UVicSpace | Institutional Repository
UVicSpace is the University of Victoria’s open access scholarship and learning repository. It preserves and provides access to the digital scholarly works of UVic faculty, students, staff, and partners. Items in UVicSpace are organized into collections, each belonging to a community.
For more information about depositing items, see the Submission Guidelines.
Recent Submissions
Validation of a genetic-algorithm-optimized coplanar stripline filter using HFSS and ABCD matrix modeling
(2026) Asadi Shad, Tannaz; Smith, Levi
This work presents a hybrid design framework for terahertz (THz) filters that integrates genetic algorithm (GA) optimization with ABCD matrix modeling and full-wave validation using HFSS. The proposed approach enables efficient inverse design by combining fast circuit-level analysis with electromagnetic accuracy.
The developed framework, based on the work of Ali Dehghanian (2025) [32], employs a GA to explore a binary design space representing metallic and dielectric pixel distributions. Each candidate geometry is evaluated using an analytical ABCD model, enabling rapid calculation of S-parameters during optimization. The final geometry is then validated through finite-element simulation in HFSS to ensure physical accuracy. Two filter types were designed and evaluated: a low-pass filter (LPF) and a band-stop filter (BSF), with performance analyzed across frequencies ranging from 0.25 THz to 2.0 THz. For the LPF, the results show that at lower frequencies (0.25 THz), the design achieved strong attenuation (–10.2 dB) but required higher structural complexity and slower convergence. As the frequency increased, the optimization became more stable and efficient, with consistent convergence behavior and improved transmission characteristics. At higher frequencies (1.5–2.0 THz), the LPF demonstrated faster convergence, reduced structural complexity (as low as 12 rows), and stable performance with fitness values around –6.3 dB.
For the BSF, a similar trend was observed. Lower frequencies exhibited wider stopbands but slower convergence, while mid-range frequencies (0.75–1.0 THz) showed improved stability and faster convergence. At higher frequencies, the BSF achieved stronger notch characteristics and more efficient optimization, with the best performance observed at 2.0 THz (–4.844 dB), along with smooth convergence and reduced parameter sensitivity.
Across both filter types, the results indicate that increasing frequency leads to improved optimization efficiency, reduced structural requirements, and more stable convergence behavior. A comparison between ABCD-based analytical results and HFSS simulations shows strong agreement in both magnitude and phase responses, validating the accuracy and reliability of the proposed GA–ABCD–HFSS framework.
Overall, the proposed methodology provides a fast, consistent, and physically reliable approach for designing high-performance THz filters.
Scaling the growth and characterization of perovskite single crystals for X-ray detection
(2026) Sandor, Nicholas; Saidaminov, Makhsud
Metal halide perovskite semiconductors are promising materials for direct-conversion radiation detection. However, their development faces challenges in growing sufficiently large crystals and rapidly characterizing detector arrays. Prior approaches to growth of large crystals have focused on chemical methods of controlling growth rates and nucleation, and most readout methods employ expensive integrated circuits with limited flexibility. A computer vision system was developed to track the growth of single crystals, providing insights into methods of growing large crystals and eliminating nucleation. Further, a readout system based on a precision switching topology was developed to allow for low cost, flexible evaluation of detectors. These two systems address key problems impeding the research of perovskite radiation detectors in the intermediate stage, allowing for improved growth processes and rapid evaluation of integrated detectors.
Searching the ḥaḥuułi: A site inventory of čaačaac̓iiʕas, on behalf of huuʕiiʔatḥ
(2026) Bailey, Hannah Lauren; Happynook, Tommy; McLaren, Duncan Stewart
čaačaac̓iiʕas (Carnation Creek) is located on the eastern shore of Barkley Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, within huuʕiiʔatḥ (Huu-ay-aht) ḥaḥuułi (house/territory). čaačaac̓iiʕas is a watershed, and the site of an ongoing ecological experiment (Carnation Creek Watershed Experiment). Indigenous knowledge and ethnographic accounts reference human occupation in čaačaac̓iiʕas prior to European contact. I was invited to conduct an archaeological survey in čaačaac̓iiʕas by Dr. Tommy Happynook and the huuʕiiʔatḥ ḥaw̓iiḥ council (Hereditary Leaders council). This project builds on Dr. Happynook’s anthropological studies of the ḥaḥuułi and provides archaeological insight into past human land use and occupation at čaačaac̓iiʕas. Indigenous and archaeological research methodologies were employed to identify, record, and analyze one cultural shell deposit, one fish weir, two CMTs, two petroforms, one naturally occurring shell bearing matrix, a potential historic longhouse deposit, and several gardens. Archaeological evidence stands to add to current understandings of human activity in the area while also providing a historical record for čaačaac̓iiʕasʔatḥ and huuʕiiʔatḥ.
Contaminated sites on reserve: Federal law, policy and the transition to First Nations Land Management
(2026) James, Meredith; Curran, Deborah
In this thesis I undertake a comprehensive review of federal contaminated sites policy to examine the role of federal institutions in shaping the design and implementation of that policy on reserve. I adopt a historical institutional approach, beginning at the emergence of federal contaminated sites policy in the late 1980s and tracing its evolution to the present. I argue that the federal approach to contaminated sites is the product of a policy paradigm oriented around the federal government’s role as a “prudent landowner”. I also examine the interaction of federal contaminated sites policy with the Framework Agreement on First Nation Land Management. I argue that implementation of the environmental provisions of the Framework Agreement has been layered onto the existing federal contaminated sites regime. This has created misalignments that limit the scope of environmental self-government, particularly where First Nations’ expectations that contaminated sites will be remediated before the federal government transfers governance authority are not met. I explore how First Nations may use environmental law-making powers under the Framework Agreement to respond to these constraints. I propose that environmental laws enacted by First Nations offer a pathway to address some environmental harms and also contest the ideas embedded in the prudent landowner paradigm.
Investigation of teacher leadership in the context of a rural school district
(2026) Willows, Jessica; McGregror, Catherine
Teacher leadership has emerged as a dynamic force in educational change, increasingly recognized for its potential to enhance school improvement, build professional capacity, and foster more responsive learning environments (Harris & Jones, 2019; Muijs & Harris, 2006; Nguyan et al., 2020; York-Barr & Duke, 2004). However, much of the literature on teacher leadership has been shaped by urban and suburban perspectives, often overlooking the distinct conditions found within rural educational contexts. This study builds on the work of Anderson (2008) and Cherkowski and Schnellert (2017), who identified rural spaces as promising environments for teacher leadership to thrive. Using constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2017) to guide the study design and data analysis, the theory responding organically, emerged from analysis of data gathered from open-ended interviews with 17 educators in a rural school district in British Columbia. The findings highlight the nature of teacher leadership and addresses challenges associated with the role of rural teacher leader: isolation, community closeness, and resource scarcity, with leadership emerging as a creative, student-centred response to these challenges. The educator responses illuminate how teacher leadership is uniquely responsive, generative and collaborative, and shaped profoundly by the rural context. The resulting theory extends understandings of teacher leadership in rural spaces by providing contextual details and descriptions of the dynamic rural environment, an explication of the processes utilized by rural teacher leadership and an illustration of the nature of this form of leadership.