How do ambient and structural variables influence the entry into and full passage of drainage culverts by mammals and their ability to act as wildlife passages?

Roads present a significant barrier to wildlife movement for many species. While designated wildlife crossing structures have been heralded as an attractive solution to many of the problems associated with roads, they are often prohibitively expensive. Autoroute 10 in Southern Quebec is one of many highways in Canada that would benefit from such structures, but currently has none in place. However, the highway has a series of periodically placed drainage culverts designed to allow water to cross underneath the road surface. Through monitoring trail camera footage inside of 13 drainage culverts, and animal track stations along a 20 kilometre stretch of highway A10, this project aims to (1) determine what factors influence the number of full passages of drainage culverts by mammals, and (2) parse the effects that these factors have on the entry into and subsequent full passage of drainage culverts by individual animals. Overall, 20 species were observed outside of the drainage culverts in this study, but only animals highly tolerant to water, including raccoons and American mink, were observed fully crossing the structures with regularity. Water level and polyethylene as a construction material were the strongest deterrents for both the number of full passages, as well as entry into the culverts. Additionally, we found that many factors influenced an individual entering a culvert, while no variables impacted its full passage once it had entered. Moving forward, this data will be invaluable in determining where best to focus future habitat fragmentation mitigation efforts along highway 10. In this study we introduced zero-inflated negative binomial generalized linear mixed models as a statistical method in a road ecology study for analyzing the effects that variables have on excess zeros in the data, as well as the value of combining trail camera data inside of drainage culverts with track data in the adjacent habitat. We conclude that drainage culverts are ultimately not suitable substitutes for designated crossing structures for mammals, and recommend that where it is not feasible to install designated wildlife crossing structures, dry ledges be installed in existing drainage culverts to better allow small- and medium-sized mammals to safely cross under the road surface while avoiding the water inside of them. Future road ecology studies are needed along all major highways, both with and without mitigation measures already in place, to better understand the effects that roads are having on wildlife

Evaluating the effectiveness of wildlife passages for small and medium sized mammals

While many studies have looked at how large mammals respond to road mitigation measures, few have examined the effects on smaller mammals nor taken a multispecies approach. I investigated the effectiveness of three different types of wildlife passages along Highway 175 in Quebec for small and medium sized mammals (<30 kg) using infrared cameras. Wildlife passages (n=17) were monitored year round from 2012 to 2015. Two research questions were addressed: (1) Does discovery and use differ between passages and if so, why? and (2) Are there differences between species? Global and species-specific models were produced for both discovery and use. A linear mixed-effects model was used for discoveries (log-transformed counts) and a generalized linear mixed model was used for usage (binary response). Species’ responded to the passages differently, with discoveries increasing overall and in particular for marmots (Marmota monax) as latitude increased. Pipe culverts were more likely to be discovered by micromammals and wooden ledge culverts by red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) than other passage types. Older passages were discovered less in general, with the exception of marmots. Marmots were the only species to show a difference in use by passage type, favouring pipe culverts. Passage use was less likely with a median present for all models, except squirrels. More open passages had higher use overall and particularly for marmots and weasels (Mustela sp). In contrast to previous studies, distance to cover and the presence of light were not important predictors. Agencies can engineer increasingly effective wildlife passages by minimizing the barrier effect of the structures themselves and constructing passages better suited to the needs of the species being targeted. To benefit the most species, it is recommended that future projects contain a diversity of open, single segment passages requiring long-term monitoring

Assessment of Urban Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory in Montréal

Assessment of Urban Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory in Montréal Shadnoush Pashaei Farahani There is an increasing concern about global warming resulting from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. GHGs can be produced from a wide range of anthropogenic activities at different spatial and temporal scales. Since most of the world population lives in cities, emission from urban areas is an important source of GHGs. The city is a complicated system consisting of various components and processes. Efforts have been made to mitigate urban GHG emissions. However, there is a lack of available methods for effective assessment of such emissions. Many urban sources and factors which can influence the emissions are still unknown. In the present study, the contributing factors in an urban area were identified and the GHG emission from municipal activities was assessed. A model for the assessment of urban GHG emissions was developed. Based on the collected data, a case study was conducted to evaluate urban GHG emissions in Montreal. The comprehensive assessment included the emissions from transportation (i.e. public, personal), electricity consumption, natural gas, heating oil, waste disposal, and wastewater treatment as well as the carbon sequestered by green space. This study provided a new approach for the comprehensive evaluation of urban GHG emissions. The results can help better understand the emission process, identify the major emission sources and develop the appropriate strategies for emission reduction

Effects of Turning Radius on Skid-Steered Wheeled Robot Power Consumption on Loose Soil

This research highlights the need for a new power model for skid-steered wheeled robots driving on loose soil and lays the groundwork to develop such a model. State-of-the-art power modeling assumes hard ground; under typical assumptions this predicts constant power consumption over a range of small turning radii where the inner wheels are rotating backwards. However, experimental results performed both in the field and in a controlled laboratory sandbox show that, on sand, power is not in fact constant with respect to turning radius. Power peaks by 20% in a newly identified range of turns where the inner wheels rotate backwards but are being dragged forward. This range of turning radii spans from half the rover width to R', the radius at which the inner wheel is not commanded to turn. Data shows higher motor torque and wheel sinkage in this range. To progress toward predicting the required power for a skid-steered wheeled robot to maneuver on loose soil, a preliminary version of a two-dimensional slip-sinkage model is proposed, along with a model of the force required to bulldoze the pile of sand that accumulates next to the wheels as it they are skidding. However, this is shown to be a less important factor contributing to the increased power in small-radius turns than the added inner wheel torque induced by dragging these wheels through the piles of sand they excavate by counter-rotation (in the identified range of turns). Finally, since a direct application of a power model is to design energy-efficient paths, time dependency of power consumption is also examined. Experiments show reduced rover angular velocity in sand around turning radii where the inner wheels are not rotated and this leads to the introduction to a new parameter to consider in path planning: angular slip

IPO Performance and the Size Effect: Evidence for the US and Canada

This study investigates the interaction between firm size and IPO underpricing in the US and Canadian markets between the years 2007-2016. We find a size effect on IPO underpricing in both Canada and the US, which is larger for Canadian firms. Canadian small firms show more underpricing than US small firms (19.32% vs. 13.87%). Large Canadian firms also exhibit more underpricing than their US counterparts over the sample period (12.83% vs. 10.09%). A size effect on performance is not apparent for holding periods beyond six months from the IPO in both countries, consistent with seasoning effects that reduce information asymmetries across firms over longer investment horizons. Keyword: IPO performance; size effects; short-term information asymmetrie

Privacy in the Age Of Information (and algorithms)

This paper raises the privacy issues related to information that is accessible about indi- viduals from their mobile devices and that which is collected when they interact with and use so called ”free” services provided on the web. The importance of privacy has been ignored by most legislation and any laws passed have no teeth. The only exception is the privacy protection that is embedded in the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR). GDPR gives control to individuals over their personal data and requires any organization which collects and controls personal information to have in place appropriate measures both technical and logistic, to implement the data protection principles. In this paper, we propose a technical solution to provide a personal email and web server with complete control of all correspondence and contents. This would liberate users from fake free services and provide privacy and security

Picturing Aid in Haiti: Reflections on the making of a work of graphic reportage

This research-creation PhD thesis contributes to recent debates about what journalism could (or should) be in today's fast-changing media landscape by focusing on graphic reportage, a journalistic approach that relies on the drawn medium of comics. In order to assess how working in this drawn form might affect the practices that journalists use in their work, I reflect critically on my process of making Picturing Aid in Haiti, a work of graphic reportage about humanitarian interventions in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. I carried out fieldwork for this graphic project in 2013 in Port-au-Prince, where I recorded a series of interviews with Haitians who lived for more than three years in a displacement camp. During this fieldwork, I also interviewed humanitarian workers and local landowners, and I documented what I observed through notes, photographs and sketches. Based on this research, I wrote the script for a graphic book, and I began illustrating and designing sample panels and pages of graphic reportage. In my research for this graphic project, I consciously sought out information and points of view often neglected in international news coverage of humanitarian interventions in places like Haiti. Reflecting on the interviews and observational research I carried out in Haiti, I show in this thesis that the approach of graphic reportage facilitated this process. Discussing specific excerpts from my graphic project, which serves as a platform for the words, stories and images that different interviewees contributed to this project, I demonstrate that this drawn form of journalism can open up space for exploring the perspectives of people like displaced Haitians whose voices, agency and histories are often missing or negated in the news. Through specific examples from Picturing Aid in Haiti, which also foregrounds some of the complex dynamics involved in my own process of researching, writing and visually representing aid in a Haitian camp, this thesis also shows that graphic reportage has the potential to encourage greater reflexivity in journalism

Storytelling for healing: A narrative synthesis literature review on storytelling interventions with older adults living in institutions

This literature review uses a narrative synthesis methodology to investigate the fields of gerontology and drama therapy. The aim is to discover storytelling interventions with older adults living in institutions, in these fields. It also aims to find how this intervention approach is a useful mental health tool with this population. A qualitative data collection process is used to collect text and narratives from the accumulated nineteen gerontology and three drama therapy studies. By looking at storytelling interventions in the literature, the review offers theoretical conjectures on how storytelling, as a group intervention, exists to facilitate ego integrity in its participants. Furthermore, the review identifies several narratives of commonality within the literature which suggest useful intervention processes for this population: the use of life-story themed sessions, music/objects/images/photographs as stimuli and creating a concretized depiction of the life-stories. The review also identified common mental health changes across studies, indicating factors such as decreased depression, increased socialization, increased perceived quality of life and greater connection to elements of identity facilitated by this intervention. A final discussion identifies how the above findings can contribute towards research in drama therapy, particularly offering guidance in storytelling intervention design. Keywords: older adults, institutions, storytelling, mental healt

A Framework for Interoperability Across Heterogeneous Service Description Models

Automated Web service processing, composition and execution is a research area that has yielded different service description models that can be implemented using a wide array of standards and technologies. Due to the diversity of their underlying service description models and the specific operational standards and platforms they are using, it has been difficult to fairly compare various research solutions pertaining to Web service processing, composition and execution. All solutions require a Web service description repository, for example, to automatically compose and execute composite services. Different research endeavors have provided original and diverse solutions to these Web service processing problems, many of them being extensions to existing solutions using standard service description models. We propose a highly modular Web service description framework that can allow the user to import, export, search, modify, and enable the composition and execution of services described using different service description models and/or standards. Our service description framework uses a simple and flexible interface to test and compare Web service processing, composition and execution models and algorithms. We evaluate our framework by creating specific instances of our framework to achieve concrete motivation scenarios, which we do successfully, achieving all of our goals

Understanding and Integrating Sustainability Into Strategy: A Case Study of a Transnational Automobile Corporation

Scientific research demonstrates that humanity is steadily bringing Earth to the limits of its planetary boundaries. Businesses, as powerful economic and social agents, have increasingly undertaken environmental strategies into their activities. Yet, even while firms increase their statements around sustainability, the concepts behind their actions – sustainable development, resilience, environmentalism, corporate social responsibility, and others - have not always been clear. These concepts have been changing over time since the 1980s, and even today there is no general agreement on their meaning neither among the scientists nor among the business practitioners. Moreover, even within a single firm, these terms may not be understood and interpreted the same way throughout an organization. This problem brings to the main research question of this study which is to analyze how sustainability is understood, interpreted and integrated into a strategy of TNCs. I use a single case study to explore it on an example of a transnational corporation (TNC) in the automotive industry. In particular, I explore the external perspective of the firm through official public documents (annual reports, press releases) and internal perspective through interviews with managers within the TNC based in a European country. In this research, I find a gap between public documents and interviews; a gap between managers’ understanding of the importance of sustainability societally and their integration of meaningful sustainability-oriented actions into their day-to-day actions in the company; a gap between the purported value of sustainability as part of the firm’s strategy and its implementation