title: La rehabilitation de Platon chez Gadamer

contributor:
Madison, G.B.
Philosophy

subject: french

subject: French and Francophone Language and Literature

subject: Philosophy

abstract:
Gadamer, while primarily known as the author of Truth and Method, is also a life-long interpreter of Plato. This study aims at a general exposition of his rehabilitating interpretation of the Greek philosopher. It attempts to clarify the philosophical and scholarly polemics which his dialectical rendition of Plato's dialogues implicitly involves.

The most significant polemic is by far the one with Heidegger. Gadamer adopts Heidegger's phenomenological method, but rejects his Aristotelian, stigmatic interpretation of Platonism as dogmatic and dualist. This textual disagreement reveals the extent of Gadamer's philosophical originality vis-a.-vis his famous teacher.

Plato's non-propositional conception of truth, as exposed in the Seventh Letter, explains, according to Gadamer, his choice of the dialogue form: the dialogue is an imitation of dialectic and seeks to elicit existential participation on the part of the reader. The "ideas" are to be understood as the condition of possibility of language and common understanding. Gadamer, moreover, links the problem of the one and the many with the "unwritten doctrines" of the one and the indeterminate dyad, and understands them as the early foundation of the theory of ideas: the ideas, similar to numbers, imply plurality, interdependence and, therefore also, indetermination.

Beyond Aristotle's criticism lies, maintains Gadamer, communality. Platonic dialectic and Aristotelian phronesis are fundamentally similar: both are unteachable dispositions, distinct from technical and scientific knowledge.

A brief critical reflection on Gadamer's project of rehabilitation points to some theoretical and exegitical difficulties: his attempt at defending a "truer" Plato against misleading traditions of dogmatic Platonism appears incompatible with his own theory of Interpretation. Furthermore, his unusual employment of Aristotle's testimonies for the "unwritten doctrines" is based on a neglect of some important texts.

abstract: Master of Philosophy (MA)


title: The Early Cult of Skanda in North India: From Demon to Divine Son

contributor:
Granoff, Phyllis E.
Religious Studies

subject: Cult Skanda N.India Demon Divine Religion Philosophy Religion Philosophy

abstract:
This thesis studies the development of the Hindu god Skanda-Karttikeya from the fourth century BCE to the fourth century CE in north India. I argue that during this time period the deity is transformed from a demonic being associated with childhood diseases to a respected divine ge1eral and son to Siva. I begin with a discussion of the earliest written material about the deity found in the two Sanskrit Epics (The Mahabharata and The Ramayana) and other texts. These texts establish Skallda-Kal1tikeya's origins in demonic beings and illustrate his transformation into a martial deity. These texts also demonstrate how Brahminical redactors assimilated this deity into their own traditions. This process; of assimilation takes an inauspicious and unorthodox deity and transforms him into an auspicious and orthodox deity.

1 go on to argue that this transformation did not result in the increased popularity of this deity, but brings about the end of his popular cult in the north of India. Based on ancient coinage, statuary and inscriptions I demonstrate that this deity's popularity was related to his earlier terrible image and a propitiatory cult designed to appease him. Once the dangerous aspect of his image was removed, so was the main source of his popular cult. As opposed to previous scholarship on this deity, I argue that the Brahminization of this deity's cult brings about its end.

I also demonstrate, based on this deity's depiction on ancient coinage, statuary and epigraphy, that there were also political forces at work in this process. My research demonstrates that the most important groups in this process were non-Indian. Primarily, I identify the Kusanas as the main political group who transform this deity. This conclusion related to the foreign influence~e 'in the development of this deity lie in stark contrast to previous studies of this deity.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Canada and the United States: An Historical and Neo-Institutional Study of Public Housing and Health Policies

contributor:
Stein, M. B.
Political Science

subject:
PhD
Political Science
Canada
U.S.
Health
American Politics
International Relations
Models and Methods
Other Political Science
Political Science
Political Theory
American Politics

abstract:
This thesis seeks to explain the way in which assisted housing and health policies evolved in Canada and the United States during four watershed periods: the mid-1940s, the late 1960s, the late 1970s, and the mid-1980s. To achieve this objective, it discusses the concepts of health, the broader determinants of health, disease prevention, and health promotion; it reviews documents which urge that greater attention be paid to the broader determinants of health during policy formulation; and it examines recent studies which stress the value of linking assisted housing and health policies.

After an overview of assisted housing and health policy development in Europe, the thesis explores the evolution of these policy fields in Canada and the United States up to the mid-1940s, and investigates the reasons why these nations followed the policy paths they did.

Using the neo-institutional approach to explain the complex interplay among the various institutions, actors, and events that affect the public policy process, the thesis discusses eight major institutional and behavioral variables that contribute to the shaping of policy over time. It then studies the influence which these variables had on assisted housing and health policies during the four watershed periods.

Examination of postwar Canadian and US policy trends shows that although housing was treated in both countries mainly as an economic issue and only secondarily as a determinant of well-being, Canada dealt with healthcare essentially as a social issue and adopted a public system, while the US treated it as a socioeconomic issue and relied heavily on the private sector. Despite these policy differences, a potential for linking assisted housing and health policy manifested itself in both countries during the mid-1940s and late 1960s, but declined after the late 1970s.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: From Here to Eternity: Encountering the Divine in Martin Buber's I and Thou

contributor:
Ajzenstat, S.
Philosophy

subject: Divine Eternity Philosophy Religion Philosophy Philosophy

abstract: This thesis is an analysis of Martin Buber's famous work I and Thou. The primary aim of the thesis is to interpret or translate Buber's unique, impressionistic account of human existence into a coherent and revealing argument, one that is philosophically engaging and accessible to the common or everyday reader. In addition to providing a clear outline of Buber's work, this thesis also contains a short critique of Buber basic argument, i.e., his distinction between the two spheres or modes of our being, the I-It or active mode and the I-You or passive mode. In short, it argues that what results from Buber's dualistic understanding is division or separation between ourselves and the world, between an individual human being and the beings it engages, and not the genuine or authentic unity that Buber believes his position can inspire.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: The Free Radical Polymerization of Methyl Methacrylate to High Conversions

contributor:
Hamialec, A. E.
Chemical Engineering

subject: methyl methacrylate

subject: polymerization

subject: kinetic model

subject: GPC interpretation

subject: Chemical Engineering

subject: Chemical Engineering

abstract:
This dissertation describes an investigation into the free radical batch polymerization of methyl methacrylate to high conversion. The overall objective was to develop a kinetic model to accurately predict conversion and molecular weight distribution for the polymerization. The dissertation is divided into three self-contained parts.

Part I describes the development and testing of the kinetic model. New gel permeation chromatograph (GPC) data interpretation methods (developed in Part I I), the free volume concept of diffusion theory, and newly obtained isothermal kinetic data, are combined with computer implemented optimization techniques, to show that classical kinetics apply to high conversions.

Part II details the development of three new GPC interpretation techniques. The two most recent are evaluated in Part I.

The third has been used by other workers. Other interpretation methods are also evaluated and discussed. Part I I I describes the development of a high shear concentric cylinder viscometer and its use with Newtonian standards. This is a prelude to future studies in polymer rheology and polymerization under shear conditions.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Geochemistry of Tungsten in Basalts and Andesites

contributor:
Shaw, Denis M.
Geology

subject: Geology Geology

abstract:
Few methods exist to analyse tungsten at the ppm level in rocks. Consequently, the amount of data is very scarce and often conclusions are drawn from a very small number of samples. In this study, a NAA radiochemical separation method was used to obtain information on tungsten contents in some 125 volcanic rocks. Besides the major oxide data, which were in most cases obtained from the donors of the samples, additional information was gathered with XRF methods on the following trace elements: Rb, Sr, Ni, Y, Zr, Nb, Zn, Pb, U and Th. Factor analysis was applied in order to process this vast array of newly obtained data. Knowledge of the local geology is necessary if not essential for the interpretation of these data.

The wide variety of rocks involved in this study comprises predominantly basalts (alkaline and subalkaline) and andesites, but also includes some felsic differentiates as well as some ultramafic rocks. An attempt, although not always successful, was made to obtain as fresh samples as possible. These rocks are derived from differing tectonic areas - (1) ocean floors and islands, (2) island arcs and continental margins and (3) continental areas.

Tungsten is an incompatible element accumulating in residual liquids together with elements such as K, Rb, Zr, etc. Existing tungsten estimates for both basalts and andesites are too high. Tungsten contents for basalts and andesites vary according to their petrotectonic environment. Among these rocks, ocean floor basalts have the lowest values followed by island arc basalts and andesites and ocean island basalts. Tungsten contents generally are higher in alkaline basalts and their range is wider than for subalkaline basalts. No differences seem to exist between subalkaline ocean island and continental basalts.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: The Role of Carbohydrate in the Germination of Yeast Ascospores

contributor:
Miller, J.J.
Biology

subject:
spore germination
yeast
carbohydrates
Biology
Biology

abstract:
The content and utilization of carbohydrate during the yeast life cycle were studied with special reference to spore germination. The experiments were designed to investigate the nutritional requirements, the changes in the carbohydrate content and dry weight, the respiratory activities, the possible substitution of exogenous glucose by other carbon sources, the effect of temperature treatments, the uptake and distribution of exogenous glucose and the effect of inhibitors of carbohydrate metabolism on germination.

The experiments showed the relative importance of endogenous and exogenous carbohydrates, the kind of respiratory activity and the fate of exogenous glucose carbon during germination. The pathway of carbon metabolism essential for germination was also indicated.

The present work is the first attempt to compare qualitatively and quantitatively the carbohydrate content of yeast during the three major· phases of life cycle, viz., growth, sporulation and germination. Quantitative data on uptake and distribution of exogenous glucose during germination of yeast ascospores are provided. From an analysis of the results an attempt is made to assess the role, of carbohydrate in the germination of yeast ascospores.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Reading Through Madness: Counter-Psychiatric Epistemologies and the Biopolitics of (In)sanity in Post-World War II Anglo Atlantic Women's Narratives

contributor:
Brophy, Sarah
York, Lorraine
Reaume, Geoffrey
English and Cultural Studies

subject: Mad Studies

subject: Disability Studies

subject: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies

subject: Literature in English, British Isles

subject: Literature in English, North America

subject: Other Race, Ethnicity and post-Colonial Studies

subject: Women's Studies

abstract: In my dissertation, I advance an interpretive perspective that emerges from the politics of the Mad Movement (also known as the Psychiatric Consumer/Survivor/Ex-patient Movement). This movement began in the 1970s in response to patient abuses in the psychiatric system and continues today in various forms. I argue that literary studies, which often reads madness in the reductive terms of psychiatric diagnosis or which renders madness as metaphor, would benefit from mad perspectives; likewise, literary studies has much to offer the nascent field of Mad(ness) Studies in terms of methods for locating the discursive conditions of madness’ emergence. Drawing on Foucault’s work on madness and biopolitics; poststructuralist feminism; Disability Studies; and Mad Movement writings, I concentrate on texts which narrate intersecting experiences of madness, resistance, community and identity: Mary Jane Ward’s The Snake Pit (1947), Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar (1963), Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted (1994), Claire Allen’s Poppy Shakespeare (2007), Liz Kettle’s Broken Biscuits (2007), Bobby Baker’s Diary Drawings: Mental Illness and Me (2010), Persimmon Blackbridge’s Prozac Highway (2000), Joan Riley’s The Unbelonging (1985) and Helen Oyeyemi’s The Icarus Girl (2004). I further explore mad reading practices through my reading of a blog project I conducted for research purposes in which people with experience of the mental health system reviewed depictions of madness and mental health treatment in literature, film, popular culture and news media. In reading through a mad perspective, I postulate some of the material and ideological effects that establishing mad reading practices and communities might have. I consider how madness is gendered, and how it intersects with other aspects of embodiment such as race, class and sexuality; how narratives of madness elucidate the relationship between psychiatry and colonialism, patriarchy, eugenics and neoliberalism; and how they invite us to question the limits of reason, truth and subjectivity.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Experiential Learning Through Simulation And Prototyping In First Year Engineering Design

contributor:
Doyle, Thomas E.
Musson, David M.
Electrical and Computer Engineering

subject:
freshman
engineering
design
simulation
prototyping
experiential learning
Engineering Education
Engineering Education

abstract:
The act of engineering is synonymous with design. It is a skill that is inherently understood by experienced engineers, but also one of the most difficult topics to teach. For many years, Engineering Design and Graphics has been a required first year course for all engineering students at McMaster University. The course has taught hand-sketching, 3D solid modeling, system simulation, 3D rapid prototyping, and culminated in a design project in gear train design that requires a combination of the core course topics. Students chose their own three-member teams, and lab sections were randomly assigned one of three modalities for completion of the design project: Simulation (SIM) where they produced and verified a design using a simulation tool, Prototyping (PRT) where they used a 3D printer to create a working plastic model of a design, or Simulation and Prototyping (S+P) where they used both tools to complete a design.

The design process used in the project represents Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle (through Concrete Experience, Reflective Observation, Abstract Conceptualization, and Active Experimentation) as well as Bloom's Taxonomy providing opportunities for Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor skill development.

This study examines student self-efficacy and performance outcomes between design project modalities that include simulation and 3D printing. It is hypothesized that students who complete a design project using the Simulation and Prototyping (S+P) modality will show the highest scores in both categories.

To measure self-efficacy, a new scale for Engineering Design Self-Efficacy was developed and validated. The project groups were surveyed before and after the completion of the design project. Data collected as part of the study included project individual, project group, and project total grades as well as final course grades. Statistical analysis for survey and performance data was completed using ANOVA to test for differences between the modalities.

Results indicated an overall increase in self-efficacy from the start of term to the end of term for all design project modalities. Performance scores for project group and project total grade were highest for students in the Simulation (SIM) modality. There were no significant differences between the modalities for self-efficacy, project individual grade, final exam or final course grade.

Based on the findings, engineering course designers with the goal of increasing self-efficacy, professional engagement, and performance should consider supplementing courses with experiential learning exercises such as simulation and prototyping. This study will be relevant for engineering course designers and instructors looking to add simulation or rapid prototyping to first-year engineering design courses.

abstract: Master of Applied Science (MASc)


title: Modelling Risk Dependencies and Propagation in Supply Chains

contributor:
Hassini, Elkafi
Computational Engineering and Science

subject: risk dependency

subject: risk modelling

subject: supply chain risk management

subject: time-inhomogeneous contagion model

subject: Business Administration, Management, and Operations

subject: Computational Engineering

abstract:
Today's highly integrated supply chains are exposed to various types of risks which disrupt the normal flow of goods or services within a supply chain network. Since most of these individual risks are interconnected, a mitigation strategy to tackle one risk may result in the exacerbation of another.

Risk dependencies have been modelled using two approaches in the financial insurance literature : (i) random variables, and (ii) copulas. In this dissertation these studies are reviewed and extended. Also, applications for these models for different supply chain network configurations are presented. Then, a Poisson process model for risk propagation is proposed. Unlike the existing models, the transition rate of the proposed model not only expresses the time dependency, but also captures other possible dependencies in the network. Finally, the thesis is summarized and general directions and suggestions for future research on risk dependency and propagation modelling are provided.

abstract: Master of Science (MSc)


title: EVIDENCE BRIEFS AS A MECHANISM FOR KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER AND EXCHANGE: ASSESSING VIEWS ABOUT, EXPERIENCES WITH, AND INFLUENCES OF POLICY-RELEVANT RESEARCH SYNTHESES IN LOW- AND MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES

contributor: Clinical Epidemiology/Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics

subject:
health policy
health systems
policy analysis
knowledge translation
Health Policy
Knowledge Translation
Other Political Science
Health Policy

abstract: Evidence briefs are an innovative and promising approach to synthesizing the best available research evidence to support evidence-informed health policymaking in low- and middle-income countries. Unfortunately, despite their increased use, little work has been undertaken to understand how the contexts in which briefs are prepared and the issues that they address influence the ways in which policymakers and stakeholders view them. Furthermore, there have been few efforts to determine whether and how evidence briefs influence the policy processes related to the priority policy issues for which they are prepared. This thesis begins to address these issues through four manuscripts that use a range of methods and approaches to develop a deeper understanding of briefs and their use, as well as the ways in which they can be evaluated in low- and middle-income countries. Taken together the chapters present: 1) the development of a theoretical framework through a systematic review that highlights how factors related to contexts and issues can influence policymakers’ and stakeholders’ views about evidence briefs and their design features; 2) results from a survey conducted across six countries that provide insights into how policymakers, stakeholders and researchers who have read evidence briefs view them and their design features; 3) an approach to operationalizing factors related to contexts and issues as variables for use in quantitative analyses of evidence briefs; and 4) four case studies that explain how evidence briefs prepared for priority policy issues in low- and middle-income countries influenced the policy processes related to these issues. These chapters constitute substantive, methodological and disciplinary contributions to the field of health systems research, and in particular about how to support its use in efforts to strengthen health systems. They also support the continued use and evaluation of evidence briefs in efforts to strengthen health systems in low- and middle-income countries.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Mental Imagery for the Detection of Awareness: Evaluating the Convergence of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Electroencephalographic Assessments

contributor:
Connolly, John F.
Neuroscience

subject:
EEG
fMRI
brain injury
consciousness
vegetative state
minimally conscious state
mental imagery
Cognitive Neuroscience
Cognitive Neuroscience

abstract: The accurate diagnosis of disorders of consciousness presents substantial difficulty because of the reliance on behaviour-based assessment tools. A patient may be covertly aware but unable to indicate their state due to physical impairments. Neuroimaging researchers have begun to seek alternate methods of assessment that rely on brain responses rather than behavioural ones. To this end, mental imagery has been employed as a voluntary cognitive activity that can be measured with fMRI or EEG to indicate awareness. In this dissertation I examine the advantages and limitations of these two imaging techniques and argue that EEG is more suitable for this patient population. I expand upon existing mental imagery research by exploring additional tasks that have not been applied to this problem, in order to address three previously unanswered questions that are central to the development of imagery-based diagnostic tools. First, do individuals differ on which imagery tasks produce the most reliable activation? Second, can the robustness of brain activation during imagery be predicted from familiarity with the imagined activity? Third, do fMRI and EEG provide converging evidence about individual imagery performance? In order to answer these questions, 6 mental imagery tasks were examined using simultaneous EEG and fMRI recordings, in combination with participant ratings. The findings revealed that, of the mental imagery tasks studied, mental arithmetic consistently produced the most robust activation at the single subject level. Additionally, there was no relationship between participants’ familiarity with an activity and the level of brain activation during performance. The key finding demonstrated that EEG and fMRI were in agreement on both of these questions, lending support to the increasing use of EEG over fMRI in disorders of consciousness.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: An Assessment of Theological Education in Post-Marxist Europe With a Proposed Model for the Latvian Setting

subject: Education

subject: theology

subject: post-marxist europe

subject: latvian

subject: Ethics in Religion

subject: Religion

subject: Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion

subject: Systematic/Doctrinal Theology

subject: Ethics in Religion

abstract: This document is missing page 162.

abstract:
The prime purpose of the thesis is the assessment of the development of Christian theological education in the context of historico-ideological changes after the disintegration of Marxist hegemony in Eastern Europe with the objective of developing and proposing a model of good theological education for a concrete setting, - a model which may be adaptable in other countries with similar conditions.

The thesis delineates with a concise history of Christian theological education and the different methods and models of education have been used and developed. Eleven distinct models of theological education are identified and analyzed.

A chapter deals with present status of theological education in Post-Marxist countries. It outlines the historical background of Evangelical Theological Education in Baltic states and the neighboring countries - Russia and Poland. In these countries theological education has been for decades interrupted and hindered by atheistic governments. There follows an analytical survey on the present status of theological education in these countries based on data supplied by twenty three representative institutions of theological education in Eastern Europe. The results are compared with two institutions of Western Europe. The survey includes a variety of pertinent topics, such as the dynamics of founding schools, the general profile of schools, analysis of the student body, economics, governance, faculty, libraries, and course offerings.

A substantial chapter is devoted to elaborating the concept of a good theological school in Eastern Europe. The need for a solid philosophical foundation is emphasized. Attention is directed to practical dimensions, such as a balanced course of study; human, financial, and information resources; administration and governance. The section closes with the description of applicable methods for the teaching/learning process, incorporating some innovative approaches.

The concluding chapter delineates a proposed model for the Latvian setting, integrating programs for students of specialized streams of study: theological and pastoral, youth and children, evangelism and mission, Christian social ministry, Christian writing and translation.

The thesis is written from a Baptist perspective, yet it is Evangelical in its content and, as such, embodies issues pertinent to theological education of related denominations.

abstract: Doctor of Ministry (DMin)


title: Response Time Models For Temporal Order Discrimination

contributor:
Link, Stephen W.
Psychology

subject: Psychology Psychology

abstract:
The results of three experiments requiring the judgment of the temporal order of two continuous visual stimuli were reported. The stimuli were spatially separated and equal in intensity. Although the proportion of correct order judgments increased with the inter-stimulus-interval (ISI) in each experiment, there were differences in the response time (RT) results. When accuracy was stressed, mean RT increased as the ISI decreased. However, mean RT was relatively independent of ISI when RT deadlines were employed. As mean RT increased the slope of a linear relationship between the difference in mean RTs for the two order responses and a measure of performance accuracy decreased from positive to negative. Under accuracy conditions the mean RT for a correct response was less than the mean RT for an incorrect response by an amount which increased with an increase in ISI. When RT deadlines were imposed the mean RT for a correct response exceeded the mean RT for an incorrect response by an amount which increased with an increase in ISI.

The covariation between RT and response proportion measures was accounted for by a model which proposed that order discrimination involves three stages. In the stimulus information encoding stage, a sample of stimulus information is stored in a sensory storage buffer. In the decision stage the information obtained in the buffer drives a random walk process which generates quantitative predictions for response proportion and the mean RT for each order response. The response output stage contains processes such as motor actions which are assumed to contribute a constant component to the mean RT for each stimulus condition.

A model specifying that the order decision results from whichever stimulus is perceived first was shown to generate mean RT predictions which were not supported by the data obtained under accuracy conditions. It was concluded, therefore, that order discrimination involves a decision process which utilises information obtained from the stimulus pattern.

The use of a gap in one of the stimuli of a pair did not generate changes in response proportion which were predicted by a random walk decision process which was driven by information sampled directly from the stimulus pattern. However, the results of each experiment were consistent with the prediction of a model specifying that the parameters of the stored stimulus information vary with time since the commencement of the decision process.

When accuracy was stressed and the mean RT was long, the decision process was approximated by a terminal zero drift random walk. This model was shown to fit the data from Experiments I and III with a high degree of accuracy. Estimates of stimulus and response strategy parameters provided a means for assessing their separate contributions to order discrimination performance. However, this approximation failed to account for data obtained when RT deadlines were imposed.

The covariation between response time and response proportion measures was similar to that obtained in other psychophysical tasks. It was concluded, therefore, that the model proposed in this thesis has wide applicability to a variety of two-choice tasks.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Self-Understanding and the Care for Being: Heidegger's Ethical Thought

contributor:
Allen, Barry
Philosophy

subject:
philosophy
self-understanding
heidegger
ethics
thoughts
Ethics and Political Philosophy
Philosophy
Ethics and Political Philosophy

abstract: Martin Heidegger is widely viewed as one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century. He is also generally viewed as an irrational metaphysician, as someone who has much to say about Being, but very little of it as making sense. Moreover, his thought is viewed as having very little to say about ethics; that is, the question of how we ought to live. In this thesis I argue that Heidegger's concept of Being is not irrational, and that his thought is primarily ethical. I argue that Heidegger's thought centres around the concept of authentic self -understanding, and that this form of selfunderstanding is deeply linked to solidarity with others and concern for things, what he describes as the care for Being

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Knowledge-based judgements of causality: Contiguity, congruity, and direction of the causal arrow

contributor:
Allan, Lorraine G.
Psychology

subject:
psychology
judgement
knowledge based
Philosophy
Psychology
Philosophy

abstract: Under what circumstances does knowledge of causal asymmetry and temporal delay influence causal judgements? We begin a series of thirteen experiments. by providing evidence that both high-level (causal reasoning) processes, and low-level (associative) processes influence causal assessment depending on what is asked about the events. Specifically, participants were more sensitive to causal structure in their ratings than in their prediction responses, on earlier rather than later trials, and when asked to provide an integrative causal rating. Emphasising the direction and nature of the causal relationship and the wording of the test question had no influence on participants' sensitivity to causal asymmetry. Next, we provide evidence that participants' ratings track conditional rather than uncondtional contingencies as predicted by the conditional P account as well as the Rescorla-Wagner model at asymptote. Our results suggest that participants tend to rate the influence of each cause conditional on the absence of the other cause. This tendency is not reflected by the Rescorla-Wagner model. Finally, we examine the role of temporal contiguity on judgments of contingency using a human analogue of the Pavlovian task. Our results suggest that knowledge of temporal delay modulates causal judgements.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Bhakti In The Bhagavad Gita And The Bhagavata Purana

contributor:
Kinsley, D. R.
Religion

subject:
Bhakti
Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavata Purana
Religion
Religion

abstract:
No Abstract Included.

Master of Arts (MA)


title: An Alkalic Continental Vent Complex of the Dubawnt Group, N.W.T.

subject:
alkaline
volcanics
geochemical
Other Life Sciences
Other Life Sciences

abstract: Subject Category "Geology" not listed in menu.

abstract: An Alkalic suite of proterozoic volcanics and their associated sediments, situated within the Dubawnt Group of the Churchill Province, was mapped and studied. Petrography and geochemical analyses were performed on representative specimens. The extrusives and related dykes are thought to have been derived from the differentiation of a single parent magma, as evidenced by several geochemical trends. The units are as follows; intermediate to felsic trachytes and pyroclastics, typically phlogopite phyric and red alkali rhyolites; later volcaniclastic units. A significantly younger diabase dyke cuts these units, all of which overlie the '307' formation.

abstract: Bachelor of Science (BSc)


title: Exploratory Steps Towards a Grammatical Manipulation Package (GRAMPA)

contributor:
Wood, Derick
Computation

subject:
computer language
Algol program
Computer Sciences
Computer Sciences

abstract: Very often, grammars constructed for computer languages are not in a concise form for simple parsing. For example some symbols may be unreachable or useless. If a simple precedence grammar is required, artificial symbols may have to be introduced to remove conflicts. This report describes exploratory steps taken towards the development of an Algol program to automatically manipulate grammars. Procedures are described which read and set up a grammar in a list structure form suitable for analysis and manipulation. The procedures manipulate the grammar to remove useless and unreachable symbols, and precedence conflicts, and they analyse the grammar for recursion, precedence etc.

abstract: Master of Science (MS)


title: In vivo x-ray fluorescence of bone lead in the study of human lead metabolism in a cohort of the general population and smelter employees

contributor:
Chettle, David R
Medical Physics

subject:
Toxicokinetics of Lead Metabolism
Other Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Other Physical Sciences and Mathematics

abstract: After developing the clover-leaf geometry system, the system was used for the first time in a major survey in 2008 to measure the lead levels of 497 smelter employees in the province of New Brunswick in Canada, who participated in a lead study during the time interval of 14 January to 6 March 2008. Participants were measured for lead concentration in the left tibia and right calcaneus, each for 30 min. The minimum detection limit (MDL) of the clover leaf geometry detector system was improved by a factor 3.1 compared to a conventional system. Improvement of the detection system makes low-level environmental lead exposure studies relating to public health possible. This is important because low-level lead exposure has been well known to have many adverse health effects. Also, since the delivered effective dose is small (50 nSv), the technique can be used to measure the bone lead of sensitive populations such as the elderly and children. A total of 263 of individuals participated in a pilot study of bone and blood lead measurements supported by Health Canada’s Chemical Management Plan. The study was conducted in collaboration with McMaster University and St. Joseph’s Health Centre located in Toronto. Participants were measured for bone lead (calcaneus and tibia) concentration and whole blood and serum lead levels. Among participants 17 (6.5%) of them were 1 to 5 years old; 37 (14%) of them 6 to 10; 44 (17%) of them 11 to 19; 47 (18%) of them 20 to 35; 36 (14%) of them 36 to 50; 46 (17.5%) of them 51 to 64, and finally 19 (7%) of them belonged to age range of 65 to 85 years old. v In most of the previous work, the relationship between bone lead concentration and Cumulative Blood Lead Index (CBLI) was considered to be linear. In the study of a cohort of smetler employees we observed a non- linear relationship between CBLI and bone lead contents. The study showed that for the higher values of CBLI (earlier hired smelter employees), the tranfer rate of lead from blood to bone becomes more efficient. Oppositly, we obsrved that for a higher levels of CBLI, the transfer rate of lead from bone to blood is less efficient and lead stays in bone longer. In this study, for the first time the transfer rate of lead from bone to blood was estimated as a funtion of predictors including age, employment time, and body lead contents for smelter employees.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: The Connection between Reason and Morality in the Kantian Moral System

contributor:
Shalom, A.
Philosophy

subject:
Kant's moral system
reason and investigation
Philosophy
Philosophy

abstract:
It is the aim of this thesis to begin to sort out the relation between reason (as a "higher" mental faculty) and the moral system that Kant develops. This is done through an investigation of the Kantian conception of reason and an investigation of Kant's moral system itself. The idea of the unconditioned, as a necessary condition for the possibility of morality, is identified as being that which connects the two terms.

The first part of this thesis deals with Kant's conception of the faculty or function of reason (as opposed to the faculty of the understanding), and this· is centered around two main elements: syllogistic thinking and the subjective maxim to find the condition for all conditioned cognitions. From this, and given what I call the "ambiguous" nature of the pure concepts of the understanding, I begin to trace the development of the idea of the unconditioned. This idea of the unconditioned, I claim, belongs solely to pure reason.

In the second part of my thesis, starting from what I take to be Kant's basic presuppositions about morality, the most basic being universality of moral rules, and from the Kantian notion of the will, I attempt to reconstruct, in a systematic way an argument leading to the formation of iii particular moral laws or categorical imperatives. Along the way, the various notions of the unconditioned are noted (e.g., the unconditionally good will, the unconditionally good object), and these are linked to the idea of the causally unconditioned, viz., freedom.

In the third and final part I make explicit, though in no comprehensive way, the relation between the idea of the unconditioned (and thus pure reason) and morality.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: The Development of the Modem Conception of Art in Britain in the Eighteenth Century, and its significance for Contemporary Philosophy of Art

subject:
art
philosophy of art
social evaluation
Philosophy
Philosophy

abstract:
The question about the nature of art is at the centre of the philosophy of art. The thesis seeks to replace the two dominant approaches to this question in contemporary English-speaking philosophy - essentialism and descriptivism - with an historicist approach. The historicist approach I develop and defend holds that answers to the question ''What is Art?" must take the form of localized cultural-historical narratives.

This alternative approach is applied to write the history of the development of what I call "the modem conception of art" in the early eighteenth century. A changing notion of art that emerges in Britain in this period is decisive for all later philosophy of art. Its genesis must be understood in a context of social, political and cultural changes. These changes deeply affected many people's conception of themselves and of their place in society. Social status becomes uncertain, and new criteria for the presentation of the self and evaluation of others emerge. Knowledge about art and the display of taste become indicators of social distinctions and thus criteria for social evaluation, replacing older notions of birth and rank. The modem conception of art emerges as part of new ideas of the presentation of the self, as part of a new ideal of edification.

In contemporary philosophy of art, the evaluative contents of the conception of art - its historical and contemporary connection to notions of the moral and social order - are seldom discussed. Yet, as I show, these connections exist and have existed for a long time. At the centre of contemporary philosophy of art, therefore, there is a conception of art which is ideological in the sense that it treats the normative as factual and the historically contingent as the natural. Only a historical analysis of the kind I carry out is able to bring to light this aspect of the conception of art presupposed in contemporary philosophy of art.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Freedom, God and the End of Humanity: Religion and History in Kant's Practical Philosophy

subject: Philosophy Philosophy

abstract: Kant's concepts of God and history occupy integral yet paradoxical positions in his practical philosophy. He appeals to God as a postulate necessary to practical reason, that which serves as the only unifying ground for freedom and the empirical world. In addition to their more systematic expression, his arguments regarding the practical function of the concept of God often take on a practical psychological dimension. Kant argues that we need to postulate the existence of God in order to be able to pursue the goal of living a moral life in a moral world with a sense of confidence. This same line of argument is found in his essays on history when Kant writes of a providentially guided natural process, and thus serves as an indication of the thematic connection between God and history. And yet it is precisely this conception of God and history that is problematic. The concept of history as a teleologically directed process leans towards a deterministic view of human development, one which conflicts with the conception of human beings as autonomous agents. Some critics have argued that this conflict is only an apparent one, and that other elements of the Kantian system resolve any tension between freedom and determinism within this concept of history. Others have argued that this conflict marks the failure of Kant's concept of history. In this thesis I shall explore this problem. Through establishing the deep connection between God, history and morality in Kant's thought, I intend to show that this is a fundamental Kantian problem, not a marginal one. My emphasis will be on the practical implications of this problem, primarily those having to do with the question of the consistency between Kant's concept of God and history one the one hand and freedom and autonomy on the other. I shall argue that despite attempts to save the concept of history, it ineluctably conflicts with Kant's view of human beings as autonomous, responsible agents. The concept of God, however, is another matter, and I shall endeavor to demonstrate that it in fact can be made consistent with practical reason.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: Nucleation of Some Tetracyanoplatinate(II) Salts from Aqueous Solution

contributor:
O. E. Hileman, Jr.
Chemistry

subject: Chemistry Chemistry

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: The Metaphysical and Psychological Basis of Thomas Hobbes' Moral Philosophy

contributor:
Noxon, James R.
Philosophy

subject: Philosophy Philosophy

abstract:
This thesis is intended to show, first, that, contrary to contemporary interpretations, Hobbes' philosophy is, as he claimed, a deductive system, beginning with factual or non-evaluative first principles and culminating in a set of moral rules, the laws of nature. The argument is, thus, that Hobbes was a consistent and a successful ethical naturalist. It is not claimed that his moral philosophy is deduced directly from his mechanistic first principles, but, that his system is deductive in much the same sense as are scientific theories, bringing both general principles and observed facts into the deduction. This claim is more fully explained in chapters one and two. Second, the thesis is intended to provide a thorough exposition and alternative interpretation of Hobbes' views on method, metaphysics, and psychology. Accordingly, in expounding the details of Hobbes' philosophy, the thesis goes well beyond what would be necessary to provide a basis for arguing that his philosophy is, in fact, a system.

It has been attempted throughout to follow the order of discussion as it is exhibited in Hobbes' own systematic work, The Elements of Philosophy. Thus, in chapter one, it is shown that Hobbes' philosophical development supports the view that his philosophy is a system. Chapter two offers a detailed account of Hobbes' views on reason and scientific method and, on the basis of this account, argues that Hobbes did conceive of his philosophy as constituting a system. Chapters three and four present a thorough discussion of Hobbes' metaphysical principles. Here it is argued that Hobbes did not simply beg the question of the external would but that he saw it primarily as a problem for natural philosophy. In chapter three it is argued that all accidents, insolar as they are subjects of thought and knowledge, are, for Hobbes, imaginary and that all substance, since it is only as corporeal that it is a subject of reason and knowledge, is corporeal. Hobbes' views on essence and causality are examined in chapter four. Here it is argued that Hobbes held a process view of causality according to which all distinctions between cause and effect are somewhat arbitrary. It is shown also that Hobbes' arguments in support of his mechanism, while not sound, are not, as usually thought, circular. Finally, an attempt is made to understand Hobbes' determination in light of his views on causality and the nature of motion.

Hobbes' psychology is discussed in chapters five and six. In chapter five an argument for the external world is extrapolated from his mechanistic account of the nature of separation. It is argued as well that Hobbes' theory of sensation is neither an epiphenomenalist nor representationalist theory, and an attempt is made to show the connections between his metaphysics and various aspects of his cognitive psychology. In chapter six it is shown that Hobbes' mechanistic account of desire is a deduction from his metaphysics, that his psychology ~-' a 'selfish' psychology, and that 'good' is, for him, a psychological and, hence, mechanistic concept. It is shown too, in the discussion of the moral argument form De Homine, that Hobbes did clearly distinguish moral from prudential virtue.

The derivation of Hobbes' moral philosophy is taken up in chapter seven. Here it is shown that the state of nature is an unrealizable state which would obtain only if men without any social experience whatever were to act simply and solely according to their natural desires. It is then shown that the war of all against all and the unlimited right of each is a consequence of that state and that the state of nature is a deduction from Hobbes' mechanistic psychology. The derivation of the laws of nature from the state of nature is then given. In chapter eight some alternative interpretations are examined are rejected.

In general, it is concluded that Hobbes' philosophy is a unified, deductive system, culminating in moral laws which have their basis, ultimately, in his mechanism.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Making Motherhood: Exploring Transnational Adoption Practices Between Canada and China

contributor:
Badone, Ellen E.F.
Balcom, Karen
Anthropology

subject:
transnational adoption
kinship
motherhood
infertility
Canada
China
Medical anthropology
feminist anthropology
globalization
Social and Cultural Anthropology
Social and Cultural Anthropology

abstract: The adoption of children across international borders has emerged as an important cultural phenomenon. It shapes the way North Americans understand families, and forms relationships between sending and receiving countries. This dissertation explores the transnational adoption of children between Canada and China with a focus on the subjective experiences of Canadian women who have adopted children from China, their dreams, motivations and lived experiences of becoming an adoptive mother. Highlighting these narratives, this dissertation serves to balance critique with advocacy, and complicates the binary opposition in both scholarly and popular culture presentations of transnational adoption as either ‘good’ or ‘bad’. The dissertation also explores the social pressures that Canadian women endure and how gender expectations and cultural ideas of femininity depend on a woman experiencing motherhood. Through the window of transnational adoption this dissertation examines discourses about infertility, philanthropy, kinship, gender and the construction of transnational adoption as kidnap or rescue.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Wittgenstein and Philosophy

contributor:
Simpson, E.
Philosophy

subject: Wittgenstein philosophy Philosophy Philosophy

abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to examine certain key aspects of Wittgenstein's later teaching regarding philosophy in both its traditional form and its proper, Wittgensteinian form. The primary reason for choosing the later teaching is Wittgenstein's clear indication that this is his best, most mature and, hence, most authoritative account of the matter. The thesis draws, so far as his own works are concerned, exclusively on his later writings, especially the Philosophical Investigations. The discussion proceeds as follows. In the first chapter, an attempt is made to expound systematically the substance of the later Wittgenstein's critique of traditional philosophy, particularly the 'skeptical' side of traditional philosophy as well as the conceptions of 'language' and 'meaning' on which it is founded. The second chapter consists in an attempt to illuminate, in the light of this critique, Wittgenstein's later understanding of proper philosophical inquiry. In the third and final chapter, some of the problems or questions pertaining to Wittgenstein's later teaching concerning philosophy are examined. Special attention is given to the question of whether or not Wittgenstein's later thought is historicist in essence (and therefore contains an essentially historicist teaching about philosophy).

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Kant's Concept of the Self

subject: Kant philosophy Philosophy Philosophy

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: The Concept of Human Essence in Hegel and Marx

contributor:
Ajzenstat, S.
Philosophy

subject: Philosophy Philosophy

abstract:
Postmodern thought has staked much of its claim to originality upon a critique of the concept of essence in previous philosophical systems. This critique is based upon the claim that essence has and must function as a reductionist and transcendent category. In so far as traditional metaphysics has applied this concept to humanity, it has inevitably posited the truth of humanity in a static and ahistorical manner. The following thesis has attempted to problamatize the postmodern reading through an examination of the works of Hegel and Marx.

Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit is a revolutionary philosophical text in so far as it presents human history as a process in which the human community produces and transforms its essential nature. The human essence is transposed from an abstract realm superior to history into the very midst of historical being. Hegel's analysis discloses that the human essence is the capacity for selfcreation, or, in other words, positive freedom. History is understood to be the human struggle to make this essence a socio-political reality. In the course of this struggle the essence is itself transformed in the various attempts to make it a living reality.

If the human essence is the unique capacity to create oneself, then the dynamism implied takes on a critical function. It provides an evaluative criterion to measure given societies as regards freedom which is immanent to these societies and does not have to be imported from any abstract moral or religious system. The flushing out of the critical potential of this concept, left unrealized by Hegel, is the primary philosophical contribution of Marx. through a further concretization of the concept, Marx is able to establish a contrast between what a given society concretely offers its citizens, and the potential it creates but cannot, for systemic reasons, realize. Because the essence is rooted in the practical conditions of existence, it is a non-arbitrary, verifiable tool of critique. Furthermore, because it reveals how the self-creative character of humanity is artificially limited, it is also non-dogrnatic. No definite way of living is prescribed, the sale imperitive is to establish a society in which the material preconditions for the free self-realization of all individuals are met.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: The Behaviour of Composite Beams With Flexible Connections

contributor:
Robinson, H.
Civil Engineering

subject:
Civil Engineering
Civil Engineering

abstract: Master of Engineering (ME)


title: Investment Behaviour of Canadian Life Insurance Companies: A Mean-Variance Approach

contributor:
Aivazian, Varouj A.
J.L. Callen, A.L. Robb
Economics

subject:
investment behaviour
canadian life
insurance
mean-variance
Behavioral Economics
Economics
Philosophy
Behavioral Economics

abstract:
In recent years, considerable effort has been directed toward establishing the nature of the investment behaviour of life insurance companies. In this dissertation an extended portfolio analysis model was developed for the simultaneous determination of the efficient composition of insurance and investment activities of a life insurance company. This was done within a model that takes advantage of the existing finance foundations and the concepts and techniques of modern demand system analysis.

Unlike current models which used quadratic programming techniques and are interested in the construction of efficient sets, we have used a utility maximization approach. A two parameter portfolio model was constructed utilizing elements of utility theory and of the theory of insurance. The model provided us with the proportion of assets held in the balance sheet as well as which liabilities are used to raise the necessary capital.

The model developed has sufficient empirical content to yield hypotheses' about life insurance portfolio behaviour and thus was tested using appropriate econometric techniques. A comparative static analysis yielded elasticities of substitution between financial assets and liabilities. The estimation of these elasticities in the context of a flexible functional form model, forms a central part of this dissertation. More specifically, by utilizing a mean-variance portfolio framework and a general Box-Cox utility function we were able to model the demand for assets and liabilities by an insurance company. On empirical grounds we found that, in general, the square root quadratic utility function best fits the data. We also tried to evaluate the square root quadratic approximation by showing that, broadly speaking, it yields signs for elasticities of substitution which are consistent with the theory.

A by-product of the model developed is the ability to compare stock and mutual life insurance companies. The common belief that mutual companies follow a riskier path in the way they conduct their business was supported by the results in this study.

The results obtained from the study are of significant importance since life insurance companies have substantial obligations to millions of households in the economy. Furthermore, despite the extraordinary decline in the importance of the life insurance industry in the bond and mortgage markets during the sixties and the seventies, the industry is still a major supplier of funds to those markets.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: The Classical Greek Mercenary and his Relationship to the Greek Polis

contributor:
Geagan, Daniel J.
Ancient History

subject: ancient

subject: history

subject: Greek

subject: polis

subject: Arts and Humanities

subject: History

subject: History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology

subject: Philosophy

subject: Arts and Humanities

abstract:
This dissertation examines the role of the Greek mercenary in the history of the Greek city-states from the Dark-Ages down to the end of the Lamian War in 322 B.C. It does not address the strategic and tactical uses of mercenaries on the battlefields of the eastern Mediterranean, but illustrates the social, political, and economic positions of mercenaries both inside and outside of the polis. The principal purpose of this work has been to demonstrate the central role of mercenary service to Greek society and history. This role is demonstrated in the accepted nature of mercenary service among Greek citizens. Greek mercenaries came from all the regions of the Greek world and from all strata of Greek society. Mercenary service was important in forging links between individuals and communities apodemia and, as such, it was a means by which foreigners and foreign rulers could exercise their power and their influence over the Greeks.

Historians have studied the military uses of mercenaries. They have also studied specific aspects of mercenary service, such as pay, or specific regions and campaigns in which they served.  Never before has one work examined mercenary service as a socio-economic problem for the whole polis period.

The sources for this work come from every type of Greek literature. Historians such as Thucydides and Xenophon have provided the narrative and military contexts for the adventures of mercenaries. Philosophers have illustrated attitudes towards military service overseas as well as the status at home. Technical writers, for example the fourth-century strategist Aeneas Tacticus, have provided information on a variety of important issues concerning mercenaries. Forensic speech writers have illustrated how ordinary men served at home and abroad with alacrity and seemingly without care, while political speeches have shown the concern with which some saw the growth in the numbers of Greeks abroad. As well as the literary sources, the coinage of the period has promoted an understanding of payment and the relationships between the employer and those in service.

By looking at Greeks who left the polis to serve abroad, either for a short campaign or for their entire lives, a clearer insight into the history of the city-states is achieved. In this study the focus of Greek history shifts from the inclusive communities of the Greek mainland to the tyrants and kings of the Mediterranean and the Near East. The Hellenistic world which emerged after Alexander, (and therefore beyond the scope of this thesis), embraced this wide geographic arena. In their work the Greek mercenaries of the polis period exemplify the continuity of one time frame to the next. The mercenaries aided the synthesis of east with west and as a result they laid the foundations for the world of the Hellenistic monarchies.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Technical Change in Canadian Manufacturing: A Regional Analysis

contributor:
Webber, Michael J.
Geography

subject:
geography
canadian manufacturing
Geography
Philosophy

abstract:
The rate of profit in Canadian manufacturing fell by almost 37% between 1955 and 1984. Throughout much of this period, the reduction in profitability was accompanied by increasing unemployment of both capital and labour and by a deceleration of economic growth. The impact of this crisis on Canadian regions was markedly uneven.

This thesis explains the crisis and its uneven spatial impact using the Marxist theory of the falling rate of profit. There are two stages to this analysis. Firstly, the relationship between technical change and accumulation is examined using a two-department model of the economy. Secondly, the effect of various types of technical change on regional manufacturing performance in Canada is evaluated.

The theoretical analysis provides the analytical support required by the theory of the falling rate of profit. In particular it shows that viable labour-saving technical change may cause the aggregate rate of profit in an economy to fall, and it provides a model of the likely direction of technical change that affirms the importance of labour-saving bias in innovation.

A Marxist accounting framework is outlined that clarifies the relationship between the labour-value of commodities and their respective prices. Using this accounting framework a set of measures of technical change and economic performance are provided in both value and price terms. These measures are estimated for selected industries in six Canadian regions.

The empirical analysis confirms the theoretical arguments, showing that labour-saving technical change exerted a negative effect on the rate of profit in all regions. The data also reveal that regional variations in economic performance are marked, both at the I eve I of manufacturing as a whole and at the industry level. Little support was found for the "industry-mix" explanation of regional fortunes and the neoclassical arguments of regional convergence.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Ethics and Hermeneutics: An Investigation Into Critical Reflection

contributor:
Madison, Gary B.
Philosophy

subject: ethics reflection hermenutics Philosophy Philosophy

abstract: The central problems investigated in this thesis concern the theory and practice of critical ethical reflection from the standpoint of hermeneutical philosophy. The overriding questions addressed in the thesis are, does hermeneutical philosophy leave us with an attenuated conception of, or diminished capacity for, ethical critique, as certain of its critics maintain? How is critical reflection possible in lieu of foundations and formal decision procedures, and what philosophical resources are at its disposal? More fundamentally, what is involved in the practice of critical reflection? In arguing that such reflection is best viewed as a mode of heIp hermeneutic discourse, questions arise concerning the role served by moral imagination in the practice of critique. It also raises questions concerning the role, if any, which ethical theory serves in informing a critique of human practices. Does critical reflection require the assistance of an ethical theory? If, as I contend, it does, then what method of theorizing i.s consistent with the principles of hermeneutics? Finally, how does hermeneutical philosophy view the relation between theory and practice in moral philosophy?

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: A Natural History of Causality: Philosophical Principles Toward More Human Sciences

contributor:
Najm, Dr S.M.
Philosophy

subject: history

subject: human science

subject: principle

subject: History

subject: Other Arts and Humanities

subject: Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures

subject: Philosophy

subject: History

abstract: The traditional paradigm of causality presupposed by the natural sciences is not equipped to handle the new ways of thinking coming in the wake of what has been called the "interpretive tum" in philosophy and the social sciences. This dissertation initiates a new paradigm of causality, one that seeks to be more adequate to the needs of twenty-first century philosophical and scientific thinking. The dissertation begins by reviewing the central problems of the old paradigm and attempting to indicate precisely how it is inadequate. Next, with the aid of David Hume's deconstruction of causality, this dissertation seeks to ground the proposed paradigm in the meaning of causality as accessible to everyday lived experience (as opposed to basing it upon an a priority idea). Then, the analysis of causality so far achieved is brought within the phenomenological ontology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, which provides a non-dualist way of thinking the relationship between subject and object (as well as between objects and between subjects). The discussion seeks to show how a new manner of conceiving such relationships overcomes the intractable difficulties arising from thinking causality in traditional terms. Finally. the dissertation indicates some ways that the new paradigm might be deployed in both human and natural sciences and considers some of the implications of the new paradigm for changes in Scientific thinking.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Phonon-Induced Far Infrared Absorption in Superconductors

contributor:
Timusk, T.
Physics

subject: Physics Physics

abstract: Phonon induced absorption spectra are presented for a variety of superconductors and compared to phonon densities of states derived from tunneling and neutron scattering experiments. Good signal to noise ratios permit differentiation of the spectra and thereby a direct presentation of the phonon spectrum. A simple weak coupling theory is used to interpret the results. For lead the simple theory is sufficiently accurate to permit inversion of the experimental spectrum to give a phonon density of states which contains fine structure that is in good agreement with neutron, but not tunneling, results. Evidence is found of phonon lifetime effects associated with the superconducting transition. A comparison is made with the full strong coupling theory, but only for the undifferentiated data, showing good agreement. In other materials phonon induced structure is weaker and in poorer agreement with the simple theory.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Ethnohistory of Algonkian Speaking People of Georgian Bay.

contributor: Edward S. Rogers (Deceased), David Damas

subject: Arts and Humanities

abstract:
The Algonkian speaking peoples of Georgian Bay occupied the shoreline and island environment of eastern Lake Huron, in Georgian Bay, between the French and Severn Rivers. They were likely the product of a constant cultural flux of peoples who came to occupy the shores and islands of Georgian Bay perhaps as early as 1200 A.D., although the archaeological evidence is problematic. Often regarded by vague reference by historical observers who included them with the Nipissing and the Ottawa during the seventeenth century, the Georgian Bay Algonkian speaking peoples were likely peoples of various origin. During the nineteenth century they appear in the historical records as Mississauga, ojibwa, and Potowatomi, although these are often political identifications.

This study attempts to piece together the ethnohistory of the Georgian Bay Algonkian by presenting an ethnographic account dating from precontact times to 1850. The presence of Algonkian speaking peoples in the Georgian Bay region has largely been neglected by ethnohistorians. Identified as convenient trading partners (Heidenreich 1971: 293), and economic dependents of the Huron (Trigger 1976, 1: 168; 1985: 205), the Georgian Bay Algonkian speaking peoples have been considered to have had little influence in the region (Jenness 1932: 276). It is not surprising that little is known about them. Culturally, they have been relegated to a rather ethnographically ambiguous position in Great Lakes culture history.

By examining the archaeological, environmental, and historical record this study argues that the Algonkian speaking peoples of Georgian Bay were strongly influenced by both their geographic and political position in an environment where year round Subsistence was available from fishing, small game mammals, and corn (either traded or cultivated). This economy in turn, influenced their ritual, political and social organization. The extensive temporal depth of this adaptation is followed through an examination of regionally important historical influences, including a devastating war with the Iroquois, various fur trades, an influx of native immigration, government sponsored settlement programs, and land surrenders. Within this context, the history of the Algonkian speaking people of Georgian Bay achieved cultural definition.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: The Engineering of an Enemy: The Catholic Church, United Steelworkers, Canadian Labour Congress, and International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers Loca1598

contributor:
Wells, Donald M.
Work and Society

subject:
eng.
work and society
chatholic
chruch
union
steelwork
canada
Arts and Humanities
Engineering
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Arts and Humanities

abstract: As global politics realized a fundamental realignment with the end of the Second World War, the Canadian state desired the formation of a national consensus over its newly developed Cold War policies. It set about this task through the use of anti-communist rhetoric to facilitate a repressive and intolerant atmosphere where dissent of state policies could be identified as subversive and dangerous. In promulgating this Cold War ideology, Ottawa was wary of the illiberal approach that characterized American McCarthyism. Rather, Ottawa adopted a strategy of "privatizing" its anti-communism through the use of extra-state actors. By "farming" out its repressive activities, Ottawa could portray itself as a neutral defender of liberal values, while at the same time facilitating a climate of repression that would further its policy aims. Attendant to this, the extra-state actors used this state facilitated framework in order to advance their own interests and agendas. This strategy was starkly illustrated by the USWA raids against IUMMSW Local 598 in 1962. The interests of the state, the Catholic Church, CLC, and USWA coalesced around the elimination of Mine Mill local 598 as a representative of miners in northern Ontario. The Catholic Church sought the elimination of a progressive secularizing force in the Sudbury community that threatened the Church's institutional reproduction. For Steel, the acquisition of over 17,000 dues-paying members and the elimination of IUMMSW as a competitor in the membership rich northern Ontario mining communities. While the state prospered from the virulent anti-communist environment and the elimination of a potentially militant union from control over the largest source of nickel in the non-Communist world. Thus the boundaries demarcating the state from civil society are less clear than some would have us believe. The USW A/Mine Mill events illustrate the nuance in the relationship between the state and private actors in the mobilization of ideological hegemony.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: Hegel and the Moral World View

subject:
moral
world views
art
philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy

abstract:
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate Hegel's conception of morality. Kantian ethics, or to For Hegel, morality refers mainly to the "moral world-view." Hegelian morality is therefore primarily concerned with Kantian ethics and what Hegel considers to be the problems inherent within Kant's ethical system. Hegel's position on morality, as defined by the moral world-view, is that it is inadequate and must be sublimated into the societal norms of ethical life.

Hegel's dialectical movement to ethical life is based upon his criticisms of Kantian ethics. However, if a credible Kantian reply can be found to answer Hegel's criticisms, Hegel's moral dialectic becomes problematic. In this thesis I will clarify Hegel's position on morality and will conclude by providing a Kantian reply to Hegel's criticisms.

This thesis is divided into three chapters. In Chapter One, I introduce Hegel's critique of Kantian ethics within The Phenomenology of Spirit. In Chapter Two I explore He gel 's definition of morality wit h i nth e Philosophy of right . In the third and final chapter I analyze Hegel's critique of the moral world-view and provide a Kantian reply to Hegel's criticisms. I conclude by arguing that Kantian ethics can be defended against Hegel's criticisms, therefore Hegel's attempt to sublimate morality into ethical life is problematic.

abstract: Master of Arts (MA)


title: The Church on the World's Turf: An Ethnography of the McMaster University Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship

contributor:
Badone, Ellen E.F.
Religious Studies

subject: chruch christian mcmaster ethnography Christianity Philosophy Religion Christianity

abstract: The McMaster University Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) is the largest IVCF chapter in Canada and the second largest recognized group of any kind at McMaster. The majority of its members are conservative Protestants who espouse "fundamentalist" interpretations of the Bible, womens' roles, the age of the earth, alcohol consumption, sexual ethics, and the necessity of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. IVCF members perceive a sharp distinction between themselves and their "non-Christian" peers and professors. An analysis of the apparently paradoxical success of this particular group should elucidate the relationship between contemporary evangelical groups and other secular institutions in North America. Drawing upon fieldwork with the McMaster IVCF, I argue that the chapter promotes two strategies for interacting with the nonChristian majority. First, the "fortress" strategy protects evangelicals and the evangelical ethos from a campus ethos many believers consider to be hostile to their values and beliefs. Second, the "bridge" strategy facilitates constructive and non-confrontational interactions between these evangelicals and their non-Christian peers. These two strategies help IVCF participants to negotiate metaphorical "contracts" between their faith on the one hand and their secular education and social setting on the other. Creative strategies such as those employed by McMaster IVCF members seem both to fortify and mitigate against evangelicals' sense of difference from non-Christians.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Discourse of Health Risks and Anti-Racial Diversity: An Analysis of Media Coverage ofthe Non-Ebola Panic in Hamilton

contributor: Dr. Graham Knight, Dr. James Gillett, Dr. Gary Warner

subject: Hamilton Health Anti-Racial Media Non-Ebola Philosophy Sociology Philosophy

abstract:
This study examines the media coverage of the widely-publicized non-Ebola event in Hamilton during 2001, and its impact on members of the local Hamilton Black community. The study argues that the problemalizalion of the non-Ebola event by both local and national print media stems from the anxiety of Canadians over the growing presence of racial minorities in Canada. The discursive construction of the event as a problem of immigration taps into the experiential consciousness of the public who draws on its racial capacity to make sense of the uncertainty and ambiguity of late modernity.

~ism is expressed in the media coverage, but through non-race discourse. The study finds that immigration is problematized through its articulation with future health risks for Canadian. By the same token, racial diversity is dis-articulated from its socioeconomic benefits to Canadian society. Evidently, the discourse of immigration becomes a substitution for the discourse of anti-racial diversity. Findings show that members of the Black community are skeptical of medical and media systems, not necessarily because these systems are fallible, but largely because of their broader experience as a 'racial Other' in Canadian society. As a response to what members of the Black community have interpreted as exclusionary actions of these institutions, and punitive actions of the 'dominant racial group', 'race' is found to be inverted by Blacks, who gloss over within-group differences, out of resistance.

The significance of the study lies in the links it draws between moral panic and risk discourses in perpetuating a late modem strain of racialization in the media.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Time and Contingency: Temporal Organization in Southern Labrador

contributor:
Preston, Richard J.
Anthropology

subject:
cultural anthropology
southern Labrador
fishers
trappers
hunters
Social and Cultural Anthropology
Social and Cultural Anthropology

abstract:
Page 114 with a diagram is actually page 116.

Page 216 with a diagram is actually page 219.

Page 224 with a diagram is actually page 227.

Page 273 with a diagram is actually page 276.

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abstract:
The aim of this dissertation is the examination of theoretlcal concepts and assumptions which have informed the study of time in cultural anthropology. In the anthropological literature, the notion of time is recognized as being a uniquely human phenomenon, having a dualistic if not paradoxical nature, that ls, it is simultaneously cyclical and lineal. These two characteristics have been viewed as being separate and opposed to each other. In this dissertation, however, I argue that they are not opposed and separate but are closely intertwined. A multidimensional helical model is employed to illustrates this interconnectedness.

I present the view that one key to understanding cyclical and linear characteristics of time can be found in examining the element of contingency. My examination of the role that contingency plays with respect to temporal organization is situated within the context of the culture of southern Labrador where contingency commands a prominent position in the lives of fishers, trappers and hunters and their families. From the ethnographic context, I address some of the important anthropological ideas that have informed the study of time and contingency in anthropology. A framework of key notions or understandings emerge from this examination, namely: (1) that time is dynamic, (2) that cyclical and lineal iii iv aspects of time are interrelated rather than opposed, (3) that time has multidimensionality and finally (4) that contingency in its various environmental and cultural expressions can effect the way in which time is conceptualized and organized. The dissertation is based on fourteen months of field research conducted in the summer of 1976, 1979-1980 and in the fall of 1988.

It begins with an examination of anthropological perspectives on the study of time and contingency. I move on 1..0 an exploration of historical and social events which provide a baseline for interpreting the relationship between contingency and time. Next, the contingencies based in the environmental cycle, particularly breakup and freezeup are explored along with adjustive responses employed by Labradorians to accommodate them.

The relationship between contingency and predictability are examined in light of work and leisure patterns of women and of men respectively. Family commensal routines provide a venue in which contingency is modulated and predictability is introduced in the daily cycle. While women and men experience different levels of contingency and predictability in their daily lives, a complementary relationship exists between male and female temporal domains. Examination of the daily cycle also reveals that the daily schedule is ordered into domains of public and private time. During ritual time, distinctions between public and private v time, between male and female, and between stranger and friend undergo symbolic inversion. Here contingencies of both the environmental and social sort are celebrated. Disguise, in the form of janneying (masking) and social drinking, provide the vehicle for such inversion. In light of t.his data, questions concerning the effect of contingent events on temporal organization are explored.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Freedom and the Fourfold in the Thought of Martin Heidegger

contributor:
Grant, George P.
Religious Sciences

subject: Philosophy Religion Philosophy

abstract:
The purpose of this study is to draw out of Heidegger's work, and to argue for the thesis, that freedom saves its essence in the region of the truth of Being. In relation to freedom, this region is called it the free". The usual. idea of freedom, whether it be self-realization, self-perfection or self-determination, attaches itself to the fact of self-causing-itself, whether this be an I-self or a we-self. Heidegger challenges this idea of freedom because it leaves the nature of the self assumed and unquestioned. He insists that the truth of self cannot stand without awareness of what is other than it. Heidegger puts his thesis. succinctly in the form of a challenge in the "Letter on Humanism".

"Whether the region of the truth of Being is a blind alley, or whether it is the free where freedom saves its essence, everyone may judge for himself, after he has tried to go the pointed way, or better to go a better one, which means to pioneer a way appropriate to the question."

Though the fourfold relationship of earth, sky, gods and men is not mentioned explicitly in this challenge, it becomes clear in the study that the eventual unfolding of the whole event of freedom saving its essence in the free requires the unfolding of this relationship which binds into the free. For Heidegger freedom is vindicated rather than dissolved by saving its essence in the fourfold. Depending on the stance taken, it is possible to see Heidegger's thought as an attack on freedom if it remains confined to the self and thus truncated. At the same tlme, his thought can be seen as a reassertion of freedom when it is restored to its proper hidden ground. As a whole unity, his work is a long hard sustained attempt to think the truth of modern freedom together with the truth of reverence and submission, the truth of what is revered.

To try to do justice to the gradual unfold~ng of all the components of the thesis of freedom saving its essence in the fourfold, I have examined chronologically eight of Heidegger's works stretching from 1929 to 1959. They are The Essence of Ground, The Essence of Truth, What Is Metaphysics?, Epilogue, "Toward the Determination of the Place of Engagement", "Letter OD. Humanism", "The Thing", "Building, Dwelling, Thinking", and "Heidgerlin's Earth and Sky". Along the path of his thought, Heidegger unfolds gradually the whole of what is occurring while freedom saves its essence in the free. His thought about freedom and the fourfold may be said to consist of two steps, as long as it is understood that the first step is not·merelx a means .to the second, but rather continues to be a necessary part of the whole of what is occurring.

The first step concentrates on human existence which Heidegger describes as threefold transcendental freedom whereby we stretch from our current situation to the world we project. For humans, he suggests, truth (1) arises out of the tension that we are in the midst of beings (2) and also that we let beings Be what they are (3). Transcendental freedom is threefold freedom toward the ground, the transcendental basis of the truth of all current beings, both human and objective. At the time this first step was taken in the early works, it was already understood as incomplete and preparatory. Before the fourfold region of the truth of Being could be unfolded it was necessary to show that threefold human freedom toward the ground occurs in a zone of transcendence. It is not possible to move directly from the current modes of being to the truth of Being, because part of that unfolding is the truth of threefold freedom. With the second step from freedom to the region of the truth of Being, Heidegger tries to study how human' . freedom is determined' or attuned by the region it is in, in a way which does not dissolve it, but rather liberates it. The great difficulty and danger is to study this matter in a way which is appropriate to its strangeness, and which is nonetheless rigorous.

The completion of the second step occurs when the region of the truth of Being, called "the nearll and the zone of transcendence called "the far" are declared both to be "the same." They belong together and thus also necessarily remain different. This "completion" is at the same time worked out by Heidegger as the cooperative effort of thoughtful and poetic production of the truth of Being. They are the same because each operates according to its own laws, and both belong or dwell into the free. The completion is also a restoration of what is present and immediate, after a bold investigation of the truths of future and past "heritage". The "mature" human threefold had to include also the acceptance of what is present before the full unfolding of the fourfold truth of Being was possible. The truth of lithe same" draws together human thinking and making in the unhidden foreground while restoring awareness of their heritage in the hidden background. When freedom returns to its matter or element, it saves or hides its essence and is thereby vindicated.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: A Study of Heinrich ott's Theological Development: Hermeneutical and Ontological Programme

contributor:
Robertson, John C.
Religious Studies

subject:
Religious Studies
Religion
Religion

abstract:
This thesis is offered as a study of Heinrich ott's theological programme. Our intention is to show that ott's development is motivated throughout by a hermeneutical and ontological impulse. His goal is hermeneutical in that he intends to translate the biblical vision of reality into contemporary and relevant thought forms. His goal is ontological because he also believes that any such translation must be shown as articulating reality as such (i.e, being). This, he argues, is crucial, if the Gospel is to be shown as the most comprehensive account of human experience possible.

The study is also shaped by our conviction - a belief shared by ott - that a genuine theology must meet two basic requirements: be worthy of the content of scripture and relevant to contemporary humanity. We apply this test of theological adequacy to ott's own programme.

The study is divided into three major parts. Part One examines ott's search for a universal theological ontology in dialogue with Karl Barth, Rudolf Bultmann, and Martin Heidegger. At this stage, ott's programme is essentially Barthian. Karl Barth is considered by many to be the greatest theologian of this century. His theology is characterized by its theocentric emphasis and by a thoroughgoing conviction that humanity's knowledge of God cannot be attained apart from revelation. It is ott's belief that by aligning Heidegger with Barth, he can overcome the anthropocentric restrictions in Bultmann's ontology and move toward a hermeneutical ontology that is more in keeping with scripture. Part Two examines and assesses the critical response to ott's alignment of Heidegger and Barth and ott's response to it. We argue that ott's alignment leads to an abstract objectivism that fails to relate theological statement to secular and human experience. We show, moreover, that his failure to distinguish properly between philosophy and theology leaves the impression that the contents of theology are determined by Heidegger's philosophy.

Part Three examines ott's willingness to abandon the Barthian premise that theology must properly begin by taking for granted the existence of God. Since belief in God is no longer a generally credited fact, ott acknowledges that theology must now show how it is that God is present in our ordinary and secular experience. Ott turns, then, to a theology of showing and pointing in which existential interpretation is now made the exclusive horizon of theological statement. Here we detect a discernible shift toward the theology of Rudolf Bultmann. The shift toward Bultmann is qualified, however, via ott's appeal to the universalist Christology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Ott turns to Bonhoeffer in order to break free of the exclusivist tendencies in Barth's and Bultmann's Christolologies (i.e., to show Christ as present to those outside the Church). Part Three concludes with an examination of ott's existential interpretation of the personal reality of God.

We conclude that ott's theology - while true to the contents of scripture - still falls short of the contemporary situation. He continues, in effect, to take God's existence too much for granted, the consequence being that he fails to convince those who do not already believe. We affirm, however, that ott's theology is a major step in the right direction. He clearly shows that the hermeneutical and ontological question is an inevitable issue for the kind of theology that would be true to scripture and speak to our current situation.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Physiological Indicators of Waterborne Copper Toxicity in Freshwater Fish

contributor:
McDonald, D.G.
Biology

subject: Biology Biology

abstract: Application of safety factors to water quality guidelines are often employed in the environmental management of waterborne metals. These factors extrapolate the available science into areas not reliably defined, such as: 1) acute-to-chronic toxicity, 2) laboratory-to-fielde exposures, and 3) model-to-resident species. Scientific advancements require modifications to the derivation process of water quality guidelines to minimize the arbitrary nature of safety factors. One advancement is the Biotic Ligand Model (BLM), which uniquely incorporates toxicology and physiology. This model, along with the mechanism of acute copper toxicity, forms the foundation of the thesis, with the main objective to reduce the uncertainty associated with the three areas in which safety factors are applied. The research employed laboratory experiments to understand the responses of freshwater fish to waterborne copper. This work was extended to a field situation with wild perch. In conclusion, the usual effect indicators of acute toxicity may be of limited value, in their current form, in evaluating chronic toxicity. The complexicity of chronic toxicity reaches beyond the simple connections between acute effects and mortality. It now requires the translation of subtle physiological effects into an impact on growth, reproduction or fecundity, thereby affecting fish populations or aquatic food chains. The influence of water chemistry on copper bioavailability is one area most advanced in the last ten years, at least in part due to the development of the BLM. However, the influence of water consistuents are likely to cause different effects on acute toxicity, rapid gill surface binding, metal uptake, and metal accumulation. Lastly, the laboratory and field studies using yellow perch, a species endemic to metal contaminated lakes, show that although the mechanism of toxicity may be identical to that of a model species (i.e., rainbow trout), the mechanism of tolerance can greatly alter the physiological indicators used to detect copper toxicity.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: REGULATING HOSPITAL SOCIAL WORKERS AND NURSES

contributor:
Baines, Donna
Aronson, Jane
Lewchuk, Wayne
Social Work

subject:
computerized assessments
regulation
standardization
RAI-MH
Social Work
Social Work

abstract:
Canadian hospitals continue to adopt private sector strategies in an attempt to improve efficiency, accountability and quality. One such mandated efficiency is a computerized psychosocial assessment for mental health patients known as the Resident Assessment Instrument–Mental Health (RAI-MH). This thesis uses the RAI-MH as the gateway into exploring how neoliberal or private sector strategies are used to penetrate hospital care work resulting in the regulation and restructuring of work practices. The RAI-MH requires professionals to input specified, closed ended data about patients simplifying and narrowing their practice in an attempt to govern, measure and fund what is “value added” in the patient/professional encounter. This qualitative study uses interviews with social workers and nurses to examine the competing tensions experienced by professionals as they strive to provide client-centred care in a culture that promotes computer-centred care.

My research findings reveal that the idealized portrayal of the 21st century knowledge worker is in sharp contrast to the realities faced by many increasingly standardized and “leaned-out” health care professionals. Social workers and nurses report that standardization leads to increasing surveillance. A few professionals comply with the increasing standardization or regulation but most found ways to resist while striving to maintain professional autonomy. As certain areas of work become standardized some professionals find ways to increase autonomy in other areas of their work. The findings reveal differences between those who engaged in work tasks outside of paid work hours (boundary crossings) and those who did not (boundary refusals).

Theoretically, this thesis contributes to the literature by illuminating the processes involved within the rapidly changing organization of hospital service delivery. Substantively, it adds to the literature on understanding the work of service providers and how they continue to find creative ways to resist the standardization process.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Linking Levels to Understand Graduate Student Attrition in Canada

contributor:
Davies, Scott
Aurini, Janice
Levitt, Cyril
Sociology

subject: Attrition

subject: graduate education

subject: time-to-completion

subject: time-to-withdrawal

subject: higher education

subject: policy

subject: Educational Sociology

subject: Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies

subject: Educational Sociology

abstract:
This dissertation takes a multi-level approach to studying attrition and time-to-completion (TTC) in Canadian graduate programs. I draw on three distinct data sources to provide macro, meso, and micro-level analyses of the characteristics, program features, and other aspects that affect graduate student outcomes. My research is informed by existing attrition models and frameworks and takes a policy sociology approach to providing evidence-based recommendations to be implemented at government, institution, and department levels.

My meso-level analysis presented in chapter two uses logistic regression and discrete-time survival analysis with time-varying covariates to analyze data from the Youth in Transition Survey, Cohort B. The pre-entry attributes identified in Tinto’s (1993) model of attrition are examined to help to uncover the type of student most likely to dropout of graduate school. Certain demographic and background characteristics, such as being married and having children, are shown to reduce the likelihood of graduating, while academic performance and experiences tend to be most relevant for entry to graduate school.

My third chapter presents my meso-level analysis of TTC and completion rates for thirteen doctoral programs at Carleton University using publically available data for six cohorts. In an effort to deepen our understanding of the variation that exists, program requirements, obtained from archived graduate calendars, are coded and included in my analysis. The results show that at the faculty level, Science reports the lowest average TTC, only slightly lower than Engineering, and Social Sciences have substantially longer average TTC. Completion rates are also shown to vary by discipline and faculty, with Science again reporting the highest completion rates and Social Sciences the lowest. In addition to differences by faculty and disciplines, certain program requirements are found to be negatively associated with successfully completing a doctoral degree.

The fourth chapter contains my micro-level analysis of two Sociology departments in two Ontario research intensive universities. My research was informed by interviews with completers, non-completers, and faculty I shed light on the process of attrition and barriers to timely completion. This chapter highlights how aspirations differ between groups of students, and how a department’s climate can have indirect effects on student outcomes. Faculty and students are shown to have some different perceptions of factors that lead to non-completion and the importance of supervisory relationships is found to be paramount to both student experiences and outcomes. Students face many challenges throughout their journey in the doctoral program, but many can be overcome through a department’s recognition of challenges faced as well as a commitment to improve them. Additionally, this paper highlights barriers to timely completion and reasons for withdrawal.

abstract: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)


title: Microprocessor Application in Walsh-Fourier Conversion

contributor:
Kitai, R.
Electrical Engineering

subject:
Electrical Engineering
Electrical and Electronics
Electrical and Electronics

abstract: A microprocessor based system to convert the Walsh spectrum of a frequency limited signal to its Fourier spectrum has been designed and built. The entire processing hardware is implemented on a single PLS-401 card, which consists of an Intel 4004 microprocessor, read only memories to store the conversion program and matrices of constants, random access memories to store results, and input/output ports. The converter can process up to 32 coefficients, and utilizes an 8-bit word length. For test purposes, the Walsh spectra are programmed into a read only memory, and the Fourier spectra are displayed in binary form on an LED matrix. The maximum conversion time is 1.81 seconds, and the maximum absolute error is 2.03% of the largest possible coefficient.

abstract: Master of Science (MS)