Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Stochastic Models In Circuit Network Growth, John D. Radke

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

To describe the spatial pattern of objects or events, and to explain that pattern by way of the causal mechanisms which have generated it, has been one of the traditional aims of geographical research (Harvey, 1967). One method that can be employed for such descriptions and explanations is network analysis.

A network is a meshed fabric of intersecting lines (Kansky, 1963). A more appropriate definition for geographers would be, a set of geographic elements interconnected into a system by a number of relationships (Kansky, 1963). Network analysis is an examination of a complete network, its elements and their relationships. Networks …

The Genesis Of Kwazulu: A Study Of The Spatial Impact Of State And Capital In South Africa, With Particular Reference To The Period Between 1972 And 1975, Mervyn David Lincoln

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Development geography has traditionally concerned itself with describing regional economic disparities in a country and seeking normative remedies for the problem of uneven ‘development.’ Rarely was the problem perceived of as an historical process, or as a process which transcends national limits, or as an outcome of ideologically-based strategies. That is, development geographers ignored the structures of which underdevelopment is but a part. A departure from this orthodox type of approach is made here.

As an exercise in renovated development geography, this dissertation is by definition historico-political in nature. The notion of development may be equated, essentially, with progress toward …

Parent, Child, And Context Factors And Interactions As Precipitants To Child Battering, Trevor Austin Thomas

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A random sample of the literature on child battering and interviews with parents who had battered their child was content analyzed. From paragraph themes which indicated causality for child battering, the presence of seven causal dynamics in child battering was noted. The causal dynamics included three factors (parent, child and context) and the interactions between and among the factors. All of the causal dynamics were found to exist in the interviews, literature and separately identified segments of the literature which delineated events immediately preceding an incident of battering. It was concluded that a strong possibility existed that all of the …

A Theoretical Inquiry Into The Problematic Nature Of Canadian Defence Policy, Dennis William Barber

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis attempts to analyze the problematic nature of Canada’s defence policy by utilizing general systems theory as the prime method of inquiry. While much of the existing literature on Canadian defence policy is of a singular or partial nature, there is a need for a more holistic approach to the study of defence policy.

General systems theory, being a normative theory with a scientific base, assumes a holistic approach while offering explanations in behavioural phenomena as well as indicating possible future conditions.

This thesis examines the past and present of Canadian defence policy as seen in the perspective of …

The Interrupted Task Paradigm: Age And Observer-Performer Differences, Laurie E. Davidson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Previous research has indicated a developmental tendency toward greater repetition choice and recall of interrupted tasks than for completed tasks. The present study investigated this relationship and the possibility that observing versus performing a task might have differential effects on recall and repetition choice. Thirteen ten year old and eleven year old boys (performers) individually assembled eighteen jig-saw puzzles of birds and animals. Twenty-four peers of the same age (observers) observers puzzle assembly. Contrary to previous research, no significant tendency was found for older participants to recall and to choose to repeat more interrupted tasks than for younger participants. However, …

A Review And Case Study Of The Effect Of Urbanisation On Streamflow, R.F. Fraser

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Political Leaders On The Provincial Performance Of The Liberal Party In British Columbia, Henrik J. Von Winthus

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis examines the development of Liberalism in British Columbia from the aspect of leader influence. It intends to verify the hypothesis that in the formative period of provincial politics in British Columbia (1871-1941) the average voter was more leader-oriented than party-oriented. The method of inquiry is predominantly historical.

In chronological sequence the body of the thesis describes British Columbia’s political history from 1871, when the province entered Canadian confederation, to the resignation of premier Thomas Dufferin Pattullo, in 1941. The incision was made at this point, because the following eleven year coalition period would not yield data relevant to …

Discrimination Of Bidimensional Stimuli By Autistic Children, Kathryn A. Brock

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Four autistic and four normal children were trained to respond on a series of four bidimensional complex-component discrimination tasks where the complex stimuli were comprised of auditory and visual components. The results indicated a transfer of learning effect for the autistic group. The increment in performance was such that the autistic group’s performance did not significantly differ from the normal group on the last task. These results were seen as encouraging evidence that the apparent phenomenon of stimulus overselectivity, as described in previous research, is not an enduring characteristic of autistic children. It was suggested that further research is needed …

Spread And Growth Of Newspapers In Ontario, 1781-1977, John Michael Bolton

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Since Louis Roy started Ontario’s first newspaper in 1793, the newspaper industry has been growing. Daily and weekly newspapers were born and either survived to the present or died at some later date. Newspapers appeared to have followed the spread of settlement throughout the province, until a saturation level was reached. After this only minor filling in occurred except in the Toronto to Hamilton region where suburban weeklies were started. The threshold population needed to support the birth of a daily or weekly appeared to fall within the 1200-2000 range and 500-1000 range respectively. The growth of newspapers was steady …

An Analysis Of Transport Services And Facilities In Northern Ontario Centres: A Qualitative Approach, Violet Konkle

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Transportation has been considered in the discipline of geography largely within the context of distance and cost constraints, particularly with reference to industrial location decision-making processes. These costs are easily-quantifiable and measurable, and transportation geographers have tended to depend upon distance and tariff costs as the major transportation inputs in locational decision-making processes.

This dependency upon cost considerations is no longer evident in the real world. The priorities of the consignors (shippers) and consignees (customers) have shifted lately, and these distance and cost considerations are now examined in conjunction with such qualitative priorities as frequency of the consistency and reliability …

Creativity, Self-Actualization And Meditation Programmes, Robert Wakefield Kitcher

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Twenty-seven students enrolled in a first year Graphics Course at Loyalist College in Belleville, Ontario were rated on creativity by two groups of experts, a self rating and by the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) Figural Forms A and B (Torrance, 1966) and self-actualization by the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) (Shostrom, 1964) before and after a three month meditation program. The expert rating-rerating of the pretest collagen was very reliable (r=.82) and there was fair agreement (r=.61 average) between Graphic Experts and Non-Grahpic visual communications experts. The lack of significant correlations (p

The students who were randomly assigned to …

Aggression In Amateur And Professional Hockey, Darryl Norman Upfold

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Aggressive behaviour (as measured by “minutes in aggressive penalties”) and players’ perceived attitudes were investigated at four levels of hockey—pee wee and midget (major All Star), Junior A (Jr. A) and the National Hockey League (NHL). No support was found for the hypotheses suggesting that minutes in aggressive penalties occur as a function of differences in weight (light or heavy), position (forward or defense), skill (“less-skilled” or “more-skilled”), or years in league (rookie or veteran). The midget sample incurred significantly more minutes in aggressive penalties per player per 60 minutes of game time than did the other three samples.

Analyses …

The Modification Of Smoking Behaviour: A Research Evaluation Of Aversion Therapy, Hypnotherapy, And A Combined Technique, Herman Surkis

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study compared aversion therapy, hypnotherapy, and a combined method. It was predicted that the treatment of imagined behaviour would generalize to overt behaviours. Individuals were randomly assigned to one of three groups: the aversion group with shock contingent on imagined behaviour, and finally the combined group which consisted of traditional hypnotherapy in combination with aversion therapy. The treatments were contained on separate cassettes with each subject receiving his appropriate cassette. Subjects met in groups of 3-5 individuals, twice a week for three weeks. Individuals acted as their own controls through the establishment of a pre-treatment baseline of smoking rate. …

A Sedimentological Study Of Modern And Ancient Lacustrine Environments At Michael Bay, Lake Huron, Lindsay D. Nakashima

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Modern and ancient environments associated with Lakes Algoma and Huron were studied according to attributes of stratigraphy, sediment texture, parameters, sediment size distribution, bedforms, and primary sedimentary structures. Results from a computation of wave refraction diagrams and from an examination of the wave climate characteristics indicate that the modern embayment is low energy.

A sediment texture comparison between modern and ancient environments indicates that higher energy pervailed in the ancient environment relative to the present day environment. The cobble and gravel sediments as well as an extensive belt of foredunes preserved in the ancient environment are evidence of this high …