Modern industrial production systems benefit from the classification and processing of objects and their attributes. In general, the object classification procedure can coincide with vagueness. Vagueness is a common problem in object analysis that exists at various stages of classification, including ambiguity in input data, overlapping boundaries between classes or regions, and uncertainty in defining or extracting the properties and relationships of objects. To manage the ambiguity mentioned in the classification of objects, using a framework for L-fuzzy relations, and displaying such uncertainties by it can be a solution. Obtaining the least unreliable and uncertain output associated with the original data is the main concern of this thesis. Therefore, my general approach to this research can be categorized as follows: We developed an L-Fuzzy Concept Analysis as a generalization of a regular Concept Analysis. We start our work by providing the input data. Data is stored in a table (database). The next step is the creation of the contexts and concepts from the given original data using some structures. In the next stage, rules, or patterns (Attribute Implications) from the data will be generated. This includes all rules and a minimal base of rules. All of them are using L-fuzziness due to uncertainty. This requires L-fuzzy relations that will be implemented as L -valued matrices. In the end, everything is nicely packed in a convenient application and implemented in Java programming language. Generally, our approach is done in an algebraic framework that covers both regular and L -Fuzzy FCA, simultaneously. The tables we started with are already L-valued (not crisp) in our implementation. In other words, we work with the L-Fuzzy data directly. This is the idea here. We start with vague data. In simple terms, the data is shown using L -valued tables (vague data) trying to relate objects with their attributes at the start of the implementation. Generating attribute implications from many-valued contexts by a relational theory is the purpose of this thesis, i.e, a range of degrees is used to indicate the relationship between objects and their properties. The smallest degree corresponds to the classical no and the greatest degree corresponds to the classical yes in the table.

Vitamins are, by definition, required for maintaining the health of the mammalian body. Vitamin E, which occurs in eight different forms, has a crucial function as an antioxidant protecting polyunsaturated fatty acids. Attributable to the occurrence of alpha-tocopherol transfer protein (a-TTP), RRR-a-tocopherol is the only form that is selectively retained in mammals. a-TTP aids in secreting the RRR-a-tocopherol from liver to the rest of the body. The mechanism of the a-TTP-mediated movement of a-tocopherol is not yet fully elucidated. The opening of a-TTP's binding pocket and subsequent release of a-tocopherol are made possible by a-TTP's interaction with PM residing phosphatidylinositols. K217, a crucial amino acid, is present in the positive surface patch of a-TTP, which is essential for orchestrating this interaction. Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) was employed in this study to examine the absorption and desorption of wild-type a-TTP and the mutated form K217A to tethered phospholipid vesicles. SPR spectroscopy illustrated the affinity of either protein when it was presented with one or both of its preferred ligands (a-tocopherol or phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate [PI(4,5)P2]) on tethered vesicles. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used to coat the side of the microcentrifuge tubes to mitigate protein loss that was discovered when protein was preincubated with its ligands. K217 was found to be instrumental in the binding of TTP to PIPs and the subsequent release of tocopherol. As K217A mutant had a lower adsorption to membranes containing PI(4,5)P2 vs wtTTP. It was determined that α-TTP binding to endosomal vesicles increased with increased concentration of the late endosome specific lipid bis(monoacylglycero)phosphate (BMP). Collections runs performed provided some evidence for the exchange of ligands when wtTTP was used but not for K217A. The results found in this work parallel literature findings and supplement the proposed mechanism of a α-TTP-mediated movement of α-tocopherol and PI(4,5)P2 in plasma membranes.

Work-related distal upper limb musculoskeletal disorders are costly conditions that many companies and researchers spend significant resources on preventing. Ergonomic assessments evaluate the risk of developing a work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WMSD) by quantifying variables such as the force, repetition, and posture (among others) that the task requires. Accurate and objective measurements of force and posture are challenging due to equipment and location constraints. Wearable sensors like the Delsys Trigno Quattro combine inertial measurement units (IMUs) and surface electromyography to solve collection difficulties. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the joint angle estimation of IMUs and the relationship between sEMG and overall task intensity throughout a controlled wrist motion. Using a 3 degrees-of-freedom wrist manipulandum, the feasibility of a small, lightweight wearable was evaluated to collect accurate wrist flexion and extension angles and to use sEMG to quantify task intensity. The task was a repeated 95º arc in flexion/ extension with six combinations of wrist torques and grip requirements. The mean wrist angle difference (throughout the range of motion) between the WristBot and the IMU of 1.70° was not significant (p= 0.057); but significant differences existed throughout the range of motion. The largest difference between the IMU and the WristBot was 10.7° at 40° extension; this discrepancy is smaller than typical visual inspection joint angle estimate errors by ergonomists of 15.6°. All sEMG metrics (flexor muscle root mean square (RMS), extensor muscle RMS, mean RMS, integrated sEMG (iEMG), physiological cross-sectional area weighted RMS) and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) had significant regression results with the task intensity. Variance in RPE was better explained by task intensity than the best sEMG metric (iEMG) with R2 values of 0.35 and 0.21, respectively. Wearable sensors can be used in occupational settings to increase the accuracy of postural assessments; additional research is required on relationships between sEMG and task intensity to be used effectively in ergonomics. There is potential for sEMG to be a powerful tool; however, the dynamic nature and combined exertion (grip and flexion/ extension) make it difficult to quantify task intensity

Current food production methods are causing wide scale degradation of the natural environment thus a shift towards more sustainable agricultural systems is essential in fighting the climate crisis. Understanding how Gen Z, a generation that will inherit the changing climate, relates to the social, economic and environmental aspects of a sustainable diet is important in ensuring they are aware how to make an impact with their dietary choices. This thesis aimed to gain a holistic understanding of Gen Z's perceptions of and engagement with sustainable diets. Two studies were conducted online, examining Canadian youth between the ages of 18-25. The first study took an exploratory approach, aiming to understand what a sustainable diet means to Gen Z in their own words. The second study took a predictive approach, aiming to quantify and understand Gen Z's action stages around a range of sustainable dietary behaviours, including the psychological and educational factors that influence their stage of change. Results from Study One highlighted that youth perceive behaviours centered around supporting their local community and reducing food waste to be effective for promoting a sustainable diet. In addition, over 60% of participants indicated that there were barriers preventing them from engaging in sustainable diets, such as cost. Results from Study Two revealed that a high food literacy score and a strong belief in the efficacy of a behaviour are the two most important predictors of being in an action stage for a range of sustainable dietary behaviours. Together these two studies provide a holistic overview of what sustainable diets mean to Gen Z, how they currently engage with sustainable diets, and ways to encourage action. The thesis also contributes to the scholarly literature on the use of TTM and TPB in assessing the factors that influence engagement with sustainable dietary behaviours. It also offers practical recommendations on how our results can be used to shape policy, educational interventions and marketing towards Gen Z.

Physiological changes during pregnancy and lactation result in challenges to the maternal rodent skeleton. Red rooibos (RR) supplementation to rats was previously shown to support the recovery of tibia bone structure through to 4 months post-lactation. Given the associations between oral and systemic health, this research used multiple ROIs within the mandible to determine: if there are differences in trabecular bone structure at 4 months post-lactation compared to the non-pregnant control; the effects of a RR intervention administered from pre-pregnancy through 4 months post-lactation on trabecular bone structure compared to no RR intervention; and if measured outcomes are similar among groups regardless of the ROI studied. 6-week-old female Sprague-Dawley rats (n=42) were randomized to PREG TEA (pregnancy and lactation; supplemental level of RR in water ~2600 mg/kg body weight/day), PREG WAT (pregnancy and lactation; water), or GROWTH CON (non-pregnant control; water), bred at 8-weeks of age and maintained until 4 months post-lactation when mandibles were excised. Micro-computed tomography was used to measure bone structure at four ROIs: fixed shape or manually drawn ROI in molar 1 (M1) or molar 2 (M2) site. At M1, analyses using a fixed ROI demonstrated that PREG TEA had a higher bone volume fraction (p<0.05) and lower trabecular separation (p<0.05) compared to PREG WAT. This may be explained by the structural outcomes characterizing trabecular struts, in which degree of anisotropy was lower (p<0.05) in PREG WAT compared to GROWTH CON. Irrespective of whether the ROI was drawn manually or fixed, the PREG TEA group demonstrated a partial recovery as trabecular number, separation, and thickness were not significantly different from GROWTH CON (p>0.05), whereas PREG WAT had significantly lower (p<0.05) bone volume fraction and trabecular number than GROWTH CON. At M2, few significant outcomes were observed regardless of ROI. This may be due to the lower amount of bone present at this site. Pregnancy and lactation resulted in deficits to mandible bone, but RR supplementation supported partial recovery, which aligns with previous findings for tibia. Findings can inform future research about which mandible site to select to measure a response to a dietary intervention.

Tourism resilience in the face of a prevailing pandemic and accompanying global uncertainties remains a concern to many stakeholders. A key area of interest for the industry regards the pandemic's potential to influence change in people's consumption patterns, possibly toward more sustainable, ethical, safe and technologically mediated forms of tourism. Such pandemic-induced attitudinal changes can, in turn, affect how tourism will be consumed in future. These changes may further translate into the need for new exchange relationships, tourism experiences, resources, and innovations to aid interactions between service providers (tour guides), tourists and destinations. With the advent of technology-driven solutions for normalization during the pandemic, some studies have predicted shifts from traditional long-haul travels to virtual tourism as they are considered to be a safer, accessible, and ecologically friendly form of tourism. This exploratory research, therefore, sought to unearth the influence of Covid-19 on Millennial students' preferences for virtual tours in the aftermath of the pandemic. The objectives were to identify factors that can influence intentions for change in people's tourism preferences based on their experience of the pandemic, to explore tourist perceptions about the potential of virtual tour innovations like PIRTs to meet their future preferences, and to investigate how this connection can translate into prospective models in Niagara's geopark tourism sector. Quantitative data was collected from 117 sampled students in the Brock University community through an online questionnaire. The findings revealed that financial, experiential, and ecological concerns are significant factors which will possibly influence Millennials' travel patterns and their inclination to use PIRTS in the post-Covid era. Based on these findings, suggestions are made on how smart tourism innovations such as PIRTs can be harnessed as resilient alternatives to conventional tourism in Niagara Peninsula Aspiring Global Geopark (NPAGG) destinations to promote socio-ecological wellbeing in the region.

Emergent behaviour can arise unexpectedly as a by-product of the complex interactions of an autonomous system, and with the increasing desire for such systems, emergent behaviour has become an important area of interest for AI research. One aspect of this research is in searching for a diverse set of emergent behaviours which not only provides a useful tool for finding unwanted emergent behaviour, but also in finding interesting emergent behaviour. The multi-dimensional archive of phenotypic elites (MAP-Elites) algorithm is a popular evolutionary algorithm which returns a highly diverse set of elite solutions at the end of a run. The population is separated into a grid-like feature space defined by a set of behaviour dimensions specified by the user where each cell of the grid corresponds to a unique behaviour combination. The algorithm is conceptually simple and effective at producing high-quality, diverse solutions, but it comes with a major limitation on its exploratory capabilities. With each additional behaviour, the set of solutions grows exponentially, making high-dimensional feature spaces infeasible. This thesis proposes an option for increasing behaviours with a novel Age-Layered MAP-Elites (ALME) algorithm where the population is separated into age layers and each layer has its own feature space. By using different behaviours in the different layers, the population migrates up through the layers experiencing selective pressure towards different behaviours. This algorithm is applied to a simulated intelligent agent environment to observe interesting emergent behaviours. It is observed that ALME is capable of producing a set of solutions with diversity in all behaviour dimensions while keeping the final population size low. It is also observed that ALME is capable of filling its top layer feature space more consistently than MAP-Elites with the same behaviour dimensions.

Novel bidentate amine – imine, and amido – imine ligands were synthesized. The former species was reacted with ZnMe2 to generate zinc methyl complex. The compound was fully characterized by 1H NMR and X – ray spectroscopy. The zinc methyl complex demonstrated rather limited catalytic activity in hydroboration and hydrosilylation of N – heterocycles. Consequently, a new zinc hydride complex was synthesized using an amido – imine ligand as a precursor. A series of nitrogen heteroaromatics were successfully hydroborated using catalytic amounts of zinc hydride species. Deuterium – labeling experiments, and kinetic studies allowed to get insights into the reaction mechanism. It was proposed that the hydride transfer proceeds via a six – membered transition state orchestrated by the Lewis acidic zinc – hydride complex. Another project was focused on the synthesis of a potentially redox “non – innocent” diimine ligand, using Arduengo’s diketone as the starting point. Attempts to install an imine moiety resulted in a surprising reaction outcome.

The following work describes the synthesis of advanced intermediates enroute to daphenylline. Construction of the ABCE tetracyclic skeleton of daphenylline was accomplished in thirteen steps with seven percent overall yield from commercially available (S)-carvone through [3,3]-allyl cyanate-to-isocyanate rearrangement, intramolecular Heck Reaction, and Intermolecular Diels-Alder/benzannulation strategies. Efforts towards the synthesis of daphenylline’s D ring are discussed. A terse introduction to the scientific literature of daphniphyllum alkaloids and a comprehensive overview of selected approaches and all previous syntheses of daphenylline is given. Experimental procedures and spectroscopic data are provided for all new compounds.

Despite all the advances made in health-related and psychological sciences, advancing age continues to be accompanied by cognitive decline. Aging is usually associated with major changes in the structure and functioning of the brain that lead to impairments in multiple cognitive functions. The trajectories of age-related effects on the brain and cognition exhibit considerable differences across cognitive domains and across individuals, and investigating approaches and factors that might prevent brain and cognitive decline during aging is considered a topic of great scientific and public health relevance. The overall goal of this thesis was to evaluate age-related differences in brain structure and functional connectivity to further our understanding of the neural mechanisms involved in age-related declines in cognition. This thesis also aimed to investigate the influence of lifestyle factors on age differences in cognition, and in that regard, I focused on the effects of sleep quality and physical activity on memory. In Study 1, I assessed the impact of aging on grey matter volume of the medial temporal lobe MTL and prefrontal cortex PFC and compared the relative contributions of MTL and PFC structures to age differences in associative memory. My findings emphasize the critical role of the frontal lobes, and the control processes they subserve, in determining the detrimental effects of age on memory. Additionally, I observed that the relationship between frontal grey matter volume and memory was not moderated by age or sex, suggesting that greater volume in PFC structures relates to better memory performance across the lifespan and in both sexes. In Study 2, I assessed the effects of age on functional brain networks. Given the essential role of the arousal system (ARAS) in cortical activation and previous findings of disrupted ARAS functioning with age, I investigated the hypothesis that age-related changes in ARAS-cortical functional connectivity may contribute to commonly observed age-related differences in cortical connectivity. The findings of this study showed that the arousal system is functionally connected to widespread cortical regions and suggest that age differences in functional connectivity within the cortex may be driven by age-related changes in the brainstem and these altered connectivity patterns have important implications for cognitive health. In Study 3, I investigated the relationship between sleep quality, physical activity, and memory in middle-age and older adults, in addition to assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on participants’ mood and sleep quality. Our results showed that people who were more active reported better sleep quality and showed better memory, and better sleep quality was associated with better memory. Moreover, our findings also showed that some of the beneficial effects of physical activity on cognition are partially mediated by improved sleep. Additionally, this study indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic had a deleterious effect on people’s sleep quality and overall well-being. Taken together, these studies suggest that aging is associated with disruptive effects on brain structure and function, and that these changes are associated with age-related cognitive decline. Additionally, our study supported the association between lifestyle factors, more specifically, sleep quality and physical activity, and cognitive performance during aging.