Digital Commons Network^™

Narrating A Conscientization Journey On Crime Prevention Through Social Development, Carlos Luis Zatarain

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

There is an increasing interest among municipalities to address crime through prevention as social development (CPSD) that acknowledges the underlying social conditions that influence the occurrence of crime. This requires a critical consciousness among community members and decision-makers of the root causes of crime and critical action that reflect that understanding. This, in turn, implies both a significant mental and cultural shift requiring personal transformation. Only then can the appropriate actions towards a preventative approach to crime be effectively fostered. For this purpose, the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council developed a community course titled Reframing Crime, Justice, and Prevention that …

Plasmonic Slab Waveguides: Theory & Application For Sensors, Anum Khattak

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Through surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) that propagate along the interface between a metal and a dielectric material, plasmonic waveguides have the ability to confine light at subwavelength scale beyond the diffraction limit, which opens a promising platform to further downsize the active and passive photonic devices. The fields of the SPPs have maximum amplitude at the metal/dielectric interface and decay exponentially toward both media, where the penetration of the fields in the dielectric is very susceptible to the change in the refractive index of the dielectric. This makes surface plasmon resonance (SPR) a remarkable technique in sensor applications to investigate …

Tough But Not Enough: Female University Athletes Self-Reported Mental Toughness, Kerrie Trottier

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Background: Mental health and sport related mental toughness have become prominent in the media in recent years. Successful athletes cope with stressful situations by building their mental toughness in response to challenging conditions. In university, athletes are required to maintain performance standards, school standards of excellence, and continue to develop their mental toughness. This study was motivated by the limited knowledge associated with female athletes, at a unique point in their life where they are challenged both academically, socially, and in their chosen sport.

Methods: This study proposed the following two questions; “What are the factors associated with mental toughness …

The Influence Of Classroom Physical Activity Breaks At Different Times Of Day On On-Task Behaviour And Physical Activity Levels In Primary School Children, Abigail A. Broad

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Classroom physical activity breaks (CAB) are beneficial for increasing children’s physical activity (PA) levels as well as the amount of time spent being on-task within the classroom. This study examined the effect of CAB at different times within the school day on on-task behaviour and PA levels in primary school (grade 1-3) children. Thirty-five children participated in CAB in four different conditions (within-subject): morning (AM), afternoon (PM), both the morning and afternoon (BOTH), and no CAB (CTRL). PA levels were monitored via activPAL accelerometers for 24 h starting at the beginning of the school day. On-task behaviour was observed for …

Risk Factors Related To School Shootings, Best Anaele

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

School shootings have become a major issue in the United States for over the past 20 years, contributing to the resurgence of the debates surrounding gun control policies. However, further research is needed to better understand the risk factors of school shootings. The FBI constructed the Four-Pronged Threat Assessment Model, a risk assessment specifically applied to school shooters (O’Toole, n.d). Within the current study, the Four-Pronged Threat Assessment Model will be applied to five school shooters: Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold (both Columbine school shooters), Seung Heung Cho (the Virginia Tech School Shooter), Adam Lanza (the Sandy Hook School Shooter), and …

Examining Disability In The Region Of Waterloo: Physical Activity Programming And Caregiving, Nicole J. Reinders Luymes

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Physical activity (PA) is a necessary component of wellbeing for individuals with and without disabilities. Disabled young people experience many barriers to PA, resulting in inactive lifestyles that compound health issues and hinder their full participation in schools and communities. The following dissertation includes a literature review regarding the effects of PA for young people with a variety of developmental disabilities, in addition to three research studies examining community-based PA programming, and one study exploring the lived experiences of caregivers, all within the Region of Waterloo.

The first study was a needs assessment to examine PA perceptions, practices, barriers, and …

The Role Of Life Events In Older Women's Psychosocial Development And Well-Being, Taylor Hill

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Research on well-being and aging has suggested the trajectory of well-being through adulthood is U-shaped, with the lowest point typically occurring in midlife (Stone, Schwartz, Broderick, & Deaton, 2010). Toward the end of life, well-being (and in particular, life satisfaction) may surpass earlier levels and individuals tend to engage in a life review process wherein they evaluate how their life has turned out. Those who are satisfied with how their life events fit together to form their life story have been shown to have achieved ego integrity (i.e., accepting of their life to date and the limited time they have …

Positive Wellbeing Among University Students From Diverse Communities: A Place-Based Approach, Kevin Bonnell

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Universities in Canada and across the globe are experiencing a significant diversification of their student population. However, there is a great need to understand how campus spaces can better support the wellbeing of diverse students, where supports have traditionally been built to support a privileged and homogenous group of students. The study builds on a multi-disciplinary theoretical framework (wellbeing, intersectionality, microaggressions, and the Psycho-environmental Potential Model) to explore a) the positive wellbeing of diverse students (i.e., racialized; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer, and/or living with any type of mental health issue or physical disability) and b) how the physical …

Projecting Spatial Changes In Sugar Maple Sap Flow Regimes In A Changing Climate, Holly Crawford

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Anthropogenic climate change presents a potential threat to maple syrup production in Canada. To mitigate risks associated with climate change, information about the biological changes that may occur in a warming climate are necessary. This project studied one component- sap flow- that in part determines the economic viability of maple syrup production. A temperature-based sap flow model was used to project the start of the sap flow season in southern Ontario, and GIS applications were used to aggregate the results. The start of the sap flow season was projected for early, mid, and late-century periods under two climate change scenarios, …

Examining The Effect Of Exercise Intensity On Post-Exercise Hypotension In Middle-Aged Adults, Seth F. Mccarthy

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Acute bouts of exercise have a transient lowering effect on systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in the hours after termed post-exercise hypotension (PEH). While moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) is effective in reducing BP acutely, little is known regarding the effects of higher intensity exercise. This study examined the effects of different exercise intensities on PEH. Six participants (females: 4; age: 48±9 y, Mean arterial pressure: 84±8 mmHg) had their BP measured before and both immediately post- (<2 h) and for 24 h following 4 experimental sessions: 1) 30 min MICT (65% V̇O_2max); 2) 20 min high-intensity interval training (HIIT; 10 x 1 min @ 90% HR_max with 1 …

Concussions In Minor League Hockey Players: The Impact Of Rowan’S Law On Coaches, Niya St Amant

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Claims makers in the social problem game successfully constructed youth sporting concussions in Ontario as a social problem in need of remedying after the death of 17-year old Rowan Stringer on the rugby field in 2013. Rowan’s Law was implemented five years later in 2018 to attempt to identify and manage youth concussion injuries. The present study explores the impact of Rowan’s Law on coaches in minor league hockey at the triple A Bantam (U15) and Midget (U17) levels. The goal of this study was to determine if the policy change of Rowan’s Law was facilitating change on the cultural …

Transforming Relations: Anishnawbe Natural Law In The “Ring Of Fire”, Darren Thomas

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This multiple manuscript dissertation project contributes to a larger case study research project examining Matawa First Nation experiences of negotiating a proposed mining project known as the “Ring of Fire.” Nine independent First Nations located in the Treaty 9 territory in Northern Ontario, comprise a collective regional organization called Matawa First Nations. These First Nations have a long history of living their Ancestral ways of trapping, fishing, and gathering from the lands. During the early 20^th century, the southern Matawa communities began to have contacts with forestry development, but a chromite deposit with an estimated value of 65 billion …

“I’Ve Got To Run Again”: Experiences Of Social Workers Seeking Municipal Office In Ontario, Carly Greco

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis presents a qualitative study on the experiences and perceptions of Ontario social workers who were candidates for municipal elected office in the 2018 Ontario municipal elections. The author sought to understand the contributing factors these social workers perceive led to them seeking elected office, whether social justice was a motivating factor, and whether these social workers believe that their social work education prepared them for seeking elected office. I interviewed ten social workers and used thematic analysis, grounded in feminist theories and Verba et al.’s (1995) Civic Voluntarism Model to analyze transcripts. Participants discussed determining relationships, becoming a …

The Inclusive Nature Of Mindfulness-Based Practice: Does Executive Functioning Play A Role In Children's Mindful Experience?, Kaitlyn Butterfield

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

We examined the effects of a six-week mindfulness program in order to assess how executive function level played a role in students’ mindful experience. The effects of the mindfulness program were evaluated according to prospective outcomes across students’ level of executive function, in comparison to an active control group. Classrooms were randomly assigned to a mindfulness-based program or a health-based active control group. Pre- and early adolescent students in the 5th to 8th grade (N = 52) from two MindfulMe! program classrooms and two HealthyMe! program classrooms (active control group) completed self-reported pretest and post-test measures to assess mindful attention …

Health-Aware Food Planner: A Personalized Recipe Generation Approach Based On Gpt-2, Bushra Aljbawi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

"What to eat today?" With the flourish of Internet, more and more people nowadays are inclined to find an answer to this most problematic question online. The recent explosion of food networks; however, produces large volumes of recipes, making it even harder to make an informed decision. This yields the need for advanced decision-making algorithms and efficient recommendation systems. Conventional recommender systems are not feasible anymore as food is a complicated feature that presents unique challenges and is less studied. For example, it can be one of the main reasons for obesity and many other chronic diseases. Food recommender system …

Social Transition, Coming Out, And Challenging Transnormativity: Non-Binary Experiences In Healthcare, Drew Burchell

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Transgender and non-binary individuals are highly stigmatized in North America, and this has staggering adverse effects on their physical and mental health. This stigma is structured and driven by cisnormativity and transnormativity, ubiquitous sets of social rules that determine “right” and “wrong” ways to do gender. Non-binary people experience excess stigma from cisgender (i.e. not transgender) people for “deviating” from the rules, but also from within the transgender community for not adhering to medical and binary definitions of transness. Specifically, non-binary people may choose not to transition medically, but very little research has been done on this. A sample of …

Flipping The Exercise Narrative: An Exploration Of Middle-Aged Adults’ Lived Experiences After Making A New Year’S Resolution To Exercise, David Mcilwraith

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Abstract

Objective

The benefits of consistent exercise in the middle-aged adult (44 to 64 years) population has been well documented in existing literature; exercise can delay the onset and progression of a wide variety of chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease and, more generally, premature mortality (Dietz et al., 2016; Thornton et al., 2016; Waschki et al., 2015). Despite increased societal awareness surrounding the importance of exercise in relation to long-term health and longevity, middle-aged adults remain largely inactive. Additionally, there have been few studies that have used a qualitative methodology to give middle-aged adults an active …

Age, Access, And Sweets-Motivation, Gehan Senthinathan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Availability can have profound influence on the consumption of foods and drinks. The 2-phase intermittent-continuous protocol (ICP) examines sucrose solution intake in two groups of rats and finds intermittent access significantly increases intake. In Phase I, rats receive intermittent or continuous access to a 4% sucrose solution, and with adults this results in a long-term elevation (a doubling) in the intermittent group. In Phase II, when rats are shifted to common sucrose schedule, this difference is maintained. Adult rats given 16% sucrose in Phase I do not differ in consumption, but in Phase II with 4% sucrose, an unexpressed elevation …

Preventing Child Sexual Abuse: Understanding The Phenomenon Of Adults Who Are Sexually Attracted To Children, Heather Horn

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Title: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse: Understanding the Phenomenon of Adults Who Are Sexually Attracted to Children

Purpose: The goal of this research is to understand the phenomenon of adult sexual attraction to children through a prevention lens, from perspectives of those who are sexually attracted to children. Gaining direct experiences from those who live with this problem every day may provide insight into perceptions, beliefs, risks and prevention strategies for this population.

Methods: This study utilizes a mixed methods approach in three phases. With permission from the founders of the website called Virtuous Pedophiles, the members of this peer support …

Victimized And Criminalized Black Women’S Experiences With The Police In The Context Of Intimate Partner Violence, Patrina Duhaney

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This qualitative, multi-manuscript dissertation examines the experiences of Black women who live in the Greater Toronto Area and other southwestern Ontario regions who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV), some of whom were also charged with an IPV-related offence. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 Black women to better understand the meanings they attach to their experiences. Critical race feminism (CRF) was employed to help conceptualize women’s narratives. In addition, the dissertation includes a review of the relevant literature, the methodology that was utilized for the study followed by three self-contained manuscripts. The purpose of the first manuscript is to …

Investigating Diel, Seasonal, And Interannual Variability Of Dissolved And Particulate Stable Carbon Isotope Values In A Eutrophic Boreal Lake, Rachel Henderson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Lakes are globally significant sources, sinks, and conduits of carbon. Cultural eutrophication of freshwater promotes the growth of phytoplankton blooms, which can transform, respire, and sequester large amounts of carbon. Analysis of stable carbon isotopes is a common tool to study the movement of carbon through the aquatic carbon cycle. The causes of temporal variability in δ¹³C values at different timescales are not well understood, and differ between lakes. In this study, I investigated diel, seasonal, and interannual variability in δ¹³C values of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and particulate organic carbon (POC) in Lake 227, an …

The Role Of Streptococci In Oral Periodontitis: Growth And Disruption Of Yellow Complex Bacteria, Megan Gordon

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Periodontitis is described as the inflammation of the periodontium and affects millions of people worldwide. This disease is caused by biofilm growth of certain bacteria on the tooth surface, adjacent to the gum tissue in the oral cavity. There are currently treatments against severe periodontitis, such as oral surgery and use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, but they fail to target the specific bacteria associated with periodontitis. Socransky et al., (1998), identified the preponderance for specific organisms in distinct areas of the subgingival pockets to associate with different bacteria forming consortia and complexes. The yellow complex, containing facultatively anaerobic, Gram positive …

Strategies For Grouping Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (Pfas) To Protect Human And Environmental Health, Ian T. Cousins, Jamie C. Dewitt, Juliane Glüge, Gretta Goldenman, Dorte Herzke, Rainer Lohmann, Mark Miller, Carla A. Ng, Martin Scheringer, Lena Vierke, Zhanyun Wang

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Grouping strategies are needed for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), in part, because it would be time and resource intensive to test and evaluate the more than 4700 PFAS on the global market on a chemical-by-chemical basis. In this paper we review various grouping strategies that could be used to inform actions on these chemicals and outline the motivations, advantages and disadvantages for each. Grouping strategies are subdivided into (1) those based on the intrinsic properties of the PFAS (e.g. persistence, bioaccumulation potential, toxicity, mobility, molecular size) and (2) those that inform risk assessment through estimation of cumulative exposure and/or …

Vertical Distribution Of Planktic Foraminifera Through An Oxygen Minimum Zone: How Assemblages And Shell Morphology Reflect Oxygen Concentrations, Catherine V. Davis, Karen Wishner, Willem Renema, Pincelli M. Hull

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Oxygen-depleted regions of the global ocean are rapidly expanding, with important implications for global biogeochemical cycles. However, our ability to make projections of a future deoxygenated ocean is limited by a lack of empirical data with which to test and constrain the behavior of global climatic and oceanographic models. We use depth-stratified plankton tows to demonstrate that some species of planktic foraminifera are adapted to life in the heart of the pelagic Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ). In particular, we identify two species, Globorotaloides hexagonus and Hastigerina parapelagica, living within the Eastern Tropical North Pacific OMZ. The shells of the …

An Overview Of The Uses Of Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (Pfas), Juliane Glüge, Martin Scheringer, Ian T. Cousins, Jamie C. Dewitt, Gretta Goldenman, Dorte Herzke, Rainer Lohmann, Carla A. Ng, Xenia Trier, Zhanyun Wang

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are of concern because of their high persistence (or that of their degradation products) and their impacts on human and environmental health that are known or can be deduced from some well-studied PFAS. Currently, many different PFAS (on the order of several thousands) are used in a wide range of applications, and there is no comprehensive source of information on the many individual substances and their functions in different applications. Here we provide a broad overview of many use categories where PFAS have been employed and for which function; we also specify which PFAS have …

Sea-Ice Production And Air/Ice/Ocean/Biogeochemistry Interactions In The Ross Sea During The Pipers 2017 Autumn Field Campaign, S. F. Ackley, S. Stammerjohn, T. Maksym, M. Smith, J. Cassano, P. Guest, J.-L. Tison, B. Delille, Brice Loose, P. Sedwick, L. Depace, L. Roach, J. Parno

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

The Ross Sea is known for showing the greatest sea-ice increase, as observed globally, particularly from 1979 to 2015. However, corresponding changes in sea-ice thickness and production in the Ross Sea are not known, nor how these changes have impacted water masses, carbon fluxes, biogeochemical processes and availability of micronutrients. The PIPERS project sought to address these questions during an autumn ship campaign in 2017 and two spring airborne campaigns in 2016 and 2017. PIPERS used a multidisciplinary approach of manned and autonomous platforms to study the coupled air/ice/ocean/biogeochemical interactions during autumn and related those to spring conditions. Unexpectedly, the …

A Study Of The Competitiveness Of Autonomous Delivery Vehicles In Urban Areas, Miguel A. Figliozzi, Dylan Jennings

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The rapid growth of e-commerce and package deliveries across the globe is demanding new solutions to meet customers’ desire for more and faster deliveries. This research focuses on the cost competitiveness of autonomous air and ground delivery vehicles. Three types of autonomous vehicle are analyzed: drones, sidewalk autonomous delivery robots (SADRs), and road autonomous delivery robots (RADRs). Autonomous vehicles are compared against a typical delivery van. The impact of capacity, range and time constraints are analyzed. Results show that each type of autonomous delivery vehicle is suitable in different scenarios and can therefore complement each other to reduce costs or …

Menthol In Electronic Cigarettes: A Contributor To Respiratory Disease?, Vijayalekshmi Nair, Malcolm Tran, Rachel Z. Behar, Song Zhai, Xinping Cui, Rattapol Phandthong, Yuhuan Wang, Songqin Pan, Wentai Luo, James F. Pankow, David C. Volz, Prue Talbot

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Menthol is widely used in tobacco products. This study compared the effects of menthol on human bronchial epithelium using submerged cultures, a VITROCELL® cloud chamber that provides air liquid interface (ALI) exposure without solvents or heating, and a Cultex ALI system that delivers aerosol equivalent to that inhaled during vaping. In submerged culture, menthol significantly increased calcium influx and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) via the TRPM8 receptor, responses that were inhibited by a TRPM8 antagonist. VITROCELL® cloud chamber exposure of BEAS-2B monolayers increased mitochondrial protein oxidation, expression of the antioxidant enzyme SOD2, activation of NF-κB, and secretion of inflammatory …

A Case Study Of Drone Delivery Reliability For Time-Sensitive Medical Supplies With Stochastic Demand And Meteorological Conditions, Travis B. Glick, Miguel Figliozzi, Avinash Unnikrishnan

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Drones are increasingly being utilized to deliver medical supplies, and the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend. Drones arrive quickly by taking more direct paths and avoiding ground-based obstructions. However, drones are not completely reliable and may also experience failures and delays. For consumer products, delivery delays are an inconvenience, but for some medical supplies, delays may be fatal. This research focuses on the drone reliability of one particular type of supply and event: automatic defibrillators for out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA). A modeling framework is developed to analyze drone delivery reliability with stochastic demands and meteorological conditions. Using probability distributions …

Mac Protocols For Terahertz Communication: A Comprehensive Survey, Saim Ghafoor, Noureddine Boujnah, Mubashir Husain Rehmani, Alan Davy

Publications

Terahertz communication is emerging as a future technology to support Terabits per second link with highlighting features as high throughput and negligible latency. However, the unique features of the Terahertz band such as high path loss, scattering, and reflection pose new challenges and results in short communication distance. The antenna directionality, in turn, is required to enhance the communication distance and to overcome the high path loss. However, these features in combine negate the use of traditional medium access protocols (MAC). Therefore, novel MAC protocol designs are required to fully exploit their potential benefits including efficient channel access, control message …