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Exploring women-led peace efforts among local communities: a case study of Goma, Eastern Congo
No full textCapturing the experiences and roles of women in conflict zones remains a significant challenge in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This is partly because women-led peace initiatives are poorly understood, a situation that can be attributed to several factors. First, research on the intersection of gender, conflict, and peace is limited, particularly regarding how gender equality impacts peacebuilding efforts. Second, the complex and dynamic nature of women’s peacebuilding experiences in different social contexts is rarely documented. This is partly because gendered responsibilities often shape peacebuilding agency, with women’s actions typically aligning with societal norms. Third, the informal roles that women undertake in peacebuilding are frequently overlooked. These roles are often performed by ordinary, often uneducated women who engage in everyday peace processes but remain unrecognized due to their lower social status.
To address these gaps, this dissertation examines women-led peace efforts within local communities in Eastern Congo. Specifically, it analyses how women contribute to peacebuilding and how their efforts are perceived by those around them. The study employs a qualitative case study approach, drawing on interviews with 14 women peacebuilders and 3 men. These interviews explore the participants’ experiences, roles, and challenges in peacebuilding. The dissertation adopts a theoretical framework situated at the intersection of African feminism, Ubuntu, and the Ethics of Care. This framework allows for a nuanced understanding of the formality and informality of women’s roles in peacebuilding at the community level, how they engage with and navigate socio-cultural issues that act as both a community bond and a barrier to achieving particular peace goals. This includes the power relations that underpin the patriarchal systems, which are prevalent in many African societies.
Despite the significant challenges associated with implementing Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) policies, the findings suggest that these policies benefit certain women peacebuilders in particular. They not only inform their work but also serve as a vital reference for emphasizing the role of women as active agents in peacebuilding. Furthermore, some peacebuilders have translated these policies into local languages to improve community understanding. However, a significant gap remains; not all women peacebuilders are aware of these policies, and there is often resistance to foreign initiatives, particularly when they do not align with local realities.
The findings of this dissertation highlight the challenges that exist in Eastern Congo, such as deep-seated mistrust between and among communities. Although people may share physical spaces, they are often divided by tribal and political affiliations often create barriers to genuine community interaction. Despite pervasive social norms and the effects of patriarchy, the findings also show that Congolese women are remarkably resilient in their peacebuilding efforts. They are actively combating sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), advocating for women’s rights, and contributing to community-based peace initiatives. These efforts are deeply shaped by the socio-cultural conditions in which they live, highlighting the interplay between structural constraints and individual agency. The study also reveals that women affected by SGBV often find it easier to open up to other women, particularly within women-led groups. This level of trust highlights the pivotal role women play in supporting victims of abuse.
Furthermore, the findings show that, despite traditional gender roles being deeply entrenched in the communities where the research took place, these women are challenging societal norms and demonstrating their critical role in promoting peace and social cohesion in conflict-affected communities. This challenges the conventional notion that women play a passive role in peacebuilding processes in conflict zones. The findings also suggest that women are increasingly optimistic about challenging regressive customs and practices through dialogue and informal discussions with community leaders. Women peacebuilders are gradually building trust within local communities, thereby increasing the effectiveness of their awareness-raising efforts. This demonstrates how women navigate through cultural norms to exercise their peacebuilding agency.
Overall, this dissertation contributes to both the academic and policy discourse on gender, peace and conflict by reframing women as active agents in peacebuilding and offering insights to strengthen the agency of individual women peacebuilders and that of women-led peacebuilding organizations in achieving long-term peace goals. The dissertation also contributes to the broader discussions on the need to understand the everyday peace efforts of ordinary citizens in achieving peace goals, rather than focusing solely on macro-level peace deals that take place at the state level, which often do not consider micro-level contexts of peace
Experimental Evaluation of Knee Exoskeleton Interface Mechanisms
No full textMobility loss or impairment, whether due to injury, disease, or aging, affects quality of life, leads to poorer healthcare outcomes, diminished life satisfaction, and increased healthcare costs. Exoskeletons, mechanical devices worn to assist or augment the wearer’s capabilities, are a method to mitigate these negative outcomes. They can reduce strain and injuries associated with physical activities or restore mobility to those affected by impairments. A major challenge for exoskeletons is ensuring user comfort. Literature indicates that comfort is crucial for their adoption. Discomfort often arises from a mismatch between the user’s natural motion and the mechanical motion of the exoskeleton, causing excessive compression or shear on the user’s limbs. One proposed solution is to add passive degrees of freedom between the user and the exoskeleton to better match their movements. While this has shown promise in simulations, experimental verification is lacking. This research experimentally verified if adding passive degrees of freedom to knee exoskeletons improves user comfort and to determine their optimal stiffness and orientation. To test this, modular connection mechanisms were developed to allow motion between the exoskeleton frame and cuffs in one degree of freedom while restricting others. These mechanisms could be configured to add some stiffness to the active degree of freedom. The connection mechanisms were tested on both a leg phantom and on a human participant. During testing, interface pressures between the limb and the cuff, as well as limb and exoskeleton positions, were measured to compare different configurations. The results support adding passive translation along the axis of the shank as well as in the transverse axis of the shank. However, the leg phantom had limited predictive ability, highlighting the need for human studies to be conducted where possible. Further research is necessary to better characterize the effect of passive degrees of freedom through human trials
Machine Learning Coupled Potential Energy Surfaces
No full textRecent advancements in machine learning (ML) for potential energy surfaces (PESs) have yielded promising results, with much of the focus on isolated ground-state surfaces. Extending machine learning to coupled excited state surfaces introduces significant challenges, however, particularly in regions of conical intersections. At these points, the adiabatic potentials are non-differentiable, complicating the application of standard ML techniques. In this work, we build on a previously proposed approach that overcomes this issue by learning the nuclear coordinate dependent characteristic polynomial coefficients of the potential matrix instead, which enables the construction of smooth, accurate machine learning models even at seams of conical intersections.
The proposed approach is first validated at the ab initio multi-reference configuration interaction (MRCI) level of theory for various molecules. We examine the ability of the proposed model to accurately reproduce energies near a minimum energy conical intersection (MECI) and analyze its performance in capturing seams of conical intersection against analytical MRCI solutions. The results demonstrate that, through this approach, quantitatively accurate machine learning models of seams of conical intersection may be constructed.
We further demonstrate the application of this framework to the combined density functional theory and multi-reference configuration interaction (DFT/MRCI) method. The selected configuration interaction nature of the method enables the calculation of accurate excitation energies at a low computational cost. However, the potential energy surfaces produced resemble smooth underlying surfaces contaminated with noise, rendering them locally non smooth. To mitigate this, we treat the local discontinuities in the potential surfaces as noise by explicitly optimizing a whitenoise kernel within a Gaussian process regression framework. We apply this method to optimize DFT/MRCI minimum energy conical intersection geometries and compare the results to ab initio MRCI solutions. While treating the locally discontinuous surface as noise limits the ability to achieve arbitrarily small energy gap at nominal intersections, the structures and branching spaces obtained are in strong agreement with ab initio data. This approach thus proves to be a viable method for generating smooth, accurate representations of DFT/MRCI(2) PESs
Le sport comme moyen de "redonner" au Boys and Girls Club d'Ottawa, aux Jeux de l'Acadie et aux Arctic Winter Games
No full textCette recherche a pour but de déterminer comment les anciens participants devenus jeunes leaders ou gestionnaires « redonnent » par leur engagement dans les programmes sportifs de trois organisations communautaires (le Boys and Girls Club d’Ottawa, les Jeux de l’Acadie et les Arctic Winter Games). Elle aborde un questionnement pertinent, mais encore peu défriché pour savoir à qui, mais aussi pourquoi ces anciens participants « redonnent » et comment ils font sens de leur rôle et leur subjectivité. Par leur engagement, ces bénévoles et employés assurent la pérennité du sport communautaire. L’analyse des discours des jeunes leaders et gestionnaires des trois organisations a permis de mieux comprendre qu’ils s’engagent principalement pour favoriser le développement des jeunes, tout en restant investis dans une communauté importante pour eux. Toutefois, les participants évoquent divers types de communautés. Pour certains, c’est une communauté locale comme une ville, une région ou un quartier; pour d’autres, c’est plutôt un regroupement autour d’une culture, une langue, ou même un sport. Certains jeunes leaders et gestionnaires soulignent également un intérêt envers un sport en particulier et le développement sportif des jeunes, mais cet intérêt sportif prend tout de même un rôle secondaire au développement des jeunes
Implementation processes and capacity-building needs in Ontario maternal-newborn care hospital settings: a cross-sectional survey
No full textAbstract Background Maternal-newborn care does not always align with the best available evidence. Applying implementation science to change initiatives can help move evidence-informed practices into clinical settings. However, it remains unknown to what extent current implementation practices in maternal-newborn care align with recommendations from implementation science, and how confident nurses, other health professionals, and leaders are completing steps in the implementation process. We aimed to understand Ontario maternal-newborn teams’ (1) approaches to implementing practice changes and the extent to which their implementation processes aligned with an implementation science planned-action framework; and (2) perceptions of importance and confidence completing implementation activities. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional survey between September–November 2023. Using purposive sampling, we invited Ontario maternal-newborn nurses, other healthcare professionals, and leaders who had experience participating in or leading implementation projects to complete an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was informed by an implementation science framework, which includes three core phases (identify issue; build solutions; implement, evaluate, sustain). The questions probed respondents’ perceptions of frequency of completion, importance, and confidence for each of the 28 implementation activities. We used descriptive statistics for the closed-ended questions and grouped the written responses into categories. Results We received 73 responses from 57 Ontario maternal-newborn hospitals, the majority being nurses in point-of-care and leadership roles. Nearly all respondents agreed that each of the 28 implementation activities were important. Respondents reported always completing a median of 8 out of 28 activities, with the number of activities completed declining from phase 1 through to 3. Most respondents indicated they were somewhat confident completing the implementation activities and agreed their teams would benefit from increasing their knowledge and skills to use an evidence-informed approach to implementing practice changes. Conclusions Despite viewing implementation activities as important, many teams are not consistently doing them and lack confidence, particularly in later phases of the implementation process. These findings inform where further capacity-building and supports may be needed to enable maternal-newborn nurses, other healthcare professionals, and leaders to apply implementation science to their change initiatives
Interactive Voice Response Technology and Surgical Monitoring for Cardiac Patients in Pre-Habilitation and Post-Surgery: Evidence of Impacts on Process and Outcomes of Care
No full textAbstract
Background: In cardiac surgery, poorer health-related quality of life (HRQOL) after surgery has been associated with worse survival outcomes. However, it is unclear how HRQOL is impacted by a combination of a cardiac surgical procedure and a patient health optimizing process prior to surgery known as “prehabilitation”. This study addresses this area by investigating changes in HRQOL among cardiac surgery patients undergoing prehabilitation.
Methods: Prehabilitation program patients (n=460) awaiting coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery over a 31-month period were included in the study. All patients completed the 12-item short-form (SF-12; physical component scale, PCS-12; and mental component scale, MCS-12) health survey HRQOL questionnaire at 1-day post-program enrolment (pre-surgery) and at 3-months post-CABG surgery discharge via automated interactive voice response (IVR) system call. Patients were stratified by whether they raised a flag in the pre-surgery IVR call, indicating need for prehabilitation intervention.
Results: Before surgery, non-flagged patients (i.e., no intervention needed pre-surgery) (n=129) had a statistically significant higher median MCS-12 score than flagged patients (n=331); PCS-12 score difference pre-surgery was statistically insignificant. After discharge, median MCS-12 and PCS-12 scores increased for both groups. but only the PCS-12 score difference was statistically significant. However, no significant differences in ranked change scores for MCS-12 and PCS-12 were noted, indicating comparable effects post-surgery.
Conclusion: HRQOL for patients needing prehabilitation intervention improved and was comparable to non-flagged patients’ HRQOL post-discharge. Since flagged patients had lower mental HRQOL than non-flagged patients’ pre-surgery, IVR-enabled prehabilitation improved mental wellbeing by providing a feeling of security and involvement in their health
Psychological, Social, and Behavioural Mediators of the Link Between Obesity and Depression in Childhood and Adolescence: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
No full textYoung people with obesity are significantly more likely to experience depression than their lower weight peers (Quek et al., 2017; Sutaria et al., 2019). This is problematic, as both conditions track into adulthood (Alberga et al., 2012; Thapar et al., 2012) and their comorbidity is associated with poor health and treatment outcomes (McElroy, 2015). The mechanisms through which obesity may contribute to depression are poorly understood. Uncovering these processes could provide targets for treatment and prevention that would improve outcomes for children and youth in larger bodies. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to identify these mechanisms, by synthesizing and critically appraising the scientific evidence examining psychological, social, and behavioural mediators of the link between weight status and depressive symptoms in this population. Methods: MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and PubMed were systematically searched using a peer-reviewed strategy. Eligible reports used formal mediation analysis or causal modelling to assess the impact of any psychological, social, and/or behavioural variable(s) on the association between weight status and depressive symptoms in children and youth between five and 18 (22) years. Clinical samples and intervention trials were excluded. Quantitative (random-effects meta-regressions and subgroup analysis) and qualitative (statistical vote counting) methods were employed to synthesize the body of evidence for each outcome, the strength of which was rated using a structured framework. Results: 19 reports were included, yielding 43 effects eligible for inclusion in quantitative and/or qualitative synthesis. Results identified a small, statistically significant average indirect effect of all investigated mediators. Gender did not significantly moderate mediation pathways, with many mechanisms showing similar strength of effect for boys and girls. Insufficient evidence was available with which to evaluate developmental stage and culture as moderators of mediation pathways. Partial support was found for the validity of the gender additive model of depression (GAM; Stice & Bearman, 2001) in explaining the link between weight status and depression: a small, statistically significant effect was found for GAM variables, though no effects were reported for 'pressure to be thin' or 'thin ideal internalization' and effects were not significantly different than those of non-GAM variables. Cognitive, social, and behavioural mediators were found to have similar magnitudes of effect, suggesting that clinical assessment and intervention target all three of these areas. Body dissatisfaction, teasing, and dieting were highlighted as individual mediators warranting clinical attention, though the strength of this evidence was generally rated low, signalling a need for further research in this area
Dose-response associations of device-measured sleep regularity and duration with incident dementia in 82391 UK adults
No full textAbstract Background Sleep is a crucial lifestyle factor with impacts on mental and cognitive health. The associations between objectively measured sleep and risk of incident dementia are not yet fully understood. To evaluate the associations of device-measured sleep duration and regularity with incident dementia and explore whether sleep regularity moderates the association of sleep duration with dementia. Methods Population-based prospective cohort study of 82,391 adults aged 43 to 79 years from the UK Biobank accelerometry subsample, collected between 2013 and 2015, followed up to 2022. Device-based sleep duration (h/day) and sleep regularity index (SRI), a metric ranging from 0-100 that quantifies a person’s sleep regularity (with a greater value indicating higher consistency), were calculated from wrist-worn accelerometry data recorded over the course of one week. Incident all-cause dementia cases were obtained from national hospital admission, primary care and mortality data followed up to 30 November 2022. We used Cox proportional hazard models to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) for incident dementia after adjustment for common demographic and clinical covariates. Results Over a mean follow-up of 7.9 years, 694 incident dementia cases occurred. We observed a U-shaped association between sleep duration and incident dementia, with only short sleep (< 7 h) being significantly associated with a higher risk of dementia. The median sleep duration for short sleepers (< 7 h) of 6.5 h, compared to the reference point of 7.9 h was associated with HR of 1.19 (95%CI 1.01,1.40) for incident dementia. Sleep regularity was negatively associated with dementia risk in a near-linear fashion (linear p = 0.01, non-linear p = 0.57). When we dichotomized sleep regularity, those in the higher sleep regularity group (SRI ≥ 70) had an HR of 0.74 (95%CI 0.63, 0.87) compared to those with lower sleep regularity (SRI < 70). The beneficial associations between sleep regularity and incident dementia were present only among participants with short (< 7 h) and long (≥ 8 h) sleep duration. Conclusions Assuming that the associations we observed are causal, maintaining a regular sleep pattern may help offset the deleterious association of inadequate sleep duration with dementia. Interventions aimed at improving sleep regularity may be a viable option for people not able to achieve the recommended hours of sleep
Consolidation and Strength Characteristics of Densified Polymer-Paste Tailings Mixture as Waste Containment Barrier Materials
No full textDuring mining operations, substantial quantities of ore undergo processing to extract valuable metals. However, this extraction process inevitably generates a significant amount of waste, commonly known as tailings. These tailings, upon exposure, can pose considerable environmental risks due to their toxicity. Specifically, the high sulfur and heavy metal content of many tailings render them susceptible to acid generation, thus presenting a hazard to the surrounding environment. Consequently, tailings are often classified as hazardous materials. Recognizing the environmental challenges posed by conventional tailings disposal methods, particularly the risks associated with exposure and contamination, the mining and civil engineering sectors have endeavored to develop alternative strategies for managing and utilizing this waste material. One such strategy that has garnered attention is cemented paste backfilling (CPB).
Cemented Paste Backfilling (CPB) is an engineered material composed of approximately 2-7% binder, 15-30% water, and 70-85% tailings. CPB offers a compelling alternative to traditional tailings disposal methods, providing both environmental and operational advantages. By managing tailings in a manner that reduces their hazardous properties, CPB promotes more sustainable and safer mining practices. However, despite its broad adoption and numerous benefits, CPB technology has its limitations. Specifically, it can only utilize up to 60% of the tailings produced by mining activities for underground backfilling.
To further minimize tailings from the mining industry, their conversion into barrier material (liner, cover), known as SAP-paste tailings or SAP-pastefill, for waste containment facilities, is an effective strategy after CPB. This involves blending dewatered tailings with water and a superabsorbent polymer (SAP), creating a material with low hydraulic conductivity due to the nature of paste tailings and the high swelling capacity of SAP. Compacted SAP-paste tailings (PP) exhibit hydraulic conductivity below the required minimum for barrier design in waste containment facilities. Utilizing non-acidic, cement-free paste tailings for barrier materials (liners or covers) in these facilities, whether municipal, mining, or industrial, also necessitates a thorough evaluation of their mechanical properties, such as consolidation behavior and shear strength, by mining and civil engineers. While compacted PP shows promising hydraulic properties, its mechanical characteristics essential for barrier functionality are not well understood, as no studies have assessed these aspects. Effective waste containment facility design is crucial for managing and reducing the environmental risks associated with industrial waste disposal.
Therefore, this study investigates the consolidation behavior and shear strength properties of an innovative tailings barrier made of Superabsorbent Polymer (SAP) designed for waste containment facilities. Different percentages (0.0, 0.2, 0.5%) of a superabsorbent polymer (SAP) were incorporated into the tailings. The study also explores the impact of freeze and thaw cycles on consolidation and shear strength behavior (0, 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10 cycles) of the SAP-paste tailing.
To enhance the barrier properties, the SAP-paste mixture undergoes comprehensive laboratory testing. Oedometer tests are conducted to examine settlement over time under various stress conditions, revealing the consolidation behavior. Additionally, direct shear tests assess shear strength characteristics, providing insights into the material's resistance to sliding and deformation under different normal stresses.
Results indicate that increasing SAP content accelerates the consolidation process and affects the shear strength characteristics of the compacted SAP-paste tailings mixture. Initially, the material's shear strength rises with increasing SAP content up to 2% but declines when SAP content reaches 5%. This demonstrates that the shear strength of SAP-paste tailings fill is highly dependent on SAP concentration. Specifically, the cohesion angle increases with higher SAP content, whereas the friction angle decreases as SAP content rises. Therefore, careful testing and optimization of SAP content are essential to achieve the desired performance of SAP-paste tailing barriers in waste containment. Furthermore, when subjected to freeze/thaw cycles, the SAP paste tailing mixture exhibits increased strength and solid content initially, followed by a decrease in strength and solid content after a certain number of cycles. The lower solid content influences material compressibility, leading to higher initial void ratios with increasing cycles.
In conclusion, this study suggests that SAP paste tailing barrier materials have promising performance properties for barrier construction in waste containment facilities. The result of this study can help to further optimize mixtures and further reduce waste in mining. This study is also intended to open windows to new recycled materials and thus reduce harmful impacts on the environment. However, when using SAP paste tailings as a barrier, careful consideration of the climate is essential, particularly in cold regions, given their long-term application
Feminist Foreign Policy and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: A Critical Analysis of Canada's Engagement in Zambia
No full textDespite the commitments to local ownership enshrined in the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, donors often prioritize funding global health issues that resonate with their domestic, political, and foreign policy agendas, which do not always align with the priorities of domestic actors in recipient countries. Recent calls for the decolonization of global health have highlighted the unequal power relations and patterns of coloniality inherent in aid relationships. In Canada, research has shown how, domestic, economic, and foreign policy interests influence global health policy. However, there has been less research examining the extent to which Canada's approaches support locally owned, contextually appropriate programming for sexual and reproductive health and rights in recipient countries, in the context of its Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) and critiques of coloniality in international development. Using Zambia as a case study, and qualitative, field-based methods, this thesis addresses this gap by examining Canada's support for sexual and reproductive health and rights and the extent to which it addresses structural barriers. It makes three arguments: 1) Canada's aid approach in Zambia only tangentially addresses the underlying structural drivers of sexual and reproductive health risk, such as poverty, violence and under resourcing in health facilities; 2) legal and policy ambiguities create space for norm spoiling and the delegitimization of sexual and reproductive health and rights; and 3) Canada's failure to implement an antiracist approach in the FIAP shatters its self-portrait as a feminist state, and reveals its moral and policy inconsistencies. The thesis contributes to conceptualizing an anticolonial feminist foreign policy, bridging analyses of power, feminist foreign policy and colonial patterns in international development. It argues that anticolonial feminist foreign policy is explicitly antiracist; pays attention to the interpretations, actors and spaces in which intersectionality is applied; and adopts a sexual and reproductive justice lens. As such, the thesis makes an important contribution to critical development scholarship on the role of feminist foreign policy in protecting sexual and reproductive health and rights; advancing antiracist praxis; and creating space for context-specific approaches to ownership and decolonization in development