19614 research outputs found
Sort by
Evolution of Rwanda's environmental laws and policies (2004-2024)
No full textThis research examines the evolution of Rwanda’s environmental policies from 2004 to 2024, focusing on how the country balances economic growth with sustainability and climate resilience. Rwanda’s dense population and small size increase pressure on natural resources. Key initiatives include the National Forest Policy (2004), Environmental Organic Law (2005), and the National Reforestation Program (2006), which rehabilitated deforested areas and promoted tree planting. Rwanda also emphasized community engagement through policies like Umuganda, encouraging public participation in environmental protection.
Additionally, Rwanda has developed progressive policies such as the National Environment and Climate Change Policy (2019), which promotes a low-carbon economy and sustainable resource use. The country has become a leader in electronic waste management, establishing Africa’s first e-waste recycling plant in 2017. This research highlights Rwanda’s success in integrating civic involvement and policy innovation to foster environmental stewardship, improve sustainability, and address the challenges posed by economic growth.Valerie Kuehne Undergraduate Research Awards (VKURA)UndergraduateReviewe
UVic Convocation November 12, 2024 – 2:30 pm
No full textStudents from the Faculties of Graduate Studies and Engineering and Computer Science.UndergraduateUnreviewe
Through the Looking Glass - Strategies in Achieving Stakeholder Performance
No full textThis dissertation thoroughly explores stakeholder value capture through three interconnected studies, collectively advancing our understanding of how community stakeholders systematically capture diverse elements of value over time. By challenging fundamental economic assumptions within value-based strategy theory and incorporating a behavioural theory lens, I develop a theoretical model to offer conceptual clarity on the concept of value capture, disentangling potential from realized value capture. The subsequent empirical studies test and build upon these theoretical advancements, with a specific focus on Indigenous communities impacted by nearby mining projects. In this context, I investigate the impact of contractual stakeholder governance, specifically the negotiation and implementation of Community Benefit Agreements, on community stakeholder value capture outcomes. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the findings indicate that contractual forms of stakeholder governance, particularly CBAs, do not consistently lead to higher value capture outcomes. Furthermore, the research reveals that stakeholders concurrently experience both value capture and destruction across various dimensions, challenging existing theoretical explanations. Expanding on these insights, the research then uncovers the diverse value capture strategies associated with achieving higher levels of value capture, finding that communities can capture value across varying levels of bargaining power while the ease of capturing value varies according to the type of value. This holistic exploration enhances our understanding of the determinants of stakeholder value capture, supplementing established explanations centered on bargaining power with innovative theoretical developments related to complementary resources and institutional contexts. Collectively, these studies offer a nuanced and comprehensive perspective on stakeholder value capture processes, contributing to the evolving landscape of value capture theory and practice.Graduate2025-02-1
IoT-enabled smart shopping carts: Automating checkout processes for frictionless shopping
No full textThe growing crowds at shopping destinations like malls, grocery stores, supermarkets, and discount stores highlight the necessity of refining billing protocols to handle the increased number of shoppers. Moreover, considering the decline in sales experienced by physical stores like grocery stores in the face of growing online shopping trends, it becomes imperative to address this challenge and devise viable solutions. The Smart Shopping Cart project aims to enhance the retail shopping experience by leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT) technology to create a smart device that can be attached to standard shopping carts. By incorporating features such as RFID capabilities, MySQL database connectivity, and the Raspberry Pi Pico W microcontroller, the system provides seamless integration with user-friendly interfaces, allowing customers to interact with the shopping cart and scan products themselves effortlessly. This approach expedites the checkout process, reduces wait times, and improves operational efficiency for stores, while also offering valuable insights into consumer purchase patterns for inventory control and targeted marketing. By eliminating the need for manual scanning at checkout, customers save time and enjoy added convenience, thereby enhancing the overall shopping experience. Ultimately, Smart Carts offer an innovative application of IoT technology to streamline and modernize retail shopping, making it more efficient, convenient, and enjoyable for both customers and businesses alike.Graduat
Ten priorities for research addressing the intersections of brain injury, mental health and addictions: A stakeholderdriven priority‐setting study
No full textObjectives: The purpose of this study was to engage key stakeholders in a health research priority-setting process to identify, prioritize and produce a community-driven list of research questions addressing intersectional issues on mental health and addictions (MHA) in acquired brain injury (ABI).
Methods: A multiphasic health research priority-setting process was co-designed and executed with community-based stakeholders, including researchers, health professionals, clinicians, service providers, representatives from brain injury associations, policy makers and people with lived experience of ABI and MHA, including patients and their family members. Stakeholders' ideas led to the generation of research questions, which were prioritized at a 1-day workshop.
Results: Fifty-nine stakeholders participated in the priority-setting activity during the workshop, which resulted in a rank-ordered list of the top 10 questions for research addressing the intersections of ABI and MHA. Questions identified touched on several pressing issues (e.g., opioid crisis, homelessness), encompassed multiple subtypes of ABI (e.g., hypoxic-ischaemic, mild traumatic), and involved different domains (e.g., identification, intervention) of health research.
Conclusions: This community-driven health research priority-setting study identified and prioritized research questions addressing the intersections of ABI and MHA. Researchers and funding agencies should use this list to inform their agendas and address stakeholders' most urgent needs, fostering meaningful improvements to clinical services.
Patient or Public Contribution: An 11-person working group comprised of people with lived experience, service providers, researchers, healthcare professionals and other key stakeholders collaboratively developed and informed the scope, design, methodology and interpretation of this study. Over 50 community-based stakeholders contributed to the research priority-setting activity. One co-author is a person with lived experience.This study was supported by the BC Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions and the Vancouver Foundation (Grant FOI22‐7033).FacultyReviewe
Balancing Polynomials Under Permutations
Get PDFMotivated by previous work by del Valle and Dukes on balancing matrices and multigraphs, we explore the equivalent problem on multivariate polynomials. The balancing number of a polynomial is loosely understood as the smallest number of permuted copies of a polynomial one needs to add together to obtain a symmetric polynomial. We are particularly interested in polynomials which have a balancing number of 1 but which aren’t already symmetric. In our work, we attempt to extend the results on matrices to the case of polynomials and we obtain a complete, simple characterization of the balancing numbers of polynomials in three variables.Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Awards (JCURA)UndergraduateReviewe
Residential demand response program modelling to compliment grid composition and changes in energy efficiency
Get PDFKey messages:
- Grid composition plays a significant role in residential DR program effectiveness.
- Amount of VRE resources on grid impacts how DR potential is utilized.
- DR program effectiveness may increase with improved building stock efficiency.FacultyUnreviewe
Designing and manufacturing equipment for mock temporary pacing wire surgery
No full textDuring my time at Dr. Giles’ lab, I mostly contributed to an ongoing project that aims to simplify the installation of temporary pacing wires by using an electromagnetic field generator and tracking software. By doing so, the surgical installation process would no longer require a trained MRI specialist to assist in the surgery, assistance which is seldom available in remote and indigenous communities. My role in this project was to design equipment that will be used by surgeons from Royal Jubilee Hospital during a mock surgery to test the project’s efficacy. This included a specialized clamp to stabilize the field generator, a wire holder designed to interface with a luer lock, a palpation probe, and a pacing box to induce the artificial heartbeat. This series of design projects taught me important lessons in mechanical engineering, such as tolerancing, making drawing, and efficient design. I also learned to use engineering software such as SolidWorks and Materialise Mimics, as well as FDM (Fused deposit modeling) and PLA (polylactic acid) 3D printing. Overall, this research internship has struck a good balance between producing meaningful results for the Biomechanics Lab and further developing my engineering competencies.Valerie Kuehne Undergraduate Research Awards (VKURA)UndergraduateReviewe
Symmetry-enabled resource-efficient systolic array design for Montgomery multiplication in resource-constrained MIoT endpoints
Get PDFIn today’s TEST interconnected world, the security of 5G Medical IoT networks is of paramount concern. The increasing number of connected devices and the transmission of vast amounts of data necessitate robust measures to protect information integrity and confidentiality. However, securing Medical IoT edge nodes poses unique challenges due to their limited resources, making the implementation of cryptographic protocols a complex task. Within these protocols, modular multiplication assumes a crucial role. Therefore, careful consideration must be given to its implementation. This study focuses on developing a resource-efficient hardware implementation of the Montgomery modular multiplication algorithm over GF(2), which is a critical operation in cryptographic algorithms. The proposed solution introduces a bit-serial systolic array layout with a modular structure and local connectivity between processing elements. This design, inspired by the principles of symmetry, allows for efficient utilization of resources and optimization of area and delay management. This makes it well-suited for deployment in compact Medical IoT edge nodes with limited resources. The suggested bit-serial processor structure was evaluated through ASIC implementation, which demonstrated substantial improvements over competing designs. The results showcase an average area reduction of 24.5% and significant savings in the area–time product of 26.2%.This research was funded by Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University project number (PSAU/2024/01/29201).FacultyReviewe
“Care” and Carcerality in a Colonial State: A Critical Exploration of Secure Residential Youth Care in Ontario
Get PDFSecure residential youth care has been employed as a mechanism of both protection and control for young people deemed vulnerable or “at-risk.” There is little academic literature in the Canadian context on this topic; this study will provide an overview of the historical and current landscape of secure residential youth care in Ontario including the identification of populations that are uniquely impacted by state-sanctioned confinement as a mechanism of “care.” I explore this topic through a critical discourse analysis that makes visible the ideological and political underpinnings responsible for the development of the legislative framework that enables secure care. I employ Critical Race Theory, Anti-Carceral/Abolitionist Feminism, and intersectionality as theoretical foundations and lenses through which I analyze the data which reveal the disparate experiences of Black, Indigenous, and queer youth in secure care. The results of this research will provide important implications for practice and considerations for further research. I propose that care models, extricated from carceral logics that contribute to the criminalization of youth, are possible and must be built upon the provision of robust, youth-informed, and dignity-centred supports.Graduat