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An Attempt to Erase: Colonial Histories and Contemporary Indigenous Identities in Cuba
Get PDFThis study seeks to investigate the complex history of Indigenous peoples in Cuba, exploring how this legacy influences modern perceptions of Indigenous identity. Since the 1970s there has been a growing movement among Taíno peoples, particularly among the Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Cuban diaspora in North America, to reclaim their Indigenous heritage and assert their existence, challenging the long held myth of a post-Columbus Indigenous extinction in the Caribbean. Within Cuba, this movement has taken shape, but its manifestation is multifaceted and influenced by unique socio-political dynamics and concepts of identity. Despite the presence of Taíno ancestry in Cuba's population and culture, the acknowledgment of Indigenous identity has faced challenges amidst a narrative of extinction and ideals of the Revolution, which prioritize Cuban identity over other racial or ethnic distinctions. Drawing from my experiences during the 2023 Cuba Ethnographic Field School and a review of the available literature, I aim to elucidate the intricate interplay between colonial historical production and contemporary Indigenous identities in Cuba. In addition, this research aims to think critically about the complex dynamics of Indigenous tourism occurring alongside cultural revitalization in the Cuban context.Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Awards (JCURA)UndergraduateReviewe
piQture: A Quantum Machine Learning Library for Image Processing
Get PDFQuantum Machine Learning (QML) is a discipline of research at the intersection of quantum information and machine learning that leverages quantum mechanical properties to enhance computational capabilities. With its emergence, there is a need to integrate QML models into machine learning pipelines for real-life applications such as image processing. While standalone programs exist to demonstrate the performance of QML models, a well-defined model workflow is noticeably absent. This thesis thoroughly explores various existing QML models and their practical utility in image processing tasks, with the aim of constructing a robust QML library.
Throughout this thesis, we develop piQture, an open-source Python and Qiskit-based library that streamlines the development, training, and evaluation of QML models. Its design and structure prioritize usability among users familiar with classical machine learning without prior QML experience. Further, piQture is augmented with automated building, testing, and packaging workflows that enhance software reliability and reproducibility. Finally, we provide strategies to facilitate model management and storage within piQture for practical adoption and future analysis of pre-trained QML models.Graduat
UVic Convocation June 13, 2024 – 2:30 pm
No full textStudents from the faculty of Engineering and Computer Science.UndergraduateUnreviewe
Use of patterns of service utilization and hierarchical survival analysis in planning and providing care for overdose patients and predicting the time-to-second overdose
Get PDFIndividuals from a variety of backgrounds are affected by the opioid crisis. To provide optimal care for individuals at risk of opioid overdose and prevent subsequent overdoses, a more targeted response that goes beyond the traditional taxonomical diagnosis approach to care management needs to be adopted. In previous works, Graph Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing methods were used to model the products for planning and evaluating the treatment of patients with complex issues. This study proposes a methodology of partitioning patients in the opioid overdose cohort into various communities based on their patterns of service utilization (PSUs) across the continuum of care using graph community detection and applying survival analysis to predict time-to-second overdose for each of the communities. The results demonstrated that the overdose cohort is not homogeneous with respect to the determinants of risk. Moreover, the risk for subsequent overdose was quantified: there is a 51% higher chance of experiencing a second overdose for a high-risk community compared to a low-risk community. The proposed method can inform a more efficient treatment heterogeneity approach for a cohort made of diverse individuals, such as the opioid overdose cohort. It can also guide targeted support for patients at risk of subsequent overdoses.FacultyReviewe
What physicalism could be
No full textThe physicalist credo is that the world is physical. But some phenomena, such as minds, morals, and mathematics, appear to be nonphysical. While an uncompromising physicalism would reject these, a conciliatory physicalism need not if it can account for them in terms of an underlying physical basis. Any such account must refer to the nonphysical. But will not this unavoidable reference to the nonphysical conflict with the physicalist credo? This essay aims to clarify this problem and introduce a novel solution that relies on a distinction between “circumstantial” facts that are based in the circumstances and “acircumstantial” facts that are not. This is used in two ways. First, physicalism is restricted to circumstantial facts: Only they must have a physical basis that does not refer to the nonphysical. Second, facts accounting for the nonphysical are not restricted to the circumstantial: They may refer to the nonphysical if they are acircumstantial. Facts about how the physical accounts for the nonphysical therefore do not conflict with the physicalist's credo. This provides a credible answer to what physicalism could be.FacultyReviewe
Pilot study of a novel early cognitive intervention for children receiving proton radiation therapy
No full textRadiation therapy poses a significant risk for adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes (NDOs), such as attention and executive function (A/EF) deficits in young children. As such, the current study assessed the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a novel A/EF intervention, Dino Island (DI), among three children (age 7) receiving proton radiation therapy (PRT) for central nervous system (CNS) tumours. DI was delivered 1:1 at Mayo Clinic Rochester by a trained psychometrist (i.e., the interventionist) during the six-week active PRT phase. Feasibility was defined as the proportion of completed intervention sessions, while preliminary efficacy was assessed via cognitive testing and parent behavioural rating scales. Specifically, the testing schedule comprised a comprehensive baseline assessment, brief weekly testing probes during the intervention, a comprehensive post-intervention assessment and follow-up testing one month later. Results presented evidence supporting the potential feasibility and preliminary efficacy of the DI intervention. Indeed, DI may have the potential to mitigate the impact of radiation on certain cognitive domains and perhaps even enact cognitive gains. Crucially, findings support the feasibility of implementing DI during active PRT and provide a foundation for future large-scale randomized clinical trials. Future work should focus on recruiting a large sample to evaluate DI's impact across diverse populations and gathering longitudinal data.Graduate2025-08-1
Feeding and bioenergetics of Chinook Salmon during the first winter at sea
Get PDFIt is hypothesized that winter is a period of nutritional stress and elevated mortality for juvenile Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). However, little is known about the winter ecology of this species. To address this gap in knowledge, first ocean winter Chinook Salmon were sampled systematically by microtrolling (hook-and-line capture) over three consecutive winters from late September to early April in 2020-2023 in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia. Sampling regions included the Discovery Islands, Northern Strait of Georgia, and Southern Gulf Islands. Chinook Salmon were weighed and measured, and scales were collected for genetic stock identification. Winter diet samples were collected by gastric lavage and intact prey were preserved for energy density determination. By mass, Chinook Salmon consumed primarily Pacific Herring (Clupea pallasii), euphausiids, squid, and Primno spp. amphipods, and diets differed by region and season with some interannual variability observed. Both diet energy content and body condition declined throughout the winter, although the decline in diet energy content was not significant. The presence of Pacific Herring in the diets had a significant positive effect on diet energy content. A subset of sampled Chinook Salmon was also retained for energy density and organosomatic index analyses, both of which had significant seasonal trends that may be associated with allocating energy to storage in autumn and reduced rations in mid-winter. Using field-derived data as inputs, I developed bioenergetics models to estimate differences in overwinter growth, consumption, and feeding rates over two years and between two regions in the Strait of Georgia. These inputs included diet composition, prey and predator energy density, temperature at depth of capture, and predator weight. Regional and interannual differences in model estimates were observed, and January and February were consistently estimated to be periods of reduced consumption rates. Bioenergetic model estimates also provided possible evidence of the occurrence of size-selective processes, although this result should be interpreted with caution. The models based on our longitudinal sampling framework were then compared to ‘seasonal’ models which mimicked a field sampling design wherein discrete sampling events occurred once prior to winter and once following winter to highlight the temporal variability in fish bioenergetics which may be missed using a seasonal approach. Overall, the data presented in this thesis suggest that some degree of food limitation occurs during winter but does not provide strong evidence that supports the plausibility of winter as a period of nutritional stress for overwintering juvenile Chinook Salmon.Graduate2024-12-1
Stelai in the Shaft Grave Period: A Case Study of Mycenae and Eleon
Get PDFDuring the transition from the Middle Helladic to the Late Helladic period, a number of changes in funerary practice swept across mainland Greece, marking the beginning of the Mycenean period. Among these were the appearance of grave stelai at two sites, Mycenae and Eleon. These stelai are anomalous, and appear almost nowhere else throughout the entire Aegean Bronze Age. As they do not seem to fit in with local funerary practices,
their cultural origin, purpose and meaning are open to question. This study analyses the grave stelai at Mycenae and Eleon, with particular attention to how they fit into the wider context of funerary practices of the Early Mycenaean period and how they functioned as a monument within their respective cemeteries. This includes an examination of the changes in funerary practice taking place during this period, a close study of the cemeteries in which the stelai appear, and an examination of the individual stelai themselves, including the iconography of the carved stelai. The results show that although the stelai are unique, they embody many of the larger trends taking place during the Early Mycenaean period, and are best viewed as experimental forays into a new tradition of monumentalized burials intended for generational reuse, ritual performance and elite funerary display within cemetery spaces. While intercultural influences are significant during this period, the totality of evidence points to the stelai being a phenomenon that developed internally within the Aegean mainland, rather than a product of wholesale external influence.Graduat
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Feasibility assessment of offsetting diesel generator in an islanded microgrid
Get PDFThe presented work endeavors to mitigate the reliance on existing diesel generators by integrating hybrid renewable energy systems to fulfill the energy demands of a small community residing in Meziadin Lake, Canada. Utilizing HOMER Pro 3.16.2 software, the research employs a range of analyses, encompassing Net Present Value (NPV), Cost of Energy (COE), emissions, energy production, and operational costs. The simulation outcomes indicate that the combination of solar energy, batteries and the existing diesel generator represents the optimal solution, demonstrating superior performance with NPC and COE of 0.1815/kWh, respectively. Our model has a renewable fraction of 82% and results in 47.5% reduction of NPC and COE, as well as 89.1% decrease in annual carbon dioxide emission compared to the baseline system.Graduat