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Investigation of adaptive variation of black spruce in 29-year height growth of Black Spruce in a northwestern Ontario provenance trial
Get PDFSeed sources from across northwestern Ontario were used to establish a black spruce
provenance trial at the former Thunder Bay Forest Nursery located on 25th Sideroad,
Thunder Bay. The heights of these trees were measured at 29 years old. The mean
population heights were examined for patterns of variation between provenances based
on the mean annual temperature of the seed source. Provenance survival percentage was
also calculated. The differences in mean provenance height and provenance survival
percentage were not statistically significant. The results of my study do not support the
hypothesis that height was influenced by the MAT of the seed source location, as no
significant differences in provenance mean height were detected. It is possible that the
lack of ability to detect significant differences among provenances results from errors in
height measurement, as a previous study of the same test found significant differences in
height
Wildlife management on urban golf courses: the case of the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club
Get PDFUrban development has put increasing pressure on public greenspaces and the local
wildlife populations encompassing them. Golf courses are an accessible way for the public to
view the natural environment and wildlife within the limits of urban boundaries. The purpose of
this thesis is to explore the environmental impacts of golf courses on urban wildlife and the
relationship between the public among a few golf courses. Audubon International is an
environmental group focused on preserving the natural environment while incorporating the
heritage of the game of golf. The Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club is a certified course within this
organization and has provided the urban community with multiple initiatives for protecting and
promoting wildlife, water quality and conservation through outreach and education opportunities
Bioconversion of agricultural residues into value-added products by pectinase-producing bacteria and expression of pectinase gene in E. coli for biomass valorization
Get PDFPectinase is a group of enzymes that degrade pectin and is one of the most influential industrial
enzymes, which helps produce varieties of good-quality products. These enzymes are ecofriendly, highly specific, sustainable, and non-toxic. The importance and implications of
pectinases are rising in diverse areas, including bioethanol production, extraction of DNA,
protoplast isolation from a plant, fruit juice industries, wine industries, paper and pulp industries,
and wastewater treatment. Furthermore, pectinases are employed in retting and degumming plant
fiber, preparing animal feed, saccharification and liquefaction of biomass, bio-scouring of cotton
fiber, coffee and tea fermentation, and oil extraction. Therefore, the market demand and
application of pectinases in new sectors are continuously increasing. However, due to the high
substrate cost of growing microorganisms, pectinase production using microorganisms is
limited. [...
Increasing fruit production in wild populations of pawpaw (Asimina Triloba (L) Dunal) trees in southern Ontario
Get PDFThe pawpaw (Asimina triloba (L) Dunal) is a unique native understory tree
species found in the Deciduous and Carolinian forest regions in Southern
Ontario. It is at the edge of its range in Ontario, most of the population exists in
the United States in 26 of the eastern states. It is the only member of the tropical
family Annonaceae to reside in North America and its large drooping leaves
allow it to stand out in a forest setting. The pawpaw tree bears the largest fruit of
any tree species in Ontario. The fruit is tropical in appearance and flavour. It is a
food resource for both humans and wildlife. Studies conducted previously in
pawpaw stands have noted that pollination and the subsequent fruit set have
been low or non-existent. Although there is no concrete evidence suggesting
why this may be, a loss of genetic diversity, habitat fragmentation and
anthropogenic forces such as development may be contributing factors. This
may be especially true for naturally occurring stands in Southern Ontario. Here,
the pawpaw tree has a small population of wild trees. This species has high
value and preservation through efforts such as habitat protection, increased
genetic diversity through plantings, agroforestry, and even assisted migration
could help to improve population numbers. This may help to increase pollination
rates and fruit yields, allowing the pawpaw tree to continue its important role
within the forests of Southern Ontario
Temporal patterns of ungulate vehicle collisions in the Thunder Bay area
Get PDFRising road densities, higher vehicle speed limits, and increased traffic volumes, combined with
growth in the density of various deer species, have increased the risk of wildlife-vehicle
collisions across the world. The result is a great deal of animal suffering, traffic safety problems
and socio-economic costs. The objective of this investigation was to explore trends in vehicle
collisions with moose and white-tailed deer in Thunder Bay and attempt to gain a better
understanding of the temporal variation associated with collisions. Describing their temporal
pattern allows for the development of measures to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions. The
monthly distribution of the 1,332 wild ungulate-related traffic accidents on regional highways
in the Thunder Bay area occurring between January 2011 and December 2021 was not random;
most occurred in May and June, coinciding with the breeding season when juveniles born the
previous year are dispersing. The next most common months for accidents were October and
November, coinciding with the rut. Averaged over the entire eleven years, daily peaks in
accidents occurred more often during dawn and dusk hours, but the trend occurred only for two
of eleven years, suggesting that peaks in deer and moose activity, which should correspond with
these hours, are not consistently responsible for accident risk. Drivers can reduce collision risk
and especially the risk of serious consequences by lowering their speed and by keeping alert for
deer and moose
Examining how early attachment contributes to later romantic relationship quality: the role of emotion regulation and conflict management strategies
Get PDFIndividuals with insecure styles of attachment often have difficulties with emotion regulation and
conflict management and may utilize strategies to manage their emotions or navigate conflict
that are maladaptive and negatively impact the relationship. While many studies cite the
relationship between attachment, emotion dysregulation, conflict management, and romantic
relationship quality, few investigate the association of attachment on romantic relationship
quality with the inclusion of each of these variables altogether. This research aimed to bring
greater clarity to the association between early and current attachment and romantic relationship
quality for individuals in non-married relationships. In study 1, a structural equation model was
tested which hypothesized that insecure attachment would be directly associated with poorer
relationship quality, and indirectly associated through poorer emotion regulation and conflict
management skills. While results largely supported these hypotheses, an unexpected finding
emerged. In this model, emotion dysregulation was positively associated with relationship
quality. Study 2 aimed to understand the relationships between the variables over time through a
diary study design involving 2 reports daily for 7 days. Multi-level models indicated that
attachment was predictive of poorer end of day ratings of relationship satisfaction and intimacy.
In some models, interactions between attachment and conflict engagement and conflict
withdrawal, and between attachment and emotion dysregulation were significant, however,
similar unexpected findings from study 1 emerged (e.g., emotion dysregulation and poor conflict
management predicting higher rates of relationship quality). The findings of both studies
represent a valuable contribution to the vast literature on attachment, provide insight into
individual differences impacting the quality of romantic relationships, and have implications for
individuals or couples seeking therapy
Landscape genetic analysis of population structure and barriers to gene flow in boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou)
Get PDFThis study examines patterns of population genetic structure and gene flow of boreal
woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), which are experiencing declining
population sizes across North America. Compared to previous studies, I used fine-scale
landscape genetic analyses with intensive sampling to identify genetic subdivisions
within a single range and anthropogenic and natural drivers of genetic discontinuity. The
Brightsand Range of Ontario is among the southernmost boreal woodland caribou
populations and contains actively managed and unmanaged forests. This range
provided a unique opportunity to examine the drivers of population subdivision using
fecal DNA samples (n = 788) previously obtained from non-invasive surveys. I used 12
microsatellite markers to investigate genetic diversity, identify patterns of genetic
structure, and delineate barriers to gene flow. I found high connectivity among most
sites, with low but significant population genetic substructure (Fst=0.009, p<0.001). The
Mantel test identified a weak pattern of isolation by distance, and genetic clustering
algorithms failed to identify a biologically meaningful pattern of population substructure.
MEMGENE analysis and multiple regression analysis based on univariate resistances in
CIRCUITSCAPE indicated that wildfires acted as a barrier to gene flow, with sites
separated by burned areas having higher genetic differentiation than expected due to
isolation by distance alone. The POPGRAPH analysis identified genetically isolated sites
among the managed portion of the range, and CIRCUITSCAPE analysis showed that the
range is highly fragmented within the managed portion and contains limited connectivity
corridors, whereas the unmanaged portion had high connectivity throughout. Overall,
this study suggests that boreal woodland caribou are weakly genetically differentiated
across the Brightsand Range, with isolation by distance and isolation by resistance
contributing to variation in allele frequencies. However, while genetic differentiation was
weak, conservation efforts will be required within the managed forest area to reduce the
loss of genetic diversity by improving landscape connectivity
A smart monitoring system for bearing fault detection
Get PDFRolling element bearings are commonly used in rotating machinery to support shafts,
reduce friction, and increase power transmission efficiency. For a machinery system, bearing
fault could be the most possible cause of mechanical failures. If bearing defect can be
detected at its early stage, mechanical performance degradation and even economic losses
can be avoided. Although many signal processing techniques have been proposed in the
literature for bearing fault detection, reliable bearing fault diagnosis is still a challenging task
in this R&D field, especially in industrial applications. The objective of this work is to
develop a smart condition monitoring system and a signal processing technique for bearing
fault detection. Firstly, a Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) based sinusoidal generator
is developed to generate controllable sinusoidal waveforms and explore FPGA’s potential
applications in a data acquisition system to collect vibration signals. Secondly, an adaptive
variational mode decomposition (AVMD) technique is proposed for bearing fault detection.
The AVMD includes several steps in processing: 1) Signal characteristics are analyzed to
determine the signal center frequency and the related parameters. 2) The ensemble-kurtosis
index is suggested to select the optimal intrinsic mode function (IMF) to decompose the
target signal. 3) The envelope spectrum analysis is performed using the selected IMF to
identify the representative features for bearing fault detection. The effectiveness of the
proposed AVMD technique is examined by simulation and experimental tests under different
bearing conditions, with the comparison of other related bearing fault techniques
Localization error bounds for 5G mm-wave systems under hardware impairments
Get PDFLocalization and location aware systems are expected to be counted as one of the main services
of 5G millimeter wave (mmWave) communication systems. mmWave communication
systems are offering a large bandwidth from 30-300 GHz frequency band along with low
latency communications. Although, they use massive number of antennas at their transmitters
and receivers, their transceivers occupy a very small area, in order of centimeters.
These features make 5G mmWave communication systems an exceptional candidate for
the localization services. However, mmWave suffers from some limitations such as high
vulnerability to the environment and hardware deficiency.
The hardware used in mmWave system’s transceivers including power amplifiers and
analog/digital converters, cannot be manufactured perfectly as of high costs. Therefore, it
is highly probabilistic to see a non-linear behavior coming out of the mmWave transceivers,
known as hardware impairments (HWIs). HWIs is generally caused as a result of nonlinearity
of transmitter power amplifier and receiver low noise amplifier (LNA) as well as
analog to digital (ADC) and digital to analog converters (DAC). Moreover, HWIs is the
general form of phase noise and In/Quadrature phase (I/Q) imbalance. Because of the
mmWave’s nature, even a slight shortcoming can cause severe effects on its performance.
This thesis investigates the possible effects of HWIs on the user localization error bounds.
Towards that and focusing on line-of-sight (LOS) path, we derive the Cramer-Rao Lower
Bound (CRLB) for the user equipment (UE)’s location and orientation by starting with
a conventional two dimension (2D) scenario and then, we extend it to the realistic three
dimensional (3D) scenario. [...
Identifying the mental health burden of firefighters in a Northwestern Ontario professional fire service in context of COVID-19
Get PDFMental health disorders are among the top five causes of lost-time and workplace
disability claims among Canadian firefighters, along with traumatic injuries, cancer,
cardiovascular disease, and respiratory disease (Ramsden et al., 2018). Critical incidents (CIs)
are work-related trauma experiences that emergency response personnel are commonly exposed
to that adversely impact mental health (Wagner et al., 2020). Among many other factors, CI
exposures can cause detrimental emotional, psychological, and physiological stress, increasing
the risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Kehl et al., 2014). In a recent study,
91% of firefighters in a local fire service experienced a CI and 86% experienced symptoms of
PTSD (Sinden et al., 2020). Carmassi et al. (2020) identified that the coronavirus disease-2019
(COVID-19) increases the risk for mental health injuries, including PTSD. Other influencing
factors that impact the risk of PTSD include years of service, age, and gender (Del Ben et al.,
2006; Thurnell-Read & Parker, 2008). [...