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UNB Scholar is an institutional repository initiative of UNB Libraries intended to collect, preserve, showcase, and promote the open access scholarly output of the UNB community. Use UNB Scholar to explore specific collections, or search all content in the repository. Material submitted to the repository will also be freely discoverable online through Google and other major search engines.
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Recent Submissions
Pressure-based gait recognition: Feature extraction techniques for footwear-agnostic identity recognition
(University of New Brunswick, 2024-12) Salehi, Ala; Scheme, Erik
This research explores the development of a robust pressure-based gait recognition system, with a focus on reducing the impact of changes in footwear. Using two datasets; CASIA-D and a newly collected UNB dataset, we compare traditional and deep learning methods, including two novel architectures: UMAPNet for spatial feature learning and FootPart, a comprehensive spatiotemporal model. FootPart integrates local spatial partitioning with dynamic temporal modelling, achieving significant improvements in both closed-set and open-set verification tasks. Results show that FootPart maintains high accuracy under variable conditions, outperforming baseline models in identification tasks and demonstrating resilience to unseen footwear. This work underscores the importance of detailed spatial and temporal features in robust gait recognition, with implications for security, healthcare, and smart environments.
Floral trait evolution: Insights from bee-pollinated Penstemon to maternal effects in Brassica rapa
(University of New Brunswick, 2024-12) Rathnayake, Manoj Kaushalya; Parachnowitsch, Amy L.
My thesis explores the evolution of floral traits in angiosperms, focusing on phenotypic selection and maternal effects. Floral traits are influenced by both pollinators and abiotic factors, making it essential to study how these multiple selection agents shape various traits related to attraction, efficiency, and less-explored reward traits like nectar and pollen.
Chapter 1 examines phenotypic selection in two bee-pollinated Penstemon species, analyzing 15 traits related to size, visual signals, pollinator fit, and rewards. Despite floral similarities, each species experienced different selection pressures, underlining the need to measure multiple functional traits to fully understand evolutionary dynamics.
Chapter 2 explores how climate change-induced drought affects floral traits and pollinator interactions in Brassica rapa. A common garden experiment showed that drought reduced most floral traits except nectar concentration, which increased. Larger flowers were favored in drought conditions highlighting the context-dependent nature of maternal effects. While pollen limitation wasn't observed, water availability altered selection on plant height.
Chapter 3 investigates how maternal effects and plasticity influence floral traits in Brassica rapa under different water conditions. Maternal drought stress significantly impacted offspring traits related to pollinator attraction and efficiency, particularly under continued drought. This highlights the importance of considering both maternal effects and environmental context in predicting plant responses to climate change.
Overall, my work emphasizes the need for integrating studies on maternal effects and phenotypic selection to better understand how plants adapt to environmental stressors, enhancing knowledge of the evolutionary processes driving floral diversity and plant fitness.
Regional assessment of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) smolt resource use and body size in Eastern Canada
(University of New Brunswick, 2024-12) McCavour, Erin; Sacobie, Charles; Gillis, Carole-Anne
Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) are ecologically, economically, and culturally significant, particularly for many Indigenous Peoples, providing sustenance and holding spiritual, ceremonial, and relational importance. They play a vital role in linking freshwater and marine ecosystems through nutrient transport and trophic interactions. Populations across Eastern Canada are at risk, with many designated as endangered, threatened, or of special concern. This thesis examines resource use and body size relationships of smolts from multiple Eastern Canadian rivers, using archival samples (2000-2016) and new accidental mortalities (2022-2023) collected collaboratively. Carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) stable isotopes were analyzed to assess resource use prior to migration, across sites, and as a predictor of smolt body size. Tissue analyses revealed individual dietary specialization, with a decrease in δ¹⁵N from long to short-term diets. Resource use was generally consistent across rivers within the same assigned population and was found to have a weak influence on body size.
Remote sensing to measure the physiology and foraging ecology of North Atlantic right whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada
(University of New Brunswick, 2024-12) Lonati, Gina Lynn; Davies, Kimberley
Despite modern-day conservation efforts, many populations of baleen whales have not fully recovered since exploitation by commercial whaling. A better understanding of the physiology and foraging ecology of baleen whales would improve population monitoring, and the development of remote sensing technology offers non-invasive tools for collecting pertinent datasets on wide-ranging whales and their prey. My thesis used remote sensing to measure the physiology and foraging ecology of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis, NARWs) in the southwestern Gulf of St. Lawrence (swGSL), Canada, where occupancy by NARWs increased around 2011 following an ocean regime shift. First, I developed, calibrated, and applied a method using drone-based infrared thermography to assess the internal body temperatures of NARWs. With this method, I established the first baselines of intranasal temperature for free-swimming baleen whales: 26.9 ± 1.7ºC in NARWs (n = 21). Second, I evaluated several methods for conducting drone-based photogrammetry with suboptimal photographs of NARWs. This helped me produce the first analysis of NARW body condition in the swGSL (summertime), which was significantly greater than in Cape Cod Bay (springtime) (p < 0.001). Across habitats, standardized widths of adult males (0.166 ± 0.012) and calves (0.170 ± 0.010) were significantly greater than those of lactating females (0.139 ± 0.001) (p < 0.024). Meanwhile, adult females in the Bay of Fundy two decades ago had considerably higher standardized widths (0.18 ± 0.02). Third, I provided context for this variation in body condition by describing prey field conditions associated with groups of foraging NARWs in the swGSL. Conditions were diverse, explained by the diel behaviors, life histories, and relative concentrations of three copepod prey species, including Calanus hyperboreus, which is less abundant in more southerly foraging habitats. Maximum prey concentrations occurred anywhere from 18 m deep to just above the seafloor, implying that NARWs likely alter their dive behavior to target different prey layers in the swGSL depending on the time of day and year. Overall, my thesis provides information for assessing change to the NARW population over time, which is essential for forecast modelling and effective management of this critically endangered species.
Dynamic volt-watt control strategy to improve fairness while mitigating overvoltage in distribution system due to high penetration of PV
(University of New Brunswick, 2024-12) Ahmed, Shafait; Diduch, Chris; Cardenas Barrera, Julian
The risk of overvoltage problems due to high penetration of distributed generation is a growing issue in low-voltage distribution networks. The use of Smart Inverters (SI) in the distribution system can help regulate voltage by controlling active and reactive power generation through volt-watt and volt-var droop control strategies. Conventional volt-watt and volt-var control methods use static parameters, which can lead to unnecessary curtailment of photovoltaics (PV) power, lower power factor, and/or reduction in PV hosting capacity. We propose two different algorithms that dynamically shape the volt-watt curve based on the voltage sensitivity of the PV nodes. Unlike centralized approaches, we adopt a distributed control strategy that minimizes reliance on extensive communication infrastructure, thereby improving system resilience. The proposed methods are simple to implement and require minimal communication among system components, enabling effective local control without the complexity of centralized coordination. To assess the performance of the proposed algorithms, we used the IEEE 37-bus system as a test network. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness of these strategies in enhancing fairness in PV curtailment and reducing overall curtailment levels. The proposed methods were implemented and evaluated through a co-simulation platform integrating the OpenDSS power simulator and Python, demonstrating their practical applicability and robustness in a simulated distribution system environment.