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Framing swatting: a content analysis of Canadian news coverage (1983–2024)
Full text linkMost individuals have little to no direct experience with serious crimes (Baranauskas & Drakulich, 2018). Consequently, their primary source of knowledge about crime often comes from the media, particularly news outlets, which play a central role in shaping public perceptions of criminal activity (Surette, 2015; Yanovitzky & Stryker, 2001; Arias, 2019). This influence is evident in the case of swatting, a malicious act in which an individual deliberately places a false or fraudulent 911 call with the intent of provoking an exaggerated and often militarized response from emergency services (Berghel, 2023). Media coverage of criminal activity frequently adopts an emotional and sensationalized tone, contributing to heightened public fear and uncertainty (Crocker, 2012). This study examines how Canadian news outlets have represented swatting between 1983 and 2024. Employing a mixed methods approach to triangulate findings, the analysis concludes that media portrayals of swatting are often incomplete, lacking crucial nuance and context necessary to fully capture the scope and implications of the phenomenon
Experimental studies on thermal management of phosphoric acid fuel cell and latent heat change systems
Full text linkThis study designs, builds, investigates, and examines the electrochemical and thermal performance of a phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC) at the cell and stack levels, and the incorporation of phase change materials (PCMs) for thermal energy storage. Operating parameters, reactant gas flow rates, performance of a variety of coating materials, usage of mesh electrode, integrated thermal energy storage system, different wt% of phosphoric acid electrolyte, and mixed electrolyte solutions with different chemicals, are tested at 10 different operating temperatures starting from 20°C to 200°C. Electrochemical assessments, linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and cyclic voltammetry (CV), are performed to analyze the performance of the electrode plates. The results show that the coatings enhance catalytic activity and overall fuel cell efficiency, especially at higher temperatures. Selected PCMs, sodium hydroxide (NaOH), potassium nitrate (KNO3), and solar salt can keep the fuel cell stack at the intended operating temperature range for 186 minutes, 207 minutes, and 224 minutes, respectively. The hydrogen peroxide-enhanced electrolyte exhibited significant results at 140°C among other tested operating conditions. The PAFC has an average cell voltage of 0.75V, 37% energy, and 28% exergy efficiencies from experimental results, listed first compared to other experimental literature studies investigated. Integrated multigeneration system utilizing PAFC-PCM system with multiple useful outputs developed and investigated through energy and exergy approaches. Theoretical energy and exergy efficiencies for the stack are 42.3% and 36.5%, respectively. As the ambient temperature increases from 15°C to 50°C, the overall energy efficiency remains constant at 15% while the overall exergy efficiency increases from 26.5% to 36.7% for the multigeneration system, respectively. The maximum voltage output difference between experimental and simulation results varies from 7%, 9.7%, and 24% at 20°C, 100°C, and 200°C, respectively. This study advances the optimization of PAFC technology by illustrating how enhancements in material and thermal management can increase power generation, operation hours, and reduce maintenance costs
SensorsConnect: World Wide Web for Internet of Things
Full text linkThe widespread adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) has led to a surge in smart sensing devices connected to the Internet. While IoT enables machines, embedded systems, and appliances to access the Internet, they do not interact with it as humans do through the World Wide Web (WWW). Unlike humans, IoT devices lack a unified framework like the WWW for collaboration and data sharing. This is primarily due to (1) the separate infrastructure often required for IoT security and privacy and (2) the challenges of limited connectivity, device heterogeneity, and evolving technology.
This thesis presents SensorsConnect, a platform that connects IoT devices in a WWW-like framework, enabling real-time sensing data searches across a broad IoT context. It defines the architecture, core processes, significant challenges of SensorsConnect, and strategies to address them. In addition, the thesis presents a motivating scenario illustrating its potential impact in real-life situations. Using real-time road status and service occupancy estimated by Google Maps, SensorsConnect enhances Google Maps service recommendations, not only minimizing customer wait times but also distributing workload more evenly across service points.
Additionally, spotting the light on the search component of SensorsConnect, the thesis introduces a real-time IoT Agentic Search Engine (IoT-ASE) that leverages the Large Language Models (LLM) models and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) techniques. It also introduces the IoT-Retrieval Augmented Generation Search Engine (IoT-RAG-SE) and deploys it as an agent within IoT-ASE. Furthermore, it discusses a use-case scenario where IoT-ASE is hypothetically deployed in Toronto to improve the quality of service recommendations by leveraging real-time IoT data. IoT-RAG-SE retrieves the intent service as the first-ranked result by 92%. Additionally, the evaluation highlights a sample of queries to assess the performance of IoT-ASE compared to Gemini. IoT-ASE responses are more concise, relevant, engaged, and persuasive than Gemini responses, which tend to be generalized without fully addressing preferences embedded in queries. Furthermore, having access to real-time data provides an additional privilege to IoT-ASE to generate responses based on real-time context. Our discussion reveals that this promising framework could improve public access to live data, support real-time decisions, and improve quality of life
Women’s perspectives of home birth with a traditional birth attendant in the East African Community: a qualitative evidence synthesis
Full text linkMaternal mortality and morbidity related to childbirth constitutes a considerable health burden in the East African Community (EAC). This project aims to understand the perspectives of women regarding the role of traditional birth attendants (TBAs) in home birth occurring in the EAC. To address this aim, a qualitative evidence synthesis was conducted. Electronic databases were searched and updated. References were screened, extracted, and assessed for their methodological quality. Data were analyzed using framework synthesis methods. Findings were analyzed, summarized, and presented narratively in tabular format. Results showed that women perceive birth as low risk supported by TBAs, TBAs address accessibility and organizational barriers, women value trusting relationships with TBAs, and women expect cultural competence that incorporates traditional and medical care from TBAs and hospital care providers. These findings suggest that TBAs should be upskilled and co-production of care between TBAs and health care providers creates a collaborative partnership improving mortality
Justifying the unjust: a neutralization theory and McDonaldization analysis of self-checkout theft
Full text linkSelf-checkout theft materializes as a byproduct of hyper-rationalized retail spaces that erode consumer interactions and normative moral constraints. By drawing on techniques of neutralization and the McDonaldization thesis, I reframe deviance as a response to neoliberal regimes. Rather than discrete mental processes, neutralizations are adaptive strategies structured by institutional principles of efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. As automated systems replace human oversight, moral disengagement advances to the foreground, facilitating justifications that render theft as morally ambivalent
Progress in question: a qualitative thematic analysis of disciplinary power, and Black senior leadership in Canadian policing
Full text linkThe perception of “progress” for racialized officers within contemporary Canadian policing – particularly equity, diversity, and inclusion reforms – remains underexplored. Existing scholarship predominantly emphasizes increased representation at lower ranks, often neglecting the implications of tokenism within white, male-dominated workforces. This study examines the disciplinary proceedings of former Toronto Police Superintendent Stacy Clarke, analyzing tribunal discourse – court documents, promotional policies, exhibits, and testimonies – and related media coverage to interrogate how race, discipline, and compliance are constructed. Employing a case study and qualitative thematic approach, this research contextualizes the socio-legal framings of Clarke’s ruling as the first Black female superintendent in the service’s history, situating it within structural and cultural impediments to racialized officers’ professional mobility. Five key themes emerge, revealing identity-management narratives, over-surveillance, and a marked absence of substantive discourse on anti-Black racism and mentorship opportunities. Findings underscore the need for targeted policy interventions. Implications, limitations, and future directions are also discussed
Brønsted acid-catalyzed alkylation of tetrazoles with alcohols
Full text linkTetrazoles hold significant pharmaceutical importance, being a key component in various drugs with hypertensive, antimicrobial, antiviral, antiallergic, cytostatic and nootropic biological activities. Traditionally, tetrazoles have been alkylated using alkyl halides under basic conditions. However, alcohols are the most convenient alkylating reagents. While Lewis and Brønsted acid-catalyzed alkylations of tetrazoles using alcohols have been reported, their drawbacks include the necessity to use excess of strong Brønsted acid, narrow scope, long reaction time and poor functional group tolerance. Recently, we developed a methodology for the alkylation of 5-substituted tetrazoles with benzhydryl and benzylic alcohols in the presence of 5 mol% of a mild Brønsted acid catalyst HBF4 (aq). The developed protocol features low acid catalyst loading, short reaction times, generally high yields and high N2 selectivity. In addition, the developed methodology exhibits excellent functional group tolerance
Managing police misconduct: examining the role of police unions and collective bargaining agreements across North American police services
Full text linkExtant literature indicates that police misconduct is a by-product of systemic deficiencies which need to be addressed at a structural level. Conversely, however, most reformative strategies prescribed over the years have narrowly focused on police-centered approaches to address officer misconduct in North America. Moreover, external influences on existing accountability structures are largely overlooked, while weak measures of accountability, or lack thereof, have been cited repeatedly as a significant concern in addressing police misconduct. Accordingly, emerging literature has begun to examine the role of police unions and other external agencies in mitigating matters of officer misconduct. This dissertation examines the influence of police unions and police associations on internal and external structures of officer accountability using an exploratory content analysis of collective bargaining agreements stipulated between police unions and police departments across 70 Canadian and 50 US police agencies. An inductive coding process of the data collection reveals 10 overarching thematic categories with several subcategories of specific provisions from the collective agreements contained therein. The results of this study illustrate how police unions play a significant role in mitigating officer misconduct through a multitude of interdepartmental and intradepartmental processes. The results also highlight how relations between police executives and police unions are contractually managed while addressing power dynamics between the signing parties. The implications of specific provisions on internal structures of accountability are addressed in light of managing officer misconduct. The analysis of contractual relations provisioned in collective bargaining agreements examined for this study is used to discuss limitations in current reformative strategies on organizational, individual and legal-level to further elucidate the role that police unions can play in impeding police reform. Suggested policy implications resulting from this analysis include: limiting union influence in intradepartmental disciplinary procedures; enhancing accountability using data-led initiatives by preserving employee records; redefining police culture by strengthening accountability through incorporating whistleblower protection; and lastly, promoting police legitimacy by preserving community voices through meaningful access and transparency
Investigating the effects of steam recirculation on the hydrolysis reactor of the Cu-Cl cycle
Full text linkThis dissertation employs experimental and simulation analyses to evaluate a novel class of hydrolysis reactors for the Cu-Cl thermochemical hydrogen production cycle. The proposed reactor utilizes reactant recirculation to reduce the requirement for excess steam while maintaining favorable conditions for the hydrolysis reaction. When the steam reactant is recirculated, HCl products are carried as well, without a method to separate gaseous species. As a result, recirculation leads to an increased concentration of HCl in the reactant stream, which may detrimentally affect the hydrolysis reaction. The proposed reactor was designed and developed to operate at a variety of HCl and steam concentrations. The solid chemical products from the reactor were analyzed using XRD to determine the reactor yield. The results show that the reactor achieved a maximum yield of 78% at 5.21 mol/litre of HCl in the liquid solution input. With 30 grams of CuCl2, the yield was found to be heavily limited due to poor contact between the reactants. Samples of 10 grams of reactant were found to have a maximum conversion of 52%, while 5-gram samples attained the maximum yield of 78%. This suggests that the reaction is not sensitive to the concentration of HCl in the reactant gas stream.
To determine the impact of recirculation on the Cu-Cl cycle as a whole, a sophisticated simulation was developed in Engineering Equation Solver™© that allowed for the simulation of the Cu-Cl cycle operating with steam recirculation, using the experimental results as input, and determining the efficiency of the entire cycle. The simulation found that steam recirculation is effective in improving overall cycle thermal efficiency from 15 to 20%, given a realistic 70% internal heat recovery ratio. The maximum cycle thermal efficiency is found to be 45%, given 100% internal heat recovery, consistent with previous studies in the literature.
The results presented in this dissertation provide clear evidence of the feasibility of steam recirculation in the hydrolysis reactor of the Cu-Cl cycle. The simulation used in this analysis can also be applied to other investigations into the hydrolysis reactor, allowing for further advancements in the field of thermochemical hydrogen production
Balancing act: an exploration of the impacts of acculturation amongst first-generation Indian immigrant youths in Canada
Full text linkThis study explores the acculturative stressors experienced by first-generation Indian immigrant youth in Canada, focusing on cognitive incongruence between home and host cultures. Using a mixed-method approach, qualitative interviews and surveys were conducted with six Indian individuals to examine cultural adaptation, socialization, and psychological well-being. Findings highlight the tension between maintaining cultural heritage and integrating into Canadian society, with challenges including social isolation, differing cultural norms, and subtle racial biases based on Indian group identity. Participants valued familial and communal bonds from their home culture but struggled with rigid societal expectations and a perceived loss of social spontaneity in Canada. While most reported a sense of belonging, internal conflicts, and external pressures influenced their adaptation. The study underscores the need for culturally responsive policies and support systems to ease integration and reduce acculturative stress. Future research should explore long-term adaptation and identity negotiation among South Asian immigrants