Digital Commons Network^™

Basil Bunting And The Challenges Of Literary Translation From Persian Into English: A Case Of Rūdhakī, Emadeddin Naghipour

Languages and Cultures Publications

The purpose of this study is to analyze Basil Bunting's literary translation. It turns to the theories of translation by Steiner, Benjamin, and Eco, among others, to study Bunting’s translation of Rūdhakī’s ‘Dandaniyyeh’ poem, a 10th century qaṣīdah replete with mesmerizing musicality and with a form galvanized in its originating language, time, and locale. A deep contrastive analysis of its translation into English by the poet, Bunting, shows the difficulties that can arise from literal translations of classical Persian poetry.

Voice: Exploring The Experiences Of University Students Who Have Experienced Gender-Based Violence, Rabani Nagra

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Introduction: The occurrence and severity of gender-based violence (GBV) on Canadian higher education campuses has been a concern for decades. In September 2021, there were multiple reports of GBV at several Canadian universities with Western University being an exceptional case. The goal of this study was to explore: (1) the experiences of students who have experienced GBV during their enrollment at Western University; (2) the impact of GBV on students’ academics; and (3) student knowledge and experience with GBV resources.

Methods: This cross-sectional, qualitative study used an interpretive description framework and dialogue maps, underpinned by intersectionality. Seventeen undergraduate students were …

Five Interconnections Of Race And Class, Michael Billeaux-Martinez, David Calnitsky

Sociology Publications

This paper proposes a five-part empirical typology of interconnections of race and class. We describe the mechanisms whereby (1) race is a form of class relation; (2) race relations and class relations reciprocally affect each other; (3) race acts as a sorting mechanism into class locations; (4) race acts as a mediating linkage to class locations; and (5) race interacts with class in determining other outcomes. Rather than insisting on one or another mechanism as the overarching framework for conceptualising the interconnections between race and class, we propose a theoretical integration of all five within a functionalist model. The model …

Approaches To Regulating Privacy Dark Patterns, Matthew Gaulton, Dominique Kelly, Jacquelyn Burkell

FIMS Publications

In this paper, we will evaluate new bills slated to replace the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and offer stronger privacy dark pattern protections to Canadians.

Existing scholarship in the realm of privacy law, such as “Deceptive Design and Ongoing Consent in Privacy Law” by Jeremy Wiener and “Privacy Dark Patterns: A Case for Regulatory Reform in Canada” by Ademola Adeyoju, primarily focuses on creating frameworks for understanding privacy dark patterns in the law and explaining the pitfalls and legal inadequacies surrounding dark pattern legislation in Canada.

However, the aim of this paper diverges significantly. While acknowledging …

Examining How Users Perceive And Respond To Dark Patterns, Vicky Chung, Dominique Kelly, Jacquelyn Burkell

FIMS Publications

Dark patterns are user interface (UI) design elements that influence users to take actions that benefit an online service and that are generally not in the user’s best interest. Studies show that users demonstrate some awareness of and ability to identify dark patterns. Users also report experiencing negative emotions such as annoyance when encountering these tactics online. Yet, while users may abstractly understand that dark patterns exist, there is a disconnect between this understanding and their behavioural responses to manipulative design. Research has experimentally determined that dark patterns are effective at influencing users’ behaviour across different online activities, including consenting …

Identifying And Responding To Privacy Dark Patterns, Dominique Kelly, Jacquelyn Burkell

FIMS Publications

Privacy dark patterns are user interface design strategies intended to “nudge” users to reveal personal data, either directly or by enabling (or failing to disable) privacy-invasive platform/profile settings. Examples of privacy dark patterns on social media include defaults that enable the public display of posted content, warnings that follow attempts to reject personalized ads, and hidden “skip” buttons that make it more challenging to decline privacy-undermining requests such as to sync contacts.

Our project aims to minimize the impact of privacy dark patterns on Canadian youth. Building on our prior research documenting the use of these strategies on five social …

Syntheses And Electrospinning Of Poly(Amino Acid Ester) Phosphazene Biomaterials For Tissue Engineering Applications, Meng Wang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Despite advances made in the past decades to design biomaterials for tissue engineering, challenges remain. This thesis investigated the potential of electrospun poly(α-amino acid ester) phosphazenes (PαAPz) as novel biomaterials for vascular tissue engineering applications. As a class of biodegradable biomaterials, PαAPz provides biocompatibility and tunable properties and has gained attention as promising candidates for scaffolds in regenerative medicine, but their synthesis procedure is cumbersome due to the strict anhydrous environment and specialized equipment required for the thermal ring-opening reaction to produce the intermediate poly(dichlorophosphazene) (PDCP) product.

The research begins with the successful synthesis of PDCP using relatively simpler techniques …

The Ecology Of American Noir, Katrina Younes

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In The Ecology of American Noir, I investigate the relationship between the conventions of noir fiction and film and its sub-types in relation to environmental crises. Specifically, I address questions that not only allow us to (re)read early hardboiled literature and neo-noir films, but that also help us identify a new sub-genre of noir and develop an ecocritical methodology: I call this contemporary sub-genre and methodology “eco-noir.” I trace the development of strategies of mapping urban blight and environmental deterioration in classic hardboiled fiction of the 1940s, neo-noir films of the 1970s, and eco-noir texts of the post millennial …

A Comprehensive Study Of Neural Entrainment In Developmental Language Disorder And Reading Disability, Christine Moreau

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Prior research has suggested that reading disability (RD, dyslexia) and developmental language disorder (DLD) stem from deficits in rhythmic auditory processing, specifically in synchronizing neural oscillations (Cumming et al., 2015; Goswami, 2011). Speech relies on rhythmic patterns for signaling linguistic information at multiple timescales (e.g., phonemes, syllables; Giraud & Poeppel, 2012). The disruption of regular neural entrainment is hypothesized to lead to difficulties in processing fast acoustic changes in speech, negatively affecting phonological processing, and speech segmentation. In this dissertation, I studied neural entrainment to uncover possible areas of impairment related to speech tracking, which could help inform interventions. In …

Precision Of Metabolite-Selective Mrs Measurements Of Glutamate, Gaba And Glutathione: A Review Of Human Brain Studies., Kesavi Kanagasabai, Lena Palaniyappan, Jean Theberge

Department of Medicine Publications

Single-voxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (SV 1 H-MRS) is an in vivo noninvasive imaging technique used to detect neurotransmitters and metabolites. It enables repeated measurements in living participants to build explanatory neurochemical models of psychiatric symptoms and testing of therapeutic approaches. Given the tight link among glutamate, gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA), glutathione and glutamine within the cellular machinery, MRS investigations of neurocognitive and psychiatric disorders must quantify a network of metabolites simultaneously to capture the pathophysiological states of interest. Metabolite-selective sequences typically provide improved metabolite isolation and spectral modelling simplification for a single metabolite at a time. Non-metabolite-selective sequences provide …

Sociodemographic Determinants Of Potentially Avoidable Hospitalizations Due To Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions Among Hospitalized Patients In The United States, Munira Kashem

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Social determinants of health play a crucial role in explaining the variation of potentially avoidable hospitalizations (PAH) due to Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (ACSCs). Utilizing data from the National Inpatient Sample from 2018 to 2020 in the United States, this study conducted retrospective cohort analyses to explore the relationships between sociodemographic factors, specifically income, race, geography, age, and sex and PAH. Our approach used multilevel logistic regression models to adjust for potential confounders and account for clustering of admissions within hospitals. Of the 17,629,891 hospital admissions examined in this study, 1,868,609 (10.6%) were attributable to ACSCs. Our results indicate that …

Trevor Paglen's Border Abstractions In The Age Of Machine Vision, Sarah Bassnet

Visual Arts Publications

Over the past two decades, machine vision and artificial intelligence (AI) have become integrated into many aspects of daily life, and with machines generating images for other machines, humans are no longer at the centre of the image world. To explore the implications of the age of machine vision, this article focuses on a selection of work by American artist Trevor Paglen made between 2008 and 2018. It examines the significance of the US-Mexico border region as a site of his investigations and the role of abstraction in repositioning machine vision within the human-centred visual language of art. The article …

The Development And Testing Of A Gyroscope-Based Neck Strengthening Rehabilitation Device, Nicole D. Devos

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Neck pain can be debilitating, and is experienced by the majority of people at some point over the course of their life. Resistance training has been shown to have significant improvement in pain or disability for patients. There are few options available for telerehabilitation, and the use of gyroscope stabilizers is proposed for this use. A biomechanics model of a head--neck--gyroscope system was created. In order to also model the dynamics of such a system, this work proposes a blended method using the Denavit--Hartenberg (DH) convention, popular in the field of robotics, with the Lagrangian mechanics approach to analyze an …

Attribution Robustness Of Neural Networks, Sunanda Gamage

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

While deep neural networks have demonstrated excellent learning capabilities, explainability of model predictions remains a challenge due to their black box nature. Attributions or feature significance methods are tools for explaining model predictions, facilitating model debugging, human-machine collaborative decision making, and establishing trust and compliance in critical applications. Recent work has shown that attributions of neural networks can be distorted by imperceptible adversarial input perturbations, which makes attributions unreliable as an explainability method. This thesis addresses the research problem of attribution robustness of neural networks and introduces novel techniques that enable robust training at scale.

Firstly, a novel generic framework …

Understanding The Long-Term Ramifications Of Adolescent Marijuana Use And Its Effects On Educational Attainment, Trent Lebans

MA Research Paper

This paper examines the long-term effects of adolescent marijuana use. Using the U.S. National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997 cohort, the study seeks to find whether marijuana use in adolescence creates difficulties in educational attainment in later life. It uses a life course lens, precisely that of cumulative inequality theory, to frame their questions and place their study within the context of their population's generation. To encapsulate period-specific cohort events, the backdrop of the war on drugs that took place in the U.S. in the late 1990s, is used to better understand macro-level conditions at play. Using a logistical regression, …

Assessing Homelessness Risk And Service Deprivation In London, Ontario, Jackie Tan

MA Research Paper

Despite the increasing prevalence of homelessness in small and mid-sized Canadian cities, research addressing this issue has been notably absent. As homelessness continues to become a more substantial problem within these communities, it is important to examine whether the trends and insights observed in larger cities apply to their smaller counterparts. Drawing on the 2021 Census and municipal data, this study explored the risk of homelessness in the mid-sized city of London, Ontario and investigated whether the spatial distribution of homeless services corresponded with the areas of greatest need. Results reveal that homeless risk and service provision concentrate within specific …

The Spatial Risk Of Assault On Police Officers In Toronto, Ontario, Stephanie C. Pongracz

MA Research Paper

Since September 12^th, 2022, nine police officers in Canada have been fatally assaulted in the line of duty. These officer deaths raise important questions concerning the nature of risks police face on duty, as well as the ways we can better understand those risks. Utilizing a Risk Terrain Modelling (RTM) approach, this study examined the risk of assault to police officers in Toronto, Ontario using Assault to Peace Officer data from January 1^st, 2022, to December 31^st, 2022. This study revealed that the risk of assault to police varies by the physical features present …

Pain Among Immigrants To Canada: Testing The Healthy Immigrant Effect, Marouna Gomes

MA Research Paper

In Canada, immigrants compose roughly one quarter of the population. The health of immigrants and their descendants is key to understanding the future health profile of all Canadians. Current literature on the health of immigrants often uses self-rated health and has produced mixed results regarding the healthy immigrant effect (HIE). Using data from the 2022 NEST survey, my study tests the HIE using chronic pain as a measure of population health to investigate the differences in pain experience among immigrants compared to the Canadian-born population. My results support the HIE: immigrants are 28% less likely to experience pain than Canadian-born …

Hands-On History: Applying A Strong Like Two People Approach To Archaeology Education, Kaylee Woldum

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis explores Indigenization in the context of archaeology and Western education at the Tundra Science and Culture Camp (TSCC), a government-run summer camp in the Northwest Territories, Canada. By collaborating with Indigenous knowledge holders, it begins the process of re-designing the Human History session—a program within the TSCC that focuses on archaeology and the cultural sites around the camp—to incorporate more Indigenous pedagogies and knowledge. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and participant observation, this thesis outlines an attempt to Indigenize the Human History session at the 2022 TSCC, its successes and challenges, and diverse conceptions of what it would mean …

The Signs And Symptoms Of Discogenic Low Back Pain, Joe J. Putos

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The signs and symptoms of low back pain (LBP) associated with disc herniation (DLBP) and its underlying mechanism(s) are not well supported. One theory proposes that some low back pain (LBP) is the result of a disc herniation compressing adjacent tissues innervated with nociceptors. The theory proposes that spinal manipulation (SM) and/or mobilizations (SMOB) can reduce the size and position of the herniation, and relieve pain and improve range of motion. There is no research to support or negate the theory even though clinical evidence supports its plausibility.

In this three-part study we examined clinical practices that have an anecdotal …

The Role Of Fruitless P3 And P4 Transcripts In Drosophila Melanogaster, Sara A. Kulinski

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The fruitless gene is highly conserved across many insect species, and its role in sex determination and sexual behaviour in Drosophila melanogaster males has been well characterized. The fruitless gene is alternatively spliced to produce at least 15 transcripts, but little is known about the alternative transcripts not involved in sexual traits. Transcripts beginning with the P3 and P4 first exons have previously been shown to be more heavily expressed during developmental stages of the D. melanogaster life cycle and have been implicated in developmental and fitness traits. Yet, these transcripts have never been assessed for their involvement in developmental …

Automated Large-Scale Tornado Treefall Detection And Directional Analysis Using Machine Learning, Daniel G. Butt, Aaron L. Jaffe, Connell S. Miller, Gregory A. Kopp, David Sills

Civil and Environmental Engineering Publications

Abstract

In many regions of the world, tornadoes travel through forested areas with low population densities, making downed trees the only observable damage indicator. Current methods in the EF scale for analyzing tree damage may not reflect the true intensity of some tornadoes. However, new methods have been developed that use the number of trees downed or treefall directions from high-resolution aerial imagery to provide an estimate of maximum wind speed. Treefall Identification and Direction Analysis (TrIDA) maps are used to identify areas of treefall damage and treefall directions along the damage path. Currently, TrIDA maps are generated manually, but …

In Society's Shadow: Identifying Structural Violence In Muna, A Burial Community From Late Intermediate Period (1100 - 1470 Ce) Pachacamac, Peru., Ashley C. Ward

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Structural violence (SV) highlights how social structures harm communities via inequities in health, risk of trauma, and post-mortem treatment, however its applicability outside of Euroamerican capitalist contexts is unclear. Fifty-nine individuals from the MUNA cemetery (Pachacamac, Perú) from the Late Intermediate to Late Horizon Periods (1100-1532 CE) were analysed for evidence of SV. Nonspecific stress markers, osteoarthritis, pathological dental conditions, and physical trauma were recorded and compared as they related to age, sex and/or status and then contextualised using the Spanish Chronicles, ethnographic, and archaeological research. Inequities in resource or labour distribution but not amount to SV, but SV did …

Physiotherapists Description Of Patient-Centered Care, And Barriers And Facilitators Experienced To Implementation, Maclean Jordan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Patient-centered care (PCC) is a growing standard for healthcare delivery due to the benefits to patient autonomy. Lacking a cohesive definition in the physiotherapy literature, it is also lacking in implementation. Employing interpretive description with semi-structured interviews, the goal was to understand how physiotherapists drawn from private for-profit clinics in Canada describe PCC, and barriers and facilitators to providing it. Results included requiring person-centered communication in PCC, seeing Health holistically, centering the patient in care, and being a skill that becomes clearer with practice experience. Barriers included: lack of practitioner reflexivity, patient not desiring self-directed care, and limited access to …

Beyond The Portable Classroom: Investigating Portable Classrooms From Secondary Sources And Reframing Spatial Needs In Canadian Schools, Marzieh Forozantabar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Despite the prevalence of portable classrooms in Canadian schools, research on their characteristics, utilization, and effects is limited. This study investigates portable classrooms in Canada through a two-stage research approach. First, it explored news articles to identify common concerns about portable classrooms in Canada. The dataset comprises 243 news articles. The analysis revealed three overarching concerns about these structures: 1) The factors that lead school districts to use portable classrooms; 2) Safety and comfort in portable classrooms; 3) Strategies to alleviate accommodation issues. Then, Nair’s (2014) principles of contemporary school design were used to critically interrogate the utilization of portable …

Modeling Thermosyphon And Heat Pipe Performance For Mold Cooling Applications, Dwaipayan Sarkar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thermosyphons are enhanced heat transfer devices that can continuously transfer very large amounts of heat rapidly over long distances with small temperature differences. The high heat transfer rate is achieved through simultaneous boiling and condensation of the working fluid and the continuous heat transfer is achieved through recirculation of the working fluid in its liquid and vapor phase. A potentially important application of the thermosyphons has been towards reducing the cycle times of the mold cooling processes which would provide economic incentives to the automotive industry.

Different operational and geometrical parameters such as the input heating power, fill ratio (FR), …

Analyses For Assessing The Centreline Translation, Asymmetrical Wind-Field, And Velocity Fluctuations Of Tornado Vortices, Niall C. Bannigan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Tornadoes present an ever-increasing threat to communities worldwide, especially those with geographic conditions that place them in the path of several tornadoes annually. These conditions are likely to be exacerbated by ongoing trends in the climate. As such, it is necessary to move towards experimental and numerical tornado-like vortex studies that allow for more advanced simulation methods. Novel techniques for tracking and analysing tornado vortices simulated at high spatial and temporal resolution are presented herein. Significant wandering of the tornado's position and large peaks in the velocity field can be captured, demonstrating tangential gusting at more than 1.5 times the …

Incidence Of First-Episode Status Epilepticus And Risk Factors In Ontario, Canada, Rebecca Grace Couper, Tresah Antaya, Piotr Wilk, Teneille Gofton, Derek B. Debicki, Jorge Burneo

Neuroepidemiology Research Unit Publications

Background: Status epilepticus (SE) is a neurological emergency characterized by prolonged seizures. However, the incidence of first-episode SE is unclear, as estimates vary greatly among studies. Additionally, SE risk factors have been insufficiently explored. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to estimate the incidence of first-episode SE in Ontario, Canada, and estimate the associations between potential sociodemographic and health-related risk factors and first-episode SE.

Methods: We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study using linked health administrative datasets. We included individuals who completed Canada's 2006 Census long-form questionnaire, lived in Ontario, were between 18 and 105, and had no history …

Share Cannabidiol Exposure During Gestation Leads To Adverse Cardiac Outcomes Early In Postnatal Life In Male Rat Offspring., Daniel B. Hardy, Steven R. Laviolette, Kendrick Lee, David Rc Natale

Physiology and Pharmacology Publications

Introduction: Studies indicate that *7% of pregnant individuals in North America consume cannabis in pregnancy. Pre-clinical studies have established that maternal exposure to D9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC; major psychoactive component in cannabis) leads to fetal growth restriction and impaired cardiac function in offspring. However, the effects of maternal exposure to cannabidiol (CBD; major non-euphoric constituent) on cardiac outcomes in offspring remain unknown. Therefore, our objective is to investigate the functional and underlying molecular impacts in the hearts of offspring exposed to CBD in pregnancy. Methods: Pregnant Wistar rats were exposed to either 3 or 30mg/kg CBD or vehicle control i.p. daily from …

Cannabidiol Exposure During Rat Pregnancy Leads To Labyrinth-Specific Vascular Defects In The Placenta And Reduced Fetal Growth, Daniel B. Hardy, David R C Natale, Kendrick Lee

Physiology and Pharmacology Publications

Introduction: Cannabis use is increasing among pregnant people, and cannabidiol (CBD), a constituent of cannabis, is often perceived as ‘‘natural’’ and ‘‘safe’’ as it is non-intoxicating. In utero, cannabis exposure is associated with negative health outcomes, including fetal growth restriction (FGR). The placenta supplies oxygen and nutrients to the fetus, and alterations in placental development can lead to FGR. While there has been some investigation into the effects of D9-THC, there has been limited investigation into the impacts of in utero gestational CBD exposure on the placenta. Methods: This study used histological and transcriptomic analysis of embryonic day (E)19.5 rat …