Theses
The theses in UWSpace are publicly accessible unless restricted due to publication or patent pending.
This collection includes a subset of theses submitted by graduates of the University of Waterloo as a partial requirement of a degree program at the Master's or PhD level. It includes all electronically submitted theses. (Electronic submission was optional from 1996 through 2006. Electronic submission became the default submission format in October 2006.)
This collection also includes a subset of UW theses that were scanned through the Theses Canada program. (The subset includes UW PhD theses from 1998 - 2002.)
Recent deposits
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The Inextricable Weed: Rawls and the Problem of Endemic Faction
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-19)John Rawls, over the course of his career, sought to construct a framework by which a liberal society could be envisioned in its ideal form which then, taken as a model, may illuminate a sure path for reform. His argument ... -
Analysis of the Impact of Fragmented Coordination During Natural Disaster Responses on Access to Drinking Water Following Cyclone Idai - Beira Case Study
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-19)Globally, disasters affect every domain of human activity and cause devastating losses across the human, economic and environmental domains. While they are extremely difficult to predict and prevent, the global society ... -
Investigation of Brain Response in Canadian Armed Forces Volunteers Subjected to Recoil Force from Firing Long-Range Rifles Using Instrumented Mouthguards and Finite Element Head Model
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-18)Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) may be caused by occupational hazards military personnel encounter, such as falls, shocks, exposure to blast overpressure events, and recoil from weapon firing. The repeated exposure of ... -
Breast cancer risk associated with phosphate toxicity
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-18)Background - The essential dietary mineral phosphorus in the form of inorganic phosphate (PO43-) is regulated in the blood serum by a sensitive network of endocrine hormones released from bone, kidneys, parathyroid glands, ... -
Horospherical geometry: combinatorial algebraic stacks and approximating rational points
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-17)The purpose of this thesis is to explore and develop several aspects of the theory of horospherical geometry. Horospherical varieties are equipped with the action of a reductive algebraic group such that there is an open ... -
Improving the Provision of Mental Health Care in Small-Scale Fisheries to Boost Livelihood Outcomes: A Case Study of Chilika Lagoon in India
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-17)Small-scale fisheries (SSF) support over 90 percent of the 120 million people engaged in capture fisheries globally. Due to their strong reliance on their surroundings, SSFs are in volatile positions. The ever-changing ... -
Efficient Memory Allocator for Restricting Use-After-Free Exploitations
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-17)Attacks on heap memory, encompassing memory overflow, double and invalid free, use-after-free (UAF), and various heap-spraying techniques are ever-increasing. Existing secure memory allocators can be generally classified ... -
Planning Renewable Electricity Using Life-Cycle Analysis
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-16)It has been predicted that by the mid-21st century worldwide energy demand will grow two to three times the current level of demand. Expanding the global electric power generation capacity will be problematic using the ... -
Wastewater Surveillance of Influenza (A, B) and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) in Southern Ontario
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-16)Wastewater-based surveillance (WBS) of SARS-CoV-2 has been highly effective at tracking trends of COVID-19 infections across the globe. This success led to the question of the possible applicability of WBS in monitoring ... -
Degradation of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and Polyamide (PA)
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-16)Microplastics have become an increasing concern to humans and ecosystems as plastic production continues to soar, due to their prevalence in the environment and lifespan. Plastic is cheap and durable making it an ideal ... -
Cybersecurity in the Hardware Supply Chain
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-15)Globalization in the hardware supply chain has increased sophisticated hardware security breaches. Once considered safe and secure in the early phases of the manufacturing life cycle, the semiconductor supply chain has ... -
Exploring Young Women’s Conceptualization of Sexuality: A Narrative Inquiry
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-15)Sexual health is an important part of public health’s mandate, especially when working with young adults who are experiencing great physiological and psycho-social development and change. The World Health’s Organization’s ... -
Low-Frequency Acoustic Source Detection and Localization
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-15)In aviation, clear-air turbulence (CAT) is a major cause of in-flight injuries. It occurs in cloudless skies and cannot be detected by the onboard weather radar. Studies have predicted the extent of CAT to increase ... -
Toward Automated Detection of Landfast Ice Polynyas in C-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery with Convolutional Neural Networks
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-12)Landfast ice polynyas - areas of open water surrounded by ice - are important features in many Northern coastal communities, and their automated detection from spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery is positioned ... -
Optimization, model uncertainty, and testing in risk and insurance
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-11)This thesis focuses on three important topics in quantitative risk management and actuarial science: risk optimization, risk sharing, and statistical hypothesis testing in risk. For the risk optimization, we concentrate ... -
Technology Design Recommendations Informed by Observations of Videos of Popular Musicians Teaching and Learning Songs by Ear
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-11)Instrumentalists who play popular music often learn songs by ear, using recordings in lieu of sheet music or tablature. This practice was made possible by technology that allows musicians to control playback events. Until ... -
Examining the Ecosystem Evolution of Nikanotee Fen Watershed: An Ecohydrological Perspective
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-10)Recognition of the environmental ramifications of long-term natural resource development in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) has prompted the implementation of sustainable land use practices. This includes obligatory ... -
Learning From Tianguis: Iterating the Informal Market Typology for a More Responsive and Engaging Retail Design
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-09)This thesis explores the potential towards a transformative role of informal markets within modern retail environments, contrasting them against the backdrop of both rigid physical retail storefronts and intangible digital ... -
Design with Sampling Distribution Segments
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-09)In most settings where data-driven decisions are made, these decisions are informed by two-group comparisons. Characteristics – such as median survival times for two cancer treatments, defect rates for two assembly lines, ... -
Colour Vision Deficiencies in the Digital Age: A Survey of User Experiences with Digital Displays
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-09)Introduction: Approximately 90% of dichromats and 67% of anomalous trichromats experience difficulty performing colour-related tasks daily (Steward & Cole, 1989). As technology becomes more prevalent, examining whether ...