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Investigating the Geothermal Energy Potential and Permafrost Structure in Nunavut with Magnetotelluric Data
No full textTo reduce reliance on fossil fuels, Canada is investigating the development of alternative energy systems that have lower carbon emissions than those currently in use. This is particularly important for communities in the Canadian Arctic, where the vast majority of electricity and heat is currently generated by burning fossil fuels. Geothermal energy systems have the potential to provide an alternate source of heat in this region, and their feasibility in remote Northern settlements is being investigated.
Knowledge of subsurface rock type and groundwater conditions is an essential part of exploration for geothermal energy. In summer 2023 a group from the University of Alberta collected magnetotelluric (MT) data at two communities in Nunavut to investigate the subsurface conditions. The MT method can determine the subsurface electrical resistivity to depths of several kilometers. Resistivity is a parameter that is sensitive to the temperature and porosity of the subsurface, and to the quantity and salinity of groundwater. At Cambridge Bay, MT data was collected at 26 stations in July 2023 in an east-west array that covered an area of 17 x 8 km. At Resolute Bay, 33 stations were recorded in August 2023 in a region that was 8 x 5 km. Data from an additional 11 stations were previously recorded at Resolute Bay in 2022. The time series data were processed to give frequency domain data in the frequency band 500 – 0.001 Hz. The data were then used to generate models of subsurface resistivity using a combination of 1-D and 3-D inversion methods. Interpretation of the resistivity used knowledge of subsurface temperatures and experiments on frozen / unfrozen sedimentary rocks that contained saline ground water. At Cambridge Bay the resistivity model was characterized by two layers: (1) a 100 m thick surficial layer that has a low-resistivity due to the presence of limestone saturated with partially frozen saline pore water and (2) a deeper high-resistivity layer interpreted as limestone containing low salinity pore water. Knowledge of the geothermal gradient suggests that the upper part of this surface layer was frozen and the lower part unfrozen. At Resolute Bay, the resistivity model was characterized by three layers: (1) a high-resistivity limestone layer containing partially frozen saline pore water (2) a low-resistivity layer containing unfrozen saline pore fluids, and (3) a deeper high-resistivity layer containing low salinity pore water. Porosity estimates of the subsurface below Cambridge Bay were low, indicating poor natural reservoir potential, whereas the subsurface below Resolute Bay may have greater porosity. These results also indicate that the geothermal gradients at both communities are relatively low, suggesting that direct use geothermal installations are more feasible at each location, and engineered geothermal systems (EGS) may be required to produce the reservoir characteristics required for geothermal use.
The low resistivity of the 100 m thick surface layer at Cambridge Bay may have originated in the diffusion of seawater from the surface when the land surface was submerged after the retreat of the Laurentide Ice sheet. Simple 1-D diffusion modelling is consistent with the timescales and layer thickness of approximately 100 m
Effect of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid on signalling mediators to attenuate chemotherapy-induced intestinal disruptions
No full textChemotherapy agents, irinotecan (CPT-11) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), treat advanced colorectal cancer but are also cytotoxic to rapidly dividing intestinal epithelial cells. Inflammatory mediators and intestinal pathogenic bacteria are factors in chemotherapy-induced intestinal toxicity. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are n-3 fatty acids with known anti-inflammatory and pro-resolving properties through actions of bioactive metabolites (oxylipins) in several inflammatory diseases. Content of EPA and DHA is very low in intestinal membrane phospholipid, and effects of EPA and DHA on intestinal lipid mediators after chemotherapy is unknown. Therefore, the present thesis investigated effects of dietary EPA and DHA on inflammatory mediators and intestinal microbiota composition during the one-week period following CPT-11+5-FU treatment. Female Fischer 344 rats were fed a control diet or a diet containing fish oil initiated on the same day as chemotherapy (day 0). Ward colon tumor was implanted and allowed to grow for ~2 weeks prior to giving a clinically relevant dose of CPT-11 and 5-FU, administered sequentially within 24 hours. Rats were euthanized on day 0 and following chemotherapy on days 2, 4, and 8. Ileum and colon tissue were assessed for phospholipid fatty acids, cytokines, oxygenase enzyme protein, and oxylipins. Fecal microbiota sequencing, histological colonic inflammatory scoring, and colonic myeloperoxidase levels were also assessed. Chemotherapy depleted total phospholipids and essential fatty acids in the colon while having no effect on ileal phospholipid, suggesting specific cellular toxicity in colonic tissue. Total and individual oxylipins derived from AA increased after chemotherapy treatment, including 5-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (HETE), 11,12-DiHETE, prostaglandin (PG) D2, PGE2, 6-keto-PGF1α, and thromboxane (Tx) B2 in colon tissue and 6-keto-PGF1α, 8-HETE, and leukotriene B4 in ileum tissue. Early AA-derived signals corresponded with chemotherapy-induced disruptions to intestinal microbial communities and reduced total branched-chain fatty acids and isovalerate. Overt inflammation in the ileum and colon was undetected through cytokines, immunohistochemistry, and myeloperoxidase levels. Feeding the EPA+DHA diet resulted in a 9- and 2-fold relative increase from baseline to day 8 in EPA and DHA content of colonic membrane phospholipid, respectively, and a 40-fold and 2-fold relative increase in EPA and DHA content in ileal membrane phospholipid, respectively. Dietary EPA and DHA also prevented restoration of AA in colonic membrane phospholipid by day 8 exceeding a 1:1 replacement of AA with EPA and DHA in phospholipid molecular species. Rapid incorporation of EPA and DHA into intestinal membrane attenuated colonic TXB2 and PGE2 by day 2 and ileal 6-keto-PGF1α and PGD2 by day 4 to levels below baseline while increasing the anti-inflammatory AA metabolite lipoxin A4. The increase in EPA and DHA in membrane phospholipid corresponded with higher levels of EPA- and DHA-derived oxylipins by day 8, many of which are precursors to several specialized pro-resolving lipid mediators. The reduction in AA metabolites and increase in EPA and DHA metabolites implicates a lower inflammatory milieu that is likely responsible for mitigating early depletion of differentiating taxa and the number of late differentiating taxa in response to chemotherapy. This study suggests that the beneficial effect of EPA and DHA on ileum and colon tissue after cytotoxic chemotherapy is likely related to inhibition of regulatory processes and of oxygenase enzymes. Provision of EPA and DHA increased the very low levels of EPA and DHA content in ileal and colonic membrane phospholipid yielding EPA and DHA metabolites while reducing AA metabolites. Dietary EPA and DHA may provide an important adjunct therapy to lower the risk of adverse intestinal effects of chemotherapy in colorectal cancer patients
Development of new chemistry for fluorine-18 radiolabeling
No full textIncorporating fluorine atoms into molecules in organic compounds plays a crucial role in the modern chemical landscape due to the pivotal role fluorine plays in pharmaceuticals, PET imaging, agrochemicals and material science. There is an unmet need for fluorination methods that are selective, environmentally benign, and easily accessible. Fluorination in the context of medicinal chemistry is probably the most explored yet mild and selective methods for the closely related fluorine-18 (18F) incorporation for PET imaging are relatively underexplored. In this thesis, advances towards the incorporation of fluorine-18 in small molecules and biomolecules are presented. Two major challenges addressed in this dissertation are labeling of thiol (S-H) bonds in native cysteine amino acids with prosthetic groups and the synthesis of [18F] trifluoromethyl containing small molecules.
The unique reactivity and lower occurrence of cysteines make them an interesting target for bioconjugation reactions. Transition-metal-mediated bioconjugation chemistry has been used extensively to design and synthesize molecular probes to visualize, characterize, and quantify biological processes within intact living organisms at the cellular and subcellular levels. The development and validation of chemoselective [18F]fluoro-arylation chemistry of cysteine residues using Pd-mediated S-arylation with 4-[18F]fluoroiodobenzene ([18F]FIB) as an aryl electrophile is disclosed. The novel bioconjugation technique proceeded with excellent radiochemical yields under ambient and aqueous reaction mixture conditions. The chemoselective S-arylation of several peptides and peptidomimetics containing multiple reactive functional groups confirmed the versatility and functional group compatibility. The synthesis and radiolabeling of a novel prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) binding radioligand [18F]FB-Cys-urea-Glu was accomplished using the novel labelling protocol. The validation of radioligand [18F]FB-Cys-urea-Glu in a preclinical prostate cancer model with PET resulted in favourable accumulation and retention in PSMA-expressing LNCaP tumours. At the same time, a significantly lower salivary gland uptake, which is one of the most prominent off-target for PSMA targeting radiotherapeutics, was observed. This effect was compared and quantitatively analyzed in the context of clinical PSMA radioligand [18F]PSMA-1007. This strategy was successfully extended to label other complex biomolecules, such as proteins. The trifluoromethyl group is an essential structural moiety that has proven to be effective, as evidenced by the frequent occurrence of it in newly approved drugs. The focus of this study was the synthesis of labeled aryl [18F] trifluoromethyl groups. Different methods such as direct nucleophilic substitution with fluorine-18, difluorocarbene mediated trifluoromethyl group synthesis, trifluoromethylation of [18F]acyl fluorides and a step-wise isotopic exchange starting from the trifluoromethyl group were explored for the synthesis of aryl [18F]trifluoromethyl groups. New leaving groups that can facilitate a displacement reaction on a difluoromethyl-leaving group motif to generate a [18F]trifluoromethyl group were explored. The difluorocarbene strategy was used in the synthesis of [18F]trifluridine. [18F]Trifluridine was tested for the blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeance. [18F]Mavacoxib was labeled in two sites, the aryl fluoride site using a nucleophilic substitution and the trifluoromethyl site via the transition metal-mediated difluorocarbene method
A Virtual Reality Upper Limb Prosthesis Training Platform with Sensory Feedback and an Investigation of the Effect of Training with Feedback on Skill Transfer to a Wearable Prosthesis
No full textUpper limb amputation significantly impacts an individual’s daily life due to functional limitations in activities of daily living, psychosocial adjustments, and the risks of long-term complications such as overuse syndromes and chronic pain. Advances in prosthetic technology aim to restore function. However, there remains a gap between the mechanical capabilities of the devices and the user's ability to control them. Learning to control an advanced prosthesis is very challenging. Achieving sufficient control takes many pre- and post-prosthetic fitting training sessions with a clinical professional. Virtual reality environments have emerged as promising supplementary training tools to ease scheduling and travel barriers. They offer a wide range of benefits, including high repeatability, immersion, gamification, and the freedom to experiment without the fear of causing damage to their device or surroundings. Ultimately, VR environments need to facilitate skill transfer to a physical prosthesis to become effective training tools. For skill transfer, VR environments can provide task-specific training and may be able to enhance motor learning through the use of sensory feedback. This thesis aims to investigate the effect of sensory feedback on skill transfer from the Virtual Prosthesis Emulator (ViPEr) platform to physical prosthesis grasp force modulation performance. We present the development of ViPEr and the implementation of data-driven transfer functions to simulate grasp forces and object interactions in the VR environment, akin to the physical version of the prosthesis. Additionally, we outline the development of a virtual reality training paradigm for grasp force modulation. We devised and conducted an experimental protocol for evaluating skill transfer from ViPEr to physical prosthesis performance with eight non-disabled participants randomized into sensory-motor and motor training alone groups. A case study of an individual with upper limb loss is performed as proof of concept for the training’s applicability to the target population. The results of our study indicate a more than double success rate percentage increase, 29.7% for sensory-motor training compared to 10.4% for motor training alone in ViPEr, in a crushable object relocation task with a physical prosthesis. While the results of this study are preliminary due to the sample size, they merit the continued investigation into the ViPEr platform with sensory feedback for upper limb prosthesis training towards the goal of an effective, accessible at-home rehabilitation
Desire, Belonging and Love in the Education of Multilingual Children
No full textResearch on multilingual children has often framed language production through cognitive and deficit-oriented lenses, overlooking the emotional dimensions that shape children’s linguistic repertoires and sense of belonging. Emotions provide critical insight into how multilingual children understand their identities, language use, and positioning within unequal social and educational structures. Despite growing attention to emotions in migration discourse, few studies adopt a cultural–political perspective on emotion in children’s multilingualism.
Guided by the questions "What ideas, values, and objects are associated with multilingual students’ sense of belonging?" and "What emotions shape students’ identities and linguistic repertoires?", this review synthesizes scholarship on language, race, belonging, and emotion. The literature highlights how dominant language ideologies, racial hierarchies, and the privileging of English in schools marginalize multilingualism and shape students’ emotional experiences. Research further demonstrates that emotions such as desire, anxiety, and attachment influence language learning, educational engagement, and identity formation, emphasizing emotion as an embodied, social, and political dimension of language education
Abbot Pass Perceptions: mountaineers’ experiences of environmental change and recreation
No full textAcross mountain ranges worldwide, rapid warming is destabilizing glaciers, permafrost, and slopes, with cascading effects on alpine heritage sites and the cultures that sustain them. While scientific monitoring records these physical changes, far less is known about how they are experienced, narrated, and acted upon within mountaineering communities, an issue brought into sharp focus in the Canadian Rockies. This study addresses that gap through a case analysis of the Abbot Pass located between (Banff and –Yoho National Parks in the, Canadian Rockies). A focus of this study is the Abbott Pass hut, an important climbing destination, was dismantled in 2022 after permafrost failure after its foundation. Drawing on three evidence streams—(i) visual archives (23 photographs, 1922–1931 and 2013–2024), (ii) Canadian Alpine Journal articles (~57, 1922–1931 and 2013–2022), and (iii) semi-structured interviews with 16 mountaineers across generations and roles, from professional guides to recreational hikers—the research applied qualitative content, narrative, and thematic analysis, with triangulation revealing convergences and tensions. Findings show a clear shift in both visual and textual records: early accounts celebrate construction ingenuity, stable glaciers, and confident risk-taking, framing the hut as a shelter for early ascents and mountain tourism. Contemporary materials on the other hand, describe unstable slopes, receding glaciers, and protective interventions, reframing it as a climate casualty and at the same time adaptation behaviours. Interviews deepen this picture, capturing experiences of rapid glacier loss, shortened safe seasons, rising risk, disappearing heritage, climate grief, urgency, deepened place attachment, adaptive practices such as altered routes and earlier starts, and economic strain on mountain tourism. Across all sources, mountaineering culture pivots from conquest toward custodianship. Methodologically, the study demonstrates the value of multi-source qualitative inquiry for detecting weak signals of change. Practically, it links environmental degradation to lived adaptation, shifting heritage discourse, and evolving safety culture. Conceptually, it reframes alpine huts as dynamic mediators of social memory, itinerary design, and stewardship. These contributions are balanced by limitations including seasonal bias in imagery, under-representation of Indigenous voices in early archives, and purposive sampling in a specialized community. Future research should broaden temporal and geographical scope, integrate Indigenous perspectives, and pair narrative indicators with environmental monitoring to guide climate-responsive heritage management, tourism planning, and mountaineering safety strategies
A balancing act: compassionate professional regulation, professional well-being and public safety
No full textSSHRC IDG awarded 2025: Professional regulatory bodies across Canada play an important role in public protection by regulating the practice of professionals. However, they have historically been viewed as overly legalistic and uncompassionate institutions. The convergence of vexing issues such as the rapid integration of technology and artificial intelligence, a worsening workforce crisis, and evidence of poor health and well-being amongst regulated professionals involved in professional conduct processes have galvanized regulators to approach their work differently. In particular, the concept of compassionate regulation - an approach to engage and support regulated professionals - has recently been incorporated into professional regulation discourses, especially in the United Kingdom and Australia. However, we do not yet know how, and the extent to which, professional regulators across Canada believe compassion can be operationalized and leveraged within their professional conduct policies and processes, what perceived barriers and facilitators to implementation are, and how embedding these characteristics within regulatory processes and policies can impact the outcomes of regulation on workforces and public safety. Through a three-phase sequential mixed method approach, our two-year study will explore the following questions: 1) How has the concept of compassionate regulation developed globally in professional regulation and what is the nature, extent, and range of its application? 2) How aware are regulators of compassionate regulation and how have they incorporated it into their professional conduct processes? 3) What are regulators’ perspectives on the risks, opportunities, barriers, and facilitators of compassion within professional conduct processes
Happiness Reflected: Creative Expressions, Volume 3
No full textHappiness Reflected, Creative Expressions is a digital chapbook featuring creative works submitted by members of the University of Alberta community in observance of the International Day of Happiness. Curated by the Days of Action team, this year’s collection brings together both returning and new contributors who offer diverse perspectives, experiences, and questions about what happiness means to them.
Several reflections in this volume explore the ongoing work of finding peace—within oneself, within relationships, and within the ordinary moments of daily life. Together, these pieces remind us that happiness is not a single answer, but a living dialogue shaped by shared voices, evolving research, and creative expression.
Happiness Reflected is part of a larger community arts initiative that invites reflection on the many ways happiness can be experienced, expressed, and cultivated. This project is made possible through partnership with the Sound Studies Institute and the University of Alberta Library.
Readers can explore Volumes 1 (2023) and 2 (2024) in the Happiness Reflected digital archive and listen to previous seasons of the Happiness Reflected Podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
In-situ Evaluation of Long-Term Performance of CLT Panels in Below-Grade Applications: Mould Risk, Dimensional Stability, and Hygrothermal Responses
No full textReinforced concrete basements are the most popular solution in North American low-rise construction. However, cement and concrete production account for 5 to 8% of the global CO2 emission, corresponding to 3 to 6% of greenhouse gas emissions. Resilient and mechanically stable cross-laminated timber (CLT), a construction material for mid-rise buildings, is promising in basement construction. CLT panels have the potential to be more thermally efficient and offer better interior comfort than concrete wall basements. In addition, mass timber produces lower carbon emissions than concrete in the life cycle. However, research and applications of CLT panels in basement construction remain limited, leading to a knowledge gap in the in-situ performance of this innovative construction. The present study was developed as part of an extensive program to create the design concepts and methodology for constructing house basements using mass timber panels, focusing on CLT usage. A large-scale experiment was developed to assess the durability, deformation and thermal performance of using CLT panels in basement building construction. This research program investigated the mould growth risk, moisture content uptake, swelling and shrinkage coefficient and deformation modes, and the thermal performance CLT used as basement walls by monitoring a 6 m × 3 m basement in the field experiment constructed at the University of Alberta campus in Edmonton, Canada. An in-situ monitoring instrumentation program was established to measure the lateral earth pressure, CLT deflection, timber strain, soil temperature, soil moisture content, panel relative humidity and CLT panel temperature, and the program lasted for 24 months. In addition, a laboratory experiment was conducted to test the efficiency of a liquid waterproofing barrier in protecting the panels from moisture. A second laboratory experiment was conducted to calibrate the strain gauges in conditions similar to the filed construction and to derive shrinkage and swelling coefficients of a Spruce-Pine-Fir solid wood specimen to guide field testing determinations of these parameters. A mould growth risk assessment was conducted to evaluate the behaviour of the CLT panel under the below-grade environment throughout the year. The results indicated that the acceptable mould index of three was surpassed during periods of abundant water below the basement floor due to flood events, showing that the CLT panels were at risk of mould growth development. The average swelling and shrinkage coefficients calculated for CLT were around 2 times larger than the longitudinal and 20 times smaller than the transverse coefficients obtained from the laboratory experiment on solid wood specimens, indicating the effect of the cross-lamination on these coefficients. Cracks were the most visible in areas of the panel surface that presented knots and in the end-to-end joints of the panel lumber. Four deformation modes were observed according to the strain measurements and verified with the displacement measurements.The average heat loss per square meter calculated for the CLT basement wall was 0.793 W/m2, and the average cumulative heat loss for 720 days was 112.07 MJ/h/m2. The calculated thermal conductivity varied from 0.022 W/(m°C) to 0.363 W/(m°C). The average confirmed the value from the literature, 0.11 W/(m°C). This study explores a sustainable solution for concrete basements by proposing CLT as an alternative to enhance thermal efficiency and comfort in below-grade living spaces in cold climates. While research on CLT basement walls remains undeveloped, this is the first CLT basement to be reported, and this research may lead to a more sustainable approach to basement construction. This research aims to foster growth in the forestry industry and open new opportunities for CLT adoption in the Canadian housing market