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Development and Analysis of Various CO2 Capture and Utilization Pathways for DME Production
Get PDFSustainable energy resources are required to address the rising demand for energy while promoting economic stability. Dimethyl ether (DME) is a second-generation environmentally friendly fuel that offers an alternative for replacing traditional petroleum fuels. In this project, we designed three distinctive pathways for the synthesis of DME from syngas. A comprehensive analysis was also conducted, including the production and thermal efficiency, economic, and environmental impact perspectives, to evaluate the outcomes of each pathway. For each section, a rigorous process simulation was conducted using Aspen Plus and considering detailed catalytic reaction modelling.
According to our results, the production rate of the Direct Method, yielding 1.21 kg DME/kg CO2, demonstrated an improvement to 1.37 kg DME/kg CO2 with the integration of the Reverse Water Gas Shift (RWGS) process. Notably, the Indirect Model emerged as the most favorable, exhibiting a superior outcome with a DME yield of 1.95 kg DME/kg CO2.
Conducting a Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) unveiled that the Indirect Method stands as the most economically advantageous, attributed to its lowest Minimum Selling Price (MSP) of 2465 Million.
Upon assessing the environmental impacts of the pathways through the TRACI 2.1 methodology, it was revealed that the Indirect Method requires the lowest amount of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) avoided credits, valued at 0.164 $/kgCO2, due to the proximity of the MSP and the Market Price (MP).
The combination of superior yield and economic viability outcomes, positions the Indirect Method as the most competitively advantageous approach in this research
The ‘Science’ of Sexism: Athletic Sex Classification and Fairness in Competitive Sport
Get PDFThis paper will examine how the justification and enforcement of sex classification in sport has been underpinned by a flexible, inconsistent account of sexual difference that I label ‘athletic sex’. My definition of athletic sex builds on the research of legal theorist Paisley Currah, who understands sex classification as an effect of state actors who classify people as a means to deny them resources. In an effort to expand Currah’s ‘functionalist’ analysis of sex classification beyond the activities of state actors, this paper will argue that athletic sex classification represents political concerns about the natural, biological, stable, and predictable properties of the sexed body in terms of their athletic capability in sporting institutions and regulations. I will explore in detail two functions of athletic sex classification. First, through a critical engagement with sports ethicist Sigmond Loland I will argue that the seemingly ethical value of fair competition substantiates the limits imposed by the idea of natural sexual difference when applied to sex classifications. I contend that athletic classification should instead be based on differing athletic capacities. I will further examine the progressive attempts by international sporting institutions to search for an objective scientific marker that would determine sexual difference and thereby preserve fair competition. Each marker has been based on features of the sexed body that proport to stand for natural feminine weakness, and has broadcast these differences through sporting institutions and popular entertainment in order to justify the restriction of resources for athletes in the female category
The Impact of Marginalization and Intersectionality on Post-Secondary Students with Disabilities’ Use of Assistive Technology: A Scoping Review of the Literature
Get PDFThe main objective of this project was to scope the literature on technology use by post-secondary students with different disabilities with the intent of capturing how issues of privilege, marginalization and intersectionality impact their use of AT. Specifically, we examined the following questions:
1. Are there intersections of marginalized identity among students with disabilities that uniquely affect and are uniquely affected by using AT?
2. To what extent do developers of technologies report engaging people with disabilities in design and development (i.e., in participatory research)?
3. What gaps or unaddressed issues exist in the literature on these themes?
4. Are there design features that could mitigate feelings of marginalization?
5. Do specific types of AT privilege certain classes of users more than others
Echoes: Ecosystems through the prism of textiles, sounds and plants
Get PDFKesselring's research creation project "Echoes" is examining the interconnections between textiles, sounds, natural and digital ecosystems. The political underpinnings of her investigation frames the reverberation of colonizing patterns and of the capitalistic urge to control and optimize the land and its living beings. The way in which these altered systems are satisfying only their own behavioural advantages, resonates through many aspects of modern civilization with monotonous patterns. Looking at textiles and soundscapes as interfaces which evoke repeating patterns throughout history, her installation work aims to echo distortions of the relationship between contemporary economic and planetary systems
Personalized Class Incremental Context-Aware Food Classification for Food Intake Monitoring
Get PDFAccurate food intake monitoring is essential for maintaining a healthy diet and preventing nutrition-related diseases. Traditional food classification models struggle with the diverse range of foods across cultures and the continuous introduction of new food types due to relying on fixed-sized datasets. Moreover, studies show that people consume only a small range of foods across the existing ones. These limitations necessitate the model to adapt itself as new classes appear. Additionally, the model needs to pay more attention to certain food classes.
While existing class-incremental models have low accuracy for the new classes and lack personalization, this work introduces a personalized, class-incremental food classification model designed to address these challenges and enhance food intake monitoring systems. Our approach dynamically adapts to new real-world food classes, maintaining accuracy for both new and existing classes through personalization. The model prioritizes foods based on individuals eating habits by considering meal frequencies, times, and locations.
We employ a modified dynamic support network (DSN), the personalized dynamic support network (PDSN), to handle new food classes and propose a comprehensive framework integrating this model into a food intake monitoring system. The system analyzes meal images, estimates food weight with a smart scale, calculates macro-nutrient content, and creates a dietary profile via a mobile app. Experimental evaluations on the personalized datasets FOOD101-Personal and VIPER-FoodNet-Personal (VFN-Personal) demonstrate the model's effectiveness in improving classification accuracy, addressing the limitations of conventional and class-incremental food classification models
Data-driven Fault Detection and Diagnosis Frameworks for HVAC Systems using Probabilistic and Deep Generative Models
Get PDFThe thesis tackles major challenges in developing fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) models for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. HVAC systems are crucial for ensuring thermal and air comfort in buildings, but they frequently face inefficiencies due to inadequate maintenance, component wear and tear, and control issues, leading to considerable energy waste. The research highlights several key challenges, such as data contamination, lack of labeled data, and high dimensionality, which limit the effectiveness of traditional FDD methods.
To overcome these challenges, the thesis introduces innovative approaches: a supervised multiclass version of the deep autoencoding Gaussian mixture model (DAGMM) that improves outlier detection by leveraging label information; a neural network-based approach for mixtures of probabilistic principal component analyzers (NN-MPPCA) with a robust loss function for enhanced anomaly detection; a new framework combining variational autoencoders (VAE) with NN-MPPCA to handle high-dimensional data and incomplete datasets; and the adaptive adversarial autoencoder (AdaAAE), which refines anomaly detection with deep support vector data description (DSVDD). Comprehensive validation against cutting-edge algorithms highlights the superior performance of the proposed methods, leading to more efficient and reliable HVAC systems
Economic Implications of Cyber Security: Analyzing Firms Investment Decision.
Get PDFIn an era of increasing digitization and reliance on digital technologies, the economic implications of cybersecurity have become a critical concern for firms across various sectors. This thesis provides a review of the existing literature on firms’ decisions to invest in cybersecurity. This study aims to provide insights into the factors driving firms to enhance
their cybersecurity measures by analyzing the economic rationale behind cybersecurity investments. There is not a lot that has been done in this particular topic, this thesis, building on the existing literature aims to provide more knowledge. The model in this thesis explores the decision of firms to invest in cybersecurity, considering factors such as substitutability of products (cybersecurity), consumer preferences for security, and the benefits of cybersecurity investments. Through a comprehensive review of the economics of cybersecurity investments, this thesis provides a better understanding of the economic motivations and implications behind firms’ decisions to invest in cybersecurity in today’s digital landscape
Embracing the "Freer Other Thing": Metaphor is a Portal to Imaginative Play and Ludic Learning
Get PDFThis thesis braids knowledge across different disciplines into an argument for learning and teaching through play, via metaphor and memoir. It examines the memoir of the classically trained pianist Jeremy Denk, Every Good Boy Does Fine: A Love Story, in Music Lessons, as both a pedagogical case study and a literary narrative, with particular attention given to the role of metaphor as a tool for ludic learning and communication. My reading shows that it is play, and especially the playful use of deliberate metaphors, that unlocks Denk’s most effective, meaningful performances as both musician and writer. Metaphor, I argue, can act as the cognitive gateway into imaginative play, allowing for learning, creation, and communication, even in a multimodal context. Furthermore, Denk’s use of deliberate metaphor in piano playing and literary writing suggests that metaphor can function as both intra-communication (i.e., within oneself) and inter-communication (between two or more people); this is an extension of Gerard J. Steen’s “new and improved” contemporary theory of metaphor, which proposes adding communication as a third dimension to George Lakoff’s two-dimensional thought-language framework. Then, in the last section of the thesis, I dive into my own act of memoir- and metaphor-driven playful learning. I consider my budding ideas on a ludic literary pedagogy with support from the current scholarship, focusing on three aspects: inclusivity, literary criticism as a ludic practice, and play-based classroom activities (inspired by Denk)
Interfacial Behavior and 2D Self-Assembly of Heteroatom-Doped π-Conjugated Surfactants
Get PDFThe intrinsic photophysical properties of heteroatom-doped π-conjugated systems, which are essential for optimal electronic performance, necessitate the formation of well-ordered 2D thin films with structural stability. These thin films can be achieved by self-assembly using Langmuir and Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) techniques. Manipulation of molecular design and external conditions is explored to achieve controlled film morphology desirable for electronic applications. In this context, two classes of amphiphilic heteroatom-doped π-conjugated compounds are explored: phosphole-lipids and amphiphilic tetraazaporphyrins (TAPs).
Introduction of counterions to Langmuir films of phosphole-based lipids with charged dithienophospholium backbone showed that incorporation of halide salts significantly influences the intercalation between phosphole headgroups, thereby stabilizing monolayers and promoting the formation of well-ordered structures free from 3D aggregates. However, only the counterions with their size matching the space restriction in between the headgroups enhance the film organization and facilitate the desired monolayer formation. Characterization techniques, including atomic force microscopy (AFM) and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD) confirm the formation of condensed phase and highlight the presence of hexagonally packed chains. Exploring the effects of aromatic additives on film structure of the same phosphole-lipids demonstrates that while such additives can influence the growth patterns and organization of 2D films, challenges remain in eliminating aggregate formation.
For the amphiphilic tetraazaporphyrins featuring octaalkylthio substitution, we focused on the influence of varying alkyl chain lengths on film morphology and orientation. Notably, TAPs with shorter alkyl chains yield homogeneous monolayers with spider-like conformation where the macrocycle is oriented face-on to the substrate. GIXD confirmed that the packing is not dominated by the pentyl chains, but rather by the organization of the rings (in a molecular lattice), resulting in an ordered condensed phase. However, TAPs with longer chains exhibit complex, inhomogeneous LB films with combination of spider-like and interdigitated conformations observed by AFM, the latter attributed to the larger alkyl chains and confirmed by GIXD.
The findings of this research underscore the importance of tuning both molecular structure and external conditions to optimize the self-assembly of π-conjugated materials to enhance structural complexity and improve the functionality of the developed materials
How Do Institutional Pressures Shape the Experiences of Plus-Size Consumers in the Fashion Markets of Canada and Iran?
Get PDFThis study investigates the experiences of plus-size consumers in the fashion markets of Cana-da and Iran, highlighting some of the exclusionary practices within the industry that limit con-sumer access to fashionable and well-fitting clothes. Through a qualitative approach mix of in-depth interviews and netnography, this research explores how coercive, normative, and mimetic institutional pressures form the experiences of plus-size people within these two diverse mar-kets. This study analyzes these pressures to show how cultural, economic, and political ele-ments combine to exclude plus-size consumers, especially in the non-Western contexts of Iran, where economic sanctions make market limitations even worse. This is important because plus-size consumers face great difficulties in general, and plus-size men often do not get attention when it comes to fashion research. Moreover, this research underlines the role of representation in marketing: the visibility of plus-size models can positively influence the self-esteem and con-fidence of consumers. This paper adds to the existing literature on consumer exclusion and fashion through a comparative analysis between the plus-size fashion markets of Canada and Iran. The contributions of this research are at once theoretical, in developing the intersection of institutional theory and consumer exclusion, and practical, with implications for fashion brands, policymakers, and advocates of inclusivity. This study highlights the call for body size inclusiv-ity and shows how one-size-fits-all in plus-size fashion cannot fulfill the many needs that plus-size varied shapes may require. It thus advocates for an approach to fashion that is more inclu-sive and diverse through uptake in custom-designed pieces, increased marketing representation, and policy reforms that will ensure access to these excluded consumers