Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Transit Network Design Using Gis And Metaheuristics In Sanandaj, Iran, Armin Ahmadi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The public transit system in Sanandaj has been under review and modification for the last several years. The goal is to reduce the traffic congestion and the share of private car usage in the city and increase the very low share of the public transit. The bus routes in Sanandaj are not connected. There is no connected transit network with the ability to transfer between the routes in locations outside of the downtown terminal. The routes mostly connect the downtown core directly to the peripheries without providing travel options for passengers between peripheries. Although there has been some improvement in …

Hegemonic Masculinity And The Ideal Male Hockey Player: The Constructions Of Nhl Injuries In Popular Canadian Newspapers, 2016-2017, Rachelle Miele

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study critically examines the constructions of men’s hockey injuries in five popular Canadian newspapers published during the 2016-2017 NHL season. I draw on feminist theory and social constructionism and conduct a critical discourse analysis of 199 newspaper articles to examine media narratives, understand taken-for-granted assumptions about men’s hockey injuries and masculinities, and capture the role of language in producing, reproducing, and challenging hegemonic masculinity. I argue that the injury discourse, which constructs men’s injuries, the body, and male hockey players, is rooted in hegemonic masculinity. Specifically, I find that these discursive constructions include: the normalization of injuries as part …

Telling Stories: Intersections Of Paralympic Bodies With High-Performance Sport, Nancy H. Quinn

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Using ethnographic methodology, my dissertation research examined the experiences of members of the para sport community with high-performance sport. The intent of the research was to capture the many voices of the Paralympic community and privilege their experience of high-performance sport. Historically the lived experience of sport and competition of para sport ‘insiders’ has not been foregrounded in the sport science literature but for a few noteworthy exceptions (Berger, 2008; Howe 2008, 2017; McMaster, Culver, & Werthner, 2012). Ethnographic methods were used for data collection including interviews with and participant observation of para sport athletes and their entourage. Data collection …

Essays On Criminal Behaviour, Human Capital Formation, And Mental Health, Diego F. Salazar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

My thesis consists of three chapters that contribute to the study of some of the negative consequences of incarceration and their relation with the life-cycle choices of juvenile offenders.

Chapter 2 studies the causal relationship between incarceration and mental health problems. In this chapter, I use different matching estimators to identify the causal effects of incarceration over several dimensions of mental health using data from a survey of juvenile offenders, the Pathways to Desistance (PTD) survey. My findings show that being incarcerated for the first time, between 17 and 18 years old, increases depression by at least 0.18 standard deviations …

The Practice Of Local Policymaking: Understanding Decision Maker Roles And Agency In Local Implementation Contexts, Katherine L. Salter

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation presents three studies that, collectively, seek to contribute to our understanding of the practice of implementation policymaking grounded in the experience of the practitioner. Herein, policymaking is conceptualized as a shared set of practices enacted by actors purposefully engaged in collective performances. This thesis makes important contributions to the iterative processes of theorizing by advancing knowledge about local policymaking practices in the following ways: 1) creation of the Knowledge Enactment in Practice Settings (KEPS) framework as a guide to assist in the exploration of knowledge-based practices including the co-creation of context; 2) use of new insights informed by …

Beyond Books: Evaluating Maker Spaces In Ontario’S Municipal Library Systems, Lise Conde

MPA Major Research Papers

This exploratory research paper looks at how Ontario’s municipal library systems evaluate their maker spaces and programming. The literature review provides context on the purpose and value of libraries, the structure and agency of municipal libraries in Ontario and academic and applied studies of program evaluation. The research seeks to answer four questions: What municipal libraries have maker spaces and what are their characteristics? How have they positioned this service in terms of purpose and value? How have they measured success? What can Ontario’s municipal library systems learn from the evaluation of maker spaces to position themselves for the future? …

Examining The Environmental Influences On Physical Activity Among Children In Rural Northern Ontario, Brenton L G Button

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Low levels of physical activity (PA) among children in Canada have been a primary health concern over the last decade. Higher levels of PA are associated with numerous social, physical, and mental health benefits, and research has also shown that different social, built, and natural elements of local environments are associated with varying levels of PA. Despite growing evidence around the connection between a child’s environment and PA, little research has examined the influence of the environment on the PA of rural Canadian children.

Broadly based on the ecological systems theory, this dissertation used data from the Spatial Temporal Environment …

Exploring Gender Equity Through Occupation: A Critical Decolonizing Ethnography In Tanzania, Stephanie Huff

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Within the discipline of occupational science, scholars of increasingly diverse geographical spaces have highlighted the necessity of diversity and epistemological expansion to enact transformative scholarship. In response, this dissertation enacted a critical decolonizing ethnographic project with 5 women from Tanzania to explore their experiences of gender inequities.

This thesis is composed of four integrated manuscripts, as well as introduction and conclusion chapters. Manuscript two examines past perspectives and approaches to research which examined gender equity and inequity in Tanzania, illuminating gaps and recommendations for future gendered research in Tanzania. Manuscript three presents an argument for the uptake of Africana Womanism …

Mental Health Literacy And Initial Teacher Education: A Program Evaluation, Jasprit K. Pandori-Chuckal

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Utilizing a program evaluation framework, this study explored the effectiveness of a 10-week, mandatory, online mental health literacy course for 275 teacher candidates in a large central Canadian faculty of education. Shifts in teacher candidates’ mental health literacy (using the Mental Health Literacy Questionnaire; Rodger Johnson, & Weston, 2017), attitudes toward mental health (Opening Minds Scale; Modgill, Patten, Knaak, & Szeto, 2014), and two types of coping skills, seeking social support and self-control (Ways of Coping Scale; Folkman & Lazarus, 1985), were examined. The findings indicated that the course demonstrated efficacy in positively shifting teaching candidates’ mental health knowledge, stigma …

Multisensory Associative Learning And Multisensory Integration, Sebastien Lauzon

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Human multisensory experiences with the world rely on a combination of top-down and bottom-up influences, a process that changes throughout development. The present study explored the relationship between multisensory associative learning and multisensory integration using encephalography (EEG) and behavioural measures. While recording EEG activity, participants were exposed to novel pairings of non-sociolinguistic audiovisual stimuli of varying presentation probability while performing a detection task. The same stimuli were then used in another detection task, which was followed by an analogous behavioural speeded-response task, both of which kept probabilities equal and tested for multisensory integration. Significant relationships were found in fronto-central and …

Music Education In A Liquid Social World: The Nuances Of Teaching With Students Of Immigrant And Refugee Backgrounds, Gabriela Ocádiz Velázquez

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This integrated-article dissertation explores the multiple ways in which music teachers, community facilitators, and students engage in music teaching and learning in social contexts prone to change due to human mobility. Drawing upon Bauman’s sociological understanding of modern societies as liquid and the larger implications of processes of human mobility in schools and communities, this research focuses on exploring music education as it happens within an increasingly diversifying Canadian society.

In the first article, a philosophical research study, I conceptualize the notion of coping with discomfort as a form of response possibly experienced by music teachers. Here, I draw from …

The General Artificial Intellect, Ramon S. Diab

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In passages of Marx’s Grundrisse known as the Fragment on Machines, Marx suggested that advanced capitalist development leads to the production of autonomous machines that replace labour-power in the direct production process. Autonomist Marxist interpretations of this text have emphasized that the proliferation of immaterial labour is the historical condition that is leading to a crisis in the measure of value based on labour-time and that will lead to a future communist mode of production. Further, Mario Tronti posited that as capitalist development unfolds, it subsumes both the state and society, a concept known as the ‘social factory thesis’. …

The Relationship Between Theory Of Mind And Executive Function: Are They Two Facets Of The Same Process Or Two Distinct Processes?, Isu Cho

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation examines the relationship between Theory of Mind (ToM) and Executive Function (EF). There has been debate on whether ToM and EF are two facets of the same process or are two distinct processes. Distinguishing between these possibilities empirically is challenging because the two abilities have similar developmental timetables and ToM tasks typically place high demands on EF, with the consequence that ToM and EF performance measures may be artificially correlated. Three experiments explored the nature of this relationship. Experiments 1 and 2 tested whether socio-cultural factors known to influence individual differences in EF (i.e., bilingualism, country-of-origin) extend to …

A Visual Analytics System For Making Sense Of Real-Time Twitter Streams, Amir Haghighatimaleki

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Through social media platforms, massive amounts of data are being produced. Twitter, as one such platform, enables users to post “tweets” on an unprecedented scale. Once analyzed by machine learning (ML) techniques and in aggregate, Twitter data can be an invaluable resource for gaining insight. However, when applied to real-time data streams, due to covariate shifts in the data (i.e., changes in the distributions of the inputs of ML algorithms), existing ML approaches result in different types of biases and provide uncertain outputs. This thesis describes a visual analytics system (i.e., a tool that combines data visualization, human-data interaction, and …

The Experiential Learning Connections Between University And Community: Recent Ontario Experience, Emmanuel Asafo-Adjei

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Experiential Learning (EL), including a range of pedagogical approaches such as co-ops and community service learning, connect the university and its external community. Universities are considering such approaches to meet a number of needs and priorities both on and off-campus. As it unfolds rapidly at the present time, EL becomes the connection between the university and the community beyond its gates, both locally and more extensively. However, university-community or so-called town-gown (TG) connections traditionally focus on research and/or science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This thesis focuses on the teaching and learning connections, especially in Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences …

Ethnoprimatology And Nature-Based Tourism: An Exploration Of Macaque Ecology And Behaviour At The Sepilok Orang-Utan Rehabilitation Center In Sabah, Malaysia, Lauren J. Gilhooly

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A rise in tourism revenue worldwide has included an increase in the number of travellers seeking experiences with the natural world. Commonly referred to as ecotourists, these visitors typically hail from Western countries and favour locations that allow them to connect with nature in ways that they consider sustainable and ethical. However well-meaning, these ecotourist ventures are complex because, while tourism revenue may help protect fragile ecosystems, an increase in tourists can expose local fauna to potentially deadly diseases.

Primates are a salient example of this double-edged sword because they are a popular attraction among travellers, meaning they may …

Putting 'Dopamine Overdose' To The Test: A Psychopharmacological Investigation In Parkinson's Disease And Healthy Volunteers, Andrew Vo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Dopaminergic therapy prescribed to address motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease (PD) is done at the expense of some cognition functions. It has been hypothesized that whether a given function is improved or impaired by medication depends on the baseline dopamine levels within underlying brain regions. Areas most affected by PD and severely dopamine depleted are predicted to benefit from dopaminergic therapy. Regions with less dopamine deficiency are predicted to worsen from excessive dopamine stimulation. This theoretical framework is known as the dopamine overdose hypothesis. The central aim of this thesis was to critically test the straightforward predictions put forward by …

Newcomer Integration Programs And London, Ontario’S Diversity Agenda: Views From Within And Without, Jutta Zeller-Beier

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

London, Ontario presents itself as a multicultural city with a strong emphasis on diversity and inclusion. My thesis examines London’s diversity agenda through the everyday practices of the work of immigrant integration which are situated against the historical trajectory of Canada and Ontario’s immigration policies. Based on personal interviews, participation in events hosted by immigrant-serving organizations, and visits to related offices at City Hall, my research investigates the framework applied to realize the social inclusion of immigrants in London. A look at the work of governing and the impact of neoliberal policies shows that responsibility for successful integration falls on …

Does Canada Meet International Standards On Employment Rights For Migrant Workers? An Analysis Of The Effects Of Labour Market Inequality, Ria Haque

MA Major Research Papers

The goal of this paper is to carefully assess the international standards of labour and the effects of the rise in labour market inequality specifically in Canada while also looking at what is going on in China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as case studies. By analyzing empirical and qualitative data, this paper ultimately concludes that the dominant explanation and interpretation of related literature in this subject depicts a broad sense of injustice to migrant workers who are only increasing internationally. These migrant workers face countless hardships while only pursuing jobs in foreign countries in the attempts of going …

The Sino-Lankan Relationship: Challenging Liberal Foundations Of Transitional Justice, Thurka Brabaharan

MA Major Research Papers

Sri Lanka continues to demonstrate the challenges of implementing legitimate transitional justice mechanisms in a post-conflict state ruled by its victors. While the island-nation of Sri Lanka has managed to sustain relative peace for over a decade, the government’s outstanding human rights record remains a concern for the country’s minority ethnic groups. While there is substantial evidence against the Sri Lankan Army to validate the human rights abuses and war crimes alleged by Tamil civilians, little has been done to hold these individuals accountable. Within the sphere of liberal international order, a victor’s peace, such as Sri Lanka’s, would likely …

The Effects Of Invasive Border Security Policies On Vulnerable Communities Today, Salena Halbouni

MA Major Research Papers

The following literature review is grounded in a case of a Syrian/Canadian man of the name Maher Arar who was wrongly convicted of having associations with the terrorist group Al-Qaeda.5 The purpose of the case is to highlight flaws within counterterrorism policies and strategies. Despite the government’s attempts at protecting innocent civilians, it has also created many challenges for those in office with respect to protecting civil and human rights. As previously mentioned, in an attempt to overcome such challenges it is essential to implement safeguards within practices, and policies to ensure the protection of the most vulnerable.

Theories Of Foucault And Agamben: The Issues Of Borders And Sovereignty”, Melinda Ann Callahan

MA Major Research Papers

Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben have developed theoretical lenses for depicting how we should understand individuals in sovereign states, and the way in which these states interact with said individuals. Through an approach that assesses the framework of biology, race and ethnicity contribute to the notions of biopolitics and of ‘bare life,’ and exemplifies the constructs of how discrimination against the ‘other’ is embedded in western thought. These systematic processes are utilized through notions of biopower and the ‘state of exception’ as a means of maintaining hierarchical power structures. This paper will be assessing the role of the international in …