HARVEST
University of Saskatchewan's Repository for Research, Scholarship, and Artistic Work
Welcome to HARVEST, the repository for research, scholarship, and artistic work created by the University of Saskatchewan community. Browse our collections below or find out more and submit your work.
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Recent Submissions
A New Argument for Ethical Evidentialism
(Springer, 2024-08-09) Zamulinski, Brian
This paper contains a new argument for evidentialism as an ethical rather than an epistemic doctrine. The argument relies on new developments in consequentialist thinking. The insights of the proponents of the moral encroachment thesis are used to show that we need higher standards of evidence, and to develop the concept of ethically sufficient evidence. It is demonstrated that prospectivism (subjective consequentialism) supports the contentions that we should not believe without ethically sufficient evidence, that we are permitted to believe when we have it, and that we are obligated to investigate to acquire it. It is argued that we do not have any obligations to believe. The ethical evidentialism argued for here is distinguishable from Clifford’s ethics of belief. Developing the doctrine clarifies some of our moral obligations, makes a positive contribution to prospectivism, and shows that evidentialism is better construed as an ethical doctrine.
Economic Analysis of Beneficial Management Practices Adoption on Canola Production in Canada: Evidence and Policy Implications from First Nations in Saskatchewan
(2024-08-29) Ampomah, Samuel; Natcher, David C.; Arcand, Melissa; Liebenehm, Sabine
This study utilized the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) model to examine the effect of farm practice such as fertilizer application on canola yield from 2017 to 2040 on the Mistawasis Nêhiyawak First Nation reserve in central Saskatchewan. Following three separate fertilizer application scenarios, the results highlighted the effectiveness of integrating organic and inorganic fertilizers as BMP technology under the Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) practice for enhancing crop productivity.
The financial analysis further showed the economic viability of BMP technology adoption, particularly in increasing nitrogen fertilizer application beyond 135 kg/ha in optimizing returns to farmers, with higher net profits and positive net present value (NPV) values compared to the base technology. Sensitivity analysis emphasized the importance of considering uncertainties in discount rates and crop prices, indicating the significance of sustainable farming practices for ensuring enduring economic viability. This study provides valuable insights into optimizing fertilizer management practices and promoting sustainable agriculture in canola production, particularly on First Nation reserves in Canada.
LANDSCAPES OF LOVE: WANDAT WOMEN AND THE POLITICS OF REMOVAL, 1795-1910
(2024-08-28) Kelly, Mckelvey; Labelle, Kathryn; Hoy, Benjamin; Troupe, Cheryl; Hackett, Paul; Kugel, Rebecca; Englebert, Robert; Cunfer, Geoff
My dissertation is a community-engaged history guided by an Advisory Council of Wandat/Wendat women including Chief Emeritus Janith Atrondahwatee English (Kansas), Principal Chief Judith Trǫnyáęhk Manthe (Kansas), Second Chief Louisa Yarǫnyewáʔe Libby (Kansas), Faith Keeper Catherine Taǫmęʔšreʔ Tàmmaro (Ontario), Faith Keeper Sallie Tewatronyahkwa Cotter Andrews (Oklahoma), and Faith Keeper and lawyer Barbara Datǫgya’ha Aston (Oklahoma). This methodological approach built on direct collaboration with these women underscores the project’s commitment to authentically representing their perspectives on their shared history.
It examines structures of power and control within North American Indigenous removal and diaspora, focusing on the responses of Indigenous women to the historic trauma of removal in nineteenth century America. I argue that Wandat women protested removal and erasure of the Wandat from their lands in Tsaʔⁿduskeh, Uhížuʔ (now Upper Sandusky, Ohio) and Wyandott City (now Kansas City, Kansas) in the wake of American expansion in the 1830s. These women fought for their land largely using petitions and letter-writing campaigns to preserve community culture and overcome generations of colonial threats. This research challenges pervasive Settler myths that portray Indigenous peoples as timeless entities confined to the edges of urban metropolises or isolated on reserves. My research demonstrates that Indigenous women maintained strong connections to their homeland(s), even after they were forced to leave.
Contrary to narratives of destruction and erasure, this research reveals the continued presence and agency of Indigenous women in city spaces. It reimagines spaces traditionally seen as Settler or colonial, such as Kansas City, Kansas, as Indigenous ones highlighting the roles of Wandat women in land ownership, agricultural development, and the establishment of cultural institutions like churches and schools. These actions both resisted colonization as well as contributed to the making of cities, states, and countries. Thus, my work positions Indigenous women as central actors in the creation and maintenance of place.
Non-Destructive Estimation of Leaf Area Index(LAI) Using Image Data
(2024-08-27) Sediqi, Tansu; Noble, Scott; Helgason, Warren; Meda, Venkatesh
This study investigated using image data to estimate the Leaf Area Index (LAI) for wheat (Triticale
aestivum L.). The calculation of LAI involved the utilization of light interception, and the estimation process
involves creating a model using metrics extracted from Near-Infrared (NIR) and visible light image data.
Line quantum sensors were used to collect above- and below-canopy light measurements. Standard models
were used to calculate LAI based on these measurements. To address the effects of the sun azimuth angle,
corrections were applied to the LAI values, effectively eliminating its impact on the determinations.
The assessment of canopy coverage used in this study involved NIR and visible light images. To estimate
LAI non-destructively, linear regression models were constructed, incorporating a set of metrics from the
mentioned imaging modalities and the date as a proxy for the maturity of the wheat canopy.
The performance of these models was evaluated using root mean squared error (RMSE) and adjusted
coefficient of determination (R2). Through a comparison of these models, it was concluded that LAI was
best estimated using NIR images, rather than visible-light images. Moreover, the most effective model for
the estimation of LAI included only canopy coverage and maturity proxy as input parameters. Height was
not an important factor in this case.
The dataset examined contained a set of wheat varieties. To improve the power of LAI estimation models,
the study employed a clustering technique. Rather than using a single, generic model for LAI estimation
across all varieties, the proposed clustering strategy involves clustering the dataset and developing a model
for each distinct cluster. This departure from the one-size-fits-all approach generated more precise LAI
estimations for each cluster, ultimately enhancing the overall predictive accuracy of the models. This not
only enhanced comprehension of LAI dynamics but also underscored the significance of personalized strategies
in agricultural research to achieve more precise and applicable results. However, there are certain limitations
to consider. The clusters showed inconsistencies, indicating possible difficulties in putting them into practice.
While the suggestion of clustering exists, the specific approach to resolving these inconsistencies remains
uncertain.
FOOD INSECURITY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
(2024-08-26) Pasloski, Nicole P; Gertler, Michael; Quinlan, Elizabeth; Cheng, Hongming; Engler Stringer, Rachel
Food insecurity has become a growing issue for many Canadian subpopulations. When the COVID-19 pandemic began in March of 2020, many food-insecure households and individuals were unable to use previously relied-upon services or practises to ease their struggles with food insecurity. This case study focuses on post-secondary students as one disproportionately affected subgroup and uses a critical ethnographic approach paired with an autoethnographic lens to explore the experiences of food insecurity within the population during the pandemic. Drawing on one-on-one interviews and interrogation of her own lived experiences, the researcher draws out the complex, comingled, and often painful realities of food insecurity in the lives of university students. Participants’ struggles to obtain sustenance and their compulsion to minimize the difficulties they face was explored through discussion of matters that particularly affect post-secondary students at the University of Saskatchewan. Combining these intimate interviews with the first-person accounts and reflections of the researcher, who also struggled with food insecurity, resulted in a multiplicative enrichment to the analysis and depth of understanding. The interviewees openly shared their views and perspectives on their distressing experiences struggling with food access during a difficult period in history and painted a somewhat dismal picture of the challenges faced by students. However, despite the critiques they offer of structural barriers, neglect, and inadequate supports, the participants and the researcher remain hopeful, and proffer ideas on how to make changes that could improve the food security of future cohorts of post-secondary students.
THIN MAGNETIC FILM STORAGE DEVICES
(1965-11) Tickle, Andrew C.; Booth, A. D.
Binary information may be represented by domains in a thin uniaxial magnetic film. By means of suitable sequences of applied fields domains may be propagated to a point where their data -representing state may be detected. The. characteristics of devices working on the principle have been investigated for different modes of operation. The nucleation and subsequent morphology of domains has been studied with particular regard to the modes in which. spurious changes occur the data-representing states of
domains as they are propagated. The operating tolerances on the magnetic driving fields depend on the difference between Hs, the field required to nucleate domains, and Ho, the field required to move domain boundaries. -1-k corresponds to the anisotropy field, Hk. By increasing the uniaxial anisotropy, by changing the film composition, r may be considerably • increased. Hc, may be controlled independently by varying the film thickness. Spurious changes in the data -representing states of domains are caused by magnetostatic interactions during relaxation of the domains after the driving field pulses terminate. These magnetostatic effects may be modified by a magnetic biassing field, which results in a considerable increase in operating tolerances. Applications for sequential-access devices employing domain wall motion are considered and shown to be most suitable for relatively small memory systems.
CHARGE TRANSPORT MEASUREMENTS ON AMORPHOUS SELENIUM PHOTORECEPTOR FILMS
(1988-08) Thakur, Randhir Paul S.; Kasap. S. O.
Time of Flight Transient Photoconductivity experiments were performed on a range of single layer amorphous selenium based xerographic photoreceptor films for charge transport studies. Amorphous selenium photoreceptor films prepared in the Material and Devices Laboratory of the University of Saskatchewan and obtained from industrial suppliers were investigated.
Charge carrier drift mobility and trapping time or lifetime were measured as a function of the applied field. The dependence of the charge transport parameters on the preparation conditions and origin of selenium was also studied. The saturated residual potential was calculated from normal Time of Flight measurements in the Repetitive Mode. This simple and inexpensive technique provided comparable results to those obtained from expensive Xerographic measurements. Normal Time of Flight experiments carried out on a range of xerographically characterized amorphous selenium photoreceptor films exhibited a good correlation between Time of Flight photocurrent signals and cycled-up xerographic residual voltages.
An interrupted Transit Time Technique identified two species of traps and allowed the extraction of the hole trapping and release times, even when the conventional Time of Flight signal showed very little evidence of trapping. The apparatus enabled RC transient free Interrupted Transit Time as well as delayed and advanced photoexcitation measurements to be carried out on amorphous solids. During the flight of photoinjected carriers, the applied bias was removed and then reapplied after a variable delay. The large RC voltage transients occurring at the "on" and "off" times of the supply voltage which would normally obliterate the small photocurrent signal in conventional Time of Flight experiment were completely eliminated by using an inverse of the applied bias and variable nulling capacitor. For the first time the technique was used to examine the trapping kinetics in vacuum deposited amorphous selenium photoreceptor films during charge transport.
A MICROPROCESSOR BASED RESIDENTIAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION MONITOR
(1985-03) Tempel, Philip L.; Clewes, T. W.; Huff, J. G.
The design of a novel appliance load monitoring system is described. The system comprises a data collection unit, located at the residential distribution transformer, and distributed load monitoring transponders, located in the customer's home. Communication between the data collection unit and the transponders is over the residential and utility wiring using a frequency shift powerline carrier modem.
The remote transponders are capable of metering real and reactive power on a demand and peak basis. A isolated pulse accumulator input is provided for interface to pulse initiation meters. Load control under the command of the central data collection unit is provided. The thesis describes central unit design generally and the transponder hardware and software in detail.
ELECTRON AND HOLE TRANSPORT IN STABILIZED A-SE FOR X-RAY IMAGING
(1997-12) Tanha, Reza; Kasap. S. O.
Time-of-flight (TOF) transient photoconductivity measurements were carried out on thermally evaporated, vacuum deposited selenium alloy photoconductor films, known as stabilized amorphous selenium (a-Se, nominal composition a-Se:0.2-0.5%As, 20ppm Cl), of various thicknesses. This study utilizes three different analytical methods to evaluate the transit time and drift mobility of the charge carrier. This work also investigate the effect of three different top contacts, gold, nickel and platinum, on the electronic properties of the photoreceptor. It is concluded that the contact type has no significant effect on the behavior of the photogenerated electron and hole pairs.
TOF measurements were also used on several stabilized a-Se samples to determine the dominant factor in charge carrier dispersion mechanism. Dispersion appears to increase linearly with an increase in the collected charge, due to coulombic repulsion of the carriers. However, if the effect of coulombic dispersion is eliminated, the dominant factor is concluded to be the multiple trapping of the carriers in transit. This finding is important for x-ray imaging, since it defines the process which controls the speed and resolution of the device. Finally the TOF measurements were used to evaluate the effect of bulk space charge build up in the photoreceptor due to charge injection by electrodes and/or repetitive photoexcitation of the sample. No net bulk space charge build-up was observed up to — 10 seconds for all the three contacts investigated.
Simulator/Silicon Compiler for Systolic/Wavefront Arrays
(1989-07) Tandri, Sudarsan; Abd-El-Bar, Mostafa; McCrosky, Carl D.
Previous Systolic/Wavefront array (SWA) design tools have focussed on either simulation or integrated circuit fabrication, but not on both. It is argued that specification, simulation and fabrication of these arrays should be integrated. Specification in one language must drive both simulation and fabrication. Potential errors in translating simulation specifications to silicon compilation would be eliminated. In this thesis, we introduce Systolic and Wavefront Array Definition Language (SWADL), which integrates specification, simulation, and fabrication of systolic and wavefront arrays. SWADL specifications are simple and abstract permiting high level design of SWA's. The design of SWADL, its compiler, and experience with its use are reported.