Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Forgotten Majority, Floranda Agroam

2018 Undergraduate Awards

The Syrian civil war is entering its 8th year with unpromising hope that the people of Syria will be able to go back to their homeland and live in peace and security soon. With millions displaced, the safety and wellbeing of female Syrian refugees comes to question. Female Syrian refugees face extreme forms of poverty and live in undignified forms of life. They suffer discrimination from NGO's and government officials when they seek social assistance and many forms of sexual and physical assault from their families and other members of the community they live in. Historically, when a war breaks …

‘Black Lives Bladder,’ Other Dumb Things Eric Andre Said At The Rnc, And Why They Bladder, I Mean Matter, Alex Prong

2018 Undergraduate Awards

When comedian Eric Andre went to the Republican National Convention (RNC), he attended Alex Jones’ speech. He stuck his microphone on the end of a long stick, and pushed through the crowd, until finally, Alex Jones said, “Let’s bring the Daily Show guy up here.”

“They keep attacking me and I just wanna sign up for the open mike,” said Eric. “I know, the democrats are never violent, like the Black Lives Matter movement and attacking the Trump people,” Alex replied.

To which Eric said, “I’m not a democrat either, I’m a nihilist” (“Eric at the RNC”).

This interaction, and …

Universalism Contested: The Exclusivity Of A Universal Basic Income, Chloée C. Godin-Jacques

2018 Undergraduate Awards

Universal basic income is recognized as an adequate response in fulfilling the needs of individuals with disabilities. Proponents of basic income believe that it could potentially reduce financial strains often prevalent in the disability community and shift negative connotations currently attributed to individuals with disabilities. My paper addresses the repercussions that could arise amidst the implementation of a universal basic income in Canada. My analysis indicates that the eventuality of basic income will not further the participation of individuals with disabilities, nor will it address the lack of resources that are indispensable to the creation of meaningful and inclusive opportunities. …

Mind Over Matter: Accounts Of Selfhood In An Age Of Theoretical Gender, Levi C. R. Hord

2018 Undergraduate Awards

This paper is a reflection on the rapidly shifting social understandings of gender identity. Using a theoretical framework composed of existentialist thought, cultural critique, empirical research, and post-structuralism, I argue that our understandings of gender identity have shifted towards a model which (following decades of theory) takes lived gender to be malleable and constructed. This has caused a movement away from the centrality of the sexed body in determining gender identity – including transgender identities – which in turn has created unresolved tension regarding what constitutes and validates gender identity as “real” in our narratives of selfhood. This movement away …

Section 718.2(E) Of The Criminal Code And Aboriginal Overrepresentation In Canadian Prisons, Meaghan Irons

2018 Undergraduate Awards

Aboriginal peoples have been recognized as statistically overrepresented in the Canadian prison system, incarcerated at a rate nearly ten times the rate of the non-Aboriginal population. Despite their overrepresentation being recognized in academic literature, government reports, and Supreme Court rulings, the rate of Aboriginal incarceration has not decreased. In 1996, section 718.2(e) of the Canadian Criminal Code was enacted. Its purpose was to address the overrepresentation of Aboriginal peoples in Canadian prisons by requiring sentencing judges to consider sanctions other than imprisonment for all offenders, and specifically pay attention to the unique circumstances of Aboriginal offenders. In 1999, the Supreme …

An Unknowable Wildness: An Analysis Of Cryptids As Queer Cultural Iconography, Levi C. R. Hord

2018 Undergraduate Awards

This essay examines the rise in cryptids – animals whose existence is disputed or unsubstantiated, or creatures who exist on the margins of biological understanding to the point of being mythical – being claimed by younger queer people as symbols of their outsider status and transgression. Beginning with an analysis of the political resistance that the reclamation of monstrosity makes possible for queer subjects, I argue that “cryptid culture” is a refusal of a politics of assimilation that has lately characterized LGBTQ+ communities. I then argue that this attachment to “cryptid culture” is also indicative of shifts in personal queer …

Humanitarianism As A Moral Alibi At The U.S.-Mexico Border, Layne Clarke

2018 Undergraduate Awards

In recent years, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) have cast themselves into a humanitarian role, presenting themselves as an organization that is ultimately concerned with the wellbeing and safety of undocumented migrants who undertake the dangerous journey of crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. However, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are of the opinion that this humanitarianism is hollow given that CBP ultimately enforces prevention through deterrence, a prevention strategy that deters migrants to the dangerous terrain of the Sonoran Desert and is believed to have caused in numerous migrant deaths. In this essay, I explore the contradictions inherent in CBP’s supposed mandate …

The Effects Of Lipopolysaccharide On Positive Reinforcement In Rats, Daamoon Ghahari

2018 Undergraduate Awards

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a bacterial endotoxin which has potent immune activating properties, has been widely used to study the effects of neuroinflammation in animal models. Previous studies have demonstrated that LPS increases the stress response, reduces operant responding, and causes anhedonia and anorexia in rats. Most of these studies have demonstrated the behavioural effects of LPS through decreases in palatable solution consumption or self-administration of pleasurable electrical brain stimulation (EBS), however a more detailed study exploring the differences between appetitive and consummatory behaviours is needed to truly understand the impact of neuroinflammation on food-motivated behaviour. The current study injected 23 male …

Anorexic And Forgetting Effects Of Lipopolysaccharide On Positive Reinforcement In Rats, Mahdieh Varvani Farahani

2018 Undergraduate Awards

It is widely demonstrated that lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a gram-negative bacteria derived endotoxin, induces symptoms that present similar to a stress response, commonly referred to as ‘sickness behaviours’. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of LPS on learnt food motivated behaviours in rats by analyzing bar pressing behaviours in a Skinner box under an FR-1 schedule. 23 male Long Evans rats were injected with either 200 μg/kg LPS (n = 8), 1 mg/kg of scopolamine hydrobromide (a known memory blocker; n = 7), or a saline control injection (n = 8). Prior to injection, rats were taught …

Individual Differences In Impulsivity And Mesocorticolimbic Connectivity Strength In Pre-Adolescence, Daamoon Ghahari

2018 Undergraduate Awards

Individual differences in pre-adolescent impulsivity, or the preference for smaller immediate rewards over larger delayed rewards, has been related to a multitude of outcomes measured later in life, such as physical and psychological health, substance dependence, financial well-being, academic achievement, social adjustment, and criminal behaviour. The mesocorticolimbic dopamine pathway (MCLP), a neural circuitry involved in reward motivated behaviours and decision-making, has been extensively linked to the delay discounting task, an effective tool for quantifying trait impulsivity. While previous research has demonstrated a negative correlation between the structural connectivity strength of the right dorsolateral prefrontal tract and the functional activity of …

The Impact Of Drug And Firm Attributes On Stock Price Movements Around Fda Drug Approval Decisions, Julian Donovan

2018 Undergraduate Awards

This paper evaluates the impact of firm and drug attributes on the stock price movements of drug companies before, during, and after a drug approval decision by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Previous literature demonstrates significant stock price volatility around these events on average, but do not explicitly examine if certain attributes can help explain this volatility for individual companies. In this paper, holding period returns and cumulative abnormal returns (obtained via the Fama-French model) are regressed on relevant firm and drug attributes. The findings suggest that the type of disease a drug treats has little impact on its …

The Media, Islam And Populism In The Fifth Republic, Domonic Mcdonald

2018 Undergraduate Awards

French democratic society shows a startling ambivalence: contemporary French politics struggles to reconcile its commitment to the republican values of liberty, equality and fraternity with its entrenched islamophobia. Rhetoric about French Muslims has historically been and continues to be weaponized by French politicians seeking to capitalize on the Muslim electorate or the fears harboured by Franco-French racists. The prevailing media discourse about French Muslims creates a distorted view of them as burdensome, violent and anti-French. This distortion contributed to the rise of Marine Le Pen's far-right Front National, which thrived on a discourse of securitization in opposition to Muslim minorities …