30921 research outputs found
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The mineralogy, geochemistry, and geochronology of the Triple R uranium deposit, Patterson Lake Property, Athabasca Basin, Canada
No full textThe Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada is one of the richest uranium (U) provinces in the world and hosts the highest-grade deposits. Most of the best studied deposits are located in the eastern part of the basin, whereas the U deposits in the western Athabasca Basin are relatively understudied. Mineral textures and relationships between alteration, and stable and radiogenic isotopic ratios from dravite, quartz, pyrite, galena, and uraninite were used to develop a genetic model for the unconformity-related. Triple R U deposit, located in the western Athabasca Basin. The Triple R U deposit is located in the basement rocks immediately south of the southwestern margin of the Athabasca Basin, where the overlying sedimentary rocks have been eroded. The basement is ~1.9 Ga and composed of quartz-feldspar-garnet-biotite gneisses and intermediate to mafic orthogneisses where U mineralization is associated with NE- to SW trending structural zone. These host rocks contain abundant amounts of carbonaceous material and are strongly argillized, silicified, chloritized, hematized, and locally desilicified. Uranium mineralization occurs in zones as massive, botryoidal, fracture-hosted, and disseminated patches of uraninite with varying amounts of late stage coffinite and uranophane. The minimum age for the Triple R deposit is ~ 1450 Ma was obtained using U-Pb geochronology. An array of younger ages correlated with depth; from deposit to most shallow they are ~ 1250 Ma, ~ 1000 Ma, ~ 650 Ma, and ~ 400 Ma. These ages are the result of resetting of the U-Pb system by subsequent fluid events that can be correlated with several tectonic events. The main mineralizing stage formed from basinal (marine) source fluids with a temperature of ~200°C, based on the hydrogen and oxygen stable isotopic composition from various co-existing dravite-quartz-illite associations. The boron isotopic composition of tourmaline minerals suggested that the source of the boron was seawater or marine evaporates. A late generation of illite (Ill3) formed from ~50°C meteoric fluids at 450 Ma.October 202
Genome-wide association study of alpha-amylase activity in barley grains
No full textPreharvest sprouting (PHS) is a key abiotic factor that significantly reduces barley grain yield and quality through induction of α-amylase activity. The main objective of this study was to identify genomic regions/candidate genes associated with PHS induced α-amylase activity in barley seeds using genome-wide association study (GWAS). In this study, a mapping panel of 160 diverse barley genotypes grown in four environments was examined for variations in α-amylase activity using a Rapid Visco Analyzer (RVA). The mapping panel was also genotyped using a 50K Illumina Infinium iSelect genotyping array. A total of 30,494 filtered polymorphic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were used for GWAS using BLINK method in RStudio. Marker trait association analysis detected six markers as significantly associated with α-amylase activity, and these markers represent five quantitative trait loci (QTLs) on chromosomes 1H (QTL1H.1), 4H (QTL4H.1), 5H (QTL5H.1 and QTL5H.2) and 7H (QTL7H.1) based on the linkage disequilibrium (LD) decay at 2.81 cM and false discovery rate (FDR) threshold of α = 0.05. The six significant SNPs explain 7.41% to 16.95% of the phenotypic variation and are located within six candidate genes. Overall, the results of this study might have the potential to enhance marker-assisted selection in the development of PHS resistant barley cultivars.October 202
Coenrollment of critically ill patients in PROSPECT: characteristics and association with treatment efficacy and safety
No full textIntroduction: Coenrollment is the enrollment of one participant into more than one study. While coenrollment can enhance research efficiency, it theoretically may result in treatment interactions that distort effect estimates. This study aimed to explore the sensitivity of safety and efficacy outcomes to coenrollment in an international, blinded randomized controlled trial evaluating probiotic use in critically ill patients (PROSPECT: Probiotics: Prevention of Severe Pneumonia and Endotracheal Colonization Trial; [NCT02462590]). Methods: In this planned secondary analysis of PROSPECT, we performed Cox proportional hazards analyses to assess the sensitivity of the treatment effect of probiotics to coenrollment on the primary outcome of ventilator-associated pneumonia. Secondarily, we examined the characteristics of coenrolled patients, studies, and centers using descriptive statistics, explored factors associated with coenrollment via a multilevel logistic regression model, and conducted Fisher’s exact tests to evaluate the difference in adverse event rates (defined as Lactobacillus species from a sterile site or cultured as the sole or predominant organism from a nonsterile site) by coenrollment status. Results: Of 2650 PROSPECT participants recruited across 44 centers, 568 patients (21.4%) were coenrolled a total of 680 times across 115 studies. Coenrollment did not modify the effect of probiotics on the primary outcome of ventilator-associated pneumonia (p = 0.630). Patients who were coenrolled in any other study had a higher rate of adverse events compared to non-coenrolled patients (p = 0.011); however, post hoc testing found no difference in adverse events between patients coenrolled specifically into at least one other randomized controlled trial and patients who were not coenrolled into another randomized controlled trial (i.e., coenrolled into an observational study or not coenrolled at all; p = 0.126). Multivariable analyses found more severely ill patients (p = 0.038) and patients from centers with a longer PROSPECT recruitment period (p = 0.047) were more likely to be coenrolled. Conclusion: In this international, blinded trial, one-fifth of patients enrolled were coenrolled in at least one other study, which had no influence on the effect of probiotics on the primary outcome. Coenrolled patients were more likely to have higher disease severity, and to be recruited from a center with a longer history of participation in PROSPECT. Trial registration: The PROSPECT trial was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02462590. Registered on June 2015
An investigation of the effects of the processing parameters on laser powder bed fused 17-4 PH stainless steel
No full textThe 17-4 precipitation hardened (PH) series of stainless steel (SS), which is well known for its exceptional mechanical strength and corrosion resistance, has been extensively employed in the aerospace, automotive, and biomedical sectors. 17-4 PH SS is particularly suitable for laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) due to its inherent weldability. Despite its advantages, the intricate interplay of the LPBF process parameters can result in components with inconsistent mechanical properties, which are predominantly attributed to the formation of manufacturing defects and variations in phase composition. However, the influence of the process parameters on these variables has yet to be fully understood. This study conducts a comprehensive quantitative investigation of microstructural manufacturing defects across a matrix of different combinations of process parameters, including laser power, scanning speed, and powder bed preheating temperature, to delineate an optimal process window. The defect-free samples are also subjected to a post-LPBF heat treatment. The microstructural phases present in the material are examined and quantified in both the as-built and heat-treated conditions by using x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. A high relative density that exceeds 99.5% is consistently achieved within the identified process window, although variations in phase composition are observed. After the heat treatment, the samples fabricated under the optimized conditions show a uniform phase composition and superior mechanical properties. This investigation elucidates the critical impact of LPBF process parameters on the formation of manufacturing defects and microstructural changes in 17-4 PH SS, thus providing insights into refining the LPBF process to yield defect-free builds with improved mechanical properties.October 202
Everyday life revolution: from technologized perception to perception skills
No full textMy work focuses on issues of sensibility, challenging the conceptual boundaries and ideologies
of everyday society through conceptual play and embodied perception, arousing the possibility
of self and broader audience engagement in the Everyday Life Revolution.
In both capitalist and authoritarian societies, these institutional structures establish systems of
discipline and control, eliminating spaces for conceptual reflection to maintain their own
reproduction. They inevitably stand in opposition to everyday revolutions and conceptual play.
The capacity for sensibility and creativity, however, serves as a challenge to this everyday society
and its internal control systems.
By regulating perception and common sense, contemporary society profoundly shapes our
modes of behavior and intellectual faculties, resulting in a pervasive crisis of perceptual
disorientation across all fields. My studio practice challenges everyday concepts and structured
patterns of perception, continuously engaging in dialogue with art history and reflects and
challenges various rules and ideological backgrounds that seem tacitly accepted.
Through a plethora of performance art, installations, and experimental imagery, I aim to
demonstrate everyday life practices , continually questioning the boundaries of everyday
concepts and possibilities, through Diversion (Détournement) and Drifting (Dérive), questioning
habitual emotions, time, space, and belief rituals. This is a highly subjective, artistic everyday life
revolution that arouses sensibility, addressing the widespread disablement and
proletarianization of perception in late capitalism.October 202
Novel biomarkers of frailty in middle-aged and older females
No full textThe burden of frailty and its associated health complications, including cardiovascular disease, is becoming a critical health concern. Frailty is a multifactorial physiological decline that increases vulnerability to health stressors. Blood-based biomarkers have been suggested as a means of identifying frailty declines earlier. Specifically, myokines, muscle-derived cytokines involved in inter-organ communication, have emerged as potential biomarkers of frailty given the deterioration in muscle health seen in this population. This dissertation investigates the association of myokines with frailty through a series of studies utilizing both univariable and multivariable analyses. Chapter 2 of this thesis discusses the application of frailty assessment to the clinical setting. Chapter 3 and 4 examine the association of univariable systemic myokine concentrations related to muscle to phenotypic frailty using data from a cohort study examining novel cardiovascular disease risk factors. These works identified fractalkine/CX3CL1 as being associated with frailty, potentially indicating early immune dysregulation. IL-6, IL-15, TNF alpha, myokines associated with inflammation, and Leptin, which plays a role in metabolism, were associated with cardiovascular disease risk. Chapter 5 utilizes a multivariable design to examine myokines associated with frailty in a larger data set analyzed from the WARM Hearts cohort study for both a phenotypic assessment of frailty and a frailty index. The stepwise multivariable regression analysis identified BDNF, FABP-3, OSM and osteocrin in the model for the frailty index. These data support the association of myokines related to inflammation and metabolic function with frailty, as well as with cognition. In contrast, only SPARC, a myokine related largely to muscle function and mass, added to the model predicting Fried score. These preliminary works support the notion of myokines acting as biomarkers of frailty with those involved in inflammation and metabolic function seeming to be most likely to add value to such a model. Future work should further elucidate the physiological role myokines regulate in the human body, determine the optimal means of measuring myokines in a clinically feasible method, health interventions to modulate their expression and release, and clinical outcomes following this modulation.February 202
Occupational health and hygienic provisions of dried fish processing workers in Bangladesh: a gendered perspective
No full textThis exploratory research examines the gendered dimensions of occupational health and hygiene provisions among dried fish processing workers in Nazirartek, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, through the lens of feminist political ecology (FPE) and intersectionality. Using qualitative methods, including ethnographic observations, interviews, and oral history conversations, the research investigates how gendered division of labour and inadequate workplace infrastructure affect the health, dignity, and agency of workers, particularly women. The findings reveal that women predominantly occupy low-paid, labour-intensive roles with minimal access to sanitation, protective equipment, or safe rest areas, while men often hold supervisory or decision-making positions that offer better working conditions. Patriarchal workplace governance and social taboos related to menstruation, pregnancy, and caregiving further marginalize women’s health and well-being. Additionally, the absence of regulatory oversight and collective bargaining mechanisms, as well as threats from climate-induced hazards, intensify their vulnerability. Despite their central contributions to the dried fish economy, women workers are excluded from khola (yard) governance structures and denied access to basic occupational rights. This study highlights the urgent need for gender-responsive labour policies and governance reforms that address the intersecting environmental, social, and institutional inequalities embedded in this informal sector. It calls for inclusive governance that ensures fair wages, occupational safety, access to healthcare, and the active participation of women in workplace decision-making. By foregrounding women’s perspectives and everyday realities, this study adds to the broader efforts to promote fairness, sustainability, and safety in the fisheries sector.October 202
Construction and start-up of continuous flow aerobic granular sludge reactors with side stream selective wasting
No full textThis study upscales a previously examined continuous plug flow conventional activated sludge (CAS) process with side stream selective wasting to gather comprehensive data for process optimization and uncover potential issues that may not be apparent at a smaller scale. The proposed side stream selective wasting mechanism was uniquely designed to facilitate granulation within a continuous plug flow system. It requires a small footprint and can be seamlessly integrated into existing continuous flow systems without introducing the adverse effects of aggressive shear stress, which is a common issue with hydrocyclones.
The study was conducted in three stages: the first stage focused on testing split feeding, the second stage evaluated combined feeding, and the third stage assessed the implementation of side stream selective wasting. Although mechanical challenges occurred, the system achieved general biological nutrient removal. However, maintaining a consistent hydraulic retention time (HRT) and solids retention time (SRT) within the given process installation emerged as the most significant challenge throughout the study.
This research contributes valuable insights into the optimization of medium size CAS pilot processes and highlights the potential of side stream selective wasting as a viable solution for granulation. The findings underscore the importance of careful process design and system integration in overcoming operational challenges, ultimately paving the way for more efficient and scalable wastewater treatment solutions.City of WinnipegOctober 202
Stone by stone: a 30 year vision for robust urban growth in Stonewall, Manitoba
No full textThis report examines growth and development in the town of Stonewall, Manitoba. With a 2021 population of approximately 5000 people, the town has maintained its small-town charm but anticipates growth. In 2020, the Town of Stonewall commissioned a Residential Lands Supply and Demand study to assess future demographic and housing needs. The study lays out three population growth scenarios, with the high growth scenario projecting a doubling of the population by 2055. Facing an aging population, increasing climate risks, demographic uncertainties and a development pattern favoring sprawl, Stonewall’s approach to growth will shape its identity in the 21st century. This report explores how the town can grow its population responsibly by intensifying and diversifying its housing stock and infrastructure, while responding to the challenges posed by climate change and shifting demographics. The proposed design strategy focuses on urban infill and the transformation of infrastructure. The model estimates that by 2055, a total of 1790 dwelling units could be accommodated on the Main Street site – meeting the town’s projected growth requirements while addressing demographic and climatic pressures. This form of sustainable, compact growth provides a resilient model for rural urban development in the face of 21st century challengesOctober 202
NOURISH-US: a mixed-methods, randomized crossover study of a program designed to reduce the financial burden of food allergy
No full textBackground: Food allergy imposes considerable financial costs on families, but few programs are available in Canada to offset these costs. To fill this gap, we developed, piloted, and evaluated a program designed to address the financial burden of food allergy.
Methods: The current study employed the use of an unblinded, crossover design. Participating families who began the study in the case condition received biweekly deliveries of food packages for 2 months, while those in the control condition received recipes and educational materials. Following the initial study period, the groups entered a one-month washout period and the conditions were reversed. During both conditions, an adult member of each participating family (“caregivers”) responded to a quantitative cost measure and completed a qualitative interview. Quantitative data were analysed using a series of linear mixed models. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis.
Results: A total of 14 participants were randomized to a sequence using Stata. However, 5 participants were dropped from the final quantitative sample due to a failure to complete one or more set of quantitative measures. Caregivers included in the final quantitative sample were 32.1 years old, on average, overwhelmingly female (89%), and had annual, after-tax, household income of 23,188.92; CAD). Target children were largely under six years old (89%) and were evenly split between boys (44%) and girls (44%). Milk (67%), peanut (67%), and egg (67%) allergies were most common. Quantitative results revealed participants had non-significantly lower indirect costs in the food delivery condition (797.83), largely because of lower food preparation costs (656.15). In contrast, participants reported non-significantly higher direct costs when they were receiving the food packages (655.56). Findings from the qualitative interviews suggest that this increase may reflect the fact that participants purchased more expensive grocery items in response to the cost savings afforded by the program.
Conclusions: Participants derived several benefits from the program, but more research is needed to better understand how to maximize the impact of programs like NOURISH-US and to identify families most in need of financial support