accountability found in the 44 non-profit social services organizations studied.

Overload Detection/Health Monitoring Landing Gear Sensor System Proposal

Bradley, W. Baird — Mon, 13 May 2013 08:18:43 PDT

In recent years, both the major aircraft manufacturers and airline customers have asked landing gear suppliers to begin the development of a viable overload detection/health monitoring system (ODHMS) for in-service and future aircraft landing gear projects. At present, there is no reliable/quantifiable means of determining whether a landing gear has been overloaded during both landing and ground maneuvering conditions. Instead, airlines and aircraft manufacturers rely on a combination of the pilot's judgement and flight recorder data. This thesis outlines current overload detection methods and their shortcomings. It also proposes two possible ODHMS system configurations and provides the basic algorithms required to predict the applied loads acting on the landing gear. Both ODHMS systems require the use of strain guages and potential guage types are reviewed. Finally, a technology development test plan is outlined to produce a mature ODHMS to be placed on the next generation single aisle aircraft platform.

Composting As Wise Waste Diversion Technique

Naeem, A. Memon — Mon, 06 May 2013 06:59:15 PDT

There are several MSW management approaches, but the most effective are source reduction, recycling, and reuse called (3R), which can prevent or divert materials from the waste stream. Source reduction involves altering the design, manufacture, or use of products and materials to reduce the amount of toxicity of what gets thrown away. The other approaches are recycling and reuse processes, in which inorganic part can be separated to achieve recycled products while, organic waste or green waste can be decompose to produce usable substance called compost. This alternative approach for handling organic waste turned as wise waste alternative for achieving environmental friendly end product which would reduce waste burden from landfills and create sustainable environment.

Generally, the paper discusses process and importance of organic composting as an alternative approach in reducing and diverting the organic waste burden from the traditional waste disposal methods like, landfilling or incineration and analyses its advantages towards the municipalities and local communities in adopting organic waste diversion approach to achieve natural soil conditioner called compost.

The Amenability Of Pre-Treated Source Separated Organic (SSO) Waste For Ethanol Production

Mina, Mirzajani — Mon, 06 May 2013 06:59:14 PDT

Every year, millions of tonnes of municipal solid waste are generated in the city of Toronto from residential and non-residential sources. A large fraction of the municipal solid waste is composed of organic materials. This valuable resource has traditionally been disposed of in landfills, which in turn contributes to the pollution of the environment and the generation of green house gases. This places a great emphasis on the need for the design and implementation of more sustainable waste management practices and the adequate supportive infrastructures in order to achieve sustainability. The city of Toronto has been experiencing a huge challenge over the past few years regarding its waste problem, and having inadequate infrastructure for effective waste management practices. In the year 2000, the City of Toronto established a goal of 100% waste diversion by the year 2010 (Task Force, 2001). In the year 2005, the City of Toronto collected approximately 100,000 tonnes of source separated organic waste (SSO) from single-family households (Butts, 2005). SSO is an excellent source of fermentable carbohydrates including free sugars, starch, cellulose, hemicelluloses and other degradable organic materials. However, the main obstacle is the release of some of its carbohydrates, such as cellulose and hemicelluloses, from their bondage to lignin before conversion to fermentable sugars. Cellulose and hemicelluloses in SSO are bonded to lignin and are not easily separated and fermented to ethanol. Therefore, for utilizing SSO as a feedstock for ethanol production, a deep understanding of the nature of lignocellulosic materials is essential in order to overcome the challenges in the biological conversion to ethanol. As an initial part of a multi-staged project, this thesis is to examine the potential of SSO for utilization as a feedstock for ethanol production. A set of experiments were conducted on SSO in order to determine the amenability of SSO to ethanol production. The experimental results show a relatively high amount of carbohydrates in the SSO samples, indicating potential of SSO to be utilized as an ethanol production feedstock. Comparing result of the characteristics study with other cellulosic feedstocks, indicates that SSO has a reasonable amount of fermentable sugars and can be utilized for ethanol production instead of using other cellulosic feedstocks such as herbaceous energy crops. A technology for the biological conversion of SSO to ethanol was proposed based on the current techniques and the results from the characterization study on SSO. It is foreseen that the finding of this study will enhance the overall understanding of the nature of SSO and the possibility of using it for ethanol production, and provide technical data and information for the decision makers in the assessment of the potential of SSO for ethanol production.

Texture classification using gene expression programming

Fereshteh, Mahvarsayyad — Mon, 06 May 2013 06:46:17 PDT

In computer vision, segmentation refers to the process of subdividing a digital image into constituent regions with homogeneity in some image characteristics. Image segmentation is considered as a pre-processing step for object recognition. The problem of segmentation, being one of the most difficult tasks in image processing, gets more complicated in the presence of random textures in the image. This paper focuses on texture classification, which is defined as supervised texture segmentation with prior knowledge of textures in the image. We investigate a classification method using Gene Expression Programming (GEP). It is shown that GEP is capable of evolving accurate classifiers using simple arithmetic operations and direct pixel values without employing complicated feature extraction algorithms. It is also shown that the accuracy of classification is related to the fact that GEP can detect the regularities of texture patterns. As part of this project, we implemented a Photoshop plug-in that uses the evolved classifiers to identify and select target textures in digital images.

An Analysis Of The Seminar, Preservation Of Photographs, In The Years 1991-2007

Amanda, Maloney — Mon, 06 May 2013 06:46:16 PDT

This paper is an examination of the Preservation of Photographs seminars held yearly since 1991 by the Image Permanence Institute at Rochester Institute of Technology and George Eastman House. The world of photography was affected by a variety of changes during this time, which were manifested in the subject matter covered at the Seminar. The purpose of this examination is to make a detailed review of this Seminar, see what changes have been made, and assess how and why these changes took place to better be aware of our priorities today. It was not the intent of this paper to be critical of past practices, but rather to attempt to chronicle and understand how these practices have evolved over time.

Robust Nonlinear Control Of Underactuated Satellite Formation

Geoffrey R. McVittie — Mon, 06 May 2013 06:46:15 PDT

In this thesis, the control of the underactuated satellite formation system is examined. The underactuated satellite formation consists of a leader-follower configuration where there is no control force available in the radial direction relative to the orbit of the leader satellite.

Two new relay sliding mode controllers are proposed as a method of controlling the formation system. The first controller is developed using the Hill's equation of motion of the satellite formation and the sliding manifold is designed based on linear quadratic regulation and the algebraic Riccati equation.

The second controller uses a 2nd order state dependent time varying approximation of the satellite formation and the sliding manifold is chosen in real-time through the evaluation of the causal approximation of the differential Riccati equation. The incorporation of the nonlinearity and time varying properties of the system into the control law expands the operational range of application. The theoretical stability bounds of the two control laws are determined guaranteeing the robust nature of the closed loop system against both matched and unmatched disturbances.

A series of numerical simulations are used to validate the stability and robustness of the proposed control laws. Finally, some simulations are provided to determine the effect of controller and system parameters on the control laws' performance.

Environmental And Age-Related Deterioration Of Concrete Median Barriers

Kavitha. Madhu — Mon, 06 May 2013 06:19:49 PDT

The purpose of this research was to understand the time-dependent environmental and age-related deterioration mechanisms in the un-reinforced concrete barrier walls used in Ontario. The study concentrated mainly on the response of plain concrete barrier walls to time-dependent thermal loads and associated volume changes. The research involved temperature data collection, experimental study and numerical analysis. The temperature data was collected on an hourly basis from the temperature sensors installed in a live plain concrete barrier wall. In the experimental study, concrete samples were exposed to varying temperature and environmental conditions and tested to monitor the deviation of significant concrete parameters like compressive strength, tensile strength, modulus of elasticity etc. Based on the results from the experimental study and the temperature data collected from the sensors, a non-linear transient thermal and structural analysis was carried out on a three-dimensional model, developed using ANSYS program, for a time period of three years.

Improving Power Density Of A Class Of Piezoelectic Power Harvesters Through Proof Mass Optimization

Wen G. Li — Fri, 03 May 2013 12:34:31 PDT

This thesis presents a method to optimize the proof mass of the cantilever piezoelectric power harvester. With this novel proof mass, a lower fundamental frequency and a higher power density (output power per unit volume) were achieved. Prototypes of 0.242 cm³ in volume were fabricated and tested and a power density of 1446 μW/cm³ was achieved for sinusoidal excitation of 0.75 g. It was experimentally shown that the new power harvester lowered the fundamental frequency by 26% and increased the power density by 68% in comparison with the conventional harvesters. When tested on a shoe, the new power harvester generated an average power of 48.4 μW at 3.0 mph walking speed on a treadmill.

Image Processing Techniques For Improved Sun Sensor Performance

Christopher. Li — Fri, 03 May 2013 12:22:09 PDT

The behaviour of digital sun-sensors and associated super-resolution algorithms was explored. Using calibration data, a method was proposed to model the peak width of peaks across the image array. Using this with the non-linear least square algorithm gave improved performance across the field-of-view. A test was proposed that would measure precision for small sensor motions. Also, a method of accounting for local bias error was given. The small motion test defined limits at which the sensor detects motion, and the precision test gave metrics to measure how well the sensor renders motion. Finally, an extended kalman filter was developed that used sun-vector measurements, in addition to a new relative measurement. This was tested using a well-defined sensor as well as a generic sensor for which few error data were known. Results indicate that relative measurements only improve performance if random noise is low.

CMOS RF Front-Ends For Bluetooth Applications

Yanmei. Li — Fri, 03 May 2013 12:22:07 PDT

This project investigates the design of RF front-ends for bluetooth applications. The main objectives in each design are optimized noise figure, power consumption, gain and linearity. The designed cascode LNA achieves 1.37 dB low noise figure through ports matching and maximizes the voltage gain to 11.5 dB. The port isolation reaches to 82 dB. A 2 MHz low IF down-conversion mixer is developed. It employs current injection to reduce the fliker noise of MOSFETs. The total noise figure of the mixer is 17 dB and input referred IIP3 is 4.97 dB. A quadrature mixer constructed by two symmetric Gilbert mixeres is discussed. A common-gate class E power amplifier is investigaged. Through connecting a L matching network, the output power would be 17.7 dBm at 1.4 V power supply and the power added efficiency PAE and drain efficiency DE are 41% adn 42.8 % respectively. To supply two LO frequencies with 90º phase difference, a quadrature voltage controlled oscillator is designed using a series of coupling structure and accumulation mode PMOS varactors. The frequency tuning range is 2.304 GHz ~ 2.54 GHz when the control voltage changes from 0 to 0.7 V. The QVCO exhibits phase noise of -113 dBc/Hz at 600 kHz offset frequency and -119 dBc.Hz at 1 MHz offset frequency. All the circuits were designed in TSMC-0.18μm 1.8 V CMOS technology and simulated using HSPICE RF simulator.

Modelling And Control Of Automated Polishing/Deburring Process

Liang, Liao — Fri, 03 May 2013 12:22:05 PDT

In this thesis, a new approach is presented for the modelling and control of an automated polishing/deburring process that utilizes a dual-purpose complaint toolhead mounted on a parallel tripod robot. This toolhead has a pneumatic spindle that can be extended and retracted by three pneumatic actuators to provide tool compliance. By integrating a pressure sensor and a linear encoder, this toolhead can be used for polishing and deburring. For the polishing open-loop control, the desired tool pressure is pre-planned based on the given part geometry. To improve control performance, a closed-loop controller is applied for pressure tracking through pressure sensing. For the deburring control, another closed-loop controller is applied to regulate the tool length through tool extension sensing. The two control methods have been tested and implemented on a polishing/deburring robot, and the experiment results demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented methods.

To future improve the control performance, an adaptive controller is developed to deal with the uncertainties in the compliant tool. This control method combines the adaptive control theory with the constant stress theory of the contact model. A recursive last squares (RLS) estimator is developed to estimate the pneumatic plant model, and then a minimum-degree pole placement (MDPP) is applied to design a self-tuning controller. Afterwards, the simulation and experiment results of the proposed controller are presented and discussed. Finally, a nonlinear model of the pneumatic plant is developed. The nonlinear controller developed by using feedback linearization method is applied on the nonlinear pneumatic system of the compliant toolhead. The simulation is carried out to test the effectiveness of the pressure tracking for the polishing process.

A Low-Cost AC-DC Rectifier For Variable-Speed Wind Energy Conversion Systems

Zhenhan. Luo — Fri, 03 May 2013 12:18:32 PDT

In this thesis, a novel AC-DC rectifier is adopted to convert the variable AC voltages from wind generator to a constant dc-link voltage. A DC-AC inverter is used to transfer the energy to fixed ac grid as well as maintain dc-link voltage constant. The rectifier is connected to the generator, which has two sets of three-phase windings. Electrical exited or permanent magnetic synchronous generators are suitable for this rectifier. The AC-DC rectifier features low cost, low power losses and simple control structure.

The major content of this thesis consists of four parts. The first part investigates the operation of the AC-DC rectifier. The analysis illustrates the current paths in the rectifier and the remarkable voltage-boosting capability. A simulation model of the converter is built and verified. The second part models the synchronous generator with two sets of windings. The model is developed in the d-q synchronous reference frame. The simulation results from the model are verified by the experimental results.

Then the third part is the design of the control system, which involves the generator, the AC-DC rectifier and constant dc-link voltage source. The control system composites of the inner current loop and the outer speed loop. The control system achieves the variable-speed operation of the generator and the regulation of the dc-link current. Finally, a prototype of wind turbine system is established in the lab to verify the analysis of rectifier, synchronous generator and control system design. The steady-state and transient responses of the wind system are compared. Simulation and experiment verify the analysis in this thesis.

Two 19th Century Japanese Souvenir Travel Albums At The Art Gallery Of Ontario

Jenny Li — Fri, 03 May 2013 12:18:29 PDT

This paper analyzes two nineteenth-century Japanese souvenir travel albums from the Art Gallery of Ontario's collection of photography. The project includes: a literature survey discussing sources and researchers of early photography in Japan; contextual research on the introduction of photographic technology in nineteenth-century Japan and the influence that traditional woodblock prints may have had on the genre of commercial souvenir photographs of Japan; and a detailed description of both album with a potential attribution. Furthermore, the applied component of the project, which entailed documentation of both albums in the form of a catalogue of their 100 tinted albumen prints, is included as an appendix. The paper also provides recommendations for the optimal storage and preservation of both albums, as well as a housing solution. The cataloguing and housing of the two albums will enhance accessibility and facilitate future research of these albums.

Multicast Optimization And Recovery In Multihoming Environment

Frank Levstek — Fri, 03 May 2013 12:18:27 PDT

Reliability of multicasting is increasingly becoming an important issue as the number of end users continues to grow, their demand for reliable service increases. This thesis proposes a novel algorithm for creating a recovery model while optimizing both inter and intra domain bandwidth. This is achieved by creating a centralized rendezvous point within the intra domain topology. The rendezvous point will create a static multicast tree and it will avoid link congestion during inter-domain link failure. This algorithm also reduces link congestion surrounding the border routers. This is achieved by shifting the root of the multicast tree from the border router to the rendezvous point. This rendezvous point is then selected based on an optimization algorithm to reduce bandwidth congestion. A Steiner tree was used to optimize the intra domain links. The simulation results indicate up to 30% increase over conventional optimization algorithms which do not consider a rendezvous point model.

A Numerical Study Of Micro-Jet Impingement Cooling Inside A High Pressure Turbine Vane

Marcel L. De Paz — Fri, 03 May 2013 12:18:26 PDT

A thorough numerical analysis of micro-impingement cooling for application in high pressure turbine vanes is presented. The fundamental flow of an axisymmetric jet is first modeled and studied to ascertain the validity of the results. Subsequent, a fully three dimensional curved vane is modeled with an in-line impinging array of jet diamters 0.5mm. The analysis reveals that spent air collects with increasing streamwise distance from the leading edge, thereby increasing jet exit velocities across the array. For all cases studied, an increase in jet to target spacing increased the overall Reynolds number of the array, but decreased the average heat transfer rate. Micro diameters of 0.25mm were subsequently studied for full vane geometry. For a given mass flow per unit of heated area, the micro-jets considerably increased the average heat transfer by 63%. Similar enhancements were obtained at a fixed pressure drop percentage, and for a desired average heat transfer.

Curvature Limitations In Bridge Codes

Imad Eldin Ahmed E. Khalafalla — Fri, 03 May 2013 09:59:36 PDT

In recent years, horizontally curved bridges have been widely used in congested urban areas, where multi-level interchange structures are necessary for modern highways. A series of horizontally curved bridges were analyzed in this study using a commercial finite-element program, ABAQUS. In each analysis, the behavior of bridges was investigated, and the major internal forces developed in the members were determined. Specifically, stresses, vertical deflections vertical reactions and natural frequencies for difference values of the horizontal angle of curvature. These values compared with the values of a straight bridge of similar span and cross-section configuration. Bridges taken into account were single and two-span horizontally curved concrete slab bridges, concrete T-beam bridges, concrete cellular bridges, concrete box girder bridges, slab-on-steel I-girder bridges, and composite steel box girder bridges. The design parameters considered were degree of curvature, span length, number of lanes, number of girders and/or boxes, and span-to-depth ratio. The stipulation made in bridge codes for treating a curbed bridge as straight one is examined. Based on the data generated from the parametric study, sets of empirical expressions were developed to evaluate stress, deflection, reaction, and frequency distribution factors in a curved bridge system as related to a straight bridge system. Then theses expressions were extended to establish more reliable expressions for curvature limitation to treat a curved bridge as straight one.