Framework For Assessing Information System Security Posture Risks, Syed Waqas Hamdani

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In today’s data-driven world, Information Systems, particularly the ones operating in regulated industries, require comprehensive security frameworks to protect against loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability of data, whether due to malice, accident or otherwise. Once such a security framework is in place, an organization must constantly monitor and assess the overall compliance of its systems to detect and rectify any issues found. This thesis presents a technique and a supporting toolkit to first model dependencies between security policies (referred to as controls) and, second, devise models that associate risk with policy violations. Third, devise algorithms that propagate risk when …

Psychometric Validation Of The Team Resilience Inventory, Alexander J. Mcgregor 6971928

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Work teams frequently face adversities that may affect group processes and ultimately lead to a loss of performance. Despite a large literature on the characteristics of high-performance work teams, we know little about the processes by which teams resist, persist through, adapt to, recover from, or otherwise be resilient to challenges that they encounter. In part, this is due to the lack of a psychometrically sound and well-validated measure for team resilience; how work teams collectively respond to and ‘bounce back’ from adversities. The present dissertation project addresses this need in the literature through the development and validation of the …

Evaluating The Likelihood Of Bug Inducing Commits Using Metrics Trend Analysis, Parul Parul

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Continuous software engineering principles advocate a release-small, release-often process model, where new functionality is added to a system, in small increments and very frequently. In such a process model, every time a change is introduced it is important to identify as early as possible, whether the system has entered a state where faults are more likely to occur. In this paper, we present a method that is based on process, quality, and source code metrics to evaluate the likelihood that an imminent bug-inducing commit is highly probable. More specifically, the method analyzes the correlations and the rate of change of …

The Effect Of Dietary Thiaminase On Cardiac Function And Morphology In Lake Trout (Salvelinus Namaycush), Peter Baker

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thiamine deficiency from the consumption of invasive, high-thiaminase prey fishes is considered to be a major barrier for lake trout restoration in the Great Lakes. In fishes, an understudied aspect of thiamine deficiency is its effect on cardiac function. I examined the effects of dietary thiaminase on cardiac function and morphology in lake trout, specifically as they relate to thermal tolerance. Two hatchery strains of lake trout (Seneca and Slate) were raised on a control or thiaminase diet for nine months. The thiaminase diet was associated with significant ventricle enlargement, impaired cardiac function, and reduced thermal tolerance; these effects were …

A 10 S: 5 S High-Intensity Interval Training Regime Improves Rowing Performance In Varsity And International Class Rowers, Braden J. Reid

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a high-intensity interval training regime with elite collegiate rowers on their rowing performance. A total of 10 interval training sessions were performed over a four-week period with four males and five females completing all pre-testing performance and training sessions. Participants completed a 2000 m performance test to determine initial training intensity. The interventional training sessions consisted of 30 min of 10 s work: 5 s recovery. The 10 s mean power output improved 17% from training session one to ten. The moderate-intensity increased by 44%; mean power output over …

Internal Yoneda Ext Groups, Central H-Spaces, And Banded Types, Jarl Gunnar Taxerås Flaten

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

We develop topics in synthetic homotopy theory using the language of homotopy type theory, and study their semantic counterparts in an ∞-topos. Specifically, we study Grothendieck categories and Yoneda Ext groups in this setting, as well as a novel class of central H-spaces along with their associated bands. The former are fundamental notions from homological algebra that support important computations in traditional homotopy theory. We develop these tools with the goal of supporting similar computations in our setting. In contrast, our results about central H-spaces and bands are new, even when interpreted into the ∞-topos of spaces.

In Chapter …

Interventions Based On Mindfulness For Socio-Emotional Skill Building In Children On The Autism Spectrum: A Systematic Review, Nethnie Thilakna Nandadasa

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Children on the autism spectrum are characterized by deficits in socioemotional skills. Previous research suggests that mindfulness is effective in improving social, emotional, and behavioural skills in a wide variety of populations. This review systematically investigated the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in improving social, emotional, and behavioural functioning in children on the autism spectrum (0-12 years of age). Furthermore, the current review discussed adaptations to traditional MBIs when implemented to children on the autism spectrum. MBIs as a potential evidence-based practice for the target population was also investigated. Eleven studies met inclusion criteria. Results indicated that MBIs led to …

A Quantitative Analysis Between Software Quality Posture And Bug-Fixing Commit, Rongji He

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Software quality assessment and prediction has been a research hotspot and has become even more critical in continuous software engineering. Modifications to a software product developed following a continuous software engineering process typically commence as a sequence of frequent commits, following a philosophy of “commit small, commit often.” Continuous integration (CI) and continuous deployment (CD) are essential concepts in this development environment. The challenge then is to develop techniques and tools which allow the development team to assess the overall quality posture of a software module in the period from a bug-inducing commit (i.e., when a bug is reported) to …

Examining The Feasibility, Acceptability, And Effectiveness Of A Self-Compassion Intervention In Physical Education Class For Adolescent Girls, Vanessa Coulbeck

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In adolescence, enrollment in Physical Education (PE) drastically drops in the transition from grade 9 to 10 – particularly for girls who disengage at higher rates than males after completing provincial PE curricular requirements. This is problematic since engagement in PE has the potential to shape young girls’ perceptions of movement, their bodies, and coping with life’s difficulties through physical activity (PA). Body image distress may be one reason to explain PE disengagement and therefore, warrants intervention. Self-compassion (SC) is an emotion regulation strategy that helps deal with body image distress and may be an effective strategy to help girls …

What Is Good Sex, And For Whom? A Psychometric Perspective, Nini Longoria

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Research has demonstrated that satisfying sex is a crucial element for sexual health. However, what makes good sex good, and for whom, are often not explored, and these conceptualizations are critical to equitable sexual health promotion. I therefore explored different groups’ good sex constructions using novel psychometric methods (i.e., applying qualitative meaning-making interpretations to bifactor-specific invariance tests). I recruited 13 diverse groups (N = 3,141) consisting of: gay, lesbian, queer, bisexual, heterosexual, cisgender, non-binary, kink and non-monogamous identities. I asked participants the extent to which they considered 67 sexual behaviors as representing “good sex.” Pairwise invariance tests revealed different …

Effects Of High Glucose On Autophagy And Apoptosis In Preimplantation Mouse Embryo Culture, Virginia Wolfe

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Maternal diabetes increases congenital malformations due to teratogenic effects of glucose on the developing embryo. High glucose culture alters preimplantation embryo development and is associated with increased oxidative stress. Apoptosis and autophagy are programmed cell death and survival mechanisms induced by oxidative stress, but their role in preimplantation diabetic embryopathy is poorly elucidated. It was hypothesized that high glucose culture would alter autophagic and apoptotic responses, and that they are dependent on the timing of high glucose culture initiation. Embryos were cultured with 0.2 mM (control) or 25 mM (high glucose) of D-glucose starting from the early (36 hpi) or …

The Collective Unconscious, Yixuan Wang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Collective Unconscious is a multi-movement choral work for full-size SATB choir. Derived from psychologist Carl Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious theory (CU), the piece explores Jung’s concepts of the archetypes Animus and Anima, Personal, and Ego, while also drawing attention to the phenomenal examples from the collective unconscious itself, in this case, the Mother and the Hero, which are a common phenomenon across culture and throughout the history. This piece also experiments with the relationship between the conductor and the singers, and between singers in each group. This is a reinterpretation and realization of the underlying philosophy from …

Disengaged Or Differently Engaged? Students’ Motivations, Expectations, And Engagement In The Multi-Expectational Undergraduate Experience, Clifford Davidson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis examines the undergraduate experience from the student perspective, specifically as it applies to the dominant engagement success narrative. is narrative articulates that, for undergraduate students to successfully navigate and gain the most from their time at university, they must engage in educationally purposive activities and enriching educational experiences. Research also connects students’ motivations for enrolling in university to engagement and suggests that intrinsically motivated students are more likely to engage according to the dominant narrative, leading to a successful undergraduate experience. Conversely, students who are more extrinsically motivated tend to not engage correctly or at acceptable levels and …

A Scoping Review Of Acceptance And Commitment Therapy In Higher Education, Sarah Caimano

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a transdiagnostic intervention that holds promise in improving well-being across various contexts. The current scoping review aims to examine the literature on the use of ACT interventions in higher education to improve aspects of student well-being and academic outcomes. Chapter 2 summarizes the results of the review and includes 34 peer-reviewed empirical research articles that applied ACT interventions with higher education students. Online and in-person interventions were both widely used and found to be effective. Though these outcomes are promising, nearly half of the articles reviewed provided insufficient detail to allow for replication and …

Water Decontamination Via Electrodialysis, Baian Almusned

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The single best water decontamination technique continues to be researched for by scientists globally. The purpose and subject of the decontamination determine the preferred technique to be used. For example, nanometre-sized contaminants require a different technique than those used for micrometer-scale contaminants. Recently, electrochemical membrane filtration techniques, such as electrodialysis, have gained great interest due to their capability to capture ionic contaminants. However, a lack of selective membranes continues to be a setback and so, novel polymers are under development. For this research, the sequestration behaviours of a commercial membrane and a novel phosphorus-based membrane are characterized for the application …

Valued Strategies In The Development And Implementation Of Interprofessional Education Placements, Olajumoke Akintomide

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Background: Interprofessional education (IPE) is increasingly being recognized as an essential component of training future healthcare providers. IPE allows students to learn collaboratively preparing them for future collaborative practice. Purpose: This study aimed to identify strategies valued by rehabilitation therapy students and clinical instructors in the development and implementation of IPE placements. Method: Through interviews and focus groups, this study explored the experiences and perspectives of students and clinical instructors regarding IPE placements for students in rehabilitation therapy programs. Results: Four major themes emerged from the findings of this study relating to the development and implementation of IPE placements. Themes …

A Computational Model Of Multiple Interconnected Capillary Modules In Skeletal Muscle, Raashi Vijay

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Background: Skeletal muscle (SM), with its precise O₂ supply-demand matching, is ideal for studying microvascular (MV) function, which is crucial in cardiovascular physiology and disease. Our goal is to gain understanding of SM microcirculation using recent capillary network module (CM) data from rat in a computational model.

Methods: We construct a 4-CM network, with single-vessel equivalents for each CM, three arterioles, and two venules. A two-phase (plasma/RBCs) steady-state model is used to calculate blood flow. An iterative boundary pressure finding method is developed to match flow in CMs.

Results: We validate our flow and pressure models …

The Populist Radical Right In The United States: Lessons From Europe, Jeremy C. Roberts

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation investigates the electoral phenomenon of the populist radical right (PRR) in the United States. The main venue for analysis is internal party competition within the conservative Republican Party for its nominations. The thesis draws extensively on European PRR literature, which has explored the roots of these parties’ electoral successes overseas, and applies insights gleaned to the American context. It is divided into three articles, each of which explores a Republican nomination campaign in-depth and applies lessons learned from the European literature to the American case. These cases are Pat Buchanan’s unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination in …

Mechanical Response Of The Craniofacial Skeleton To Subfracture Impacts In The Time And Frequency Domains, Paige Merko

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Resonant frequencies have been suggested as a mechanism of brain injury since these vibrations can transfer energy into the brain. Study of the vibrational response of the craniofacial skeleton to impact is limited in literature. In this research, four cadaver specimens were impacted at five locations on the craniofacial skeleton. The mechanical response to each impact was compared in the time and frequency domains. Impacts to the maxilla and its associated soft tissues tended to be attenuated, while impacts to the cranial vault, specifically to the occipital, produced the most severe response. Results suggest that the facial skeleton and its …

Investigating The Role Of Endothelial Breast Cancer Susceptibility Gene 2 In Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity, Berk U. Rasheed

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Doxorubicin (Dox) is a chemotherapeutic drug used to treat various malignancies including breast and ovarian cancers. Accumulating evidence implicates cardiac impairments associated with Dox treatment. The Breast Cancer Susceptibility Gene 2 (BRCA2) functions to maintain genome-wide stability by promoting DNA-damage repair. Accordingly, cardiomyocyte damage is specifically regulated by contributors of DNA damage repair such as BRCA2. The endothelium, the innermost cells of every blood vessel, act to protect our tissues from noxious elements, however, recent evidence suggests that BRCA2 knockdown compromises endothelial cell function. A putative role of endothelial BRCA2 during Dox-induced cardiotoxicity (DIC) remains unknown. We hypothesized that endothelial-specific …

Multimodal Connectivity Of The Human Basal Forebrain, Sudesna Chakraborty

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The cholinergic innervation of the cortex originates from neurons in the basal forebrain (BF) and plays a crucial role in cognitive processing. However, it is unclear how the organization of BF cholinergic neurons in the human brain is related to their functional and structural integration with the cortex. To address this, we have used high-resolution 7 Tesla diffusion and resting-state functional MRI to examine multimodal forebrain cholinergic connectivity with the neocortex in humans. Discrete parcellation analyses revealed that structural and functional parcellation broadly differentiated the anteromedial from posterolateral nuclei of BF. Next, we used gradient estimation to capture more fine-grained …

Postexercise Executive Function And Cortical Hemodynamics During The Different Phases Of The Menstrual Cycle, Priyanka Persaud

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Resting cerebral blood flow (CBF) is increased during the luteal (LUT) phase of the menstrual cycle; however, it is unclear whether this change impacts a postexercise executive function (EF) benefit. Female participants (N=16) performed three experimental sessions: a V̇O_2peak task and 20-min single bouts of moderate intensity aerobic exercise (i.e., 80% of lactate threshold) during their follicular (FOL) and luteal (LUT) menstrual cycle phases. A separate group of male participants (N=21) additionally completed a V̇O_2peak test and a 20-min exercise intervention. Middle cerebral artery velocity (MCAv) was measured during exercise via transcranial Doppler ultrasound to estimate CBF and …

Settlement Workers In Schools’ (Swis) Support For K-12 Refugee Students: A Resilience And Compassion-Based Approach, Raghad Ebied

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The number of refugees worldwide has reached approximately 32.5 million, 41% of whom are children and youth under 18 eighteen years of age (UNHCR, 2022). Between 2015-2021, Canada welcomed 218,430 refugees, with over 87,795 being Syrian (Statistics Canada, 2022). With an estimated 87,000 refugee children and youth in Canada (UNHCR, 2022), I engaged with Settlement workers in schools (SWIS) in Ontario, Canada to explore how they identify newcomer refugee K-12 students’ needs, the challenges SWIS experience, and the strategies they draw on to support newcomer refugee students. Settlement workers in schools identified newcomer refugee students had language learning, social, and …

Sociodemographic Factors And The Risk Of Paediatric Out-Of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest, Samina Idrees

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Paediatric out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (POHCA) is associated with poor survival and severe neurological sequelae. This thesis aims to explore the relationship between sociodemographic factors and POHCA. The findings from our systematic review indicate that there are racial disparities in POHCA risk and in the provision of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation. There was little evidence of sociodemographic disparities in bystander defibrillation, survival and neurological outcome, particularly across adjusted analyses. The findings from our case-control study in Ontario, Canada, indicate that children living in marginalized areas have an elevated risk of experiencing POHCA. We also found that children living in northern urban or …

The Effect Of Solution Parameters On The Interfacial Chemical Dynamics Of Early-Stage Corrosion, Brianna K. Rector

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Corrosion is a key long-term degradation process for metallic components in nuclear industry infrastructure. Accurately predicting the corrosion rate of a component in its service environment is considered a grand challenge in the corrosion community. Corrosion is a multi-step electrochemical process, with elementary steps involving mass transfer across more than one stage. Due to the multi-step, multi-phase nature of corrosion systems, predicting corrosion behaviour over time is complex. Existing corrosion models can describe electron transfer and mass transport steps independently, under narrow sets of conditions or over a specified duration but cannot account for the changes that occur over time …

Investigation Of Microplastic Removal Using Foam Produced From Rhamnolipids, Ana M. Giron

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Microplastics generated from the breakdown of larger plastic pieces are the emerging contaminant in aquatic ecosystems at high levels, due to inappropriate disposal or mismanagement. With a particle size within 2-5 μm, it has been reported that microplastics are extensive pollutants in water bodies. However, with a wide variety of scientific articles recording the abundance of plastics in the aquatic environment, there is a lack of studies examining microplastics removal. Although multiple studies have used sedimentation and filtration as separation techniques to remove microplastic particles, no study has been able to remove these pollutants without secondary water pollution.

The focus …

Affectivity And Its Role In Predicting Sociometric Position In Small Group Networks, Roy Hui

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

An individual’s tendency to experience positive emotions can impact the likelihood they find themselves in advantageous positions within their social circle. Adopting a network perspective to map social relations, the current study examined the extent to which dispositional positive affectivity predicts one’s eigenvector centrality and indegree centrality within interaction networks and status networks, respectively. Gathering data during the Fall of 2023, I collected data from 16 student clubs and the members within them and utilised multilevel modeling to disaggregate data. Controlling for individual demographics and group-structure variables, the results suggest that dispositional positive affectivity significantly predicted eigenvector centrality for interaction …

The Experiences Of Clinical Placement Belonging Among Nursing Students With Racially And Ethnically Minoritized Identities: An Interpretive Descriptive Study, Connor J. Gould

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Abstract

Background: Within clinical learning environments, a students’ sense of belonging has been identified as a pre-requisite for effective learning. Unfortunately, many aspects of nursing education act as barriers to belongingness among students with racially and ethnically minoritized identities. Although prejudice and discrimination represent barriers to belongingness, there is a paucity of literature exploring how racially and ethnically minoritized nursing students experience belonging during their clinical placements.

Aim: To explore how nursing students with racially and ethnically minoritized identities experience a sense of belonging during their clinical placements.

Research Design: The researcher followed an interpretive descriptive design informed by intersectional …

Human Extinction In The Pessimist Tradition, Ignacio L. Moya

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Faced with countless threats that pose a danger to the continued existence of the human species, there has emerged a new field in philosophy known as Existential Risk Management. This discipline proposes to understand, quantify, classify and ultimately defeat the risks that exist and that threaten our continued existence. These philosophers accept that human life is good and that it should be promoted. And because of the tremendous value that is found in human life, they argue we should do whatever we can to avert our disappearance.

Philosophical pessimists hold that life is always filled with suffering and that …

Addressing The Impact Of Time-Dependent Social Groupings On Animal Survival And Recapture Rates In Mark-Recapture Studies, Alexandru M. Draghici

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Mark-recapture (MR) models typically assume that individuals under study have independent survival and recapture outcomes. One such model of interest is known as the Cormack-Jolly-Seber (CJS) model. In this dissertation, we conduct three major research projects focused on studying the impact of violating the independence assumption in MR models along with presenting extensions which relax the independence assumption. In the first project, we conduct a simulation study to address the impact of failing to account for pair-bonded animals having correlated recapture and survival fates on the CJS model. We examined the impact of correlation on the likelihood ratio test (LRT), …