Faculty and Staff Research

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Settings and functions related to simultaneous use of alcohol with marijuana or cocaine in substance use treatment clients
(Taylor & Francis, 2008) Pakula, Basia; Macdonald, Scott; Stockwell, Tim
Objectives: The paper identifies the central theoretical components for developing a typology of alcohol use with other substances. The settings and functions related to the simultaneous use of alcohol with marijuana or cocaine are examined using a dataset from a study of treatment clients in Ontario, Canada. Methods: Treatment clients who reported using marijuana (n=499) or cocaine (n=375) in the past year completed a self-administered questionnaire on substance use. Findings: Simultaneous use is very common among treatment clients, with differences in the settings and functions associated with alcohol use in combination with cocaine or marijuana, and by various socio-demographic characteristics.
Health-promoting physical activity of adults with developmental diabilities
(John Wiley & Sons, 2006) Stanish, Heidi I.; Temple, Viviene A.; Frey, Georgia C.
The aim of this paper is to describe what is known about the engagement of adults with mental retardation in physical activity behavior consistent with the U.S. Surgeon General’s recommendation of 30-minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on 5 or more days per week. The proportion of participants achieving this criterion ranges from 17.5% to 33%. These data are likely to be generous estimates of activity as individuals included in physical activity studies to date have been relatively young and healthy volunteers with mild to moderate limitations. Major sources of physical activity were walking and cycling for transport, chores and work, dancing, and Special Olympics. There is a pressing need to conduct studies using appropriately powered representative samples and to validate measures which assess physical activity less directly; including methodologies where proxy respondents are used. Accurate information about existing patterns of behavior will enhance the development of effective strategies to promote physical activity among persons with mental retardation.
Design of grasping interface for microgrippers and micro-parts used in the microassembly of MEMS
(Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2005-06) Dechev, Nikolai; Cleghorn, William L.; Mills, James K.
This paper presents guidelines for designing the grasping interface between passive, surface micromachined microgrippers and micro-parts used for a microassembly system. The microassembly system is based on a robotic workstation, to which a microgripper is bonded. The workstation is capable of sequentially assembling surface micromachined micro-parts into 3D microstructures. The microgrippers and micro-parts are designed in such a way, that they each have corresponding geometrical features, which allow them to interface with each other. Previously, this work demonstrated the use of a standardized microgripper tip, and the corresponding micro-part interface feature. However, there are situations when the standardized interface feature may be undesirable for a particular micro-part, or may interfere with the performance of a microstructure. Therefore, a set of new design guidelines are presented to modularize the design of the microgrippers tips and the corresponding micro-part interface features. By using the modular design, microgrippers can be tailored to grasp specific types of micro-parts, without the need for a standardized interface feature. An example of the new modular system is provided.
Microassembly of 3-D microstructures using a compliant, passive microgripper
(Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2004-04) Dechev, Nikolai; Cleghorn, William L.; Mills, James K.
This paper describes a novel microassembly system that can be used to construct out-of-plane three-dimensional (3-D) microstructures. The system makes use of a surface-micromachined microgripper that is solder bonded to a robotic manipulator. The microgripper is able to grasp a micropart, remove it from the chip, reorient it about two independent axes, translate it along the x, y and z axes to a secondary location, and join it to another micropart. In this way, out-of-plane 3-D microstructures can be assembled from a set of initially planar and parallel surface micromachined microparts. The microgripper is 380 x 410 um in size. It utilizes three geometric features for operation: 1) compliant beams to allow for deflection at the grasping tips; 2) self-tightening geometry during grasping; and 3) 3-D interlocking geometry to secure a micropart after the grasp. Each micropart has three geometric features built into its body. The first is the interlock interface feature that allows it to be grasped by the microgripper. The second is a tether feature that secures the micropart to the substrate, and breaks away after the microgripper has grasped the micropart. The third is the snap-lock feature, which is used to join the micropart to other microparts.
Development of a 6 degree of freedom robotic micromanipulator for use in 3D MEMS microassembly
(Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2006-05) Dechev, Nikolai; Ren, Lu; Liu, William; Cleghorn, William L.; Mills, James K.
This paper describes the design and development of a 6 degree of freedom robotic manipulator used in the assembly of three-dimensional MEMS (micro electromechanical systems) microstructures. The robot employs a highly innovative mechanical design for the rotational axes to provide unprecedented access to a microchip substrate for microassembly operations. The first three axes of the robotic manipulator are orthogonally mounted linear stages providing Cartesian positioning of the chips beneath the end effector (microgripper). A rotational stage (alpha) mounted on the distal end of these three Cartesian axes allows the MEMS chip to be rotated. Two more degrees of freedom (beta and gamma) are serially mounted to the base frame, allowing for two degrees of rotation of the end effector. This configuration permits assembly of micro-parts on the surface of a MEMS chip at any orientation angle to the surface, within the limits of the workspace of the manipulator and the resolution of the motors. The end effector employs a standard tungsten probe with a passive microgripper bonded to it, which is used for grasping micro-parts. A software system has been developed to allow automatic operation of the manipulator. Preliminary assembly tests confirm the usefulness of the proposed design.
Criteria for evaluating internet resources
(Learning and Teaching Centre, U of Victoria, 2004-09) Kehoe, Inba
The wonderful thing about the internet is that anyone can publish on the web; but, total access facilitation does not make everyone an expert! Unlike books and journals that the library purchases, web resources rarely have editors or fact checkers. Understandably, due to the all inclusiveness of the web there are a plethora of fraudulent websites available and the quality of information and data varying greatly. Generally speaking, there are no web standards to ensure accuracy of information and data, but the following set of questions, when applied by students to a website, will help them to make a critical evaluation about the validity and appropriateness of internet resources.
Support for citation of original sources
(LTC Currents, 2004-09) Kehoe, Inba
Library research skills: A study of first-year undergraduates at the University of Victoria
(University of Victoria Libraries, 2006-06) Kehoe, Inba; Nelson, Katy; Suzuki, Tad; Blair, William; Ma, Ophelia
We live in a world where there is an abundance of information, available in various formats (e.g. print, electronic, spatial, sound, etc.), easily accessible, the quality, accuracy and currency of which often seeming indeterminate. Computer technologies have certainly made retrieval of information easier and faster on the one hand, but on the other, it has made the evaluation process more problematic. Anthony Comper, president of the Bank of Montreal, in his address to the 1999 graduating class at the University of Toronto, said that in today’s knowledge industries we need “people who know how to absorb and analyze and integrate and create and effectively convey information – and who know how to use information to bring real value to everything they undertake” (Anonymous, Jun 14, 1999).
Author rights in a digital world
(2007-06) Kehoe, Inba; Colenbrander, Hilde
Presentation from June 2007 BC Research Libraries Group workshop on Scholarly Communication.
Evolving landscape of scholarly communications in BC: University of Victoria
(2008-04) Kehoe, Inba
The evolving landscape of scholarly communications in British Columbia was explored from the perspectives of academic librarians and faculty. Members of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries are building and filling institutional repositories so that their faculty can make their own work open access, something that funding agencies are increasingly expecting. The University of Victoria Library's Inba Kehoe discussed copyright issues, of critical importance to the institutional repository, and to faculty seeking to deposit articles in a manner consistent with funding agency open access policy mandates.
Setting up a Media Commons at UVic Libraries
(Kehoe, Inba and Graham, Carlie. (2008). Setting up a Media Commons at UVic Libraries. Delivered at ABC Copyright Conference 2008. Victoria, B.C. (Canada). Presentation., 2008-05-27) Kehoe, Inba; Graham, Carlie
In this session you will learn about the philosophy and service model behind the University of Victoria’s new Media Commons. You will hear about the process we took in deciding on our choice of equipment, the copyright issues as it relates to the service model and on future plans for educating the academic community. This project investigation and design began a year ago – official opening of Media Commons May 2008.
Postcard From the Edge (of Empire)
(Sage, 2008) Adjin-Tettey, Elizabeth; Calder, Gillian; Cameron, Angela; Deckha, Maneesha; Johnson, Rebecca; Lessard, Hester; Maloney, Maureen; Young, Margot
This article in scrapbook form represents the endeavour of the eight authors to document a recent, collective, academic journey. The project was one embarked upon as a means to explore tensions between the ideas of embodiment that connected our work, and the rigidities of academic convention. Using various media, this article strives, in substance and form, to provoke, challenge and confront its audience into dialogue, while simultaneously asking questions about the limits of our own legal imaginations.
The legal concept of employment: marginalizing workers
(Law Commission of Canada, 2002-10) Fudge, Judy; Tucker, Eric; Vosko, Leah
Control over working time and work-Life balance: a detailed analysis of the Canada Labour Code Part III
(Federal Labour Standards Review Commission, 2006-02) Fudge, Judy
International corporate structures and the new protocol to the Canada-US Income Tax Convention
(The Advocate, 1996-01) O'Brien, Martha
The Canada-US Tax Convention contains limitation of benefits rules which, following the ratification of the 2007 Protocol, will apply to limit the application of the Convention to residents of the US and well as of Canada. This article analyzes the effects of the limitation on benefits rules contained in the third protocol of 1995, in relation to benefits available to Canadian residents.
Free movement of capital, taxation and third countries: The European Court of Justice and cross-border dividends
(2008-07-10T22:58:29Z) O'Brien, Martha
A unique aspect of free movement of capital, one of the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Treaty establishing the European Community, is that it applies not only within the European Union, but also to movements of capital between EU member states and non-EU (or third) countries. The legal and practical significance of this global extension of the EU legal regime is still unclear but recent and pending cases before the Court of Justice of the European Communities (“ECJ”) are now beginning to define its principles and limits. The potential impact is most clearly discernible in the field of direct taxation, where numerous infringement actions by the Commission and requests for preliminary rulings in taxpayer initiated cases are now being litigated. This article examines the cases on dividend taxation in the Court’s intra-EU case law, and seeks to assess how these issues will be resolved in the third country cases now reaching the ECJ.
Joint adaptive modulation and diversity combining with feedback error compensation
(2008-08-08T19:54:17Z) Choi, Seyeong; Yang, Hong-Chuan; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim; Qaraqe, Khalid A.
This report investigates the effect of feedback error on the performance of the joint adaptive modulation and diversity combining (AMDC) scheme which was previously studied with an assumption of error-free feedback channels. We also propose to utilize adaptive diversity to compensate for the performance degradation due to feedback error. We accurately quantify the performance of the joint AMDC scheme in the presence of feedback error, in terms of the average number of combined paths, the average spectral efficiency, and the average bit error rate. Selected numerical examples are presented and discussed to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed feedback error compensation strategy with adaptive combining. It is observed that the proposed compensation strategy can offer considerable error performance improvement with little loss in processing power and spectral efficiency in comparison with the no compensation case.
Preprint: Phenyl boronic acid complexes of diols and hydroxyacids.
(2008-09-05T16:26:31Z) Bromba, Caleb; Carrie, Philippa; Chui, Jonathan; Fyles, Thomas M.
Cumulative formation constants for the interaction of phenylboronic acids with 1,2-diols and structurally related alpha-hydroxy carboxylic acids were determined by potentiometric titration in aqueous solution. Although there is a significant electronic effect on the acidity of phenylboronic acid (ρ = 2.1), there is no marked electronic effect on the stability of the complexes. Rather, the complexes are significantly destabilized by adjacent anionic groups, by steric interactions across the face of the cyclic boronate ester, and by angle strain within the boronate ester ring. Binding that is nearly independent of pH is observed for some favorably constituted alpha-hydroxy acid complexes as a result of the relatively high acidity of the acids, which in turn allows tetrahedral boronate complexes to persist in acidic solution (pH < 3).
Supplemental material to accompany "Phenyl boronic acid complexes of diols and hydroxyacids"
(2008-09-05T16:28:44Z) Bromba, Caleb; Carrie, Philippa; Chui, Jonathan; Fyles, Thomas M.
This file contains archival data used to calculate the cumulative formation constants reported in the manuscript of the same title. The manuscript has been submitted for publication in Supramolecular Chemistry and a preprint has deposited.
Music genre classification of audio signals
(IEEE, 2002-07) Tzanetakis, George; Perry, Cook
Musical genres are categorical labels created by humans to characterize pieces of music. A musical genre is characterized by the common characteristics shared by its members. These characteristics typically are related to the instrumentation, rhythmic structure, and harmonic content of the music. Genre hierarchies are commonly used to structure the large collections of music available on the Web. Currently musical genre annotation is performed manually. Automatic musical genre classification can assist or replace the human user in this process and would be a valuable addition to music information retrieval systems. In addition, automatic musical genre classification provides a framework for developing and evaluating features for any type of content-based analysis of musical signals. In this paper, the automatic classification of audio signals into an hierarchy of musical genres is explored. More specifically, three feature sets for representing timbral texture, rhythmic content and pitch content are proposed. The performance and relative importance of the proposed features is investigated by training statistical pattern recognition classifiers using real-world audio collections. Both whole file and real-time frame-based classification schemes are described. Using the proposed feature sets, classification of 61% for ten musical genres is achieved. This result is comparable to results reported for human musical genre classification.

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