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An improved energy management methodology for the mining industry.
No full textThe focus for this work was the development of an improved energy management methodology tailored for the mining sector. Motivation for this research was driven by perception of slow progress in adoption of energy management practices to improve energy performance within the mining sector. Energy audits conducted for an underground mine, a mineral processing facility, and a pyrometallurgical process were reviewed and recommendations for improved data gathering, reporting and interpretation were identified.
An obstacle for conducting energy audits in mines without extensive sub-metering is a lack of disaggregated data indicating end use. Thus a novel method was developed using signal processing techniques to disaggregate the end-use electricity consumption, exemplified through isolation of a mine hoist signal from the main electricity meter data. Further refinements to the method may lead to its widespread adoption, which may lower energy auditing costs via a reduced number of meters and infrastructure, as well as lower data storage requirements.
Mine ventilation systems correspond to the largest energy demand center for underground mines. Thus a detailed analysis ensued with the development of a techno-economic model that could be used to assess various fan and duct options. Furthermore, the need for a standardized methodology for determination of duct friction factors from ventilation surveys was proposed, which included a method to verify the validity of the resulting value from asperity height measurements. A method was also suggested for determination of leakage and duct friction factor values from ventilation survey data.
Dissemination of best practice is a strategy that could be employed to improve energy performance throughout the mining sector, thus a Best Practice database was developed to
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improve communication and provide a standardized reporting framework for sharing of energy conservation initiatives.
Demonstration of continuous improvement is an underpinning element of the ISO 50001 energy management standard but as mines extract ore from deeper levels energy use increases. Thus ensued the development of a benchmarking metric, with the use of appropriate support variables that included mine depth, production, and climate data, that demonstrated the benefit of implemented energy conservation measures for an underground mine.
The development of an ultimate energy management methodology for all stages of mineral processing from ‘Mine to Bullion’ is beyond the scope of this work. However, this research has resulted in several recommendations for improvement and identified areas for further improvements
An examination of some theories that address the heavy alcohol consumption of university students
No full textThe following paper investigates some of the many theories used to explain underlying
reasons contributing to student drinking. Reasons for student drinking include escape from
reality, social discomfort, former child abuse and neglect, and specific personality types. After
reviewing various theories of addiction, this paper uses a deductive approach to identify the three
theories most relevant student binge drinking: the social learning theory, the behavioural theory,
and the personality theory. From social reasons to behavioural and personality related reasons,
students drink to be more social and to cope with stress, but these rewards do not come without
risks. The ability of theory to adapt to address the unique needs of individuals makes it an
important, albeit underused, tool. Using theory to inform intervention strategies, then, is essential
for developing effective treatment. Future research in this area should focus on methods for
integrating theory with addiction treatment
« C’est sur le terrain que ça se passe » : étude de la couverture du football féminin par les médias digitaux en France
Get PDFLe manque de visibilité médiatique des athlètes féminines par les médias non traditionnels est un phénomène qui a été critiqué depuis plusieurs années. L’objectif de l’étude est d’examiner la façon dont le football (soccer) féminin est couvert par les médias digitaux en France, à savoir s’ils soutiennent ou non les stéréotypes traditionnels. Le contenu de deux sites web portant uniquement sur le football féminin a été soumis à une analyse de discours foucaldienne féministe. Malgré la présence de quelques discours qui minimisent les accomplissements des joueuses, les résultats primaires suggèrent qu’il est possible de trouver une couverture du football féminin qui est tout simplement axée sur le sport et qui représente le football féminin comme un sport excitant, sérieux et légitime. Les sources de médias digitaux peuvent alors être considérées comme une des meilleures façons d’augmenter la qualité et la quantité de la couverture médiatique des sports féminins aujourd’hu
The importance of verbatim report : a between-subjects investigation
No full textPrevious research manipulated the vision verb within task instructions and examined both response time and P300 differences in response to a stimulus using a within-subject oddball task. Response time and P300 differences between verb categories indicated the possibility of processing differences, however, these results could also have been a result of task switching given the nature a within-subject design. The current research used a between-subject oddball task to control for task switching and measure response time to stimuli following a specific task instruction. Results provide support for the task-switching account.Honours Essa
Les caractéristiques du stress et du fardeau sur les aidants naturels francophones œuvrant auprès des personnes atteintes de démence et diagnostiquées précoces: problématique, recension des écrits et hypothèses de recherche
No full textTesting the reliability of predictive models on three different devices
No full textNowadays, the first sources of information are websites on the Internet with its categories. Some
users find certain websites’ layout and design not always user friendly. This may lead to poor
performance, ambiguity and loss of potential customers. Websites designs’ use the principles of
user interface (UI) laws and usability guidelines to be consistent and convenient to users. Due to
the evolution of technology, society now uses various devices with a wide range of features like
screen size, in order to obtain their information. Examples include personal computers (PC),
smartphones (SP,) and tablets (TB). Since user interface laws were founded in the 20th century
and most were applicable for the PC’s websites, this thesis tests and investigates the reliability of
predictive models on three devices: PC, SP and TB. User interfaces were designed with five
tasks, and each task represented one of the user interface laws. Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) techniques, user interface design and evaluation methods were followed to test the
reliability of predictive models on different devices
L'intégration des immigrants tunisiens : entre habitus culturel national et trajectoire sociale.
Get PDFCette recherche porte sur l’intégration des immigrants tunisiens à la société canadienne. Plus précisément, nous voulons comprendre les différentes façons d’intégration prises par ces immigrants nord-africains. Comprendre scientifiquement l’intégration est une tâche difficile. Outre les difficultés scientifiques que tout chercheur traitant cette question rencontre dans sa démarche, il y a des difficultés liées à l’usage politique de cette question. En effet, l’intégration est un sujet que tout le monde croit connaître. Nous n’avons qu’à penser au discours politique sur l’intégration des immigrants ; celui des médias sur la diversité culturelle ; celui du sens commun sur la menace des étrangers et de leur incapacité d’intégration. Derrière tous ces discours, il y a un point qui revient souvent dans les débats. Les groupes provenant des pays en voie de développement posent problème à la cohésion sociale. Ils sont perçus comme porteurs d’une culture et d’une religion incompatibles avec la culture du pays d’accueil. Ces dernières décennies, l’attention s’est focalisée sur les groupes de confession musulmane. Ces groupes sont accusés de menacer l’identité des sociétés d’accueil avec leur religion et leurs pratiques d’un autre âge. C’est, donc, contre cette idée que nous avons fait notre thèse. Nous voulons comprendre s’il est vrai que les perceptions et les pratiques culturelles des musulmans sont incompatibles avec celles du Canada. Nous posons donc la question comment se fait-il que les membres d’un même groupe d’immigrants provenant du même pays (donc partageant la même culture, la même religion) n’aient pas le même rapport à la culture nationale, ou si l’on veut, ne vont pas s’intégrer de la même façon? Comment comprendre ce rapport différent à la culture chez les immigrants? Notre hypothèse soutient l’idée que plusieurs pratiques culturelle évolueront avec le temps, mais ces changements peuvent aller dans le sens d’un éloignement ou d’un rapprochement par rapport à la culture d’origine. L’étude a été conçue de façon à comparer un groupe d’immigrants tunisiens vivant à Montréal. Cette recherche qui se veut qualitative. Le récit de vie nous paraissait l’outil le plus adéquat car il nous permet de comprendre leurs perceptions sur leurs pratiques en Tunisie et après leur installation au Canada. Notre étude se base sur 16 entrevues réalisées auprès de femmes et d’hommes Tunisiens. Dans l’ensemble, les résultats des analyses confirment notre hypothèse en appuyant l’idée de l’individuation de chaque immigrant et immigrante. Les membres d’un même groupe d’immigrants provenant d’un même pays ne s’intègrent pas de la même façon, car ils possèdent des visions différentes et des pratiques liées à leur habitus culturel et à leurs trajectoires sociales. On a constaté cependant que la religion (l’islam) demeure un cadre de référence important pour les immigrants Tunisiens
Linking fitness and the microbiota: exploring variation in microbial composition in the North American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus).
Get PDFThe importance of microbial communities, or microbiota, to host physiology and fitness is readily becoming apparent in laboratory animals and humans. Yet, little is known about the association between microbiota composition and fitness in wild animals, including the relation to host health and temporal or spatial variation. In this thesis, the promiscuous North American red squirrel, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus, was used to investigate if oral, gut, and genital microbiota differed with correlates of host fitness, sex, or capture period. These objectives were met using various sequencing techniques, including 454-Roche and Illumina MiSeq sequencing. Microbiota composition varied in all three body regions investigated, suggesting the impact of body region is influential on microbial composition in red squirrels. Evidence of differences in composition between sexes was only significant in the oral microbiota, which also displayed significant variation in beta diversity analysis between recaptures. As such, future research should be cautious in interpreting results from a single temporal sampling period when quantifying characteristic microbiota composition in wild mammals, and should account for potential sex bias within study designs. Body condition, a rudimentary measure of host fitness, was not correlated with composition in the microbiota of any body region. However, there were significant correlations between immune status and the oral microbiota composition, suggesting that some measures of fitness may be related to microbiota composition in a wild mammal. Together these results provide, for the first time, a comprehensive view of inter- and intra- individual factors contributing to microbiota variation across body regions and provide evidence for a correlation between microbial composition and fitness in a wild mammal
Minting DOIs and Registering Datasets with DataCite Canada
No full textVideo recording of a presentation given at OCUL Scholars Portal Day on December 11, 2015 at Ryerson University. Converted from Flash video (.flv) to Mpeg-4 (.mpg) using VLC Media Player 2.2.1
Longterm schedule optimization of an underground mine under geotechnical and ventilation constraints using SOT
No full textLong-term mine scheduling is complex as well time and labour intensive. Yet in the
mainstream of the mining industry, there is no computing program for schedule optimization
and, in consequence, schedules are still created manually. The objective of this study was to
compare a base case schedule generated with the Enhanced Production Scheduler (EPS®) and
an optimized schedule generated with the Schedule Optimization Tool (SOT). The intent of
having an optimized schedule is to improve the project value for underground mines. This
study shows that SOT generates mine schedules that improve the Net Present Value (NPV)
associated with orebody extraction. It does so by means of systematically and automatically
exploring the options to vary the sequence and timing of mine activities, subject to
constraints.
First, a conventional scheduling method (EPS®) was adopted to identify a schedule of mining
activities that satisfied basic sets of constraints, including physical adjacencies of mining
activities and operational resource capacity. Additional constraint scenarios explored were
geotechnical and ventilation, which negatively effect development rates. Next, the automated
SOT procedure was applied to determine whether the schedules could be improved upon. It
was demonstrated that SOT permitted the rapid re-assessment of project value when new
constraint scenarios were applied. This study showed that the automated schedule
optimization added value to the project every time it was applied. In addition, the reoptimizing
and re-evaluating was quickly achieved. Therefore, the tool used in this research
produced more optimized schedules than those produced using conventional scheduling
methods