QSpace

Queen's Scholarship & Digital Collections

QSpace is an open access repository for scholarship and research produced at Queen's University. QSpace offers faculty, students, staff, and researchers a free and secure home to preserve and present their scholarship.

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Digital Collections 5940
This community includes digital collections produced by members of the Queen’s community, as well as digital special collections made available via W.D. Jordan Rare Books & Special Collections.
Exams & Syllabi 0
This community provides access for staff and students at Queen’s University to degree examination papers and syllabi. To access Exams & Syllabi off campus please login using your Queen's NetID and password.
Graduate Theses, Dissertations and Projects 10011
This community includes graduate theses, dissertations and projects produced by students at Queen’s University.
Research Data 93
This community includes research data produced by faculty and staff at Queen’s University.
Scholarly Contributions 14264
This community includes Queen’s peer-reviewed research publications, including journal articles, book chapters, conference proceedings, and more.

Recent Submissions

Access status: Open Access ,
Integrating fish tracking technology and standardized netting protocols to refine fish abundance estimates
(2026-02-13) Brosseau, Celena; Biology; Blanchfield, Paul
Understanding fish availability to standardized sampling gear is essential for producing accurate population estimates in inland fisheries. This study investigates species-specific accessibility to bottom-set gill nets used in Ontario’s Broad-scale Monitoring (BsM) program by integrating standardized netting surveys with high-resolution acoustic telemetry. Focusing on Smoke and Canoe Lakes in Algonquin Provincial Park, this research evaluates how thermal stratification, lake morphometry, and species behavior affect the vertical distribution of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush), white sucker (Catostomus commersonii), and smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) during the summer stratified period. A modified BsM protocol was implemented using short-duration, multi-pass netting paired with fine-scale acoustic telemetry arrays. Bayesian hierarchical occupancy, detection, and N-mixture models were applied to quantify lake bottom habitat use, gear detectability, and relative abundance. Results reveal distinct patterns in vertical habitat use that influence species’ availability to bottom-set nets. Lake trout and smallmouth bass frequently occupied midwater or pelagic zones, particularly in deeper basins, making them less accessible to netting gear, whereas white sucker showed strong overlap with bottom habitat and high detection probabilities. Differences in species distributions between lakes were also observed, influenced by variation in morphometry and thermal structure. Telemetry-derived availability metrics provided critical insights into vertical separation from gear and informed refinements to abundance estimates derived from netting data. By linking species behavior and lake characteristics with gear performance, this study highlights the importance of accounting for vertical distribution and detection bias in standardized surveys. These findings support the development of more ecologically informed fisheries monitoring strategies and underscores the value of integrating telemetry with traditional netting to improve population assessments in Ontario’s inland lake systems.
Access status: Open Access ,
Investigating young walleye movement and migration patterns in the Bay of Quinte and Lake Ontario using acoustic telemetry
(2026-02-13) Gristey, Thomas; Biology; Tufts, Bruce
Walleye (Sander vitreus) are a dominant nearshore piscivorous predator in the Bay of Quinte and Lake Ontario, playing a crucial role in the ecology, culture, and economy of these connected waterbodies. While adult walleye are known for their extensive annual migrations, young walleye are thought to remain resident within the Bay of Quinte, based on traditional assessment techniques such as mark-recapture studies and annual netting programs. Recent advances in fish-tracking technologies have enabled the tagging and monitoring of smaller, younger fish, offering new insights into their behaviour. This study used acoustic telemetry to investigate walleye migration patterns over five years, focusing on early adult life stages (2–7 years). Twenty-nine young sexually mature male walleye from the Napanee and Trent Rivers were acoustically tagged and monitored from 2018 to 2023. Dorsal spines were used to determine the age of each tagged walleye. Young male walleye were observed migrating out of the bay and into the Eastern basin of Lake Ontario as early as three years old, challenging the traditional understanding of their movement patterns. The tagged population of walleye displayed variability in annual movement patterns, consistent with findings from other studies on walleye. Individual young walleye were also found to exhibit very repeatable annual migrations, a trend consistent with older life stages. These findings highlight the complexity of walleye movement and habitat utilization and provide valuable information for fisheries management and conservation.
Access status: Embargo ,
Non-Intrusive, Wearable Sensor-Circuits for Electroencephalography and Electrocardiography Monitoring
(2026-02-12) Zhang, Anan; Electrical and Computer Engineering; Ameri, Shideh Kabiri
Wearable devices for physiological signal monitoring have attracted significant interest due to their applications in mobile health monitoring. However, many existing wearable systems remain rigid, bulky, intrusive, and susceptible to motion artifacts, and may cause skin irritation during long-term use, limiting their practical adoption. To address these challenges, this dissertation presents the development of non-intrusive, wireless sensor–circuit platforms for electrocardiogram (ECG) and electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring, jointly establishing a unified path towards the next generation of wearable devices. For ECG monitoring, a highly stretchable wireless sensor-circuit device was developed, consisting of a sensor patch and a circuit patch. The circuit patch exhibits a Young’s modulus of 0.83 MPa, comparable to that of human skin, and is capable of reliable operation under tensile strains of up to 100 % through the integration of electrical metamaterial-based interconnects (EMIs). The EMIs are realized using polymer-embedded three-dimensional helical microchannels filled with liquid metal. An ultra-soft and stretchable sensor patch based on a carbon nanotube (CNT)–polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and silicone oil (SO) nanocomposite was also developed and connected to the circuit patch with magnets. Using a custom wireless platform, recorded signals are transmitted to a portable device, enabling stable, wireless ECG monitoring during physical activities with minimal motion artifacts. Compared to ECG monitoring on the chest, EEG monitoring presents greater challenges due to the requirement for reliable electrical contact on the hairy scalp, necessitating a distinct sensor–circuit architecture. Accordingly, this dissertation presents the first EEG sensor–circuit device enabling non-intrusive, wireless EEG recording. The EEG sensor incorporates miniaturized stemmed micro-suction cup structures and is composed of a CNT–PDMS–SO nanocomposite with a thin silver-plated surface layer, fabricated using a novel, scalable, and cost-effective method. Gentle pressing the sensor against the scalp generates negative pressure within conical cavity arrays, enabling secure adhesion. With a trace amount of conductive gel, the sensor achieves stable electrical contact comparable to gold-standard Ag/AgCl wet gel electrodes. Custom-built amplifier and Bluetooth transmission printed circuit boards with a radio footprint of 4 mm were integrated with the sensors, enabling fully wearable and visually imperceptible EEG monitoring during daily activities.
Access status: Open Access ,
Digging for Data: Experiments in Rock Pile Characterization Using Only Proprioceptive Sensing in Excavation
(IEEE, 2026-02-11) Artan, Unal; Magnusson, Martin; Marshall, Joshua Alexander
Characterization of fragmented rock piles is a fundamental task in the mining and quarrying industries, where rock is fragmented by blasting, transported using wheel loaders, and then sent for further processing. This field report studies a novel method for estimating the relative particle size of fragmented rock piles from only proprioceptive data collected while digging with a wheel loader. Rather than employ exteroceptive sensors (e.g., cameras or LiDAR sensors) to estimate rock particle sizes, the studied method infers rock fragmentation from an excavator's inertial response during excavation. This paper expands on research that postulated the use of wavelet analysis to construct a unique feature that is proportional to the level of rock fragmentation. We demonstrate through extensive field experiments that the ratio of wavelet features, constructed from data obtained by excavating in different rock piles with different size distributions, approximates the ratio of the mean particle size of the two rock piles. Full-scale excavation experiments were performed with a battery electric, 18-tonne capacity, load-haul-dump (LHD) machine in representative conditions in an operating quarry. The relative particle size estimates generated with the proposed sensing methodology are compared with those obtained from both a vision-based fragmentation analysis tool and from sieving of sampled materials.
Access status: Embargo ,
Harnessing ER stress responses and trained innate immunity for novel host-directed antiviral strategies
(2026-02-10) Pellizzari-Delano, Isabella Eleanor; Biomedical and Molecular Sciences; Colpitts, Che
Six years after the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, emerging and re-emerging viruses continue to pose a growing global health threat, underscoring the need for host-directed antiviral strategies that exploit conserved cellular defense pathways. One such approach is the modulation of host stress responses to enhance cellular resistance to infection. Thapsigargin (Tg), a natural compound and classical inducer of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and the unfolded protein response (UPR), is one example. Consistent with previous findings, I show that Tg potently restricts replication of the human coronavirus HCoV-229E. Tg inhibits the accumulation of double-stranded (ds)RNA replication intermediates at early time points, indicating suppression of early stages of viral RNA replication. The antiviral effect of Tg is not dependent on individual expression of any single UPR sensor. However, selective activation of the PERK arm of the UPR is sufficient to inhibit HCoV-229E replication, phenocopying the effect of Tg. In addition, Tg primes cells to mount amplified antiviral responses upon secondary stimulation, particularly through interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF1) and IRF3/7-dependent signaling, resulting in enhanced induction of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs), including MX1. Notably, this potentiation occurs independently of canonical JAK/STAT signaling and type I or III interferon responses. While all three UPR branches are required for Tg-mediated ISG induction, selective activation of the inositol-requiring enzyme 1 (IRE1) pathway alone is sufficient to prime downstream ISG expression, identifying IRE1 as a central immunomodulator of ER stress responses. Finally, I extend the concept of antiviral priming by examining cross-protection mediated by trained innate immunity and the downstream cytokine interferon-γ (IFNγ). I show that Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine-induced training, as well as IFNγ stimulation, preconditions cells to resist subsequent coronavirus infection. These findings demonstrate a novel antiviral effect of trained innate immune cells independent of adaptive immunity. Furthermore, the antiviral activity of IFNγ is partially dependent on guanylate binding protein 2 (GBP2), although GBP2 alone is insufficient to inhibit infection. Together, these studies define ER stress-mediated UPR activation, trained immunity, and IFNγ signaling as complementary mechanisms of host antiviral conditioning, establishing host cell pre-conditioning as a unifying principle for the development of broad-spectrum host-centric antiviral strategies.