title: Devaluation of Sucrose Caused by Social Instability Stress in Adolescent Male Long-Evans Rats in the Presence of an Unfamiliar Peer

subject:
adolescence
social instability
stress
sucrose

abstract: Rats that undergo the Social Instability Stress procedure during adolescence (SS: daily 1-hour isolation + re-pairing with an unfamiliar cage partner for 16 days) display changes in reward-related behaviour. Specifically, SS rats spend less time in social interaction but more time in social approach compared to controls, indicative of an altered social repertoire; SS males also show increased aggression when competing for access to sweet substances. To investigate to what extent SS influences choice behaviour when social and sweet rewards are presented simultaneously, a Social Discounting test was conducted. The SS procedure was administered during either adolescence or adulthood to both male and female rats to investigate sex differences and to determine if SS effects were specific to administration during adolescence. Results showed that increasing concentrations of sucrose (0%, 2%, 5%, 10%) had no influence on time spent near a novel peer during the Social Discounting choice test, but rats drank less of 5% sucrose when in a social condition relative to when drinking alone. The only stress effect to emerge was in adolescent-stressed males tested immediately after the stress procedure; SS adolescent males spent significantly less time drinking sucrose overall compared to controls, indicative of a stress-induced anhedonia. The stress-induced devaluation of sucrose was not long-lasting as it was not found in adolescent males tested after a delay. Thus, Social Instability stress produces short-lasting behavioural changes in reward processing only in adolescent male rats.


title: Distress Effects in Stock Returns

subject:
Bankruptcy prediction
distress risk
distress premium
asset pricing anomalies

abstract: This thesis addresses a fundamental topic in financial economics: the effects of distress risk in the cross section of equities returns. Initial results show that both raw and risk-adjusted excess returns are rising in distress risk, and the remainder of this thesis examines the general robustness of the distress premium. Accordingly, the additional excess returns to stocks having heightened levels of financial distress are contingent upon the stock price being low. These findings are then extended to demonstrate that these same stocks are also microcap firms, thus attributing the anomalous behaviour of distressed stocks to a common factor with many other market anomalies. The economic implication is that arbitrage profits are likely to be limited due to the high transaction costs alongside the limited investment capacity with associated low-priced, microcap stocks.


title: Exploring the utility of differing methodological approaches to measure meaningful change in treatment and intervention scenarios

subject: single case design

subject: effect size

subject: hedges’ g

subject: d-statistic

abstract: A large focus in social science research is geared towards establishing the effectiveness of treatments to help and support the population and provide best empirical data to researchers, practitioners, and policy makers. To support evidence-based practice and policy, findings from studies are synthesized in reviews and meta-analyses to verify the most effective treatments. However, due to differing metrics to describe effects found, single-case designs (SCD) have been excluded in such reviews and meta-analyses. This hinders the dissemination of valuable findings from studies that use SCD methodologies. The present study employs a unique dataset to exemplify differing methodological approaches to measure meaningful change from a treatment. The dataset, obtained from Vause and colleagues (2018), contained both a group-based design in the form of a randomized controlled trial and SCD methodologies on the same participants undergoing treatment. Thus, a d-statistic was calculated from the SCD methodology, also referred to as a between-case standardized mean difference effect size (ESBC) and was compared with the group-based effect sizes originally found by Vause and colleagues. The effect sizes corroborated with each other, such that a large effect was deduced from both the SCD analysis (g = 1.22) and the average effect from the group-based analyses (g = 0.99). In addition, the ESBC was found per participant allowing comparisons between individual effects and the overall outcome. Furthermore, this study explored how the acquired ESBC estimates complements traditional SCD methodologies including visual analysis and overlap statistics. By utilizing statistical techniques such as this software, many behaviors, participants, and data points can be analyzed simultaneously. Moreover, a forest plot can be generated with the results, providing a different perspective than what is normally available to SCD researchers. Finally, the most valuable consequence to note is the acquisition of a ESBC that results in the form of Hedges’ g, which can be compared across SCDs and between-group experimental designs. This is the first known study to explore and compare the effect size estimates of a treatment on participants’ behaviors that was evaluated as a SCD as well as a group-based design.


title: Under Scrutiny:  Comparing the Effects of Virtual  Peer Ratings on Risk-Taking

subject:
adolescent risk-taking
dual-systems model
social context
BART
peer effect

abstract: Adolescents, compared to other age groups, disproportionately choose to engage in behaviours that endanger them or others, especially in the presence of peers.  The dual-systems model attributes this heightened risk-taking to a rapidly developing reward system that overpowers a slower-maturing cognitive control system in situations where excitement is high.  The current study uses a new virtual peer paradigm to compare the effects of positive evaluation, negative evaluation, and heightened non-social rewards on risk-taking.  Participants (n = 73, ages 12-30, 65.75% women) were randomly assigned to conditions and completed a risk-taking task in two contexts: under low arousal (alone), and under high arousal (watched by a virtual peer).  Participants who received a negative evaluation evinced significantly greater risk-taking than those who received a positive evaluation when watched.  This effect was not observed when participants completed the task alone.  Results suggest, preliminarily, that negative social evaluative contexts may be more likely to lead to increased risk-taking than positive ones.


title: Hard Pressed to Find A Difference:  Evaluating the total tannin content of Cabernet franc L cv. wines, made using pre- and post-fermentation pressing treatments

subject: Tannins, pressing, extraction, methyl cellulose, consumer preference

abstract: Total tannin concentrations were monitored in Cabernet franc grapes in 2018 and 2019 from two vineyard areas in the Niagara Peninsula, Ontario. Total tannins were measured using the methyl cellulose precipitation (MCP) assay. In 2018, post-fermentation pressing treatments of 100kPA, 150kPA and 200kPA were applied with a control (no press treatment). In 2019, pre-fermentation pressing treatments in combination with juice removal (saignée) were applied with a control (no pre-fermentation treatment). Free sorting and consumer preference testing of the 2018 wines were evaluated using trained panellists and a consumer panel. Pre- and post-fermentation press treatments had little impact on the tannin concentrations in wines post fermentation. Observed trends over time suggest treatments have an influence in the behavior of tannin polymerization and stability, but these results are specific to vineyard site. This suggests that Cabernet franc varietal wines can be produced using low press-treatments without compromising the concentration of total tannins which may contribute to improved wine quality.


title: Redefining Exhaustion: Considerations for the Modeling of Critical Power

subject:
Critical Power
Modeling
Sports Science
Cycling
Fatigue

abstract: Background: The relationship between exercise intensity and the limit of tolerance is the focus of the Critical Power (CP) model. CP defines the upper limit for which exercise is steady state and is – in theory – indefinitely sustainable. However, this limit of tolerance at CP is often well below 30 min. Purpose: We want to test the hypothesis that 1) a clinically significant residual W’ capacity (W’res) does exist, 2) that the size of W’res is inversely related to tlim used in the testing protocols, and 3) that accounting for W’res will result in an improved calculation of the Critical Power (CP), as determined by an increased time to exhaustion at CP. Methods: Nine well-trained cyclists performed a ramp test and four high-intensity tests to exhaustion on a cycle ergometer to determine CP and the curvature constant (W’). Two tests to exhaustion were then performed at the traditional CP (CPtrad) and a novel, modified CP (CPmod) to test the practical significance of the residual capacity on the calculation of the CP. Results: All participants were able to perform work above CP even after reaching the limit of tolerance, despite no significant changes in physiological parameters. Including the W’res resulted in significantly lower estimations of CP (TRAD: 281W, MOD: 278 W; p = 0.015) and higher estimations of W’ (TRAD: 15.8 kJ, MOD: 17.8 kJ; p = 0.008). Significance: Athletes were able to continue generating power above CP, even after reaching the limit of tolerance. This residual capacity resulted in a significantly lower estimate of CP and significantly higher estimation of W’.


title: INVOLVEMENT OF THE ENDOCANNABINOID SYSTEM IN THE EPENDYMOGLIAL RESPONSE TO SPINAL CORD REGENERATION IN THE MEXICAN AXOLOTL, Ambystoma mexicanum

subject: Regeneration

subject: Axolotl

subject: Ependymoglial

subject: CB1

subject: CB2

abstract:
Research into the molecular mechanisms of the psychoactive effects of cannabis has led to the discovery of the endocannabinoid system (ECS), a neuromodulatory system conserved throughout the animal kingdom. Little is known about its function in mammals,
but there is evidence suggesting its contributions in the cellular processes that are important in CNS development and are conserved during CNS regeneration. However, these studies focussed primarily on mammals, which display limited abilities to regenerate after traumatic CNS injury. Furthermore, nothing is known regarding the role of endocannabinoids in CNS regeneration-competent species like the Mexican axolotl, one of the few vertebrates that can regenerate their spinal cord. The current study investigates the potential role of the ECS in influencing the pro-regenerative response observed in the axolotl spinal cord. I provide evidence that the main ECS receptor in the CNS (CB1) is upregulated in the regenerating caudal spinal cord and tail tissues of larval axolotls at 4 hours post amputation, lasting until 14 days post amputation. By performing immunofluorescence studies on these tissues, I demonstrate the expression of this receptor mainly in the ependymal region. In addition, bath application of the CB1 inverse agonist, AM251, significantly inhibited caudal growth of the spinal cord and tail by 7 days post amputation. The current study also identified an upregulation in a second ECS receptor, CB2, at 7- and 14-days post amputation. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed the localization of this receptor to the subependymal regions within the spinal cord.
Furthermore, inhibition with the CB2 inverse agonist, AM630, similarly demonstrated an inhibition in spinal cord and tail regeneration by 7 days post amputation. An assessment of CB1 and CB2 expression was performed by identifying their localization in bromodeoxyuridine-positive (proliferating) and doublecortin-positive (differentiating neuronal) cells in 7-day regenerate tissue. These studies are the first to examine the role of the ECS during spinal cord regeneration in a regeneration-competent vertebrate and may aid in developing novel therapies for human nervous system injuries or pathologies.


title: Mood Disorder and Hypertension Among Canadian Older Adults with Different Religious Affiliations: A Cross-sectional Analysis of the Baseline Data from the CLSA

subject:
Hypertension
Mood Disorder
Religion
CLSA

abstract:
Background: The relationship between mood disorder and hypertension is not well understood among Canadian older adults. No research has examined whether religiosity has any impact on this relationship in a Canadian older adult population.
Objectives: To examine i) the association between mood disorder and hypertension among older Canadian older adults and ii) if religion had an impact on this association
Methods: Baseline data from the CLSA of 44,920 males and females aged 45 years and older was collected. Mood disorder and hypertension were defined by self-reported clinical diagnosis. Religious affiliation was categorized into two groups: no religious affiliation or some religious affiliation. Among religiously affiliated participants, religious attendance was categorized into four groups; daily/weekly, monthly, yearly and never in the past 12 months. Among non-religiously affiliated participants, religious attendance was categorized into two groups; no attendance and any form of attendance in the past 12 months. Logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between mood disorder, religious affiliation, religious attendance and hypertension. Age-related trends were also examined to see if any of the associations differed among different age groups.
Results: The odds of reporting hypertension increased with self-reported mood disorder and/or religious affiliation by 27% (OR, [95% CI]: 1.27, [1.16, 1.39]) and 13% (OR, [95% CI]: 1.13, [1.04, 1.23]), respectively. As attendance to religious services and events increased, the magnitude of association between religious affiliation and hypertension decreased (OR, [95% CI]: 1.20 [1.09, 1.33] to 1.02, [0.92, 1.13]). Among religiously affiliated, the decrease in magnitude was more apparent (OR, [95% CI]: 1.01 [0.91, 1.12] to 0.85, [0.77, 0.93]).
Conclusion: This study suggests that there is an association between mood disorder and hypertension, with the presence of mood disorder increasing the odds of hypertension. Similarly, being religiously affiliated seems to share a similar relationship with hypertension. To note, it seems as though the magnitude of the association between religious affiliation and hypertension decreases with increased attendance. This study will help to grow the ever-growing body of religious related literature and will be crucial in understanding the multifaceted nuanced nature of religion.
Key Words: mood disorder, hypertension, religion, affiliation, CLSA


title: Hydroamidation of Vinyl Ethers by Acid-Catalyzed Multicomponent Isocyanide Addition

subject:
isocyanide
enol ether
glycal sugar
hydroamidation
Passerini-like

abstract: Hydroamidation of carbon–carbon double bonds is an attractive strategy for installing nitrogen functionality into molecular scaffolds and, with it, increasing molecular complexity. To date, metal-based approaches have dominated this area of chemical synthesis despite the drawbacks of air and moisture sensitivity, limited functional group tolerance, toxicity, and/or high cost often associated with using metals. Herein is enclosed an operationally simple, metal-free, one-pot, regioselective, multicomponent synthetic procedure for the hydroamidation of carbon–carbon double bonds. This method features mild reaction conditions and utilizes isocyanides and vinyl ethers for the rapid and modular synthesis of α-oxygenated amide scaffolds. Additional effort was put towards synthesizing reactive natural products as substrates to the developed methodology, and drafting a probable catalytic cycle for the main and side reactions present within this multicomponent procedure.


title: Evaluating the Effects of Picture Exchange Communication System® (PECS®) Mediator Training Via Telehealth Using Behavioural Skills Training and General Case Training

subject: autism, Picture Exchange Communication System, parent training, generalization, telehealth

abstract: The Picture Exchange Communication System® (PECS®) is often used by children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as a means of functional communication. Although there is extensive research indicating that PECS is an evidence-based intervention for children with ASD (e.g., Wong et al., 2015), little is known about how best to train parents to support their child’s PECS use. Of those studies that do explore parent training approaches, few measure the caregiver’s fidelity implementing PECS or explore whether parents generalize or maintain skills post-training. Similarly, little is known about how to train parents to implement PECS via telehealth. The purpose of the current study was to bridge the gap between PECS and telehealth research and to explore strategies to help parents support their child’s PECS use at home. One father-mother dyad was recruited. The father was the primary training recipient (i.e., parent trainee). The mother participated in training sessions as the role play partner (i.e., surrogate parent). Researchers used behavioural skills training (BST) to teach target PECS skills and applied strategies of general case training (GCT) to actively program for generalized behaviour change. A multiple baseline design across skills was used to monitor the father’s fidelity during mediator training sessions and a multiple probe design was embedded to monitor both the father’s and mother’s fidelity in the natural environment with their child. Results demonstrated that the parent trainee acquired PECS skills within the training setting. However, parents did not reliably demonstrate all of the PECS skills in the generalization setting during follow-up.


title: IMPROVING BWA-MEM WITH GPU PARALLEL COMPUTING

subject:
BWA-MEM
GPGPU
Big Data
Spark

abstract: Due to the many advances made in designing algorithms, especially the ones used in bioinformatics, it is becoming harder and harder to improve their efficiencies. Therefore, hardware acceleration using General-Purpose computing on Graphics Processing Unit has become a popular choice. BWA-MEM is an important part of the BWA software package for sequence mapping. Because of its high speed and accuracy, we choose to parallelize the popular short DNA sequence mapper. BWA has been a prevalent single node tool in genome alignment, and it has been widely studied for acceleration for a long time since the first version of the BWA package came out. This thesis presents the Big Data GPGPU distributed BWA-MEM, a tool that combines GPGPU acceleration and distributed computing. The four hardware parallelization techniques used are CPU multi-threading, GPU paralleled, CPU distributed, and GPU distributed. The GPGPU distributed software typically outperforms other parallelization versions. The alignment is performed on a distributed network, and each node in the network executes a separate GPGPU paralleled version of the software. We parallelize the chain2aln function in three levels. In Level 1, the function ksw\_extend2, an algorithm based on Smith-Waterman, is parallelized to handle extension on one side of the seed. In Level 2, the function chain2aln is parallelized to handle chain extension, where all seeds within the same chain are extended. In Level 3, part of the function mem\_align1\_core is parallelized for extending multiple chains. Due to the program's complexity, the parallelization work was limited at the GPU version of ksw\_extend2 parallelization Level 3. However, we have successfully combined Spark with BWA-MEM and ksw\_extend2 at parallelization Level 1, which has shown that the proposed framework is possible. The paralleled Level 3 GPU version of ksw\_extend2 demonstrated noticeable speed improvement with the test data set.


title: Examining the Effect of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on Executive Functioning and Brain Plasticity

subject:
Adverse Childhood Experiences
ACEs
Executive Functioning
Brain Plasticity

abstract: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are exposures to experiences such as maltreatment, household dysfunction, and other traumatic or stressful events occurring in the first 18 years of life. Exposure to ACEs in childhood, a critical time for development, have been found to have enduring, negative effects on physical and mental health across the life course. Specifically, ACEs may influence the neurotransmitter systems in the brain and alter brain function leading to behaviour changes that can be observed in adulthood. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a brain plasticity factor involved in creating and maintaining connections and pathways in the brain. Pathways that utilize executive function (EF), higher order cognitive responses, may be influenced by exposure to ACEs. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between ACEs and EF and to examine whether BDNF helped to explain that relationship. The current study conducted a cross-sectional analysis that used data from the Niagara Longitudinal Heart Study which was a follow up study conducted out of Brock University. The final sample size for the current analysis was n=236. Retrospective reporting of ACEs was collected using the Childhood Trust Events Survey. The Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function Adult Version (BRIEF-A) was used to measure everyday EF and included the Inhibit and the Working Memory clinical measures and three composite measures, the Behaviour Regulation Index, Metacognition Index, and the Global Executive Composite. Finally, serum BDNF was used as a measure of current plasticity. The relationship between ACEs and BDNF was non-significant and therefore no indirect effects were explored. There was a significant relationship between accumulation of ACEs and all EF measures, and this effect was similar across males and females. The current study adds to the literature finding that accumulation of ACEs was associated with low EF clinical and composite scores in young adulthood.


title: Comparative Study On Cooperative Particle Swarm Optimization Decomposition Methods for Large-scale Optimization

subject:
AI
Large Scale Global Optimization
Cooperative PSO
Particle Swarm Optimization
Comparative Study

abstract: The vast majority of real-world optimization problems can be put into the class of large-scale global optimization (LSOP). Over the past few years, an abundance of cooperative coevolutionary (CC) algorithms has been proposed to combat the challenges of LSOP’s. When CC algorithms attempt to address large scale problems, the effects of interconnected variables, known as variable dependencies, causes extreme performance degradation. Literature has extensively reviewed approaches to decomposing problems with variable dependencies connected during optimization, many times with a wide range of base optimizers used. In this thesis, we use the cooperative particle swarm optimization (CPSO) algorithm as the base optimizer and perform an extensive scalability study with a range of decomposition methods to determine ideal divide-and-conquer approaches when using a CPSO. Experimental results demonstrate that a variety of dynamic regrouping of variables, seen in the merging CPSO (MCPSO) and decomposition CPSO (DCPSO), as well varying total fitness evaluations per dimension, resulted in high-quality solutions when compared to six state-of-the-art decomposition approaches.


title: Exploring the Factors That African Refugee-Background Students Identify as Being Helpful to Their Academic Success

contributor: Department of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies in Education

subject:
African refugee-background students
discrimination
academic and social exclusion
transformative resistance
counterstories of academic success

abstract: African refugee-background (ARB) students achieve high standards of success, yet their lived experiences are frequently absent from educational literature in Canada. Current and past research has focused on their academic deficits, their vulnerabilities, and their maladjusted behaviour, neglecting the positive attributes they bring to their host countries. Using specific data collected from semi-structured interviews with eight male and female ARB high school graduates between the ages of 18-25, this qualitative study employed a critical race paradigm to explore factors that ARB high school graduates identified as being helpful in their academic success. The study sought to challenge the deficit views on ARB students’ education by highlighting the perspectives of academically successful ARB students in a secondary school setting. The findings from the ARB students’ narratives highlighted three major themes: (a) success extends beyond the classroom and it cannot be normalized, (b) success is multifaceted and attainable by all, and (c) intrinsic motivation and resilience is a coping strategy for academic success. Additionally, the findings indicated that ARB students used a variety of coping strategies to overcome the negative and stressful environments in their high schools. Disseminating their narratives of success provides real-life examples for other refugee-background students to emulate, in pursuit of their own academic success, amidst the educational and societal barriers that they encounter. These findings add to the limited amount of research on ARB students’ academic success and may provide alternative strategies on refugee education for


title: Stakeholders in Dance: An Intrinsic Case Study Examining Facilitator Perspectives of Dance with a B-E-A-T

subject:
recreational dance
behavior therapy
blended
facilitators
thematic analysis

abstract: Recreational dance programs with specific behavioral adaptations for individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities can provide an opportunity for the enjoyment of dance, and potential improvements in motor skills, social skills, or behaviors related to self-efficacy. This intrinsic case study builds on a pilot study of a recreational dance program, Dance with a B-E-A-T (behavior analysis and therapy), with behavioral adaptations for individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders. Facilitators of the program included three graduate students working as behavior therapists. We aimed to discover, through semi-structured interviews, what components facilitators perceived to be effective, components that they perceived to be challenging, successes or challenges with implementation, as well as their overall perceptions of this blended program. A thematic analysis, with a deductive approach, of interview data previously collected from parents of participants in the program was conducted to inform interview questions for facilitators, and to provide the framework for coding facilitator data. A similar thematic analysis was carried out for facilitator interview transcripts. The key themes identified during this analysis included: (1) Blending Recreational Dance and Behavior Therapy as Novel, (2) Benefits of the Program, and (3) Refinements and Recommendations. Facilitators and parents perceived this novel program to have effective components such as individualized behavioral adaptations, and an enjoyable environment with positive social interactions. Recommendations for future programs include refining behavioral components such as thinning the schedule of reinforcement, increasing training for facilitators to address existing barriers to implementation, and extending the length of the program to be consistent with motor development research. This study will add to limited research on recreational dance programs for this population.


title: The interaction of sleep and hormones on emotion functioning

subject:
sleep
emotion reactivity
emotion regulation
cortisol
testosterone
progesterone

abstract:
Insufficient sleep has been associated with deficits in emotion processing; sleepy individuals show increased emotional reactivity and decreased emotion regulation. Individual differences that predict performance after sleep loss has remained largely elusive. Concentrations of cortisol, progesterone, and testosterone are candidate predictors for variability in performance following sleep loss. These hormones are associated with emotion functioning under well-rested conditions and show interactions with sleep and circadian rhythms. The central aim of this dissertation was to investigate the interaction of natural sleep and hormones on measures of emotion functioning.
Study 1 examined the role of cortisol in the relationship between sleep (across the first three years of university), and self reported emotion functioning in undergraduate students. Poor sleep was associated with worse emotion regulation and reactivity, and greater concentrations of cortisol and cortisol/DHEA-S. Consistently poor sleepers over three years, who had high cortisol, experienced the greatest difficulties with emotion regulation. Study 2 investigated the association between sleep satisfaction and objective measures of sleep on self-reported emotional functioning in a group of children and adolescents. Importantly, in girls who were dissatisfied sleepers, being further though puberty was associated with the greatest difficulties with emotion regulation.
Study 3 examined natural sleep, hormones, and menstrual phase on processing emotional stimuli. Participants completed sleep diaries and wore actigraphy watches for 3-weeks and completed measures of emotion perception on two occasions in the laboratory, in different menstrual phases for women. The study supported dynamic relationships between hormone concentrations and various measures of sleep duration and quality on the processing of emotion stimuli. Many relationships emerged for threatening emotions, indicating that high concentrations of testosterone, progesterone or cortisol, combined with poor sleep resulted in increased sensitivity towards threat detection.
Together these studies provide evidence that hormones are an important factor in understanding the link between poor sleep and emotion functioning. Hormone concentration plays a role in understanding individual differences in response to sleep loss and can compound with sleep loss to result in worse emotional outcomes. Consideration of hormonal factors may help identify certain at-risk populations for sleep related deficits or timing of interventions.


title: Analysis of the Niching Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm

subject: multimodal niching PSO analysis

abstract: Multimodal optimization (MMO) techniques have been researched and developed over the years to track multiple global optima concurrently. MMO algorithms extend traditional unimodal optimization algorithms by using search strategies built around forming niches for multiple possible solutions. NichePSO was one of the first approaches to utilize particle swarm optimization (PSO) for MMO problems, using several small subswarms of agents working concurrently to form niches within the search space. Despite its promising performance NichePSO does suffer from some problems, and very little research has been done to study and improve upon the algorithm over the years. A main goal of this thesis is to analyze the NichePSO algorithm, gaining insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the algorithm. Empirical analyses were performed to study the NichePSO’s ability to maintain niches within complex problem domains, as well as methods for improving the overall performance and effectiveness of the algorithm. Two variants of the NichePSO algorithm are proposed, and experimental results show that they both significantly improve the performance of the NichePSO algorithm across several benchmark functions.


title: Neural Network Guided Evolution of L-system Plants

subject:
Neural Network
Genetic Programming
L-system
Convolutional Neural Network

abstract: A Lindenmayer system is a parallel rewriting system that generates graphic shapes using several rules. Genetic programming (GP) is an evolutionary algorithm that evolves expressions. A convolutional neural network(CNN) is a type of neural network which is useful for image recognition and classification. The goal of this thesis will be to generate different styles of L-system based 2D images of trees from scratch using genetic programming. The system will use a convolutional neural network to evaluate the trees and produce a fitness value for genetic programming. Different architectures of CNN are explored. We analyze the performance of the system and show the capabilities of the combination of CNN and GP. We show that a variety of interesting tree images can be automatically evolved. We also found that the success of the system highly depends on CNN training, as well as the form of the GP's L-system language representation.


title: Analysis of the effect of genetic heterogeneity on de novo genome assembly using Xylocopa virginica as a model.

subject:
de novo assembly
non-model organism
xylocopa virginica
variant detection
10X sequencing

abstract: Next generation sequencing (NGS) technology has revolutionized genomic and genetic research, and as a result, de novo genome sequencing and assembly for non-model organisms has now become a common task in genome research. However, the integral properties of a genome such as ploidy, mutations, and repeat content impose issues for current genome assemblers. In this work, we used Xylocopa virginica (Eastern carpenter bees) as a unique model organism for examining on the effect of sequence heterozygosity on quality of de novo genome assembly. Using two de Bruijn graph genome assemblers, we assembled four bee genomes representing different sex and age (unworn male, worn male, unworn female, worn female) using standard Illumina sequencing and one genome using 10X linked-reads library for an unworn female. We discovered that there is a noticeable difference in a variety of genome assembly quality metrics, with the haploid unworn male genome having the highest quality and the worn diploid female genome having the lowest quality. In fact, the N50 value of the unworn male genome was >100 times higher than that of the worn female genome. The genome quality pattern supports the hypothesis that sequence heterozygosity resulting both from ploidy and somatic variants can affect the result of an assembly with former shown to be a much bigger player than the latter. Furthermore, we observed that the density of variants was moderately correlated to the density of breakpoints in the genome assemblies. Overall, our results indicate that increased ploidy and accumulation of somatic variants both negatively affect the quality of the resulting assembly with the former being much more significant than the latter. When considering a de novo assembly project for a non-model organism, whenever possible, haploid samples at the youngest possible age are to be recommended. Furthermore, use of a long-read platform can lead to better genome quality. However, at least for the 10x linked reads, having too much sequencing data does not necessarily lead to a better genome assembly.


title: MDP-based Vehicular Network Connectivity Model for VCC Management

subject: VANETs, Connectivity, Mobility, VCC

abstract: Vehicular Cloud computing is a new paradigm in which vehicles collaboratively exchange data and resources to support services and problem-solving in urban environments. Characteristically, such Clouds undergo severe challenging conditions from the high mobility of vehicles, and by essence, they are rather dynamic and complex. Many works have explored the assembling and management of Vehicular Clouds with designs that heavily focus on mobility. However, a mobility-based strategy relies on vehicles' geographical position, and its feasibility has been questioned in some recent works. Therefore, we present a more relaxed Vehicular Cloud management scheme that relies on connectivity. This work models uncertainty and considers every possible chance a vehicle may be available through accessible communication means, such as vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications and the vehicle being in the range of road-side units (RSUs) for data transmissions. We propose an markov-decisision process (MDP) model to track vehicles' connection status and estimate their reliability for data transmissions. Also, from analyses, we observed that higher vehicle connectivity presents a trace of repeated connection patterns. We reinforce the connectivity status by validating it through an availability model to distinguish the vehicles which support high availability regardless of their positioning. The availability model thus determines the suitability of the MDP model in a given environment.


title: Synthesis and Evaluation of Trans-bilayer Cross Linking Phospholipids Based on Click (Azide-Alkyne) Chemistry

subject:
bolalipid
phosphatidylcholine
click reaction
fatty acid
sec14

abstract: This thesis describes the synthesis of two phosphatidylcholine (PC) derivatives that are capable of coupling with each other from the alkyl chain through click reaction to form bola-PC. Successful coupling of monomeric phosphatidylcholine derivatives would lead to synthesis of corresponding phosphatidylinositol molecules as future work. PC derivatives that were synthesized in this work were phosphatidylcholine containing terminal azide and terminal alkyne on the alkyl chain of sn2 position. Sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (GPC) was used as glycerol back bone with two available hydroxyl groups for esterification. The first esterification was done using dibutyltin oxide as catalyst and palmitoyl chloride as acylating agent on the primary hydroxyl group, sn1 position. Secondary hydroxyl group in the sn2 position of GPC was esterified by terminal alkyne and terminal azide fatty acids through Steglich esterification. PC analogues with suitable functional groups for click chemistry were, then, incorporated in the 100 nm-vesicles in buffer solution and exposed to copper catalyst/L-histidine complex and sodium ascorbate solution at room temperature. Formation of bola-PC were observed in the hydrophobic core of lipid bilayer and this was the main objective of this study.


title: Investigating the Relationship Between MHI, Cognitive Fatigue, and EDA

subject:
MHI
Cognitive Fatigue
EDA

abstract:
Mild head injury (MHI) has been associated with various debilitating effects leading to impairments in many individuals which can be long-lasting. Some of the effects can be explained by disruption to the brain as a result of acceleration, deceleration and rotational forces which lead to axonal stretching and tearing. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) is particularly vulnerable following MHI and has been associated with attenuated autonomic arousal as indicated by electrodermal activity (EDA). These neural disruptions and its associated physiological underarousal may explain some of the consequences of MHI.
Cognitive fatigue is a known consequence of MHI and is defined as an increase in mental exhaustion due to prolonged mental effort and a lack of cognitive resources to sustain mental activity and performance. Increases in autonomic physiological arousal have been found to contribute to sustained performance and attention, but eventually can lead to cognitive fatigue. As such, those who have sustained a MHI and live with attenuated arousal may be disadvantaged when engaging in cognitive tasks. This study investigates the effects of cognitive fatigue, EDA, and task performance following MHI in university students. Forty-two university students (38% MHI) completed self-report questionnaires on general, and cognitive, fatigue and completed a series of simple, but increasingly demanding, cognitive tasks. Physiological arousal was measured by EDA throughout.
Individuals with MHI reported significantly greater levels of cognitive fatigue relative to their no-MHI cohort at baseline. Interestingly, participants with MHI also reported greater capacity for recovery from cognitive fatigue which may imply an inability to self-monitor. Even so, while both groups demonstrated initial heightened EDA activation that significantly declines over the course of completing the cognitive tasks, there were no observable performance
differences between the groups in terms of accuracy (which declined across tasks), response time (which increased across tasks), or self-reported cognitive fatigue at completion of testing. Future research will focus on establishing improved measures for assessing acute cognitive fatigue across tasks, as well as challenging cognitive tasks that induce measurable cognitive effort independent of cognitive capability.


title: Rematerializing the Immaterial: A Comparative Study of Vancouver's Conceptual Art and Writing

subject:
Vancouver
conceptual art
conceptual writing
Vancouver photoconceptualism
Kootenay School of Writing (KSW)

abstract: Rematerializing the Immaterial: A Comparative Study of Vancouver’s Conceptual Art and Writing examines the contemporary situation of the Vancouver art world and addresses the twin schools of conceptualism in the city, the Vancouver School of photoconceptualism and the Kootenay School of Writing (KSW). The dissertation, which explores conceptual art’s impact on Vancouver’s cultural reputation broadly, brings visual art into conversation with conceptual writing and examines how specific definitions and ideas of and relating to conceptual art have shaped the discourse of conceptualism in Vancouver. As the title suggests, many of the ideas central to conceptual art and conceptualism implicate questions of materiality – particularly as American curator and art critic Lucy Lippard’s notion of “dematerialization” is concerned – and whether conceptualism is a material or intellectual enterprise. Drawing on the research and theorization of scholars such as Lippard, Leah Modigliani, Peter Osborne, Jeff Derksen, Jason Wiens, Scott Watson, Alexander Alberro, Kenneth Goldsmith, Caroline Bergvall, and Adrian Piper, I argue that Vancouver conceptualism is both materially and critically, intellectually engaged with the social, cultural, political, and economic histories and realities of Vancouver. Examining the creative and critical work of such artists and writers as Derksen, Stan Douglas, Fred Wah, Jeff Wall, and Lisa Robertson, I observe how, as a kind of critical- and often para-linguistic assemblage, these forces form a discernable poetics of Vancouver, incorporating art histories, criticism, formal conventions, ideas of and engagement with the archive, and impactful events in the city’s historical unfolding to shape the way Vancouver conceptualism circulates locally and internationally. By means of a reconsideration of Vancouver’s art world, including key artworks, poems, archives, and events, I seek to demonstrate how conceptualist photography and writing are complex and varied practices that engage at once with theory, art history, and social and cultural histories in the city.


title: The Un-Making of Difference: The Winding Road of Deinstitutionalization in Ontario, 1960-2018

subject:
intellectual disability
deinstitutionalization
personhood
People First Ontario
survivors stories

abstract:
The institutionalization of people with an intellectual impairment lives in the shadows of
Canadian history. In Ontario, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, social and medical ideas about
human difference emerging from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries resulted in the
massive push toward segregation and institutionalization of all kinds of “undesirable” types of
people, including those with a physical and mental impairment. Although institutionalization
itself, as a “solution” for people without an intellectual impairment came under early fire by
medical experts and policy makers, these arguments were not applied to children or adults with
an intellectual impairment. I will argue that the appeal of institutionalization, which persists
despite decades of irrefutable evidence about its extraordinary harm, continues to exist because
the beliefs and attitudes of those who made the decisions to institutionalize in the first place
continue to circulate, and to dominate our thinking about what is “best” for people with an
intellectual impairment. These attitudes fundamentally deny that people who have an
impairment are “persons” in the same sense as those who do not have an impairment are. My
thesis outlines the various elements which have shaped attitudes toward people with an
intellectual impairment since the late nineteenth century, and the ways these attitudes (medical,
social, and political) were built into the physical landscape of the province, in the shape of
congregate institutions. Using oral history interviews with many of the survivors of these
institutions, I argue that these attitudes about personhood are fundamentally wrong, and detail
how the agency and activism of the intellectually impaired, themselves, was a crucial element in
institutional closures and the crucial (yet unfinished) shift toward community living.


title: An Analysis of Behavioural Interventions for Transition Difficulties of Children and Youth with Developmental Disabilities

subject:
autism spectrum disorder
intellectual disabilities
developmental disabilities
transition difficulties
behavioural interventions

abstract:
Successfully transitioning from one activity, task, or location to another is an important adaptive
skill. For children and youth with developmental disabilities, these transitions can be problematic. The purpose of the current study was to systematically examine behavioural studies aimed at improving activity, task, and location transitions for children and youth with developmental disabilities. Four electronic databases (Education Source, Eric, PubMed, and PsycINFO) were searched resulting in 1,439 studies for initial data analyses. Of these studies, 19 met full inclusion criteria and were subjected to additional analyses. Key characteristics of the final sample were described. Existing behavioural treatments incorporated intervention strategies such as visuals, prompting using assisted technology, and video modelling across various settings. Rigour assessments of the final 19 studies resulted in a majority of “weak” quality studies (n = 15). Overall, behavioural interventions may be effective in treating transition difficulties among this population; however, additional research is required.


title: Interactions and Population Dynamics Between Erwinia amylovora, Pantoea agglomerans, and their Bacteriophages for Effective Phage Therapy

subject:
Erwinia amylovora
Bacteriophage
qPCR
GWAS
Population Dynamics

abstract:
Fire blight is a globally devastating disease of apples, pears, and other rosaceous plants caused by the bacterial phytopathogen Erwinia amylovora. Our lab is developing a dual-action biological control product using the epiphytic bacterial antagonist Pantoea agglomerans and a cocktail of bacterial viruses called bacteriophages. P. agglomerans act as host cells for a cocktail of phages targeting E. amylovora in planta and also exclude the pathogen from the blossom pistil and hypanthia by natural antagonism and antibiotic production. The objective of this research is to understand the dynamics between the pathogen, the carrier, and their phages and use this information to develop an effective phage-carrier system for the control of E. amylovora.
A novel DNA plasmid was created which allows simultaneous quantification of E. amylovora, P. agglomerans, and four Erwinia phage species using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). This plasmid standard-based qPCR was used to study the host range of 10 phages against a global collection of Erwinia strains (n=106) and potential carriers (n=30), and to study the population dynamics of Erwinia phages in different host and cocktail combinations in unprecedented detail.
The host range on E. amylovora revealed global phage resistance is located largely in western North America, and this resistance is due in part to a greater effect of exopolysaccharide production by these hosts. Also three phages, ɸEa21-4, ɸEa46-1-A1, and φEa35-70, were chosen to investigate for potential biocontrol efficacy.
Phage ɸEa35-70, while ineffective alone, synergized with both ɸEa21-4 and ɸEa46-1-A1 for enhanced reduction of E. amylovora growth over 24 h. The competition between ɸEa21-4 and ɸEa35-70 was exploited which maximized carrier survival and lead to the design of an effective phage-carrier combination which will be formulated and further investigated for the control of E. amylovora in planta.
Finally, the quantitative host range data and host genomic sequences were used to identify 10 host genes that are potentially associated with phage infection using a novel, k-mer based, genome wide association study (GWAS). These genes are indicative of a potential phage receptor, two novel phage resistance mechanisms, and other metabolic and biological functions which may affect phage infection.


title: Examining the Strengths, Experiences, and Needs of Canadian Post-Secondary Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Pilot Study

subject:
post-secondary
PAR
Autistic
ASD
mixed methods

abstract: Post-secondary students with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) represent an underserved and underrepresented population in post-secondary environments and research. A study in the United Kingdom found that post-secondary students with ASD reported a higher frequency of thoughts about withdrawing from studies and difficulties with adjustment compared to other students. However, Canadian research exploring the experiences and needs of Autistic post-secondary students is limited. Additionally, few studies have reported the perspectives of post-secondary students on the autism spectrum directly. The purpose of this study was to develop and pilot a survey designed to examine the self-reported strengths, experiences, and needs of Canadian post-secondary students with ASD. The development of this survey was guided by steering committee members with relevant lived experiences. Pilot testing was conducted with a sample of 13 individuals who self-identified with ASD and had recently attended or were currently attending college or university in Ontario. This thesis was divided into three separate studies. Study 1 described an effective application of a participatory action research approach to develop a survey. Study 2 reported preliminary findings following pilot testing of the survey. Strengths reported by participants were mainly academic, while areas of limitation included social challenges and barriers within the post-secondary environment. Participants generally reported positive sentiments regarding services accessed. Study 3 described the process for gathering feedback for survey revision from pilot participants, which highlighted a preference for quantitative questions and provided suggestions for revision for future iterations of the survey. Recommendations for future research were discussed.


title: Analysis of cellular responses to microwave irradiation in E. coli and change of oxygen level and culture medium in human cancer cell lines using RNA-seq based transcriptomic profiling

subject:
RNA-seq
microwave irradiation
E. coli
culture conditions
cancer cell lines

abstract:
RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) is one of the applications of next-generation sequencing (NGS) with differential gene expression (DGE) analysis at the transcriptomic level as its primary objective. Among the NGS technologies, the Illumina platforms are the current standard for RNA-seq analysis for their best cost efficiency and sequencing accuracy. In this study, we employed Illumina-based RNA-seq to examine the gene expression profile change in E. coli cells after exposure to microwave irradiation (MWI) and in cancer cell lines in response to different culture conditions using breast cancer cell lines (MCF7) and prostate cancer cell lines (PC3) as the models.
Our results in examining the gene expression change in E. coli showed that the non-thermal effects of MWI led to E. coli cells entering the stationary phase with most of the downregulated genes involved in metabolic and biosynthesis pathways. MWI also upregulated the expression of genes important for the maintenance of membrane integrity and adhesion associated with bacterial motility. In comparison with other similar studies, our methodology allowed us to observe the impact of non-thermal effects of MWI at 2.45 GHz via simultaneous cooling.
Our results in examining the transcriptomic profile of MCF7 and PC3 cells in response to oxygen level and culture medium change showed that gene expression in MCF7 is highly affected by oxygen level and culture medium changes when compared to PC3, especially in DMEM at 18% O2. DNA replication, cell-cycle, and viral carcinogenesis are the most affected pathways observed from different culture conditions in both cell lines. In PC3, only the legionellosis seems to be most impacted by culture medium changes at 5% O2, involving 8 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), important for cancer cell development. DGE analysis also provides the transcriptomic profile of MCF7 and PC3, showing that different nutrient composition (between DMEM and Plasmax) and oxygen levels (5% O2 and 18% O2) changes the metabolism and various signaling pathways in both cell lines differently suggesting that the oxygen level and culture medium are important factors impacting the outcome of cell culture-based experiments in cell type-specific fashion.


title: Trends Shaping Education and Innovative Learning Environments: A Discourse Analysis of OECD CERI Projects

subject:
OECD
liberalism
discourse analysis
secondary (K-12) education
governance

abstract: The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was created in 1960 to advance economic expansion and world trade. Although it lacks a specific mandate for education, it has shaped national educational policy through the dissemination of ideas and transnational research. The Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI), a branch of the OECD, was created in 1968. Its potential influence on the educational policy of nation states suggests a need to investigate its vision for K-12 education. The purpose of this research was to critically analyse two major projects undertaken by CERI: Trends Shaping Education and Innovative Learning Environments, with respect to the nature of their embedded political discourse, as well as their constructions of K-12 schooling, teachers, and learners. Additionally, it critically explored how the discourse of innovation, accountability, and governance shapes education in particular ways. Drawing from Fairclough’s methods of critical discourse analysis (CDA), as adapted by Grewal, it examined the ideological and discursive nature of the CERI projects. Texts were interpreted through a liberal theoretical framework. Findings suggest the CERI Projects frame a neoliberal vision for K-12 education focussed primarily on economic ends. Although the social dimension of education is recognized with respect to its need to foster equity, equality and social cohesion, its discourse is best characterized as a form of flanking and roll-out neoliberalism. Both Projects embrace a human capital approach to education and advance a neoliberal subjectivity in which learners are defined by their economic utility and are framed as future workers who are flexible, adaptable, resilient, responsible, innovative, entrepreneurial, and good problem solvers. The ILE Project’s promotion of networks and partnerships with other sectors and business reflects a transition away from government to governance as promoted by New Public Governance, which also reflects a neoliberal orientation. In both Projects, innovation, accountability, and governance are nominalizations that reinforce a neoliberal policy perspective of education.


title: Inflammatory Cytokine Concentrations in Saliva versus Plasma at Rest and in Response to Intense Exercise in Adolescent Athletes

subject: Interleukins, TNF-α, saliva, plasma, adolescents, high-intensity interval swimming

abstract: Salivary and plasma concentrations of inflammatory cytokines at rest and following high-intensity interval exercise were compared in adolescent swimmers (21 male and 22 female, aged 13-17 years) to validate a non-invasive method of assessing inflammation in youth. Following provision of morning, fasted, resting blood and saliva samples, swimmers performed an intense swimming trial consisting of a maximal 200m swim, plus a high intensity interval swimming protocol (5x100m, 5x50m and 5x25m; 1:1 work-to-rest ratio), followed by post-exercise blood and saliva samples (~15 min). Salivary and plasma concentrations of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin 10 (IL-10), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) were similar in males and females across time. Resting concentrations of IL-10 were significantly lower while IL-6 and TNF-α were significantly higher in saliva compared with plasma. IL-6 did not show a significant time effect or interaction, so although its relative decrease from pre- to post-swimming was higher in saliva than in plasma this difference was not significant (-21% vs. -3%, respectively; p = 0.06). There was a significant time-by-media interaction for IL-10, which increased from pre- to post-swimming in plasma, but this response was attenuated in saliva (51% vs. 29%; p = 0.02). TNF-α showed a significant time-by-media interaction, reflecting a decrease from pre- to post-swimming only in saliva (-27%, p = 0.01). Intraclass correlation coefficients revealed no agreement between salivary and plasma cytokine levels, and low Pearson correlations revealed no association between these measures either at rest or in response to intense swimming. In conclusion, although the overall direction of the post-exercise response was similar between saliva and plasma, the magnitude of the response was consistently different in saliva compared with plasma, which combined with the different resting concentrations and the absence of correlation between measures, suggest that salivary cytokine measures are not representative of blood levels in young athletes.


title: Re-imagining Niagara: A Spatial Study of Economic Development (1783-1812)

subject:
Niagara
Historical GIS
Geographic Information Systems
Loyalist
Upper Canada

abstract:
The end of the American Revolution marked a turning point in the history of Niagara. In
the span of three decades, this Upper Canadian district evolved as the territory of nomadic
groups of Mississauga and Haudenosaunee nations into the post-war settlement of approximately
15,000 white, black, and British-allied Indigenous nations. Some arrived immediately as
refugees of the late war, while other families came later in hopes of securing a brighter future.

Historians generally discuss this period of Niagara’s history in terms of its socio-political
developments, while economic histories of the “Loyalist Era” are most often assigned a broader
lens focusing on trade and commerce in Upper Canada. To fill this historiographical gap, this
paper investigates the economic developments within the Niagara region from 1783-1812, using
geographic information systems (GIS) to analyze the role of geography alongside human agency
in commodity production and the formation of local trade networks.

This thesis includes an interactive webmap used to analyze a carefully compiled
geospatial database of commodity sales gathered from primary sources. Historical GIS sets this
project apart from others by bringing the investigations back to the land, showing how farmers
and merchants responded to natural barriers like distance, wetlands, elevation and soil type,
inciting individuals to adapt according to their personal circumstances.

Ultimately, this project illustrates Niagara’s post-war transition from its role as a
transshipment point in a larger transatlantic trade system into a productive agrarian economy by
the early 19th century. The Niagara escarpment and the region’s many creeks and rivers were the
economic hubs wherein diverse groups of people converged to participate in industries that
formed society’s foundational economic structures. At the same time, participation in Niagara’s
economy was limited by factors of race, gender, and class. Thus, it also discusses how
individuals maneuvered through their subjective socio-political positions within society in their
own unique way.

The re-interpretation of primary sources using spatial tools presents Niagara as an
important colonial region into which the British government poured significant funds for its
strategic position and market potential. Exposing its commercial development provides a
tangible contribution to this part of Canadian history.


title: The case of Grindr and gay men’s embodiment and body image through new media

subject: Body image, Embodiment, Grindr, MSM, Self-presentation

abstract: Grindr is a geo-social based dating application (app) that allows men who have sex with men (MSM) to connect with each other based on sexual preferences and appearance. The popularization of Grindr over the last decade and its major influence on the MSM community has brought about new queries into its usage, body image, and masculine (dis)embodiment, particularly due to its userbase being heavily appearance-focused. MSM in general are an understudied demographic in the body image literature. MSM have reported greater negative body image than their heterosexual counterparts pertaining to masculine identity, physical appearance, and sexualized self-presentation. To investigate the relationship between Grindr, body image, and MSM’s (dis)embodiment, a qualitative case study design was utilized. Nine MSM who had used Grindr took part in a semi-structured interview. Two data-driven themes were identified from the reflexive thematic analysis process; ‘No fats, no femmes, no Asians’ which explored the issues of social performativity and body image experiences on Grindr; and ‘Grindr doesn’t allow for… people to really express themselves’ which explored the experiences of using cyberspace dating and its effects on body image and self-presentation. Participants unanimously identified that their experiences on Grindr were catalysts for maladaptive behaviors, including excessive exercise, self-objectification, and disembodiment pertaining to their genuine self-identity. Body image was described as both a relationship one has with their body and as the ascription of others’ opinions of one’s body.  The disembodiment expressed was related to notions of performative masculinity to gain attention rather than being true to one’s self. Additionally, it was identified that for appearance-focused MSM, there remains issues of understanding what (positive) body image actually is. Participants described the complex relationships between sexual performativity, short-term satisfaction, and the necessity of others’ opinions for understanding their (positive) body image. Ultimately, Grindr was identified to be a negative cyberspace which facilitates curated ideal-self presentation that focuses on self-objectification for the pleasure of other MSM as a way of being perceived as desirable.


title: Natural Connections: Exploring the Role of Engagement in Outdoor Activities and Technology Use on Children’s Moral Concern for Wild Animals and Ecosystems

subject: Nature, wild animals, moral concern, outdoors, children, youth, technology

abstract: This exploratory study examined children’s moral concern about wild animals and nature and the association with children’s engagement in outdoor activities and their use of technology in outdoor spaces. Participants included 61 children (aged from 7 to 15 years) and their caregivers. Caregivers completed a demographic questionnaire, and children participated in semi-structured interviews. As hypothesized, this study’s findings showed a significant association between age and children’s justifications for not harming wild animals, with older children giving more complex biocentric justifications and younger children giving less complex, anthropocentric justifications. A significant association was also found between children’s reasons for not using technology outdoors and children’s reports of whether it is “okay” or “not okay” to harm ecosystems. Children who said that they did not use technology because it “decreased their engagement” were unanimous in their belief that it was “not okay” to harm wild animals. In contrast, children who said that they did not use technology because they were “not allowed” tended to endorse the position that “it depends” when they were asked if it was “okay” or “not okay” to harm ecosystems. Similarly, a significant association was found regarding children’s technology use and moral concern justifications for not harming wild animals. Children who reported using technology outdoors for “personal benefits” tended to mostly report less complex, anthropocentric justifications, whereas children who reported using technology to “capture memories” gave mostly more complex, biocentric justifications. Other significant associations and possible trends were noted among children’s moral concern and engagement in outdoor activities and technology use, and these are discussed. The implications of this study’s findings for the development of a curriculum related to humane or outdoor education are discussed.


title: Dynamic DNA Nanotechnology for Probing Single Nucleotide Variants and DNA Modifications

subject:
DNA Nanotechnology
Single nucleotide variant
DNA hybridization probe

abstract:
In the last decades, various DNA hybridization probes have been developed that attempt to conquer the challenge of single-nucleotide-variants (SNVs) detection. Even though a powerful toolbox including the toehold-exchange reaction, the dynamic ‘sink’ design, and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been built, it still faces practical problems. For example, the natural DNA is usually in double-stranded form whereas most hybridization probes aim for single-stranded targets; the concentration of extracted DNA samples is totally unknown thus may lay outside the optimal design of probes/primers. To achieve ultra-high sensitivity and specificity, expensive and sophisticated machines such as digital droplet PCR and next-generation-sequencing may be inapplicable in rural areas. Therefore, the quantitative PCR method is still the gold standard for clinical tests. Thus motivated, my PhD career was mainly focused on the fundamental understanding of the challenges in SNVs discrimination and developing robust, versatile, and user-friendly probes/strategies.
In this thesis, Chapter 1 provides a general introduction of dynamic DNA nanotechnology and its representative applications in discriminating SNVs. Chapter 2 to 4 describe three completed projects that aim to understand the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of strand displacement reactions and to circumvent the challenges of discriminating SNVs through finely tuned probes/assays.


title: A critical examination of postnatal women’s community team sport participation: “Playing for team motherhood”

subject:
community team sport
feminist
postnatal women
physically active leisure
resistance

abstract: Using a feminist lens, the purpose of this study is to understand the meanings and experiences of physically active leisure of postnatal women. Specifically, I aimed to critically examine how gendered expectations of motherhood impact their participation in community team sport after the birth of a child. Applying a critical feminist narrative inquiry approach, three interviews were conducted with each of the six postnatal women participated in this study. Three salient narratives developed that best reflect my interpretation of participants’ experiences: 1) Confronting the Challenges of Returning to Team Sport; 2) Relationships Aiding the Return to Team Sport; 3) Resistance and Empowerment Through Community Team Sport Participation. Moreover, these findings uncovered that gendered expectations of motherhood have a drastic impact on postnatal women's physically active leisure and lives. This study highlights the importance of creating equitable and inclusive policies, childcare, and programming that encourages postnatal women to return to community team sport without the pressures of intensive mothering hindering their participation.


title: Synthesis of Cyclopropenium-Appended Organocatalysts and Applications

subject: thiourea catalysis squaramide organocatalyst mechanism

abstract: Enclosed within this dissertation is the development and application of multiple cyclopropenium-containing compounds formally belonging to two closely-related classes of organocatalysts, namely thioureas and squaramides. The former catalyst, coined as a thiourea-cyclopropenium, is deployed in pyranylation reactions of alcohols and phenols, as well as Friedel–Crafts alkylation, while the latter—a squaramide-cyclopropenium catalyst—targets oxime ether bond formation. Accompanying these innovative synthetic methodologies are comprehensive experimental and computational mechanistic studies that work in synergy to delineate numerous key features, all of which provide valuable information with respect to understanding the multifaceted nature of catalysis. Experimental and spectral data are provided for all new compounds.


title: A Corrective Feedback Intervention in a Minority French Language School

subject:
Corrective feedback
minority language
second language acquisition

abstract:
Abstract
Educators in French schools in southern Ontario are challenged with the task of increasing their students’ oral linguistic ability in French within their predominantly English-speaking surroundings. Additionally, teachers wonder how they can provide guidance without discouraging students’ efforts and negatively affecting their self-efficacy. The purpose of this study was to examine whether or not corrective feedback (CF) from teachers and peers decreased the number of anglicisms and grammatical errors that students typically make and how an intervention based on CF would affect students’ self-efficacy with respect to their beliefs about their own communication skills. The research was premised on sociocultural and skills acquisition theory. The study employed a convergent mixed methods design that took place in a Grade 3/4 classroom in a French school in southern Ontario for a period of 4 months. Quantitative data were collected from oral communication tests, standardized vocabulary tests, and attitudinal tests. Qualitative data were derived from field notes taken from observations and interviews. The quantitative results indicated that the number of anglicisms and grammatical errors did not diminish significantly but students’ behaviour showed an increased awareness of language form and an increased willingness to improve. Qualitative and quantitative findings suggest that CF did not negatively affect students’ self-efficacy. As well, the findings indicated that students’ self-confidence and pride, their perceptions of improvement, and collaboration skills all increased during the CF intervention. Overall, this research provides implications for practice, research, and theory that can be used to implement effective ways of improving oral communication skills in minority language instruction through CF.


title: Disqualification by design: Strategic inefficiencies in Canada’s legal response to sexual assault

contributor: Social Justice and Equity Studies Program

subject:
sexual assault
criminal justice
rape myths
strategic inefficiency
barriers

abstract: In Canada, perpetrators of sexual assault (SA) continue to benefit from near legal immunity, with the overwhelming majority of criminal complaints being funneled out of the justice system without legal accountability. This project explores the mechanisms within the legal system that work to slow and stop complaints of SA, analyzing them as barriers to justice.  Drawing on intersectional feminist and decolonial theory and autoethnographic methodology, I analyze my own experiences of reporting my SA to the police and serving as a complainant in the SA trial that followed in conversation with selected  narratives of other survivors in the feminist literature. I show that within Canadian policing systems, survivors encounter several barriers including a culture of skepticism, investigative apathy, and patterns of critical police errors. In the trial process, barriers include the misapplication of SA law, a hostile courtroom culture, the “reasonable” perspective, alienation and domination through courtroom talk, and strategies to “whack the complainant”. Indigenous women, women with mental health or substance use issues, and poor women may be more likely to experience barriers in the justice system and may experience them more harshly. Drawing on Ahmed’s (2018, December 20) concept of strategic inefficiency, I argue that inefficiencies within the justice system are not simply “failures” to do something, but that they are doing something. Barriers in the criminal justice response to SA work to support existing hierarchies including (White) heteropatriarchal domination and men’s access to the bodies of those considered to be outside the circle of respectable femininity.


title: Synthetic Approaches to C-1 Derivatives of Pancratistatin

subject:
total synthesis
natural products
chemoenzymatic

abstract: The contents of this thesis describe a synthetic approach towards C-1 derivatives of pancratistatin, utilizing a previously published pathway to access a late-stage cis-diol. The key steps of the approach include enzymatic dihydroxylation to provide the C-ring backbone, Myers’ transposition to convert an allylic alcohol into an olefin, and nucleophilic substitution of a tosylate to insert carbon-based nucleophiles at C-1. Experimental and spectral data are provided for the novel compounds.


title: The impact of job insecurity on mental health over time across gender and family responsibility

subject: Job insecurity, mental health, gender, parental responsibilities, lone fathers

abstract: While there is growing evidence that job insecurity leads to increased mental distress, prior studies have not investigated how gender and parental responsibilities may exacerbate this relationship. Since gender and parental responsibilities may interact with job insecurity to produce unique stressors, examining their contribution as potential effect modifiers may provide insights into gender inequalities in mental health and inform gender-sensitive labour policies to ameliorate the negative effects of job insecurity. Our study addresses this gap by examining the longitudinal association between job insecurity and mental health across different configurations of gender and parental responsibilities using a prospective cohort study design. Our sample includes 34,772 employed participants from the UK Household Longitudinal Study over the period of 2010-2018. A gender-stratified fixed-effect regression was used to model the within-person change over time in mental health functioning  associated with loss of job security, and effect modification by parent-partner status (e.g. non-parents, lone mother, partnered father, etc). Loss of job security was associated with a moderate decrease in mental functioning for partnered fathers, partnered mothers, and non-parents ranging between a reduction in MCS-12 by 1.00 to 2.27 points (all significant at p<0.05). Lone fathers who lose their job security experienced a much higher decrease in mental functioning at -7.69 MCS-12 (95% CI: -12.69 to -2.70), while lone mothers did not experience any change. The effects of job insecurity on mental functioning varies across different configurations of gender, parental responsibilities, and partner status. Future studies should investigate the effects of policies that may reduce mental distress in the face of the threat of job loss such as reducing wait time for payment of unemployment benefits or increasing childcare cost coverage in the UK universal credit programme.


title: Efficacy and Safety of Pharmacological Treatments of Chagas Disease

subject:
Chagas disease
American Trypanosomiasis
Pharmacological treatment
Trypanocidals
Trypanosoma cruzi

abstract: Background: Chagas disease is a neglected tropical disease that causes a high burden of disease in the Americas. Current trypanocidal treatments vary drastically in efficacy, depending on the stage of disease and the drugs administered. Conventional trypanocidals present a significant risk of adverse events. Concerns about efficacy in the indeterminate and chronic stage, and safety in all stages remain a barrier to treatment. The objective of this review was to provide an update on the efficacy and safety of trypanocidals used in the treatment of Chagas disease. Methods: Eligible studies were retrieved from electronic databases, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE (Ovid), EMBASE (Ovid), LILACS (iAHx), PubMed, and SciELO from January 2015-December 2020. Language was restricted to English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Our review examined the efficacy and safety of the current trypanocidal drugs for Chagas disease compared to no treatment or placebo. Results: We included 13 studies (3 RCTs and 10 observational) involving 8022 participants. All 13 studies tested nitroderivative drugs, Benznidazole or Nifurtimox, two studies also tested azoles, Posaconazole or E1224 (Ravucanazole). Of the four trypanocidals, BNZ was shown to be the most efficacious in both types of studies. POS and E1224 both had an antiparasitic effect during the course of treatment, but the effect was not sustained and returned to near placebo levels. Of the two RCTs reporting patient- related outcomes neither found significant differences between groups in terms of development of ECG abnormalities or mortality. Among the observational studies, three found no significant differences in development of ECG abnormalities or mortality. Three studies found a significant difference in development of ECG abnormalities and two found a reduction in mortality in patients treated with trypanocidals. Conclusion: This review provides evidence that BNZ is still the most efficacious treatment despite its high frequency of AEs and treatment discontinuation due to them. Trypanocidal treatment may reduce the development of ECG abnormalities and reduce the risk of mortality, but confirmatory studies are required. As well, better markers for cure are needed to evaluate efficacy. Fully understanding the mechanisms of action of the conventional trypanocidals will also increase our knowledge on the efficacy/tolerance equilibrium.


title: Some New Estimator in Linear Mixed Models with Measurement error

subject:
Linear Mixed Models
Multicollinearity
New Mixed Ridge Estimator
Weighted Mixed Ridge Estimator
Measurement error

abstract: Linear mixed models (LMMs) are an important tool for the analysis of a broad range of structures including longitudinal data, repeated measures data (including cross-over studies), growth and dose-response curve data, clustered (or nested) data, multivariate data, and correlated data. In many practical situations, the observation of variables is subject to measurement errors, and ignoring these in data analysis can lead to inconsistent parameter estimation and invalid statistical inference. Therefore, it is necessary to extend LMMs by taking the effect of measurement errors into account. Multicollinearity and fixed-effect variables with measurement errors are two well-known problems in the analysis of linear regression models. Although there exists a large amount of research on these two problems, there is by now no single technique superior to all other techniques for the analysis of regression models when these problems are present. In this thesis, we propose two new estimators using Nakamura's approach in LMM with measurement errors to overcome multicollinearity. We consider that prior information is available on fixed and random effects. The first estimator is the new mixed ridge estimator (NMRE) and the second estimator is the weighted mixed ridge estimator (WMRE). We investigate the asymptotic properties of these proposed estimators and compare the performance of them  over the other estimators using the mean square error matrix (MSEM) criterion.  Finally, a data example and a Monte Carlo simulation are also provided to show the theoretical results.


title: Assessing the impacts of variable retention harvesting (VRH) and climate change on carbon sequestration and growth in a red pine (Pinus resinosa) plantation, southern Ontario, Canada

contributor: Environmental Sustainability Research Centre

subject:
Tree rings
Dendrochronology
Variable retention harvesting
Carbon sequestration
Climate-growth relationships

abstract:
Over the past two centuries, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have increased due to anthropogenic activities. In addition, global temperatures have also been rising and are expected to continue to increase into the next century. Southern Ontario, Canada is predicted to experience increasing temperatures and decreasing amounts of growing season precipitation in the coming decades. Silvicultural techniques, such as variable retention harvesting (VRH), are a possible method to aid in climate change mitigation and increase forest carbon sequestration. The aim of this study was to determine the impacts of VRH and climate change on the growth and carbon sequestration of red pine (Pinus resinosa) plantation trees in southern Ontario, Canada, using a randomized design in which five harvesting treatments (unharvested control (CN), 33% aggregated crown retention (33A), 55% aggregated crown retention (55A), 33% dispersed crown retention (33D), and 55% dispersed crown retention
(55D)) were applied.
     In order to assess the climatic drivers of growth and the impact of VRH on red pine growth, dendrochronological methods and allometric growth equations were utilized. The main climatic drivers of tree growth are May-July standard precipitation evapotranspiration index with 3-month memory (SPEI3), growing season average maximum temperature between the months of May to August, and total precipitation in May and June. Analysis of tree growth following VRH, indicates that dispersed retention is the only treatment that led to changing growth response to climate post-harvest. VRH was found to facilitate growth, annual biomass, carbon content, and carbon sequestration, but only in dispersed treatments. The highest increase in growth was seen in the 33D treatment, whereas aggregated treatments showed diminished growth post-harvest. Finally, exterior trees within aggregated treatments showed significantly higher growth and carbon sequestration when compared to interior trees.
     These results suggest that dispersed treatments are the optimal choice when the goal of VRH is to increase growth and carbon sequestration of red pine plantation trees. This work adds to our understanding of the effectiveness of VRH on above-ground carbon sequestration in a common afforestation species in the Great Lakes region, which will ultimately aid in informing
future forest management practices in southern Ontario.


title: The Effect of a Skate Treadmill Training Intervention on Stride Mechanics

subject: Skate Treadmill Stride Mechanics Training

abstract: The evolution of sport performance has been supported by the development and integration of advanced training devices and practices aimed at eliciting both physiological and mechanical adaptations. The primary purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of a 12-session skate treadmill training intervention on stride mechanics in youth ice hockey players. The secondary purpose was to investigate the effect of removing the training stimulus on retention of stride mechanics adaptations as a result of training. Stride mechanics were defined by the variables: stride length (SL·mm), stride frequency (SF·Hz), and select kinematic measures of the trunk, hip, and knee angles (°). Twenty-three ice hockey players (9.7 ± 0.5 y) completed an A-B-A, within-subject, quasi-experimental training intervention. Twelve treadmill sessions were scheduled over 9 weeks. Block A was defined by sessions 1-6 and 7-12, and included pre1-post1 and pre2-post2 assessments. Block B was defined by the time between sessions 6 and 7, whereby the training intervention was removed. The duration of Block B was consistent with the time to complete Block A (sessions 1-6 and 7-12), respectfully. Pre-post assessments included, anthropometric measures of [standing and sitting height (cm), weight (kg)], vertical jump height (cm), and stride mechanics. Stride mechanics, namely SL (mm), SF (Hz), and joint angles (°), were obtained from video analysis conducted at a constant treadmill speed (10 mph) and incline (5 °). While directional changes of improvement, namely increasing SL, decreasing SF, and increased knee flexion at weight acceptance were observed pre-post training sessions 1-6, 7-12 and overall, 1-12, the changes were not significant. Significant differences in hip and knee angles following toe-off pre-post training sessions 1-6 and sessions 1-12 were revealed (p < .05). No significant differences in stride mechanics pre-post training sessions 6-7 were revealed, indicating that the improvements seen through sessions 1-6 were retained. Pearson product moment correlations revealed significant correlations between SL and trunk and hip and knee angle following toe-off at Apost1, and between SL (mm) and knee angle at weight acceptance (°) at Apost2 (p < .05).


title: Dialectical Naturalism: Studies in Marxist Social Ontology

subject: Marx, Ilyenkov, philosophy, dialectics, Durkheim

abstract:
This thesis develops the thought of Marxist philosopher Evald Ilyenkov. Ilyenkov is notable for his efforts to challenge Soviet orthodoxy by locating ‘ideality’ within a classically Marxist, materialist ontology. The main argument presented here is Ilyenkov’s interpretation of Marx is one that can be constructively employed in debates within contemporary sociology and social theory.

Ilyenkov’s framework is developed over the first three chapters. The second half of the introduction critiques the orthodox interpretation of the famous base – superstructure metaphor, arguing that it should be understood as referring to both the natural processes through which the human species develops its understanding of the world and how these understandings evolve as humans transform the world.

The second chapter concerns Ilyenkov’s description of the philosophical development that led from Kant’s ontological dualism which recognized the importance of an ‘intellectual war’ to the advancement of science through Fichte’s individualistic but dialectical ontology to Hegel’s dialectical-idealist monism.

The third chapter locates Ilyenkov’s ‘ideality’ within the Marxist social ontology of Murray Smith. This framework is then used to explore and critique the methodological development of a social scientist who moved from a ‘radical social constructionist’ position to a project of synthesizing discrete ‘social’ and ‘natural’ factors over the course of his career.

The fourth chapter locates and describes the role of Ilyenkov’s ‘ideality’ within the history of global economic development and argues that a form of class warfare from above will persist into the future.

The fifth chapter compares and contrasts Ilyenkov’s ‘ideality’ and Durkheim’s ‘conscience collective’. As both concepts represent attempts to describe similar but often misunderstood phenomena, they evince definite parallels but Ilyenkov’s ‘ideality’ seems more comprehensive and its location within a Marxist framework offers much greater explanatory potential than Durkheim’s system. In particular, Marxism better explains the limitations of the postwar effort to construct a more humane capitalism.

The concluding chapter reviews the preceding chapters and ends not with a prediction of a utopia to come but with an optimistic call for the development of a revolutionary leadership capable of leading humanity’s creation of a socialist society.


title: Experiences of YMCA Day Camp Counsellors and their Perceptions of Youth

subject:
camp counsellors
social capital
community cultural wealth
youth work

abstract:
A large body of research examines the benefits of youth programming for children and their families, yet there is limited research that specifically focuses on day camps and the experiences of camp counsellors. My MA thesis explores the experiences of YMCA day camp counsellors and their perceptions of the children with whom they work. More specifically, I explore how camp counsellors perceive campers’ strengths, assets, and home life, the extent to which camp counsellors impose neoliberal values onto youth, and the social and developmental benefits of the camp experience for both campers and counsellors. Drawing on social capital theory (e.g., Putnam, 2000), Tara Yosso’s (2005) concept of community cultural wealth, and the “multiple worlds” model of Phelan et al. (1991), this thesis was undertaken with two broad objectives: (1) to understand the broader ideological forces that inform youth programming and the implications for creating an inclusive and equitable camping experience for diverse populations of young people; and (2), to illuminate the ways in which campers and counsellors benefit from participation in camp from a social and psychological standpoint.
The study is informed by qualitative interviews with eight study participants who were previously employed as YMCA day camp counsellors for a minimum of one full summer. Semi- structured interviews were utilized to elicit camp counsellors’ experiences along with their perceptions of youth and youth programming. These interview data are triangulated with my personal experience as a YMCA day camp counsellor. My findings highlight the drive and dedication that camp counsellors have to bettering the lives of the children they worked with. In addition, the study spotlights the ways in which youth programming is informed by the dominant neoliberal ideology. Despite the noble intentions of camp counsellors, this can result in a camping experience where neoliberal values are imposed on diverse populations of youth with
i
little consideration of the unique challenges that might inform resistant attitudes, or the strengths and assets that marginalized youth produce within their families and communities. In spite of these limitations and concerns, camp functions as a space where campers and counsellors have the opportunity to build constructive forms of bridging and bonding social capital. Lastly, I argue that camp has a vital role to play in an age of helicopter parenting where interaction by way of electronic devices has largely supplanted face-to-face interaction. In short, this thesis reveals both the shortcomings and benefits of the day camp experience, and unveils the complexities and challenges associated with youth programming in an increasingly diverse and unequal society.


title: Risk-Taking and CEO Compensation: CEO Pay Slice Versus Pay-Volatility Sensitivity

subject:
CEO compensation
pay-volatility sensitivity
CEO power
CEO pay slice

abstract: This paper aims to analyze the impacts of compensation incentives and CEO power on firm’s risk-taking by using stock return volatility (Srisk) and earnings volatility (Erisk) as the proxies of firm’s risk-taking level, and by using pay-volatility sensitivity (PVS) and CEO-pay slice (CPS) as the proxies of compensation incentives and CEO power, respectively. By applying ordinary least square (OLS) regression and two-stage least square (2SLS) regression on obtained data, this paper provides strong empirical evidence that PVS and CPS have negative impact on earnings volatility and stock return volatility. In addition, the negative impact of PVS on managerial risk-taking is greater for CEOs with lower CPS than that for CEOs with higher CPS. That is, EBC discourages CEOs from taking more risks, and more powerful CEOs are less risk-averse than less powerful CEOs when granted EBC.


title: An Ethnographic Case Study of Developing and Maintaining the Coach-Athlete Relationship in Elite University Sport

subject:
coach-athlete relationship
social processes
3+1Cs model
university sport

abstract: Relationships and social interactions are crucial components in sport participation from adolescence through to elite and professional levels of competition. Recently, there has been growing interest in the study of the coach-athlete relationship as a result of an increase in the awareness of its implications and potential impact on performance success. The purposes of this research were to: (a) describe and interpret how one university sport coach develops and maintains relationships with athletes within one competitive season, and (b) describe and interpret the practices (including intentions and actions) used to facilitate social interactions that nurture the coach-athlete relationship. One male coach and twelve female elite university athletes from one sport team participated in the research. Data were generated from two main sources: observations of team practices and games, and two individual interviews with the coach and three athletes (one interview during the competitive season and one interview after the season had ended). Through a constructivist lens, I investigated the participants’ unique perspectives of the ongoing processes within the coach-athlete relationship. I used Jowett’s (2001) adaptation of interdependence theory, the 3+1Cs model (closeness, commitment, complementarity, and co-orientation), to examine the perspectives of both coach and athletes and subsequently create an interpretive representation of my findings. Findings highlighted the variety of ways participants understood and interpreted their coach-athlete relationship. Several potential influences of these relationships were uncovered during data analysis such as: vulnerability, gender, communication, and self-reflection. Implications for coaches, athletes, and coach educators are discussed.


title: A Phenomenological Approach to Exploring Body Image Among Powerlifters

subject:
embodiment
positive body image
functionality

abstract: Sport and exercise are associated with less negative body image and more positive body image. For example, athletes report less negative body image than exercisers and non-athletes. One explanation for this finding is that competitive sport may be an embodying activity. Embodying activities are those which promote a mind-body link, body awareness and responsiveness, and physical empowerment and competence which in turn may reduce self-objectification and promote more positive body image. Powerlifting, a sport that involves the squat, bench, and deadlift, meets the criteria for embodying activities.  However, powerlifters also often have an appearance that does not ascribe to West culture ideal; in fact, they often have a body type that is perceived as obese (based on appearance). Ultimately, these athletes may experience body image struggles, as these athletes attempt to meet two contradictory ideals. Consequently, powerlifters’ experiences may be linked to both positive and negative body image, and further investigation is warranted. The research question for this study was: what are powerlifters’ experiences of body image in relation to their dietary and physical activity patterns? The research question was investigated using a phenomenological approach, specifically, heuristic inquiry. Four male and three female competitive powerlifters each participated in two semi-structured interviews. Interview questions aimed to understand the interconnection between body image, exercise, and dietary habits. Overall, results from this study provided evidence of both positive and negative body image. Women and men powerlifters embodied functionality (e.g., feeling their body lift the weight on the bar and focusing less on their how their body looked) and particularly for women, this represented a real shift in body image from their experiences prior to becoming involved in the sport. However, gender differences were also evident. Women related to the physical characteristics of the other powerlifters (e.g., toned and athletic female powerlifters) which impacted their body image both positively and negatively. Men sought powerlifting as a catalyst to not focus on the muscular ideal. Further, women’s dietary habits showed aspects of dietary restraint whereas men often force fed themselves to stay competitive. Overall, powerlifting had a complex impact on men and women’s body image.