Zinc biofortification in wheat grains through phosphorus and zinc fertilization strategies in Manitoba’s Red River Valley

Canada is one of the world’s largest wheat exporters, yet zinc (Zn) concentrations in Canadian wheat often fall below levels considered optimal for human health. We evaluated agronomic biofortification options that align with Canadian prairie practices by testing phosphorus (P) and Zn fertilizer sources and placements, with or without foliar supplements. A plot-based four-year field study was conducted on calcareous soils of contrasting texture (clay vs. sandy loam) in southern Manitoba from 2023 to 2024. Treatments included monoammonium phosphate (MAP), MAP + granular ZnSO4, and MicroEssentials® SZ® (MESZ) placed as broadcast-incorporated, side-band, or seed-row at seeding, with foliar Zn (± glycine betaine + salicylic acid; ± K) applied at Zadok’s growing stages Z12–15 and Z65. Plant nutrient concentrations were determined by ICP-MS following acid digestion, and Zn bioavailability was indexed by the phytic acid:Zn (PA:Zn) molar ratio. Across site-years, Zn fertilization increased grain yield by 8.3% over the Zn unfertilized control, with the highest yields achieved when MESZ was banded at seeding. Grain Zn responses depended on formulation, placement, and foliar supplementation. Seed-row MESZ plus foliar Zn produced the largest and most consistent grain Zn gains, raising concentration by ~27–60% at the two most responsive site-years and achieving ~41–43 mg kg-1. Depending on site-year, adding biostimulants provided small non-significant additional gains, whereas adding K produced no clear effect. Independent of formulation, banding MAP and MESZ generally outperformed broadcast for yield and Zn uptake. Grain PA:Zn ranged ~27–38 and improved (decreased ~25%) where foliar Zn was added to seed-row MESZ, but no treatment reduced PA:Zn below the conventional threshold of 15. Phosphorus fertilization did not systematically elevate grain phytic acid. Overall, integrating seed-row MESZ with well-timed foliar Zn is a practical path to raise grain Zn and improve PA:Zn under Prairie conditions. Further refinement should focus on foliar Zn rate/timing and context-dependent use of K and biostimulants to deliver consistent biofortification across soils and seasons. Future work should prioritize foliar Zn rate and timing and test compatibility with plant-health fungicides to simultaneously support yield and biofortification under Prairie conditions.February 202

The design, construction, and testing of a tuned VHF amplifier

This thesis deals with the design and construction of a tuned VHF amplifier. The main requirements are that optimum transducer gain must be attempted with a bandwidth of 6 MHz. Theoretical considerations such as stability, determination of optimum terminations and matching networks will be considered. The design will be carried out using a Fairchild 2N4122 bipolar transistor operating on channel 2 into a 50 olim coaxial system. We shall try to include enough qualitative discussion with a minimum of theory so that a reader with only an elementary background in electronics will be able to apply the concepts to a design of his own

Fault Tolerant Euclidean K-Centers

The Euclidean \emph{k}-center problem is a fundamental question in computational geometry and facility location. Given a set $P$ of $n$ points in $\mathbb{R}^d$, the goal is to choose a set $F$ of $k$ center points such that the maximum distance from any point in $P$ to its nearest center in $F$ is minimized. Geometrically, this corresponds to covering all points in $P$ with $k$ balls of minimal radius. We study a natural generalization known as the $\ell$-fault-tolerant Euclidean \emph{k}-center problem, which introduces a robustness parameter $\ell \leq k$. In this variant, each point in $P$ must be covered by at least $\ell$ of the $k$ balls, or equivalently, its distance to the $\ell$th nearest center in $F$ must be minimized. This captures scenarios where redundancy is required for fault tolerance or load balancing. Our contributions include an exact $O(n \log n)$-time algorithm for solving the problem in one dimension ($\mathbb{R}$), where a linear order among points can be exploited. In two dimensions ($\mathbb{R}^2$), we prove that the problem becomes NP-hard. Nevertheless, we present an $O(nk/\ell)$-time algorithm that computes a 2-approximation, offering an efficient and practical solution with provable guarantees.February 202

Enchanted green blue infrastructure

Enchanted Green Blue Infrastructure reimagines the post industrial corridor south of the Refinery District in Winnipeg, Manitoba as a living social ecological landscape. The project responds to a site shaped by industrial remnants, fragmented access, and overlooked ecological potential. By integrating water, landform, vegetation, and community use into a cohesive framework, the design transforms the corridor into an extension of both the Refinery District and the Awasisak Mēskanow Greenway. The practicum explores how green blue infrastructure can become more than a technical system by supporting biodiversity, enhancing stormwater performance, and creating a resilient foundation for future growth. At the same time, the design introduces community gardens, gathering spaces, play environments, and accessible pathways that foster cultural connection, learning, and a sense of belonging for surrounding residents. By working with existing conditions and strengthening natural systems, the project demonstrates how urban landscapes can reconnect people with the land while addressing functional, ecological, and social needs. Enchanted Green Blue Infrastructure positions the corridor as a meaningful place to inhabit, experience, and care for, illustrating how infrastructure can cultivate both environmental resilience and enriched community life.February 202

From field to craft: Maya people’s gendered relations with the jipijapa palm in San Jose Village, Belize

Seeking to create new foundations for life, the Maya of Belize continue to create economies that allow their ways of living to persist and thrive within a globalized world. The Maya have relied on their surrounding natural resources to ensure their socio-economic and cultural well-being. One natural resource that has been vital for the Maya is the jipijapa palm (Carludovica palmata). Although the jipijapa palm is commonly used as a food source, men’s and women’s interaction with it differs. Men utilize the palm for farm work, whereas women utilize it within their household work as well as for craft creation to sell on the tourism market. Although jipijapa has always had cultural value, the advent of tourism gave it monetary value, causing a shift in how Maya relate to the plant. Tourism, the COVID-19 pandemic, and climate change are significant globalized changes that have impacted the Maya’s relationship with the jipijapa palm. Partaking in the tourism industry led to the hyper-consumption of jipijapa palms and scarcity in some villages, pressuring the remaining source in San Jose, Belize. The pandemic stagnated the jipijapa craft production, revealing its fragility and hyper-dependency on the local tourism industry. Due to climate change, in May 2024, the Toledo District experienced intense wildfires that burned for weeks, destroying numerous farms and acres of jipijapa palms. Learning from the year’s perils, the Maya of San Jose Village seek to build a more resilient future. They aspired to engage in the international exportation of their crafts, alleviating the dependency on local tourism markets. They also aim to restore burnt farms, replant jipijapa palms, and adopt sustainable farming techniques, such as agroforestry, to protect their farmlands and the broader environment, ensuring the longevity of their natural resources in a constantly shifting world.February 202

The effects of nitrogen availability on plant species in the boreal tundra ecotone

In high latitude biomes, increasing temperatures due to climate change are predicted to increase nutrient availability. Given the boreal region is dominated by plant and fungal species that are adapted to surviving in low nutrient soil, an increase in nutrients like nitrogen may cause a variety of responses in mycorrhizae fungi and their host plants. I found that several plant species responded to three years of 10 – 100 kg ha-1 nitrogen addition by changing their leaf N isotope ratios, morphology and physiology. However, these changes showed no obvious correspondence with mycorrhizal status. Although ectomycorrhizal fungi slow down the mineralization rates of nitrogen, and help to immobilize nitrogen, both ectomycorrhizal host plants, Picea glauca (Moench) Voss, and Dryas integrifolia Vahl, increased in total chlorophyll ∂15N while lowering the C:N ratio within their tissue due to fertilizer. The ericoid host plants (Ledum decumbens (Aiton) Lodd. ex. Steud, Vaccinium uliginosum L., and Empetrum nigrum L.) all responded differently from one another and did not respond to nitrogen unlike the ectomycorrhizal host plants. These results suggest that mycorrhizal types do not predict how boreal plant species will take up and utilize inorganic nitrogen. In some regions, climate change has resulted in boreal forests range expanding northwards, especially with a northward shift of coniferous trees. Northward range expansion for conifers on the tundra may involve the establishment and expansion of tree islands: clusters of conifers that create microhabitats on their leeward side. While we predicted these microhabitats would benefit conifer establishment and survival, we did not find this. After planting P. glauca and Pinus banksiana Lamb, seed around tree islands near Churchill, Manitoba, I found higher germination further away from the tree islands and on the windward side.February 202

Designing cell and protein-based DON biosensors for use in investigating DON-biotransforming microbes

Fusarium head blight (FHB) poses a major threat to small-grain cereals, reducing yield, quality, and contaminating grains with the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON). Once contaminated, it is difficult and costly to remove DON from grains. New rapid and low-cost assays for detecting the presence of DON are needed in order to screen for novel DON biotransforming microbial strains. This thesis develops and evaluates two novel biosensors for detecting DON: a cell-based Escherichia coli biosensor with a GFP reporter and a protein-based sensor engineered from Fusarium graminearum acetyltransferase TRI101. The Horizon Discovery E. coli Promoter Collection was screened using fluorescence-activated cell-sorting, followed by sequencing and fluorescence plate assays for DON-responsive strains. Strain rmf (ribosome modulation factor) exhibited a reproducible increase in fluorescence (~1.3 1.4× increase) when incubated in the presence of DON. Re-engineering this strain with the brighter GFP variant mClover3 improved peak ON/OFF fluorescence ratio to ~1.6-1.7. A medium-throughput fluorescence assay was developed and tested on 142 cultured soil microbial strains. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed to analyze the behaviour of TRI101 in its apo form as well as with a DON ligand. Computational analysis of TRI101 was used to determine the best residue fluorophore conjugation sites to produce a modified TRI101 that could report the presence of DON in a solution. Amino acid residues G421 and A218 were identified as the best candidates and a TRI101-G421C was designed and expressed recombinantly in E. coli. When conjugated to TRI101-G421C, 7-diethylamino-3-(4′ maleimidylphenyl)-4-methylcoumarin (CPM) produced a detectable response to DON in fluorescence assay with a decrease of 8-9% in emission intensity at the emission maximum wavelength (480 nm). Together, these results show that an E. coli rmf promoter-based biosensor can inexpensively detect DON in liquid samples with relatively high detection sensitivity. A TRI101-based biosensor demonstrated functionality in detecting DON however assay signal contrast and production of recombinant TRI101 remain as limiting factors. Improvements to TRI101 yield, testing A218C and other TRI101 mutants for improved performance, as well as further enhancing the sensitivity and assay signal contrast for both biosensor designs should be the focus of future research.Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grants programFebruary 202

Unlocking affordances in physiotherapy: exploring an enactive approach to understanding recovery experiences among older adults with persistent low back pain

Persistent low back pain (LBP) is highly prevalent among older adults and is associated with substantial physical, social, and existential disruption. Although physiotherapists are central to conservative management, empirical studies frequently report modest and heterogeneous outcomes, leaving unanswered questions about why physiotherapy is helpful for some individuals but not others. An enactive theoretical approach conceptualizes pain not as a property of the body or mind alone but as arising within the dynamic relationship between an embodied person and their environment. From this perspective, recovery may be understood as the reopening or reshaping of one’s field of affordances—the perceived possibilities for meaningful action. This phenomenological qualitative study used an enactive, affordance-based lens to explore how older adults with persistent LBP understand their recovery and the role of physiotherapy within it. Seven adults aged 64–83 who had recently received physiotherapy for persistent LBP and who reported meaningful improvement on a global rating of change scale participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using phenomenological thematic analysis, informed by enactivist theory and the four dimensions of affordances: salience, valence, mineness, and temporal horizon. Participants’ accounts revealed three themes describing the meaning of recovery and two themes describing the perceived role of physiotherapy. Recovery was understood as a restoration of purpose, in which pain disrupted identity-defining activities and recovery involved reclaiming, adapting, or reimagining these roles. Recovery was also described as a process—an ongoing journey—rather than a discrete endpoint. Finally, recovery was imbued with emotion: grief, frustration, fear, relief, and acceptance shaped participants’ sense-making and influenced their engagement with physiotherapy. Participants described physiotherapy as valuable primarily through trust-mediated relationships characterized by relational attunement and continuity. Physiotherapists opened and sustained affordances by providing relief, reassurance, and guidance to re-engage in meaningful activities. This study’s findings suggest that the perceived value of physiotherapy for older adults with persistent LBP may lie less in discrete interventions and more in relational, existential, and emotional aspects. An enactive, affordance-based approach may help clinicians more effectively support recovery by attending to the person–environment system and to what matters most in patients’ lives.February 202

Spatial distribution of water quality and phytoplankton in the Upper Manitoba Great Lakes

Freshwater eutrophication in Canada poses significant threats to ecosystem health and community wellbeing, particularly in large lake systems like the upper Manitoba Great Lakes (uMBGL). Lakes Winnipegosis, Waterhen, and Manitoba form a critical buffer system within the Nelson River watershed, processing nutrients before they reach Lake Winnipeg and ultimately Hudson Bay and the North Atlantic Ocean. Despite their importance, these lakes remain severely understudied, with minimal spatial and temporal data available about nutrient dynamics and phytoplankton communities. This knowledge gap hinders evidence-based management decisions necessary to protect these valuable freshwater resources from eutrophication driven by modern challenges such as land use management and accelerated climate change. This study provides the first spatially comprehensive, multi-year assessment of offshore water quality in the upperMBGL system. Over three open-water seasons (2016-2017), I collected and analyzed physical, chemical, and biological data across multiple basins to: (1) characterize in-situ offshore biogeochemical and physical conditions; (2) examine spatial and temporal variation through geostatistical analysis; and (3) document phytoplankton diversity and distribution patterns. Results indicate that all three lakes are consistently mesotrophic to eutrophic. Nutrient concentrations generally increased from north to south in both Lakes Winnipegosis and Manitoba during the open water season. Filamentous cyanobacteria dominated summer phytoplankton biomass in both lakes, while cyanobacterial picoplankton dominated by abundance. Significant differences between years and basins suggest limited inter-basin mixing and differential impacts from local land use. This research establishes a critical western science based baseline for understanding water quality dynamics in the Upper Manitoba Great Lakes system, and highlights the urgent need for continued monitoring, community-engaged research, and the weaving of traditional ecological knowledge with western science approaches to ensure these lakes can continue functioning as effective nutrient buffers for Lake Winnipeg.Lake Winnipeg Foundation: 2017/2018February 202

Prevalence, Position and Diameter of The Posterior Superior Alveolar Neurovascular Bundle on Cone-Beam Computed Tomography Scans - A Retrospective Study

Purpose: This retrospective study aimed to assess the prevalence, anatomical position, and diameter of the posterior superior alveolar neurovascular bundle (PSAN) canal in relation to maxillary alveolar landmarks using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans in a retrospective study design. Additionally, the influence of sex, side, age, and dentition status on these parameters was evaluated to aid clinicians in minimizing the risk of PSAN injury during surgical procedures. Methods: A total number of 275 randomly selected and anonymized CBCT scans were reviewed, with 218 cases meeting the inclusion criteria. The PSAN canal was assessed in the premolar, first molar and second molar regions for: (a) prevalence, (b) canal location, (c) distance to alveolar crest, (d) distance to sinus floor, (e) alveolar height, (f) distance to medial sinus wall, and (g) canal diameter. Results: PSAN canal prevalence was 91.71% in premolar, 79.13% in first molar, 79.61% in second molar region. The canal was most commonly intraosseous in the premolar region (80.7%), but predominantly intrasinus in the first (57.7%) and second molar region (67.1%). Mean distances from the PSAN canal to the alveolar crest were 26.16±5.66 mm (PM), 17.78±5.14 mm (M1), and 17.03±4.18 mm (M2). Distances to the sinus floor were 12.53±5.36 mm (PM), 10.67±4.46 mm (M1), and 9.69±3.81 mm (M2). Alveolar heights measured 13.76±5.15 mm (PM), 7.99±3.11 mm (M1), and 8.26±2.80 mm (M2). Canal-to-medial wall distances were 7.70±2.50 mm (PM), 13.70±3.70 mm (M1), and 16.04±3.01 mm (M2). Canal diameters were consistent across regions: 1.36±0.39 mm (PM), 1.36±0.38 mm (M1), and 1.33±0.40 mm (M2). No significant differences were observed based on sex, side, age, or dentition status (p > 0.05). Conclusion: The PSAN canal exhibits consistent anatomical patterns in prevalence, position, and diameter across regions, which may assist clinicians in avoiding neurovascular injury during surgical interventions.This study suggests that demographic and anatomical variables such as age, sex, side, and dentition status do not significantly impact these measurements