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A non-linear MPC local planner for tractor-trailer vehicles in forward and backward maneuvering
No full textA Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Applied Science in Industrial Systems Engineering, University of Regina. x, 77 p.Designing a local planner to control a tractor-trailer vehicles in forward and backward maneuvering is a challenging control problem for autonomous driving systems. This thesis considers the critical situation of the stability of tractor-trailer systems. A practical and novel approach is presented to design an non-linear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) local planner for tractor-trailer autonomous vehicles in both forward and backward maneuvering. The tractor’s velocity and steering angle are considered as control variables; the proposed NMPC local planner is designed to handle jackknife situations, to avoid multiple static obstacles, and to path follow a certain path in both forward and backward maneuvering. The above-mentioned challenges are converted into a constrained problem that can be handled simultaneously by the proposed NMPC local planner. The direct multiple shooting approach is used to convert the optimal control problem into an non-linear programming problem (NLP) that can be solved by the Interior Point Optimizer (IPOPT) in CasADi optimization toolbox. The controller performance is evaluated through different backup and forward maneuvering scenarios in the Gazebo simulation environment in real-time to achieve asymptotic stability in avoiding static obstacles and in accurate tracking performance while respecting path constraints. Finally, the NMPC local planner is integrated with an open-source autonomous driving software stack called Autoware.ai.Studentye
Feature Story: Celebrations mark the grand reopening of Darke Hall
No full textIf Francis Darke was still with us he would certainly be applauding today's grand reopening of the hall that bears his name. When construction began on Darke Hall some 93 years ago, Darke envisioned "a temple to the arts and a centre for cultural activity."Thanks to the work of hundreds of people who contributed to the restoration of the theatre over the past 12 years, the grand temple has been restored to its former glory - and then some.Staffn
Pilgrim
No full textA Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Find Arts in Media Production, University of Regina. vi, 41 p.This critical engagement paper is intended to reflect on the film I made for my Master of
Fine Arts degree in media production. The first part describes the film and its main ideas and
goals. Then it proceeds to elucidate the core and primary theories and concepts that founded my
approach to cinema, particularly this project. Therefore, the theoretical part expands upon
Jacques Lacan's concept of the Real and Julia Kristeva's idea of abjection (which she relates to
the experience of immigration) and Slavoj Zizek’s Lacanian reading of partial objects as organs
without bodies. After covering the theoretical aspects of my project, the paper discusses my
methodology. In this part, the techniques and aesthetics selected to illuminate my theoretical
findings are reviewed. The principal method used in this project is stop-motion animation which
helped me link the idea of the animated objects as the Zizekian undead to Kristeva's reading of
the immigration experience. It thus has allowed me to foreground the main intention behind this
project: namely, to creatively address the challenges of immigration by harnessing the potentials
of animation. The potential of the non-traditional and experimental animation helped me
pinpoint issues that cannot be represented otherwise.Studentye
Prediction of Waste Generation and Disposal Using System Dynamics Modeling
No full textA Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Applied Science in Industrial Systems Engineering, University of Regina. x, 107 p.Solid waste management plays an important role in protecting the environment, the health
system and minimizing biological threats, so serious actions need to be taken to control and
manage these threats on the environment. Different situations such as seasonal changes and
cities policies have had effects on solid waste generation and disposal behaviors, therefore
the proper prediction of the amount of waste disposal is needed to improve the waste
management system. In this thesis, the system dynamics (SD) model is used to predict the
amount of waste generation and disposal in Canada. Different types of wastes are considered
in the SD model. Gross domestic product (GDP) and population are the socio-economic
variables that have a significant effect on the amount of waste generation and disposal in the
SD model. The developed model can show the relationship between variables to predict the
amount of waste generation and disposal, so by using the SD model with a better attitude,
governments and organizations can make decisions to design an appropriate model for waste
management and apply it in the system. In this thesis, the most significant contribution is
using effective variables such as GDP, population, and education to predict the amount of
waste generation and disposal seasonally and yearly. The results show that the increasing
and decreasing trends in the amount of waste disposal from the prediction value depend on
the variables in the model. Population and GDP are the main effective variables in the SD
model, in which waste disposal will increase in the future as the population increases.
Therefore, by the effect of various policies and conditions, there will be different trends in
waste management.Studentye
Investigating Rhizobium Leguminosarum Metabolism and Rhizosphere Colonization Using High-Throughput Genomics and Erythritol Enrichments
No full textA Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Biology, University of Regina. ix, 120 p.The demand for sustainable agriculture practices is increasing as conditions
related to climate change intensify, and plant-based diets gain in popularity. Rhizobia
bacteria are used as inoculants to increase the yield of legume crops by fixing nitrogen in
nodules on legume roots; this reduces the use of costly and environmentally harmful
nitrogen fertilizers. Erythritol is exudated from legume roots, and is catabolized by
Rhizobiaceae genera. The goal of the thesis is to explore how erythritol influences
community composition, and to discover novel genes influenced by erythritol catabolism
in Rhizobium leguminosarum 3841. Microbial communities from bulk soil, and roots, and
nodules of pea plants prepared in the bulk soils were enriched on general and erythritol
media. Colony morphology assays and high throughput sequencing of the microbial
communities reveal that erythritol metabolism is strongly correlated with nodulating
Rhizobia strains on the roots of pea plants. High throughput analyses were also employed
to explore the functional genes involved in catabolizing erythritol. RNA sequencing
results reveal that genes previously reported to be involved with erythritol uptake and
catabolism were expressed in higher abundances in cells grown in erythritol. As well,
new genes were identified whose transcription is regulated by the presence of erythritol,
suggesting a larger gene network involved in erythritol metabolism than previously
thought; including stress mitigation, sugar transport, and rhizosphere quorum sensing.
The results suggest that erythritol may act as a chemical signal that triggers a specialized
response in R. leguminosarum 3841 to out-compete other soil bacteria in colonizing the
rhizosphere, thereby nodulating legume roots. Overall, these results provide direction for
developing inoculant strains that are more competitive in pea rhizospheres.Studentye
The relationship between migraines and mental health in women
No full textA Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology, University of Regina. 78 p.Women are three times more likely than men to experience migraines and endure worse migraine characteristics. Anxiety, depression, trauma, and discrimination have all been identified among migraine populations. The current study aimed at investigating the relationship between migraine characteristics (i.e., frequency, disability), mental health symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety, trauma) and gender-based discrimination (i.e., anticipated discrimination, lifetime day-to-day discrimination) among adult women. Consequently, a case-control study with a migraine condition and a non-migraine condition was conducted. Eligibility included women who were at least 18 years of age. Recruitment occurred via the University of Regina’s Psychology Participant Pool. Participants with migraine completed questionnaires about their migraine characteristics. All participants completed questionnaires on mental health and gendered discrimination. A series of independent samples t-tests were conducted to compare mental health symptoms between the two conditions. Hierarchal multiple regressions were conducted to test the influence of migraine characteristics and gender-based discrimination on mental health. Analyses revealed that mental health and gender-based discrimination scores were higher within the migraine group compared to the non-migraine group. Results indicated that migraine frequency and lifetime day-to-day discrimination were a significant predictor for anxiety, depression, and trauma symptoms. Anticipated discrimination was found to be significantly predictive of trauma symptoms. Lifetime-day-to-day discrimination was significantly predictive of migraine-related reduction in work or school productivity, absence of household work, and a decrease in housework. Lastly, findings revealed that gender-based discrimination was a significant predictor of migraine-related absence from social events, however no individual predictors were significant. These findings may contribute to improvements in the assessment and management of migraines among women, adding to an often under identified population and an emergent field of literature
The Schurian association schemes associated with parabolic subgroups of Coxeter groups
No full textA Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics, University of Regina. vi, 72 p.We determine all cases where double coset algebras of string Coxeter groups with respect to maximal parabolic subgroups have the involutive double coset property. For infinite affine string Coxeter groups, this property was only known to occur in the case of the vertex stabilizer for the types ˜C2 and ˜G 2, our new work adds the infinite Coxeter groups of type ˜Cn(n > 2) and ˜F4 to the list. Finite homomorphic images of these groups include the automorphism groups of abstract regular polytopes. An application of the above result is that polytopes of these types will always have polyhedral realization cones.
We also investigate the algebraic structure of these double coset algebras from the association scheme perspective. We give an overview of their orders, ranks, commutativity, and character tables, investigate their nontrivial closed subsets, quotients and fusions, and look for possible relationships between the association schemes corresponding to various types. The data we generate leads us to make some new conjectures relating types B and D that we are able to confirm in some cases.Studentye
Decolonization and Justice: An Introductory Overview
No full text"‘Decolonization and Justice: An Introductory Overview’ emerged from the undergraduate students’ final assignment in JS-419 on Advanced Seminar in Criminal Justice at the University of Regina’s Department of Justice Studies, Canada. This book focused on decolonization of multiple justice-related areas, such as policing, the court system, prison, restorative justice, and the studies of law and criminology. This is quite likely one of the few student-led book projects in Canada covering the range of decolonization topics. Ten student authors explored the concept of decolonization in law, policing, prison, court, mental health, transitional justice and restorative justice. We are grateful to receive funding support from the University of Regina’s OER Publishing Program Small Project Grant, which enabled us to hire a professional copy editor for the book.""‘Decolonization and Justice: An Introductory Overview’ emerged from the undergraduate students’ final assignment in JS-419 on Advanced Seminar in Criminal Justice at the University of Regina’s Department of Justice Studies, Canada. This book focused on decolonization of multiple justice-related areas, such as policing, the court system, prison, restorative justice, and the studies of law and criminology. This is quite likely one of the few student-led book projects in Canada covering the range of decolonization topics. Ten student authors explored the concept of decolonization in law, policing, prison, court, mental health, transitional justice and restorative justice. We are grateful to receive funding support from the University of Regina’s OER Publishing Program Small Project Grant, which enabled us to hire a professional copy editor for the book."Othern