- Thèses, 2011 - // Theses, 2011 -

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Intersectional Feminist Insights into the Lived Experiences of Domestic Violence and Trauma in Marginalized Women
(Université d'Ottawa | University of Ottawa, 2026-05-12) Sazgar, Raheleh; Lapierre, Simon
Violence against women continues to be a pervasive social issue worldwide, including in Canada, with women from marginalized social locations often facing compounded forms of violence, exclusion, and systemic neglect (Kaur & Garg, 2008; Singhal et al., 2021; Sokoloff & Dupont, 2005; World Health Organization, 2021). Domestic violence (DV) is a potentially traumatic experience for many women, often resulting in serious physical and psychological consequences, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Goodman & Epstein, 2008). However, the experiences and meanings that marginalized women attribute to trauma and PTSD remain underexplored (Baird, 2018). This thesis addresses this gap by critically examining how women who have experienced domestic violence and received a PTSD diagnosis understand and give meaning to trauma, and how they experience interventions provided by domestic violence and mental health services. Guided by an intersectional feminist framework (Crenshaw,1991), the research views trauma and violence as socially and structurally situated phenomena shaped by power, inequality, and identity (Brown, 2017; Herman, 2015). Using a feminist phenomenological approach and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), the study draws on in-depth, open-ended interviews with women from diverse marginalized backgrounds in Canada, including Indigenous women and those from rural, religious, disabled, and sexually diverse communities. The methodological focus on lived experience and meaning making allows women’s voices to guide the interpretation of trauma beyond clinical or diagnostic frameworks. The findings highlight that participants conceptualize trauma not solely as an individual psychological response but as an ongoing experience of social and structural harm embedded within systems of inequality. Women described coercive control as a persistent form of domination that extends beyond physical violence and is shaped by race, class, disability, sexuality, and geography. Participants’ interpretations of PTSD reveal tensions between clinical definitions and lived realities of trauma, often exposing gaps in service delivery and cultural understanding. This research contributes to feminist scholarship on trauma and domestic violence by foregrounding the lived experience of marginalized women and challenging dominant, medicalized understandings of PTSD. It offers insights that can inform culturally responsive, intersectional, and trauma- and violence- informed practices within domestic violence and mental health systems.
Affordable Extended Hyperbolic Moment Closures for Rarefied Gas-Flow Predictions
(Université d'Ottawa | University of Ottawa, 2026-05-12) Rice, Ethan; McDonald, James G.
For the past 75 years, moment closures have been a promising method of gas-flow prediction for rarefied gases, as they offer significant mathematical and computational advantages over other applicable methods in regimes outside of local thermodynamic equilibrium. However, many of these advantages come from their ability to be formulated as hyperbolic systems of balance laws. Only recently have there been generalizable hyperbolic closures which can be expressed in closed form, and many of these closures have been restricted to simplified one-dimensional gases. While mathematically elegant, this limits the practical use of these new hierarchies to academic problems. Extending their desirable mathematical properties to real multidimensional gases has proven difficult, and a new method to handle this extension is the goal of this thesis. First, existing hierarchies of moment closures are presented, as well as their mathematical properties. Next, the technique by which higher-order moment models can be constructed is presented, with two new 20-moment closures being developed as a result. Linear stability of these models is presented, along with their performance in canonical discontinuous gas-flow problems for the continuum, transition, and free-molecular flow regimes. The traditional formulation of boundary conditions in kinetic theory is difficult to replicate in this framework. Instead, a new formulation of the Knudsen-layer boundary condition is presented, with results for both the 10-moment and 20-moment equations in canonical boundary-value problems. Finally, results for more realistic gas-flow problems in rarefied settings are shown. Strong shocks, and flows with regions of large translational non-equilibrium, are also explored. Further possible extensions for the models, such as for diatomic gases and plasmas, conclude the thesis.
Reaching Mobile Populations in Mass Drug Administration for Neglected Tropical Diseases: Evidence from Mali and Broader Implications for Africa
(Université d'Ottawa | University of Ottawa, 2026-05-12) Sangare, Moussa; Krentel, Alison; Yaya, Sanni
Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) affect over a billion people globally, with mass drug administration (MDA) being one of the cornerstone strategies for control and elimination. However, mobile populations such as nomads, internally displaced persons (IDPs), migrants, and seasonal workers are frequently missed during MDA campaigns. This gap threatens progress toward the global targets for NTDs outlined in the WHO Roadmap 2021–2030, particularly in endemic regions like Mali and across Africa. Understanding the barriers to MDA participation among these groups is essential for designing equitable and effective interventions. Three complementary studies were conducted to explore MDA access among mobile populations. A cross-sectional study in Mali (2020–2021) used structured questionnaires and multivariable regression to identify factors associated with non-participation in schistosomiasis MDA. A qualitative study in Mali (2023) used in-depth interviews and focus group discussions to explore reasons for never being treated during MDA among mobile groups. Finally, a scoping review (2024/2025) followed PRISMA-ScR guidelines, synthesized evidence from 20 studies across Africa on mobility-related barriers to MDA. The following results present the main findings of our research. MDA coverage among mobile populations was consistently below the recommended 75% threshold. In Mali, only 40.8% of internally displaced people (IDPs) and 3.62% of migrants participated in the last MDA round. Key barriers included: lack of information (64.5%), geographic inaccessibility, mobility patterns (e.g., transhumance, seasonal work), low income and occupations such as mining, fear of side effects and rumors, and inflexible campaign schedules. Our findings also revealed that males, those facing physical or geographic barriers, and nomadic groups were significantly more likely to miss MDA. The scoping review highlighted additional systemic issues such as limited cross-border coordination and insufficient community engagement. Identified promising strategies included mobility-informed microplanning, flexible delivery models, and integrated health services. Mobile populations are systematically excluded from MDA programs, undermining efforts to eliminate NTDs. Addressing these disparities requires context-specific, adaptive, and participatory approaches. To ensure no one is left behind, MDA programs must move beyond one-size-fits-all models. Tailored strategies that account for mobility patterns, livelihood contexts, and local barriers are urgently needed.
"One Part Sane and Three Parts Mad": A Quantitative Study of Disability in Victorian Fiction
(Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2026-05-11) Nash, Jessica; Gillingham, Lauren
This thesis uses computational techniques to examine how frequently Victorian authors rendered disability within their fiction. While past and present literary criticism of the Victorian novel has proven that disability plays a narratively important role in this era, my dissertation approaches this question computationally to analyze the relationship between disability and plot on a larger scale. In doing so, I argue that disability is not a modern-day concept applied anachronistically to the study of Victorian fiction, but a key feature of Victorian plots in an era where an expanding working class placed emphasis on the body and its ability to perform labour. To make this argument, I digitized hundreds of novels from the Victorian era and used randomized corpus downsampling to take a snapshot of the fiction published during this period. What the data reveals is that almost half of the novels contain the words "disabled" or "crippled" in them at least once. When I expanded my search-term list to include historically relevant words that ascribe disability using Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor (1851), the results show that close to 100% of the randomized fiction list included words related to disability. The frequency of disability in Victorian fiction highlights how the novel embodies shifting class ideologies through the legible forms of physical difference. This idea is proven effectively through the computational linguistic tools this thesis uses, such as natural language processing, which determined that the language of physical difference in novels is often found near mentions of poverty or class. What this co-occurrence demonstrates is that the boundary between poverty and disability was porous because of the tenuous relationship working-class Victorians had to income that was entirely dependent on their ability to perform and maintain labour. After making this argument, my thesis pivots from a distant reading to a close one, and I analyze select works of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins to argue that these authors use disability to furnish their narratives in contradictory ways that reveal their respective conceptions of the physical body in relation to its political and social world. My close readings use narratological concepts to study the structural affordances of disability within their fiction. By engaging with concepts from Disability Studies and crip narratology, I argue that Dickens flattens his disabled characters in service of plot momentum, while Collins shifts the weight of disability from identity to experience to create narrative contours that aid in the sensationalism of his novels. By studying the frequency of disability in over 3,000 works of Victorian fiction, in addition to the select works of authors known for their disability narratives, this dissertation reveals a key contradiction found at the heart of Victorian fiction: that the plots that work often rely on the bodies that can't.
Chinese Immigrant Women's Perspectives on Communication Strategies of Healthcare Providers During Gynecological Examinations
(Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2026-05-11) Lu, Yutong; Cherba, Maria
Effective and appropriate communication is a key component of positive clinical experience, while immigrant women's experiences during intimate medical encounters remain underexplored. This thesis explores how Chinese immigrant women perceive, interpret, and engage in communication with healthcare providers during gynecological examinations in Canada. Drawing on Communication Accommodation Theory and patient‑centred communication, the study investigates how patients' emotional experiences, sense of agency, and perceptions of care quality are influenced by the communication strategies encountered. Using a qualitative research design, in‑depth semi‑structured interviews were conducted with twelve Chinese immigrant women who lived in Canada. Data were analyzed following Braun and Clarke's (2006) six-step thematic approach. The results were presented in three major themes: Communication Accommodation Strategies in Addressing Language Barriers; Patient-centred Communication in Alleviating Stress; and Cultural Beliefs Shaping Perceptions of Gynecological Care. Findings indicate that communication during gynecological examinations was co‑constructed through healthcare providers' strategies, patients' cultural backgrounds, and patients' active agency. Participants valued provider‑initiated accommodations and patient‑centred practices, such as linguistic adjustment, anticipatory explanations, privacy protection, and emotional reassurance, which helped reduce anxiety and foster trust. Importantly, patients were not passive recipients of care but actively prepared for and navigated examinations through information‑seeking, familiarisation with medical terminology, and in‑encounter questioning. Patient agency emerged as a significant theme shaping how communication strategies were interpreted and negotiated by participants. While cultural beliefs related to sexuality and hierarchy influenced expectations, their impact varied by length of residence, education, and health literacy, highlighting communication as a dynamic and relational process rather than a unidirectional provider‑led intervention. This thesis contributes to scholarship on healthcare communication by foregrounding immigrant women's voices in gynecological care and demonstrating how accommodation and patient‑centred practices intersect in intimate clinical contexts. The findings offer practical implications for improving communication training and promoting more humane, respectful, and empowering care for diverse patient populations.
Thickening Theory: Memoir, Affect, and Fat Feminist Futures
(Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2026-05-11) Babin, Darby; Orsini, Michael
This dissertation is about the epistemological potential of fat life writing at the intersection of affect and embodiment. While the field of Fat Studies has its roots in liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s (Wykes, 2014), contemporary 'body positivity' has commodified feminist ideologies to promote a sanitized fat politic that seeks participation in normative structures or what Da'Shaun L. Harrison (2021) calls "Desire/ability" (p. 12). Moreover, feminist studies has, at times, been epistemically ignorant around issues of 'fat', despite a feminist interest in the body and its meanings. As healthism and neoliberal ideals of individual responsibility have taken root, particularly through 'body positivity' and Health at Every Size (BP/HAES), a singular, "problematic model of fat subjectivity" (Murray, 2005, p. 155) has emerged. This project endeavours to contribute to ideas of messiness, ambiguity, and an acknowledgement of the contradictions of fat life, thereby challenging the assimilationism and achievement feminism (Farrell, 2021) at the centre of contemporary fat politics and thickening existing approaches to fat. Following the history of personal narrative in feminist theory, works by authors Roxane Gay, Lindy West, and Samantha Irby are analyzed in this thesis, highlighting the everyday affective encounters they archive with an emphasis on the role of race, queerness, and disability. Through their own stylistic and tonal choices, each author generates important contributions to fat studies' interest in cultural depictions of fatness, particularly the ways in which fat bodies are shaped by and shape the world. By mobilizing the work of Hil Malatino on "side affects" (2022), Sianne Ngai's "ugly feelings" (2005), Rosemarie Garland-Thomson's "misfitting" (2011), and Sara Ahmed's (2006; 2010) work on orientations and affect, this project aims to strengthen fat epistemology and contribute to a fattening of feminist studies which takes seriously the uncomfortable, the ugly, and the irreverent.
An Interpretable GeoAI Framework for Analyzing Multi-Ethnic Settlement Dynamics: Evidence from the Greater Toronto Area, 2001-2021
(Université d'Ottawa | University of Ottawa, 2026-05-08) Mashhadi Moghaddam, Seyed Navid; Cao, Huhua
This dissertation develops an interpretable Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI) framework for understanding multi-ethnic settlement patterns in contemporary Canadian cities, demonstrating that computational sophistication need not sacrifice theoretical transparency or democratic accountability. Through three interconnected investigations spanning 52 major Canadian cities, 30,091 dissemination areas, and nine major ethnic groups (China, India, Philippines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Iran, Portugal, Italy, United Kingdom) over two decades (2001-2021), this research transforms multi-ethnic settlement from a descriptive sociological phenomenon into a predictive science grounded in interpretable physics-informed models. The research addresses a fundamental tension in urban artificial intelligence: while cities increasingly deploy algorithmic systems to manage complex urban dynamics, the dominant paradigm of black-box optimization systematically fails to achieve stated goals while potentially harming vulnerable communities. A critical analysis of 157 urban AI deployments (2015-2024) reveals pervasive "metrics traps" where impressive technical accuracy, such as ShotSpotter's 97% acoustic precision yielding only 9.1% crime-fighting effectiveness, consistently fails to translate into meaningful social outcomes. This critique establishes the ethical and methodological imperative for interpretable approaches in urban demographic analysis. The core methodological contribution is the development of a graph-based physics-informed neural network (GraphPDE) that embeds multi-ethnic reaction-diffusion dynamics while learning interpretable demographic parameters. Adapting Turing's pattern formation theory to spatial graphs, this framework reveals that ethnic settlement patterns emerge from self-organizing spatiotemporal processes with quantifiable characteristics: ethnic-specific spatial scales ranging from 34.5 km (Philippines) to 63.0 km (United Kingdom); pattern formation regimes segregating groups into spots (UK, Portugal), stripes (China, India, Philippines), and labyrinthine (Iran, Pakistan, Sri Lanka) morphologies; and critical nucleation thresholds varying from 658 individuals (China) to 8,132 individuals (India) for spatial clustering emergence. The learned attention-based interaction mechanism quantifies previously unmeasurable inter-ethnic dynamics, revealing that Chinese populations exhibit strong negative self-competition (-19.8) driving spatial dispersal while maintaining facilitative relationships with multiple groups, Philippines-Pakistan mutual attraction, and United Kingdom-Italy mutual repulsion. The Multi-Ethnic Spatial Mixture of Experts (MESMoE) framework synthesizes physics-informed modeling with machine learning, achieving state-of-the-art predictive performance (R² = 0.80-0.83) while maintaining complete interpretability through regime-specific expert modules for colonization, jump processes, decline, and continuous diffusion dynamics. This architecture demonstrates that incorporating domain knowledge enhances rather than compromises predictive accuracy, with physics-informed components accounting for 57.2% of prediction variance. The framework reveals systematic differences in how ethnic communities respond to urban infrastructure: Chinese and Filipino populations show amplification factors strongly correlated with transit accessibility (r = 0.58 and 0.61), while Indian populations demonstrate stronger correlation with housing variables (r = 0.47). Configuration landscape analysis identifies multiple stable settlement configurations with quantifiable transition barriers, revealing that demographic transitions require sustained interventions over decadal timescales due to asymmetric barriers creating lock-in effects. The temporal evolution of parameters captures non-stationary dynamics across four census periods, with Philippines-origin populations maintaining consistently positive growth rates (0.015-0.023 year⁻¹) while United Kingdom-origin populations transition from positive growth to sustained decline. This research makes four distinctive contributions: (1) developing progressive spatial analysis as a systematic methodology for studying complex urban phenomena through integrated multi-scale investigation; (2) demonstrating interpretable GeoAI that achieves competitive performance without sacrificing transparency; (3) revealing hidden ethnic dynamics through quantification of inter-ethnic interactions, nucleation thresholds, and pattern formation regimes; and (4) providing practical tools bridging academic research and urban planning practice through open-source implementations. The framework transforms abstract geographic concepts into measurable quantities, "sense of place" becomes configuration stability, "community cohesion" translates to interaction strength, and "neighborhood character" maps to position in pattern formation phase space. The policy implications are transformative: understanding asymmetric configuration barriers explains persistent settlement patterns while identifying intervention requirements; regime-specific approaches match policies to demographic dynamics; and cascade effects enable strategic investments generating system-wide benefits. Critical reflection acknowledges fundamental limitations, physics cannot capture individual agency, cultural meaning, or structural inequalities, yet the framework complements rather than replaces other ways of understanding urban dynamics. This dissertation demonstrates that interpretable GeoAI can bridge the persistent divide between quantitative spatial science and critical human geography, proving that mathematical rigor need not sacrifice social awareness. The discovery that Canadian cities' ethnic geography follows learnable physical dynamics while maintaining cultural distinctiveness suggests that diversity and order are complementary aspects of urban organization, offering both cautionary lessons about algorithmic governance and hopeful possibilities for creating more equitable, integrated multicultural cities.
Integration of New Eco-Friendly Armour Units into Coastal Structures
(Université d'Ottawa | University of Ottawa, 2026-05-08) Sayar, Serim Dogac; Nistor, Ioan
Growing demands for resilient and sustainable shoreline protection have led to the development of a new generation of armour systems that combine hydraulic efficiency with ecological performance. This thesis addresses this need by providing an empirical-based framework for the Coastalock armour unit, an eco-engineered alternative to traditional single-layer armour units. Through large-scale experiments, numerical modelling, and design guidelines, the study defines hydraulic performance and bio-enhancing design parameters that facilitate reliable, environmentally enhanced coastal defence solutions. The large-scale experiments examined the hydraulic performance of Coastalock armour units on low-crested and emergent rubble mound breakwaters under irregular wave conditions, quantifying wave transmission, overtopping, and breakwater stability. Numerical modelling was conducted using the IH2VOF CFD tool to reproduce some of the experimental conditions and investigate detailed hydrodynamic processes for the tested configurations. Sensitivity analyses of grid resolution, boundary conditions, and varying wave and structural configurations assisted the model’s accuracy and guided optimal parameter selection for Coastalock units in future simulations. The model simulated wave–structure interaction by providing free-surface elevations, wave transmission coefficients, and overtopping rates observed in laboratory tests, demonstrating its capability to capture complex wave–structure interactions. The final stage of the research consolidated 417 test runs from four multi-institutional experimental testing campaigns to develop the first comprehensive design recommendations for the Coastalock armour unit. Statistical and deterministic analyses were performed to quantify the effects of Coastalock-specific design parameters on armour stability. Armour unit spacing and underlayer size ratio emerged as the critical parameters for hydraulic stability. Design stability constants of Ns ≈ 2.8 and KD ≈ 15, determined for a 1V:1.5H slope, demonstrating that Coastalock performs comparably to well-established single-layer armour units. The design framework integrates biological performance by correlating ecological outcomes from ECOncrete’s monitoring of Coastalock installations with structural configuration variables, including unit orientation and spacing. Integrating these outcomes into the design process allows engineers to consider ecological functionality as a design objective alongside traditional hydraulic design. The research, therefore, establishes a data-driven foundation for designing dual-purpose coastal structures that satisfy both engineering and environmental targets, offering a practical pathway toward sustainable and resilient coastal infrastructure.
Learning Posted Prices in Bilateral Trade: Regret Guarantees Under Full and Bandit Feedback
(Université d'Ottawa | University of Ottawa, 2026-05-08) Bruni, Luca; Fraser, Maia
In this thesis we study an economically motivated sequential decision problem in which a learner repeatedly chooses an action (e.g., a posted price) and observes structured feedback. We ask how the information revealed after each decision determines whether learning is possible and what regret rates are achievable. We cast the problem in the online-learning framework and analyze two feedback models. Under full-feedback, the learner can effectively evaluate alternative actions; we give an efficient algorithm with sublinear regret and matching lower bounds, yielding sharp minimax rates. Under bandit- feedback, we show that without additional regularity, sublinear regret is impossible. We then identify natural smoothness conditions on the instance under which bandit learning becomes feasible again and derive regret guarantees. Overall, our results cleanly separate learnable from non-learnable regimes and quantify how mild structure can bridge the gap between full-feedback and bandit learning.
Suicide Ideation Detection from Social Media Using Language Models: Data Augmentation and Interpretability
(Université d'Ottawa | University of Ottawa, 2026-05-07) Ghanadian, Hamideh; Al Osman, Hussein; Nejadgholi, Isar
Early detection of suicide is a vital research area that holds great potential for facilitating early prevention and interventions by mental health professionals. With accurate and reliable detection of suicide ideation, targeted interventions can be developed to reduce suicide rates and provide better support for at-risk individuals. While traditional methods of identifying individuals at risk of suicide have primarily relied on clinical assessments and crisis hotlines, the ubiquity of social media platforms has opened new avenues for early detection and intervention, as many individuals at risk of suicide might express suicidal ideation in their social media interactions. However, developing models for suicide detection on social media is a challenging area of research, primarily due to ethical and practical issues in data collection and annotation. In this work, we investigate the potential and limitations of Large Language Models in addressing data quality and accessibility issues in suicide detection on social media. First, we explore the capabilities of the state-of-the-art generative LLMs as Zero-shot or Few-shot alternatives to classifiers trained with annotated datasets. Our evaluations of the ChatGPT system underscore the limitations of this model in detecting suicide notes and highlight the necessity of high-quality training datasets for fine-tuning specialized classifiers for this task. Then, we turn to assess the quality of existing datasets collected from social media. With this assessment, we seek to uncover the extent to which social media datasets mirror or diverge from conventional psychological understandings about suicide-related topics. We ground our evaluation of the datasets in established psychological literature by identifying risk factors linked to suicide, such as mental health challenges, relationship conflicts, and financial distress. Employing a guided topic modelling technique, we identify the distribution of mentions of risk factors in existing datasets. Our results demonstrate that while surface-level risk factors such as depression and anxiety dominate the topics of these datasets, more stigmatized topics such as racism, immigration challenges or sexual orientation prejudices are completely absent in these datasets. These results highlight the necessity of creating more diverse datasets that cover the risk factors related to under-represented social groups. Next, we focus on addressing the topic coverage issues in training datasets. Acknowledging that the sensitivity surrounding suicide-related data poses challenges in accessing diverse real-world examples, we introduce an innovative strategy that leverages the capabilities of generative AI models, such as GPT models, Flan-T5, and LLama2, to create synthetic data for suicidal ideation detection. Our data generation approach is grounded in social factors extracted from psychology literature and aims to ensure coverage of essential information related to suicidal ideation. Our comparison of synthetic and real data shows that synthetic data is more balanced in terms of risk factor coverage, is not significantly different from real data in terms of complexity and readability, and is significantly less diverse in terms of the vocabulary used. We then study the impact of psychology-grounded synthetic data on both the performance and the internal representations of suicide-detection models. We first leverage the generated synthetic data as standalone training data and as an augmentation source for fine-tuning BERT-family models for suicidal ideation detection. Our results show that synthetic datasets generated across multiple large language models enable strong generalization to real-world data, achieving an F-score of 82% when evaluated on held-out real samples. Moreover, augmenting this synthetic data with only 30% of the real dataset yields models that outperform those trained exclusively on the full real dataset, demonstrating a cost-effective strategy for improving performance while mitigating topic imbalance. Finally, we examine how topic-aware data augmentation influences the internal representations learned by these models. Using sparse autoencoders and geometric analyses, including UMAP projections and cosine-distance measurements, we analyze whether psychologically meaningful risk factors are encoded as more distinct and separable directions in the models' latent spaces. Our findings indicate that augmentation not only improves predictive performance but also leads to more structured and interpretable internal representations, with several previously under-represented risk factors becoming more clearly encoded. Together, these results highlight the value of combining synthetic data generation with representation-level analysis to develop more reliable and transparent models for suicidal ideation detection.
The Mediating Effect of Meaning Making on HEXACO Personality Factors and Internalizing Symptoms During COVID-19: A Longitudinal Analysis
(Université d'Ottawa | University of Ottawa, 2026-05-07) Holy, Celeste; Vaillancourt, Tracy
The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with increases in mental health difficulties, particularly for young adults. The literature remains unclear regarding whether differential coping strategies, as well as personality traits, influenced mental health outcomes over time. Thus, a cross-lagged panel analysis was used to examine the longitudinal effect of HEXACO traits and meaning making on internalizing symptoms across three time points during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicated strong autoregressive stability for both internalizing symptoms and meaning making across time. Cross-lagged analyses revealed that higher levels of internalizing symptoms at age 23 predicted lower levels of eXtraversion at age 24, while greater meaning making at age 23 predicted higher subsequent eXtraversion. There was no evidence that meaning making mediated the relationship between personality traits and internalizing symptoms over time. These findings suggest that meaning making may be more closely related to mental health outcomes within time points rather than functioning as a long-term mediating mechanism between personality traits and psychological distress. Moreover, elevated internalizing symptoms may constrain the expression of personality traits, while engaging in meaning-making processes may support the maintenance or expression of extraverted behavior over time. Clinical implications and directions for future research are suggested. Examining personality and meaning-focused coping within the context of a global crisis provides valuable insight into which individuals may be most vulnerable to psychological distress and which coping processes may promote adaptation in the face of acute and ongoing stressors.
Promoting Digital Health Equity Among People with Serious Mental Illness
(Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2026-05-06) Turner, Kimberly; Sylvestre, John
As digital technology becomes increasingly integrated into daily life, it is essential to consider how its use influences health and well-being, particularly among individuals with limited access to digital technology, such as those with serious mental illness. The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between digital technology and health and well-being among people with serious mental illness and to identify ways to promote digital health equity. This dissertation presents a needs assessment based on community-based participatory methods (Wallerstein et al., 2017). We partnered with a community mental health organization that provides services to people with serious mental illness and assembled an advisory committee consisting of staff members and service users to guide the research process. We conducted four semi-structured focus groups to examine how service users with serious mental illness currently use digital technology, how they would like to use it, and how their use relates to their health and well-being. The focus groups also explored barriers to digital technology use experienced by service users and potential solutions. A pragmatic, mixed inductive-deductive approach to qualitative data analysis was employed. To prioritize barriers and solutions, we used a research method called the nominal group technique that involves assembling a group of experts on a topic and conducting rounds of idea generation, discussion, and idea ranking. We conducted two client nominal groups and one staff nominal group. Ranking data from the nominal groups was summarized and presented descriptively. Participants described several pathways beyond accessing healthcare through which they believe that service users' digital technology use both positively and negatively impacted their health and well-being. Our findings also provided an in-depth overview of the different barriers to digital technology use experienced by service users and identified several high-priority solutions to explore for intervention development. Existing research largely focuses on digital health equity within the healthcare system. The current research highlights how expanding our conceptualization of digital health equity presents new opportunities to influence health outcomes.
Sox10 Mediates Luminal Lineage Identity and Tumor-Initiating Capacity in HER2/Neu-Driven Mammary Tumorigenesis
(Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2026-05-06) Garland, Brennan; Sabourin, Luc A.
The SRY-HMG-Box transcription factor SOX10 plays a critical role in neural crest development. While it has recently been identified as a mediator of the mammary stem/progenitor state, as well as a marker for aggressive basal-like breast cancer, its precise function in epithelial tumorigenesis remains unclear. Here, we identify Sox10 as a key regulator of tumor-initiating activity in HER2/Neu-driven mammary cancers. Genetic ablation of Sox10 in the luminal compartment of mice resulted in delayed but normal mammary gland development. In a murine model of HER2-positive breast cancer, Sox10 deletion conferred a dose-dependent delay in tumor onset, with a complete loss of tumor initiation in Sox10-deficient luminal cells. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated Sox10 inactivation in HER2/Neu-transformed tumor cells led to reduced 3D invasion and diminished self-renewal in mammosphere assays. Established Sox10-deficient cell lines exhibited markedly impaired growth in orthotopic transplant models and failed to colonize lung tissue following tail vein injection, suggesting a loss of tumor-initiating capacity. Transcriptomic profiling revealed that Sox10-deficiency in HER2/Neu-transformed tumor cells leads to erosion of luminal cell identity and acquisition of basal/stem-like markers. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that Sox10 is required for a permissive cell progenitor state for HER2/Neu-driven tumor initiation and is critical to sustain the invasive and self-renewing traits that drive tumor progression and metastasis. The findings provide a novel therapeutic approach in the targeting of Sox10 signalling programs in the mammary epithelium which seemingly give rise to tumor cells of origin in HER2⁺ breast cancers.
Le commerce avec le diable dans la France catholique de Louis XIV
(Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2026-05-06) Cardinal, Daniel; Gardaz, Michel J.
Cette thèse de doctorat fait suite à notre travail de maitrise sur l'affaire des poisons et l'origine du satanisme que nous avons présenté en 2021. Le thème central de la recherche est le pacte diabolique que nous allons présenter en deux étapes. Dans une première étape, nous allons exposer les trois périodes de développement du pacte depuis ses origines jusqu'à notre ère contemporaine. En premier lieu, nous avons la période de préconception qui débute avec les travaux d'Origène au IIIe siècle et se poursuit avec Antoine le grand (251-356), saint Basile de Césarée (329-379), saint Jérôme (347-420), saint Augustin (354-430), jusqu'aux Dialogues de Grégoire le Grand au VIe siècle. Cette période comprend aussi les récits hagiographiques des différents saints qui, au cours du premier millénaire de l'histoire chrétienne, auraient libéré les fidèles de leur détresse en exorcisant les démons qui les hantaient. Finalement, nous incluons dans cette période le culte marial qui fait ses premiers éloges au IXe siècle de même que le dogme de la transsubstantiation qui allait s'immiscer dans la doctrine de l'Église au tournant du premier millénaire. En second lieu, la période classique qui s'amorce avec Le Miracle de Théophile de Rutebeuf en 1263 et se termine avec le cas de possession de Christoph Haizmann (1647-1700). C'est au cours de cette période que se développe le personnage mythique de Faust et que le pacte avec Satan se définit et connait son plein essor. Avec l'avènement des Lumières débute une période néo-classique qui se poursuivra jusqu'à notre ère contemporaine. Le pacte avec les démons se fera alors connaitre à travers une série de procédés incluant le théâtre, la littérature, la musique, le cinéma et finalement, les médias sociaux. Dans une seconde étape, nous introduisons une période hybride qui coïncide avec l'affaire des poisons et qui va élaborer une nouvelle forme de relation entre les humains et les démons à la fin du XVIIe siècle. Notre recherche repose sur cette période en particulier puisque c'est au cours de cet intervalle singulier qu'allait se redéfinir la nature de ces relations et le rôle des humains dans ce genre de commerce. Nous mettrons en évidence les évènements historiques qui ont marqué les deux siècles précédant la montée au pouvoir du Roi-Soleil et plus particulièrement les avènements de la Réforme protestante, la Contre-Réforme, les nombreuses guerres des religions qui s'en suivirent et le déchirement religieux et territorial de l'Europe pendant cette période. Le but est de démontrer comment cette page d'histoire a marqué le catholicisme de l'époque et la relation intime entre les humains et les forces de l'enfer. Nous jetterons ensuite un regard spécifique sur le règne de Louis XIV et sur les évènements entourant l'affaire des poisons, cette enquête policière qui mit en lumière les opérations criminelles dans lesquelles furent impliqués des membres de toutes les classes de la société française de l'époque, y compris des proches de la monarchie. La théorie entourant les relations avec les démons avait connu, depuis les premiers penseurs du christianisme, un développement stable et continu, mais l'affaire des poisons allait changer la donne et créer une forme originale et sans précédent de commerce avec les démons. Le concept du pacte diabolique est entré dans la culture populaire il y a déjà plus de mille ans et n'a jamais cessé de se développer et de se parfaire depuis en s'adaptant aux différentes conditions de son environnement social et historique. Depuis le récit de Rutebeuf au XIIIe siècle jusqu'aux différentes méthodes proposées aujourd'hui par les médias populaires, les fondements de cette entente ont à peine changé, mais les détails de la procédure se sont adaptés aux exigences des différentes époques.
Investigating Variable Linguistic Systems in Flux in 17th Century Massachusetts English
(Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2026-05-06) Gardiner, Samuel; Levey, Stephen
This thesis reconstructs the variable systems of two linguistic phenomena undergoing change in 17th century English - restrictive relativisation (Ball, 1996; Romaine, 1982), and do-support (Ellegård, 1953; Söderlund, 2017). Innovative here is the use of a digitized compendium of the Salem Witchcraft Papers (Ray, 2018), a repository of surviving textual data from the pre-trial hearings of the Salem Witch Trials, to leverage new insights into the speech of American English in the late seventeenth century, contributing to an area of scholarship that remains relatively understudied (Kytö & Siebers, 2022). Trial data, including depositions, various letters and petitions, and recorded examinations, are used as diachronic surrogates of orality to reconstruct early American English in colonial Massachusetts. Using a historical data source like the Salem Witchcraft Papers necessarily cannot provide an accurate representation of 17th century speech (due to, for example, scribal interference), but may allow the researcher to reconstruct orality by choosing texts that most closely represent the spoken language (Kytö & Walker, 2003). The application of the variationist framework (Labov, 1972; Weinreich, Labov, & Herzog, 1968) to the variable systems in question provides the opportunity to assess the contribution of social and linguistic factors to the selection of variants, elucidating the nature of the underlying grammar through the use of distributional and multivariate analyses. The thesis critically assesses previous scholarship on relativisation and do-support, identifying a number of methodological infelicities, including non-adherence to the Principle of Accountability (Labov, 1972), inadequate data (too few tokens, drawn from fiction or prose), and consideration of a limited number of possible contexts that do-support could be used in (e.g. affirmative declaratives, or negatives). Among the key findings to emerge from the investigation of relativisation are: the statistically significant effect of complexity constraints on the selection of variants, disfavouring the zero relative marker in more cognitively complex environments; the use of which as the only wh-relative to be employed to any appreciable extent; and the apparent favourable association of wh-relativisers with younger speakers. The use of relative marker who in the data is negligible, in contrast with findings based on contemporary mainstream varieties of North American English. For do-support, results suggest that the decline of affirmative declarative do at the end of the 17th century has been overstated in previous research (Ellegård, 1953; Kroch, 1989). Sentence type is the single most influential factor in the use of do-support, and interacts with every other factor group tested. Do-support is also subject to social conditioning in the 17th century, particularly age and gender. This study has implications for the wider field of historical sociolinguistics by demonstrating that a comprehensive and empirically accountable analysis of relativisation and do-support can offer new insights into the social and linguistic conditioning of these variables in Earlier American English. Considered in the aggregate, the major findings of the thesis indicate that judicious exploitation of the Salem Witchcraft Papers confirms them as a unique resource for undertaking large-scale quantitative analysis of 17th century English and reconstructing antecedent varieties of English in their socio-historical context.
Wear of Particular Agricultural Tractor Tires for Different Field Operations in Africa
(Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2026-05-06) Quaye, Joseph Jerry; Laguë, Claude
The overall objective of this study was to analyze the wear rate of tractor R-1 radial tires under specific operating conditions. The specific objectives were to examine the wear rate of the tires (a) when operating under different soil conditions and (b) different field operations, (c) to develop predictive models for the wear rate for both the front and rear tires under specific operating conditions, and (d) to validate the predictive models using measured values. A Massey Ferguson 385 four-wheel drive (4WD) tractor with 56 kW engine power and 49 kW power take-off (PTO) was used to plow, harrow, and plant three different agricultural fields (Field 1, Field 2, Field 3). Each tire of the tractor was divided into four sections. On each section, three data points were positioned on each lug (tread). A Fowler digital gauge was used to measure the height of the tire lug at each data point before and after every operation. Baseline data was collected on each tire and analyzed, and a predictive model of the wear rate was developed and validated for each tire. This experiment showed that a tire's wear rate increases as draft force, wheel slip, and soil moisture increase, and decreases as soil bulk density and tractor speed increase. Also, the tires tended to wear faster on sandy soil compared with loam and clay soils. Additionally, the tires on the right side of the tractor wore faster than those on the left. For example, on Field 1, the rear right tire had a 5.46% higher wear rate than the rear left tire, while the wear on the front right tire exceeded that of the front left tire by 5.40%. The analysis of the predicted wear rate from the developed models versus the actual measurements showed that (a) the front left tire model has a high positive correlation of 0.84 (r = 0.84) and a coefficient of 0.77 (r² = 0.77), (b) the front right tire model shows an r of 0.83 and an r2 of 0.77, (c) the rear left tire model has an r of 0.71 and an r2 of 0.51, and (d) the rear right tire model has a correlation of 0.75 and a coefficient of 0.56. The study also estimated that to maintain uniform tire wear for a Massey Ferguson 385 4WD tractor operating within the context of this study, the two front tires should be swapped approximately every 1,475 ha, and the two rear tires should be swapped after about 1,105 ha. This paper further estimates that the maximum surface area that tires can cover before needing replacement is between 2,719 and 3,221 ha for the front tires, and 1,716 and 3,100 ha for the rear tires.
Modelling Sea-Level Reconstructions from Southern Greenland: Implications for Glacially-Induced Faulting
(Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2026-05-06) Lepipas, Alexis; Milne, Glenn A.
Understanding the past evolution of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) is important for accurately simulating its future behavior and thus its contribution to global mean sea level rise. Data and models related to glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) have provided critical constraints on past GrIS evolution. These models are necessary to interpret a variety of data, including past sea-level changes and geodetic observations of current land motion and gravity changes. In all studies to date, paleo sea level data from southern Greenland have presented the greatest challenge to GIA models. Poor data-model fits in this region have led to the hypothesis of glacially-induced faulting during periods of rapid ice loss (with associated tsunami hazard). In this study, we seek to determine if quality fits to the southern Greenland relative sea level (RSL) data can be obtained by improving the GIA model and exploring the parameter space more fully than past efforts. Specifically, we develop a revised ice sheet chronology for this region based on new data constraints, and we consider a small suite of 5 plausible global ice history models. We also consider the possible influence of lateral variations in earth viscosity structure via the use of a 3D (earth) GIA model. Our results show that RSL data at all sites (except Paamiut) can be fit well using our new deglaciation history, thus supporting this new model. Uncertainty associated with the input (global) ice model is large (up to ~20m) at some sites, and so should be considered when modelling RSL data in southern Greenland. The influence of lateral structure, while significant, is generally less than ~7m at most sites during the Holocene. The relatively poor fits at Paamiut are most likely related to inaccuracy in the local ice model and future work should explore this possibility. Overall, our results indicate that large magnitude faulting is not required to fit RSL data in southern Greenland.
The MachMoS Node: A Low-Cost Open-Access Vibro-Acoustic Sensor for Machine Condition Monitoring in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
(Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2026-05-06) Tremblay, Simon Jonathan; Dumond, Patrick
Machine Condition Monitoring and Prognostics and Health Management are long-standing industrial fields that have not yet fully benefited from the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence. Research in these areas is hindered by the limited availability of open-access machine health data required to train artificial intelligence models. This work proposes that by making machine monitoring more affordable, the acquisition of large volumes of machine health data across industrial systems can be significantly expanded. To this end, this thesis describes the design, construction, and qualification of the MachMoS Node, an open-access vibro-acoustic and thermal sensor. The machine monitoring system (MachMoS) node developed in this work is cost-effective yet meets performance requirements for industrial condition monitoring applications. The thesis includes a review of relevant international standards in condition monitoring, prior research, and fundamental principles of sensors commonly used in this field. The methodology details the design and validation of the MachMoS Node against high-performance industrial sensors. The development process encompassed benchmarking against existing commercial sensors, defining requirements and specifications, component selection, electronic circuit and printed circuit board design, and mechanical enclosure design following Design for Manufacturing and Assembly principles to allow production by research institutions or basic machine shops, as Moreover, simulations addressing acoustic, thermal, and power-management considerations were conducted. These analyses ensure over one year of sensor operation between charges, predicted enclosure-induced resonance in agreement with experimental measurements, and provided a thermal model that allows sensor readings to be compensated for, enabling more accurate machine temperature estimations. The resulting device is a rechargeable, wireless, vibro-acoustic and thermal monitoring node. Its performance was validated through laboratory testing, including accelerometer and acoustic frequency-response analysis, temperature calibration in an ice bath, an ingress protection assessment, and evaluation of energy usage, charging circuitry, wireless range, and external sensor connectivity. Future work will include comprehensive electromagnetic interference and compatibility testing, extended temperature evaluation, further cost optimisation, code optimisations, and long-term industrial deployment as part of a complete monitoring system.
Motivic Decomposition of a Hyperplane Section of a Milnor Hypersurface Twisted by a Crossed Product Algebra
(Université d'Ottawa | University of Ottawa, 2026-05-05) Marth, Evan; Zaynullin, Kirill
Let $A$ be a central simple algebra over an arbitrary field $F$. Associated to $A$, there is a twisted Milnor hypersurface $X(A)$. Given an element $\alpha \in A$ which generates a Galois extension $L$ of $F$ with $[L: F] = \deg A$, we construct a hyperplane section $Y(A, \alpha)$ of $X(A)$ and give a motivic decomposition for $Y(A, \alpha)$. This generalises work of Xiong and Zainoulline.
Emotion-Aware Digital Twin for a Large Language Model-Based Personalized Therapy Solution
(Université d'Ottawa | University of Ottawa, 2026-05-05) Al Ghoul, Karim; El Saddik, Abdulmotaleb; Al Osman, Hussein
Mental health disorders are increasing worldwide, yet many individuals still face limited access to timely mental health support. At the same time, wearable devices such as smartwatches enable continuous collection of physiological signals that may provide useful indicators of affective states in everyday life. This thesis explores how wearable-based emotion recognition can be integrated with retrieval-augmented large language models (RAG-LLMs) and a digital twin framework to provide accessible, personalized, and context-aware mental well-being support anytime and anywhere. First, the thesis introduces WARM-VR, a new affective computing dataset designed to address limitations of existing resources by combining immersive stimuli with wearable physiological sensing and self-report. The dataset includes recordings from 31 participants and integrates multimodal signals with arousal, valence, and relaxation annotations to support reproducible affect research in more realistic settings. Second, the thesis develops and evaluates multiple deep learning architectures for emotion recognition from Photoplethysmography (PPG)-based wearables, including hybrid CNN–LSTM–TCN models as well as Transformer-based and Mamba-based approaches, with attention to noise, subject variability, and class imbalance. Third, the thesis investigates the use of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to reduce hallucination and improve reliability in mental-health-oriented conversational systems, and introduces an evaluation framework that distinguishes between retrieval-grounded factual accuracy and therapist-like conversational support across different LLMs. Building on these components, the thesis proposes UbiMyTherapist (You Be My Therapist), a ubiquitous emotion-aware digital twin framework designed to operate continuously alongside the user by combining wearable-based emotion estimation, user history, and psychological knowledge bases, enabling reactive conversational support and proactive interventions. A proof-of-concept prototype is implemented using an agentic orchestration layer and a vector-based RAG pipeline grounded in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) content. Finally, a user case study with 24 participants compares four system configurations: baseline GPT-4o, prompt-engineered GPT-4o, RAG-based GPT-4o, and the full digital twin prototype. The results from the pilot study show that integrating retrieval grounding with user context and emotional-state history improves perceived therapist-like conversation, empathy, personalization, and overall user experience.

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