Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

What Is Writing In Undergraduate Anthropology? An Activity Theory Analysis, Boba M. Samuels

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How students learn to write in the disciplines is a question of ongoing concern in writing studies, with practical implications for academia. This case study used ethnographic methods to explore undergraduate writing in two upper year anthropology courses at a Canadian university over one term (four months). Student and professor interviews, classroom field notes, surveys, and students’ final papers were analysed using a framework drawn from activity theory and informed by genre theory. Four themes emerged from the data: anthropology as school; the familiar vs. unfamiliar; reading; and hidden rhetoric. Findings suggest students approach disciplinary work primarily as students rather …

Reconstructing The Spatial And Temporal Patterns Of Daily Life In The 19th Century City: A Historical Gis Approach, Donald Lafreniere

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In recent years, historians and historical geographers have become interested in the use of GIS to study historical patterns, populations, and phenomena. The result has been the emergence of a new discipline, historical GIS. Despite the growing use of GIS across geography and history, the use of GIS in historical research has been limited largely to visualization of historical records, database management, and simple pattern analysis. This is, in part, due to a lack of accessible research on methodologies and spatial frameworks that outline the integration of both quantitative and qualitative historical sources for use in a GIS environment. The …

The Violence Of Representation: The (Un) Narration Of Palestine In Public Discursive Space In Canada, Peige Desjarlais

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The thesis examines representations of Palestine and Palestinians in Canada by drawing on the historical literature, statements from Canadian officials, media items, and through interviews conducted with Palestinian exiles in London and Toronto. Based on this research, I argue that the colonization of Palestine went, and still goes, hand in hand with a particular narrative construction in North America. I propose that the pervasiveness of Zionist discourse in Canada is sustained by drawing on three main ideas or sources: a long colonial and Orientalist tradition (which sees Arabs and Muslims as the uncivilized and inferior others of Europeans), the instrumentalization …

Toward A Postmodern Avant-Garde: Labour, Virtuosity, And Aesthetics In An American New Music Ensemble, John R. Pippen

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This dissertation examines the aesthetic beliefs and labour practices of the American new music ensemble eighth blackbird (lower-case intentional). Drawing on ethnographic research conducted with the ensemble for the past six years, I show how the ensemble responds to specific cultural pressures endemic to the classical music scene, its new music vanguard, and to the contemporary United States. eighth blackbird, I argue, has created an ensemble identity and performance style designed to satisfy numerous audience positions, from experts well-versed in the intricacies of musical techniques to lay-persons unacquainted with the values and practices of new or classical music. This attempt …

When Objects Become Part Of Self: Effects Of Ownership And Choice On Self-Object Associations, Yang Ye

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Despite its significant role in the society, ownership has received little research attention from social psychology. Understanding ownership as a form of people-object relations has important implications for social cognition, as the relations between people and objects share similar mechanisms with the relations between people and other social entities. Adopting an associative approach to relations, the present research investigates how ownership influences self-object association—mental associations between the owner’s self and the owned objects in the owner’s associative network. It is argued that the formation of self-object associations is gated by the levels of congruence or incongruence between the owner’s active …

A Spatial Exploration Of Institutional Investment In Canada For The Year 2010, Martin R. Lefebvre

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Using measures of central tendency, the average nonUS-based institutional investor has more capital invested in securities than his US-based counterpart. The present study shows that US-based investors favour manufacturing companies, whereas Canadian investors prefer companies based in natural resources. Nationally, Toronto acts more as the centre of gravity for Canadian institutional investors than New York City does for the United States. Comparatively, Toronto accounts for 70% of all Canadian investors while New York accounts for only 30% of the American total, despite it being the city with the most capital invested worldwide. Notwithstanding Alberta’s oil boom, inter-provincial investment capital show …

The Effect Of Exercise On Cigarette Craving And Withdrawal Symptoms While Using A Nicotine Lozenge, Amelia Tritter

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It is imperative that smoking cessation aids effectively alleviate cigarette craving and withdrawal symptoms because their intensity has shown to predict relapse. The nicotine lozenge is a pharmacotherapy that has shown to reduce symptoms of craving and withdrawal. Research has also shown that a single session of exercise can provide temporary relief from craving and withdrawal for smokers who are both temporarily abstaining and undergoing a real quit attempt. Applying two efficacious monotherapies concurrently may provide additive benefit and greater symptom relief. Thirty recently quit smokers were randomized to either the experimental (exercise and lozenge) or control (lozenge alone) condition. …

Mediators Of Change In The Stigmatization Of Depression Among Caucasian And Asian Populations, Francois B. Botha

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Public stigma negatively impacts public health by discouraging people with depression from seeking help. In North America, Asians reliably report higher levels of stigma and lower levels of help-seeking than do Caucasians. The reasons for this discrepancy and possible methods of reducing this have, however, rarely been explored. In Study 1, undergraduate students (n = 573) completed several questionnaires related to public stigma, values and ideological beliefs, attitudes and beliefs regarding people with depression and perceived norms. At least one week afterward, participants completed the second part of Study 1, where they were presented with contrived articles highlighting a …

The Antisaccade Task: Visual Distractors Elicit A Location-Independent Planning 'Cost', Jesse C. Desimone

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Prosaccades are rapid eye movements with direct stimulus and response relations and are designed to bring the fovea onto a target or area of interest. In contrast, antisaccades require the inhibition of a prosaccade and the evocation of a saccade to a target’s mirror-symmetrical location. Previous work has shown that a remote (i.e., midline, contralateral) – but not proximal (i.e., ipsilateral) – task-irrelevant distractor relative to a visual target delays prosaccade reaction times (RT) (i.e., remote distractor effect: RDE). To my knowledge, however, no work has examined whether antisaccade RTs are similarly influenced by a RDE. Accordingly, I sought to …

Role Of Search, Human Capital And Learning In Occupational Mobility And Immigrant Assimilation, Masashi Miyairi

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This thesis contains three studies of job and occupational mobility, and their implications for earnings. The second chapter of the thesis develops and estimates a model of job and occupational search to examine how and how much learning influences young workers' job search and transition patterns. The model incorporates uncertainty regarding the accumulation processes of workers' different skills, and features directed search whereby workers choose search effort intensities for different occupations. The model is estimated using U.S. data, with individuals' occupational affiliations grouped into skilled white-collar, skilled blue-collar, and non-skilled occupations. The estimates show large differences in search frictions, skill …

Task-Switching In Oculomotor Control: Systematic Investigations Of The Unidirectional Prosaccade Switch-Cost, Jeffrey Weiler

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An antisaccade requires suppressing a stimulus-driven prosaccade (i.e., response suppression) and remapping a target’s spatial location to its mirror-symmetrical position (i.e., vector inversion). Notably, my previous work demonstrated that the successful execution of an antisaccade selectively lengthens the reaction time (RT) of a subsequently completed prosaccade (i.e., the unidirectional prosaccade switch-cost; Weiler & Heath, 2012a; Weiler & Heath, 2012b). Thus, the objective of this dissertation was further investigate, and ultimately provide a mechanistic explanation for the unidirectional prosaccade switch-cost.

In Chapter Two, I demonstrate that the magnitude of the unidirectional prosaccade switch-cost is not dependent of the number of …

Pathways To Mental Health In Young Adulthood And Beyond: The Long-Term Effects Of Childhood Experiences Expressed Through Self-Esteem, Haosen Sun

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Utilizing the stress process paradigm and the life course perspective, the present study examines whether and how experiencing economic strain and family instability in adolescence has long-term effects on depressed affect (one component of psychological distress) in young adulthood. Using the 1992-1994 and 2000-2002 waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH), this research focuses on children age 10-17 in 1992-1994 who also participated in the 2000-2002 follow-up survey as adults, aged 18 and above (N=868). Results from multiple regression models suggest that both economic strain and family instability in adolescence may impair individual’s development of self-esteem and …

Hungry Farmers: A Political Ecology Of Agriculture And Food Security In Northern Ghana, Hanson Nyantakyi-Frimpong

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Whilst Ghana has made momentous strides in national food security over the last decade, peasants in the rural north, indeed, those who produce the bulk of the country’s food, are also the hungriest population. This paradox immediately raises profound questions for research in human-environment geography. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate some of these questions, with particular emphasis on why Ghana’s food system is failing precisely those who produce food. The research combines insights from agrarian political economy and political ecology, and is informed by nine months of intensive fieldwork. Three carefully selected case studies uncover the full …

Sacred Heart: A Stable Isotope Analysis Of Childhood, Diet, And Mobility At A Nineteenth Century Ontario Cemetery, Emily Wells

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This thesis uses stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen derived from bone collagen and tooth dentin to study infant feeding behaviour, diet, and mobility at the 19^th century Sacred Heart Cemetery in Ingersoll, Ontario, in use from 1848 to 1880. d¹⁵N and d¹³C bone values indicate a diet high in protein with a mix of C₃ and C₄ plants. The most significant source of dietary C₄ plants is through secondary consumption, via livestock raised on maize fodder. The dietary profile of the Sacred Heart population is similar to two contemporary Ontario populations. …

Agricultural Interventions As A Means To Improving Food Security: Experiences Of Hiv/Aids-Affected Households In Northern Malawi, Faith N. Mambulu

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Many rural Malawians experience food insecurity, attributed to a number of factors including poverty, climate change, structural adjustment, poor governance and the impacts of HIV/AIDS. The prevalence of HIV/AIDS is currently estimated at 11% amongst adults. To address food insecurity in Northern Malawi, the Soils, Food and Health Communities (SFHC) agroecological project was implemented in 2000. In 2006, the project began to focus some of its program on farmers living with HIV/AIDS, but the impact of this shift has not been studied. There are few studies examining the potential for agricultural interventions to address the food security needs of AIDS-affected …

(Un)Covering Suicide: The Changing Ethical Norms In Canadian Journalism, Gemma Richardson

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In this integrated article dissertation, I examine media coverage of suicide in two Canadian newspapers. I seek to answer two research questions: how has media coverage of suicide changed in Canadian newspapers between the mid-19^th century and 2013, and what were the standard policies and procedures in newsrooms regarding coverage of suicide during this time? Through a qualitative analysis of historical coverage and a quantitative analysis of contemporary coverage, I show how media coverage of suicide has changed. My historical analysis incorporates extensive primary research from the archives of the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star, and …

Analytic Network Process (Anp) For Housing Quality Evaluation: A Case Study In Ghana, Lucia Kafui Hussey

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Quality of housing is crucial to an individual's quality of life as it is known to affect human health and well-being. Several studies have employed different methods to assess housing quality. These methods, however, failed to account for the interdependence among the factors (criteria) used for evaluating the quality of housing. This thesis proposes an Analytic Network Process (ANP)-based framework, integrated into Geographic Information Systems (GIS), to assess housing quality. ANP is a multicriteria analysis method. It provides a tool for identifying the relative importance of all the elements (criteria) influencing a goal of decision/evaluation problem (e.g., the problem of …

Confronting Colonial Standard Making Practices: Environmental Governance And Invasive Species Management At Walpole Island First Nation, Kristy A. Nicholson

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Hegemonic standard making practices in Ontario environmental governance can disregard the interests of First Nations by limiting funding and scope for community environmental management (Dalton, 2009). Invasive species management at Walpole Island First Nation has sought to control aggressive plant species that have infiltrated culturally and economically important ecosystems. Ontario government agencies, Ministry of Environment (MOE), and Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), offer funding through sources such as the Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund (GLGCF) for community management projects with the intent to encourage collaboration. However, predetermined ‘acceptable’ project designs can override community defined-goals. This was evident during the funding …

The Role Of The Media In The Automatic Dehumanization Of Refugees, Stelian Medianu

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The media plays an important role in the process of shaping attitudes about controversial issues such as the arrival of refugees to Canada. The first aim of this research was to investigate how the Canadian newsprint media portrayed one noteworthy event involving the arrival of refugees to Canada: the arrival of the Tamil refugee boat to British Columbia in August of 2010. A media content analysis revealed that the overall portrayal of refugees in the Canadian press in response to this event was mixed. On the one hand, refugees were perceived either as bogus claimants or as criminals/terrorists. On the …

A Philosophical Analysis Of Ethics Education In The Canadian National Coaching Certification Program For Rowing, Mark M. Williams

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This dissertation applies a conception of rationality from the philosophy of science to the coaching education context. The purpose of this dissertation is to present an account of how the exercise of judgment by coaches facing ethical dilemmas can be rational. The discussion in this dissertation begins with a traditional account of rationality that has long been a staple of moral philosophy. Next, the influence of this model in the current Canadian rowing coach education program are highlighted, as are its limitations in providing a complete account of rational ethical-decision making in the coaching context. After establishing these limitations, an …

Exploring The Association Between Commute To School Duration And Children's Physical Activity Level And Bodyweight Status, Lucie Richard

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The commute to school is recognized as a daily activity with high potential for influencing children’s health behaviours and outcomes. While the impact of commute mode on children’s health has been extensively researched, the influence of commute duration remains relatively unexplored. This thesis uses binary logistic regression and multiple linear regression analysis of a cross-sectional sample to determine how active and inactive commute to school duration impacts children’s physical activity level and bodyweight status in urban, small town and rural environments in Southwestern Ontario.

It is found here that longer active commute duration is associated with greater average levels of …

Examining The Influence Of Environmental Opportunities And Exposures On Children's Sleep Duration, Leanne B. Mcintosh

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This research aims to fill a void in knowledge on how certain characteristics of the built and natural environments may impact children’s sleep duration. Data was collected on a sample of 614 children (aged 9-14 years) drawn from 22 elementary schools throughout the City of London, Ontario, Canada. Participants completed the STEAM (Spatial Temporal Environmental Activity Monitoring) protocol which involved completion of a survey, daily activity diary, and tracking the time they spent in different environments with a portable Global Position System. This thesis incorporates an innovative analytical approach which uses two Geographic Information System techniques to examine if and …

"We Don’T Need Another Africville”: Historical Imaginings Of Gentrification And Development In Halifax’S North End, Kelly Baker

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“Renaissance”, “revitalization”, “vibrancy”, and “gentrification” are all terms popularly used to describe the processes currently transforming Halifax’s North End. The longtime neglected, presumed-to-be dangerous, and widely avoided area is now said, by realtors, business owners, and City officials alike, to be a creatively-thriving and socially diverse community, and up-and-coming hotspot for independent business. Home to a large population of Halifax’s “creative class” of artists, musicians, and gays, the historically African Nova Scotian neighbourhood has, over the past decade, undergone a facelift, with some historic homes having been “flipped” three times, and their value sometimes quadrupled. Once-derelict buildings now house luxury …

“Write My Story Before I Forget”: An Auto-Ethnography Of Aboriginal Alcohol Dementia, Danielle Alcock

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The diagnosis of Alcohol Dementia and its health implications comes with an uncertain future for the individual and their families. To add to the minimal existing literature on the subject, this auto-ethnography focuses on three generations of Indigenous oral storytelling to re-construct the past of an Anishanabe father to understand his addiction in connection to broader social constructs. Decolonizing methodologies are used in the form of first person experience and connecting research to activism. Alcohol Dementia is examined using Aboriginal social determinants of health to critically discuss the direct affects of intergenerational trauma, uprooting and displacement and flaws within the …

Identification Of Informativeness In Text Using Natural Language Stylometry, Rushdi Shams

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In this age of information overload, one experiences a rapidly growing over-abundance of written text. To assist with handling this bounty, this plethora of texts is now widely used to develop and optimize statistical natural language processing (NLP) systems. Surprisingly, the use of more fragments of text to train these statistical NLP systems may not necessarily lead to improved performance. We hypothesize that those fragments that help the most with training are those that contain the desired information. Therefore, determining informativeness in text has become a central issue in our view of NLP. Recent developments in this field have spawned …

The Development And Validation Of A Multidimensional Measure Of Moral Orientation, Erica A. Giammarco

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Researchers have found that when individuals are faced with moral dilemmas, they tend to approach the situations with the same general perspective. This general perspective is referred to as their moral orientation. Studies have shown that moral orientations tend to be either justice or care focused. A justice orientation refers to a focus on rights, rules, and objective decision making. In contrast, individuals using a care orientation are more likely to consider relationships, contextual factors, and minimizing harm to others. Although numerous studies have reported individual differences in these orientations, the literature has failed to consider how individuals with “abnormal” …

Knowledge Translation And The Governance Of Health Research In Canada: A Critical Discourse Analysis, Kathleen S. Ellis

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Knowledge translation (KT) is a dominant discourse in the governance of health research in Canada. I critically examine the KT discourse of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canada’s major health research funder. Informed by a governmentality perspective, I explore how the KT discourse operates to shape the directions of health research and the activities of health researchers using critical discourse analysis with a sample of publicly available CIHR documents.

This KT discourse is constructed through three rationales: a “gap” between knowledge creation and its application; financial and health care accountabilities for public investment in health research; and, the …

The Effects Of Semantic Neighborhood Density On The Processing Of Ambiguous Words, Mark J. Mcphedran

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Semantic neighborhood density’s effects on the processing of ambiguous words were examined in three lexical decision experiments. Semantic neighborhoods were defined in terms of semantic set size and connectivity in Experiment 1, and in terms of semantic set size in Experiments 2 and 3. In Experiment 1, set size, connectivity, and ambiguity were crossed. An ambiguity disadvantage was observed for large set, high connectivity words, and there was some suggestion of an ambiguity advantage for small set, high connectivity words. Experiments 2 and 3 held connectivity constant at a high level, and set size and ambiguity were crossed, with Experiment …

Mental Toughness Training Intervention For Collegiate Track And Field Athletes, Amanda A. Truelove

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Mental toughness has been recognized as a key component necessary for optimal athletic achievement. The use of mental toughness training programs has been found to help athletes develop specific psychological skills associated with mental toughness, such as goal setting, positive self-talk, mental imagery, and relaxation. By developing these skills, athletes are better able to control levels of competition anxiety, increase levels of self-confidence, and ultimately, improve performance results. The main purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a specifically designed mental toughness training program for varsity level track and field athletes. Participants included 4 varsity track and …

Attachment And Attention: An Investigation Of Biases In Attention As They Relate To Attachment Security In Infancy And Adulthood, Paul J. Meinz

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At the advent of attachment theory, John Bowlby hypothesized that cognition and emotion are shaped by early experiences with primary caregivers (Bowlby, 1980). This idea – that aspects of cognition may be organized within early relationships – still plays a prominent role in contemporary attachment theory. The studies described within this dissertation provide support for the idea that attachment security in infancy and adulthood are associated with differences in cognition – particularly with differences in the way that people attend to certain forms of stimuli. Mothers and children in the studies described here were first assessed for individual differences in …