1722 research outputs found
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Bioactivity of Manitoba Conifer Endophyte Secondary Metabolites
No full textSeveral microbial endophytes, isolated from Manitoba conifers, demonstrated the ability to produce natural products which were lethal to the forest pest Choristoneura fumiferana. Endophytes from Manitoban coniferous trees were isolated and fermented to obtain their secondary metabolites. The secondary metabolites were extracted from the fermentation using XAD 7 resin and methanol. These metabolites were incorporated into the diet of Choristoneura fumiferana to determine if endophytes produce insecticidal compounds. In addition, genomic DNA was extracted from several endophytes, and the ITS region was sequenced for molecular identification. The results from this study show that endophyte secondary metabolites can kill C. fumiferana and may play a role in tree defense, and could be used possibly as a bioinsecticide.Master of Science in Bioscience, Technology, and Public Polic
Reconciliation, resilience and resistance in Inuit teachers' professional development and practices
Get PDFIn February 2017, 26 Inuit educators gathered in Nain, Nunatsiavut for the Inuit Education Forum. Teachers from each of the four Inuit regions in Canada were invited to share their experiences on education in Inuit Nunangat with the goal of identifying barriers and promising practices occurring within their communities. One of the key themes arising from these conversations was the ongoing need for Inuit teacher support and development in schools. Training and retaining Inuit teachers is problematic in Canada, while research tells us that both of these factors are key to student success. Some key challenges impacting resilience for teachers identified by the Inuit Education Forum participants were: organization of learning and leadership, prioritization of Inuit language and culture in schools, and negotiations of teachers’ isolation and autonomy. These challenges and the solutions offered by participants are discussed in the Canadian historical context implications for teacher training and professional development in Inuit Nunangat are highlighted."We want to highlight the support of ArcticNet, the Nunatsiavut Ministry of Education and Economic development, ITK and the SSHRC for their financial and in-kind support in the form of time and resources."https://www.abdn.ac.uk/eitn/journal/547
Crise et créativité: Réflexions sur la littérature contemporaine au Québec
Get PDFhttps://journals.library.brocku.ca/index.php/voixplurielles/article/view/176
Home range, habitat selection, and annual survival of little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) in central Canada
Get PDFThe little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) is one of several hibernating bat species in North America affected by a fungal pathogen that causes a disease known as White-nose syndrome (WNS). As a result, little brown bat populations have experienced massive declines, resulting in federal and provincial efforts to conserve the species. However, limited knowledge about space requirements and long-term survival rates may be limiting the effectiveness of management efforts. In my thesis I fill gaps in the scientific literature to provide information on which conservation efforts can use to incorporate more species-specific information and base quantitative objectives on. In my first data chapter, I determine how energetic demands associated with reproduction and WNS affect home range and habitat selection. Reproductive bats must balance high daily energetic costs to support pregnancy and milk production, requiring large home ranges. However, energy and time constraints associated with reproductive activities, such as juvenile care, may restrict the space that they can use. I tested two competing hypotheses to determine which of the two, time or energetic constraints, ultimately affect home range size during pregnancy and lactation. I used radiotelemetry to quantify night-time home ranges of reproductive female little brown bats from a WNS-positive maternity colony. Results indicated that lactating females used smaller home ranges than pregnant bats, suggesting that time constraints drive variation in space use among individuals. In my second data chapter, I estimate annual survival rates in two populations of little brown bats near the northern limit of the species’ range. I used seven years (2011-2017) of mark-recapture data for 4932 individual little brown bats to test the hypothesis that demographic characteristics, such as sex and age, along with seasonal environmental factors, affect variation in annual survival of little brown bats. At both hibernacula, annual survival varied over time with both age and sex of bats but did not vary with either summer or winter climatic variables. Male survival was generally higher than female survival and young-of-the-year survival was lower than that of adults. These results indicate that demography, and not environmental conditions influence inter-annual survival rates at my study sites. The results from this chapter suggest that females and juveniles are vulnerable groups in these populations. As a general management plan, conservation efforts should target female and juvenile demographic groups for protection, likely at maternity colonies where they are found at high densities during the summer. Taken together these results fill crucial knowledge gaps and provide critical baseline information on which management efforts can be based.Master of Science in Bioscience, Technology, and Public Polic
Being a good relative: Indigenous doulas reclaiming cultural knowledge to improve health and birth outcomes in Manitoba
Get PDFIndigenous women are increasingly returning to culturally based birthing practices to assert their sovereignty over their bodies and their birthing experience generally. The impact of colonization on birthing experiences for First Nations women in Canada has been profound and extends into generations of families. First Nations women across Canada have traditionally birthed in their communities surrounded by families and community, observing many traditions around pregnancy and birthing including placenta burying and belly button ceremonies. These traditions and this circle of care and support resulted in resiliency, strength and a connection to the land and family. In Manitoba, Indigenous women are becoming trained and engaged in supporting their fellow Indigenous relatives and community members as Indigenous doulas or birth workers. This paper describes the experiences of the first cohort of Indigenous doulas trained in Winnipeg, Manitoba by the Manitoba Indigenous Doula Initiative (MIDI), also known as Wiijii’idiwag Ikwewag, and describes the specific contributions and impacts of Indigenous doulas who support Indigenous women during pregnancy and birth. Through qualitative interviews, our participants described various understandings of their work, purpose and their impacts on the women and families they support. Four recurring themes which emerged across the interviews included: prior negative birthing experiences, clashes with mainstream health and social services, the understanding of doulas as advocates, and empowerment and disempowerment. These themes all spoke to ongoing challenges Indigenous women continue to face during their pregnancies and births in mainstream healthcare systems, as well as highlighting the key forms of support that doulas can provide to ensure the self-determination and well-being of the women they work with."This project was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research through the Institute of Aboriginal People's Health (IAPH)."https://www.oatext.com/being-a-good-relative-indigenous-doulas-reclaiming-cultural-knowledge-to-improve-health-and-birth-outcomes-in-manitoba.ph
Cyclic Complexity of Some Infinite Words and Generalizations
Get PDFCassaigne et al. introduced the cyclic complexity function c_x(n), which gives the number of cyclic conjugacy classes of length-n factors of a word x. We study the behavior of this function for the Fibonacci word f and the Thue–Morse word t. If φ = (1 + √5)/2, we show that lim sup_{n → 1} c_f(n)/n ≥ 2/φ² and conjecture that equality holds. Similarly, we show that lim sup_{n → 1} c_t(n)/n ≥ 2 and conjecture that
equality holds. We also propose a generalization of the cyclic complexity function and suggest some directions for further investigation. Most results are obtained by computer proofs using Mousavi’s Walnut software.The first author was supported by an NSERC USRA. The second author was supported by an NSERC Discovery Grant
The metallic sphere in a uniform ac magnetic field: A simple and precise experiment for exploring eddy currents and non-destructive testing
Get PDFWe describe a very simple experiment that utilizes standard laboratory equipment to measure the electromagnetic response of a metallic sphere exposed to a uniform ac magnetic field. Measurements were made for a variety of non-magnetic and magnetic metals, and in all cases the results fit very well with theory over the four orders of frequency (25?Hz to 102?kHz) explored here. Precise values of magnetic permeability and electrical conductivity can be extracted from fits to the data given the sphere radius only. The same apparatus is also used to explore the effects of geometry on eddy current generation as well as to demonstrate non-destructive testing through measurements on coins of different composition."The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, especially the Undergraduate Student Research Award for MLH."https://aapt.scitation.org/doi/10.1119/1.503435
Gender and Subversion in Medieval Icelandic Legend and Saga
Get PDFPermission for use in WinnSpace granted by the publisher.The saga writers of medieval Iceland rhetorically engage with contemporary social issues in their narratives, including issues faced by women and, in particular, the treatment of women in regard to their marriages. Many of these medieval social issues are still relevant today, including gender politics, matters of consent, and spousal abuse. This study limits its analysis of these themes to narratives in two genres of medieval Icelandic literature: the heroic cycle (heroic eddic poetry and the legendary Völsunga saga) and the Sagas of Icelanders (Íslendingasögur). In all of the narratives much is at stake for the leading female characters; the primary difference is that depending on genre, the actions females make to subvert the dominant patriarchy vary greatly, from drastic on the one hand to subtle yet effective on the other.https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/3fdd18_056e923603374587b52f486afb97b1f4.pd
Icelandic Culture and Concepts of the Æsir in Manitoba
Get PDFPermission for reuse in WinnSpace was granted by the publisher.The Icelandic community in Manitoba continually translates its cultural heritage into a Canadian context, a process that began in 1875 at the time of initial Icelandic settlement in the Interlake region. Like other settler groups in Canada, the Icelanders in Manitoba brought traditions with them from their home country. In this study on concepts of the Æsir (the Norse gods) in Manitoba, the author argues that the place name “Gimli” intentionally draws on a myth of exclusivity, framing the town site as a home for the pantheon of the North, or as a place set aside exclusively for the Icelanders who settled the area and their descendants. At the time of settlement this was the case, as people from other ethnicities were initially excluded from the land reserve, a policy upheld by the Canadian government for over two decades, but Gimli is now a multicultural municipality. Most significantly, Canadian colonial policy in the late-nineteenth century excluded the very people who had settled and used the lands of the Interlake for decades, even centuries, prior to European settlement of the region, the Indigenous peoples of the prairies and parklands. Now, in the twenty-first century, processes and strategies of colonial settlement are under critical evaluation, and this study contributes a localized interpretation of how place names and settlement myths play a role in the staking of claim and colonization of the North American northwest, and argues further that this process is still active
Avoidability index for binary patterns with reversal
Get PDFFor every pattern p over the alphabet {x,x^R,y,y^R}, we specify the least k such that p is k-avoidable.NSERCwww.combinatorics.org/ojs/index.php/eljc/article/view/v23i1p36/pd