title: Omnipotent or Finite? An Examination of the Party Government Model in Two Canadian Parliaments

contributor:
Atkinson, Michael
Political Science

subject:
Political Science
Political Science

abstract:
The prevalent conception of the British and Canadian parliamentary systems is one of executive-centred, party government control of the legislative process. This conception assumes that first, the governing executive will be drawn from that political party which controls the majority of seats in the House of Commons, and thus can withstand a vote of confidence in the House of Commons; and second that the prime minister and cabinet dominate the formal, parliamentary portions of the legislative process. "[The prime minister and cabinet] have a virtual monopoly of the relevant information, access to outside interests, the capacity to manipulate caucus, and control over the legislative agenda". Furthermore, using data drawn from analyses of the success rate of government bills within broad time-frames (i.e. the success of government bills post-1945), academic studies have confirmed this conception of parliament noting that the governing party is able to pass successfully: between 70 and 90 percent of its legislative package.

This thesis examines the dominant conception of parliament, as' it applies to Canada. In order to achieve this, the thesis moves through an exploration of how the dominant conception is postulated and. used by those political scientists who study parliament. From this a deductive and testable model of party government is developed. Next, the thesis empirically and systematically tests the hypotheses of the party government model in two majority Canadian parliaments --the 30th Parliament of prime minister Trudeau, and the 34th Parliament led by prime minister Mulroney.

The findings of the empirical tests are revealing. First we find that when policy saliency is tested for mandates, throne speeches and legislative packages it appears that governments do in fact attempt to implement their electoral platforms. In fact, there is a large degree of similarity in the emphasis given to salient policy domains by the respective governing parties when tested at all three points in time. Second, the legislative process for government bills in the two parliaments are examined. Here we note that the legislation for the 30th and 34th Parliaments demonstrates high success rates, and similar patterns of processing. These results suggest, among other things, that we should not underestimate the institutional constraints acting on governments in their attempt to pass their legislation.

The final two chapters further examine the institutional constraints acting upon government legislation. In particular, the role of the opposition parties ill effectively amending and opposing government bills, and their ability to draw-out the sitting time required for the passage of government bills are examined. It is in these two chapters that we find that the two governments do face active opposition parties, but that these opposition parties do not affect the governments' ability to pass their legislative packages intact and free from opposition sponsored amendments. Furthermore, while the opposition do actively sponsor amendments and division votes in the House of Commons, this activity is not consistently applied to all legislation. On the contrary, the opposition parties demonstrate a degree of selectivity when choosing which government bills to oppose. And on those bills where scrutiny is constant we find that the amount of time governments need to! pass their legislation is increased significantly.

Overall, the party government model does operate in the 30th and 34th parliaments. Moreover, the evidence suggests that the power differential of parliament is executive-centred as the governing party successfully implements over ninety percent of its legislative package. However, the data do not suggest that governments are omnipotent, rendering opposition futile. Rather the thesis concurs with Ryle and Giffith when they suggest that, "governments must govern with the opposition in mind."

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: A Reconsideration of the So-Called Kalacuri Monuments of the Deccan and Konkan

contributor:
Granoff, P.
Religious Sciences

subject: Religion Religion

abstract:
western India is home to a set of Śaiva and Buddhist rock-cut monuments which, according to several art historians, date to sometime in the sixth century, though the precise circumstances of their creation is a matter of debate. The majority of these cave temples belong to the early period in the development of the Hindu temple and a period of intense creativity in Indian Buddhism. These excavations have long interested both art historians and scholars of Indian religion. In this thesis I propose to look afresh at the problem of who built the earliest Śaiva temples and why, using insights from the study of many medieval inscriptions and an art historical analysis of particular aspects of the caves.

I attempt to show that this single stylistic development was not due to the influence of one set of dynastic patrons, as many scholars argue, but might have been due to the migration of groups of artisans from Northwest India to the west coast and then to Central India. I believe that some dynastic patronage was present because several of the caves contain shrines to the Seven Mothers, the embodiment of the power of several prominent Hindu gods, who were also believed to be the protecting deities of Indian kings. Such patronage, however, was more indirect than must be assumed in models which focus on patronage as a function of dynastic history.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: The Canadian Charter and Judicial Review of Administrative Action: The Scope of Fundamental Justice

contributor:
Lewis, T. J.
Political Science

subject:
Political Science
Political Science

abstract: In 1982, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was entrenched as a part of our Constitution. This thesis attempts to determine what effect the Charter will have on the practice of judicial review of administrative action and on the policy-making role of the Canadian judiciary. In so doing, I focus on the concept of due process of law. Prior to 1982, due process of law in Canada was enforced largely by the application of the principles of natural justice. With the passage of the Constitution Act, 1982, due process will also be enforced through the requirements of fundamental justice in s. 7 of the Charter. While "fundamental justice" in the Charter constitutionalizes the existing preconditions for applying the procedural rules of natural justice, it also empowers the courts to examine legislation or administrative action on the basis of non-procedural or substantive violations. This latter understanding of due process was uncharacteristic of the pre-1982 constitutional arrangement in Canada, and of the principles of natural justice.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: A Critical Portfolio: Being Chiefly Reports on New Music and Opera (1987-88) by a Critic Living in Hamilton, Ontario

contributor:
Littler, William
Rapoport, Paul
Music Criticism

subject: Music Music

abstract:
The critical portfolio here collected was written under the guidance of Mr. William Littler, music critic of the Toronto Star. ][t is primarily an idiosyncratic account of the new music concerts and opera productions in the Toronto and Hamilton area between June, 1987 and June, 1988. Canadian composers, performers and performings organizations are mentioned prominently, though significant concerts and operas from elsewhere lend breadth and depth to the coverage.

In an introductory essay, the thorny matter of using words to write about music is dealt with obliquely, through a discussion of the organization of the separate reports into a portfolio. The overall form of the portfolio is a literary one which alludes to traditional symphonic forms.

A short statement of the author's critical predilections serves as the critical creed in which these separate reports have a common origin. The introduction also lists the publications in which the some of the critiques first appeared. A summary of the editorial practices of the different publications explains the outside influences on the writing included in this portfolio.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: Inside and Around the Urn: A Phenomenological Reading of Keats's Odes

contributor:
Goellnicht, Donald
English

subject:
English Language and Literature
English Language and Literature

abstract:
This thesis provides phenomenological interpretations of Keats's odes. I The numerous paradoxes evoked in the odes reflect Keats's vacillation between immediate, beautiful phenomena and a philosophical acknowledgement of their evanescence. This dual perception is also apparent in his attitude to art, which is seen as either an illusory distortion of the actual world, or a medium through which one transcends one's temporality and participates in the immortal realm.

The theoretical introduction briefly outlines the history of phenomenology and the schools of literary criticism it has influenced. Most I important to my analysis are the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer, whose philosophical hermeneutics suggests that interpretation in the humanities must I evolve from our knowledge of tradition rather than from scientific method, and I of Wolfgang Iser, whose reader-response theory of literature stresses the role I of individual readers in formulating a text's meaning.

With one section of the central chapter devoted to each of the poems, I apply phenomenological concepts to the odes which elucidate Keats's use of paradox, his view of the relation between time and space, and his theory of the development of the self through its experience with the world of phenomena. The collective speakers in the odes move towards a broader perspective, being increasingly able to balance their appreciation of ephemeral beauty with a transcendent acceptance: of human limitation; in the same way, the reader gains self-awareness in achieving a balance between her personal disposition and the meaning emitted by the text.

It is remarkable that few critics have interpreted Keats's odes from a phenomenological perspective, which encourages an open-minded attitude to the world without denying more transcendent, spiritual truths, both aspects central to these poems. A study of the odes must not seek to explain contradictions, but to accept them as fundamental paradoxes of experiential life.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: LEISURE AND WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES: NEW DIRECTIONS IN SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE

contributor:
White, Philip G.
Sociology

subject: Sociology Sociology

abstract:
Disablement has been defined according to three criteria; impairment, which addresses the biological aspects of disablement, disability which addresses functional loss, and handicap which addresses the social and environmental aspects related to disability. One or more of these c0mponents influence social policy development. Unlike previous models of disability, this research uses a multidimensional approach to explore the subjective experiences of women with disabilities in relationship to leisure. Further, it addresses all the components of disablement to explore the biological and cultural aspects that impact on the female, disabled body during leisure pursuits. Leisure is one aspect of the human experience that provides the opportunity to experience the integration of the mind, body and social components of one"s life.

The findings suggested that the women define leisure similarly to other women and to persons without disabilities but their definition was broad enough to incorporate differing functional abilities. Their leisure became more passive, isolated and segregated with adulthood. Reasons for this includled constraints due to the body, transportation, time, environments, equipment, relationships, economics and policies which place them in a separate and distinct position in society. They must adapt their bodies, activities, time schedules, environments, and equipment to meet their desires and functional needs for leisure.

Solutions need to accommodate issues of differing needs while ensuring the treatment of persons with disabilities as persons first. Increasing awareness, incorporating persons with disabilities into decision making processes that affect their lives and universalizing policies and perceptions would encourage inclusion.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: CONTENT ISSUES IN CHILD HEALTH STATUS AND QUALITY OF LIFE INSTRUMENTS: ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES WITH NEW METHODS

contributor:
Rosenbaum, Peter
Rehabilitation Science

subject: content validity

subject: quality of life

subject: health related quality of life

subject: health status

subject: instruments

subject: questionnaires

subject: International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health

subject: child

subject: Medicine and Health Sciences

subject: Medicine and Health Sciences

abstract:
Background: Health status and quality of life (QOL) instruments developed for children were created with many different conceptual perspectives. These perspectives were based on contextual understandings of the terms health and QOL at different points in time. As a result, there is a wide variety in the perspectives, health and life domains that are measured with these instruments.

Purpose: This thesis is dedicated to resolving conceptual inconsistencies that arise from various instruments using content analysis techniques.

Method: A method for analyzing the content of self-report instruments has been created and validated for adult measures. This method uses the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) as the conceptual framework and the standard terminology to code each item from each instrument. Content analysis using this method will be reviewed, revised and validated for child health status and QOL instruments.

Results: The content analysis method was revised to resolve issues regarding the perspective of instruments (e.g. health status versus QOL). Once applied to child self-report instruments, many inconsistencies between measures and their application were discovered.

Discussion: The field of child health and QOL measurement applies and interprets the use of health status and QOL instruments inconsistently and this impacts upon content validity. Additionally, the repercussions of conceptual inconsistencies have an important effect on consequential validity in child health.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: YOUTH IN FOSTER HOME CARE: A SOCTIAL SYSTEM ANALYSIS OF CONGRUENCE IN PERCEPTIONS OF YOUTHS, FOSTER MOTHEHS, AND SOCIAL WORKERS

subject:
Social Work
Social Work

abstract: Doctor of Social Work (DSW)


title: Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy: A Study of The Spanish Tragedy and Titus Andronicus

contributor:
Duncan, Douglas
Literature

abstract:
The purpose of this thesis is to compare two early Elizabethan revenge tragedies, Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy and Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, in light of the recent critical re-evaluation of these two plays. I have chosen to examine these plays according to three distinct topics: the imagesof nature used by Kyd and Shakespeare; the theme of justice and the dramatic convention of the revenger's madness.

I propose that The Spanish Tragedy and Titus Andronicus are not simply the crudely constructed plays that they were once thought to have been, but that Kyd and Shakespeare present their audiences with a compelling portrait of the individual caught up in an age of crisis. The method used in this thesis is to focus primarily on the protagonists' vision of society in both plays and show how this vision changes substantially by the conclusion. Both Hieronimo and Titus undergo a radical psychological transformation during the course of their respective plays. Although it has frequently been said that the revenger's madness results from his excessive grief over the loss of his children, I think this is only part of the entire story. In both The Spanish Tragedy and Titus Andronicus the protagonists originally possess a belief in the benevolence of nature and also demonstrate their faith in earthly justice; but they are forced to re-think these beliefs when they and their families become the victims of brutal crimes.

Through this thesis I hope to show that The Spanish Tragedy and Titus Andronicus are far from being mere entertainment for the masses, and that they present an artistic vision of the virtuous individual trying to come to some understanding of the nature of his own corrupt society.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: "Dying into Life": Images of Fixity and Paradox in Three Poems by Keats

contributor:
Goellnicht, Donald
Literature

abstract:
This thesis examines fixed and paradoxical images in three of Keats's narrative poems: Hyperion, The Eve of St. Agnes,: and Lamia. All three poems are concerned with the distinction Keats makes in his letters between the personality of the "man of power" and that of the "man of genius." My introduction explores this distinction by examining its genesis and growth in the letters.

The three chapters that follow seek to explain how I Hyperion, The: Eve of St. Agnes, and Lamia give dramatic rendering to Keats's debate over the value of each personality-type. In all three poems, Keats explores the sterility of that attitude toward experience adopted by the "man of power" by describing it through images of fixity, where the sense of closure evoked by the images suggests the circumscription of the attitude. The paradoxical images used to describe the approach to life taken by the "man of genius" I attempt to evoke a contrasting sense of vigour. championing the speculative attitude by describing it in vital terms. The consistency of this representation makes it an important though hitherto largely unnoticed, element of these narrative poems.

In my conclusion, I briefly suggest how this element informs other poems by Keats

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: Immunostimulatory Properties of Carrageenans

contributor:
McCandless, E. L.
Biology

subject: Biology Biology

abstract:
The capacity of carrageenan to enhance the primary humoral immune response to foreign erythrocytes was assessed using the Jerne plaque assay. It was found that kappa-carrageenan had an adjuvant effect for both the IgM and IgG response of BALB/c mice to sheep red blood cells. This adjuvant effect was dependent on the dose of carrageenan administered, the genetic background of the experimental animals (BALB/c, C57BL/6, and BALB/c x C57BL/6 F₁ hybrid mice were used), the time of carrageenan injection (relative to antigen), and the type of carrageenan used (kappa-, iota-, and lambda-carrageenans were used).

The direct addition of kappa-carrageenan to cultures of spleen cells also had an adjuvant effect for the anti-SRBC responses. This in vitro effect depended on the dose of carrageenan added, the genetic background of the spleen cell donors, and the type of carrageenan used.

In order to assess the mode of action of carrageenan's (in vivo) immunostimulatory activity, the capacity of spleen cells from mice which had been injected with carrageenan to modulate an in vitro immune response was studied. It was found that carrageenan-treated cells released of soluble factor(s) which enhanced the in vitro anti-sheep red blood cell response of murine spleen cells. The amount of enhancement observed in vitro was directly correlated to the dose of carrageenan given in vivo suggesting that inducing the release of soluble enhancing factor(s) was the basis for carrageenan's adjuvant effect.

Cell fractionation experiments revealed that the soluble enhancing factor(s) was produced by a non-adherent T-cell and that cell-cell interactions were involved in its production. The possibility that the soluble enhancing factor was interleukin 2 was discussed.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: EFFECTIVE USE OF TEXT AND IMAGES IN MULTIMEDIA INSTRUCTION BASED ON COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORY

contributor:
Kim, Joseph A.
Shore, David
Milliken, Bruce
Psychology

subject:
multimedia instruction
cognitive load theory
text
images
Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive Psychology

abstract:
The best category to describe this thesis is:

Pedagogy and Applieded Cognitive Psychology

abstract: This thesis discusses two experiments that investigated the effective use of text and images in multimedia instruction. Experiment 1 examined efficient methods of multimedia design based on theoretical principles concerning how words and images influence information processing. Computer-based lectures were presented to university students containing visual elements including redundant text, non-redundant text, images, and the speaker’s image. Lectures with redundant text and audio produced poorer comprehension in comparison to lectures with non-redundant text and images. Non-redundant text and images enhanced learning, and accurate assessments of understanding. Experiment 2 implemented a more controlled design using four computer-based lectures with only two variable manipulations: text (redundant vs. non-redundant) and image (present vs. absent). The speaker’s image was removed from the design in Experiment 2 due to its lack of influence on learning in Experiment 1. Redundant text lectures produced the poorest comprehension, but only when images were absent. Contrary to common belief, these experiments demonstrate that redundant text is not an effective visual aid. Additionally, this thesis discusses future research investigating cognitive explanations for text and image effects in multimedia learning.

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: SYNTHESIS, CRYSTAL STRUCTURE AND MAGNETISM OF PEROVSKITE-BASED TRANSITION METAL OXIDES

contributor:
Greedan, John E.
Jacques Barbier, Yurij Mozharivskyj
Jacques Barbier, Yurij Mozharivskyj
Chemistry

subject:
Pillared Perovskite
Oxygen deficient Perovskite
Brownmillerite
Crystal Structure
Magnetism
Inorganic Chemistry
Materials Chemistry
Physical Chemistry
Inorganic Chemistry

abstract:
A series of layered perovskite-based compounds were synthesized and studied as follows.

La5Mo2.76(4)V1.25(4)O16 is a new pillared-perovskite synthesized by solid state chemistry method. It has layers of corner-sharing octahedra separated by dimers of edge-sharing octahedra, and is the first Mo-based pillared-perovskite whose magnetic structure was determined by neutron diffraction.

Ca2FeMnO5 is an oxygen-deficient-perovskite with a brownmillerite-type ordering of oxygen vacancies, resulting in layers of corner-sharing octahedra separated by chains of corner-sharing tetrahedra. The octahedral layer contains mostly (~87%) Mn, while the tetrahedral layer is mainly (~91%) occupied by Fe. Long-range G-type magnetic ordering is present, where the moment on each site is coupled antiferromagnetically relative to all nearest neighbors.

Ca2FeCoO5 has a brownmillerite superstructure with space group Pcmb, a rare space group for brownmillerites that requires doubling of one unit cell axis. Ca2FeCoO5 is the first brownmillerite to contain intra-layer cation ordering. It has a long-range G-type ordering, and is the first brownmillerite to show spin re-orientation as function of temperature.

Sr2FeMnO5+y was synthesized in both air (y~0.5) and argon (y~0), both of which resulted in vacancy-disordered cubic structures. The argon compound has a local brownmillerite structure, i.e. local ordering of vacancies. It has a superparamagnetic state below ~55K, with domains of short range (50Å) G-type ordering at 4K. For the air synthesized compound, y~0.5, long range G-type ordering is observed in ~4% of the sample.

Sr2Fe1.9M0.1O5+y (M=Mn, Cr, Co; y= 0, 0.5) were synthesized in both air(y~0.5), and argon(y~0). All argon materials are brownmillerites with G-type magnetic ordering, but TN’s are significantly different. The air-synthesized Co-material has long range vacancy ordering and magnetic ordering, while the Mn and Cr-materials (air) lack such orderings and both show spin-glass-like transitions.

Sr2Fe1.5Cr0.5O5 has a vacancy-disordered cubic structure, but contains long range G-type magnetic ordering, unlike the other vacancy-disordered materials studied.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Close-range Machine Vision for Gridded Surface Measurement

contributor:
Capson, David
Spence, Allan
Nicola Nicolici, Shahram Shirani
Electrical and Computer Engineering

subject:
Computer vision
machine vision
grid measurement
grid tracking
Other Computer Engineering
Other Computer Engineering

abstract:
Accurate measurement of surface grids through imaging enables a variety of applications. One important example can be found in automotive manufacturing, where deformed sheet metal surface strains must be validated in safety critical regions, and rapidly measured to correct process variations. This thesis advances machine vision techniques in the context of close-range surface imaging and measurement. Sheet metal surface strain analysis provides a motivating application, but the contributions may be directly transferred to a variety of other machine vision applications where reliable, accurate measurements are required in adverse imaging conditions.

Close-range imaging in practical environments presents a number of challenges, primarily relating to depth of field blur and the regional field of view. This thesis contributes to three major components required for close-range optically-based surface measurement. First, an approach for grid line intersection measurement in the presence of significant and varying depth-of-field blur is considered, with a solution based on scale-space ridge extraction. An architecture for acceleration of the computationally intensive algorithm is then developed, and implemented using state of the art graphics (GPU) hardware. Acceleration to camera video frame rates is achieved.

The second contribution is a novel approach for interframe motion tracking of uniform gridded surfaces. The algorithm exploits topological structure of the imaged grid pattern, thereby reducing dimensionality of the interframe tracking problem. Intrinsic fiducial measurement is proposed to avoid the need for explicit feature detectors that locate fiducials in the presence of varying size and blur. Close-range interframe tracking is demonstrated, and statistics are presented on the registration objective function.

Finally, an approach is considered for camera and hand-eye calibration of a monocular camera mounted to the tool point of a coordinate measuring machine (CMM). Pre-processing algorithms are contributed to prepare close-range gridded image data for the calibration process. Ideal model coordinate points are coherently assigned to detected grid features across video sequences, and grid approximation is performed for highly blurred image frames where reliable features have not been extracted.

The contributions of this thesis make significant progress toward enabling video frame rate, close-range, computer vision-based sheet metal surface strain analysis, and other applications where challenging image conditions impede measurement.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Bertrand Russell On Perception and Knowledge (1927 - 59)

contributor:
Griffin, Nicholas
Blackwell, Kenneth
Garrett, Brian
Philosophy

subject:
Russell
Perception
Epistemology
Metaphysics
Physics
Epistemology
Metaphysics
Philosophy of Science
Epistemology

abstract: Bertrand Russell is one of the grandmasters of 20th Century Analytic Philosophy. It is surprising, then, that his work fell out of fashion later in his career. As a result, very little has been discussed concerning Russell’s work from the period of 1927 – 59. This thesis provides an analysis of Russell’s philosophical work from this era. Our attention here is on Russell’s theory of perception and the underlying metaphysical structure that is developed as a result of his scientific outlook. Russell’s philosophy during this time focused almost exclusively on perception, knowledge, and the epistemic relationship humans have with the world according to science. It is these topics that are engaged with and explicated. We discover that, due to Russell's outright acceptance of that conclusion found in physics, metaphysically he defends a four-dimensional neutral monist event ontology; perceptually he defends a causal theory where one's perceptions must be understood as only being of one's brain; and epistemically he is a fallibilist, wherein justification can be found in a coherent set of beliefs founded on intrinsically credible individual propositions, but knowledge itself is ultimately a vexed and imprecise concept.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: A Critical Comparison of Three Settings of the Undine Myth in Works by Hoffmann, Lortzing and Relinecke

contributor:
Walker, Alan
Music Criticism

subject: Music

abstract:
As a work of literature that has inspired numerous musical settings, Friedrich de la Motte Fougue's fairy tale Undine is an ideal entry into an examination of the interaction of literature with music in the works of nineteenth-century composers. This thesis examines three major works inspired by the tale, operas by E.T.A. Hoffmann and Albert Lortzing, and a flute sonata by Carl Reinecke. The varied responses of the three composers to the literary material are set against the context of their social and historical positions and in relation to the genres of opera and programme music.

Two introductory chapters present a history of the musical settings of Undine and define parameters for studying the influence of literature on music. Chapter Three analyzes the fairy tale itself and identifies its sources.

Each of the three central chapters examines one of the musical works, studying the ways in which each composer reinterpreted Fouque's fairy tale according to the demands of his time and place. Chapters Four and Five compare Hoffmann's and Lbrtzing's operatic treatments of the story as two diametrically opposed responses to the literary source. Chapters Six, an analysis of Reinecke's Sonata "Undine", deals with the problem of narration in instrumental music.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: 'Everybody Else Got To Have This Cookie': The Effects of Food Allergen Labels On the Well-Being of Canadians

contributor:
Elliott, Susan J.
Geography

subject: allergen labeling; mixed methods; consumers preferences; go-along interviews

subject: Human Geography

subject: Human Geography

abstract:
The Canadian prevalence for all food allergies is estimated to be 7.5%. The only management strategy for an allergic individual is a strict avoidance diet, which is heavily reliant on the effectiveness of food labels used on commercial food products. This thesis explores the effects of food allergen labels on the well-being of affected Canadians, using a social constructionist framework and a mixed methods approach.

The quantitative portion of this study drew upon primary survey data. Respondents were asked to self-report household allergic status, as well as purchasing behavior and attitudes towards precautionary statements (n=1380). Results from the quantitative analysis were used to inform and develop the qualitative interview schedule for the second phase of this thesis. Qualitative interviews in a grocery store setting were conducted with 12 anaphylactic individuals, or parents of anaphylactic children.Respondents were observed during the course of product selection and questioned about their shopping habits, perceptions of and preferences for allergen labels.

Results indicate that current Canadian allergen labels are not as effective as expected, since affected consumers reported not heeding precautionary statements. Allergic families were found to be less diligent than indirectly affected families, and also less likely to find precautionary statements helpful. Through qualitative interviews, it was found that prior experience, not allergen information, is the primary factor guiding purchasing decisions. Even though precautionary statements were found to be easy to understand, terminology, font sizes, and contrast issues on labels were reported to be key areas of improvement. Results from the two phases reflect differences in individuals‟ social constructions of risk, which ultimately shape purchasing and consumption behaviors. This research is the first to explore the effects of allergen labels on affected Canadians, using a social constructionist approach. Ultimately, results will help effective policy change in Canada and help affected consumers make safe consumption choices.

This research contributes to the number of health studies that utilized a mixed methods approach, which is an emerging paradigm. The use of mixed methods allowed for extension and refinement of results. Future research directions identified in this research include the need for pharmaceutical labeling in Canada, as well as the need to explore purchasing behaviors of indirectly affected families, as they also utilize allergen labels to guide consumption choices when shopping for allergy-controlled environments.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: Single Molecule Catalysis of Organic Ions Studied by Mass Spectrometry and Computational Chemistry

contributor:
Terlouw, J.K.
Paul Ayers, Brian McCarry
Paul Ayers, Brian McCarry
Chemistry

subject: Gas-phase ion chemistry

subject: proton-transport catalysis

subject: H-shift rearrangements

subject: tandem mass spectrometry

subject: computational chemistry

subject: neutralization-reionization mass spectrometry

subject: Analytical Chemistry

subject: Analytical Chemistry

abstract:
During the past fifty years, mass spectrometry, often hyphenated with chromatography, has developed into the most widely used technique for the quantitative and qualitative analysis of increasingly complex mixtures of (bio)organic molecules.

One important aspect of this development concerns the relationship between the structure (atom connectivity) of a molecule and the mass spectrum obtained by electron ionization (EI). In this context, from 1960 - 1990, a wealth of studies has appeared that uses a variety of novel experimental techniques, often in conjunction with isotope labelling, to probe the structure, stability, reactivity and dissociation characteristics of the radical cations generated by EI of various classes of molecules. One highlight was the discovery of surprisingly stable distonic ions and the role they play in the dissociation chemistry of ionized molecules.

However, mechanistic proposals based upon experimental observations can often only be considered as tentative. Synergy between experiment and theory would be ideal to remedy this situation, but it was not until recent spectacular advances in computer technology and software that this approach could be implemented. It has led to the growing realization that many rearrangement reactions of radical cations in the rarefied gas-phase involve catalysis. Proton-transport catalysis (PTC) is a prime example : here, a neutral species induces an ion to isomerize via hydrogen-bridged radical cations (HBRCs) as intermediates. An exemplary case described in this thesis concerns the ion-molecule reaction of the cyanamide ion with a single H2O molecule : experiment and theory indicate that the H2O molecule catalyzes the swift transformation of NH2-CN·+ into the more stable carbodiimide ion HN=C=NH·+.

The thesis exploits the synergy of tandem mass spectrometry and computational chemistry to study the role of catalysis in the association and dissociation reactions of several systems of radical cations. During these studies, a new type of a catalyzed reaction was discovered: "ion-catalysis", where an organic cation promotes the otherwise prohibitive rearrangement of a neutral. Ion-catalysis is proposed to explain the unexpected loss of NH2O· from low-energy N-hydroxyacetamide ions CH3C(=O)NHOH·+ : the molecular ion rearranges into the HBRC [O=C-C(H2)--H--N(H)OH]·+ whose acetyl (cation) component catalyzes the transformation NHOH· --> NH2O·. Another highlight involves a hybrid reaction, in which both the ion and the neutral component of an incipient HBRC catalyze one another to rearrange into more stable isomers.

Catalysis may also play an important role in astrochemistry and a question addressed in this context is whether pyrimidine, a key component of DNA, may be generated by ion-molecule reactions. It appears that the acrylonitrile ion (AN) does not react with HCN to produce ionized pyrimidine, instead it isomerizes by PTC. However, the reaction of the ion with its neutral counterpart does not involve catalysis, but rather cyclization into the pyrimidine ion ! A related topic concerns the structures of covalently bound dimers of the ubiquitous interstellar molecules HCN and HNC. Neutralization-Reionization Mass Spectrometry in conjunction with model chemistry calculations leaves little doubt that the elusive dimers HN=C=C=NH and HC=N-C=NH are kinetically stable in the rarefied gas-phase, whereas HC=N-N=CH is not.

The structure of ions may also be probed by interactions with selected neutral molecules rather than dissociative collision experiments (MS/MS). An exciting case involves the differentiation of isomeric heterocyclic ions by ion-molecule reactions with dioxygen. Here, too, model chemistry calculations play an essential role in understanding the mechanism and the scope of the reaction.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Drayton's Moon-Goddess in Endimion and Phoebe

contributor:
Silcox, Mary
English

abstract: This thesis examines Michael Drayton's Endimion and Phoebe as a work that forces its reader to focus on its female subject: the Moon-goddess. Although critics have been fascinated with the experience of Endimion, Drayton's poem is actually constructed around Phoebe. The first chapter of the thesis explores the Neoplatonism in the poem, particularly as it leads to the paradox of Drayton's mutable goddess; Phoebe contains within her both unity and multiplicity. The second chapter discusses the further complexities of Phoebe by examining the unfolding of her character through the poem. When we consider the implications of moon mythology we will find the tension between Phoebe's passivity and her power of particular importance. Drayton's Moon-goddess, "the onely Mistres of the Night," is no mere accessory to Endimion and Phoebe but instead pervades the poem so thoroughly that we cannot dispute her status as the poem's nucleus.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: Ageism: A Conceptual Reformulation and Critique of Ageist Practices in Person-Care and Health-Care

contributor:
Waluchow, Wilfrid J.
Philosophy

subject: Philosophy Philosophy

abstract: The term, Ageism, was coined by Robert Butler, M.D., in 1968 and was defined as discrimination against the elderly. This definition has been widely accepted. I argue in this thesis that this definition is, itself, ageist and furthermore that it is a definition which patronizes the elderly and promotes victim-blaming. In addition to reformulating the concept in a universal way, this thesis distinguishes direct, chronological ageism and indirect functional, aesthetic, and symbolic ageism. These forms of ageism are shown to be morally inappropriate at the level of agent action. Chronological ageism is examined at the level of social policy and it is argued that ageist policies which cause suffering are unjust and immoral. Finally, a recent argument by Norman Daniels for an age criterion in tile allocation of scarce or expensive health-care benefits is analyzed in depth and criticized from several perspectives.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: Efficient OFDM Signaling Schemes For Visible Light Communication Systems

contributor:
Hranilovic, Steve
Tim Davidson, Jian-Kang Zhang
Tim Davidson, Jian-Kang Zhang
Electrical and Computer Engineering

subject:
Signal Processing
Systems and Communications
Signal Processing

abstract:
Solid-state LED lighting is a promising technology to improve the energy efficiency of general illumination. The inherent modulation bandwidth of these devices can be exploited to provide a dual role as a communication device. This method of communication is termed visible light communications (VLC).

Due to dispersive nature of the VLC channel, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has been proposed to allow multi-user communication while mitigating the effects of inter-symbol interference (ISI). However, OFDM is in general not compatible with intensity modulation and direct detection (IM/DD) channels since it has both positive and negative amplitudes. Various techniques have been proposed that provide compatible optical OFDM signaling such as DC-biased OFDM, asymmetrically clipped optical OFDM (ACO-OFDM), and pulse amplitude modulated discrete multi-tone (PAM-DMT).

This thesis develops spectrally factorized optical OFDM (SFO-OFDM) as a framework to implement OFDM on optical intensity channels. The drawbacks of conventional methods are mitigated in SFO-OFDM. Contrary to ACO-OFDM and PAM-DMT, the proposed technique uses all the available bandwidth for data modulation and does not require reserved subcarriers. Simulation results verify that SFO-OFDM has gain both in optical power efficiency and peak-to-average power ratio compared to conventional optical OFDM schemes.

Furthermore in this thesis, a new receiver design for ACO-OFDM and PAM-DMT is proposed. Unlike conventional receivers that ignore the structure of the transmitted signal, the new detector exploits this structure to improve the optical power efficiency. By observing the time domain samples, a simple pairwise maximum likelihood detector is developed and used to remove half of the noise power. It is also shown by simulation results that employing the proposed detector design leads to a significant gain in optical power efficiency.

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: Investigation into Interfacial Transports and Exchange Flows for Lake Models

contributor:
James, W.
Civil Engineering

subject:
Civil Engineering
Civil Engineering

abstract:
Many lakes act as receiving waters for polluted runoff and other effluents. Water quality problems in lakes depend for their management on numerical lake transport models. Lake transport models have recently become quite detailed and realistic. However, a difficulty still facing this field is the determination of the interfacial transports at the boundaries and related model parameters. Numerical modelling of lake physics and bio-chemistry requires special treatment of the boundaries at the air-water interface, sediment-water interface at the bottom of the lake and horizontal densimetric fluxes of active materials across the lake boundaries into and out of the lake. This latter problem is particularly complex when two interconnected lake basins of dissimilar characteristics exchange flow via communicating channel.

In this study, the following important parameters were derived and related to lake and flow conditions: surface drag coefficients, vertical eddy diffusion coefficients and bottom roughness.

At the air-water interface, momentum transfer is studied and the over-water wind stress is determined using the logarithmic wind velocity distribution and Von Karman's integral equation for turbulent flow over a rough movable surface of variable roughness. Thus the wind drag coefficient is determined as a function of wind-and-wave characteristics.

At the lake bottom, shear stress due to a very rough lake bed, with weed growth, is determined as a function of local parameters such as weed length and distribution. The approach is particularly suitable for shallow lakes with considerable roughness. Also, vertical transports at the sediment-water interface and in the water column above the sediments is studied using two natural tracers: temperature and Radon-222 isotope. Vertical eddy diffusivity in the lower layers of a lake is determined as a function of depth and time by using the observed temperature and Radon profiles.

At the lateral boundary, exchange flow between two interconnected stratified bodies of water is investigated. The local exchange is modeled through a proper treatment of stratified flow at the open boundaries at the two ends of the "connecting channel" and proper presentation of the effect of the adjacent basins.

Numerical models are developed to study the above processes and boundary conditions. The computational algorithms are tested for theoretical and computational performance. Numerical models are tested against available field observations at Valens reservoir, Hamilton harbour, Baldeggersee (Switzerland) and Lake Erie.

A three-dimensional hydrodynamical model of lake currents is applied to two, non-stratified and stratified, lakes during summer periods where field observations were carried out: Valens reservoir and Hamilton harbour.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Gross Men: Fat Masculinities and the Violence of Embodiment

contributor:
Clark, David L.
English

abstract:
We have seen a veritable explosion of commentaries, particularly in the last three years, on the distension of the American body. What is at stake and why such commentaries must so venomously and desperately assail the fat body are theoretical questions which remain obstinately unclear. And what is perhaps even more opaque are the psychological consequences this assailment holds for fat people. I take up, in this project, the task of thinking the fat body (and more specifically the fat male body) using Michel Foucault's theories of subjection as they have been respecified by Judith Butler. I cast here a consideration of where the fat male body tends to get located socially, how it tends to get identified and represented culturally, and what it means to inhabit a body determined to be fat and identified as "masculine."

This project asks how being fat distorts what it is to be male. Sander Gilman, who has emerged as the first to ask this question in a systematic way, tells us that fatness signals a whole array ofdistortions for masculinity. I was most intrigued, as I started to build this project, by what psychic or affiective impacts fat might have on the performance of masculinity. What I found was that the principal problem in interarticulating fat and masculinity for individual fat men, in public and in private, was complying with the demand that one reticently suppress any signs of distress over failing to comply with a model ofideal hardness.

I argue that the narrative of a contemporary "crisis of masculinity" might be one whose themes, in spite oftheir patent poJlitical expedience (the male establishment's imperative to recover by means of crisis a traditional model of "hardness" (see Robert Bly's Iron John) and its attendant privileges), are appropriable for a politics ofradical "re-figuration" which returns fire at a culture that compulsively denigrates the fat body as "gross" and destructively induces men to stifle all indications that they have been scarred by the mandate ofhegemonic masculinity.

This dissertation struggles to isolate the site ofthe fat male body (indeed in most circumstances an isolated and eschewed body) in order to observe and examine certain principles ofpresent subjection; to examine, more precisely, the principle of what Foucault terms ''the asymptotic movement," a disciplinary force which works on and in subjects, supplying the occasion and condition for subjecthood, by means of introducing to and into that subject a norm (in this particular case an aestheticallmorphological norm) which is barely approximable: a norm which remains forever fugitive.

If, as I contend, the current "obesity crisis" is not actually concerned with health, but with aesthetic standards, and if physical beauty is not something transcendental, not a quality somehow intrinsic to an object (what Aquinas called quidditas), but instead a privileged "material" morphology in fact produced and determined discursively, deployed according to a disciplinary principle ofmrresolvable imperfection, what is the purpose of so urgently and prolifically affrrming, as we have been in the West, that the haunting figure ofthe fat body is vilifiable because UJnhealthy? That is to say, if Americans so persistently label themselves the fattest nation in the world not precisely because a powerful uneasiness about public well-being incites them to do so, but because of a particular consternation regarding declining standards of personal discipline, waning principles of self-surveillance-if this is the case, then why do we continue to imagine that the "obesity epidemic" is about health? I insist that the urgency with which the corpulent body is pathologized is informed by the need to recover interpellative influence over intersticial bodies marked by culture as recklessly underdisciplined according to unachievable standards of physical beauty (hardness in men): bodies which, as I say in my opening, are so profoundly difficult to cohere and to correct.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: A QUALITATIVE INVESTIGATION OF THE EXPERIENCES OF PREGNANT ADOLESCENTS: DYNAMICS OF CONTROL AND RESISTANCE

contributor:
Lenton, Rhonda
Sociology

subject: Sociology Sociology

abstract: This research examines experiences of control and resistance during adolescent pregnancy. The research consisted of indepth interviews with eight pregnant adolescents in Southern Ontario. The study shows how young women experiencing early pregnancy encounter a loss of control due to the structural and cultural barriers to independence which exist in a patriarchal society. They lack structural power i.n the form of money and knowledge and lose cultural power through stigmatization and the physical changes associated with pregnancy. It further demonstrates how young women respond to this loss of control. Specifically, they not only react with resignation, but also with evasion, manipulation and active resistance in the attempt to gain personal power.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: THE COURT OF GENERAL QUARTER SESSIONS OF THE PEACE: LOCAL ADMINISTRATION IN PRE-MUNICIPAL UPPER CANADA

contributor:
Weaver, John C.
History

subject: History History

abstract: Between 1800 and 1832 virtually all aspects of local administration in Upper Canada were overseen by those men appointed to the office of Justice of the Peace. During this era the Justices of the Peace sitting in the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace accumulated. the vast majority of administrative and judicial powers granted by the Colonial Government to oversee local settlement. In the District of Johnstown, prior to its spectacular growth between 1816 and 1820, the monopoly of power which the Magistrates were granted allowed them to effectively administer to the administrative and judicial needs of the settlers in the District. However, as the population of the colony grew and administration became more time-consuming and complex, an unwieldy number administrative tasks were placed upon the shoulders of the Justices of the Peace. By 1832 the system of local government by the Magistrates had virtually collapsed. Through an analysis of the office of the Justice of the Peace, its role in local government, and its accomplishments in the early years of Upper Canada, this dissertation identifies some of the basic reasons which led to the demise of the pre-eminent position of Justices of the Peace in local administration and its replacement with elected Boards of Police in 1832. This analysis reveals that the traditional belief of Justices of the Peace as self-glorifying members of the colonial elite rather than effective instruments of local government is oversimplified. If fact, there existed a determined core of Working Justices who rose beyond what was expected of them between 1800 and 1832 to provide an effective form of local government. That the Working Justices were eventually unable to fulfill the needs of their office is largely not a reflection of their abilities, but rather of circumstance.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: The Performing Text: Laurence Sterne's The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy , Gentleman and the Theatrical Paradox

contributor:
Morton, Richard E.
English

abstract:
This thesis examines the influence of the' eighteenth-century theatre on the composition and structure of Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy. Eighteenth-century theatre epitomises the paradoxical drive toward a stable model of experience in texts and the simultaneous breakdown of textual stability in performance. Sterne was familiar with his contemporary theatre and makes numerous references to it throughout Tristram Shandy; this theatrical paradox of text and performance represents a significant mode of inquiry into the problems and paradoxes of social communication and literary signification addressed in the novel.

Each chapter explores one aspect of the eighteenth-century theatre and its appearance in major episodes in Tristram Shandy. Sterne's use of theatrical techniques is compared with the similar investigations of other eighteenth-century writers, including Dryden, Addition, Hogarth, and Garrick -- who appear in the novel -- as well as Fielding, Diderot, Shaftesbury, and Richardson. Chapter one discusses the intimate and often antagonistic relationship of theatre performers and writers and their audience and its similarity to Tristram's constructed relationship with his audience. Chapter two examines pictorial modes of signification - naturalistic gesture and tablleaux -- in the theatre. These techniques obviously influenced Sterne's sense of visual detail in the novel, but the inherent textuality of his medium allows him to expose the textual nature of this attempt to transcend verbal declamation. Chapter three deals with the similar issue of theatrical dialogue. While dialogue in performance suggests the interweaving presence of multiple discourses, Sterne suggests that this play of alternatives tends to be subsumed within a desire for a single dominating or incontestable point of view.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: The Road to Seneca Falls: The Origins of the Woman's Rights Movement in the United States, 1800-1848

contributor:
Russo, D.
History

subject: History History

abstract: This thesis seeks to offer an explanation to the question of why Seneca Falls occurred. It attempts to examine those movements and societal conditions which prompted women to demand an improvement in female life. The thesis specifically explores the areas of female education, abolition, and legal reform. The material suggests that women in the nineteenth century underwent a gradual change in consciousness wherein they became more aware of their subordinate position in society and began to seek ways of changing it. While the study does not introduce any new historical figures, it does examine them in a new context. Sources have indicated that w10men such as Catharine Beecher and Lydia Maria Child, who held strongly conservative Views, managed to advance the cause of gender equality, regardless of their personal convictions. By examining the actions and consequences of leading female reformers in the nineteenth-century, I have demonstrated the gradual move towards feminism and woman suffrage.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: Aldous Huxley and the Visual Arts

contributor:
Roebuck, W.G.
English

abstract:
Art is not the discovery of Reality -- whatever Reality may be, and no human being can possibly know. It is the organization of chaotic appearance into an orderly and human universe. -Jesting Pilate

There is no doubt that Aldous Huxley took a keen interest in the visual arts and their place in society, particularly during the nineteen twenties and early nineteen thirties. This quotation from Jesting Pilate (1926) accurately reflects the young writer's view on the creation of works of art. Order and humanity are key virtues to be pursued, not only artistically but socially as well. The social fragmentation, disillusionment and chaos which had befallen western society after August 1914, was echoed -- many persons thought in the modern visual arts. In his early satirical novels and essays, Huxley sought to thwart the fragmentary, egotistical, and morally bankrupt drift of his society -- as he viewed it. -- with a call for wholeness and a sense of values, collectively and individually.

In later years, Huxley acknowledged the limitations of art as a social corrective. However, he did come to perceive the transcendent qualities of the visual arts. There was a shift from the pessimistic, cynical graduate of Balliol with his Goyaesque view of postwar society to the semi-mystical humanist and social meliorist of the late nineteen fifties and early nineteen sixties.

This study will focus on Huxley's aesthetic views and the expression of his values in the visual arts, particularly during the period from 1920 to 1932, when the bulk of his art criticisms was produced. An attempt will be made to integrate Huxley's view of the artist and the arts with his view of society. It would be unfair to totally isolate Huxley's writings on art from his thoughts on society. The visual arts were deemed to be a vital and integral component of the social structure. It should also be noted and commented upon that the visual arts virtually vanish as a key element in the novels after Point Counter Point (1928).

This dissertation has a limited focus and is not intended to be a general critical assessment of Aldous Huxley as a novelist or essayist. What he had to say about the visual arts, generally remains as intelligent, pellucid and refreshing as it did when it was first published. What emerges from this study of Huxley's writings on the visual arts will be a justification of Kenneth Clark's view of Huxley as "one of the most discerning lookers of our time".

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: Structure and Deformation of the Sudbury Impact Crater

contributor:
Morris, William A.
Geology

subject:
Sudbury
Impact Crater
Matachewan
Digital Elevation Model
Geology
Geophysics and Seismology
Geology

abstract:
Digital elevation models (DEM) can be used for a multitude of applications. Under ideal circumstances, calibration of a remotely acquired estimate of topographic elevation is calibrated through use of ground control points (GCP) which would be ubiquitous, seamlessly joining remotely sensed data and high accuracy check points. In reality there are many areas on the earth’s surface which are difficult, expensive, or dangerous to access. Under these circumstances, the acquisition of GCPs may not be realistic and relative DEMs must be used. Innovative methods must then be used to determine the relative error associated with a DEM in a given study area. The method presented in this paper compares three DEMs (ASTER, CDED, SRTM) derived from independent acquisition systems to determine their relative errors.

The ASTER DEM data was chosen for a lineament analysis study in north central Ontario, Canada. This study used a quantitative digital approach to determine the density of lineaments mimicking the geometry of the northern Sudbury Igneous Complex contact (SIC). The study revealed a lineament density at ~25km north of the northern SIC contact, suggesting a ring structure from an ancient multi-ring impact basin. This argument is supported by findings of the pattern of plagioclase clouding intensities in Matachewan dykes in the vicinity of the ring structure. The orientation of the dykes may have some connection to the faulting and block rotation caused by crater wall collapse.

Paleomagnetic data from the norite in the SIC and Foy Offset dyke combined with an unconstrained magnetic inversion of the Foy Offset dyke suggest that the Sudbury Structure has not been folded, but instead has been deformed by brittle deformation.

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: Recent trends in intimate partner homicide risk in North America: Cohabiting and married victims

contributor:
Daly, Martin
Feinberg, David
Psychology

subject: United States

subject: common law

subject: de facto

subject: spousal homicide

subject: violence

subject: Supplementary Homicide Reports

subject: Criminology

subject: Gender and Sexuality

subject: Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance

subject: Social Psychology

subject: Criminology

abstract: Cohabiting with a partner, rather than living in a legal marriage, has been documented as a significant risk factor for intimate partner homicide. This study used national U.S. homicide data from 1990-2005 to examine changes in risk patterns. The results showed that both male and female cohabiting victims experienced a steep decline in intimate partner homicide rates. Such was the strength of this decline that by 2005 cohabiting couples were no longer at higher risk than married couples. A similar, though weaker, trend was found in Canada between 1991 and 2006. It was hypothesised that this convergence of cohabiting and married homicide rates was due to cohabiting and married populations becoming more similar in terms of socio-demographic variables. Contrary to expectation, over time, the U.S. and Canadian cohabiting populations remained younger, poorer, less educated, and less conventional, than their married counterparts. This suggests that demographic changes were not responsible for the decline in cohabiting homicide rates. Further research is required to determine whether changes in union characteristics may have driven the decline in cohabiting homicide risk.

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: MODELLING TRADE DURATIONS WITH THE BIRNBAUM-SAUNDERS AUTOREGRESSIVE MODEL

contributor:
Balakrishnan, Narayanaswamy
Mathematics and Statistics

subject:
high-frequency data
ACD model
Birnbaum-Saunders distribution
Statistics and Probability
Statistics and Probability

abstract: In this thesis we study the Birnbaum-Saunders autoregressive conditional du- ration (BS-ACD) model. As opposed to the standard ACD model, formulated in terms of the conditional mean duration, the BS-ACD model specifies the time-varying model dynamics in terms of the conditional median duration. By means of Monte Carlo simulations, we examine the asymptotic behaviour of the maximum likelihood estimators. We then present a study of numerical efficacy of some optimization algorithms in relation to the BS-ACD model. On a practical side, we fit the BS-ACD model to samples for six securities listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: Effects of Cues of Observation on Trust and Trustworthy Behaviours

contributor:
Shedden, Judith M
Psychology

subject:
Trust
Trustworthiness
Communication
Observation
Social Psychology
Social Psychology

abstract: Certain factors associated with online video communication have negative effects on the quality of an interaction. One’s propensity to trust others or reciprocate trust with others online may be influenced by these factors of video-mediated communication. I investigated the effects of two such factors on pro-social behaviours in two separate experiments. In the first experiment I assessed levels of reciprocation in the presence of absence of a web-camera, to see if the presence of a camera was a sufficient enough cue of observation to induce trustworthy behaviours. In the second experiment I tested the effect eye gaze had on trusting and trustworthy behaviours. Results from the current research suggest that direct eye gaze is an important factor in deciding whom to trust and with whom to reciprocate trust. The current research introduces methodological changes that help to combat high levels of variability in participant responses. Future directions for research on eye gaze and other factors of video-mediated communication are discussed.

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: Algebra in a Topos of Sheaves

contributor:
Banaschewski, Bernhard
Mathematics

subject: Mathematics Mathematics

abstract:
In this thesis, we undertake the study of some classical set-based algebraic concepts in a topos-theoretic setting. Actually, the topoi we are particularly interested in are the Grothendieck topoi.

The main topics from Universal Algebra considered here are injectivity, equational compactness and tensor products.

After proving some general results about the above notions, we show that, for any set of ℋ quasi-equations and an arbitrary Grothendieck topos E, ℳod(ℋ,E) has enough injectives iff ℳod ℋ has. Also that, for a noetherian Locale ℒ, pure homomorphisms, equational compactness and the existence of equationally compact hulls are characterized here the same way as in Ens. Finally, we consider the notion of bimorphisms for algebras in topos and prove, among other things, the counterpart of a result for algebras in Ens that tensor products and Universal bimorphisms are equivalent for suitable categories of algebras.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: The Development of Protocols to Engineer and Screen Streptomyces in High Throughput to Test for the Activation of Cryptic Clusters by the Heterologous Expression of Pleiotropic Regulators

contributor:
Nodwell, Justin R
Wright, Gerry
Li, Yingfu
Biochemistry

subject: luminescence lux conjugation screening HTP HTS Biochemistry Biotechnology Biochemistry

abstract: The Gram-positive, soil dwelling bacteria of the genus Streptomyces produce greater than 50% of the clinically relevant antibiotics in use today. Thanks to the falling price of DNA sequencing, Streptomyces genomes are revealing that they encode more secondary metabolites (potential antibiotics) than they produce under standard laboratory conditions. By heterologously overexpressing the known pleiotropic regulators of antibiotic expression from Streptomyces coelicolor in several other Streptomyces species it has been shown that the secondary metabolite profile of these species can be influenced. While present-day methods of introducing genes (conjugation) and screening for antibiotics work well on a small scale, the low throughput nature of these protocols stand as a barrier to testing this hypothesis on a larger scale. The focus of the research presented here was to develop high throughput (HTP) methods of engineering and screening Streptomyces. With these two technologies in place, an attempt was to made to introduce three plasmids (pSET152-ermE*p-null, pSET152-ermE*p-atrA and pSET152-ermE*p-lsr2NTD) into 120 wild-isolate Streptomyces species from the Wright Actinomycete Collection. Exconjugants were successfully obtained for all three plasmids in 48 species of Streptomyces and were screened for increased antimicrobial activity using a HTP, lux-based bioassay. Numerous strains showed increased antimicrobial activity but WAC00206, WAC00230 and WAC00263 with pSET152-ermE*p-lsr2NTD showed the most promising improvement in antimicrobial activity. These hits have been designated as high priority for future investigation. These results suggest that HTP conjugation and the lux-based bioassay are powerful methods for introducing plasmids into and screening engineered streptomycetes.

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: A NUMERICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF UNSTEADY LOADING OF HIGH SOLIDITY VERTICAL AXIS WIND TURBINES

contributor:
Tullis, Stephen
Ziada, Samir
Mechanical Engineering

subject:
Vertical Axis Wind Turbine
Dynamic Stall
Vibration Response
Three-dimensional Flow Effects
URANS Simulation
Vibration Mitigation Methodologies
Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics
Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics

abstract:
This thesis reports on a numerical and experimental investigation of the unsteady loading of high solidity vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs). Two-dimensional, unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes simulations of a small scale, high solidity, H-type Darrieus vertical axis wind turbine revealed the dominant effect of dynamic stall on the power production and vibration excitation of the turbine. Operation of the turbine at low blade speed ratios resulted in complex flow-blade interaction mechanisms. These include; dynamic stall resulting in large scale vortex production, vortex impingement on the source blade, and significant flow momentum extraction.

To validate the numerical model, a series of full-scale experimental wind tunnel tests were performed to determine the aerodynamic loading on the turbine airfoils, vibration response behaviour, and wake velocity. In order to accomplish this, a complex force measurement and wireless telemetry system was developed. During the course of this investigation, high vibration response of the turbine was observed. This resulted in conditions that made it difficult or impossible to measure the underlying aerodynamic loading. A vibration mitigation methodology was developed to remove the effect of vibration from the measured aerodynamic forces. In doing so, an accurate and complete measurement of the aerodynamic loading on the turbine blades was obtained.

Comparison of the two-dimensional numerical model results to the experimental measurements revealed a considerable over-prediction of the turbine aerodynamic force and power coefficients, and wake velocity. From this research, it was determined that the three-dimensional flow effects due to the finite aspect ratio of the turbine and blades, as well as parasitic losses, could be accounted for through the application of inlet velocity and turbine height correction factors. In doing so, the two-dimensional numerical model results could be properly scaled to represent the three-dimensional flow behaviour of the turbine prototype. Ultimately, a validated VAWT design tool was developed.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: GMOS, INSTITUTIONAL RISKS, SOCIAL RISKS , REFLEXIVITY, AND CHANGE. A COMPARISON OF FRANCE AND CANADA BETWEEN 1980 AND 2001.

contributor:
Coleman, William D.
Bird, Karen
Porter, Tony
Political Science

subject:
GMOs
agricultural biotechnologies
institutional risks
discourse analysis
network analysis
political change
Comparative Politics
Public Policy
Comparative Politics

abstract: What is the political role of risk? What is its role in the power structures of today’s societies? And how can understanding its role lead to a better understanding of political change? This research is inspired by the students of late modernity who argue that the way we are dealing with risk is nowadays structuring culture, society and politics. According to these conceptions of late modernity, risk and political change are closely intertwined through the idea of reflexivity, a process of self-confrontation of a society with its own rules and institutions. This study builds on this theorization of risk and aims to discover why France and Canada, even though they were facing similar technological challenges, were progressively taken along different paths when it comes to regulating GMOs. This study has found that major differences in risk related discourse and in the strategies adopted to manage social risks are factors in explaining different policy outcomes. In addition, it shows that differences in institutional risks management also contribute to the explanation. The comparison of the French and Canadian cases has indeed revealed that, if risks can create significant pressures in favour of institutional and political change, governments may in turn possess the necessary leverage to prevent reflexivity. This comparative analysis exposed that this capacity to manage institutional risk by controlling discourse and preventing reflexivity is related to the characteristics of such core democratic institutions as the parliament, the public administration, the press, and civil society.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: SCREENING METHODOLOGY FOR PRIORITIZING ENERGY CONSERVATION MEASURES FOR OFFICE BUILDING STOCKS

contributor:
Chidiac, Samir
Civil Engineering

subject:
energy consumption
energy conservation measures
office building portfolio
payback period
screening

abstract:
As energy costs continue to escalate and awareness spreads with regard to the importance of sustainability, interest in reducing energy consumption of buildings is growing. For managers of large stocks of office buildings, the task of selecting building improvement projects is most challenging. A multitude of energy conservation measures (ECMs) are available from which to select, however financial resources are limited and in high demand. Thus, ECMs must be known to be effective and prioritized so as to provide the highest benefit for the financial resources available.

The aim of this study is to provide a screening methodology for the evaluation and prioritization of ECMs for implementation in a stock of buildings that exhibit varying characteristics and locations. Prioritization of ECMs is based on predicted energy consumption savings and financial analysis. Building stocks are reduced to a manageable set by applying archetype classification. Energy consumption predictions for representative buildings from each archetype are obtained through use of a mathematical model. Twelve ECMs pertaining to improvements in the building envelope, HVAC, and electrical systems are considered and ranked based on present value over the short, mid, and long terms.

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: SELECTION OF CELL-INTERNALIZING CIRCULAR DNA APTAMERS

contributor:
Li, Yingfu
Andrews, David W.
Xing, Zhou
Biochemistry

subject:
in vitro selection
cell selection
selex
aptamer
drug delivery
cancer
Molecular Biology
Molecular Biology

abstract: Adaptation of nucleic acid in vitro selection for whole cell targets has been demonstrated to be an effective means of isolating useful sequences with applications in biomarker detection and therapeutics. The problem of efficient delivery of materials across cell membranes is common to a variety of research and medical fields. Existing aptamers isolated in surfacing binding selections have been successfully adapted for cell targeted therapies through complex modifications. However, better aptamers may be derived from a selection optimized to isolate internalized sequences directly. A cell selection experiment with the goal of identifying circular random-sequence DNA aptamers with the ability to facilitate their own internalization into MCF7 cells was conducted. Several classes of sequences isolated from this selection were shown to target cell nuclei at a rate significantly greater than control sequences as determined by qPCR relative recovery assays supported by in situ RCA fluorescence microscopy data. The localization of functional DNA sequences at the subcellular and intercellular levels suggests a receptor mediated mechanism. Techniques for the selection, purification and fluorescent detection of small circular DNAs were also developed for this study. Further work to characterize and identify targets should be pursued to better understand the mechanism of internalization and judge the suitability of G18d sequences as a delivery platform.

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: The Function of RKIP in the Tumourigenesis of Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

contributor:
Tang, Damu
Medical Sciences

subject:
RKIP
ccRCC
Cancer
Metastasis
Medical Sciences
Medical Sciences

abstract: Despite clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) being the most common and one of the most lethal forms of RCC, our understanding of ccRCC tumourigenesis remains limited. To identify factors contributing to ccRCC formation, we have found that raf kinase inhibitor protein (RKIP) is a candidate tumour suppressor of ccRCC. This is consistent with publications implicating that RKIP possesses tumour suppression functions in several human cancers. However, whether RKIP suppresses ccRCC tumorigenesis has yet to be determined. This thesis was therefore undertaken to examine the role of RKIP in the tumourigenesis of ccRCC as well as to gain knowledge about this understudied area of kidney cancer research. Upon examination of more than 600 patients with ccRCC in several independent patient cohorts, levels of RKIP protein are significantly reduced in more than 80% of ccRCC tumours in comparison to the adjacent non-tumour kidney or normal kidney tissues. This observed magnitude of RKIP reduction strongly suggests that RKIP is an important tumour suppressor of ccRCC. Supporting this concept is observations that ectopic expression of RKIP inhibited A498 and 786-O ccRCC cell invasion. Conversely, knockdown of RKIP in A498 and 786-O cells enhanced the invasion ability of those cells. Additionally, the progression of ccRCC into advanced tumour stages and tumour grades is correlated with a reduction in RKIP protein. This reduction of RKIP protein levels is more apparent in metastasized ccRCC tumours in which all tumours were negative for RKIP protein expression in comparison to the matched organ-confined tumours. To date there have been no reports investigating the role of RKIP in renal cell carcinoma, our results demonstrate a strong relationship between RKIP reduction and progression of this often fatal disease.

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: PAOPA, a potent dopamine D2 receptor allosteric modulator, prevents and reverses behavioural and biochemical abnormalities in an amphetamine-sensitized preclinical animal model of schizophrenia.

contributor: Medical Sciences (Division of Physiology/Pharmacology)

subject:
schizophrenia
dopamine
dopamine D2 receptor
allosteric modulator
amphetamine
PAOPA
Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins
Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms
Chemical and Pharmacologic Phenomena
Medical Biochemistry
Medical Pharmacology
Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Mental Disorders
Neurosciences
Pharmaceutical Preparations
Substance Abuse and Addiction
Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins

abstract:
Allosteric modulators are emerging as a new class of therapeutics for the treatment of complex disorders, including psychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia. The disease is marked by hyperdopaminergic signaling in the striatum, which plays a role in the development of positive symptoms like delusions, hallucinations, and paranoia. Conventional antipsychotic drug therapy typically employs dopamine D2 receptor antagonists that compete with endogenous dopamine at the orthosteric, or dopamine-binding site, in an attempt to normalize these psychotic symptoms. However, they are often associated with adverse motor and metabolic side effects. Furthermore, only some antipsychotic drugs are able to treat the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, which include social withdrawal and anhedonia, and there is currently no treatment for the cognitive impairment associated with the disease.

Allosteric modulators are safer alternatives to conventional orthosteric therapeutics as they interact with their receptor at a novel binding site and their mechanism involves modulation of endogenous signaling. Therefore, levels of endogenous ligand limit the activity of an allosteric modulator. Our lab has synthesized and evaluated over 185 compounds for their activity at the dopamine D2 receptor. Of these compounds, PAOPA is the most potent allosteric modulator, and has been shown to be effective in treating the MK-801 induced preclinical animal model of schizophrenia without causing the adverse effects induced by currently prescribed antipsychotic drugs. The objective of this study was to evaluate PAOPA’s ability to treat behavioural abnormalities in an amphetamine-sensitized model of schizophrenia.

Four groups (n=10/group) of male Sprague Dawley rats received intraperitoneal injections three days per week on alternate days over three weeks. Group A received saline, group B received D-amphetamine (1mg/kg during week one, 2mg/kg during week two, 3mg/kg during week three), group C received PAOPA (1mg/kg), and group D received the same doses of amphetamine as group B with PAOPA (1mg/kg). Following a three-week withdrawal, each group was tested for prepulse inhibition, social interaction, and locomotor activity. Amphetamine-sensitized rats were subjected to the same tests following PAOPA administration (1mg/kg). To assess whether behavioural changes were associated with changes in brain chemistry, post-mortem dopamine levels were measured in the striatum, nucleus accumbens, and medial prefrontal cortex. Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA or paired t test where appropriate.

Amphetamine sensitization induced schizophrenic-like behavioural abnormalities, including deficits in prepulse inhibition and social interaction, as well as increased locomotor activity and sensitivity to amphetamine challenge. Concurrent amphetamine and PAOPA treatment prevented all amphetamine- induced behavioural abnormalities. Furthermore, amphetamine-induced deficits in prepulse inhibition and social interaction were reversed one hour following PAOPA treatment. PAOPA treatment alone had no effect on behaviour or post-mortem striatal dopamine. Behavioural changes in amphetamine-sensitized rats were accompanied by a reduction in post-mortem striatal dopamine levels. In correlation with behavioural results, PAOPA administration during amphetamine sensitization prevented this biochemical change.

These results demonstrate that PAOPA can prevent and reverse behavioural and associated biochemical abnormalities in amphetamine-sensitized rats. PAOPA is a candidate for the development of treatments for schizophrenia.

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: Finite Group Actions on the Four-Dimensional Sphere

contributor:
Hambleton, Ian
Andrew J. Nicas, McKenzie Wang
Andrew J. Nicas, McKenzie Wang
Mathematics and Statistics

subject:
group actions
four spheres
smooth manifolds
Geometry and Topology
Geometry and Topology

abstract: Smith theory provides powerful tools for understanding the geometry of singular sets of group actions on spheres. In this thesis, tools from Smith theory and spectral sequences are brought together to study the singular sets of elementary abelian groups acting locally linearly on S4. It is shown that the singular sets of such actions are homeomorphic to the singular sets of linear actions. A short review of the literature on group actions on S4 is included.

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: SIMULATOR INDEPENDENT EXACT ADJOINT SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF SELF-ADJOINT MICROWAVE STRUCTURES

contributor:
Nikolova, Natalia K.
Bandler, John W.
Mohamed H. Bakr, Ali Emadi
Electrical and Computer Engineering

subject:
sensitivity analysis
frequency-domain analysis
computer aided design (CAD)
response Jacobian
Electromagnetics and photonics
Electromagnetics and photonics

abstract:
This thesis proposes a new analytical self-adjoint sensitivity analysis to calculate the Jacobian of the S-parameters for metallic shape parameters. This method is independent of the full-wave numerical analysis and the respective system matrix. The theory works for both volumetric and infinitesimally thin metallic shapes. It exploits the computational efficiency of the self-adjoint sensitivity analysis (SASA) approach where only one EM simulation suffices to obtain both the responses and their gradients in the designable parameter space.

There are three major advantages to this development: (1) the Jacobian computation for metallic structures is completely analytical and there is no approximation involved in the sensitivity analysis of shape parameters; (2) the implementation is straightforward and in the form of a post-processing algorithm operating on the exported field solutions on the surface or around the edge of the metallic structure; and (3) it provides the possibility for exact sensitivity analysis with all electromagnetic high-frequency simulators whose system matrices are not available to export or are not differentiable with respect to shape parameters, e.g., simulators based on the FDTD method and the MoM.

The method was verified in a number of examples using a commercial finite-element solver. The agreement between the results calculated with the proposed method and the reference self-adjoint sensitivity curves provided with the simulator are very promising.

Suggestions for future work are provided.

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES OF GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE AND HEALTH: TOWARD SUSTAINABLE BEHAVIOUR CHANGE?

contributor:
Elliott, Susan J.
Geography

subject:
global environmental change
health
qualitative methods
knowledge
attitudes
practices
Human Geography
Human Geography

abstract: Environmental sustainability is increasingly threatened by large-scale changes to the natural environment that could significantly affect human and ecosystem health. In addition, changes to the social, political, economic and physical environment will impact populations globally. Sustainable behaviour change is needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, mitigate related impacts, and develop the capacity to adapt to future climate and environmental changes. Towards these ends, it is necessary to understand how members of the public perceive and behave in relation to global environmental change. This research begins to explore the knowledge, attitudes and practices of Canadians related to global environmental change and health. In particular, this thesis focuses on results from qualitative, semi-structured in-depth interviews (n=22) with adults (18+) in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario. Participants were asked about individual and community health, knowledge and attitudes of global environmental change, actions taken to mitigate environmental change, and potential behaviour change mechanisms. Results indicate that although participants are environmentally aware and concerned about local environmental issues (eg. air pollution), detailed knowledge of specific causes, impacts and risks of climate change and global warming is limited. While the majority of respondents expressed concern about global environmental change, there was also skepticism around the causes and impacts in the Golden Horseshoe Region. Participants demonstrated a willingness to act in environmentally friendly ways, and respondents described possible environmentally-friendly activities such as recycling and reducing energy consumption. Decreasing cost, and increasing time, convenience, and enjoyment were described as incentives to undertake behaviour change. The main contribution of this thesis is the advancement of knowledge related to the public perception of climate change, global warming, and global environmental change as important emerging environmental health risks. Results are discussed relative to policy implications and directions for future research.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: The Sputtering of High Energy Particles

contributor:
Kelly, R.
Materials Science

subject:
Materials Science and Engineering
Materials Science and Engineering

abstract:
The sputtering of high velocity particles is investigated through analysis by secondary photon emission. During a sputtering event a fraction of the particles emitted from the target are in varying degrees of excitation. These excited states have a finite probability of radiatively decaying back to the ground state. The emitted photon wavelength and intensity is recorded. In addition, the monochromator can be locked onto one particular wavelength and its intensity observed as a function of distance from the target surface. Such intensity distributions are measured for several group IA and IIA metals and fluorides. Their spatial extent, for the most part, is shown to be governed by the atomic transition probability of the excited state under observation.

A model is developed to describe the intensity distribution based on the premise that the sputtered particles are distributed in energy and we further propose that excitation in a sputtering event is a threshold process. From the experimental intensity distributions this proposed threshold energy is deduced and is found to be 10¹ - 10³ eV. These relatively high kinetic energies, along with the large sizes of excited states, indicate that their creation involves large energy transfers at or very near the surface. Such events as recoil sputtering may lead to the production of excited states.

To this end, calculations on recoil sputtering yields and mean energies are reported which justify the observed high energies and low yields. Further, a comparison, based upon fractional yields, of recoil sputtered atoms and high energy cascade sputtered atoms show that the recoil source provides a larger number of high energy atoms available for excitation. Results relating to recoil implantation yields are also presented. In addition, recoil phenomena is used to explain some preferential effects observed in sputtering and transient effects in secondary photon emission.

Finally, the fate of the implanted primary ion is discussed with emphasis on its diffusion behavior in both damaged and undamaged ambient surroundings.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL METHOD FOR THE ANALYSIS OF HUMAN BLOOD PLASMA METABOLOME

creator:
Amoateng, Catherine
Amoateng, Catherine

contributor:
McCarry, B.E.
Britz-McKibbin, Philip
Green, K.
Chemistry and Chemical Biology

subject:
GC-MS
LC-MS
human blood plasma
metabolites
metabolomics
Life Sciences
Life Sciences

abstract:
The comprehensive analysis of human blood plasma metabolome has been completed using derivatization gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis and a comprehensive LC-GC-MS analysis approach wherein LC fractions were collected, derivatized and analyzed using GC-MS. In all cases blood plasma samples were deproteinized using solvent precipitation prior to chromatography and MS analysis.

In GC-MS analyses, the progress of all derivatization reactions was monitored by adding 9-anthracenemethanol and 1,3-diphenylacetone to all reaction mixtures; their conversions to 9-anthracenemethanol trimethylsilyl ether and the oxime derivative of 1,3-diphenylacetone were used as measures of the completion of these derivatization reactions. Any reactions with completions less than 99% were repeated.

GC-MS analysis of blood plasma samples detected 100 peaks; 44 were positively identified by comparing retention indices and mass spectra with those of authentic standards. LC-MS analyses were conducted on a HILIC column (aminopropyl phase) with MS detection in both negative ion and positive ion modes and resulted in the identification of 97 peaks; 47 were observed in the positive ion mode, 58 in the negative ion mode with 8 peaks observed in both modes.

The multi-dimensional LC-GC approach was not designed as a routine analytical method; rather the purpose of this approach was to see how many compounds could be observed in the sample and to obtain better quality mass spectra and retention index values. The LC separation afforded 16 fractions which upon derivatization GC-MS analysis gave an additional 176 peaks from a total of 276 peaks. The MS data from these additional spectra can be used to develop selected ion monitoring GC-MS or tandem mass spectrometry analytical methods. This thesis has demonstrated the power of off-line comprehensive methods to identify compounds that neither the GC nor the LC methods detected.

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: Compassionate Care Benefit Pre-Implementation Knowledge Tool Development for Canadian Social Workers: A Qualitative Study

contributor:
Williams, Allison
Geography and Earth Sciences

subject:
Palliative Care
Knowledge Translation
Health Geography
Time Geography
Compassionate Care Benefits
Social Work
Health Services Research
Human Geography
Social Work
Health Services Research

abstract: Increasingly, informal caregivers are providing hospice palliative care and support to dying friends and family members. These individuals must often negotiate multiple roles and responsibilities as a result of being caregivers and members of the paid labour force. Canada’s federal government has recognized the burden placed on informal caregivers, and legislated the Compassionate Care Benefit (CCB) in 2004. The CCB allows informal caregivers providing hospice palliative care six paid weeks off work to alleviate some of the role strain in the provision of care. Evaluations of the CCB have recognized that the low program uptake has been primarily the result of a lack of awareness. As such, knowledge translation campaigns about the CCB are needed. Stakeholders interviewed, including family caregivers, front-line palliative providers, and employers, have suggested that Canadian social workers are the primary group in need of a targeted knowledge campaign. This research presents the results of the development of a two-stage knowledge translation intervention for social workers. First, the development of appropriate interventions are explored through a qualitative messaging survey (n=16), a focus group (n=8) and key informant interviews (n=3). Preferred intervention formats and messages are identified, and draft knowledge tools are created. Secondly, draft knowledge tools are piloted in workplaces by social workers (n=8), the results of which are captured through participant interviews. The refinement period suggested some of the constraints of space and time on knowledge translation about the CCB and tool use. Hägerstrand’s time geography is explored in relation to tool use and knowledge translation. The research presented herein is relevant to policy makers, program planners, clinicians and researchers working with the fields of hospice palliative care, social work and knowledge translation. This research makes contributions to the knowledge translation and intervention development literatures through the presentation of novel methodologies and the application of time geography.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: Understanding Health and Physical Activity Message Strategies: Risk Information and Message Framing

contributor:
Martin Ginis, Kathleen A.
Kinesiology

subject:
physical activity
risk communication
message framing
protection motivation theory
extended parallel processing model
cognitive processing
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Social and Behavioral Sciences

abstract: The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the use of health risk communications as a strategy to change risk perceptions and motivate leisure time physical activity (LTPA) among people with spinal cord injury (SCI). Guided by protection motivation theory (PMT; Rogers, 1983) and the extended parallel processing model (EPPM; Witte, 1992), two strategies were examined as unique approaches to enhancing the effectiveness of health risk information. First, risk information was tailored to individualized, objective data regarding participants’ health risk. Second, risk information was supplemented with framed leisure time physical activity (LTPA) efficacy messages. Gain-framed messages emphasized the benefits of LTPA, whereas loss-framed messages emphasized the risks of inactivity. The relative effectiveness of gain- versus loss-framed messages was considered within the context of the EPPM (Witte, 1992). A secondary purpose of the dissertation was to explore cognitive processing in relation to framed LTPA messages. The attention and elaboration phases of cognitive processing were examined for gain- and loss-framed LTPA messages following exposure to health risk information. Three experiments were conducted to 1) test the effectiveness of individualized health risk information for changing health risk perceptions and LTPA among people with SCI, 2) test the relative effectiveness of gain- and loss-framed LTPA efficacy messages presented following health risk information for changing LTPA response efficacy and LTPA intentions among people with SCI, and, 3) investigate the relative attention given to gain-framed versus loss-framed LTPA response efficacy messages following presentation of health risk information to university students. The theoretical and pragmatic contributions are discussed.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Information Literacy Instruction in Business Schools: Factors Affecting the Adoption of Online Library Resources by Business Students

contributor:
Detlor, Brian
Bontis, Nick
Serenko, Alexander
Business Administration

subject: Information Literacy; Information Literacy Instruction; Online Library Resources; Online Library Resource Self-Efficacy; Online Library Resource Anxiety; Technology Adoption; Technology Acceptance Model; Active Instruction; Passive Instruction; Electronic Library Anxiety

subject: Library and Information Science

subject: Management Information Systems

subject: Library and Information Science

abstract:
The overall goal of this dissertation is to predict and explain how information literacy instruction (ILI) influences the adoption of online library resources (OLRs) by business students. This dissertation has two other important goals. First, this dissertation aims to assess the efficacy of active ILI and passive ILI. Second, this dissertation seeks to examine the role that OLR self-efficacy and OLR anxiety play in influencing ILI learning outcomes and the adoption of OLRs.

To achieve these goals, a theoretical model was developed that integrates research on ILI outcomes and technology adoption. To test this model, a web-based survey was developed and administered to 337 business students at McMaster University.

This dissertation makes several important contributions to theory. First, the findings from the analysis of the structural equation model confirm that the Technology Acceptance Model is an appropriate tool for studying the adoption of OLRs. Second, the findings indicate that amount of ILI is not a significant predictor of the adoption of OLRs. Third, though the amount of ILI was not found to be a predictor of OLR self-efficacy or OLR anxiety in the quantitative analysis, results from the qualitative analysis suggest that ILI increases self-efficacy and reduces anxiety. Fourth, the findings suggest that OLR self-efficacy and OLR anxiety are significant determinants of the adoption of OLRs where OLR self-efficacy was the strongest determinant of the adoption of OLRs. Last, consistent with Bandura’s social cognitive theory, OLR self-efficacy and OLR anxiety were found to be significantly negatively correlated; a partial mediation effect of OLR anxiety on the relationship between OLR self-efficacy and the perceived ease of use of OLRs was supported.

This dissertation makes a contribution to practice by revealing that instructors should focus on delivering higher quality ILI rather than higher amounts of ILI. In particular, training interventions should be designed to promote OLR self-efficacy among business students, especially among students who have received the least amount of ILI.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)