Theses and Dissertations Doctoral and Master's level Theses and Dissertations 2015-05-29T02:18:45Z Integrating Ontology-Based Information Extraction Systems and Spatial Modeling for Land Use Analysis and Simulation Integrating Ontology-Based Information Extraction Systems and Spatial Modeling for Land Use Analysis and Simulation Al-Ageili, Munira Faysal Information Extraction (IE) is defined as the automatic identification and extraction of a predefined set of concepts, relevant to a specific domain of knowledge, ignoring irrelevant information. IE converts unstructured text into structured data and extracts the required information. IE is to some extent domain-specific. In IE, the information to be extracted must be specified a priori. In the context of IE, the ontology is used to structure and represent the domain knowledge. The IE system extracts information with respect to the domain ontology and then populates the ontology with the extracted information. This process is referred to as Ontology-Based Information Extraction (OBIE). Many jurisdictions apply land use suitability analysis (LUSA) for land use planning. LUSA in this context is used to assess the appropriateness of a specific area of land for a particular kind of use. Each jurisdiction has its own regulations and policies that are applied to assess land use suitability for that geographic area. The regulations provide the criteria for the factors to be included in the multi-criteria analysis applied to determine the suitability value for each location for a particular land use. Manually finding and extracting the criteria and their specific values can be tedious and time-consuming. The objective of this work is the building of an OBIE system for the domain of land use suitability analysis. The proposed system combines the use of ontology, domain-specific gazetteer lists, language processing tools and extraction rules based on regular expressions to automatically add semantic annotation to domain documents (such as regulations and bylaws) and then extract the criteria to be applied to the LUSA process. The knowledge engineering approach was followed to build the LUSA OBIE system. We built an ontology specific for LUSA criteria and created domain-specific gazetteer lists (with terminology specific to land use suitability) and extraction rules. Our proposed OBIE system covers a domain that so far has not been investigated by researchers and therefore few web resources such as ontologies and domain-specific lexicons were available. This LUSA domain-specific OBIE system makes a significant start towards further investigation and development of resources and tools that will assist in land use suitability analysis and related GIS domains. The OBIE system does not only identify the type of extracted entities but also links them to their semantic descriptions in the ontology. In addition, the output of the OBIE system is constructed from elements of the ontology, ensuring that the knowledge is captured and represented with respect to the domain model. The output of the LUSA OBIE can be presented as an ontology populated with instances of the extracted criteria and property values, as a set of semantically (with ontology knowledge) annotated documents or the populated LUSA ontology can be exported to a database or a knowledge base or can be saved as an XML file. The ontology or the knowledge base can be semantically queried or be used to perform automatic reasoning. The output from LUSA OBIE is applied here to help produce a land use suitability map for the City of Regina, Saskatchewan to assist in the identification of suitable areas for residential development. The resulting maps can be input for simulation models, such as cellular automata (e.g., for the prediction of urban growth), or can be used in a decision-making process; e.g., to assess an application for a residential subdivision. A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science, University of Regina. xv, 161 p. 2014-12-01T00:00:00Z As Iron Sharpens Iron: Understanding Competitive Processes in Elite Sport Teams As Iron Sharpens Iron: Understanding Competitive Processes in Elite Sport Teams Harenberg, Sebastian The purpose of this thesis was the exploration, definition, conceptualization, and measurement of competition within elite sport teams (i.e., intrateam competition) by using an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design (Creswell, 2006). In Study 1, intrateam competition from coaches’ perspectives was examined. It revealed two distinct competitive processes: situational competition and positional competition. Situational competitions are planned competitive situations that occur during practice (e.g., scrimmages). Positional competition is the vying for the same limited playing time by teammates in the same position. The latter was examined further. In Study 2, athletes’ perspectives of positional competition were explored. The results showed that positional competition is an ongoing group process with inputs, processes, and outcomes. Next, a definition and conceptual model of positional competition was proposed. This model built on the qualitative findings from Study 1 and 2 as well as relevant literature. In Study 3, a questionnaire to measure the processes of positional competition was developed. The development of the scale included four phases. In phase one, an initial pool of 108 items and 13 dimensions were generated and administered to an expert panel. This resulted in generating 19 additional items. In the second phase, the items were administered to a sample of undergraduate students (N = 221). The number of items was reduced using statistical procedures (e.g., item-to-total correlations). The resulting version included 58 items and nine dimensions. In the third phase, the questionnaire was administered to a sample of 812 CIS/NCAA athletes. The scale was reduced in items and refined using confirmatory factor analyses. In the last phase, the reliability and validity of the resulting 25 items measuring positional competition on seven dimensions was examined. Overall, the scale showed satisfactory reliability, factorial validity, and initial evidence of construct validity. In conclusion, this thesis uncovered two different competitive processes within elite sport teams (i.e., situational and positional competition). It focused on the definition, conceptualization, and measurement of positional competition, which is a unique process in elite sport teams. Future research is encouraged to examine the relationship between positional competition and other group processes (e.g., cohesion, performance). A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Kinesiology and Health Studies, University of Regina. x, 222 p. 2014-08-01T00:00:00Z Investigating the Prevalence and Persistence of Different Escherichia Coli Genotypes in an Agriculturally Influenced Aquatic Ecosystem Investigating the Prevalence and Persistence of Different Escherichia Coli Genotypes in an Agriculturally Influenced Aquatic Ecosystem Afroj, Shirin In several regions of Canada, including Saskatchewan, surface water such as streams and rivers are utilized as primary sources of irrigation water for fresh produce. Surface water can be exposed to faecal pollution from various sources such as storm water runoff, failing septic systems, and agricultural waste runoff. The use of faecally contaminated water in irrigating fresh produce may lead to food-borne outbreaks when enteric pathogens are present in the faeces. The ability to predict the presence of faecalderived pathogens is therefore important in assessing the human health risks associated with the use of open source irrigation water. Escherichia coli has long been used as an indicator of recent faecal pollution and pathogen presence. However, the long term survival and possible growth of E. coli in the environment suggests it may have limitations as a faecal indicator bacteria (FIB). To date, the mechanisms underlying the persistence of E. coli in the environment are not well understood. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate its limitations as a faecal indicator bacteria including its prevalence, and a possible mechanism of persistence in the environment and compare its suitability as an indicator bacteria with the recently proposed indicator Bacteroidales in relation to enteric pathogens. Laboratory-based microcosms were designed to study the persistence of E. coli and identify the biofilm candidates in wastewater influent spiked with pig and cow manure. Microcosm experiments identified B1 as a dominant genotype along with subgenotype A0. Biofilm formation was recognized as a possible mechanism of E. coli persistence in the environment. DNA fingerprinting analysis of the two dominant genotypes and their subsequent biofilm formation tests demonstrated that the strains capable of producing substantial biofilms are genetically more diverse. A subsequent field study was carried out at sampling sites along the Qu’Appelle River and Wascana Creek, which are two key sources of irrigation water for several vegetable producers in Southern Saskatchewan. High levels of E. coli that exceed the recommended limit for irrigation water (≥ 100 MPN per 100 mL) in Canada have been frequently detected near three irrigation water pumping sites. A sudden increase in E. coli counts in all three sites was observed preceding storm and rainfall events. Phylogenetic analysis of E. coli genotypes over two irrigation seasons also identified B1 as the prevalent genotype regardless of sampling sites and season. A significant association of E. coli genotypes with their sites of isolation was also observed. The enteric pathogens Salmonella and Campylobacter were also detected in irrigation water but their presence does not correlate with the levels of E. coli. The decreasing concentrations of E. coli in a binary logistic regression was found to have significant predictive value for samples that were positive for the pathogens analysed. These findings highlight that exclusive use of E. coli concentrations is not an adequate method to predict pathogen presence. The use of host-associated Bacteroidales markers as alternative faecal indicators and their association with E. coli was also investigated. There was a significant positive correlation observed between the increasing concentrations of ruminant specific Bacteroidales marker (BacR) and the presence of Campylobacter spp. in the samples analyzed. A significant correlation between the BacR marker to E. coli subgenotypes B23 and D1 was observed, which indicates that these genotypes may be associated with ruminant faecal contamination. A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Biology, University of Regina. xx, 166 p. 2014-04-01T00:00:00Z Mechanisms of Oil Recovery During Cyclic CO2 Injection process: Impact of Fluid Interactions, operating parameters, and Porous Medium Mechanisms of Oil Recovery During Cyclic CO2 Injection process: Impact of Fluid Interactions, operating parameters, and Porous Medium Abedini, Ali Carbon dioxide (CO2) injection processes are among the most promising enhanced oil recovery techniques based on their great potential to improve oil production while utilizing geological storage of carbon dioxide to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Among various CO2 injection modes, cyclic CO2 injection (CO2 huff-and-puff) scenarios have seen significant increase in interest for the purpose of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in both non-fractured and fractured reservoirs. Several operating parameters, including operating pressure, solvent (CO2) injection time, soaking period, water saturation, etc., affect the performance of this process. However, the number of studies that consider these parameters is relatively limited. In this study, the performance of cyclic CO2 injection under various operating conditions for a light crude oil system is experimentally investigated. First, a comprehensive experimental study on the phase behaviour of the crude oil–CO2 system was conducted. Thereafter, a series of cyclic CO2 injection tests was designed and carried out in non-fractured and fractured porous media to determine the impact of various parameters on the recovery efficiency of this process. For the cyclic CO2 injection tests conducted at operating pressures ranging from immiscible to near-miscible conditions, it was found that the oil recovery increases considerably with operating pressures and reaches near maximum value at miscible condition. However, beyond this range, where the operating pressure exceeds the minimum miscibility pressure, the oil recovery factor was almost constant and further increase in operating pressure did not improve the oil recovery effectively. In addition, although it was seen that a longer soaking period and the presence of connate water saturation are positive parameters that enhance the recovery performance of immiscible cyclic CO2 injections, these parameters do not have noticeable influence in miscible injection scenarios. Furthermore, the results showed that longer CO2 injection time does not enhance the oil recovery. Additionally, it was observed that the cyclic CO2 injection process has a great capacity for CO2 storage, and it was found that the CO2 storage potential is more efficient if the cyclic injection process is implemented at pressures near the minimum miscibility pressure. The asphaltene precipitation inside the rock sample and its subsequent permeability reduction due to the CO2 injection were examined. The amount of the precipitated asphaltene in the porous media is considerably higher during miscible injection scenarios resulting in drastic reduction of the oil effective permeability. The compositional analysis of the remaining crude oil in the core also demonstrated that the mechanism of light component extraction by CO2 is much stronger during miscible cyclic CO2 injection compared to immiscible injection. The effect of fractures in the porous media on the oil recovery of cyclic CO2 injection was investigated, and the results showed that the presence of fracture significantly improves the oil recovery during the process. The impact of fracture was found to be more effective during immiscible cyclic CO2 injection. In addition, the examination of fracture orientation showed that horizontal fracturing remarkably enhances the oil production, while no noticeable increase in oil production was observed when the orientation of fracture was vertical. The numerical simulation of the process also revealed that the oil recovery of cyclic CO2 injection gives larger benefits from greater fracture width together with the presence of more fractures inside the system through enlarging the contact area between the CO2 and oil in-place. A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Petroleum Systems Engineering, University of Regina. xxvi, 228 p. 2014-07-01T00:00:00Z