1722 research outputs found
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Indigenous Perspectives in Program Evaluation: A scoping literature review exploring wise practices for program evaluation with Indigenous communities in northern Manitoba
Get PDFThis study explored how organizations that offer programming and services in northern Indigenous communities could inform, adapt, and improve their evaluation approaches to involve an Indigenous perspective. Without this research, program evaluation may continue to be conducted within a Western perspective, a view that does not consider an Indigenous paradigm or cultural considerations. To examine Indigenous perspectives in program evaluation, the researcher conducted a scoping literature review using 15 secondary sources from Australia, Canada, and the United States of America published from 2010-2020. Through a decolonized methodology, the researcher sorted the data into themes according to the core values of an Indigenous Evaluation Framework. The findings contributed to the literature by addressing the gaps of decolonizing program evaluation, integrating cultural approaches, and instilling an Indigenous paradigm. Relevant to organizations that work with Indigenous communities, the research generated wise practices to engage program evaluation in a culturally appropriate manner. Building from this study, ongoing research is needed to support Indigenous perspectives in program evaluation.Master of Arts in Indigenous Governanc
Cubical homology-based Image Classification - A Comparative Study
Get PDFPersistent homology is a powerful tool in topological data analysis (TDA) to compute, study and encode efficiently multi-scale topological features and is being increasingly used in digital image classification. The topological features represent number of connected components, cycles, and voids that describe the shape of data. Persistent homology extracts the birth and death of these topological features through a filtration process. The lifespan of these features can represented using persistent diagrams (topological signatures). Cubical homology is a more efficient method for extracting topological features from a 2D image and uses a collection of cubes to compute the homology, which fits the digital image structure of grids. In this research, we propose a cubical homology-based algorithm for extracting topological features from 2D images to generate their topological signatures. Additionally, we propose a score, which measures the significance of each of the sub-simplices in terms of persistence. Also, gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) and contrast limited adapting histogram equalization (CLAHE) are used as a supplementary method for extracting features. Machine learning techniques are then employed to classify images using the topological signatures. Among the eight tested algorithms with six published image datasets with varying pixel sizes, classes, and distributions, our experiments demonstrate that cubical homology-based machine learning with deep residual network (ResNet 1D) and Light Gradient Boosting Machine (lightGBM) shows promise with the extracted topological features.Master of Science in Applied Computer Scienc
Linking dominant rainfall-runoff event hydrologic response dynamics with nitrate and chloride load estimates of three boreal Shield catchments
Get PDFUnderstanding hydrological dynamics in boreal Shield catchments is critical for projecting changes in stream runoff and chemistry in a region that is sensitive to climate change. Previous work has mostly focused on a limited number of events over one or a few seasons because of the relative scarcity of high-frequency datasets and automated tools for rainfall-runoff event delineation. For the boreal region, a greater understanding of seasonality in hydrologic response and solute export related to rainfall-initiated events is needed, as significant shifts in hydrologic regime from climate change are expected. This study aimed to help resolve these knowledge gaps by assessing event-scale hydrologic response dynamics and stream loads of nitrate and chloride using long-term data from three boreal Shield catchments. Hydrometric and stream chemistry data from 2001-2018 were analyzed to delineate rainfall-runoff events and estimate event nitrate and chloride loads. Event hydrologic response and loads were highly variable, especially with respect to catchment runoff initiation. Only subtle differences in hydrologic response dynamics were observed between summer and fall events, while seasonal differences in event nitrate and chloride loads were mostly statistically significant. Interestingly, a wide range of rainfall-runoff events classified by response magnitude and timing were associated with differences in nitrate and chloride export. This study further confirms the utility of long-term high-frequency datasets and illustrates the need for additional work to further assess long-term changes in event-based hydrologic response and stream solute concentrations in the boreal region."This work was funded by an NSERC Discovery Grant to NJC."https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2020JG00618
Humidity, huddling & the hibernation energetics of big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus)
Get PDFDuring winter, many mammals hibernate and lower their body temperature and metabolic rate (MR) in prolonged periods of torpor. Hibernators will use energetically expensive arousals (i.e., restore body temperature and MR) presumably to re-establish water balance. Some hibernating mammals however will huddle in groups, possibly to decrease energetic costs and total evaporative water loss (EWL), although the benefit is not fully understood. Research on the relationship between behaviour, physiology, water loss, and energy expenditure of bats during hibernation is especially important because of a fungal disease called white-nose syndrome (WNS). To date, 12 North American bat species are affected by WNS, however big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) appear resistant, although the underlying mechanism is poorly understood. The overall objective of my thesis was to understand the influence of humidity and huddling on the behavioural and physiological responses of hibernating big brown bats. To test my hypotheses, I used a captive colony of hibernating big brown bats (n = 20). Specifically, for Chapter 2, I first tested the hypothesis that big brown bats adjust huddling and drinking behaviour depending on humidity, to maintain a consistent pattern of periodic arousals, and therefore energy balance during hibernation. I found that bats hibernating in a dry environment did not differ in arousal/torpor bout frequency, or torpor bout duration throughout hibernation but drank at twice the rate as bats in a humid environment. Bats in the dry treatment also had shorter arousals, and huddled in a denser huddle, potentially to reduce rates of total EWL. During late hibernation, for Chapter 3, I used open-flow respirometry to test two additional hypotheses, first that phenotypic flexibility in total EWL helps explain the tolerance of hibernating big brown bats for a wide range of humidity relative to other bat species. I found that dry-acclimated bats had lower rates of total EWL, compared to bats acclimated to humid conditions. I then tested the second hypothesis that big brown bats can use huddling to mitigate the challenge of dry conditions. I found that, for humid-acclimated bats, rates of total EWL were reduced with huddling bats but there was no effect of huddling on EWL for bats acclimated to dry conditions. These results suggest that the ability of big brown bats to reduce rates of total EWL through acclimation may reduce the need to huddle with conspecifics to avoid water loss and thus dehydration. Overall, my thesis suggests that big brown bats use both behavioural and physiological mechanisms to reduce water loss which could allow them to exploit habitats for hibernation that are unavailable to other bat species and could also help explain their apparent resistance to WNS.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
University of Winnipeg Graduate StudiesMaster of Science in Bioscience, Technology, and Public Polic
Using Machine Learning to Improve Neutron Tagging Efficiency in Water Cherenkov Detectors
Get PDFWhen an anti-neutrino collides with a proton in the atomic nucleus, it yields an anti-lepton and a free neutron. In a water Cherenkov neutrino detector like Super-K or the next generation Hyper-K, the free neutron is captured by a hydrogen or gadolinium nucleus about one hundred microseconds after the collision. The low-energy signal from the neutron capture (ranging from 2-8 MeV of gamma rays) is recorded by only tens of photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), making neutron captures difficult to distinguish from radioactive decay, muon spallation and other background sources. Improved methodologies for neutron tagging can advance understanding and enable new research over a survey of topics in particle physics. In this research, machine learning techniques are employed to optimize the neutron capture detection capability in the new intermediate water Cherenkov detector (IWCD) for Hyper-K. In particular, boosting decision tree (XGBoost) and graph neural network (GCN, DGCNN) models are developed and benchmarked against a statistical likelihood-based approach, achieving up to a 10% increase in classification accuracy. Characteristic features are also engineered from the datasets and analyzed using SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) to provide insight into the pivotal factors influencing event type outcomes. Three main datasets were used for evaluative purposes in this research, each consisting of roughly 1.6 million events in total, divided nearly evenly between neutron capture and a distinct background electron source.NSERC, WatchMalMaster of Science in Applied Computer Scienc
Teachers' Voices: Pandemic Lessons for the Future of Education
Get PDFIn late 2019 and early 2020, governments around the world closed educational institutions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A similar response occurred in Canada and resulted in a sudden pivot by teachers from classroom-based instruction to remote teaching. During and shortly after this time, we undertook a survey study of over 2000 Canadian teachers, as well as follow-up interviews with a representative sub-set of those who took part in the initial round of the survey, to gain perspectives on teaching during the pandemic crisis. We summarize the foundations of the entire study and focus on the analysis and discussion of interview data to provide enhanced understanding of initial survey results. This study presents five lessons from the voices of teachers in the initial stages of COVID-19 in Canadian K-12 schools. Each lesson addresses a reality of teaching that was magnified by the pandemic and is highlighted for future consideration of educators in times of uncertainty and change.https://jtl.uwindsor.ca/index.php/jtl/article/view/648
Advancing local energy transitions: A global review of government instruments supporting community energy
Get PDFThe adoption and encouragement of community energy, that is, the incentive to develop renewable energy projects with community participation and ownership, is a key ingredient of energy transition. Government policies and other instruments can pose both barriers and opportunities for community energy development; however, there has been little analysis of the state of research on the range of government tools to facilitate energy transition and the implications of these instruments for community energy. This paper analyses the current scholarly research on government instruments for community energy, focusing on the multiple scales of governance. Our analysis identified 108 articles addressing government instruments and community energy. Research addressing government instruments and community energy has increased substantially in recent years, with most of the emphasis on national or state instruments, situated in the European context, and focused on grid-connected communities. We identified four global categories of government tools designed to support community energy: payment-based, grid access, environmental protection and community planning and capacity. Within these categories, nineteen different government instruments emerged with tools for financial support, feed-in-tariffs, grid services, and fiscal incentives receiving the most attention. Findings emphasize the need for further research on community-focused instruments for renewable energy, the importance of coordination between levels of government to support such instruments, and analysis of the suitability of current instruments for community-appropriate energy solutions in remote and off-grid communities."This research was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Grant no. 895-2019-1007, and Mitacs. We wish to acknowledge the Community Appropriate Sustainable Energy Security (CASES) partnership for supporting this work."https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221462962100441
Unheard Voices: Healing Stories of Reclamation and Rebuilding for Families of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people who have not been involved in the National Inquiry
Get PDFThis work uncovers the stories of relatives who have been impacted by the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2S) in Canada, who have not been involved in the National Inquiry into MMIWG2S. Utilizing Indigenous ways of knowing and Indigenous research methodologies in the form of land-based and ceremonial healing during the data collection phase was an integral aspect of this research project. The relatives’ stories focus on the actions of police in regard to the death or disappearance of their missing or murdered loved one, their collective and individual methods of healing, as well as their recommendations for policy change with regard to police actions in the cases of their loved ones. This collection of stories proposes and supports policy change for the families of MMIWG2S, through the reclamation of Indigenous ways of knowing and practicing healing in order to rebuild.Master of Arts in Indigenous Governanc
Nitrogen dynamics and nitrogen-to-phosphorus stoichiometry in cold region agricultural streams
Get PDFCold agricultural regions are getting warmer and experiencing shifts in precipitation patterns, which affect hydrological transport of nutrients through reduced snowpack and higher annual proportions of summer rainfall. Previous work has demonstrated that the timing of phosphorus (P) concentrations is regionally coherent in streams of the northern Great Plains, suggesting a common climatic driver. There has been less investigation into patterns of stream nitrogen (N), despite its importance for water quality. Using high-frequency water quality data collected over 6 yr from three southern Manitoba agricultural streams, the goal of this research was to investigate seasonal patterns in N and P concentrations and the resultant impacts of these patterns on N/P stoichiometry. In the spring, high concentrations of inorganic N were associated with snowmelt runoff, while summer N was dominated by organic forms; inorganic N concentrations remained consistently low in the summer, suggesting increased biological N transformation and N removal. Relationships between N concentration and discharge showed generally weak model fits (r2 values for significant relationships ranging from .33 to .48), and the strength and direction of model fits differed among streams, seasons, and forms of N. Dissolved organic N concentrations were strongly associated with dissolved organic carbon. Nitrogen-to-phosphorus ratios varied among streams but were significantly lower during summer storm events (p < .0001). These results suggest that climate-driven shifts in temperature and precipitation may negatively affect downstream water quality in this region."This research was supported by funding under Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Growing Forward 2 Program."https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jeq2.2023