Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Sociomaterial Analysis Of Team-Based Care For Patients With Advanced Heart Failure, Allan Glen Mcdougall

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This dissertation explores team-based care for patients with advanced heart failure (HF), especially care practices associated with integrating palliative care. Its three integrated articles explore advanced HF care as a team-based health care phenomena, focusing on both objects and people as integral for team activity. The dissertation utilizes the theoretical framework of sociomaterialism to explore the overarching research question: how do materials mediate and influence the integration of palliative and cardiac care for patients with HF? Study data take the form of 15 team sampling units (TSU), each of which consists of a patient interview and an interview with at …

Sexual-Economic Entanglement: A Feminist Ethnography Of Migrant Sex Work Spaces In Kenya, Megan Lowthers

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The recent anti-trafficking fervour as well as the moral panic surrounding prostitution has given rise to large gaps within migrant sex work research, especially in Africa. Despite this, sexual commerce remains a viable economic activity for many women in East Africa, a region where variable migration patterns are central to everyday social, cultural, and economic life. Framed by anthropology, feminist geography, and postcolonial theory, this research examines migrant female sex workers’ everyday experiences across time, space, place, and scale from one ethnographic location in Naivasha, Kenya. In order to explore how different migration patterns and types of sexual-economic exchange are …

Smoking And Exercise: Mechanisms And Effects During Simulated And Genuine Quit Attempts, Stefanie De Jesus

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Cigarette smoking is a leading agent for premature morbidity and mortality among the global community. Most individuals surrender to tobacco use disorder due to the inability to cope with cravings and withdrawal symptoms. Exercise appears to provide acute relief. Currently, it is unclear how exercise attenuates these reductions. Furthermore, the available evidence has focused on acute outcomes besides smoking behaviour and is limited to simulated quit attempts. Three experimental studies were designed to address these outstanding issues. Not surprisingly, a bout of moderate intensity exercise was found in study 1 (chapter 2) to reduce cravings associated with a temporary period …

Should Voters Decide? Exploring Successes, Failures And Effects Of Electoral Reform, Nicholas J. Caruana

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Are Citizens’ Assemblies useful tools for reforming democratic institutions and addressing the democratic deficit? Evaluating the utility of using mini-publics to deliberate issues like electoral reform based only on their record of success does not recommend this approach. But this sort of assessment is weakened by a lacuna in the study of Citizens’ Assemblies: we do not know whether such deliberative bodies, thanks to their inherent high levels of democratic participation, might have added democracy-enhancing value over and above traditional elite-centric reforms. This dissertation establishes a theoretical model for evaluating whether a particular path to electoral reform has independent effects …

The Use Of Exercise Self-Talk By Female Adolescents, Sadie Puddister

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Already below recommended levels, physical activity participation in female youth is known to decline throughout adolescence. Self-talk, a form of self-regulation has been demonstrated to influence behaviour in both sport and exercise settings. The purpose of the present research was to explore the exercise related self-talk of teen girls (aged 14-18) with the intent of uncovering reoccurring themes and attributes in the self-talk of both low frequency exercisers (LFEs) and high frequency exercisers (HFEs). Participants were teen girls (N=28, M_age=15.56, SD_age=1.47) recruited from A. B. Lucas Secondary School in London, Ontario. Physical activity …

Mathematical Modeling Of Stress Management Via Decisional Control, Matthew J. Shanahan

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Engaging the environment through reason, humankind evaluates information, compares it to a standard of desirability, and selects the best option available. Stress is theorized to arise from the perception of survival-related demands on an organism. Cognitive efforts are no mere intellectual exercise when ontologically backed by survival-relevant reward or punishment. This dissertation examines the stressful impact, and countervailing peaceful impact, of environmental demands on cognitive efforts and of successful cognitive efforts on a person’s day-to-day environment, through mathematical modeling of ‘decisional control’. A modeling approach to clinical considerations is introduced in the first paper, “Clinical Mathematical Psychology”. A general exposition …

Adapting To Climate Change: The Case Of Multi-Level Governance And Municipal Adaptation Planning In Nova Scotia, Canada, Brennan A. Vogel

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Nova Scotia is the only province in Canada to use the gas tax as a financial incentive to create a regulatory mandate for ‘Municipal Climate Change Action Plans’ (MCCAPs). The MCCAP adaptation policy mandate initiated and enabled climate change vulnerability assessment and the development of climate risk priorities and adaptation plans to uniformly occur at the local scale in 53 Nova Scotian municipalities. This dissertation seeks to answer the question: What are the social factors that impacted municipal climate change adaptation policy and planning processes in the multi-level governance context of Nova Scotia’s MCCAP?

The study develops and operationalizes a …

Social Networking Sites And Personnel Selection: An Initial Validity Assessment, Travis J. Schneider

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The purpose of this dissertation was to add to the literature on the use of social networking sites (SNSs) for personnel selection. The first goal was to evaluate whether SNSs have the potential to be used as a valid source of information for selection. Specific SNS Indicator scales were created to test whether they have better validity evidence than the more traditionally-used Global SNS Rating. In a study of 141 undergraduate students at a large Canadian university, the Specific SNS Indicators demonstrated fairly weak evidence of interrater reliability, but some evidence of structural validity, and construct validity (convergent and discriminant). …

Building Canadian National Identity Within The State And Through Ice Hockey: A Political Analysis Of The Donation Of The Stanley Cup, 1888-1893, Jordan Goldstein

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The Stanley Cup elicits strong emotions related to Canadian national identity despite its association as a professional ice hockey trophy. This strong link between the Cup and Canadian national identity emerged in its creation and donation. Lord Stanley, in addition to his love of ice hockey, donated the Cup partly as a political action. The cup stood as a physical symbol to unite the disparate Canadian population around a new national sport. Given Lord Stanley’s position as Governor General (1888-1893) this donation carried political authority. The purpose of this study is to investigate the donation of the Stanley Cup as …

Chancay Style Textiles In The Canadian Museum Of History, Beheshteh M. Asil

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This thesis is a study of a collection of 202 ancient Andean objects in the Canadian Museum of History (CMH). These artifacts are from the Central Coast of Peru and are associated with the Chancay culture of the Late Intermediate Period (A.D. 1000-1476). The aim of this research project is to help document the general technical and stylistic characteristics of Chancay weaving and potentially help narrow down the origin of some of the fabrics under study. The main objectives of this thesis are 1) to document the technical and aesthetic characteristics of the CMH fabrics and 2) to compare this …

Exploring And Training Spatial Reasoning Via Eye Movements: Implications On Performance, Victoria A. Roach

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This dissertation sought to determine if eye movements could serve as an indicator of success in spatial reasoning, and if eye movements associated with successful completion could be applied to strategically improve spatial reasoning.

Using the line images of Shepard and Metzler, an electronic test of mental rotations ability (EMRT) was designed. Two versions of the test were created, allowing for both a timed (6 seconds per question) and untimed testing environment. Four experiments were designed and completed to relate mental rotation ability (MRA) scores from the EMRT, to patterns in chrononumeric and visual salience data. In each experiment, participants …

"Last On The Warpath": The Spirit And Intent Of Action Anthropology, Joshua J. Smith

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Led by anthropologist Sol Tax, action anthropologists endeavoured, between the 1940s and 1970s, to challenge the liberal imperialist and settler colonial paradigm of Post-WWII applied anthropology, the termination policy of the 1950s, and the neo-evolutionary theories, such as Julian Steward’s multilinear evolution, that bolstered racist-colonial myths of assimilation. Several projects of emphasis include The Fort Berthold Removal Project, The American Indian Chicago Centre, A mapping project called The North American Indians: 1950 Distribution of Descendants of the Aboriginal Population of Alaska, Canada and the United States, and the American Indian Chicago Conference . In addition to Sol Tax, …

An Examination Of Daily Humour Styles And Relationship Satisfaction In Dating Couples, Sara Caird

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Humour can be both beneficial and harmful to romantic relationships. Research indicates that affiliative humour is associated with higher levels of relationship satisfaction, whereas aggressive humour is associated with lower levels of relationship satisfaction. However, past research is limited by its reliance on cross-sectional designs and general measures of humour use. Furthermore, little research has examined potential mediators that may account for the observed relationships between humour styles and relationship satisfaction. The current daily diary studies were the among the first to examine daily within-person associations between humour styles (specifically in the context of romantic relationship), relationship satisfaction, and positive …

Heating Up The Debate: E-Cigarettes And Instagram, Stephanie L. Ritter

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Electronic cigarette (“e-cigarette”) posts on Instagram are increasing daily. Two compelling reasons to investigate e-cigarette content on Instagram are: the large numbers of young people on Instagram and recent research suggesting that e-cigarettes function as tobacco smoking initiation products, especially among teens. For this study, a representative sample of 854 e-cigarette hashtag (“#”) ecig posts were compiled from Instagram in October 2014. A content analysis was then performed on these posts to determine the frequency and composition of such categories as product shots, promotion, event sponsorship, “vape-selfies,” and health-related messages. Noteworthy findings include the preponderance of e-cigarette product shots, “follower …

The Influence Of Parenting Style And Perceived Mattering On Identity Style Orientation, Rebecca L. Williams

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One of the key developmental challenges young people face in adolescence and early adulthood is the formation of an adult identity. Based on the work of Erik Erikson (1963, 1964, 1968), this task is conceptualized as a psychosocial process that reflects an ongoing dialectic between individuals and their social environment. This dissertation focused on the influence of parenting style, and the perception of mattering to others, on the processing of identity-relevant information, characterized by an identity style orientation (Berzonsky, 1989, 1992). The multidimensional model of identity (Côté & Levine, 2002) was used as a framework to unite the bodies of …

Happiest People Alive: An Analysis Of Class And Gender In The Trinidad Carnival, Asha L. St. Bernard

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Many of the marketing strategies inherent to the modern version of the Trinidad Carnival include texts that represent Trinidadians as young, fit, bikini-wearing, party enthusiasts. In these advertisements, Trinidadians are often characterized as carefree and welcoming to anyone participating in the much-anticipated annual festival. However, dominant narratives highlight certain groups and cultural aspects of the island while frequently masking several inequalities. They cleverly conceal other narratives and therefore marginalize groups and individuals from the very festival that is understood by many as a national symbol. Through informal participant-observation, and an analysis of some of the main promotional material, in particular …

Striving For Teaching Success: Enhancing Emotional Intelligence In Pre-Service Teachers, Ashley K. Vesely-Maillefer

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Research has confirmed job dissatisfaction, and high levels of occupational stress and burnout resulting from the emotional demands of teaching. This dissertation focuses on a potential solution to support teachers’ psychological wellbeing in their paramount role to society: training in emotional intelligence. Recent research has demonstrated not only the positive role of emotional intelligence (EI) in enhancing stress management, coping skills, psychological wellbeing, and resilience, but that EI can be developed through EI training. Empirical evidence has recently shown support for EI training specifically within the teaching population. However, there remains a dearth of applicable empirically-based training programs aimed at …

Physical Culture As Citizenship Education At Pelican Lake Indian Residential School, 1926-1970, Braden Paora Te Hiwi

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Pelican Lake Indian residential school, also known as Sioux Lookout Indian residential school, was an Anglican run institution that was a part of the Canadian residential school system; the school operated from 1926 to 1970. It is well established in the literature that the Department of Indian Affairs intended to evangelize, assimilate, and civilize its students, but the function of citizenship in the residential schools is less well known. The focus of this study was to examine physical culture activities, specifically sport, exercise, and recreation as a form of training for citizenship. In particular, I centered this research on the …

Wind Energy Development In Ontario: Factors Influencing Deployment And Policy Outcomes, Emmanuel T. Songsore

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The goal of this thesis is to gain an understanding of the factors promoting and hindering wind energy development (henceforth WED) from the perspective of communities and developers in Ontario. Ontario arguably has one of the most ambitious policies for WED in the world, centered on the Green Energy and Green Economy Act, 2009 (henceforth GEA). Despite progressing to become Canada’s leading province in installed wind energy capacity, various conflicts and roadblocks to deployment remain evident.

In response to gaps identified in literature seeking to understand the factors that impact the (un)successful deployment of wind power, the current thesis provides …

Municipal Associations, Membership Composition, And Interest Representation In Local-Provincial Relations, Alison Katherine Shott

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Municipal associations carry out two core functions – advocacy and providing member services. How associations prioritize and perform these functions is largely unclear. This dissertation explores how membership composition affects their activities. Canada’s 18 provincial level municipal associations all provide advocacy and services for their members, but there are considerable differences within their memberships. Some associations represent all municipalities within a province while others are divided along linguistic, regional, or rural/urban lines. In addition, the municipalities they represent can vary by size, legal type, region, ethnicity/language, and rural/urban character. Two measures of membership composition are employed: rural/urban dominance and population …

Early Adult Transitions In Canada: Expectations, Stability And Change, Laura Wright

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The transition to adulthood is a much longer and less structured process for more recent generations than for those who came of age before the 1960s. Median age at first marriage has been increasing, cohabitation has become more prevalent, the role of cohabitation in the partnering process has changed, and young adults tend to live with their parents longer. This dissertation presents three studies of how new cohorts of Canadian youth are leaving home and starting their conjugal lives. I apply event history techniques using the 2011 General Social Survey, the most recent available data on the union and home-leaving …

Internal Migration, Networks And Gender Roles Among Domestic Workers In Vietnam, Van Nguyen

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This thesis examines social networks and gender roles among domestic workers who are rural-to-urban female migrants in Vietnam. Using qualitative data collected from 10 in-depth interviews and one focus group with 17 domestic workers and one interview with a NGO staff member, I argue that networks and gender are closely linked as migrant women drew support from their circles of female friends and families yet these networks also constrained them by monitoring behaviours against rigid gender expectations and ideal womanly virtues. My findings show that while most migrant women continued to adhere to their traditional gender roles and overcame many …

Power And Legacies: An Examination Of The Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games, Kaitlyn Lindensmith

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The concept of legacy has become a potent mechanism for justifying expenditures on large scale sporting events, and is reflected in the policy process. The intention of this research was to examine the embedded power relations within the process of legacy plan development for the Toronto 2015 Parapan American Games and how the decision-making processes address community needs. Drawing upon Rütten and Gelius’ (2011) Multi-level Interdependence of Structure and Agency model, a combination of interviews and document analyses were used to examine a cross-section of the parasport system in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area from the policy to community …

Watching Storytelling: Visual Information In Oral Narratives, James Ripley

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Oral narratives, though prolific, are increasingly being shared via some form of electronic mediation, and yet they are often glossed over in regard to the study of narrative. This study was designed to address the unique nature of oral narratives focusing on the information channels utilized by participants in their co-creation of stories.

A comparative case study was undertaken of three groups who employed a variety of synchronous and asynchronous electronic mediation in their storytelling. Viewed through the lenses of Narratology and Social Presence Theory a combination of participant observation and qualitative semi-structured exploratory narrative interviews were undertaken with participants …

Effects Of Motion Pattern Characteristics On The Perception Of Visual Acceleration, Alexandra S. Mueller

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The ability to perceive visual motion is one that we use every day to perform goal-directed activities, such as intercepting or avoiding objects. As objects and observers rarely move at constant velocities, it is important to be able to detect changes in velocity. However, little attention has been paid to how we perceive visual acceleration in the literature. This thesis explored the influence of real world-relevant motion pattern characteristics on visual acceleration perception. Observers rarely see object motion with an unlimited field of view, and therefore we first examined how physically constraining the horizontal distance over which a stimulus can …

Situating The Pot And Potter: Ceramic Production And Use At The Silvercreek Sites, Two Early-Late Woodland Sites In Elgin County, Ontario, Katelyn E. Mather

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This study examines the pottery from two archaeological sites that date to the beginning of the early Late Woodland period. In order to understand the production and use of ceramic vessels at the sites, a wide range of ceramic attributes are recorded and analyzed. A second component of the research is to understand the settlement patterns at the site, in order to determine how space was organized at the sites. Through these analyses, I situate these sites within the wider context of southwestern Ontario in the 11^th century A.D. I adopt a ‘communities of practice’ approach, and conclude that …

Sexual Violence At Nyarubuye: History, Justice, Memory. A Case Study Of The 1994 Rwandan Genocide, Nicole M. Ephgrave

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This dissertation raises complex questions about historical truth, the pursuit of justice, and processes of memorialization vis-à-vis one case study of the Rwandan genocide: the Nyarubuye Church massacre, where members of the Interahamwe militia and their accomplices murdered tens of thousands of (mainly) Tutsi men, women and children, April 15^th-17^th, 1994. As a microcosm of larger patterns of the genocide and its aftermath, I analyze official discourses to uncover how this specific event is framed and understood, with a focus on the widespread perpetration of sexual violence. Specifically, I provide a chronological reconstruction of the massacre, …

Practice Makes Projectiles: Genesse Biface Technology In Southern Ontario, Kaitlyn C.M. Malleau

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In this study I investigate the lithic technology practice communities of what is now southwestern Ontario between 3800 and 3400 B.P., the latter part of the period dubbed “the Broad Point Archaic.” I seek to propose historical processes by which Genesee bifaces might have entered Ontario, and how they were used by past First Nations peoples. I observe both the form (using qualitative and metric traits) and use-wear (using macroscopic diagnostic impact fractures) of Genesee bifaces from seven sites located in southwestern Ontario: Davidson, Sadler, Desjardins, Parkhill, Brodie, R&K, and Hamilton Golf Course. The evidence suggests Genesee bifaces were used …

Factors Influencing Continuity Of Attachment Quality In Early Childhood, Ya F. Xue

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Although the study of attachment continuity has flourished over the last several decades, gaps remain in the literature. These include a dearth of studies that have examined: 1) how children differ in their patterns of continuity in attachment quality; 2) factors that underlie these patterns; and 3) the roles that infant characteristics, such as children’s levels of susceptibility to parenting influences, have in shaping attachment stability. Correspondingly, this dissertation aimed to identify children’s patterns of continuity in attachment quality across early childhood, and to elucidate the processes that influence the development of these different patterns. Using Latent Class Analysis (LCA), …

The Sixties Scoop Among Aboriginal Veterans: A Critical Narrative Study, Munira Abdulwasi

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This study explored the experience of Aboriginal Veterans adopted and/or fostered during the Sixties Scoop using critical narrative inquiry. The objectives were to: 1) understand the lived experience of Aboriginal veterans adopted and/or fostered during the Sixties Scoop, 2) explore any health needs expressed by Aboriginal veterans adopted and/or fostered during the Sixties Scoop, and 3) provide recommendations for the implementation of health services and programs to assist this group of Aboriginal veterans with their health needs. Eight individual interviews were conducted with participants in Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Vancouver. All interviews were audio-taped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using …