DSpace :: Home

uO Research is the University of Ottawa's digital repository for research and teaching materials created by the uOttawa community and our partners. It provides open, permanent access to uOttawa scholarship, ensuring wide dissemination and increased visibility.

Submit your thesis

Deposit your research

Communities in DSpace

Select a community to browse its collections.

Now showing 1 - 5 of 19

Recent Submissions

The Influence of Exercise Training on Cardiovascular Health Outcomes in Adults with Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices
(Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2026-05-14) Roque Marçal, Isabela; Reed, Jennifer L.; Adamo, Kristi B.
Aims and Methods: The overall purpose of this dissertation was to examine the influence of exercise training on cardiovascular health outcomes in patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs). Study 1 retrospectively examined the changes in physical (e.g., cardiorespiratory fitness [CRF]), and mental health (e.g., anxiety levels) outcomes in patients with CIEDs completing an exercise-based cardiovascular rehabilitation (CR) program. Study 2 retrospectively assessed the associations of CR on major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) among adults with CIEDs. Study 3 investigated, through a systematic review and meta-analysis, sex differences in CRF changes following exercise training in women and men with CIEDs. Study 4 tested the feasibility of a pilot randomized controlled trial comparing a 12-week virtual program of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and moderate-to-vigorous intensity continuous training (MICT) in women with CIEDs. Results: Study 1 showed that patients with CIEDs (n = 252, 26% females) completing CR improved CRF and reduced anxiety and depression levels in patients with CIEDs. Study 2 found that CR was not associated with lower 5-year risk of MACE comparing propensity score-matched CIED patients with and without CR (n = 344, 23% females), whereas females derived greater benefit from CR. Study 3 demonstrated no sex differences in CRF following exercise among patients with CIEDs (n = 365, 22% women). Study 4 revealed that, among women with CIEDs (n = 20), a 12-week virtual HIIT intervention was feasible, whereas virtual MICT was not. Conclusions: Findings of this dissertation highlight (i) the importance of CR to improve CRF, a strong predictor of mortality, in individuals with CIEDs, (ii) the need of large-scale studies to understand the impact of CR on MACE in patients with CIEDs, (iii) a call to action to advance sex-specific inclusion and reporting practices in exercise trials with CIEDs, and (iv) remote HIIT is a feasible and safe exercise alternative to women with CIEDs, where results on key cardiovascular data can inform future trials.
Learning Interpretable Theories for Complex Neural Systems
(Université d'Ottawa | University of Ottawa, 2026-05-14) René, Alexandre; Longtin, André
Mathematical modelling has a long history of providing us with useful, succinct descriptions of the natural world. More than mere descriptions, the resulting models provide predictions that can be tested within the framework of the scientific method. But as we seek however to understand progressively more complex systems—especially in interdisciplinary fields like neurophysics—the methods of old don’t always yield the models we want: often they are too crude, or have too many free parameters—either of which makes them difficult to test. This work develops new paths to modelling, meeting complexity with today’s abundance of computational power. In contrast to other work however, which may outright replace the models of old with highly accurate but inscrutable ones, such as neural networks, here we stay firmly in the modelling tradition. By focussing on mechanistic, equation-based models, we extend rather than replace existing modelling capabilities. First we develop methods to learn complex models, where the form of the equations are known from our understanding of biology, but the effective parameters can only be inferred by fitting the entire model to data. These methods further allow to characterize correlations between parameters using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). However they can also lead to the proliferation of candidate models, which all plausibly fit the data. Therefore in a second part we develop a new approach to model comparison, integrating the principles of scientific induction with the methods of machine learning. The method is based on a novel random walk on the cumulative distribution function of errors; we thereby obtain an empirical modelling discrepancy (EMD) statistic that accounts for epistemic uncertainty on the model, specifically uncertainty under replications of the experiment. Together, these methods can be seen as the basis of a program for expert-driven, computer-enhanced research. And while developed in the context of computational neuroscience, they should be applicable wherever one is concerned with designing and studying mechanistic models, be they models in computational biology, statistical physics, or even econometrics. Les techniques de modélisation mathématique nous ont longtemps fournis des descriptions utiles et succinctes du monde naturel. Plus que de simple descriptions, les modèles ainsi obtenus fournissent des prédictions pouvant être validées à l’intérieur du cadre de la méthode scientifique. En cherchant toutefois à comprendre des systèmes de plus on plus complexes—en particulier dans les domaines interdisciplinaires comme la neurophysique—ces méthodes arrivent parfois à leurs limites: les modèles sont trop simplistes, ou possèdent trop de paramètres indéterminés—et par conséquent peuvent rarement être validés. Ce travail développe de nouveaux moyens de modélisation, répondant à la complexité avec l’abundance de puissance de calcul dont on bénéficie aujourd’hui. À l’inverse d’autres efforts toutefois, il n’est pas question ici de remplacer les modèles conventionnels par d’autres plus précis mais indéchiffrables tel que des réseaux neuronaux. En se concentrant sur des modèles mécanistiques, exprimés à l’aide d’équations, on reste plutôt fermement ancré dans la tradition de modélisation, étendant ses possibilités au lieu de les remplacer. On développe d’abord des méthodes pour apprendre des modèles, où la forme des équations découle de notre connaissance biologique, mais où les paramètres doivent être inférés en adaptant le modèle entier à des données observées. Une fois les paramètres appris, ces méthodes permettent ensuite également de caractériser leurs corrélations à l’aide de Monte-Carlo par chaînes de Markov (MCMC). Toutefois, elles peuvent aussi mener à un prolifération de modèles candidats, chacun ressemblant aux données. C’est pourquoi en seconde partie on développe une nouvelle perspective sur la sélection de modèles, intégrant les principes d’induction scientifique avec les méthodes d’apprentissage automatique. L’approache est basée sur un nouveau processus stochastique sur la distribution cumulative des erreurs; on obtient ainsi une statistique empirique de la divergence du modèle (qu’on nomme EMD, pour empirical modelling discrepancy). Cette statistique tient compte de l’incertitude épistemique du modèle, spécifiquement l’incertitude due aux réplications de l’expérience. Ensemble, ces méthodes peuvent être vues comme formant la base d’un programme de recherche mené par les experts et renforcé par le calcul. Et bien que qu’elles aient été développées dans le contexte de la neuroscience computationelle, elles pourraient être appliquées à tout contexte où l’on conçoit et étudie des modèles mécanistiques—comme la biologie computationelle, la physique statistique, ou même l’économétrie.
From Formal SYMBOLEO Specifications to Secure and Interactive Smart Contract Code
(Université d'Ottawa | University of Ottawa, 2026-05-14) Alfuhaid, Sofana; Amyot, Daniel; Mylopoulos, John; Anda, Amal
Context: Legal contracts have served as the bedrock of business transactions for millennia. They are core to modern supply chains, and their execution can now be automated through the use of i) smart contracts, supported by blockchain technology that safeguards data integrity, and ii) Internet-of-Things technologies to support their monitoring functions. Symboleo is a specification language used to formalize legal contracts, enable property analysis, and generate smart contracts for a permissioned blockchain platform (Hyperledger Fabric). However, automation around resulting smart contracts poses security challenges, particularly regarding who should have access to operate on contract elements. Additionally, how such smart contract should interact with their Cyber-Physical System (CPS) environment, including IoT devices, remains challenging. Purpose: The thesis proposes an architecture to integrate smart contracts, Complex Event Processing (CEP), message brokers, and a blockchain platform (namely Hyperledger Fabric) to support end-to-end Cyber-Physical Smart Contracts (CPSCs). This architecture makes it possible to connect IoT devices with smart contracts (generated using Symboleo) through a CEP engine and a message broker. Additionally, this thesis proposes an access control model, treating all contract elements as resources and ensuring regulated access by designated parties. This model extends the Symboleo ontology and language for legal contracts with new modeling concepts inspired by Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), tailored for the legal contract domain, resulting in SymboleoAC (Symboleo Access Control). SymboleoAC also extends the Symboleo language to handle dynamic contract execution scenario. Methodology: This research follows a Design Science Research methodology, which guides the development and evaluation of the research artifacts. This research is conducted in several iterative steps that are divided into two main phases, one that focuses on theoretical aspects and the other on the design, demonstration, and evaluation of the research artifacts. Contributions: The contributions of this thesis are: • An architectural framework for CPSCs that leverages complementary aspects of CPS and smart contracts; • SymboleoAC, an access control ontology for Symboleo; • An extension of the current Symboleo specification language (syntax and semantics) that supports smart contract requirements, including automation and control actions, access control, and CPS components; • An implementation of the SymboleoAC ontology and semantics into a reusable JavaScript library (SymboleoACJS), together with a tool, SymboleoAC2SC, that generates JavaScript smart contract code with security aspects for a designated platform (Hyperledger Fabric); and • A secure and event-driven SymboleoAC Application Programming Interface (API) that orchestrates the runtime ecosystem connecting IoT sensors, the message broker, the CEP engine, and the blockchain platform. Through extensive and the evaluation of multiple variations of two contract case studies, SymboleoAC (architecture, ontology, and language), along with its associated tools, is shown to be an effective environment for CPSCs, simplifying the design of secure smart contracts and their connections to message brokers, CEP engines, and IoT devices.
"Dans le monde, mais pas du monde" : critique du monothéisme moniste de Charles Taylor
Rochon, Anne; Cloutier, Sophie
Cette thèse de maîtrise porte sur la dialectique de l’Un et du multiple, en particulier sur l’appel de l’agent catholique à être « dans le monde, mais pas du monde », soit à réconcilier sa croyance religieuse au contexte séculier d’une société occidentale. Cette réconciliation s’opère par un arrimage de la théologie à la philosophie. La thèse propose d’éprouver le monothéisme moniste de Charles Taylor, tel que déployé dans la cinquième partie de L’âge séculier, qui porte sur les conditions de la croyance. Elle propose notamment d’évaluer la mesure dans laquelle la position de Taylor permet à l’agent catholique de remplir sa vocation de fidèle laïc. Structurée en cinq chapitres, la thèse aborde premièrement le monisme dans la théologie catholique, tel qu’on le trouve chez Augustin d’Hippone et Thomas d’Aquin. Deuxièmement, elle présente un survol de quelques philosophies monistes triées sur le volet. Troisièmement, elle étudie les implications philosophiques et théologiques du monothéisme moniste de Charles Taylor et en évalue les limites pratiques, surtout dans le cas de dilemmes moraux. La thèse présente ensuite trois interprétations alternatives de la dialectique de l’Un et du multiple, soit les monothéismes pluramoniste, pluraliste et nihiliste, avant d’en dresser les limites. Pour terminer, elle propose une voie jugée optimale, soit le monothéisme non moniste. Ce dernier permet le mieux à l’agent de remplir sa vocation de fidèle laïc et de réconcilier les tensions entre la théorie et la pratique ainsi qu’entre la transcendance et l’immanence.
The co-occurrence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Investigating lived experiences of psychotherapy and sources of resilience
(Université Saint-Paul / Saint Paul University, 2026-05-13) Asif, Samrah; Jiang, Yuanyuan
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are neurodevelopmental conditions (NDCs) that can co-occur. This link has only been formally recognized in the past decade, as it was not until the publication of the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) in 2013 that these conditions could be diagnosed together. Although more recent research has outlined the prevalence and challenges of this co-occurrence (Hours et al., 2022), limited research has captured how adults with such dual presentations experience psychotherapy. This qualitative study explores the lived experiences of adults with co-occurring ASD and ADHD who have received psychotherapy. Five participants completed a demographics questionnaire and a 60-minute semi-structured individual interview, exploring their experiences with psychotherapy as well as sources of resilience. Interviews were analyzed using an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) framework. Themes gathered included both positive and challenging experiences with therapy, sources of resilience, as well as participant recommendations. A total of 11 subordinate themes were identified, highlighting the importance of therapeutic alliance, individualized adaptations, and accessibility in psychotherapy for this population. Results of this study further broadens current understanding of therapeutic practices both clinically and scientifically, through better understanding lived experiences of a unique population. The findings represent an important step towards promoting future research and providing clinical guidance for neurodiversity-affirming interventions.