Digital Commons Network^™

Empathy In Police Officers Undergoing De-Escalation Simulation Training: A Comparison Between Virtual Reality And Live Action Modalities, Jacqueline Kohl

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study compared empathy among police officers undergoing mental health crisis de-escalation training in virtual reality and live action training modalities. The study included police officers across different police services in Ontario (N=63) and evaluated the efficacy of the Mental Health Crisis Response Training (MHCRT, Lavoie et al., 2020) program delivered across virtual reality and live action modalities against a control group that did not receive the training program. After collection of participants’ demographics, empathy scores, and de-escalation competency scores, a series of correlations, ANOVAs and ANCOVAs were conducted. Results showed that participants receiving MHCRT virtual reality and …

Best Practices For Social Workers Engaging With Spiritual/Religious Clients, Stewart J. Smith Mr.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This research examined what Canadian social workers should consider when engaging therapeutically with clients for whom spirituality/religion is of central importance. There are several challenges in examining this issue in Canada (the north section of Turtle Island). One is the oppression of Indigenous peoples’ spirituality by colonizers imposing various Christian denominational spiritual/religious views. There has also been a trend of Christian practice declining in church worship among settler people, although Christianity remains part of the dominant cultural norms. Like many of the helping professions, social work has little to no education/training related to spirituality/religion and clinical work. This move away …

Dynamical Aspects In (4+1)-Body Problems, Ryan Gauthier

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The n-body problem models a system of n-point masses that attract each other via some binary interaction. The (n + 1)-body problem assumes that one of the masses is located at the origin of the coordinate system. For example, an (n+1)-body problem is an ideal model for Saturn, seen as the central mass, and one of its outer rings. A relative equilibrium (RE) is a special solution of the (n+1)-body problem where the non-central bodies rotate rigidly about the centre of mass. In rotating coordinates, these solutions become equilibria.

In this thesis we study dynamical aspects of planar (4 + …

Differences In Drifting Invertebrate Communities Across Arctic Ecozones And The Influence On Potential Growth Of Grayling (Thymallus Arcticus), Charles Chanyi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Invertebrate drift is a key process that potentially affects multiple levels of food web organization within stream environments. However, our understanding of the mechanistic drivers of drift in high latitude streams and subsequent bottom-up control that drift may have on fish predators in these environments remains understudied. This project aimed to gain the baseline knowledge of how drift functions across two major high latitude ecozones, the boreal forest and tundra, and how those possible differences in drifting community characteristics may impact drift-feeding Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus). These objectives were accomplished by characterizing stream environments across both ecozones, sampling …

Mechanistic Studies Of Co2 Electrochemical Reduction (Co2er) On Cu And Cuo Nanoparticles With In-Situ Atr-Ftir Spectroscopy, Jason Hsu

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Global climate change is a major challenge facing the world in the 21st century. This environmental crisis originated from excess amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) released from burning fossil fuels. One promising remediation method to decrease atmospheric CO2 levels is called carbon dioxide electrochemical reduction (CO2ER). In CO2ER, the CO2 gas undergoes chemical reduction to other hydrocarbon fuels. For CO2ER to take place, an energy source and a catalyst are needed. In this thesis, three aspects of CO2ER were investigated using attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy coupled with other surface sensitive characterization tools. First, we studied …

Perceptions Of Organizational Politics And Interpersonal Relationships In Black Women's Organizations And Sororities, Mitzi S. Willis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although much research has addressed the relationships between leaders and followers, none has focused on these relationships between Black women—specifically, in the context of Black women’s social service organizations and sororities—and the impact the leader’s chosen style of leadership has on the followers’ use of voice. Self silencing is a prominent response to the power dynamic in many leader–follower relationships. The purpose of this study was to describe the interactions between leaders and followers in Black women’s social service organizations and sororities and identify the influence leadership style has on follower engagement. This study extends the application of silencing the …

Examining The Effects Of Noise And Task Dependent Performance In Prosody Perception In Autistic Individuals, Zehranur Sasal

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

ABSTRACT

Objective: It is known that autistic individuals have enhanced abilities in pitch discrimination and tend to excel in low-level tasks requiring lower cognitive processing. On the other hand, noise is a distracting factor in many areas of life, including prosody perception. The studies presented in this thesis aimed to understand prosody perception through different levels of cognitive tasks and under the influence of speech background noise.

Methods: In total, 256 non-autistic and 39 high-functioning autistic adults participated in these studies. In the first study, participants were asked to listen to brief utterances conveying one of six universally accepted emotions …

Opposite Trees, Theo Goossens

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A spanning tree of a graph G is a connected acyclic subgraph of G that includes all of the vertices in G. The degree of a vertex is the number of edges incident to that vertex. Given a spanning tree T of a graph G, an opposite tree of T is a spanning tree of G where the degree of each of its vertices is different from its degree in T. For complete, complete bipartite, and complete multipartite graphs, we give the conditions spanning trees of these graphs must satisfy in order to have an opposite tree.

Properties Of (Claw, 4k₁, Bridge)-Free Graphs, Taite Lagrange

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Given a set H of graphs, a graph G is H-free if it does not contain any graph in H as an induced subgraph. The complexity of the colouring problem is known when H is a set of graphs on four vertices, with three exceptions. One of those exceptions is the case of {claw, 4K₁}-free graphs, for which our classes of {claw, 4K₁, bridge}-free and {claw, 4K₁, bridge,C₄-twin}-free graphs are subclasses.

The original goal of this work was to prove that {claw, 4K₁, …

The Design And Characterization Of Gold Nanoclusters As Elementary Building Blocks, Heather Gaebler

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Gold nanoclusters with diameters in the quantum size regime (< ~2 nm) are promising building blocks for the design of novel nanomaterials as they exhibit unique size-dependent properties that can be altered and fine-tuned. The research outlined in this PhD thesis employs density functional theory to construct and analyze small ligand-protected cage and rod-shaped nanoclusters. Chapter 2 reports stable halide-protected gold nanocages that were engineered to have a closed-shell valence electron count of 18. This study finds that nanocages comprised of 19 and 20 gold atoms can be converted into stable magic number species containing 18 valence electrons by modifying their charged states via adsorption of halide ligands to the cage’s surface. Chapter 3 reports stable ligand-protected gold nanoclusters with a tetrahedral Au₄ core that were engineered to have a closed-shell valence electron count of 2. This study investigates the structural and electronic effects of halide and alkoxy ligands on the tetrahedral nanocluster and concludes that the results support the broader conclusion that it’s possible to fine-tune the stability and electronic properties of small gold nanoclusters using appropriate ligands. Chapter 4 reports stable gold nanorods that have diameters in the quantum regime that were constructed from elementary building blocks that contain “halide-staples”. This study presents different orientations of the “halide-staple” motifs on …

Distributed Spatial Data Sharing: A New Era In Sharing Spatial Data, Majid Hojati

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The advancements in information and communications technology, including the widespread adoption of GPS-based sensors, improvements in computational data processing, and satellite imagery, have resulted in new data sources, stakeholders, and methods of producing, using, and sharing spatial data. Daily, vast amounts of data are produced by individuals interacting with digital content and through automated and semi-automated sensors deployed across the environment. A growing portion of this information contains geographic information directly or indirectly embedded within it. The widespread use of automated smart sensors and an increased variety of georeferenced media resulted in new individual data collectors. This raises a new …

Exploring The Effectiveness Of Ecological Momentary Assessment And Video At Eliciting The Impact Of Park Features On Human Health And Well-Being In A Protected Area Context, Katelyn O'Bright

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

It is increasingly recognized that contact with nature in parks and other forms of protected areas provides benefits to visitors’ physical, mental, social, spiritual, and intellectual health and well-being. However, the methods used to assess these outcomes, including the influence of different environmental features that lead to these benefits, is under-researched. To address this gap, this study used a mixed methods design to explore the effectiveness of using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) and video to assess the impact of various park features on the self-perceived (subjective) health and well-being of visitors. Participants were prompted by a mobile application on their …

Characterizing The Rhizosphere Microbial Community Of Food Crops In A Changing Climate, Samuel Snider

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In recent years, there have been increased occurrences of food-borne illness in Canada, which is not directly associated with animal-related products but is caused by the increasing prevalence of pathogenic outbreaks in fresh produce. This can have health and economic impacts on the agriculture industry in Canada. As such, it is essential to better understand the plant-microbe interactions of crops grown in Canada and determine how climate change may alter the relationship. Plants can promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the rhizosphere, which can create protective competition between beneficial and pathogenic bacteria. Changes in the environment of the rhizosphere …

Anishinaabeg Niizh Manitoag: Asha Amaa, We Were Always Here, Jacqueline F. Nobiss X

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

ANISHINAABEG NIIZH MANITOAG:

ASHAA A’MAA, WE WERE ALWAYS HERE

Abstract

This research is an in-depth exposé of Anishinaabeg knowledge surrounding niizh manitoag, two-spirit ways of knowing. General collections of two-spirit writings and contributions in the past thirty years uncovered a noticeable gap in the research around Anishinaabeg's two-spirit knowledge, stories, and teachings.

Using Indigenous research paradigms, this knowledge base posits a unique theoretical, conceptual framework identified as an Indigenous Relational Theory. The theory delineates a way of knowing and understanding Anishinaabe niizh manitoag, two-spirit identity. The Indigenous Relational Theory consists of four models, Relational Cultural Model, Relational Identity …

“It Felt Like A Sense Of Rape:” Women’S Experiences Of Strip Searching In Prison As Gendered, Misogynoir, And Colonial Genocidal Sexual Violence, Jessica Hutchison

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Previously imprisoned women have long been sounding the alarm about the harms of strip searching and calling for it to be banned. However, it remains a routine prison practice and research into it is scant. Furthermore, Canada is incarcerating Indigenous women at genocidal levels and disproportionately imprisoning Black women. Therefore, my research explored the use of strip searching in federal prisons through anti-colonial and anti-racist feminist frameworks, specifically, abolition feminism.

My research was grounded in the ethic of relational accountability and centred reciprocity, respect, and responsibility in each phase. I gathered stories from 23 formerly incarcerated women from across Canada …

An Exploration Of The Link Between Vertebral Endplate Fracture, Velocity, And Health Of The Intervertebral Disc., John Mcmorran

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The capacity for fractures to manifest in the growth cartilage of the adolescent human spine is well documented, but much of the knowledge available regarding such fractures remains retrospective and is largely composed of small case series made up of relatively few participants. In-vitro tissue testing has demonstrated that pressurization of the intervertebral disc’s nucleus pulposus significantly contributes to the generation of growth plate fractures. However, a comprehensive biomechanical investigation of the mechanical consequences for the intervertebral disc when exposed to ring apophyseal (growth plate) fractures at different velocities remains to be demonstrated.

The first two experiments of the present …

Action Strategies Of Young Adults During An Attentionally Demanding Collision Avoidance Task In Virtual Reality, Brooke J. Thompson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Walking and navigating through cluttered environments is a task that people do almost automatically while completing multiple cognitive and motor tasks simultaneously. Vision plays an essential role in adaptive locomotion as it allows individuals to make anticipatory actions (i.e., alter trajectory and/or gait speed) to successfully avoid oncoming collisions (Cinelli et al., 2008; Patla, 1997). To initiate a behaviour change at the appropriate time, humans rely on optical variables such as time-to-contact (TTC) (Cinelli & Patla, 2007). After determining when to initiate an avoidance behaviour, it is thought that humans maintain a protective zone (i.e., safety margin) by controlling the …

Examining Adjacent Disc Disease: A Novel In-Vitro Tissue Approach, Noah Chow, Noah Chow

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

When a patient experiences extreme degeneration of an intervertebral disc, a spinal fusion may be considered as a viable treatment plan. However, any implementation of hardware will change the biomechanics of the spine. This premise has led to the debate around adjacent disc disease (ADD) which is defined as the disc adjacent to a fused functional spine unit experiencing an accelerated rate of degeneration. There is a large controversy regarding ADD as a relevant pathology; however, it is largely unknown how spinal fusions effect the mechanical properties of the adjacent annulus fibrosus. Therefore, this thesis aims to examine the effect …

Is Task Conflict Truly Good For Everyone? Examining The Interaction Between Task Conflict And Gender On Individual Outcomes, Samantha Hancock

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation examines perceptions of task conflict instigators. Task conflict is a core process that teams need to engage in to solve complex problems, however we know little about how the individual who instigates the task conflict is perceived, and what effects these perceptions have on important workplace outcomes like co-worker interaction intentions, promotion potential, and leadership potential. I propose that women who instigate task conflict may be perceived differently on the two fundamental dimensions of person perception: agency and communion. These perceptions, in turn, go on to influence important workplace outcomes that could provide additional insight into why there …

Collision Avoidance Strategies Of Middle-Aged Children And Young Adults In A Virtual Environment, Megan Hammill

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The ability to perceive and react to visual information is critical for avoiding a collision with an approaching obstacle. The perception-action system undergoes a prolonged period of development and as a result, children make more last-minute locomotor adjustments than adults when avoiding stationary obstacles. The purpose of this thesis was to compare the avoidance behaviours of middle-aged children (10-12 years old) to young adults (YA) during a head-on collision course with an approaching virtual pedestrian (VP). Children (N=16, 10.8 0.75 years; 8 males) and YA (N=16, 22.94 2.08 years; 7 males) were immersed in a virtual environment using the HTC …

(Re)Mediating History In Canadian Auto/Biographic Long Poems Since 1970, Heather Olaveson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Responding to current topics of national debate around cultural appropriation, authenticity of voice and identity, historical commemoration, and foundational systems of social injustice, this dissertation takes as its launching point the question of how we are implicated in each other's histories. It examines the politics of rewriting history in Canadian auto/biographic long poems from 1970 to the present, reconsidering historiography as it intersects with life writing, gender, race, and the performance of voice. What narratives are reimagined about the lives of Canadian historical figures, how are such stories articulated, and who is permitted to perform the telling? As a whole, …

Experiences Of Quality Of Life Among Youth Experiencing Homelessness, Mental Health Problems, And Addictions, Wilsy Choudhary

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Youth experiencing homelessness are often at a higher risk for developing concurrent mental health and addiction disorders. Existing interventions such as Housing First for Youth (H4FY) aim to provide youth experiencing homelessness with immediate access to safe, affordable housing as well as social inclusion and wellness supports. Furthermore, mental health interventions in the form of an integrated mental health and addictions (IMHA) service model have also been proposed to address the access barriers in place for youth experiencing homelessness, such as arbitrary exclusion criteria for substance use, long waiting periods and to further help them navigate the existing complex mental …

Nitrogen: Both A Potential Stimulator And Suppressor Of Cyanobacterial Blooms In Temperate Lakes, Catherine Goltz

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Cyanobacterial blooms are complex phenomenon that are impacted and controlled by various factors such as lake depth, air temperature, wind, and nutrient loading. Nutrients such as phosphorus, nitrogen and iron all have very differing effects on cyanobacterial blooms. While phosphorus and iron are known to drive cyanobacterial biomass, nitrogen has been observed to have a direct impact on toxin synthesis. Nitrogen exists in the environment in many different forms such as atmospheric N₂, in inorganic forms such as nitrate and ammonium as well as in organic forms such as urea which can all affect cyanobacterial bloom development differently. …

"I'M Not Working, But I'M A Professional": Precarious Employment Pathways, Consequences, And Resistance Strategies Impacting The Health Of Racialized Immigrant Women, Elizabeth C. Watters

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Precarious employment, which is characterized by low wages, insecurity, few entitlements, and a higher risk of ill health, is on the rise in Canada; however, precarious forms of employment are not equally distributed across society, but are borne disproportionately by some groups, including racialized immigrant women. To better understand the impact of precarious employment on the health of racialized immigrant women, I conducted a qualitative study consisting of semi-structured interviews (n=21) and two follow-up focus groups (n=11) with women in Southwestern Ontario. The women were recruited through a combination of convenience and snowball sampling and were compensated for their time …

Teammate Social Support For Female Athletes Recovering From Sports-Related Concussion, Brianna Iltshishin, Jennifer Robertson-Wilson, Michael Cinelli

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Objective: Social support is a complex, multi-dimensional construct that is a vital coping mechanism for athletes experiencing sports-related concussion (SRC). Typically reported sources of social support include coaches, athletic therapist, and family/friends. This qualitative study, guided by a phenomenological orientation, aimed to understand previously concussed female athletes’ perceptions of the social support provided by their teammates. The study also explored how social support, or lack of social support, affected athletes as they navigated their concussion recovery.

Methods: Five participants were recruited through purposive and snowball sampling. Data collection consisted of background questionnaires and one semi-structured one-on-one interview. Interviews were transcribed …

Exploring The Membrane Protein And Peptide Interactions Of Mitochondrial And Bacterial Lipid Systems, George Saudan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study aims to expand the understanding of interactions between membrane lipids and proteins, and relate it to their biological functions in two experimental systems. The first system focuses on the interaction and conformation of a membrane protein Uncoupling Protein 4 (UCP4) in mitochondrial inner membrane lipids, in the absence and presence of cardiolipin; a lipid specific to mitochondrial inner membranes. The second system considers the interaction and conformation of a cell penetrating peptide, Penetratin, which can interact with both mammalian and bacterial cells. A N- and C-termini protected form of this 16-meric peptide (Pen2) was used to explore its …

A Machine Learning Approach To Classify Open Water And Ice Cover On Slave River Delta, Ida Moalemi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Seasonal temperature trend and ice phenology in Great Slave lake (GSL), are strongly influenced by warmer inflow from Slave river. The Slave river flows to GSL through Slave river delta (SRD), bringing a rise in temperature that triggers the ice break-up process of the lake. Slave river discharge is subject to multiple stressors including climate warming and upstream water activities, which in turn, directly affects the GSL break-up process. Consequently, monitoring the break-up process at SRD, where the river connects to the lake, serves as an indicator to better understand the cascading effects on GSL ice break-up. This research aims …

A Close Look At The Connections Between Mental-State Talk, Theory Of Mind, And Source Monitoring During Parent-Child Reminiscing Of Emotional Events, Mallory Earnshaw

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Autobiographical memories play a critical role in shaping personal identity, regulating emotions, and guiding future behaviour. Reminiscing about these memories can be particularly beneficial for coping with negative experiences. This study investigated the connections between mental-state talk, theory of mind, and source monitoring in parent-child reminiscing, and how it can be influenced by remembering enjoyable versus frustrating events. This study involved children ages 3-8 (N = 50) and consisted of two sessions. In the first session, the child reminisced with their parent about an enjoyable and frustrating event and completed two source-monitoring tasks. In the second session, the child …

Phosphorus Release And Recovery From Simulated Ferric Wastewater Sludge, Aseel Alnimer

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Phosphorus (P) is a fundamental element necessary for all life forms and a key component in the fertilizer industry. Meanwhile, the excessive load of P to water bodies due to human activities has the potential to promote eutrophication. Wastewater treatment plants remove P either biologically or chemically and produce P rich sludge which could be a potential renewable source for P. At present, commercial technologies exist for P recovery from biological wastewater sludge. However, P recovery from chemical sludge particularly iron(III)-phosphate (Fe-P) sludge generated in chemical P removal plants that use iron(III) salts remains a challenge.

This study explored, in …

Ethical Dilemmas And Moral Distress In Companion Animal Veterinary Medicine: Mental Health Implications, Bronwyn Dickson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Mental health concerns are a significant problem in the veterinary community, and studies suggest that veterinarians working in Western countries are at higher risk of suicide compared to the general population and other healthcare professionals (Bartram et al., 2009; Bartram & Baldwin, 2010; Platt et al., 2012). Additionally, veterinary medicine is an occupation inundated with complex ethical and moral dilemmas. However, current studies are limited in their ability to contextualize the risk and contributing factors fully; therefore, they offer limited insight into effective preventative and support strategies. Using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), eight companion animal veterinarians were interviewed about their …