Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Rethinking Holocene Ecological Relationships Among Caribou, Muskoxen, And Human Hunters On Banks Island, Nwt, Canada: A Stable Isotope Approach, Jordon S. Munizzi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation explores the ecology of caribou (Rangifer tarandus spp.) and muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus), and its relevance to human hunters on Banks Island, NWT, Canada, over the last 4000 years, primarily through the isotopic analysis of modern and archaeological faunal remains.

First, we establish baseline carbon and nitrogen isotope relationships between modern vegetation and caribou and muskox bone collagen using Bayesian mixing models. The models indicate that dwarf shrub (Salix arctica) does not contribute significantly to bone collagen isotopic compositions in either species, while sedges and yellow lichen (Cetraria tilesii) do. These findings …

Understanding Parent And Child Perceptions Of Barriers And Enablers Influencing Active School Travel, Katherine Wilson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Physical activity plays a fundamental role in developing and sustaining the health and well-being of children. Walking is the most common form of physical activity for people of all ages and the daily journey to and from school is a convenient opportunity for children to be physically active through the use of active school travel. This thesis uses a mixed methods approach, using: (a) parent and child surveys to examine how perceptions of barriers influence children’s active school travel; and (b) participatory mapping exercises and qualitative GIS to understand environmental influences on children’s journeys to and from school. Results suggest …

Linguistic And Cognitive Measures In Arabic-Speaking English Language Learners (Ells) And Monolingual Children With And Without Developmental Language Disorder (Dld), Areej Mazin Balilah

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Understanding the current level of language knowledge in English Language Learners (ELLs) can present a challenge. The standardized language tests that are commonly used to assess language tap prior knowledge and experience. ELLs may score poorly on such ‘knowledge-based’ measures because of the low levels of exposure to each of their languages. Considerable overlap has been found on several knowledge-based measures (Paradis, 2010) between ELLs and monolingual children with an unexpected delay in language development known as Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Measures of cognitive processing, on the other hand, are less dependent on ELLs’ linguistic knowledge because they employ nonlinguistic …

Housing And Social Support Among Individuals With Mental Illness, Sz-Wing Melody Lam

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Background: Housing and social support are related social determinants, but studies often focus on independent effects on health. Objectives: Evaluate social support measures and the relationship between housing and support in individuals with mental illness. Methods: Data was obtained from adults in Ontario who had a mental illness history. The Personal Resource Questionnaire, a perceived social support measure, was evaluated using factor analysis. Multiple linear regression and non-parametric tests assessed the relationship between housing and support. Results: Two factors emerged – Perceived General Support and Perceived Intimate Support. Compared to homeless individuals, significantly higher support scores were found for individuals …

Mindfulness And Individual Error Orientation In High Reliability Organizations, Ellen Choi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Mindfulness is a concept drawn from the contemplative traditions that refers to present-moment, non-judgmental awareness. Exactly how applicable mindfulness is in the workplace requires further empirical validation, particularly on outcomes immediately relevant to organizations. This study contributes to literature examining the effects of mindfulness in organizational settings by considering the effects of an 8-week workplace mindfulness training program in a high-reliability organization (hospital) on individual error orientation, an individual’s propensity to learn from error, worry about error, or hide error. This study adds to the current state of knowledge by providing further insight into why one holds a particular error …

Expertise, Mediation, And Technological Surrogacy: A Mixed Method Critical Analysis Of A Point Of Care Evidence Resource, Selinda Adelle Berg

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

While evidence-based medicine (EBM) is a widely accepted feature of contemporary medicine, the applicability of evidence to clinical practice is often questioned. The proprietary system UpToDate has emerged as one of the most heavily used point-of-care evidence resources. While some existing research evaluates UpToDate’s utility and features, no critical analysis of its content exists. This thesis is a multiple, mixed methods case study examining how evidence, authors, and the patient-physician relationship are situated in UpToDate. A descriptive analysis of the type and features of the cited evidence, as well as an overarching textual analysis of the clinician and patient information …

Geosimulation And Multicriteria Modelling Of Residential Land Development In The City Of Tehran: A Comparative Analysis Of Global And Local Models, Hossein Hosseini

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Conventional models for simulating land-use patterns are insufficient in addressing complex dynamics of urban systems. A new generation of urban models, inspired by research on cellular automata and multi-agent systems, has been proposed to address the drawbacks of conventional modelling. This new generation of urban models is called geosimulation. Geosimulation attempts to model macro-scale patterns using micro-scale urban entities such as vehicles, homeowners, and households. The urban entities are represented by agents in the geosimulation modelling. Each type of agents has different preferences and priorities and shows different behaviours. In the land-use modelling context, the behaviour of agents is their …

Characterizing Mekk1: Candidate Behavioural Isolation Gene, Caryn Dooner

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Behavioural isolation can occur due to divergence in aspects of courtship and mating, and can contribute to reproductive isolation. The purpose of this study is to determine how a gene, Mekk1, contributes to female rejection behaviour between D. melanogaster and D. simulans. Unique polymorphisms were identified within D. simulans Mekk1 that could contribute to behaviour, most of which are non-coding. Both transcripts of Mekk1 appear to be expressed at similar levels in D. simulans and D. melanogaster. These data also indicate that Mekk1 may be expressed in a specific region of the brain called the mushroom body, …

Hunting For (Dis)Connections In Northern Ontario: "Nature," Wild Meat, And Community In Hearst, Daphné Gagnon

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis follows a group of hunters in the town of Hearst in Northern Ontario, as they move through space—from the town, to the hunting ground, and back to the home. The analysis presented draws on research that took place over a six-month period during the summer and fall of 2016 and involved a combination of library research, participant observation, 28 interviews, and numerous informal conversations. The analysis presented explores how hunting in Hearst is linked to 1) a sense of place and community membership, 2) local knowledge of, and attachment to, the surrounding “natural” environment and the regional fauna, …

Statistical Modelling, Optimal Strategies And Decisions In Two-Period Economies, Jiang Wu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Motivated by some real problems, our thesis puts forward two general two-period pricing models and explore optimal buying and selling strategies in two states of the two-period decision, when buyer/seller's decisions in the two periods are uncertain: commodity valuations may or may not be independent, may or may not follow the same distribution, be heavily or just lightly influenced by exogenous economic conditions, and so on. For both the example of buying laptops and the example of selling houses, the connections between each example and the two-envelope paradox encourage us to explore optimal strategies based on the works of McDonnell …

'The Environment Says It's Okay': The Tension Between Peer Support And Police Culture, Cindy Hohner

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study evaluates the implementation and subsequent operation of a peer support program in a Canadian police service. Data was collected from an online survey, available to the police service for a period of one year, and 16 in-depth interviews with peer support team members. There is very little data on police peer support programs in the literature. Thus, the purpose of the survey was to gain an understanding of what issues members believe a peer support program should address, the circumstances under which they would seek help from the peer support program, and the reasons they may or may …

Prime Ministers And Public Expectations: A Study Of Institutional Change, Kenny William Ie

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study concerns the institutional bases of prime ministerial power and leadership. It investigates institutional development in the prime ministerial civil service organizations in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, from the 1970s to the present. The study asks two basic questions. First, to what extent, and how, have the institutional bases of prime ministerial power grown? Second, what explanations account for the institutional change observed? The study is framed theoretically in two ways. Its broad approach is historical institutionalist, in particular, in its descriptive framing of incremental change over time. Empirically, an original theory, the Theory of …

"We Do This Too": Black Mothers' Engagements With Attachment Parenting In Britain And Canada, Patricia Hamilton

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis examines black mothers’ engagements with attachment parenting (AP), an increasingly popular parenting philosophy. AP promotes the development of secure attachment between parent (mother) and child, through practices such as breastfeeding, babywearing and bed-sharing. Coined by William and Martha Sears in the 1980s, AP has garnered increasing attention in a neoliberal context, a political rationality that centers the economic and emphasizes self-responsibility, consumption and individualism as defining features of ‘good’ citizenship. In the context of neoliberal retractions in welfare state spending, AP emerges as a particularly apt parenting philosophy as it identifies childrearing as a solution to social ills. …

Exploring The Health Benefits Of Nature For Children In Urban, Suburban, And Rural Settings, Suzanne Tillmann

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A growing body of research suggests that increasing children’s exposure to natural environments can have positive benefits for their overall health and well-being. Using a mixed-methods approach, this thesis uses (a) surveys and spatial analyses within a geographic information system framework to examine how individual-level and environmental factors are associated with children’s health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and (b) semi-structured focus groups with children to understand how children living in a rural community define nature, experience nature, and perceive the benefits and drawbacks of nature. Results suggest that in addition to a number of important individual level variables, certain environmental …

Does Reflection Mitigate Negative Emotions Following Work Performance Feedback?, Rebecca J. Factor

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study examined if reflection could mitigate negative emotion following negative work performance feedback. Initial research has found that reflection is beneficial for learning, but it has seldom been tested if reflection can mitigate negative emotion associated with negative feedback. Participants were tasked with completing open-ended questions based on a workplace training manual, and then received negative work performance feedback. Feedback was presented in either absolute terms, or relative to others’ performance. Afterwards, in one condition, participants completed a reflection activity, while in another condition, participants simply completed a time filler task. Participants’ emotions were then measured. Results indicated that …

Regarding Aid: The Photographic Situation Of Humanitarianism, Sonya De Laat

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Since the invention of photography, the medium has played an increasingly central role in shaping spectators’ imagination of distant suffering and calamitous experiences. The discourse of humanitarianism has evolved alongside photography and has relied on the medium to give it shape. Indeed, humanitarianism is and always has been a photographic situation, which is to say, photography has played and continues to play a significant role in constituting the very terms of humanitarianism, including how it is referenced, conceived, understood, and practiced. This dissertation is concerned with the historical role of photography in shaping the humanitarian imagination, as well as the …

Engaging Past And Future On A Community Supported Agriculture Farm, Catherine Villar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The topic of this dissertation is Orchard Hill Farm, an organic, draft-horse powered Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm located on the outskirts of Sparta, Ontario. Here, a thoughtful and flexible approach to management that works with soil, non-human animals, and humans has resulted in a financially viable small-scale farm within a provincial and national context where the number of small farms has diminished rapidly in the last decade. This site provides a unique opportunity to study a successful case of what is termed alternative or “civic” agriculture. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted from August 2013 to August 2014, this study …

Shifting State Plans And The Politics Of Street Food Vending In Cuba, Lina Johnston

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation examines evolving private sector-state relations in Cuba in the realm of food commercialization through a case study of ambulatory street food vendors known in Cuban parlance as carretilleros. The street food vendor job category, authorized by the Cuban government in 2010, is one among a number of newly legal entrepreneurial activities that have been slowly expanding since 1993 when the Cuban government began to experiment with various market reforms. While the incremental legalization of private entrepreneurial activity (or self-employment) in Cuba signals important changes to Cuban employment modalities, street food vendors in particular also suggest a significant …

The Human First Metatarsal In Bioarchaeological Research: New Insights Into Human Variation And Bone Health Research From Kellis 2, Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt (50-450ce), Mathew A. Teeter

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Objectives: This research tests the efficacy of using the human first metatarsal (MT1) in bioarchaeological research, specifically to investigate human variation (nonmetric traits and sexual dimorphism) and skeletal health (Osteo-Volumetric Density and µCT analysis) in antiquity. To date, this bone has had limited applications in bioarchaeology.

Materials and Methods: This study used human remains from the Kellis 2 (K2) cemetery, located in the Dakhleh Oasis, Egypt (50-450CE). Specifically, 377 MT1s, representing 212 individuals were used to investigate human variation and osteo-volumetric density (OVD) in the K2 skeletal population. Additionally, skeletal health was further assessed in a female sub-sample (n=44) of …

”Not Just Based On Land”: A Study On The Ethnic Tibetan Community In Toronto, Diyin Deng

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Tibetan identity first emerged as “resistance” (Winland 2002; Scott 1990). The united pan-Tibetan identity did not originally resonate with the diverse group of ethnic minorities living on the Tibetan plateau until post-Chinese occupation. Then, all the groups saw the mutual benefit of adopting the united Tibetan identity against what they perceived as a greater threat to their culture and values. As such the initial Tibetan identity that is projected internationally was harnessed as a “weapon”(Bauman and Vecchi 2004:74) against homogenizing Chinese citizenship and was intimately intertwined with activism.

My research focuses on the formation of diasporic Tibetan identities within …

A Simulated Walk In Nature: Testing Predictions From The Attention Restoration Theory, Corey Crossan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Attention Restoration Theory (ART) predicts that top-down processing during everyday activities can cause attentional fatigue and that bottom-up processing that occurs when people experience nature will be restorative (Kaplan, 1995). The present study examined this prediction by exposing participants to three different conditions using a repeated measures design: a control condition during which participants walked on a typical treadmill, a nature/restorative condition during which participants walked on the same treadmill, experiencing a simulated nature walk, and a perturbation condition that included the same simulated nature scene but also required top-down processing during the walk. The findings supported ART predictions. As …

Financial Costs Incurred By Living Kidney Donors: Findings From A Canadian Multi-Centre Prospective Cohort Study, Sebastian Przech

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This prospective cohort study across 12 Canadian transplant centres evaluated the costs incurred by 912 living kidney donors. Expenses and resources were captured to 3-months post-donation, and micro-costing was used to appraise the costs incurred by donors. Living kidney donors incurred average total costs of $4790, and direct and indirect costs of $2110 and $2679, respectively. 13.3% of donors incurred total costs exceeding $10,000, and 8.6% of donors incurred costs >25% of their annual household income. Costs incurred by spousal donors were not significantly different from either unrelated or closely related donors. Similarly, costs incurred by kidney paired donors were …

The Neural Mechanisms Underlying The Perception And Production Of Learned Vocalizations In Songbirds, Shannon Katie Mischler

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Songbirds produce a wide array of vocalizations, including song, and learned and innate calls. Songs and calls can be functionally defined. Songs are typically used to attract potential mates and defend one’s territory, whereas calls are used for everything else, such as advertising the presence of a predator, or location of a food source, and maintaining contact with members of one’s flock. The purpose of this thesis was to better understand the neural mechanisms underlying call production and perception in two songbird species; the black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) and the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata). My objectives …

Is Allocation Of Attention Impaired In Fallers Compared To Non-Fallers? An Event-Related Potential Study, Phil Parrot-Migas

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Approximately 30% of older adults experience one or more falls annually. The ability to properly allocate attention may be a risk factor falls. Our study examined whether older adults (aged 58-79) with a history of falls, allocated attention differently to auditory distractor stimuli compared to those without a history of falls, and whether such differences subsequently altered cognitive processing of visual target stimuli. We examined allocation of attention using event-related potentials (ERPs) as participants responded to visual targets while ignoring task-irrelevant auditory distractors. A posterior to anterior shift in electrical brain activity was exaggerated in the faller group compared to …

Youth Engagement In Artisanal And Small-Scale Mining In The Upper East Region Of Ghana, Lydia Osei

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Youth unemployment remains a prevalent problem in sub-Saharan Africa and many of its governments are grappling with it. Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), however, is gaining prominence in generating employment avenues for the youth. In fact, ASM provides jobs for thousands of youth and is considered to be ameliorating hardships in many rural areas. ASM has therefore been broadly acknowledged as a ‘poverty-driven’ activity. Given the sector’s contribution (both legally and illegally) to rural livelihoods, governments and development partners interested in poverty reduction are uncertain of how to deal with the growth of ASM. Policymakers and development partners seem confused …

Local-Global Tensions: Professional Experience, Role Perceptions And Image Production Of Afghan Photojournalists Working For A Global Audience, Saumava Mitra

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

There is growing academic recognition of the role of local news-makers who produce news for a global audience. Existing research has focused on local journalists and fixers engaged in international news-making, but not local professional photojournalists. This thesis explores the work of local photojournalists in Afghanistan who produce images for a global audience in Afghanistan. Eighteen such Afghan photojournalists were interviewed. Through thematic analysis of the interview data, local-global tensions were located in the perceptions of the photojournalists regarding three aspects of their work – professional experiences, professional roles, and image production. Regarding the first, the Afghan photojournalists perceived that …

Examining The Differences In Beat Perception And Production Between Musicians And Dancers, Tram Nguyen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The ability to perceive and produce a beat is believed to be universal in humans, but there are factors that may give rise to individual differences. The research presented in this dissertation examined four factors that may influence beat processing and sensorimotor synchronization performance: 1) expertise: in music and dance, 2) training style: percussive and nonpercussive, 3) stimulus modality: auditory and visual, and 4) movement type: effector-specific or whole-body. Chapter 2 examined how percussive and nonpercussive music and dance training influence beat perception and production performance using an auditory beat perception task and a finger tapping …

Investigating The Health Meanings Of Young Saudi Women, Tagreed Alnajjar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Women’s structural position within society and their family roles significantly influence their health. Previous studies have shown women hold lower health and socioeconomic status because of their gender within the Saudi culture. This study aimed to provide an understanding of how Saudi women value health and define being healthy within their social contexts. Adopting an ethnographic perspective, three focus groups (31 participants in total) were conducted with volunteer undergraduate Saudi female students on campus during a nine-week field trip to the participants’ university, King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Three themes were generated from this study that characterize the …

Exploring Community Formation And Coalescence At The Late 14th-Early 15th Century Tillsonburg Village Site, Rebecca Parry

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis examines the Tillsonburg Village’s particularly large and dispersed community plan through an intra-site analysis of ceramic vessels and longhouse attributes, as these are considered useful indicators of social, organizational, and temporal processes. The archaeological site in Tillsonburg, Ontario dates to the late Middle Iroquoian Period (AD 1350-1420). Community coalescence involves the aggregation of previously separate social groups into one communal settlement. It is explored as the predominant conceptual approach to better understand the formation of the Tillsonburg Village’s community plan. However, other processes relating to the contemporaneity of village areas or houses are also considered. Spatial and statistical …

The Other Side Of The Enclave: Local Perspectives On The Onset Of Mass Tourism In Jamaica, Shenika A. Mcfarlane-Morris

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Mass tourism development in the Global South is widely celebrated as a major source of jobs and foreign exchange, but it is also widely criticized for creating spatially and economically segregated enclaves that frequently have negative social, cultural, and environmental impacts. There is a large literature that details both the economic advantages and disadvantages of mass tourism development. However, critiques of mass tourism have done little to reorient the nature of the industry, as countries of the Global South such as Jamaica have generally placed much greater emphasis on the economic performance of the industry than on the associated inequalities. …