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Tackling the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons learned and paths forward
Get PDFThis Research Note draws upon the paper I presented at the conference, published in the Manitoba Law Journal, to consider the persisting issues governments face as they continue to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. It critically assesses the development of the responses discussed in our article, as well as the recommendations we provided. These insights may prove valuable as we chart the path forward
Perceptions of marketing teachers regarding sustainability in marketing education: a case study in Canada
Get PDFBroadly, the concept of sustainability provides directions for sustainable development in the
global context whereas sustainability education is referred to as a systemic response to
sustainability issues (Holdsworth & Thomas, 2020). In higher education, business schools train
business leaders who will in turn operate much of the business sector. Business schools therefore
have economic, social and environmental impacts on societies through their training programs.
Particularly, marketing is one major stream of business education that trains marketers for the
business sector. Given the sustainability focus that many universities have adopted (Kemper et
al., 2020a), university teachers play important roles in inculcating sustainability principles of in
students. However, in the context of marketing education, there is little research on how
university teachers perceive sustainability or how that would affect their teaching. This
qualitative case study explores the perceptions of marketing teachers regarding sustainability in
marketing education. A university in Canada is selected as the research site because of its stated
focus on sustainability. The research adopts semi-structured one-on-one interviews with five
teachers specializing in marketing. For data triangulation, marketing course syllabi were
reviewed to enhance the research credibility. Thematic analysis with NVivo identified themes
arising from interview data. [...
The invasion of garlic mustard in North America and control measures
Get PDFThe purpose of this report is to investigate the impact of garlic mustard invasion on
forest and control measures. Invasive species often cause harm to local ecosystems.
Garlic mustard is an invasive herb native to Europe that was brought to North America
in the early 1800s. Its seeds are small and numerous and spread easily. It is one of the
most aggressive invasive species in Ontario. Garlic mustard invades undisturbed
forests and its main effect is to reduce the abundance of soil and root mycorrhizal fungi,
inhibiting the growth of native plants. Garlic mustard alters the diversity and activity
of forest soil microorganisms. And studying the complex population dynamics of
invasive species can help with planning and management. It is also important to choose
appropriate control methods, mechanical control and chemical control (hand pulling,
herbicide, etc.) on garlic mustard treatment effect is not obvious. The introduction of
natural enemies in biological control is an efficient control method. Four weevil
species have great potential in garlic mustard control. The possibility of eradicating
invasive plants can be greatly improved by applying population genetics to biological
control
Assessing the feasibility of low-cost unmanned aerial vehicle data collection and automatic tree detection to determine silviculture stand stocking status in BC
Get PDFThe objective of this research was to evaluate the capabilities and limitations of low-cost UAV-collected silviculture data derived from Digital Aerial Photogrammetric point clouds. Four regenerating forest stands with a mix of planted spruce and lodgepole pine were surveyed using traditional ground plot surveys, aerial plot surveys, and aerial wall-to-wall surveys. A total of 22 systematic grid sampled ground plots were used as the baseline data to compare survey accuracy and efficiency of survey methods. Aerial survey imagery was processed using Pix4D software to produce orthomosaics and elevation data of each stand, which was used by a custom QGIS algorithm to identify stand stocking metrics. [...
Wind-induced pounding of tall buildings
Get PDFPounding of adjacent structures under lateral loads (e.g., earthquake and wind) due to proximity
has been a major cause of building damage in the past. The effects of pounding can be mitigated
by providing a suitable gap distance between structures, adequate shock absorbers or by designing
for the additional pounding loads. However, if not properly considered, these abnormal
supplementary loads can damage the structures, notably when the attentive structure experiences
a dynamic vibration in an out-of-phase order. Multiple pounding incidents have been reported to
occur under lateral loads, which resulted in local and global damages. With the new generation of
tall buildings, which are becoming taller and more flexible, these structures are becoming more
susceptible to wind-induced pounding due to the large sway developed during high wind
problematic affairs. The study first investigates wind-induced pounding forces of two equal height
structures with similar dynamic properties. This will first rely on using Large Eddy Simulation
(LES) modelling for the wind load evaluations. Then, the wind loads will be extracted from the
LES models and applied to a Finite Element Method (FEM) analysis software to determine the
examined structures’ deflections, minimum separation gap distance, and pounding forces. To
correlate a reasonable mathematical formula, training data values must be prepared. This will
include varying values of the structure’s heights, applied wind velocities, flexure of the structure,
and the separation distance between the examined buildings. Lastly, a Genetic Algorithm (GA) is
then utilized with varying parameters of the tall structures to correlate the minimum separation
gap distance and maximum pounding force that can be performed. To achieve a more accurate
mapping for the trained database, the more complex the mathematical formula will be developed
Comparison of stratification and scarification methods of Sorbus decora, Vitis riparia, and Rhus typhina
Get PDFThis thesis investigates the effectiveness of three methods in breaking seed
dormancy of Sorbus decora, Vitis riparia, and Rhus typhina. The treatment methods
studied were mechanical scarification with sandpaper, hydrochloric acid (HCl), and
cold moist stratification. A seed viability float test was performed to establish a
control. Nine Vitis riparia seeds grew seedlings while no growth was observed in any
other treatment method across all species. The results show that to effectively break
seed dormancy and stimulate seed germination, a proper dormancy breaking technique
must be used
Indirect effects of climate change and forest fragmentation on breeding bird abundance in Ontario
No full textFrom data on forest breeding bird species in the Atlas of Breeding Birds of Ontario, this thesis summarizes population changes from 1981 to 2005 and all the direct and indirect
reasons that may lead to the decline of these bird species. The decline and shift in the distribution of forest breeding birds in some parts of Ontario are related to rising temperatures and forest fragmentation caused by climate change
Quantifying the impact of Twitter activity in political battlegrounds
Get PDFIt may be challenging to determine the reach of the information, how well it corresponds with
the domain design, and how to utilize it as a communication medium when utilizing social
media platforms, notably Twitter, to engage the public in advocating a parliament act, or
during a global health emergency. Chapter 3 offers a broad overview of how candidates running in the 2020 US Elections used Twitter as a communication tool to interact with voters.
More precisely, it seeks to identify components related to internal collaboration and public
participation (in terms of content and stance similarity among the candidates from the same
political front and to the official Twitter accounts of their political parties). The 2020 US
Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates from the two main political parties, the Republicans and Democrats, are our main subjects. Along with the content similarity, their tweets
were assessed for social reach and stance similarity on 22 topics. This study complements
previous research on efficiently using social media platforms for election campaigns. Chapter 4 empirically examines the online social associations of the top-10 COVID-19 resilient
nations’ leaders and healthcare institutions based on the Bloomberg COVID-19 Resilience
Ranking. In order to measure the strength of the online social association in terms of public
engagement, sentiment strength, inclusivity and diversity, we used the attributes provided
by Twitter Academic Research API, coupled with the tweets of leaders and healthcare organizations from these nations. Understanding how leaders and healthcare organizations may
utilize Twitter to establish digital connections with the public during health emergencies is
made more accessible by this study. The thesis has proposed methods for efficiently using
Twitter in various domains, utilizing the implementations of various Language Models and
several data mining and analytics techniques
Fracture behavior of fiber-reinforced cemented paste backfill under curing pressure
Get PDFDue to the rapid strength acquisition rate, relatively high solid content, and sustainable reuse of
waste tailings, cement paste backfill (CPB) technology has gradually become a standard practice
in underground mining operations. To improve the engineering behavior and performance of CPB
materials, fiber-reinforced CPB (FR-CPB) has attracted increasing interest over the past decade.
The application of fiber reinforcement can improve the mechanical properties, including the
material strength and ductility, and enhance post-peak resistance. However, the successful
implementation of fiber reinforcement requires the full consideration of field curing conditions.
After placement into underground mined-out voids (called stopes), the massive backfill structure
(with a backfilling height of tens to hundreds of meters) yields a high-level curing pressure under
the gravity effect, which accompanies the development of microstructure and macroscale
mechanical properties of backfill materials from early to advanced ages. Therefore, to accurately
assess the development of mechanical properties and behaviors of FR-CPB, it is essential to fully
consider the effect of curing pressure. Moreover, the previous studies focus mainly on the
conventional geomechanical behaviors, including compressive, tensile, and shear behaviors, of
FR-CPB materials based on the elastoplastic theory. As a result, the previous studies aim to
correlate the permanent deformation and material degradation and thus evaluate and design
backfill materials for their engineering applications. However, as a type of cementitious material,
the brittle response and the associated catastrophic failure of the CPB matrix are governed by the
crack growth. Through crack propagation and coalescence, the degradation of mechanical
properties occurs and may lead to material failure at the macroscale. [...
Segmented hollow core photonic crystal fiber as a gas cell
Get PDFDeveloping a unique gas cell based on hollow core photonic crystal fiber (HC-
PCF) improving its ability to be used in measurements which require higher temporal
resolution. Traditional HC-PCF is an excellent candidate for a gas cell due to its
extremely small filling volume combined with its small footprint, however a detriment it
suffers from is an extraordinarily long fill and evacuation time, a matter of hours for cells
surpassing 10 m. The HC-PCF in this work was segmented into smaller lengths, with
each segment allowing gas to enter and exit the fiber. By stringing multiple segments of
HC-PCF together one can increase to overall length of the gas cell, thus lowering the
detection limit of the system, without increasing the fill and evacuation time required to
saturate the HC-PCF with gas. By segmenting HC-PCF the fill time can be reduced to a
matter of minutes, which makes it an attractive candidate for use in a remote monitoring
setting due to the fact that it can operate in the telecommunications band, reducing the
cost of implementing such a system, as well as operating at room temperature, removing
the need to power an active cooling system