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Using the Bailey Method to Improve Asphalt Concrete Mix Performance Indicators for Balanced Mix Design
Get PDFThe Bailey Method is a tool that optimizes asphalt concrete mixes, considering the packing of both coarse and fine aggregates. Nonetheless, the usefulness of The Bailey for balanced mix designs has not been studied in Canada. Aggregates packing could influence the asphalt mixture's resistance to distresses such as rutting and cracking. This study provides insight into the modifications and performance indicators of selected asphalt mixtures in New Brunswick. Testing included the Hamburg Wheel Tracking Test, the Ideal Shear Rutting Test, and the Indirect Tensile Asphalt Cracking Test. The test results from laboratory mixes produced according to the latest and currently approved designs were compared using various statistical analyses. The results suggest that using the Bailey Method could enhance the rutting resistance while maintaining acceptable cracking resistance in asphalt mixtures. This research's findings are relevant to identifying alternative changes or adjustments when using the balanced mix design approach.The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the pdf file of the accepted manuscript may differ slightly from what is displayed on the item page. The information in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript reflects the original submission by the author
Zero-Shot Ground Vehicle Navigation Enabled by Aerial-Based Digital Twin Scene Reconstructions
No full textIncreased autonomy reduces risk and cost in unmanned ground vehicle operations, especially in remote or hazardous environments, and lowers operator burden. Virtual Teach and Repeat (VirT&R) is an extension of the Teach and Repeat (T&R) algorithm that enables GPS-denied, zero-shot navigation in previously untraversed environments. We use aerial imagery to build a simulation so an operator can define a route by virtually piloting a modelled robot. Along this route, we form a pose graph by associating submaps from a virtually generated point cloud, which enables a real robot to execute the mission in the physical environment. We validate VirT&R through multiple deployments across different sites, seasons, terrain types, and sensor configurations, under realistic operational constraints, and with multiple scene-reconstruction pipelines. On over 33 km of autonomous driving, VirT&R achieved smooth, reliable path-tracking with closed-loop performance comparable to conventional T&R—without requiring an operator to manually teach the route in situ.M.A.S
Like Cases Treated Alike? The Regulatory Theory of Canadian Gatekeeper Liability in de-SPAC Transactions from a Comparative Law Perspective
Get PDFCanadian SPAC regulation is evolving rapidly. A recent Quebec case, In re Taiga Motors Corporation, questioned whether investment banks in SPAC "qualifying transactions" should bear gatekeeper liability akin to traditional IPOs. This article examines this issue by analyzing the SEC’s now-removed Rule 140a, which sought to enhance gatekeeper effectiveness and investor protection during de-SPAC transactions.While Canadian and U.S. exchange rules previously offered similar investor safeguards, the SEC’s new regulatory framework has raised the U.S. protection standard. Consequently, U.S. SPACs now provide substantially stronger investor protection than Canadian SPACs. This article argues that the key issue is not whether Rule 140a can enhance the effectiveness of the gatekeeper system. It lies in examining whether the protection provided by Canadian SPAC rules is sufficient. The analysis concludes that Canadian regulators must consider strengthening their administrative rules to enhance investor safety, moving beyond the existing exchange-led framework (though not necessarily a Rule 140a).LL.M
Understanding the Roles and Governance of Adult and Continuing Education Units in Washington State's Public Universities
Get PDFAdult and Continuing Education Units (ACEUs) at Washington State’s public four-year universities play an important yet underexplored role in supporting learners and advancing the state’s 70% credential attainment goal (WSAC, 2024a). This qualitative study examines the mandates, governance structures, and educational offerings of ACEUs, using Resource Dependency Theory (RDT) to better understand how these units navigate institutional and external challenges. Data sources include documents and policies as well as 10 semi-structured interviews with ACEU leaders at the state’s five public universities. This dissertation in practice finds that while ACEUs in Washington State demonstrate considerable agility and innovation, their efforts are often constrained by self-sustaining requirements, limited authority, and inconsistent institutional recognition. Despite these challenges, ACEUs are developing workforce-aligned programming, expanding partnerships, and exploring more flexible credentialing pathways. The study concludes with a discussion and recommendations for practice to further support the work of ACEUs. Although focused on Washington State, the findings offer broader implications for understanding how ACEUs and similar units contribute to both access and innovation in public higher education.Ed.D
Leveraging Large Language Models for Intelligent Construction Management Systems
Get PDFThe Construction Management Systems (CMS) domain increasingly depends on unstructured text (inspection reports, technical documents, incident logs), creating an opportunity for domain-aware Natural Language Processing (NLP) with Large Language Models (LLMs). Yet general-domain pre-training often misses domain-specific terminology and context, limiting precision and accuracy for tasks in CMS domain. This gap motivates domain-specific LLMs along two tracks: (i) a discriminative, encoder-based Transformer system for classification and regression on agency documents to support risk assessment, resource allocation, and cost estimation (Chapter 2); and (ii) a generative, decoder-based question-answering system that grounds answers in project documents while leveraging model priors (Chapter 3). The retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and prompt engineering pipeline in Chapter 3 are adapted for various data-mining and analysis tasks across the domain as shown in Chapters 4–5.
Chapter 2 develops the first dedicated CMS corpus and an end-to-end pipeline for pre-training language models on domain text. After domain-specific pre-training and fine-tuning, these models outperform general models on two representative tasks, structural condition assessment and building compliance checking, with F1 improvements of 5.9% and 8.5%, respectively, underscoring the value of domain-specific pre-training.
Chapter 3 builds an agency-specific project-authoring advisor using RAG with prompt engineering (persona, format template, chain-of-thought, few-shots learning). During evaluation grounded in agency documentation, GPT-4 with RAG and optimized prompts scores 88.9/100, versus 75.7 with RAG only and 53.4 without RAG, and significantly surpasses conventional search methods.
Chapters 4 releases a public, metadata-rich dataset of 1,100 CMS publications with annual citations, then compares topic extraction via Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and an automated LLM-RAG pipeline evaluated against expert-labeled topics. The LLM-RAG approach achieves far higher agreement (85.94× Jaccard, 8.14× BLEU, 32.11× ROUGE) and reveals research trends by analyzing topics and citations.
Chapter 5 adapts the “Sleeping Beauty” framework to perform the first systematic analysis of papers with delayed recognition in CMS, showing delayed recognition is more prevalent than assumed and cautioning against short-horizon citation metrics.
Collectively, this thesis demonstrates that combining domain-specific datasets and pre-training with RAG and specialized prompt engineering delivers accurate, auditable decision support, advancing evidence-based planning, regulatory compliance, and operational efficiency across the CMS sector.Ph.D
The Challenges of Coexistence: Patterns of Difficulty in Enabling Adaptability, Equity, Pluralism on Digital Platforms
Get PDFWhile computing technologies are increasingly designed with the goal of supporting diversity and inclusion, many current approaches aim to achieve this through normalization -- subsuming heterogeneous user identities, ethics, norms, and values into dominant, standardized frameworks. This dissertation departs from such value-conformity approaches and instead grounds itself in a design perspective centered on computing for coexistence: that is, sociotechnical systems capable of accommodating ethical, cultural, and epistemic incommensurability without collapsing difference. From within this vision of pluralistic computing -- through facilitating the negotiation and mutual recognition of diverse ethics and worldviews both as a moral imperative and a complex challenge in design and computation -- this thesis traces the challenges of coexistence.
Drawing on theories of ethical and cultural pluralism, and informed by postsecular, postcolonial, and decolonial scholarship, this thesis introduces a framework centered on three interrelated dimensions of coexistence -- adaptability, equity, and pluralism -- and examines how each is constrained, negotiated, or made possible in computing systems. It then explores these themes through representative projects. Adaptability is explored through two projects. The first, \textit{Cohabitant}, examines the potential and limitations of virtual reality to foster interfaith empathy. The second investigates how religious identities shape the reporting and interpretation of content in moderation systems. Equity is addressed through two projects. One explores how dominant epistemologies and design paradigms in sustainable HCI leave little room for communities whose ethical commitments fall outside secular worldviews. The other examines how communal and faith-based understandings of privacy are overlooked in modern privacy frameworks. Finally, pluralism is explored through two projects: one analyzes how annotation practices in machine learning erase the labor of annotators working with sensitive faith-based data, and the other presents an ethnographic study of Islamic digital counterpublics in Bangladesh, showing how communities reconfigure platforms to create religious content in digital spaces.
This dissertation integrates qualitative methods with design research and system-building approaches. The contributions of this thesis situate within Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Ethics in Artificial Intelligence (AI). By centering the challenges of coexistence, this thesis offers conceptual, methodological, and design insights for building computing systems responsive to the complexities of plural societies.Ph.D
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No full textIntroduction: Undernutrition during early life causes chronic disease with specific impairments to the heart and skeletal muscle. Purpose: To determine the effects of early-life undernutrition on adult exercise capacity as a result of cardiac and skeletal muscle function. Methods: Pups were undernourished during gestation (GUN) or lactation (PUN) using a cross-fostering nutritive mouse model. At postnatal day 21 (PN21), all mice were weaned and refed a control diet. At PN67, mice performed a maximal treadmill test. Echocardiography and Doppler blood flow analysis was performed at PN72, following which skeletal muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) and fiber type were determined. Results: Maximal running capacity was reduced (Diet: P=0.0002) in GUN and PUN mice. Left ventricular mass (Diet: P=0.03) and posterior wall thickness during systole (Diet*Sex: P=0.03) of GUN and PUN mice was reduced, causing PUN mice to have reduced (Diet: P=0.04) stroke volume (SV). Heart Rate (HR) of GUN mice showed a trend (Diet: P=0.07) towards greater resting values than other groups. PUN mice had greater CSA of SOL fibers. PUN had a reduced (Diet: P=0.03) proportion of type-IIX fibers in the EDL and a greater (Diet: P=0.008) percentage of type-IIB fibers in the EDL. Conclusion: Gestational and Postnatal undernourishment impairs exercise capacity.The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the pdf file of the accepted manuscript may differ slightly from what is displayed on the item page. The information in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript reflects the original submission by the author
Modulation of Stemness and Differentiation Regulators by Valproic Acid in Medulloblastoma Neurospheres
Get PDFChanges in epigenetic processes such as histone acetylation are proposed as key events influencing cancer cell function and the initiation and progression of pediatric brain tumors. Valproic acid (VPA) is an antiepileptic drug that acts partially by inhibiting histone deacetylases (HDACs) and could be repurposed as an epigenetic anticancer therapy. Here, we show that VPA reduced medulloblastoma (MB) cell viability and led to cell cycle arrest. These effects were accompanied by enhanced H3K9 histone acetylation (H3K9ac) and decreased expression of the MYC oncogene. VPA impaired the expansion of MB neurospheres enriched in stemness markers and reduced MYC while increasing TP53 expression in these neurospheres. In addition, VPA induced morphological changes consistent with neuronal differentiation and the increased expression of differentiation marker genes TUBB3 and ENO2. The expression of stemness genes SOX2, NES, and PRTG was differentially affected by VPA in MB cells with different TP53 status. VPA increased H3K9 occupancy of the promoter region of TP53. Among the genes regulated by VPA, the stemness regulators MYC and NES showed an association with patient survival in specific MB subgroups. Our results indicate that VPA may exert antitumor effects in MB by influencing histone acetylation, which may result in the modulation of stemness, neuronal differentiation, and the expression of genes associated with patient prognosis in specific molecular subgroups. Importantly, the actions of VPA in MB cells and neurospheres include a reduction in the expression of MYC and an increase in TP53
Circulating Brain-Reactive Autoantibody Profiles in Military Breachers Exposed to Repetitive Occupational Blast
Get PDFMilitary breachers are routinely exposed to repetitive low-level blast overpressure, placing them at elevated risk for long-term neurological sequelae. Mounting evidence suggests that circulating brain-reactive autoantibodies, generated following CNS injury, may serve as both biomarkers of cumulative damage and drivers of secondary neuroinflammation. In this study, we compared circulating autoantibody profiles in military breachers (n = 18) with extensive blast exposure against unexposed military controls (n = 19). Using high-sensitivity immunoassays, we quantified IgG and IgM autoantibodies targeting glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), myelin basic protein (MBP), and pituitary (PIT) antigens. Breachers exhibited significantly elevated levels of anti-GFAP IgG (p < 0.001) and anti-PIT IgG (p < 0.001) compared to controls, while anti-MBP autoantibody levels remained unchanged. No significant differences were observed for any IgM autoantibody measurements. These patterns suggest that repetitive blast exposure induces a chronic, adaptive immune response rather than a short-lived acute phase. The elevated IgG autoantibodies highlight the vulnerability of astrocytes, myelin, and the hypothalamic–pituitary axis to ongoing immune-mediated injury following repeated blast insults, likely reflecting sustained blood–brain barrier disruption and neuroinflammatory processes. Our findings underscore the potential of CNS-targeted IgG autoantibodies as biomarkers of cumulative brain injury and immune dysregulation in blast-exposed populations. Further research is warranted to validate these markers in larger, more diverse cohorts, and to explore their utility in guiding interventions aimed at mitigating neuroinflammation, neuroendocrine dysfunction, and long-term neurodegenerative risks in military personnel and similarly exposed groups
A Content-Analysis of Job Advertisements for Exercise Professionals in Canada: A Need for Clarification of Qualifications
Get PDFDespite the general population seeking out exercise professionals and the strong interest of other healthcare providers in referring patients to exercise professionals, what characterizes an ‘exercise professional’ is poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to summarize the required qualifications and certifications described in job advertisements hiring an ‘Exercise Professional’ in Canada. A common career finding website (Indeed) and other relevant organizations were searched for job advertisements. The specific search terms were: “Kinesiology”, “Kinesiologist”, “Exercise Professional”, and “Exercise Physiologist”. Job advertisements that were hiring an exercise professional and described some exercise related duties were included for content analysis. n=177/1364 unique job advertisements met inclusion criteria. Job titles were grouped into six main categories: Kinesiologist (n=88/177), Personal Trainer (n=49/177), Fitness Coach/Instructor (n=38/177), Strength Conditioning Specialist (n=5/177), Exercise Physiologist (n=4/177), and other (n=31/177). Most positions required (n=101) or preferred (n=36) a Kinesiology degree. n=48/92 (88 Kinesiology and 4 Exercise Physiologist positions) indicated a need/interest in applicants having a membership with a provincial Kinesiology association/affiliation, n=8/92 a Clinical Exercise Physiologist certification, and n=6/92 a general ‘Kinesiology certification’. This emphasizes the need for unique requirements of exercise professional positions and guidelines for the (di)similar scope of practice across exercise professional training.The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the pdf file of the accepted manuscript may differ slightly from what is displayed on the item page. The information in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript reflects the original submission by the author