Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Towards A Critical Turn In Library Ux, Alison Hicks, Karen P. Nicholson, Maura Seale

FIMS Publications

In the past decade, cataloguing and classification and information literacy have experienced a critical turn, acknowledging the political, economic, and social forces that shape complex information environments. Library user experience (UX) has yet to undergo such a transformation, however; instead, it continues to be seen as a toolkit of value-neutral approaches for evaluating and improving library services and spaces to enhance user satisfaction and engagement. Library UX draws upon ethnography but is also informed by the principles and values of usability and design. Little attention has been paid to the origins or epistemological underpinnings of UX as a construct, the ...

Early Protein Intake Predicts Functional Connectivity And Neurocognition In Preterm Born Children, Emma G. Duerden, Benjamin Thompson, Tanya Poppe, Jane Alsweiler, Greg Gamble, Yannan Jiang, Myra Leung, Anna C. Tottman, Trecia Wouldes, Steven P. Miller, Jane E. Harding, Jane M. Alsweiler, Janene B. Biggs, Coila Bevan, Joanna M. Black, Frank H. Bloomfield, Kelly Fredell, Greg D. Gamble, Jane E. Harding, Sabine Huth, Yannan Jiang, Christine Kevan, Myra Leung, Geraint Phillips, Tanya Poppe, Jennifer A. Rogers, Heather Stewart, Benjamin S. Thompson

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

© 2021, The Author(s). Nutritional intake can promote early neonatal brain development in very preterm born neonates (< 32 weeks’ gestation). In a group of 7-year-old very preterm born children followed since birth, we examined whether early nutrient intake in the first weeks of life would be associated with long-term brain function and neurocognitive skills at school age. Children underwent resting-state functional MRI (fMRI), intelligence testing (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 5th Ed) and visual-motor processing (Beery-Buktenica, 5th Ed) at 7 years. Relationships were assessed between neonatal macronutrient intakes, functional connectivity strength between thalamic and default mode networks (DMN), and neuro-cognitive function using multivariable regression. Greater functional connectivity strength between thalamic networks and DMN was associated with greater intake of protein in the first week (β = 0.17; 95% CI 0.11, 0.23, p < 0.001) but lower intakes of fat (β = − 0.06; 95% CI − 0.09, − 0.02, p = 0.001) and carbohydrates (β = − 0.03; 95% CI − 0.04, − 0.01, p = 0.003). Connectivity strength was also associated with protein intake during the first month (β = 0.22; 95% CI 0.06, 0.37, p = 0.006). Importantly, greater thalamic-DMN connectivity strength was associated with higher processing speed indices (β = 26.9; 95% CI 4.21, 49.49, p = 0.02) and visual processing scores (β = 9.03; 95% CI 2.27, 15.79, p = 0.009). Optimizing early protein intake may contribute to promoting long-term brain health in preterm-born children.

Reassessing The Case For Development Charges In Canadian Municipalities, Andrew Sancton

Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance – Publications

“Growth should pay for growth.” This slogan—the common justification for development charges—is rarely challenged in municipal circles. The principle that those who cause new urban growth should pay for the infrastructure associated with it has generally been taken for granted, at least for the last few decades. Development charges evolved from post-1945 subdivision agreements and were initially accepted by most developers as a mechanism for enhancing the likelihood that current residents in a municipality would agree to new development. They now add as much as $90,000 to the cost of a new house in some parts of ...

Reading Times: Exploring The Temporalities Of Reading, Paulette Rothbauer, Lucia Cederia Serantes

FIMS Publications

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore various concepts of time and temporal dimensions in the context of everyday reading experiences.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses theoretical bricolage that puts existing reading research into conversation with theories of time and temporalities.

Findings

Three registers of time in reading are put forward: (1) libraries and books as places that readers return to again and again over time, (2) temporalized reading bodies and (3) everyday reading as a temporalized practice.

Research limitations/implications

Using lenses of time and temporalities, everyday reading is shown to be central to ways of ...

Evidence-Based Programming For Vulnerable Youth: Successes And Challenges Of Implementing Healthy Relationships Programs In Diverse Settings, Rachelle M. Graham

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In recent years a variety of evidence-based programs have been developed to promote mental health and reduce violence among youth, including those considered to be the most at risk. However, simply providing evidence-based programming to settings that serve vulnerable youth does not ensure the efficacy of these programs because of the unique contextual factors, strengths, and needs of those youth and settings. There is often a disparity between the efficacy of a program identified in a research context and the effectiveness of a program in its application in real world settings. The purpose of this study was to explore this ...

Neural Markers Of Musical Memory In Young And Older Adults, Avital Sternin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Memory for music can be preserved in the presence of neurodegenerative disorders even when other memories are forgotten. However, understanding how the brain remembers music has proven difficult despite decades of research. The central goal of this thesis was to elucidate the neural correlates of musical memory by exploring how the presence of language and music information affect the way young and older adults remember music. To that end, I 1) used a controlled training paradigm to familiarize participants with novel stimuli that manipulated the presence of language and music, and 2) collected functional magnetic resonance imaging data to compare ...

Community Attitudes And Wind Energy Development Types: A Comparative Study In Ontario And Nova Scotia, Sara M. Wilson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Wind turbines will continue to be an important part of the green energy transition in Canada. However, opposition to onshore wind projects from potential host communities has increased over time, and install rates are flattening. Dimensions such as NIMBYism, place, distance from turbines and connections to landscapes have proved relatively inadequate for explaining community attitudes. The value of community-based development models over developer-led models has had recent traction, however limited empirical investigation has been done. I used a mail-out mail-back survey in Ontario (n=192) and Nova Scotia (n=170), to communities with (n=172) and without (n=190) a ...

Election Campaign Finance Rules In Canadian Municipalities: An Overview, Brittany L. Bouteiller

Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance – Publications

The Money and Local Democracy Project explores the effects of campaign finance rules on municipal election campaigns and election outcomes in Canada. Governments around the world regulate election campaign financing to ensure that elections are fair and competitive, although they do so in different ways. Funded by a Western University Undergraduate Student Research Internship (UWO) grant, research assistant Brittany Bouteiller was tasked with conducting preliminary research on 65 municipalities across Canada to determine the availability of campaign finance data from local and provincial governments and to identify clusters or trends. This research bulletin summarizes her findings.

Decolonizing & Indigenizing Lis, Heather Hill, Marni Harrington, Paulette Rothbauer, Danica Pawlick Potts

FIMS Publications

What does it mean to Indigenize and decolonize a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program? This paper outlines the process by which one Canadian MLIS program responded to the reports from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and the Canadian Federation of Library Association Indigenous Matters Committee that specify the implications and provide guidelines for best practices for librarianship and the information professions across Canada. In outlining the challenges of re-engineering our standard procedures, practices, and pedagogies, this paper provides a path forward for other MLIS programs looking to critically evaluate and develop their own programs.

Essays On Firms In International Trade, Aldo Sandoval Hernandez

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

My thesis is composed by three chapters that study the important role that firms play in mediating imports and exports between countries, and how their decisions and heterogeneity can influence the behavior of macroeconomic outcomes. The first chapter, explores the role of demand uncertainty and learning in explaining the low survival rates and sales of new exporters using a manufacturing survey for Colombian firms. In the second chapter, using a transaction-level dataset for Colombian exporters, I document novel facts about the post-entry dynamics of firm performance and prices in international markets, and study their connection with the transmission of exchange ...

The Role Of Top-Down Attention In Statistical Learning Of Speech, Stacey Reyes

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Statistical learning (SL) refers to the ability to extract regularities in the environment and has been well-documented to play a key role in speech segmentation and language acquisition. Whether SL is automatic or requires top-down attention is an unresolved question, with conflicting results in the literature. The current proposal tests whether SL can occur outside the focus of attention. Participants either focused towards, or diverted their attention away from an auditory speech stream made of repeating nonsense trisyllabic words. Divided-attention participants either performed a concurrent visual task or a language-related task during exposure to the nonsense speech stream, while control ...

Understanding Physician Engagement With Ontario Health Teams, Atharv Joshi

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This summer, I worked on gathering existing literature on physician engagement in primary care. This literature was further developed into a research brief which is intended to be used with the Ontario Health Teams to explore ways to engage physicians in their roles especially with patients to improve patient outcomes, patient safety and provider satisfaction. Physician engagement evaluation is still limited which is why the research brief was able to provide a starting point for existing gaps that need to be further analyzed.

The Social Identity Approach To Leadership: The Case Of Alberta, Samuel Routley

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The study of political leadership within the discipline of the political science has recently grown into a large, complex, and insightful literature. However, the extensive number of concepts, theories, and frameworks developed by international leadership scholars have been underutilized when it comes to developing further understanding of political leadership in the Canadian context. This thesis attempts to address this gap by focusing on the process by which individuals are selected to be leaders. I utilizes social psychology and Identity Leadership Theory to theorize that leaders are successful to the extent that are able to cohere with broader group processes by ...

A Sense Of Proportion: How Humans Process Relative Magnitudes In Space And Time, Rebekka Lagace-Cusiac

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Humans perceive ratios for different spatial magnitudes such as length, area, and numerosity, and temporal magnitudes such as duration. Previous studies have shown that spatial ratios may be processed by a common ratio processing system. The aim of the current study was to determine whether ratios across spatial and temporal domains may also be processed by a common system. Two hundred and seventy-five participants completed a series of spatial and temporal ratio estimation and magnitude discrimination tasks. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the relationship between ratio processing across domains when controlling for absolute magnitude processing ability. Results ...

Towards A Poetics Of Representation In 'London, Ontario': Or, Local And Universal Passages, Alex Mcintosh

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis engages a ‘poetics of representation’ of socio-culturally signifying uses of material(ized) elements within ‘London’, Ontario. My model of representational meaning combines Hall’s (1997) representational diagramming, and Hjelmslev’s glossematics, via Deleuze and Guattari (1987). I claim a theoretical primacy of intersubjectivity, using Lefebvre’s (1991) idea of trialectical space; de Certeau’s idea of ‘Concept-city’/‘operational city’ is applied to social-scientific research in ‘London’. I treat local artist Jack Chambers’s work (especially his film The Hart of London) as an ‘everyday’ representational poetics, linking the local and universal, while illustrating how one’s representational ...

Speech And Song Classification Themes Across Childhood And Adulthood, Sarah Sequeira

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Using data collected through a previously administered music and language survey, we conducted a mixed model analysis of open-ended survey responses to questions regarding differences between music and language, and (more specifically) differences between the sound features of speech and song. We found that adult participants tended to provide responses related to the higher-level themes of function and realization, whilst children uniquely gave concrete answers. This exploratory study will guide future research in the field of speech and song classification, as well as music and language more generally.

Exploring Leisure, Social Participation In Older Adults, Zahra Fatina

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Older adults often face challenges in meaningful occupations in their neighbourhoods, often tied to place-based barriers and changes including neighbourhood decline or gentrification. The objectives of this study are to draw on findings from an ethnographic study exploring older adults’ lives in their neighbourhoods, in order to contextually situate the diverse experiences of older adults as they engage in community occupations, focusing on social participation and leisure. We employed an ethnographic methodology with 38 older adults living in two neighbourhoods in a mid-sized Canadian city. Participants engaged in narrative interviews, photo elicitation interviews, go-along interviews, and activity-space mapping with follow-up ...

Optimal Denoising For Naturalistic Fmri Data, Brandon J. Yip

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

In order to surgically treat epilepsy, it is necessary to localize the epileptic lesion. Naturalistic functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can potentially be an accurate, non-invasive, and efficient tool for identifying diseased neural networks that cause epilepsy. We investigated inter-subject correlation (ISC) as a measure of neural synchronization between healthy controls (n = 24) and patients with epilepsy (n = 18) while subjects watched a stimulating movie clip. To investigate optimal denoising strategies, we analyzed ISC values with five sets of motion regressors, functions that remove unwanted motion-induced interference in fMRI signal. All ISC values were denoised using ICA-AROMA, an automated denoising ...

The Dorchester Site: Bone Awl Analysis, Aine E. Palmer

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

A basic summary of collected information regarding the bone tool "awl" classification of artifacts from the Dorchester Village archaeological site (AfHg-24)

Ontario Active School Travel Policy Qualitative Survey, Erika S. Romanelli-Baird

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Early in 2021, the HEALab worked with Green Communities Canada and Ontario Active School Travel (OAST) to conduct a policy scan of existing by-laws, regulations, programs and policies at school board and municipal level to better understand how they affect students ability to travel actively. The results of this policy scan were used to create a qualitative survey to ask parents, community members and other professionals their opinions on where current gaps exist and how they propose that they can be filled. The results were coded and will be used to guide interviews with key stakeholders and provide further recommendations ...

General Transit Feed Specification (Gtfs) Data In Transportation Research: A Review Of Applications And Methods, Stanley Ho

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This research falls under the discipline of Urban Geography/ Geographic Information Science (GIS). The objective of this research is to sharing knowledge of a public transportation dataset named General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS). Transportation research using GTFS and other open source data can be easily reproduced in many cities and to answer many urban geography questions that involves public transportation. Readers can find that GTFS and related research are conducted globally through the selected collection of journal articles. The demonstration aims to showcase that research using GTFS is feasible and easy to learn by public with little amount of open ...

Exploring Sensory Phenotypes In Autistic Children And Children With Adhd, Anahid Pourtousi

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Autistic children and children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often experience sensory processing difficulties, which are highly heterogeneous. Researchers have identified sensory phenotypes that co-occur within autistic individuals. However, sensory phenotypes have not been examined in children with ADHD. The aim of this research is to identify whether these sensory phenotypes exist in children with ADHD, and whether these phenotypes are similar to those observed in autism. A secondary aim of this study is to determine whether these sensory phenotypes are related to autism, ADHD, and obsessive-compulsive (OCD) traits. Short Sensory Profile data from 495 autistic children and 461 children ...

Gender-Based Violence Survey, Alyssa J. Madhani

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

My research output shows the theoretical and practical skills gained from this internship. It also showcases some of the key learning from the survey- recognizing critical expertise in gender-based violence work.

Adolescent Girls Physical Activity Engagement And Body Image Development, Vanessa Coulbeck

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This summer I looked more into adolescent girls’ physical activity engagement and its’ relationship to weight-based teasing. This topic intrigued me because from my own sport experiences, I saw first-hand how compared to boys, adolescent girls dis-engage from sport and exercise at a disproportionately higher rate and are at higher risk for body shame and self-objectification. This gender inequity in sport and physical activity is first observed in adolescence and tracks well into adulthood. The purpose of this summer's research activities examined how self-compassion and weight-related teasing relate to self-conscious emotions and sport and physical activity participation.

Understanding The Smoking Pipes Of The Dorchester Iroquoian Village, Victoria Martin

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

No abstract provided.

The Impact Radiological Mummy Database, Precious Adebola Adekoya

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The IMPACT Radiological Mummy Database permits users to access X-ray and CT datasets of Egyptian mummies - thus allowing researchers to non-destructively analyze the remains and the mummification processes.

This project involved revamping and updating the IMPACT website, which serves as a landing point prior to accessing the database. The project also involved updating the Mummy information docs that are a part of a context database that give researchers background information about the mummies prior to accessing the datasets. Furthermore, screenshots of the datasets were taken and labelled accordingly to give users a preview and to facilitate ongoing research projects.

Apart ...

African Immigrants' Mental Health In Canada, Jessica O. Omorodion

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

African immigrants are the fastest growing immigrant population in Canada. However, they are still extremely under-researched especially in regards to their understandings and experiences with mental health. This is important to look at due to the stark differences between Canadian African views on mental health. Current literature shows that while African immigrants are self-reporting as having above average mental health, there are still taboos and discriminatory concerns that exist as a barrier to transparency with it. This research will utilize the Stata software to analyze the Canadian Community Health Survey (2017) to further look at African mental health in order ...

Mitacs Female Ngos Use Of Twitter During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Riley M. Mclaughlin

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This study analyzes how female-run NGOs have used Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic. It assesses the themes they discuss, as well as the functions of the tweets collected. Using a framework by Lovejoy and Saxton (2012), tweets were coded based on whether or not they had the purpose of spreading information, building community, or encouraging action. Data from five different organizations was collected for analysis. Researchers pose questions about how organizations discuss women's concerns during the pandemics, which concerns they discuss most often, and how they use the three functions outlined above. Preliminary findings are discussed, however further analysis ...

Intergenerational Transmission Of Functional Connectivity Profiles In Isolated Reading And Math Networks: A Scoping Review And Study Proposal, Ashini Peiris, Ira Gupta, Lien Peters, Eric D. Wilkey

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

The scoping review surveyed the existing literature on the topic of resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) and mathematical cognition. The review revealed that rsFC is indicative of distinct long-term developmental trends in mathematical processing, alluding to individual differences in math abilities. Though there have been multiple studies that investigate individual differences in functional connectivity patterns related to math development and math learning disorders, no study has directly investigated to what degree these neurobiological factors are heritable. To address this topic, the following intergenerational transmission (IT) study is proposed. IT is the transfer of personal values, abilities, behaviours, and traits, from parents ...

Global Impact Of Social Determinants On Access To Childhood Hearing Healthcare: A Scoping Review, Bahar Rafinejad-Farahani

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

No abstract provided.