19614 research outputs found
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Cariboo Plateau Alkaline Lakes and Mineralogy
No full textThe Cariboo Plateau hosts many alkaline evaporative lakes with highly diverse microbiomes. These environments are known to form carbonates along the lake shore and on the microbial mats that cover much of the surface. Importantly, these lakes hold vast amounts of carbon, typically 1000x greater than that of the ocean, along with being home to uncommon carbonates such as magnesite and dolomite. We aimed to investigate the water and carbonate chemistry of soda lakes in the Cariboo Plateau, BC, with a focus on how alkaliphiles may mediate carbonate precipitation and carbon capture. We took surface water, pore water, and microbial mat samples, and analysed them with ion chromatography and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. We compared light and electron imagery of microbe samples to better understand individual and colonial morphologies and what metabolisms are present and dominate in these lakes. We demonstrated that alkaline lake microbes play a role in uncommon carbonate precipitation and carbon capture. A better understanding of these these processes could be used to explain extraterrestrial microbe-mediated carbonates and more efficient anthropogenic carbon capture.Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Awards (JCURA)UndergraduateReviewe
Bi-concave functions connected with the combination of the binomial series and the confluent hypergeometric function
No full textIn this article, we first define and then propose to systematically study some new subclasses of the class of analytic and bi-concave functions in the open unit disk. For this purpose, we make use of a combination of the binomial series and the confluent hypergeometric function. Among some other properties and results, we derive the estimates on the initial Taylor-Maclaurin coefficients |a2| and |a3| for functions in these analytic and bi-concave function classes, which are introduced in this paper. We also derive a number of corollaries and consequences of our main results in this paper.FacultyReviewe
Comparison of optical trapping between gold and silver nanostructures
No full textThis thesis explores the optical trapping capabilities of silver (Ag) and gold (Au) nanostructures. Double nanohole (DNH) apertures with a gap size of ≈ 32 nm were fabricated in each nanostructure to trap 20 nm polystyrene (PS) nanospheres. The surfaces of each metal were either modified using an aqueous solution of 5 mM monodisperse thiol polyethylene glycol (mPEG) (the “experiment” group), or immersed in deionized (DI) water only (the “control” group). A solution containing the PS nanospheres was then transferred and confined to a chamber spacer attached to the modified surface (for the “experiment” group) or the unmodified surface (for the “control” group). To evaluate the trapping performance of each group, the trapped data was acquired as a function of time. The power spectrum density (PSD) of the trapping signal was analyzed using the Brownian motion theory of trapped beads, and the data was fitted with a Lorentzian function to extract the corner frequency and time constant. The trap stiffness (force constant) of the optical trap was also determined.
The results indicated that increasing the trapping power led to higher trap stiffness for silver DNHs compared to gold in the DI water environment, suggesting a stronger force holding the nanoparticles in the trap. The surrounding medium significantly impacted the trapping performance, with the mPEG-thiol monolayer reducing the trap stiffness for both silver and gold DNHs. Additionally, a linear dependence of trap stiffness and time constant on laser power was observed, confirming that increasing power enhances trapping strength and reduces the time for the nanoparticle to fall into the trap. This research provides nuanced insights into the comparative effectiveness of silver and gold nanostructures in optical trapping and demonstrates the influence of the surrounding medium on trapping performance. These results provide pathways for future advancements in aperture-based trapping.Graduat
Occluded Stories: Thematic Examination of Queerphobia in the Biographic Reception of Fryderyk Chopin and George Sand
No full textOne form of marginalization that queer people face today is how the erasure and distortion of our cultural histories by a cis-heteronormative society contributes to us feeling alienated from our past and lacking connection to our own queer dead. With current global surges in trans- and homophobic violence that often frames queerness as illegitimate, a fad, or an invasive import, now is a pivotal time to locate and dismantle systemic barriers that keep queer history out of the hands of the living community. Using Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA) and pieces of Narrative Inquiry, this thesis reviews English-speaking biographical and scholarly sources spanning over 170 years about the lives of two queer historical figures from the 19th century - Polish composer Fryderyk Chopin and their partner French author George Sand - and uncovers themes of latent queerphobia across the literature. Informed by theoretical approaches such as the Death Positivity movement and Judith Herman’s concept of the ‘witness’ in the role of trauma healing, this work highlights how undoing this erasure can be both resistive and affirming - but also, potentially, a means of ameliorating systemic trauma. Ultimately, the research demonstrates a thread of discursive delegitimization within the stories we tell about the queer dead that obscures queer possibility from view, negatively impacts the well-being of living queer communities, and is indicative of systemic efforts to regulate queer narratives and in doing so, sanction violence. As a result of this research, I call on scholars to begin to acknowledge how the legitimizing force of academia has been partially complicit in reifying these themes and disseminating them into our broader culture; for counsellors and CYFC practitioners to learn about the cultural histories of their queer clients and familiarize themselves with common societal mechanisms of queer erasure; and for us all to begin to get curious about where our received notions about the past came from and who is missing from our public memory.Graduat
Statistical Power for Small Effect Sizes: An investigation of backward priming in Mandarin-English bilinguals
Full text linkBackward priming, or L2 to L1 priming, is a small but important effect for understanding the structure of the bilingual lexicon. A meta-analysis of priming in bilingual populations has shown that while the backward priming effect is quite small, it is qualitatively but not quantitatively different from the forward (L1 to L2) priming effect (Wen & Van Heuven, 2017). The empirical evidence for this view has come from various groups of bilinguals, including Japanese-English (Nakayama et al., 2016) and Korean-English (Lee et al., 2018) bilinguals, but not yet with Mandarin-English bilinguals: In this population, the effect is inconsistently significant. In response to this, researchers have raised the question of whether the existing studies were underpowered, given the small backward priming effect. Using a simulation-based power analysis, I show that this is most likely the case, as roughly 5400 observations per condition are necessary to detect a small backward priming effect. Previous work collected an average of 453 observations per condition, making it very unlikely for their statistical tools to be able to detect the effect. Based on this, I recommend that future work in this field conduct power analyses a priori, using the results as a guideline rather than a strict criterion for adequate power. Adopting this practice can help make experiments more replicable and future work in this direction is crucial for developing our understanding of the structure of the mental lexicon.Graduat
Theory of charge and flux noise in superconducting wires
Full text linkSuperconducting qubits are at the forefront of efforts to develop scalable quantum computers due to their potential to perform complex computations beyond the capabilities of classical systems. However, maintaining the quantum coherence of these qubits remains a significant challenge, primarily due to various noise sources such as flux noise, dielectric loss, and quasiparticle poisoning. This dissertation presents a detailed theoretical investigation into two noise mechanisms affecting superconducting qubits: flux noise from spin impurities and charge/flux noise from non-equilibrium superconducting quasiparticle distributions.
The first part of the research focuses on developing a general theoretical framework to calculate flux noise arising from spin impurities. This framework accounts for spin diffusion and spin-lattice relaxation, incorporating a discrete diffusion model to handle confinement effects and inhomogeneities. Analytical and numerical results show that the spin relaxation model aligns with experimental observations in aluminum devices, while the spin diffusion model better matches experiments in niobium devices.
The second part of the thesis proposes a theory addressing charge and flux noise due to non-equilibrium superconducting quasiparticle distributions within superconducting wires. This theory highlights the significant impact of ohmic loss generated by these quasiparticles, revealing their contribution to charge noise at intermediate frequencies and a nearly white flux noise background.
Comparative analysis with experimental data provides some validation for the theoretical models and gives insights into the temperature-dependent behavior of flux noise and the distinctive noise characteristics in aluminum and niobium devices. The findings highlight the necessity of addressing wire-resident quasiparticlesGraduat
Examining early reading skills in native Ewe-speaking children in Cape Coast metropolis of Ghana
Full text linkThis study aimed to adapt the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) to assess reading abilities in Ewe and English among young learners in the Cape Coast Metropolis of Ghana. Using a correlational research design, first-grade students (n=42) from two Ewe community schools completed a collection of early literacy measures in English and Ewe. Results from the paired samples t-tests revealed that at one-minute of administration, students performed higher in English Letter Naming Fluency than Ewe Letter Naming Fluency. Yet, no significant differences were found in Phonemic Segmentation Fluency or Word Reading Fluency for both languages. At overall minutes, students’ performance in English Letter Naming Fluency was still higher than Ewe Letter Naming Fluency, with no differences in Phonemic Segmentation Fluency or Word Reading Fluency. Ewe Oral Reading Fluency Accuracy was significantly higher than English Oral Reading Fluency Accuracy. Again, the correlation matrices at both time scales revealed that there were some associations between different fluency measures. However, these relationships varied in strength and significance across languages and tasks. Finally, English Phonemic Segmentation Fluency explained 15% of English Oral Reading Fluency, with Letter Naming Fluency contributing an insignificant 6%, and Word Reading Fluency significantly improving the model by 27%. Ewe Phonemic Segmentation Fluency and Letter Naming Fluency did not significantly explain Ewe Oral Reading Fluency variance, but Ewe Word Reading Fluency explained 12% over a one-minute interval and 39% overall.Graduat
k-edge Connected Components in Graphs
Full text linkA k-edge-connected component (KECC) is a group of vertices in a graph G(V, E) where every pair of vertices has at least k edge-disjoint paths between them. This research delves into the detection and analysis of KECCs within graphs, presenting algorithms and thoroughly evaluating their performance.
The study introduces algorithms tailored to find KECCs for a given value of k. One such algorithm, known as the fix-k algorithm, exhibits a time complexity of O(V^2.E^2 ). By leveraging various maximum flow algorithms and exploiting properties of k-edge connectivity, we optimize this algorithm to perform E times faster, resulting in a new approach with time complexity of O(V^2.E). Further enhancements are achieved through randomization, leading to an algorithm with an improved time complexity of O(V^3.ln(V)^O(1)). Additionally, we identify another algorithm with a time complexity of O(V.E^{1+o(1)} ).
Moreover, algorithms are proposed to find all KECCs in a graph G(V, E) for all values of 1 ≤ k ≤ V . It is demonstrated that for any graph G(V, E), there exists a threshold value h, where for all k ≥ h, KECCs are singletons. An efficient algorithm is devised to determine this h in O(log(V )) time, which significantly impacts the all-k problem, allowing us to focus solely on finding KECCs for 1 ≤ k < h. This approach yields an algorithm with a time complexity of O(h ∗ O(Fix-k algorithm)) to find all KECCs. Additionally, another algorithm with a time complexity of O(V^2.E^2) is presented, which can be further optimized to achieve time complexities of O(V^2.E), O(V^3.ln(V )^O(1)), and O(V.E^{1+o(1)}).
The insights gained from meticulous implementation and experimentation shed light on the behavior of these algorithms across various graph structures and scenarios.Graduat
Interrogating Racecraft: A Critical Analysis of the 'Model Minority' and Sikh Subjectivity in Canada
Full text linkThis project contributes to the scant scholarship on race within Canadian political science, specifically by unpacking the politicization of a minority identity in the context of State-led racecraft. Using auto-ethnographic and critical discourse analysis methods, this study analyzes three prominent Sikh figures in federal Canadian politics as case subjects to interrogate how the ‘model minority’ paradigm is applied to Sikhs in Canada. Looking at social media statements, party statements, Hansard Transcripts and other language attached to each figure, this study builds a comprehensive analysis of the ‘model minority’ paradigm as operating through 3 conjunctive registers. The study concludes that structures of multiculturalism, securitization, and capitalism prescribe a Sikh identity and politics that legitimizes Canadian sovereignty and white supremacy, fosters investments in racial hierarchies, and limits radical solidarities between Sikhs and other marginalized communities. This project also attempts to reinscribe a version of Sikh politics that is more strongly grounded in Sikh history and authentic religious praxis.Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Awards (JCURA)UndergraduateReviewe
Efficient code-based cryptosystems for post-quantum cryptography
Full text linkThere is increasing growth in e-commerce, blockchain, mobile services, medical and industrial IoT, online banking, and service applications. Cryptographic primitives play a crucial role in securing these applications. Thus, the security of cryptographic primitives is an important issue. The Shor algorithm illustrates how quantum attacks seriously threaten the safety of these primitives. Code-based cryptography is one of several approaches resistant to quantum attacks. To date, no attack has been able to break a code-based cryptosystem in polynomial time. Despite the remarkable level of security they offer, code-based cryptosystems have received minimal attention in practical applications. The main reason is the considerably large public and private key sizes. For example, the McEliece code-based cryptosystem uses binary Goppa codes with large block sizes. The use of code-based cryptography in digital signatures is also limited, primarily because the ciphertexts do not span the entire vector space. The Courtois-Finiasz-Sendrier (CFS) scheme is a widely recognized code-based digital signature scheme. However, its adoption is limited due to the low success rate of signing which in turn increases the signature processing time. This dissertation aims to address the above challenges by introducing new code-based algorithms with smaller key sizes and reduced processing times. A scheme is introduced to construct generalized inverse matrices for a matrix with dimensions . An algorithm is also given to construct a random inverse matrix from the choices. Furthermore, a new public key generation algorithm is given that takes advantage of random inverse matrices to construct public and private keys. This algorithm plays a crucial role in the proposed code-based cryptosystem, enabling smaller key sizes compared to the traditional McEliece cryptosystem. The proposed code-based digital signature incorporates signing and verification algorithms with lower complexity and higher success rates than the CFS digital signature, leading to reduced processing times.Graduat