1722 research outputs found
Sort by
Proclaiming Arkadians: A Case Study in Social Identity and the Olympic Games
Get PDFThis paper analyzes the role of social and political identity in two Arkadian epigrams from Classical Olympia. By examining these epigrams in light of contemporary so-ciology and as complex literary texts in their own right, the paper reveals that epi -grams play a role in the establishment of Hellenic and sub-Hellenic identities. CEG 381 posits a narrative wherein Oresthasion was visited by the theoroi, and in which an ethnic identifier can be situated as part of the proclamation. The epigram demon -strates the necessity of a diverse audience for the construction of effective identities. CEG 383 underlines the civic identity of the victor and the similarity of father and son through its periphrastic reference to the father’s name. By connecting this decla-ration to Mantinean synoikism, the paper suggests that the epigram does not simply reflect the synoikist movement, but could be the catalyst for the foundation of the urban centre
Empowering Churchill: Exploring energy security in northern Manitoba
Get PDFTo those living in Churchill, Manitoba, having power means much more than being able to turn on the lights. Using Churchill as a case study, we examine how local context can improve the suitability of energy security definitions for communities in northern Canada. Churchill is an isolated northern municipality with no road access but is connected to the electrical grid. Energy consumption data were collected from utility providers and organized into a community energy profile. Semi-structured interviews (n = 23) and a community workshop (n = 12) identified challenges, opportunities, and a vision for Churchill’s energy system. High per capita energy consumption, especially of transportation (jet fuel) and heat (electricity and propane) sources dominate Churchill’s energy profile. The reliance on air travel and need for heating are realities that define energy systems in the North. Participants expressed desire for increased use of renewables and improved energy efficiency. Churchill is reliant on external sources of power and there is a need for agency and local decision making. Jurisdictional realities and the community’s desire for consideration of local context mean energy security definitions should take a regional approach. Recognizing these findings, we propose a new definition of energy security that fits the circumstances and desires of Churchill and the North."This research was supported by the University of Winnipeg, the Northern Research Fund, the Northern Scientific Training Program, the Geography and Environmental Students’ Association, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through the CASES partnership grant, and the Manitoba Public Interest Law Centre."https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/7505
A Spatial Analysis Evaluation of DeltaGard®20EW Operational Efficacy in Winnipeg, Manitoba for Adult Mosquito Control
Get PDFBackground: Mosquito abatement includes the management and surveillance of nuisance and potential vector mosquitoes. The major nuisance mosquito in Winnipeg, Manitoba is Ae. vexans, a floodwater mosquito. The City of Winnipeg Insect Control Branch uses surveillance, source elimination, larvicide, and adulticide in their mosquito abatement program. Adulticide application is the last resort when the other methods are not sufficient. This study tested DeltaGard®20EW adulticide efficacy operationally on wild mosquitoes in Winnipeg, Manitoba as a replacement for the previously used Malathion 95ULV® while considering the effect of landscape features. Methods: New Jersey Light and Centre for Disease Control mosquito trap data from July 2010 and July 2020 were used to statistically detect changes in adult mosquito activity before and after treatment with Malathion 95®ULV (2010) and DeltaGard®20EW (2020). Landscape features surrounding traps that were frequently mosquito hot spots and traps that were never hot spots were compared by applying spatial analysis tools. Kriging analysis was performed to estimate changes in mosquito activity citywide. Wing lengths were used as a proxy for adult mosquito body size to determine if body size is positively correlated with mosquito longevity. Results: No significant difference was detected when comparing post-spray mosquito trap counts in treated and untreated (experimental control) locations in July 2010 or July 2020. When daily changes in mosquito activity were analyzed in the treatment group, a significant decrease in mosquito activity was detected in the group treated with Malathion 95ULV® the day after treatment with the effect lasting for two days. No significant daily changes in mosquito activity were detected after DeltaGard®20EW application. There were no significant differences between mosquito activity hot spot locations and non-hot spot locations when tree density, proximity to rivers, proximity to parks/open spaces, or parks/opem spaces density were analyzed spatially. However, hot spots were found to have more trees in a 50m radius and to be closer to rivers. A significant positive correlation between longevity and adult mosquito body size (Ae. vexans) was detected. Conclusions: The lack of significance when comparing traps in areas treated with DeltaGard®20EW and untreated areas indicates that changes may be due to natural background fluctuations in mosquito activity and population. Significant daily decreases in mosquito activity in the treatment groups were detected the day following Malathion 95ULV® treatment. The lack of significance in the DeltaGard®20EW trials may be due to issues with modelling like a lack of untreated trap locations for comparison, a starting population that was too low to detect significant changes, a lack of specific knowledge about the cumulative egg bank and Ae. vexans biology, too few trap locations, traps being placed strategically instead of randomly, the challenge of measuring background mosquito activity and population dynamics, and a lack of meteorological and landscape data specific to trap locations. Measuring adulticide efficacy in wild mosquitoes and creating models to analyze changes in their activity is challenging. A significant positive correlation between longevity and adult mosquito body size was detected for Ae. vexans mosquitoes, although further research should track specific cohorts of mosquitoes over time.City of Winnipeg, University of WinnipegMaster of Science in Bioscience, Technology, and Public Polic
3D Convolutional Neural Networks for Solving Complex Digital Agriculture and Medical Imaging Problems
Get PDF3D signals have become widely popular in view of the advantage they provide via 3D representations of data by employing a third spatial or temporal dimension to extend 2D signals. Predominantly, 3D signals contain details inexistent in their 2D counterparts such as the depth of an image, which is inherent to point clouds (PC), or the temporal evolution of an image, which is inherent to time series data such as videos. Despite this advantage, 3D models are still underexploited in machine learning (ML) compared to 2D signals, mainly due to data scarcity. In this thesis, we exploit and determine the efficiency and influence of using both multispectral PCs and time-series data with 3D convolutional neural networks (CNNs). We evaluate the performance and utility of these networks and data in the context of two applications from the areas of digital agriculture and medical imaging. In particular, multispectral PCs are investigated for the problem of fusarium-head-blight (FHB) detection and total number of spikelets estimation, while time-series echocardiography are investigated for the problem of myocardial infarction (MI) detection. In the context of the digital agriculture application, two state-of-the-art datasets were created, namely the UW-MRDC WHEAT-PLANT PC dataset, consisting of 216 multispectral PC of wheat plants, and the UW-MRDC WHEAT-HEAD PC dataset, consisting of 80 multispectral PC of wheat heads. Both dataset samples were acquired using a multispectral 3D scanner. Moreover, a real-time parallel GPU-enabled preprocessing method, that runs 1065 times faster than its CPU counterpart, was proposed to convert multispectral PCs into multispectral 3D images compatible with CNNs. Also, the UW-MRDC WHEAT-PLANT PC dataset was used to develop novel and efficient 3D CNNs for disease detection to automatically identify wheat infected with FHB from multispectral 3D images of wheat plants. In addition, the influence of the multispectral information on the detection performance was evaluated, and our results showed the dominance of the red, green, and blue (RGB) colour channels over both the near-infra-red (NIR) channel and RGB and NIR channels combined. Our best model for FHB detection in wheat plants achieved 100% accuracy. Furthermore, the UW-MRDC WHEAT-HEAD PC dataset was used to develop unique and efficient 3D CNNs for total number of spikelets estimation in multispectral 3D images of wheat heads, in addition to adapting three benchmark 2D CNN architectures to 3D images to achieve the same purpose. Our best model for total number of spikelets estimation in wheat head achieved 1.13 mean absolute error, meaning that, on average, the difference between the estimated number of spikelets and the actual value is equal to 1.13. Our 3D CNN for FHB detection in wheat achieved the highest accuracy amongst existing FHB detection models, and our 3D CNN for total number of spikelets estimation in wheat is a unique and pioneer application. These results suggest that replacing arduous tasks that require the input of field experts and significant temporal resources with automated ML models in the context of digital agriculture is feasible and promising. In the context of the medical imaging application, an innovative, real-time, and fully automated pipeline based on 2D and 3D CNNs was proposed for early detection of MI, which is a deadly cardiac disorder, from a patient’s echocardiography. The developed pipeline consists of a 2D CNN that performs data preprocessing by segmenting the left ventricle (LV) chamber from the apical 4-chamber (A4C) view from an echocardiography, followed by a 3D CNN that performs MI detection in real-time. The pipeline was trained and tested on the HMC-QU dataset consisting of 162 echocardiography. The 2D CNN achieved 97.18% accuracy on data segmentation, and the 3D CNN achieved 90.9% accuracy, 100% precision, 95% recall, and 97.2% F1 score. Our detection results outperformed existing state-of-the-art models that were tested on the HMC-QU dataset for MI detection. Moreover, our results demonstrate that developing a fully automated system for LV segmentation and MI detection is efficient and propitious and could enable the creation of a tool that reliably suggests the presence of MI in a given echocardiography on the fly. All the empirical results achieved in our thesis indicate the efficiency and reliability of 3D signals, that are multispectral PCs and videos, in developing detection and regression 3D CNN models that can achieve accurate and reliable results.Mitacs, EMILI, NSERC, Western Diversification Canada, The Faculty of Graduate Studies.Master of Science in Applied Computer Scienc
Tongue-Tied by Authorities: Library of Congress Vocabularies and the Shakespeare Authorship Question
Get PDFDespite the existence of a vast literature reflecting hundreds of years of scholarship questioning the authorship of the works of Shakespeare, the conventional Library of Congress Name Authority File and Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) are unable to accurately describe this literature owing to their assumption that the author was William Shakspere of Stratford-upon-Avon. Adopting a pragmatic, philosophically realist perspective based in social epistemology, this article highlights past and current deficiencies in the authority records concerning Shakespeare and proposes changes that would better reflect the nature and purpose of this literature, as well as the historic signifiers of the named persons in question.10.1080/01639374.2022.212447
Translanguaging and trans-semiotizing for critical Integration of content and language in plurilingual educational settings
Get PDFArising in Europe in the early 1990s, content and language integrated learning (CLIL) has become a popular educational approach. CLIL involves a dual focus on content and language learning with an additional language used as the medium of instruction. Although CLIL has received much attention and spread widely around the world, there is limited discussion that critically examines CLIL in relation to its core construct of integration between content and language learning. In particular, the phrasing of ‘content and language integrated learning’ gestures towards viewing language and content as separate entities. With these fundamental issues in mind, we discuss ways in which translanguaging pedagogies can provide a fruitful direction towards a critical integration of content and language learning in multilingual settings. With a view to contributing to a dynamic integration of content and language learning, we argue that CLIL pedagogies informed by translanguaging allow fluidity in meaning-making practices and critically re-examine the construct of language in CLIL. This approach responds to recent calls for more critical approaches to CLIL in order to challenge ‘English-only’/target-language-only pedagogies, ‘native-(English-)speakerism’, and unequal power relations between content and language teachers in many CLIL programs. Implications of this approach to CLIL classrooms in diverse settings are also discussed."This work is supported by Angel M. Y. Lin's Tier 1 Canada Research Chair (CRC) grant in Plurilingual and Intercultural Education (950-231629, GT# 21961)."https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/0033688222111448
Pelleted manure compost improves mine spoil properties enhancing plant growth and phyto-stabilization of potentially toxic metals
Get PDFFeedlotmanure is rich in plant nutrients and can immobilize potentially toxic metals. However, pelleted manure compost as an amendment material in mine spoils (chat) is not well studied. This study was conducted to investigate the impact of pelleted cattle manure on improving chat properties facilitating phyto-stabilization and the establishment of grasses. A greenhouse pot experiment was conducted with unamended and amended chat (lime treated) with pelleted manure at three rates (60, 120, and 180 Mg ha−1) with and without bentonite (B), using two native grasses, switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) and wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii (Rydb.) A. Löve). Leachates from pots were collected periodically until harvest. Nutrients and metal concentrations were measured in chat treatments, and metal concentrations were measured in plant tissues and leachates. Manure-amended chat reduced leachate Cd and Zn on average by >75% and >80%, respectively. Above-ground dry matter yield increased by >2.5-fold and >4-fold, respectively, in switchgrass and wheatgrass with the increase of 3-fold manure rate. The manure rate at 180 Mg ha−1 reduced plant Cd and Zn by 50% and 20%, respectively, in wheatgrass, and 30% and no reduction, respectively, in switchgrass, compared to the 60 Mg ha−1 manure rate. Overall, pelleted manure compost significantly increased available nutrients and decreased available metals in amended chat, with no significant effect of B. This study indicated that pelleted manure, preferably at 180 Mg ha−1 rate with lime, can be used in acidic metal-contaminated chat to facilitate the establishment of perennial native grasses and reduce the potentially toxic metal availability."The authors thank the Department of Agronomy at Kansas State University for providing the facilities and materials to conduct this research. The first author received the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Fellowship and wishes to acknowledge the USA Fulbright Program for funding the visit to Kansas State University. We acknowledge the University of Winnipeg for financial support for the publication of research."https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/cjss-2021-015
Surveys and Other Methods in Action Research
No full textThis session presented by Dr. Jerry Buckland focused on providing insight into how to conduct action-oriented research (ARM) and surveys. It looked at how ARM is an approach to research that seeks to inform effective action. This approach then aligns well with the needs of organizations seeking to better understand 1) the needs and assets of their client communities, and 2) the impact of their programs on these communities. The session looked at how ARM is pragmatic, relies on mixed methods, offers important benefits, but has limitations
Navigating Colonial Space: A Case Study of an Indigenous Student-Led Decolonial Movement in Canadian Higher Education
Get PDFPermission for use of this item in an institutional repository was granted by the publisher.The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada widely shared its Reports and Calls to Action regarding the “Indian Residential School System” in 2015. Since that time, higher education institutions across Canada have been engaged in diverse institutional reform efforts. This article is a case study of an Indigenous student-led reform initiative at The University of Winnipeg that resulted in the first mandatory Indigenous course requirement as a graduation requirement for all undergraduate students in Canada. The research is designed and conducted with Indigenous leadership and partnership and relies on the insights of Indigenous students that led the initiative to consider the impetus, nature, and strategies underlying this curricular reform. Three emergent themes were discerned that are important to systemic reform in post-secondary education: the university as colonial space; navigation of white Settler dominance; and timing as significant to systemic change. The study can be seen as a unique example of the complexity, opportunities, and limitations of decolonial reform in higher education through an Indigenous student-led social movement embodying contentious co-governance and prefiguration.https://articlegateway.com/index.php/JHETP/article/view/561
