Restricted Theses and Dissertations
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This collection is the result of a joint project between the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Libraries and Cultural Resources which provides Graduate students with the opportunity to archive their thesis with University Archives in our digital repository.
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- ItemEmbargoTheory and Practice of Museum Translation: Translating and Translated Chinese Heritage in Xi’an(2023-12) Li, Qing; Mladenova, Olga; Hardy, Michele; Xie, Shaobo; Wright, David; Lupke, ChristopherThis thesis presents the outcomes of a pioneering study of translation activities in mainland China, specifically exploring the interplay between cultural translation, power dynamics, and the formation of English-language heritage discourse in Chinese museums. The focus is on understanding how English-language heritage discourse is constructed, with an emphasis on intercultural translation and the roles of intercultural translators. A comprehensive literature review underscores the limitations in the field of museum translation, highlighting the insufficient consideration of diverse factors and stakeholders shaping translation processes in museums. To address this gap, I establish a robust theoretical foundation that integrates Western and Chinese perspectives, facilitating the exploration of museum translation across cultures and addressing crucial questions about the feasibility, indispensability, and incommensurability of intercultural translation in Chinese heritage museums. The investigation centres on cultural outreach policies influencing translation practices within Chinese heritage museums. These policies advocate a Sino-centric approach, resisting the assimilation of Chinese culture into English-language discourse. Translator subjectivity and the new Chinese heritage discourse contribute to ‘telling Chinese stories’ in languages other than Chinese. Empirical evidence from field research in Xi’an, China, includes in-depth interviews, photographic documentation, and analysis of exhibits, shedding light on intended messages and translation strategies. The study reveals deliberate efforts to present distinct aspects of Chinese culture to international visitors, while safeguarding narratives from undue assimilation into Western discourse. The study identifies various influencing factors on English-language discourse within Chinese heritage museums, such as the intentions of cultural outreach policymakers, museum administration, translator efforts, and international visitor engagement. The final chapter revisits museum Sino-centric translation, aligning it with thick translation and exploring periperformative factors affecting intercultural communication between translators and museum visitors. In summary, this thesis explores how intercultural translation shapes English-language heritage discourse in Chinese museums, offering a detailed understanding of the relationship between translation processes, cultural policies, and diverse stakeholders. This research advances the comprehension of the dynamic nature of English-language discourse in the context of Chinese heritage museums.
- ItemEmbargoLunatic Teacher: A Hermeneutic Exploration of Teaching and Suicide in Poetry and Prose(2023-12-06) Perry, Tyler Brendan; Spring, Erin; Sumara, Dennis; Dobson, KitThis hermeneutic exploration seeks to interpret and understand the author’s ongoing experience as a teacher, observer, and writer through the creation of lyrical poetry and prose. It is a journey through language into poetic understanding—away from the clarity of concrete knowledge and into the fog of questions and creative intuition that rise from the inherent ambiguity of creative language and metaphoric meaning. The primary poetic forms used in this text are glosa, sestina, free verse, and micro essay. The glosa and sestina poems directly and methodically engage with previously existing texts (poetry and prose) by following the patterns and rules of said forms. The free verse poems engage directly with these texts by weaving lines, phrases, and sentences among the freely written new lines in no predetermined pattern, and by rules set only during the play of writing. The micro essays serve as meta writings that further the conversation by pulling back and analysing the language processes used in all the other writings. They are the planks of reason used to build a footpath along which we might traverse the otherwise soggy substance of the poems. All of the writing is infused with the experiences of teaching and living of the author of this text. The reader is asked to read amphibiously, living equally in the liquid language of poetry and the somewhat solid ground of the prose. This thesis strives towards eccentric, expansive, and paradoxical understandings of teaching, learning, language, and lunacy.
- ItemEmbargoData-driven catalyst design for electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR)(2023-12-06) Talebi, Pooya; Van Humbeck, Jeffrey; Trudel, Simon; Piers, Warren EdwardCarbon dioxide (CO2) poses significant global problems, primarily driving climate change and environmental degradation. Fossil fuel combustion leads to rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and ocean acidification. Addressing this challenge necessitates international cooperation, transitioning to renewable energy sources, and implementing policies to reduce emissions and the CO2content in the atmosphere. Electrochemical CO2 reduction (CO2RR) is a promising strategy to mitigate CO2 emissions and combat climate change. By utilizing renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind, CO2RR employs electrocatalysts to convert carbon dioxide into valuable chemicals and fuels. This technology aims to reduce CO2 levels in the atmosphere and to develop a sustainable and circular carbon economy, offering a potential pathway to tackle the challenges posed by excess carbon dioxide and promoting a greener, more efficient future. Nevertheless, numerous technical challenges must be addressed for successful CO2RR implementation, with a primary concern being the lack of a suitable catalyst for the reaction. Presently, copper stands as the only mono-metallic electrocatalyst capable of catalyzing CO2RR, but its performance remains economically impractical. This thesis focuses on exploring and developing non-copper-based catalysts for CO2RR in an effort to overcome this limitation and advance the feasibility of the process. Chapter 3 introduces a novel approach to identify potential catalysts for CO2RR using high-throughput density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The study screened 800 transition metal nitrides (TMNs) and singled out Co, Cr, and Ti TMNs as the most promising candidates based on thermodynamic analysis, with their stability and activity thoroughly assessed. Additionally, machine learning (ML) regression models were employed to predict binding energies, uncovering that the group number of metals significantly impacts the binding energy of *OH and, consequently, the catalysts' stability. By combining high-throughput DFT screening and ML regression analysis, this study demonstrates an effective means of discovering new energy materials for CO2 reduction. In Chapters 4 and 5, metal sulfide, and oxides are investigated respectively. Using experimental validation, it is shown that the 2D SnS2 and the ABO3 perovskites discussed are promising catalyst materials for CO2RR. Furthermore, in Chapter 4, a novel strategy has been implemented to increase the efficiency of the catalyst. By applying an oscillating potential (as opposed to a static and constant potential) to the cell, the Faradaic efficiency (FE) of the cell is improved significantly.
- ItemEmbargoLet There be Morphine: Structural Insights into Functional and Evolutionary Relationships of Morphine Biosynthesis in Opium Poppy(2023-11-30) Carr, Samuel Clyde; Facchini, Peter; Ng, Kenneth; Ro, Dae-Kyun; Moorhead, Gregory; Noskov, SergeiBenzylisoquinoline alkaloids are a large and diverse class of plant specialized metabolites known for their pharmaceutical properties, including the tumor suppressant noscapine, vasodilator papaverine, antimicrobial sanguinarine, and the important analgesics codeine, morphine, and their semisynthetic derivatives. The latter group of analgesics are known as morphinan alkaloids or opiates and are produced solely in select members of the genus Papaver, most importantly Papaver somniferum commonly known as opium poppy. This thesis highlights the use of structural biology in multidisciplinary approaches to understand the biosynthesis of morphinan alkaloids in opium poppy and related species. Dehydroreticuline reductase and codeinone reductase are closely related enzymes from the aldo-keto reductase superfamily catalyzing the second and second-last steps, respectively, in morphine biosynthesis in opium poppy. The elucidation of the crystal structure of codeinone reductase reveals novel structural features allowing for the in-depth analysis of substrate binding and catalysis leading to the engineering of substrate specificity. This structure also provides the means for the homology modeling of dehydroreticuline reductase giving insight into its novel catalytic mechanism. Transcriptomic analysis of representative Papaver species reveals putative morphinan biosynthetic enzyme orthologues and the ubiquitous distribution of dehydroreticuline reductase and codeinone reductase, among other morphinan biosynthetic enzymes. Structural analysis and functional/kinetic characterization of aldo-keto reductases demonstrates the ubiquitous conservation of dehydroreticuline reductase and codeinone reductase activity in the genus Papaver. These results challenge the current evolutionary narrative of morphinan biosynthesis suggesting: [1] a more ancient neofunctionalization of early enzymatic steps of morphinan biosynthesis than previously believed and [2] that morphinan biosynthesis evolved via the patchwork evolutionary model. Enzymatic latency and ligand binding affinity both provide a platform for the neofunctionalization of novel enzymatic activities. The alkaloid binding capabilities of pathogenesis related 10 proteins provides a means to understand the neofunctionalization of the morphine biosynthetic enzymes thebaine synthase and neopinone isomerase, alongside a biological role in alkaloid storage for abundant non-catalytic pathogenesis related 10 proteins. Their binding to alkaloids is predicted to promote the formation of protein-alkaloid aggregates based on binding-induced conformational changes observed through X-ray crystallography and dramatic changes in sucrose gradient fractionation.
- ItemEmbargoWater Cut Measurement and Solvent Detection for Production Surveillance and Optimization using Microwave Sensors(2023-11-22) Kamal, Bushra; Hassanzadeh, Hassan; Abbasi, Zahra; Nassar, Nashaat N.; Murari, KartikeyaMonitoring of water-cut and solvent in multiphase flows is essential in petroleum production, processing, and transportation. Achieving precise online water cut measurements is highly desirable but challenging, especially when high accuracy is necessary. It holds great importance for maintaining production quality, assessing well conditions, reducing energy consumption, and automating oil production management. Solvent recovery in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) methods such as Expanding Solvent-Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (ES-SAGD) is an important key metric for assessing the solvent return that meets economic threshold. Online water-cut meters typically rely on sensing the dielectric permittivity, density, infrared, or gamma-ray spectral absorption characteristics of the oil and water mixture. The currently available methods lack an inexpensive, non-contact, real-time water cut (WC) measurement that is high in demand and technology. Microwave technology can introduce a practical solution to address these problems. Over the past two decades, planar microwave resonator-based sensors have become increasingly popular. This heightened popularity is due to several factors, including their uncomplicated fabrication process, ease of integration with experimental setups, and adaptability in design. A noteworthy and intriguing aspect of microwave sensors is their ability to perform non-contact sensing and real-time monitoring. This unique capability arises from the interaction between the electromagnetic field produced by the sensor and the characteristics of the sensing material in its immediate surroundings. This research work investigated water-cut measurement and solvent detection through the integration of unique planar microwave sensor designs within highly sophisticated experimental setups at various conditions. The sensors are designed such that they do not require any special facilities or equipment for their integration in the pipelines to perform efficiently.