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MSpace is the University of Manitoba’s Institutional Repository. The purpose of MSpace is to acquire, preserve and provide access to the scholarly works of University faculty and students within an open access environment.

 

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Open Access
A mixed methods exploration of the characteristics, dynamics, processes and perceived effects of research partnerships in child health
(2024-10-10) Crockett, Leah; Driedger, Michelle (Community Health Sciences); Scott, Shannon (Nursing); Leatherdale, Scott (University of Waterloo); Sibley, Kathryn
Background: Research partnerships between health researchers and knowledge users (e.g., children and youth, parents and families, healthcare providers) are gaining momentum to promote the uptake and application of research. Yet, comprehensive data on partnerships within child health research that include partnership traditions and knowledge user groups remains limited. This dissertation addresses this gap by exploring child health as a unique context for research partnerships, focusing on their characteristics, dynamics, processes, and effects. Methods: This dissertation adopts an exploratory mixed-methods approach across three concurrent studies, employing multiple data collection and analysis methods while maintaining conceptual coherence and a pragmatic philosophical orientation, integrating findings in the discussion. Objective 1 characterized knowledge user engagement in published child health research through a scoping review, examining characteristics, practices, barriers, facilitators and effects. Objective 2 used interpretive description to provide an in-depth understanding of the experiences, motivations, and relational dynamics of engaging in research partnerships among Canadian child health researchers and knowledge users. Objective 3 employed a concurrent mixed-methods design to explore considerations influencing the individual determinants and perceived effects of partnered child health research compared to other health research contexts, through secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey of Canadian partnered health research projects funded from 2011-2019 and interviews with child health researchers and knowledge users informed by qualitative description. Results: Objective 1 revealed a growing trend in publications on child health research partnerships, particularly since 2019. Most studies used community-based participatory research approaches and engaged multiple knowledge user groups, though reporting on barriers, facilitators, and effects varied. Objective 2 highlighted role-specific motivations for partnering and underscored the central role of relationships in shaping partnership dynamics, sustainability, and the ability to navigate challenges. Researchers often balanced evolving partnership practices within academic systems and structures not always conducive to collaboration, resulting in tensions. Objective 3 found no significant differences between child and general health cohorts in survey responses. Child health respondents reported positive perceptions of their capability, opportunity, and motivation to work in partnership, but mixed views on project effects. Interview participants embraced common principles across research contexts while navigating additional logistical (e.g., institutional processes) and practical (e.g., engaging proxies) challenges unique to partnered child health research. Participants noted distinct considerations (e.g., safeguarding vulnerable populations), processes (e.g., tailoring engagement strategies) and effects when engaging children and youth, with the ethos of the child health community facilitating partnerships. Conclusion: Overall, research partnerships in child health share common principles and challenges with those in other health research contexts, but also have unique characteristics, dynamics, and processes that add nuance to the conceptualization and practice of partnering. These findings provide a foundational understanding of child health research partnerships, guiding efforts to optimize partnership research and practice. By deepening our understanding of these elements, partners can work toward meaningful collaborations that enhance child health research uptake and effects.
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Open Access
Addressing gaps in community-level antimicrobial resistance monitoring through wastewater surveillance
(2024-10-02) Daigle, Jade; Knox, Natalie (Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disceases); Garroway, Colin (Biological Sciences); Mangat, Chand; McLaren, Paul
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an escalating global health crisis, yet existing monitoring systems inadequately track AMR at the community level. Wastewater surveillance (WS) offers a practical solution by providing a scalable, non-invasive approach to monitor community-level AMR. This thesis contributes to the development of a national WS program in Canada, enhancing our capacity to detect and manage AMR. Central to this work was the advancement and validation of a wastewater-specific quantitative metagenomic (wqMeta) workflow, designed to enrich and quantify thousands of AMR gene families in diverse wastewater samples. A DNA extraction method was optimized, comparing two extraction kits—PowerMicrobiome (PMB) and MagNA Pure 96 (MP96). Processing 100 mL of wastewater with the PMB kit consistently yielded higher DNA concentrations and quality, enabling more effective downstream analyses. The wqMeta workflow, which normalized data by both total bacterial load and wastewater flow rates, outperformed the published qMeta method, which relied solely on bacterial load. The wqMeta approach closely mirrored quantitative PCR (qPCR) in its ability to quantify absolute AMR gene abundances, demonstrating superior accuracy and scalability. A nine-week pilot study across six wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in urban, rural, and remote communities in central Canada validated the workflow. Results revealed stable AMR concentrations over time, with significant spatial differences: urban sites exhibited higher AMR levels and gene diversity compared to remote sites, highlighting the influence of population density on AMR dissemination. This study underscores the potential of WS to bridge critical gaps in AMR monitoring and offers actionable insights for public health interventions. The findings demonstrate that WS, supported by advanced methodologies such as wqMeta, can provide real-time, population-wide AMR data. Implementing a national WS program would strengthen Canada’s ability to detect and respond to AMR trends, guiding evidence-based policy decisions to mitigate the growing threat of AMR.
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Open Access
Circuit models and AMP algorithms for future-generation wireless communication systems
(2024-10-12) Akrout, Mohamed; Hossain, Ekram (Electrical and Computer Engineering); Yahampath, Pradeepa (Electrical and Computer Engineering); Heath, Robert W. (University of California San Diego); Mezghani, Amine; Bellili, Faouzi
Due to the significant increase in high data rate services and the demands of future wireless networks, researchers in the physical layer community are exploring new trends including i) integrating electromagnetic theory with communication theory, and ii) developing low-complexity digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms. This thesis aims to address gaps in the communication and DSP literatures. The first part of the thesis incorporates physical limitations of antennas, such as size and mutual coupling, into circuit models for near- and far-field communications. Traditionally, constraints like antenna size and bandwidth are not included in information-theoretic performance analysis. A key finding is that mutual coupling can widen the operational bandwidth of large-scale antenna arrays, revealing a "bandwidth gain" in massive multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) technology. The second part of the dissertation addresses recent developments in the approximate message passing (AMP) literature, where algorithms rely heavily on some assumptions (i.e., AWGN model, separable denoisers) which are not practical in many engineering applications. We extend the vector AMP approach, initially used for high-dimensional linear regression in compressive sensing, to handle arbitrary independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) noise priors. Additionally, a bilinear generalized vector AMP algorithm is proposed, tracking the correlation matrices of the linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) estimation. While this increases complexity, it allows the algorithm to outperform state-of-the-art solutions with discrete-valued priors. The thesis also introduces a non-separable denoiser for estimating permutation matrices, addressing the unlabeled sensing problem. Despite the computational intractability of estimating permutation matrices for even small problem sizes, the proposed unlabeled compressed sensing (UCS) approach approximates the intractable permutation denoiser using two connected assignment denoisers through a belief propagation procedure. Theoretical performance guarantees are provided through state evolution (SE) equations predicting empirical mean square error (MSE) in large systems. Simulations demonstrate the algorithm's effectiveness and superiority over existing methods. At the intersection of DSP, antenna, and communication theories, this thesis highlights the need to revisit information theoretic concepts from an electromagnetic perspective. It emphasizes the importance of circuit-based models for their ability to define and optimize the physical characteristics and constraints of communication components in an era dominated by data-driven approaches.
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Open Access
Restoring Manoomin in Brokenhead Ojibway Nation through a community-led approach: implications on food security and the local economy
(2024-09-18) Nwankwo, Uche; Brewin, Derek (Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics); Bobiwash, Kyle (Entomology); Thompson, Shirley
Manoomin (Zizania palustris), also known as wild rice, is a culturally, spiritually, nutritionally, and ecologically important plant to the Ojibway people. Production and management of Manoomin are deeply rooted in Indigenous food system knowledge (IFSK), which was negatively affected by colonial legacies. This research asked whether Manoomin production can play a significant role in the Ojibway economy amid high food insecurity, structural barriers to traditional food access, and challenges to sustainable livelihoods. My mixed methodology research employed the need-based approach (NBA) in investigating a sustainable pathway to restoring Manoomin to Brokenhead Ojibway Nations (BON). Community members enrolled in the Kitigay pilot program, a project-based post-secondary education program, took the lead in restoring Manoomin in BON and transforming the abandoned weedy Bison Ranch farm for gardening and orchard planting. An initial 60 pounds of Manoomin was procured and planted in BON Rivers in October 2024, with community members' active participation. Later, a community café was organized in collaboration with community members. The community café’s impact resulted in the BON Chief and Council purchasing and planting an additional 2,000 pounds of Manoomin in 2023, applying IFSK. A community café, survey, and participatory action research undertaken in this study indicate that Manoomin is regarded as an essential component of the Ojibway people’s food chain, economy, and environment. Eighty-one percent of the 21 participants who completed the semi-structured survey indicated the likelihood of participating in future community-led Manoomin restoration projects. In ranked order (1 = not at all important to 5 = very important), the three most compelling reasons among ten variables for participating in the community café are transferring IFSK to the youth (90%), reviving IFSK (88%), and income and employment opportunities (86%). The Spearman’s correlation results suggest a strong positive correlation between reviving IFSK and transferring IFK to the youth (r =.67, n = 21, p < .001). A strong positive correlation exists between reviving IFSK and decolonizing IFSK (r =.57, n = 21, p < .007). The Manoomin restoration in BON presents a compelling argument for community-led participatory approaches to addressing food insecurity problems in Indigenous communities.
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Open Access
Knowledge Synthesis Research in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences
(2024-08-29) Lê, Mê-Linh; Linton, Janice; Monnin, Caroline
Knowledge synthesis, which includes systematic reviews, scoping reviews, and rapid reviews, is an important form of research for the Rady of Faculty of Health Sciences. But how is this research completed, what services are available to support students and researchers doing this work, and what does published KS from the RFHS look like over the last six years? Librarians from the Neil John Maclean Health Sciences Library have collaborated with RFHS faculty, students, and researchers on hundreds of reviews, consulted on innumerable projects, answered thousands of knowledge synthesis questions, and provided hours of in-class and online instruction. Since 2018 we have also offered a multi-part workshop series that allows attendees to add it to their Experience Record. We also recently completed a research study that identified all published KS research produced by the RFHS community since 2017. This allowed us to conclusively identify trends in the overall increase in KS, the incredible growth of specific review types, and possible relationships between librarian collaboration on a KS and the journal impact factor of the published research. Pulling from these two information sources, this presentation will provide an overview of KS research output at RFHS and outline supports available to KS researchers. This session will be valuable for anyone involved in KS research within the RFHS – whether as summer research students or longtime KS investigators.
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Open Access
Trends in Evidence Synthesis and Growth in Librarian Involvement
(Library Evidence Synthesis Services Symposium (LESSS), 2024-06-27) Monnin, Caroline; Lê, Mê-Linh
This study examines the evolving role of librarians within evidence synthesis (ES) research at a mid-sized university after the introduction of a tiered service model. We identified all ES published by our institution and used content analysis to categorize the type of evidence synthesis (e.g., systematic reviews, scoping reviews), the disciplines represented (e.g., nursing, psychology), and the specific ways librarian contributions were credited or acknowledged (e.g., co-authorship, mentioned by name in the search methods). Findings highlight a significant increase in librarian co-authorship since the introduction of our tiered model in 2017, reflecting a growing recognition of librarian expertise in evidence synthesis methodologies and the possible impact of our tiered model. Additionally, our research reveals overall trends in output and disciplines publishing ES research. This presentation is valuable for librarians and administrators planning their own ES research service and those interested in learning how a tiered model can result in increased acknowledgement and co-authorship for librarians involved in evidence synthesis research. Slides were presented as part of the Library Evidence Synthesis Services Symposium (LESSS) which occurred June 24-27, 2024.
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Designing and testing a prototype stable-wing-support system to deploy, retrieve, and operate a horizontal river hydrokinetic turbine within the water column to achieve cost-effective power generation in cold climates
(2024-10-05) Aqdiam, Ibrahim; Wu, Nan (Mechanical Engineering); Mantilla, Ricardo (Civil Engineering); Bibeau, Eric
River hydrokinetic turbines harness renewable energy in river currents to contribute to microgrids. Despite many hydrokinetic turbine designs, systems still require reducing costs and operate effectively in cold climates. A stable-wing-support system is developed and tested to deploy, retrieve, and operate within the water column of a horizontal axis river turbine. The prototype design addresses identified stability problems using a fixed-wing design previously tested in a laboratory water tunnel and an energetic river. The stable-wing-support system prototype uses a NACA 0012 airfoil with 6°, 10°, and 15° dihedral angles designed using open-source Xflr5 software to optimize the lift, drag, and moment coefficients for angles of attack from -5° to +15°. The prototype also includes a winged tail to improve the turbine assembly's stability further. The stable-wing-support prototype designed using SolidWorks is 3-D printed. Tests are conducted to quantify the stability of the stable-wing-support prototype using a water tunnel at flow velocities varying from 0.5 to 1 m/s, resulting in Reynold’s numbers from 3.37x105 to 6.74x105. Stability data is recorded and analyzed using open-source Tracker software and then exported to MATLAB software for analysis. Results indicate that the stability of the stable-wing-support system with dihedral angles 6°, 10°, and 15° and a winged tail significantly improves the stability by 80%, 50%, and 40%, respectively, compared to a previous design for flow velocities up to 1 m/s, addressing the objectives of this research and contribute a design to maximizing power production in cold climates.
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Open Access
Detecting energy dissipation in modulated vs. non-modulated motion waveforms emanating from vibrating systems recorded in videos
(2024-10-04) Uswatta Liyanage, Tharaka; Hossain, Ekram (Electrical and Computer Engineering); Bartz, Jamie (Civil Engineering); Peters, James
The research investigates the dynamics of motion energy dissipation in modulated versus non-modulated motion waveforms derived from vibrating systems as recorded in video formats, utilizing Hilbert transforms for signal analysis. By defining the critical motion attributes through the Hilbert spectral analysis, the study quantifies the energy dissipation in both modulated and non-modulated states, capturing the intricate oscillatory behavior of these systems. The essence of modulation in this context is demonstrated through the localized concentration of energy, observable in systems ranging from mechanical to human motion. In contrast, non-modulated signals exhibit dispersed energy profiles, leading to different implications for energy efficiency and system performance. Through meticulous frame-by-frame analysis, the research delineates how specific energy patterns can lead to smoother motion waveforms as well as resulting a decrease in system vibrations.
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Open Access
Dynamic phasor modelling and simulation of power networks with converter-tied renewable resources
(2024-10-03) Peiris, Paranagamage; Gole, Aniruddha (Electrical and Computer Engineering); Muthumuni, Dharshana (Electrical and Computer Engineering); Chen, Christine (University of British Columbia); Filizadeh, Shaahin
Due to the massive integration of renewable energy generation in modern power systems, the dynamic characteristics of the power grid are rapidly changing. Spurred by device limitations and the wide range of controls present in converter-based generation, the resulting reduction in system inertia and system strength warrant improved modelling methods that provide analytical insight into the operation of modern power systems. Conventional approaches for analysing transient and small-signal stability are being challenged due to the new, non-linear controls present in converter-based generation. Due to their inability to represent the network dynamics, conventional phasor-based methods are no longer suited for detailed studies in converter-based systems. Electromagnetic transient (EMT) based methods successfully capture the dynamic characteristics of such systems but are restricted in terms of their capability to provide analytical insight using formal means such as eigenvalues. This thesis proposes a modelling approach based on average-value, positive-sequence dynamic phasors, that can integrate transient simulation and small-signal studies into a singular modelling platform. A component based modular approach to develop the model of a large power system is presented and is benchmarked against EMT and conventional phasors demonstrating its accuracy on par with EMT simulations, while also providing analytical insight through eigenvalue analysis. The proposed modelling method is parallelized using graphics processing units (GPUs) providing significant performance gains over EMT simulations. A limitation of the proposed modeling method, which arises with networks with all inductor nodes, is addressed using a novel method that allows both transient responses and eigenvalue analyses with a significant reduction in model order. Finally, an example case is studied determining the operational parameters for grid-following and grid-forming converters for stable operation. Based on both eigenvalue analysis and transient responses, this is analysed for a single machine infinite bus (SMIB) system for a case with reducing short circuit strength and a case of network strengthening through series compensation.
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Open Access
Energy-aware and RIS-assisted communications in UAV-based wireless networks
(2024-09-26) Sekander, Silvia; McLeod, Robert D. (Electrical and Computer Engineering); Wang, Yang (Computer Science); Zhao, Lian (Toronto Metropolitan University); Hossain, Ekram
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) advance 5G and 6G networks with flexible deployment and enhanced coverage. However, their limited onboard energy poses challenges, requiring optimization through advanced energy harvesting, flight planning, and adaptive protocols. On the other hand, Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) are emerging as a transformative technology for future wireless systems, particularly in the context of 6G for dynamically improving signal strength and coverage. Integrating RISs with UAVs addresses propagation issues, enhancing communication with RISs on buildings or UAVs. However, several critical research areas remain unexplored. These include understanding the complex radio wave propagation characteristics in aerial environments, optimizing the deployment of 3D RIS arrays to maximize their benefits in dynamic scenarios, and ensuring seamless integration of UAVs and RISs into existing and future wireless standards. Overcoming these challenges will be pivotal in harnessing the full potential of UAVs and RISs to meet the demanding requirements of 6G networks, thereby ushering in a new era of pervasive and high-performance wireless connectivity. This thesis addresses UAV-assisted communication challenges, focusing on energy harvesting and deployment optimization. It models solar, wind, and hybrid energy scenarios, deriving expressions for harvested power to evaluate outage probabilities using moment generating functions (MGF) and Gil-Pelaez inversion. It also explores distributed STAR-RIS networks versus multi-antenna UAV systems, optimizing multi-user scheduling, STAR-RIS shifts, and UAV beamforming using semi-definite programming, integer relaxation, and convex approximation, showing significant performance gains and enhancing UAV efficiency.