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Recent Submissions

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    The Affective Architecture of Touch: Childhood Maltreatment, Emotional Avoidance, and Physical Intimacy in Adult Romantic Relationships
    (University of Waterloo, 2026-08-11) Egodage, Kethmi
    Childhood maltreatment (CM) is associated with significant difficulties in adult romantic relationships, yet the mechanisms through which early adversity shapes physical intimacy remain poorly understood. Physical touch, a fundamental vehicle for connection, safety, and relational maintenance, has received little empirical attention in this context. Moreover, the existing research has focused almost exclusively on sexual outcomes in childhood sexual abuse survivors, neglecting nonsexual touch and the role of positive emotional avoidance as a distinct regulatory pathway. This thesis presents a two-study program of research investigating the associations between CM severity, emotional avoidance, and physical touch capacity in adult romantic relationships. Study 1 provided proof-of-concept evidence that CM severity is associated with heightened physical touch anxiety, and that this association is partially explained by the avoidance of positive emotions — uniquely and above and beyond the avoidance of negative emotions. Study 2 extended this framework using structural equation modeling in an independent community sample, operationalizing sexual and nonsexual touch capacity and both forms of emotional avoidance as distinct latent constructs. Results revealed that CM severity was significantly associated with reduced sexual and nonsexual touch capacity through a theoretically novel cross-over pattern: negative emotional avoidance more strongly predicted sexual touch capacity, while positive emotional avoidance more strongly predicted nonsexual touch capacity. Both indirect pathways contributed comparably to nonsexual touch, and significant direct effects of CM persisted above and beyond emotional avoidance, suggesting additional mechanisms warrant investigation. Together, these findings advance the theoretical understanding of how CM disrupts physical intimacy through valence-specific and domain-specific affective mechanisms, with implications for trauma-informed assessment and intervention targeting both the reduction of threat-based responding and the cultivation of positive emotional openness in intimate relationships.
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    A Reduced-Order Modeling Approach to Shape Optimization Via Time-Dependent Bases
    (University of Waterloo, 2026-08-11) Vieno, Adam
    Partial differential equation (PDE)-constrained optimization plays a central role in engineering applications such as fluid flow control, thermal analysis, and aerodynamic shape optimization. However, its practical use is limited by the need to repeatedly evaluate high-fidelity full-order models (FOMs), which involves solving large-scale nonlinear PDE systems that can become computationally prohibitive, especially in high-dimensional design spaces. Reduced-order modeling (ROM) techniques mitigate this cost by constructing low-dimensional surrogates of the FOM. However, traditional static approaches often require extensive pre-processing and can struggle to adapt to dynamic nonlinear changes within the design space. To address these challenges, we employ the time-dependent basis-CUR (TDB-CUR) framework, which constructs reduced bases dynamically using a time-discrete variational principle. This approach yields a low-rank approximation that remains well-conditioned while naturally adapting to evolving nonlinear solution structures, without relying on a fixed global basis. Hence, the main contribution of this work is the integration of the TDB-CUR algorithm within a surrogate-inspired shape optimization framework that progressively refines the design space. We propose an iterative strategy that shrinks the design domain toward promising configurations while maintaining a low, static rank during ROM evaluations. This enables improved local approximation quality near the optimum without increasing the reduced dimension. We further introduce heuristics for adaptive rank selection and shrink factor control to balance accuracy and computational cost. The approach is tested on shape optimization problems governed by the quasi-one-dimensional compressible Euler equations. Numerical experiments with up to ten design variables show that the proposed framework accurately reconstructs the target solutions while substantially reducing computational cost relative to the FOM. Overall, the proposed method represents a promising first step toward more efficient PDE-constrained shape optimization through the integration of dynamic low-rank modeling and iterative design space refinement.
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    Shaping Light: Light Modulation Using 3D-Printed PETG
    (University of Waterloo, 2026-08-11) Bunina, Ulyana
    This thesis investigates how parametrically designed, 3D-printed Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol (PETG) surfaces can be used to modulate light in controlled ways. The research examines how material translucency and surface geometry influence lighting effects such as subsurface and layered scattering, directional reflection, and perceptual variability. A computational methodology generates sculptural reliefs and textures in digital models, after which fused deposition modeling is used to study PETG’s plastic deformation during printing. Most 3D printing applications are framed as end-stage production methods, valued for their precision in translating between digital models to physical outputs. However, these approaches do not consider the material’s unique qualities that could be observed beyond strict slicer software parameters. While much of the research has focused on 3D printed ceramics and clay, studies on plastic printing beyond slicer constraints remain limited, leaving PETG’s material behaviour during printing under-explored. This research frames material behaviour as central to the design process, treating it not as a limitation but as a design driver. In this study, print layers are intentionally revealed, while textures with irregularities are investigated for their potential to produce a wide range of optical effects. Through an iterative process, a series of light-modulating screens are fabricated, and their optical qualities are systematically studied. Findings from the study are applied to produce full-scale light fixture prototypes with varying lighting effects that promote user engagement through tactility or adjustability. Luminaires are developed as both adjustable and static systems, enabling the study of controlled and fixed light behaviours. The work positions these material-driven and light-responsive systems as a framework for integrating perceptually dynamic, user-engaging lighting into architectural assemblies and everyday spatial use.
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    Reachable subwebs for traversal-based query execution
    (University of Waterloo, 2014-02-04) Hartig, Olaf; Ozsu, M. Tamer
    Traversal-based approaches to execute queries over data on the Web have recently been studied. These approaches make use of up-to-date data from initially unknown data sources and, thus, enable applications to tap the full potential of the Web. While existing work focuses primarily on implementation techniques, a principled analysis of subwebs that are reachable by such approaches is missing. Such an analysis may help to gain new insight into the problem of optimizing the response time of traversal-based query engines. Furthermore, a better understanding of characteristics of such subwebs may also inform approaches to benchmark these engines. This report provides such an analysis. In particular, we identify typical graph-based properties of query-specific reachable subwebs and quantify their diversity. Furthermore, we investigate whether vertex scoring methods (e.g., PageRank) are able to predict query-relevance of data sources when applied to such subwebs.
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    Perspectives on open data: Issues and opportunities
    (University of Waterloo, 2014-01-27) Cowan, Donald; Alencdar, Paulo; McGarry, Fred
    Open data like big data has become an important new direction in information technology. Governments are releasing data so as to be more transparent and also claiming that open data has substantial economic value. However, there appear to be many issues about open data that are not being discussed. This paper uses several practical examples in an attempt to illustrate many of these issues and allied opportunities, and through them to suggest a partial research agenda around open data.