Digital Commons Network^™

Leptodeira Septentrionalis (Northern Cat-Eyed Snake), Richard M. Engeman, Carrie Engeman

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Beginning at 1838 h on 30 May 2014 at the Caves Branch Jungle Lodge in Belize, we observed an encounter between a Leptodeira septentrionalis and an Incilius valliceps that appeared to have initiated as a predation attempt by the toad on the snake. The toad (SVL ca. 9 cm) had the dorsal portion of the snake’s head in its mouth (Fig. 1); however, the toad was motionless and the snake (with its head in the toad’s mouth) was retracting backwards up a stone wall into a crevice, pulling the toad with it. The snake’s lower jaw was beneath the lower …

Dynamics Of Virus Shedding And Antibody Responses In Influenza A Virus-Infected Feral Swine, Hailiang Sun, Fred L. Cunningham, Jillian Harris, Yifei Xu, Li-Ping Long, Katie C. Hanson-Dorr, John A. Baroch, Paul Fioranelli, Mark W. Lutman, Tao Li, Kerri Pedersen, Brandon S. Schmit, Jim Cooley, Xiaoxu Lin, Richard G. Jarman, Thomas J. Deliberto, Xui-Feng Wan

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Given their free-ranging habits, feral swine could serve as reservoirs or spatially dynamic ‘mixing vessels’ for influenza A virus (IAV). To better understand virus shedding patterns and antibody response dynamics in the context of IAV surveillance amongst feral swine, we used IAV of feral swine origin to perform infection experiments. The virus was highly infectious and transmissible in feral swine, and virus shedding patterns and antibody response dynamics were similar to those in domestic swine. In the virus-inoculated and sentinel groups, virus shedding lasted ≤6 and ≤9 days, respectively. Antibody titres in inoculated swine peaked at 1 : 840 on …

The Relationship Between Personality Traits, Goal Orientation, And Preferred Paths To Value Creation: The Case Of Latent Entrepreneurs., Michael J. Kay Phd

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study examined the relationship between personality and the preferences expressed by latent entrepreneurs among different ways of creating value. Latent entrepreneurs are individuals who would prefer to be an entrepreneur rather than a salaried employee. Latent entrepreneurs take all the first time decisions on entering entrepreneurship and their entry choices have been linked in the literature to their expressed preferences. The study addressed the personality-value creation relationship through two goals. The first addressed the personality-value creation preference relationship directly. Value creation was operationalized using the Competing Values Model (Quinn & Rohrbaugh, 1983). Each approach to value creation was regressed …

‘Water Is Life’: Exploring The Relationship Between Place Identity, Water And Adaptive Capacity In Fort Resolution, Northwest Territories, Canada, Jennifer A. Fresque-Baxter

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Water is recognised as a fundamental human right in Canada’s Northwest Territories (NWT). However, the current and potential effects of climate change coupled with resource development pressures are leading to concerns about maintaining the health and viability of freshwater in the NWT. These intersecting multiple exposures can have far-reaching impacts for NWT residents who rely on water for cultural, spiritual, economic and social purposes. Ongoing changes (e.g., to water quantity, water quality, weather, precipitation and ice dynamics, for example) will increasingly require NWT residents to adapt, seek ways to plan for the future, identify opportunities, and moderate the effects of …

Embracing The Grey Zone: Navigating Flexible Boundaries At Welcome Inn Community Centre, Carly H. Gaylor

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis is an exploration of relationships and issues of professional boundaries at Welcome Inn Community Centre, a faith-based community centre offering programs and services to address issues of poverty in Hamilton, Ontario. Data was gathered through semi-structured qualitative interviews with fifteen staff members, volunteers, and participants at Welcome Inn. A strengths-based perspective combined with mutual relationships and flexible boundaries were found to foster inclusion, acceptance, community building, and personal transformation at Welcome Inn Community Centre; Welcome Inn staff, volunteers, and program participants described these qualities positively. Mixed positive and negative comments were used to describe decision-making and boundaries at …

Pushing The Limits: International Land Acquisitions In Comparative Perspective, Ariane Goetz

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The role of investor countries in large-scale land acquisitions is poorly understood in the contemporary “land grab” literature. Orthodox explanations largely build on deductive analyses that deviate from the emerging empirical evidence, and/or face analytical difficulties when trying to capture why large-scale land acquisitions happen. This thesis investigates the global phenomenon of “land grabbing” from the comparative perspective of two major investor countries: the UK and China. The regional focus is on Sub-Saharan Africa, a major target of land-consuming investments since 2000.

The dissertation advances three arguments: Firstly, the specific details of the home country’s industrial set-up, development challenges, ideological …

Affective Migration: The Role Of Food Preparation And Visceral Experience For Egyptian Migrant Women Settling In The Region Of Waterloo, Mary Neil

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study examining Egyptian migrants settling in Canada is exploratory in nature and is intended to initiate a conversation about the personal experience of transnationalism and the value of the body as an instrument of research. A semi-structured interview approach was designed to prompt the evocation of deep personal thoughts, experiences, and sensations in response to questions surrounding migration to Canada through the shared performative act of cooking and the visceral experience of eating in the private space of the migrant kitchen. Using a grounded theory approach, several adaptive mechanisms were identified such as the creation of manageable daily routines, …

“Where Did I Learn That?” Exploring The Similarity Effect And Children’S Use Of Memory Cues For Source Monitoring, Leanne E. Bird

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

An individual’s ability to accurately monitor source (attribute known or remembered information to its particular source or origin) develops gradually throughout childhood. Along with task difficulty (i.e., delay between encoding and retrieval), source similarity is among the utmost hindrance to individuals’ ability to accurately monitor source; specifically, the greater the similarity between sources the more difficult source monitoring judgments have been found to be, and the smaller similarity between sources (i.e., the greater number of differences between sources) the more accurate source monitoring judgments have been found to be. The similarity effect has been said to apply to all age …

A Living Wage For All Manitobans?: Perspectives From The Private Sector, Paul Campbell Sheridan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In response to the growing problem of working poverty around the world, a grassroots movement has emerged and spread internationally in the last two decades. This movement proposes the adoption of living wage policies and practice as part of a comprehensive poverty reduction strategy in the context of the neoliberal retrenchment of social safety nets. While successful at the local government level in the USA and the U. K., the movement has struggled to make inroads into the private sector, which is where the bulk of sub-living-wage jobs are situated. Using a qualitative methodology informed by critical theory, this study …

Masjids, Ashrams And Mazars: Transnational Sufism And The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship, Merin Shobhana Xavier

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship is a community that formed in relation to the Tamil teacher Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (d. 1986). Bawa’s teachings attracted diverse followers- those with Islamic inclinations, those from Jewish, Hindu and Christian backgrounds, and those seeking to transcend religious creeds. With his passing and no appointed successor, the communities that developed during Bawa Muhaiyaddeen’s lifetime rely now on the institutions and spaces established by him. These include a mosque and burial shrine (mazar) in Pennsylvania and an ashram and shrine in Sri Lanka. This case study of the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship and its parallel …

The Rise And Fall Of Canada's Cold War Air Force, 1948-1968, Bertram C. Frandsen

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis examines the expansion of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) under the St. Laurent government with the concept of the Big Air Force that emerged from the defence re-armament programme announced on 5 February 1951. During this critical Cold War period, the RCAF became Canada’s first line of defence, making an essential contribution to the collective defence of Western Europe through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Concurrently, the RCAF underwent tremendous expansion in Canada contributing to North American defence, along with significant increases in its training, maritime and transport capabilities. The RCAF developed into the largest military service …

Critical Champions Or Careless Condemners? Exploring News Media Constructions In Cases Of Wrongful Conviction, Katherine Rozad

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Countless incidences occur throughout the world each and every day. However, only a few of these occurrences are deemed newsworthy by the media. One area of information quite often categorized as “newsworthy” is that surrounding crime. Within crime-related news coverage are occasionally cases of wrongful conviction – miscarriages of justice in which the innocent are labeled “guilty” and wrongly punished. Despite decades of research in both the areas of crime and media, as well as wrongful conviction studies, no research to date has examined the way that cases of wrongful conviction are constructed in the media from the beginnings of …

Neither War, Nor Peace: Everyday Politics, Peacebuilding And The Liminal Condition Of Bosnia-Herzegovina And Northern Ireland, Branka Marijan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis focuses on cultural and everyday practices of local populations in post-conflict peacebuilding. It builds on the “everyday” turn in critical peacebuilding literature by recognizing the everyday as political. Rather than examining the practices of political elites this thesis is concerned with the ordinary citizens of these societies. In other words, I show that it is through practices and cultural forms of expression that local populations enact their agency, at times supporting and at times contesting the broader peacebuilding project. Moreover, rather than viewing the everyday acts as hidden or as evidence of resistance to the dominant peacebuilding approaches …

From Lending In The Andes To Thriving In Latin America: Caf’S Continuity, Growth And Long-Term Financing In The Region, Veronica Rubio Vega

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

What explains the Development Bank of Latin America’s (CAF, in Spanish) continuity and expansion since the 1990s? This thesis explores how an initially small Andean development bank crafted a successful strategy to survive in a troubled region and eventually thrive as an important lending source. This thesis argues that CAF’s expansion can be attributed to four main factors: 1) leadership, 2) institutional design, 3) member governments’ preferences and 4) Brazil’s push for regional cooperation beyond trade.

Theoretically, this thesis draws upon two sets of interrelated academic debates to explain CAF’s growth: 1) International Political Economy (IPE) and International Organization (IO) …

When Does Sacrificing The Present For The Future Or Sacrificing The Future For The Present Enhance Satisfaction With Life? Implicit Theories Of Change And Stability Moderate The Effects Of Temporal Focus On Life Satisfaction., Cindy L. Ward

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In Western society we encounter contrasting prescriptions for how to live a happy life. Some argue the key to life satisfaction is living in the moment (e.g., seize the day), while others herald the importance of focusing on the future (e.g., pursuing goals, following one’s dreams). We suspect, however, that these prescriptions do not work the same for everyone. The goal of the present research is to examine whether the relation between temporal focus (focusing on a present versus future goal) and life satisfaction (LS) might be moderated by participants’ implicit theories of change and stability (Dweck, 1999). Incremental theorists …

Social Factors Influencing Early Reading Development From Kindergarten To Grade One In English-Speaking Public Schools In Ontario And Quebec, Katherine Wood

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This research study examines the influence of providing parents with early literacy or socio-emotional instruction on their children’s performance in reading and social skill development. Parents were offered four interactive workshops designed to assist them in identifying everyday opportunities to reinforce either early reading skills or early social skills development. Two reading skills approaches were explored, traditional text reading and traditional text reading with computer-assisted learning opportunities. These two reading approaches were contrasted with a set of social development workshops derived from social-emotional learning models. Children’s performance was measured at three time intervals from early kindergarten to early in grade …

School-Based Supports For Trans Youth In Ontario, Charlie E. C. Davis

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Trans youth are some of the most marginalized youths in schools. In 2012, the Ontario Government passed two legislations, one of which was the Accepting Schools Act, strengthening supports for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ) students in schools. The other was Toby’s Act, an amendment to the Ontario Human Rights Code including protection from discrimination on the grounds of gender identity and gender expression. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how these two acts have created a political context supporting trans youth in schools. A comprehensive mixed-methods approach was used to examine provincial trends of trans-specific …

State Of Metropolitan Housing Report: 2015: A Year Of Change., Lauren Heberle, C. Hinko, C. Norton, A. Smith, K. Pugh, A. Sizemore, S. Sizemore

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Living Without Recognition : A Case Study Of Burmese Refugees In Malaysia., Meagan Floyd, Michael Zeller, Jason P. Abbott

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Environmental Hedonism Or, Securing The Environment Through The Common Law, George P. Smith Ii, David M. Steenburg

Scholarly Articles

This Article investigates whether a right to environmental hedonism can be claimed and compensated for when the environment is degraded. Building upon the economic and mathematical uncertainties in assessing any claim for loss of enjoyment of the environment, the Article considers the evaluation of environmental harms ex post through use of restorative damages allowed under the Restatement (Second) of Torts - and concludes that because of the ambiguities in public policy for not only determining what is an appropriate case for an award of restorative damages but also evaluating the nature and the scope of environmental injuries, these damages are …

Regulating Angels, Heidi Mandanis Schooner

Scholarly Articles

This article examines the current calls for deregulation of community banks and balances those ideas against the long history of community bank regulation, insolvency, and government support. Part II discusses the benefits offered by community banks and the current status of the industry. Part III outlines the justification for community bank regulation and the availability of the government safety net to support these institutions. Part IV addresses the solvency risk of community banks-their rates of failure and the causes of their failure. Part V addresses the reaction by community banks and their supporters to the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall …

The Supreme Court’S 2014-2015 Term: The Year The Administrative State Trembled, Joel Alicea

Scholarly Articles

The opinions of the Supreme Court’s most recent term indicate that the court’s conservative justices are rethinking the scope and power of the administrative state.

Confronting Big Data: Applying The Confrontation Clause To Government Big Data Collection, Chad Squitieri

Scholarly Articles

When government investigators request data from companies such as Google, they obtain data on targeted individuals with a guarantee that the data has been collected, stored, and analyzed properly. These guarantees constitute a testimonial statement under the Confrontation Clause. Similar to lab analysts who submit test results of cocaine samples or blood alcohol levels, this Note argues that analysts involved with the collection, storage, and analysis of big data must be available for confrontation under the Sixth Amendment.

The Limits Of The Freedoms Act’S Amicus Curiae, Chad Squitieri

Scholarly Articles

The federal government’s power to engage in surveillance for national security purposes is extensive. In an effort to reform the current national surveillance regime, scholars have called for, among other things, the creation of a “special advocate” to counter the government’s arguments before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Feeling political pressure to improve an ever-unpopular national surveillance regime, lawmakers passed the USA FREEDOM Act (“Freedom Act”). Section 401 of the Freedom Act provides for the creation of an “amicus curiae,” a position that differs from earlier conceptions of a “special advocate” in important respects. This Essay examines those differences, and …

Ordre Public And The First Amendment, Marshall J. Breger

Scholarly Articles

Ordre Public is a civil law concept according to which courts refuse to enforce the judgments of the courts of foreign countries because the judgments violate the enforcing state's core notions of public morals and public order. The concept is most often used in private international law. In some sense, it is a misnomer to talk about ordre public in American law as the terms is little used by American commentators or in American cases. Rather, the term that captures ordre public in the American context is "the public policy exception." While there may be subtle differences, for the most …

William Pincus: A Life In Service – Government, Philanthropy And Legal Education, J.P. "Sandy" Ogilvy

Scholarly Articles

This article memorializes the life and accomplishments of William “Bill” Pincus. The article brings the reader through Mr. Pincus’s career accomplishments, from his humble beginnings in New York City, to his impressive career in civil service, culminating in his work with the Ford Foundation and the Council on Legal Education for Professional Responsibility (CLEPR), where he spearheaded reforms in legal education. Mr. Pincus’s efforts were critical in establishing clinical legal education, drawing from his experiences both in law and government. Much of this article is derived from interviews of Mr. Pincus, conducted by the author, and provides an unprecedented insight …

From The New Deal To The New Healthcare: A New Deal Perspective On King V. Burwell And The Crusade Against The Affordable Care Act, Sarah Helene Duggin

Scholarly Articles

Americans describe the new healthcare system established by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) as both a blessing and a nightmare. For millions of low and middle income Americans, the ACA offers access to health insurance they could not otherwise afford. The ACA’s opponents, however, view the new healthcare system as a threat to economic prosperity, an intrusion on personal liberty and a violation of the principles of federalism at the heart of our system of government. These same kinds of arguments were made more than eighty years ago in response to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal. …

The Subsidy Question In King V. Burwell, Antonio F. Perez

Scholarly Articles

On the surface, King v. Burwell appears to be a simple case about statutory interpretation. In the Affordable Care Act (widely known as Obamacare), when Congress referred to the “State,” in the provision triggering federal subsidies to insurance consumers for purchases made from federally-authorized insurance providers selling federally-authorized insurance products, should the “State” be understood to refer to the federal market (i.e., exchanges) as well as “State” markets. Simple tools of statutory construction–namely, that Congress knew full well how to refer to a “federal” exchange and failed to do so–would seem to be sufficient to supply a result. It would …

Who's The Vandal? The Recent Controversy Over The Destruction Of 5pointz And How Much Protection Does Moral Rights Law Give To Authorized Aerosol Art?, Susanna Frederick Fischer

Scholarly Articles

This paper considers the extent to which federal moral rights law protects authorized graffiti and aerosol art against destruction, in the context of the controversy over the destruction of 5Pointz. 5Pointz, a sprawling complex of warehouse buildings in Queens, was a Mecca for aerosol art. The buildings’ owners ordered the demolition of 5Pointz after the November 2013 order by New York federal district judge Frederic Block denying the artists a preliminary injunction to stop destruction under the federal moral rights statute, the Visual Artists Rights Act (VARA). This paper argues that Judge Block erred in finding that the transient nature …

Paved With Good Intentions: Unintended Consequences Of Federal Proposals To Integrate Child Support And Parenting Time., Stacy Brustin, Lisa Vollendorf Martin

Scholarly Articles

This Article proceeds in three parts to evaluate the merits of integrating custody and visitation determinations in government-initiated child support proceedings. Part I situates the federal parenting time proposals within the doctrines that shape the scope and allocation of parental rights and responsibilities. This part explores parents’ ability to establish custody, visitation, and child support arrangements, both outside of the court system and within the context of domestic relations proceedings. The section goes on to explore the federal and state child support enforcement structure and recent attempts to change the goal of government involvement from recapturing costs to creating opportunities …