19614 research outputs found
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UVic Libraries 2024 user feedback survey: Summary and key insights
Get PDFThe University of Victoria Libraries 2024 User Feedback Survey gathers insight into the needs and satisfaction of the key user communities. The survey focused on three general areas of our work: library services, spaces, and collections. This report summarizes results and key insights.University of Victoria LibrariesUnreviewe
Identity is the crisis: Redefining later twentieth-century feminist material culture and riot grrrl zines as avant-garde art
Get PDFA proposal from the 2024 Peter and Ana Lowens University of Victoria Libraries Special Collections Fellowshi
Dual-method assessment of emotion facets in adolescents affected by somatization: Differences from psychiatric controls and variations after treatment
Get PDFIntroduction: Clinically significant somatization in adolescents is prevalent and impairing yet understudied. There are many proposed contributors to the development of somatization, including emotion regulation and attachment. However, the ways in which emotion regulation and attachment strategies differ in somatization compared to other internalizing disorders is not well understood. Additionally, whether emotion regulation is modifiable within this population is unknown. To learn more about emotion regulation in adolescents affected by somatization, this dissertation presents two studies using dual-method approaches.
Study One: We compared the emotion regulation and attachment strategies of adolescents affected by somatization and adolescents affected by anxiety. Results indicated differences between groups on an objective, biobehavioural measure of emotion regulation, but not on a self-report measure of emotion regulation. There were also differences in self-reported attachment, with adolescents with anxiety reported the use of more anxious attachment strategies than adolescents with somatization.
Study Two: We next assessed whether there were time-related variations in two emotion facets over the course of a treatment targeting emotion regulation for adolescents affected by somatization. In a sample of adolescent outpatient hospital patients, we assessed emotion regulation (using a biobehavioural measure) and emotional self-awareness (using a selfreport measure), pre and post treatment. Results indicated that there were some time-related differences in self-reported emotional awareness, with an increase in mentalization over time. While there were no significant time-related differences on the biobehavioural measure of emotion regulation, we found that differences from pre to post were dependent on whether participants perceived a positive working alliance during the treatment. Conclusion: Taken together, these studies make important contributions to the field of pediatric somatization. The noted differences between adolescents affected by somatization versus anxiety may have
meaningful clinical implications for tailoring treatment. Importantly, both studies suggest that adolescents with somatization show no significant bias toward or away from negative emotions. Finally, preliminary results demonstrate that emotional self-awareness is modifiable, which is an important step for patients being open to accessing mental health interventions.Graduate2025-08-1
Studies on math education and weak trigraph homomorphisms
Get PDFThis thesis is comprised of two parts: (i) a study of homomorphisms of weak trigraphs and (ii) an analysis of the effectiveness of the University of Victoria (UVic) Department of Mathematics and Statistics’ Pretest. In the first part of the thesis, we study homomorphisms of weak trigraphs. Results analogous to those for graph homomorphisms are developed. In particular, we determine the complexity of decid- ing whether there is a weak trigraph homomorphism of a weak trigraph G to a weak trigraph H, the complexity of deciding whether a given weak trigraph has a weak trigraph homomorphism to a proper subgraph (the complexity of deciding whether it is not a core) and describe an efficient algorithm based on consistency checking that determines whether there is a weak trigraph homomorphism from a given cactus weak trigraph to a fixed weak trigraph H. In the second part of the thesis, we analyze the effectiveness of the UVic Pretest. First we compare the current online pretest with the past paper pretest in terms of their respective effectiveness in identifying students who are ready for Calculus I. We also analyze the current online pretest in greater detail, to identify which precalculus skills are most likely to predict success on that test itself. Finally, we use odd ratios to categorize each question on the online pretest and identify questions that are particularly useful to the test.Graduat
A Gaussian function model of mesoscale eddy temperature anomalies and research of spatial distribution characteristics
No full textMesoscale eddies are ubiquitous oceanic phenomena and play an important role in ocean circulation, ocean dynamics, and the transport of material energy. Temperature anomalies are a crucial parameter that reflects the state of mesoscale eddies. This study proposes a Gaussian function model to fit the vertical temperature anomaly (TA) profile to facilitate the analysis of variations, and the principle of the model is based on the fact that each TA profile tends to fluctuate around one or more peaks. The model is extracted and validated using Argo profiles within cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies in the Northwest Pacific Ocean spanning over the period from 2002 to 2021. The validation demonstrates that the model can accurately recover the vertical TA profiles with a limited number of parameters. This makes it suitable for analysing the spatial distribution patterns that require a large sample count. The analysis indicates that eddies with different TA profiles have a spatial aggregation effect in geographic distribution. Eddies with lower extreme temperature anomalies, at depths of 200–300 m, are mainly distributed along two bands on the north side of the Kuroshio Extension (KE) and the North Equatorial Current. Eddies with extreme TAs at the deepest depth (500–600 m) are distributed along the KE.This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant No. 42276179 and 62271459, and Laoshan Laboratory Science and Technology Innovation Projects, Grant No. LSKJ202201302 and LSKJ202204301.FacultyReviewe
Re-righting renewable energy research with Indigenous communities in Canada
No full textThe authors are grateful to the participants of the sharing circle session titled "SFU & CERG - Sharing Circle: Indigenous Community Involvement in Clean Energy Projects" at the RiRC (2022) for their invaluable contributions. We also thank the editors and the review team for their constructive feedback.The global call to address climate change and advance sustainable development has created rapid growth in research, investment, and policymaking regarding the renewable energy transition of Indigenous communities. From a rightsholder perspective, Indigenous Peoples' vision of sustainability, autonomy, and sovereignty should guide research on their energy needs. In this paper, we present a multi-method, inductive examination to identify gaps between Indigenous communities' expressed needs and rights, and the questions researchers and policymakers investigate in energy transition research conducted in the context of Indigenous communities located in Canada. We combine a systematic review of the extant literature, a scoping review of the grey literature on off-grid communities by Indigenous and non-Indigenous governments and non-governmental policy bodies, qualitative primary data collected via fieldwork, and an in-depth study of an Indigenous-led renewable energy transition study conducted by Haíɫzaqv Nation's Climate Action Team. We holistically examine these different perspectives and identify emergent themes to recommend ways to bridge the gaps between off-grid renewable energy research and stated Indigenous community priorities. Specifically, we recommend designing equitable research practices, understanding community worldviews, developing holistic research goals, respecting Indigenous data sovereignty, and sharing or co-developing knowledge with communities to align with community priorities closely.Serasu Duran is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant RGPIN-2023-04262. Jordyn Hrenyk is supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship - Doctoral Award #767-2019-2633. Feyza G. Sahinyazan is supported by Simon Fraser University/SSHRC Institutional Grant #25553 and NSERC Discovery Grant RGPIN-2022-03668. Emily Salmon is supported by SSHRC doctoral award #752-2022-1729.FacultyReviewe
Bycatch-threatened seabirds disproportionally contribute to community trait composition across the world
No full textWe thank Dave Fifield, Shawn Leroux, William Montevecchi, and Gregory Robertson for their comments that have improved this manuscript.Human pressures in the ocean are restructuring biological communities, driving non-random extinctions, and disrupting marine ecosystem functioning. In particular, fisheries bycatch, the incidental mortality of non-target species, is a major threat to seabirds worldwide. Direct bycatch data are often scarce. Instead, leveraging trait-based analyses with fine-scale fisheries data could answer fundamental questions about spatial patterns of bycatch-threatened species and facilitate targeted conservation strategies. Here, we combine a dataset of species' traits and distribution ranges for 361 seabird and sea duck species with spatially resolved fishing effort data for gillnet, longline, trawl, and purse seine gears. First, we quantify geographic patterns of seabird community traits. Second, we describe how community traits could shift under local extinction scenarios in areas where bycatch-threatened seabirds spatially overlap with fishing activities. These objectives allow us to highlight the collective contribution of species currently threatened from bycatch to ecosystem functioning. We reveal distinct spatial variation in the community weighted mean of five seabird traits (body mass, generation length, clutch size, diet guild, and foraging guild) are evident. Moreover, our results show that fisheries bycatch is selectively removing a distinct suite of traits from the community within particular oceanic regions. Specifically, fisheries bycatch is threatening species with larger body masses, slower reproductive speeds (smaller clutch sizes and longer generation lengths), and specialised diet and foraging guilds. The spatial non-uniformity of the community trait shifts suggests that within specific marine regions, communities have limited redundancy and therefore may have less insurance to buffer against declines in ecosystem functioning. Our extinction scenario warns that seabirds currently threatened from fisheries bycatch substantially contribute to community functional composition. Management actions that incorporate species’ traits and fine-scale fisheries datasets as tools for marine spatial planning will add an important dimension when evaluating the success of conservation initiatives.Canada Research Chairs, Grant Number: 950-231832; NSERC Discovery Grants Program, Grant Number: 2019-04987.FacultyReviewe
Investigating the diversity and palaeobiogeography of ankylosaurian dinosaurs using tooth morphometrics
No full textThe presence of a basal cingulum, fluting, and overall size have been used to differentiate nodosaurid and ankylosaurid teeth for decades. However, the taxonomic utility of tooth morphology in ankylosaurs has not yet been quantitatively tested. Additionally, new phylogenetic hypotheses recognize four ankylosaur families (Panoplosauridae, Polacanthidae, Struthiosauridae, and Ankylosauridae), rather than the traditional nodosaurid-ankylosaurid dichotomy. Understanding ankylosaur tooth variation could better help identify taxa with ambiguous phylogenetic affinities or allow isolated teeth to test palaeoecological questions like the potential extirpation of mid Cretaceous ankylosaurids from Laramidia. I analyzed a large sample of ankylosaur teeth from the Cretaceous of Laramidia using traditional and 2D outline geometric morphometrics and investigated the utility of size and the presence or absence of a cingulum and fluting for differentiating ankylosaur teeth. Morphometric analyses show that ‘nodosaurids’ had the greatest variation in tooth shape and size. Panoplosauridae accounts for a large amount of ‘nodosaurid’ variation, whereas basal ankylosaurs, Polacanthidae, and Ankylosauridae share a similar restricted morphospace. Previously, small teeth were identified as ankylosaurid and large teeth as nodosaurid; teeth with a crown base length or height over 10 mm are only found in panoplosaurids and Peloroplites, traditionally considered a nodosaurid but recently recovered as a polacanthid, but smaller sizes are found in all clades. A basal cingulum and fluting are associated with Ankylosauridae and Panoplosauridae, but not with other ankylosaur families. Linear discriminant analyses could only accurately identify between 50-75% of the teeth in our sample. LDAs should therefore be used in conjunction with size and discrete traits to identify isolated teeth as panoplosaurids. As such, caution should be used when attempting to use isolated ankylosaur teeth in broader palaeoecological questions.Graduate2025-07-2
2024 David Harris Flaherty Award-Winning Essay (1/2)
No full textIn this award-winning 500-word essay, undergraduate student Faith Lapointe demonstrates the effective use of UVic Libraries' resources.David Harris Flaherty Undergraduate Student Library Scholarship, UVic LibrariesUndergraduat
Scalable vision transformers for remote sensing semantic segmentation
Get PDFAssessing and monitoring environmental landscapes plays a critical role in preserving the environment and ensuring the well-being of communities around the world. The launch of low-orbit earth observation satellites has dramatically increased the availability and resolution of remote sensing data, enabling more precise and frequent monitoring of environmental changes and human impacts across diverse ecosystems. Traditional manual methods of analyzing this data to measure environmental properties are being improved by deep learning techniques, which can uncover complex patterns within the data. Recently, the Transformer architecture has been extended to computer vision, further enhancing the versatility and scalability of deep learning models.
This thesis investigates the application of the Transformer architecture to semantic segmentation using medium-resolution satellite data. It explores the unique properties of remote sensing data and proposes techniques to improve deep learning model architectures and training methodologies for optimized results. Two contributions are presented: MineSegSAT and VistaFormer.
MineSegSAT is designed to identify and monitor environmentally impacted areas of mineral extraction sites using Sentinel-2 imagery. It incorporates state-of-the-art deep learning models and loss functions to automate the detection of disturbed areas, aiding in environmental compliance monitoring.
VistaFormer is introduced as a lightweight and efficient model for the semantic segmentation of satellite image time series (SITS) data. It features an encoder-decoder architecture with gated convolutions and self-attention Transformers in the encoder, paired with a lightweight convolution decoder. This model is designed to handle noise from atmospheric distortions and cloud cover while maintaining high performance and efficiency.
The experimental results demonstrate that VistaFormer outperforms state-of-the-art models on time series crop-type semantic segmentation benchmarks, using fewer floating point operations and fewer trainable parameters. The findings suggest that Transformer-based architectures can significantly enhance the accuracy and efficiency of satellite imagery analysis, providing valuable tools for environmental and agricultural monitoring.Graduat