This dissertation is centered on the Grande Bibliothèque (GB) which opened in Montreal in the spring of 2005, and was a library project of unprecedented scale in the city. The Grande Bibliothèque project unfolded during a significant moment in the…

A plant is a natural hierarchical structure, which exhibits remarkable mechanical properties. The macro (scale) mechanical properties of a plant are the cumulative outcome of the structural properties of its preceding level of structural hierarchy. To develop engineering structures inspired…

In the last few decades, the world of electric machine design, specifically induction machine design, has been reinvigorated by the introduction of power electronics. Where designers were once limited to a single alternating current waveform with constant voltage and frequency,…

It is commonly believed that memory capacities decline with advanced age. Among various biological mechanisms investigated, the stress hormone (cortisol) has received much attention. When cortisol levels are elevated, they impair cognitive performance. Yet evidence shows that there is considerable…

Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) infection is now recognized as an antecedent for the development of cervical cancer and over the last two decades has been increasingly recognized as a major risk factor for oropharyngeal cancer (OPC). The last twenty years…

Brachiaria brizantha cv. Piatã was released from a Brazilian breeding program of Brachiaria genus to be a new option of forage plant for use in grasslands. This cultivar has been presented interesting strategy to persist on higher temperatures and water…

This research focuses on tracking generic non-rigid objects at close range to an infrared triangulation-based RGB-D sensor. The work was motivated by direct industry demand for a foundation for a low-cost application to operate in a surveillance setting. There are…

This study addresses the influence of Russian religious thought on the French philosopher and Islamicist Henry Corbin (1903-1978). In the 1930s, Corbin came into contact with religious thinkers of the Russian emigration in Paris, particularly Nikolai Berdyaev (1874-1948), who had…

Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries (mTBI) and concussions are complex injuries with high incidence rates in children and adolescents. There currently exists no 'gold standard' for the diagnosis of concussions, and detection and monitoring are made challenging by highly variable clinical…

Translational research, as defined by the National Institutes of Health, "includes two areas of translation. One is the process of applying discoveries generated during research in the laboratory, and in preclinical studies, to the development of trials and studies in…