title: I daydream therefore I am: Investigating associative and narrative processes in daydreaming and self-concept

abstract: In this dissertation, I propose that certain daydreams follow principles of association, such that mental elements should be prompted by unique and salient information from the external environment. In turn, daydreams formed through association should be specific and emotionally intense. I also propose that certain daydreams follow principles of narrative processing, such that mental elements should be prompted by more general self-related information such as goals and life stories. In turn, daydreams formed through narrative processing should be organized in a temporally coherent way, follow a common theme, and elicit meaning-making (i.e., connecting experiences to the self). Because of their more integrative presentation of self-related information, I propose that narrative daydreams will have a greater influence on the self-concept than associative daydreams. Three hundred and six participants across two experiments completed a modified sustained attention task with ten random daydreaming probes. Participants were randomly assigned to either an associative or narrative condition. The manipulation in each condition differed across experiments, yet all manipulations aimed to influence daydream content to be more associative or more narrative, respectively. Associative and narrative daydream elements were then assessed through self-report measures, and by coding written daydream descriptions. Results of exploratory factor analyses revealed an emotional and self-related factor (close to theorized associative daydreams) and a realistic narrative factor for self-rated items, and associative and narrative daydream factors for coder-rated items. Multilevel growth curve analyses of these factors demonstrated that daydreams did not follow an associative or narrative structure based on condition (as hypothesized), but instead, varied in an idiosyncratic manner over probes. Finally, multiple regression analyses revealed that self-rated realistic narrative daydreams positively predicted increases in self-consciousness and private self-consciousness in both experiments. However, none of the daydream factors were significantly related to self-concept clarity or self-esteem. This suggests that daydreams that follow a narrative sequence may bring about awareness to the self. However, different processes may need to come into play to take the narratives generated through daydreaming and incorporate them into stable evaluations and knowledge of self (i.e., self-esteem and self-concept clarity). Future research and implications are discussed.


title: Control, Simulation, and Testbed Development for Improving Maritime Launch and Recovery Operations

abstract: This thesis presents various tools to improve motion compensation strategies in maritime launch and recovery: a 3D simulator to examine wave synchronization, a signal prediction algorithm for Go-NoGo states and a hardware set-up to simulate ship and wave motion. The simulator of towed body dynamics was advanced to model the wave interactions with the towed body as the body exits the water. Simulations were run to investigate the inclusion of wave synchronization in active heave compensation strategies where the hypothesis that wave synchronization would reduce variations in cable tension was not supported. The use of a signal prediction method that forecasts a periodic signal was explored for long-term predictions of a Go-NoGo state. For the development of laboratory equipment, a ship motion simulator was designed and built to emulate 5 degrees-of-freedom of ship motion. For producing waves, a design methodology was developed for the design of a plunger-type wavemaker.


title: The Impact of Bacteriophage on the Aging Brain and Inflammatory Response: Relevance to Parkinson’s Disease

abstract: Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with age and inflammation with increased prevalence associated with gut dysbiosis. Bacteriophage 936 (phage), has been associated with gut disturbances. We assessed the impact of phage in young (4-5 months) or old (15-16 months) mice to determine if it augments the impact of an inflammatory (LPS) stimulus. The young vs old mice received phage, followed by LPS. Changes in brain inflammation and gut microbiome were analyzed, as well as motor functioning and sickness. We hypothesized that both LPS and age would exacerbate the immunological changes produced by the phage. We found that phage alone did cause measurable changes in inflammatory biomarkers, both peripherally and centrally as well as behavioral changes, as evidenced by sickness and weight loss. Both LPS and age exacerbated the immunological changes produced by phage. Presenting for the first time, phage, in aged mice has complex effects that vary with inflammatory stimulus.


title: Peer Information and Substance Use Decision Making in Street-Involved Youth

abstract: Drug related information sharing among homeless youth is an understudied phenomenon with critical intervention implications in the community. This study takes a mixed-methods approach with a sample of street-involved youth, to assess both themes relevant to peer information sharing about drug use, and whether peer information sharing has an impact on well-being. N=82 youth were recruited from a community drop-in centre, n=46 participants completed a semi-structured interview assessing factors relating to drug related peer information sharing. All participants completed a survey assessing substance use frequency and dependence, well-being, and peer credibility. Key qualitative findings demonstrated that trust, experience, and salience of information were key themes in assessing peer provided information regarding substance use. Regression analysis indicated a small relationship between peer credibility and well-being. These findings provide a critical view of high-risk youths' evaluation of drug related information, with implications for improving current information sharing strategies in the community.


title: Combining Experimental and Theoretical Evidence to Understand Predator Learning Behaviour with Unfamiliar Prey

abstract: Predators confronted with an unfamiliar prey must decide whether or not to attack it. This decision is dependent on the predator's previous experiences with the prey type. In this thesis, I tested the ability of Jamaican field crickets, Gryllus assimilis, to learn a novel binary food choice between a rewarding and unrewarding prey using visual cues. Evidence of learning was confirmed across trials. Moreover, the colour of the prey significantly affected the probability of crickets choosing the palatable option, with green prey more likely to be attacked than blue prey. I then developed a model that formalized prey selection in terms of an exploration-exploitation trade-off. Here, I identified the optimal sampling strategy for a predator with Bayesian learning. I demonstrate that a predator's prior beliefs (Bayesian priors), and the certainty it has in its beliefs affect the optimal sampling strategy, and hence the nature of selection it places on prey.


title: The Relationship Between Sources of Information and Perceived Competence Across a Sports Season: A Planned Missing Data Approach

abstract:
This study explores the effect of various sources of information on youth athletes' perceived competence across a sports season. Of interest was how relationship variables (e.g., parent, peer and coach) and motivational variables (e.g., task and ego orientation) affected perceived competence at three-time points during a sports season. Two studies were conducted: A meta-analysis was undertaken to determine current understanding of these relationships within published research literature, and a quantitative study of 182 youth athletes (95 male, 87 female), ranging in age from 6 to 17 years, with an average age of 11.82 was conducted, using a planned missing data design. Both the meta-analysis and the quantitative study found task and ego orientation to have a positive relationship with perceived competence. Results from the meta-analysis also suggested that ego orientation may be differentially related to perceived competence as a function of culture (i.e., individualistic vs collectivist). The quantitative study looked at both between and within-person variability across a sports season. Results suggested that while relational and motivational variables were related to perceived competence in expected ways, perceived competence was also sensitive to changes, relative to the average, of both relationship quality and motivational variables, across a sports season. Results of the present thesis can be used to educate both coaches and parents as to the complex role that significant relationships and motivational climate play in understanding perceived competence in youth athletes.
Keywords: Perceived competence; goal orientations; motivational climates; relationship quality; multi-level model; planned missing data; three-form design.


title: Ahead of its Time: An exploration of virtual environment effects on time estimation

abstract: Virtual reality (VR) is an increasingly popular technology, yet little is known about the cognitive effects it produces. For example, no research has been done investigating time perception in virtual environments. The present work proposed and tested a model of time estimation accuracy in virtual environments. A VR flight simulator was used to engage participants in a virtual environment, where they were required to make time estimations. Video game experience, cognitive load, and VR immersiveness factors were considered potential predictors. Video game experience, presence, interactivity, and immersion - fluency were significant predictors of time estimation accuracy. Having prior video gaming experience, higher levels of presence and interactivity in the virtual environment led to more accurate time estimates. In contrast, higher levels of immersion - fluency reduced time estimation accuracy. These results inform stakeholders of VR technology and highlight the importance of understanding how these factors influence time perception in VR.


title: Integrated Aerial and Terrestrial Wireless Access Architecture for Beyond-5G Networks

abstract:
Providing wireless services from the sky, using aerial networks (aerial platforms), has recently gained significant attention. Aerial platforms such as (UAVs, also referred to as drones), balloons, and high-altitude/medium-altitude/low-altitude platforms (HAPs/MAPs/LAPs) can play a key role in future wireless networks. For example, a base station (BS) mounted on an aerial platform can boost capacity and/or enhance coverage. This thesis aims to address the challenges accompanied with the use of aerial platforms in wireless communication networks. Specifically, we propose novel frameworks that address various issues related to backhauling/fronthauling a dense deployment of small cells and the recently-envisioned concept of aerial-BSs.
This thesis starts with proposing a novel backhaul/fronthaul network capable of transporting the backhaul/fronthaul traffic between the terrestrial-BSs and the core network. In the proposed network, the aerial platforms act as aerial-hubs that collect/deliver traffic from/to small cells via free-space optics (FSO) links. We show the main limitations of the proposed network and identify proper ways to tackle these limitations.
Aerial platforms can also act as aerial-BSs; therefore, we address the energy-efficient aerial-BS placement problem. The aim is to find the 3D location of the aerial-BS that maximizes the number of covered users using the minimum transmit power. We decouple the aerial-BS deployments in the horizontal and vertical dimensions without any loss of optimality. Next, we investigate the 3D aerial-BS placement that maximizes the number of covered users with different quality-of-service (QoS) requirements. This 3D placement problem is modeled as a multiple circles placement problem. We propose an optimal placement algorithm. A low-complexity algorithm, referred to as the maximal weighted algorithm, is also proposed.
In the last part of the thesis, stochastic geometry-based frameworks are proposed to analyze coverage and rate in two deployment scenarios: (1) a network of aerial-BSs with no underlying terrestrial-BSs, (2) a network of aerial-BSs and terrestrial-BSs. We derive analytical expressions for the conditional Laplace transform of the interference power and the association probabilities. Exact and approximate analytical expressions for the coverage probability and average achievable rate are also derived.


title: Making Camp: Dwelling on the Land

abstract: Situated on a remote site located in the hinterlands of Northern Ontario, this thesis begins as a positioned commentary on the conceptual effects of a nature-culture dualism and ends as an exploration of a spatial and cultural phenomena that can facilitate its middle ground. The lens and methodology used to examine this interface is the cultural ecology of making camp. This concept of 'making camp' will be defined through five act of site engagement and documentation; Arrival, Clearing, Foraging, Dwelling & Restoring.


title: Improving SensAct’s Usability and Potential to Support Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Using Human-Centred Design Methods

abstract: Individuals living with speech impairments may require an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device to be able to speak or interact with other people. The implementation of an AAC device is fundamental to facilitate effective communication, expand social interaction, and to be part of the community. A team of developers at Bruyère - Saint-Vincent Hospital has been developing an AAC device called SensAct to fulfill those needs. Despite extensive advancements, stakeholders at the hospital feel the technology has usability issues preventing it from being implemented and used by a wider audience. This study aims to investigate factors influencing SensAct's usability, specifically, focusing on SensAct's user interface and usability issues that arise when configuring the system for healthcare clients. Using qualitative methods from human-centred design, this study identified systemic factors that influence AAC/SensAct implementation, and three key usability issues: time constraints, the use of complex technical terms, and sophisticated user interface.


title: Design Of Singlet Fission Chromophores With Cyclic (Alkyl) (Amino) Carbene Building Blocks

abstract: This is a theoretical chemistry study to design singlet fission chromophores. Quantum chemistry methods MRSF-TDDFT and NEVPT2 are used to design chromophores with the building blocks of cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbenes (CAACs). CAAC dimers with C2, C4 and p-phenylene spacers are considered. The substitutions with trifluoromethyls and fluorine atoms at the α position are investigated. The electronegative substituents enhance the π accepting capability of the α C, while maintaining it as a quaternary C atom. The phenylene-connected dimers with the two substitutions are identified as promising candidates for the singlet fission chromophores. The cylindrically symmetric C2 and C4 spacers allow for substantial structural reorganizations in the S0-to-S1 and S0-to-T1 excitations. Although the two substituted dimers with the C4 spacer satisfy (or very close to satisfy) the primary thermodynamics criterion for the singlet fission, the significant structural reorganizations result in high barriers so that the fission is kinetically unfavorable.


title: Regulation of NMDA Receptor Subtypes in Pain Processing Neurons within Lamina I of the Spinal Cord

abstract: In lamina I (LI) of the spinal cord dorsal horn, excitatory NMDARs containing GluN2B subunits are phosphorylated and potentiated by Src family kinase (SFK) through BDNF signalling in chronic pain models. Contributions of GluN2B to synaptic responses in the brain makes it a difficult target to specifically treat pain. This study tested whether GluN2D-containing NMDARs are necessary for BDNF-mediated potentiation of NMDARs, whether GluN2D-containing NMDARs are functionally present at juvenile LI synapses and whether SFKs potentiate these receptors. Pharmacological inhibition of either GluN2D or GluN2B prevented potentiation by BDNF in adult spinal cord slices. Inhibition of GluN2A- and GluN2B-containing NMDARs resulted in residual charge transfer through NMDARs, attributed to GluN2D-containing NMDARs. When GluN2B/D-containing NMDARs were pharmacologically isolated, SFK activation failed to potentiate either isolated receptor subtype. We propose that LI of the dorsal horn may contain triheteromeric GluN2B/D NMDARs which do not undergo potentiation in the presence of GluN2B/D antagonists.


title: Getting “Woke” With Each Joke: Black Comediennes and Representational Resistance on YouTube

abstract: This research looks at the relationship between comedy, alternative media, and representations of Blackness. Using case studies Akilah Hughes and Franchesca Ramsey, two Black comediennes on YouTube, this thesis asks: how do Black women use both political comedy and alternative media to challenge the stereotypical and racialized representations of themselves in traditional media? A theoretical framework of critical race studies, post-colonialism, intersectional and Black feminisms, postmodernism, and theories of comedy in conjunction with the thematic qualitative text analysis of 30 YouTube videos were used to answer the question. My findings determined that Black women use political comedy and alternative media platforms to satirize oppressive and discriminatory ideologies and behaviours, framing instances of every day racism in absurd and exaggerated terms, which ultimately provides nuanced representations of Black womanhood that affirm the sexist, racist, and racially charged experiences and microaggressions that Black women endure on a daily basis.


title: The Geometric Documentation of Painted Surfaces

abstract: Digital documentation for the conservation of 2.5D painted surfaces requires high-resolution data. Geometric detail information can provide insight into the brushwork or condition of a painting, can be used for monitoring, to create facsimiles, or for valorization purposes. The issue with geometric documentation lies in its democratization; commercial systems are expensive. This thesis explores the use of data fusion to achieve high-resolution detail documentation (less than 100 um lateral spatial resolution) at a low-cost. The data fusion combines two image-based methods: photogrammetry and photometric stereo. An optimal result can be achieved by fusing the relevant frequencies from both methods. A case study comparing photogrammetry, photometric stereo, data fusion, and data from a triangulation-based scanner showed that the data fusion improves the results of the photogrammetry and photometric stereo but is inferior when compared to the triangulation-based scanner. Data fusion is a good low-cost alternative to expensive commercial methods.


title: Are You What You Eat? How Protein and Carbohydrate Availability during Development Influence Cricket Cognition and other Fitness Conferring Traits in Adulthood

abstract: Abstract The conditions experienced during development may influence adult cognition and fitness, especially when conditions are stressful. To test the developmental stress hypothesis, I manipulated Texas field crickets (Gryllus texensis) juvenile diet and observed its effects on cognition (Chapter 1) and other fitness-related traits; I also examined whether diet influenced trade-offs between traits (Chapter 2). Individuals improved their cognition scores with training, but not during the test trial, suggesting developmental diets were stressful, hindering spatial cognition. Female fecundity was greatest in larger females that grew quickly. Males that developed quickly and performed well cognitively had a high probability of adopting a caller strategy; these males also exhibited high calling effort, suggesting high overall condition. For all others, adopting a caller strategy and exhibiting high calling effort only occurred with trade-offs, either via slower development, poorer performance in the cognitive task, or both. Diet did not predict cognitive and reproductive trade-offs.


title: An Experimental Test of the Condition Dependent Handicap Hypothesis Using Gryllus Pennsylvanicus

abstract: Viability-based indicator models predict a positive correlation between ornamentation and longevity. Although ornament manipulations can reveal attraction and survival effects, they can inaccurately estimate the costs of ornamentation arising from correlated life-history constraints. Cotton circumvented this problem by applying a weight manipulation to stalk-eyed flies and asking whether males with bigger stalks lived longer. She found that ornamentation was positively correlated with longevity in weight manipulated males. Building upon Cotton's findings, I applied a weight and a diet manipulation to field crickets (Gryllus pennsylvanicus) and quantified their acoustic signalling and longevity. High effort signallers survived longer across all treatments. Further, males that signaled more attractively also survived longer when they experienced a weight manipulation and/or a poor diet. The weight manipulation did not directly affect longevity, because weight manipulated males dealt with the manipulation by reducing their signalling effort. Overall, my results provide strong support for viability-based indicator models.


title: Embodied Presence: Evidence for Embodiment of Effectors When Pointing in Virtual Environments

abstract: In this thesis, I proposed and tested the Embodied Presence Model (EPM), a framework aimed at examining the role of mental representations of the environment and body's effectors in supporting presence in virtual reality. A fundamental assumption of the EPM is that presence is a direct result of interactions between one's environment and one's effectors (e.g., hands) thus requiring a mental representation of both. The EPM was therefore informed by current perspectives from perceptual, cognitive, and neuropsychology literature on how the relationship between the environment and the body. Three experiments were conducted, each with approximately 50 participants. In all three experiments a virtual pointing task was used wherein participants made speeded pointing movements to virtual targets presented on the table in front of them the virtual environment. Behavioral data included latency measures (i.e., hand liftoff time and hand travel time) and landing accuracy of pointing movements. Subjective data were also collected using an adaptation of the Rubber Hand Illusion questionnaire. Experiment 1 served as a paradigm check and examined the kinematic characteristics of pointing movements made by the left and right hands. Experiment 2 examined the influence of changes to the virtual environments on pointing behaviour by introducing fire into the virtual environment. Experiment 3 examined the combined effects of altering the virtual environment - once again with the use of virtual fire - and the virtual effector by comparing pointing behaviour in a virtual hand and a virtual cube condition. Findings suggest that representations of the virtual environment and effectors both influence pointing behaviour, and that these factors may support embodied presence independently. A better understanding of these psychological underpinnings of embodied presence will improve the use of VR in a multitude of situations, including research, training and clinical applications.


title: JOWSDATALOG: An Ontology Based Data Access Tool for Jointly-Weakly-Sticky Datalog± Programs

abstract: Jointly-Weakly-Sticky (JWS) Datalog± is an expressive member of the family of Datalog± programs. It is characterized by a marking procedure, the existential dependency graph, and joint acyclicity. Query-answering (QA) can be done in polynomial-time in data complexity through SChQAS, a chase-based, bottom-up QA algorithm for JWS Datalog± programs. The QA algorithm can be optimized by using a magic-sets query rewriting technique, MagicD+, for JWS programs. MagicD+ takes a Datalog± program and a query, and rewrites the combination into a new Datalog± program that becomes an input to SChQAS. With the new program, SChQAS avoids generating irrelevant facts. The main contributions of this thesis are the design and implementation of an ontology-based data access (OBDA) tool, JowsDatalog, in which SChQAS and MagicD+ are implemented.


title: Personalization of Wearable-Based Exergames with Continuous Player Modeling

abstract:
In recent years, sedentary behavior has been recognized as a major lifestyle-related health risk. Meanwhile, exergames and gamification of physical activities are effective tools to motivate behavior change, particularly to promote daily physical activities. Research has shown that persuasive technologies and gamification can be utilized to increase physical activity. On the other hand, studies have suggested that "one-size-fits-all" approach does not work well for persuasive game design. At the same time, player modeling and recommender systems are increasingly used for personalizing contents and services.
However, there are few existing works on how to build comprehensive player models for personalizing gamified systems and recommending daily physical activities, as well as on the long-term effectiveness of gamified exercise-promoting systems. To fill these gaps, a new approach for gamified 24/7 fitness recommendation systems is introduced in this research. It uses wearable activity trackers combined with continuous player modeling to provide personalized activity recommendations and generates gamified contents targeted at individual user.
Preliminary results show the feasibility of using wearable activity trackers for gamification of physical activities, as well as the effectiveness of using player modeling for generating personalized exercise recommendations. We show that personalizing recommendations using player modeling and gamification with wearables could improve users' engagement and motivation towards fitness activities over time.


title: Pharmacological Inhibition of PTEN, using BpV (Phen), Promotes Survival of Retinal Ganglion Cells In Vitro and In Vivo

abstract: Previous work has shown that potassium bisperoxo (1,10-phenanthroline) oxovanadate, BpV(Phen), is a potent protein phosphotyrosine phosphatase (PTPase) inhibitor that preferentially blocks the activity of Phosphatase Tensin Homologue Deleted on Chromosome Ten (PTEN). Currently, it remains unknown how pharmacological inhibition of PTEN by bpV(phen) impacts the survival of mammalian RGCs. Thus, the current study investigated the effect of bpV(phen) on RGC survival in vitro and in vivo and the mechanism mediating this outcome following bpV(phen) administration. Collectively, this study revealed that bpV(phen) promoted survival of injured retinal ganglion cells from mature animals (postnatal day 21 (P21) and adult mice) after injury in vitro and in vivo. Interestingly, data also showed bpV(phen) to have an antagonistic effect on healthy RGCs and promote apoptosis. Lastly, preventing Smad3 from being phosphorylated in the transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) pathway did not augment the survival in bpV(phen)-treated RGCs.


title: "Evil Eyes Look Back:  Exploring the Returned Gaze in Horror Cinema"

abstract: What happens when a horror monster looks or appears to look at you, the viewer? What does this look do to the filmic fiction? It is often the case in the horror film where the monster is framed looking at the camera. Despite its prevalence in the genre, the returned gaze is often dismissed or forgotten. By adopting a cognitive methodology that draws on both narratological and psychological theories, I argue that, when the gaze is returned in horror, affects of unease are produced. As they do this, they do not rupture the cinematic illusion or our emotional engagement because cinema is not an illusion to begin with. Ultimately, the returned gaze is a formal choice in horror that is rooted in certain innate human behaviours. I analyse various instances of the returned gaze in Halloween (1978) and The Shining (1980) to demonstrate how this phenomenon in horror engages us.


title: Agriculture and the Life Aquatic: Effects of Agricultural Landscape Structure on Farmland Aquatic Biodiversity and Water Quality

abstract: Agriculture is associated with many of the leading threats to freshwater ecosystems, which are the most threatened environments on Earth. The overarching goal of my dissertation was to advance our understanding of the relationships between agricultural landscape structure and aquatic biodiversity and water quality, to identify potential management options for farmland aquatic ecosystems. In Chapter 2, I investigated the responses of anurans to agricultural landscape structure, with the particular goal of testing predictions about the influence of farmland compositional and configurational heterogeneity. I found that, while forest cover was the strongest predictor of anuran richness and abundance, farmland configurational heterogeneity was also positively related to abundance. In Chapter 3, I investigated the direct and indirect relationships between agricultural landscape structure and different physicochemical and biological measures of water quality in farmland drainage ditches. I found that physicochemical water quality was most strongly related to landscape composition, specifically, amounts of forest cover and high-intensity crop cover in the surrounding landscape. I also found support for a positive direct relationship between a biological measure of water quality, macroinvertebrate richness, and configurational heterogeneity, and indirect relationships between macroinvertebrate richness and landscape composition. In Chapter 4, I examined whether macroinvertebrate traits can be used as reliable indicators of elevated levels of specific agrichemical pollutants in farmland drainage ditches. My results suggested that macroinvertebrate indicators are probably less efficient than rigorous chemical sampling for the monitoring of specific contaminants in farm wetlands. Taken together, my results suggest that landscape management to support farmland aquatic ecosystems should focus mainly on landscape composition; in particular, agri-environmental policies should aim to increase or maintain amounts of non-crop cover such as forest, and reduce or maintain low amounts of high-intensity crop cover. My results also suggest that increasing farmland configurational heterogeneity, through reducing crop field sizes/increasing edge density, can be an effective management option to enhance aquatic biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. In addition, my results indicate a need for more management actions in our region to reduce nutrient pollution, and stronger policies for routine water quality data collection, as well as establishment and enforcement of water quality standards.


title: 2.0 to 1.9 Ga large igneous province magmatism in northern Quebec — U-Pb geochronology and geochemistry

abstract:
The northeastern margins of the Superior craton contain the Cape Smith belt and the Labrador Trough (including the Roberts Lake Syncline), which range from 2.2 to 1.9 Ga in age. This thesis examines the age of the Cape Smith belt, its correlation to other units of similar age and its possible extent to the southeast.
Seven U-Pb ages on magmatic baddeleyite and zircon and 84 geochemical analyses were obtained of magmatic units throughout the Cape Smith belt. The most precise are two ages each for the Povungnituk and Chukotat Groups.
The Povungnituk Group yields ages of 1998±6 Ma and 1967±7 Ma. The older age represents the main volcanic pulse, and matches previously obtained U-Pb ages for the Watts Group (Purtuniq) ophiolite of the northern Cape Smith Belt and the Minto and Lac Shpogan dyke swarms that intrude the Superior craton to the south. They define a large igneous province (LIP), extending over an area of >400,000 km2, herein defined as the Minto-Povungnituk LIP.
The Minto-Povungnituk LIP can be divided into two spatially separate geochemical domains with different mantle source characteristics that can be produced in two ways: (1) melting of different portions of Superior craton lithosphere; or (2) two distinct deep mantle sources that remained separated within the ascending plume.
A feeder dyke of the Chukotat Group yielded a U-Pb age of 1874±3 Ma, representing the younger end of its age range. An age obtained from the top of the Chukotat Formation yielded 1861±28 Ma and confirms the previously geochemistry-based interpretation that the Chukotat Group represents a single event.
To the southeast of the Cape Smith belt, the Roberts Lake Syncline hosts two Paleoproterozoic mafic magmatic sequences but their correlation with the units of Labrador Trough to the south, or the Cape Smith belt to the north is uncertain. 94 geochemical analyses were obtained on the two volcanic units and the data show a closer match to the chemical stratigraphy observed within the Cape Smith belt, suggesting that the Roberts Lake Syncline is the easternmost portion of the Ungava Orogen rather than the northernmost part of the Labrador Trough.


title: A People Apart: New Brunswick Acadians, Conscription, and the Second World War

abstract: During the Second World War, the Mackenzie King government faced two conscription crises, in 1942 and 1944, which divided Canadians along linguistic lines. This is the first academic history to examine the contributions of New Brunswick Acadians to the war effort, and their response to the conscription crises of 1942 and 1944. As a result of their separate identity and historical experiences, the response of Acadians in New Brunswick differed from that of other French Canadians and the anglophone majority. Acadians prided themselves on their participation and support for the war effort and opposed any attempts by anglophones to accuse them of shirking their duty. For them, opposition to conscription and support of the war effort coexisted; as a minority in an anglophone majority province, their opposition was more nuanced than that of Quebec.


title: Stratigraphy of the Middle to Upper Ordovician foreland-basin succession, Ottawa Embayment: emphasis on the Turinian-Chatfieldian succession

abstract:
New contributions presented define the character of the depositional system and stratigraphic architecture of Middle to Upper Ordovician foreland succession of the Ottawa Embayment, central-east Canada. The Ordovician foreland succession is the local expression of the cratonic Tippecanoe I Megasequence that extends across southern Laurentia, developed within a retro-arc basin. This study investigates craton-interior intrabasinal response of sedimentation to tectonic, climatic, depositional and eustatic controls, and compares the stratigraphic fabric with equivalent strata along strike to the south in the much larger Appalachian Basin.
The foreland stratigraphy is divided into eight (I-VIII) transgressive-regressive depositional sequence comprise platform succession and one (IX) regressive sequence forms basin succession. This define a tectonic cycle of net platform deepening over ~15 my, and subsequent basin-fill spanning ~3 my.
This study reaffirms placement of the Sauk-Tippecanoe I (S-T) Megasequence boundary within the upper Beekmantown Group. Examination of the upper Turinian-Chatfieldian (Upper Ordovician) succession in the embayment reveals three stages of carbonate-platform development of which the intermediate stage (Watertown Formation, L'Orignal Formation, coeval Rockland Formation and lower Hull Formation) illustrates more intrabasinal (and structural) control on sedimentation compared to bounding stages that document regional continuity with extrabasinal stratigraphy.
The upper Turinian-Chatfieldian interval was also examined using δ13C chemostratigraphy to provide higher resolution of stratigraphic correlation. Four positive excursions (E1 to E4) are mapped through the Ottawa Embayment into two outliers to the northwest along the Ottawa-Bonnechere graben. Chatfieldian Excursion E3 is the local expression of the regional (if not global) Guttenberg δ13C excursion (GICE). Improved resolution of the Guttenberg δ13C excursion in the embayment demonstrates amalgamated (E3 and E4) excursions across disconformities. Lateral variation in the magnitude of δ13C excursions reflect local modulation of regional (or global) events in response to changes in circulation, productivity, and accumulation rates. In comparison with laterally equivalent sedimentary basins in southern Laurentia, the Middle to Upper Ordovician foreland succession of the Ottawa Embayment illustrates an elevated sensitivity to syndepositional structural control. Tectonism played an important role on base level relative to an otherwise net eustatic rise through the Middle and Late Ordovician.


title: Technology-Mediated Workplace Language Training: Developing and Assessing a Module for a Blended Curriculum for Newcomers

abstract:
Canadian newcomers with low proficiency in English or French face challenges in the workforce (Kustec, 2012). While language classes provide workplace language training, some newcomers are unable to attend face-to-face classes (Shaffir & Satzewich, 2010), suggesting a need for outside the classroom occupation-specific language training. Technology has been advantageous for second language learning outside the classroom (Stockwell, 2007), with mobile-assisted language learning affording learners greater control over their learning (Yang, 2013).
As part of a larger project, this thesis presents the development and assessment of a technology-mediated task-based module providing workplace-linguistic support on mobile devices, enabling learners to access language instruction when and as needed. The modules was assessed by newcomers of high-beginner English proficiency employed in customer service (n=4) and their teachers (n=4). Results confirm benefits of the approach in providing instruction meeting participant needs, ensuring opportunities for individualized training. Implications for designing, and implementing technology-mediated modules are discussed.


title: An Eye Tracking Comparison of Instructional Videos Showing a Monologue Versus a Dialogue: Impacts On Visual Attention, Learning, and Psychological Variables

abstract: The present study aimed to synthesize two disparate domains of instructional video research to investigate what impacts occurred from, on one hand, the visual presence of the speaker(s), and on the other hand, the format of a dialogue. Seventy-seven participants watched either a narrated control video without the instructor visible, a monologue video with the instructor visible, or a dialogue video between an instructor and student, both visible. To compare the conditions, we examined learning outcomes, visual attention, self-efficacy, mindset, cognitive load, social presence, and interest. Despite eye tracking data showing that participants in speaker-visible conditions spent significantly less time attending to the learning content, we found no conditional differences on measures of learning, social presence, cognitive load, self-efficacy, or mindset. These results suggest that neither speaker visual presence nor dialogue format affected learning or participants' perceptions of the videos.


title: High Performance Microwave Integrated Filters for 5G Applications

abstract: A 71-76GHz millimeter-wave filter is designed and implemented in a multilayer LTCC module to help attenuate the side spur signal level. The filter is aimed to be embedded in a novel E-band architecture which is designed in Huawei for millimeter-wave signal communication test. The goal of the filter is to help reduce the third harmonic and fourth harmonic leakage of the LO signal from tripler into the RF channel. Due to some reason, the filter cannot be measured. A second bandpass filter operating at 10GHz is fabricated using ROEGR substrate for measurement and validation purpose. The filter was fabricated by an in-house milling machine. Measurement shows some differences with the simulation result. Some analysis has been down to find out the reasons and provide a good explanation.


title: “It is not possible to be Dutch, and Muslim, and Black:” Second-Generation Youths’ Everyday Practices of Resisting Racism and Islamophobia in the Netherlands

abstract:
Xenophobia and nationalism are rising in countries across Europe and 'Western,' liberal democracies globally. Alongside anti-immigrant discourses, Islamophobia and anti-Black racism work to exclude certain bodies from full social citizenship. Taking the Netherlands as a case study, this research interrogates normative constructions of citizenship and the everyday register of belonging by investigating how second-generation Black and Muslim Dutch youth resist and subvert processes of exclusion and how they imaginatively prefigure different futures and realities.
In this research, semi-structured interviews and a 14-week theatre project are both the method and the object of study in and of itself. Approaching this research with an ethics of solidarity, I use theatre to engage participants more fully in the research process and as a tool to further theorize more unconscious or intuitive practices. I focus specifically on the everyday: this micro-level of analysis reveals how marginalized Dutch youth grapple with complex yet mundane dilemmas and enact different visions for the future through seemingly ordinary and commonplace gestures and decisions.
First, I look at how normative white Dutch discourses of exclusion, such as the expression doe normaal and the lexicon around 'othering,' work to foster a fragmented sense of belonging among racialized Dutch youth. Second, I examine the importance of affect and emotion as tools both in normative discourses of exclusion of mainstream white Dutch society and in coping mechanisms and visions of alternate realities of marginalized Dutch youth. Third, I analyze how the practices of everyday resistance employed by second-generation Dutch youth are mediated and tempered by pressures to assimilate but also how resistance, instead of being against something, prefigures alternate futures.
This research calls for racialized Dutch youth, policy makers, and educators to expand the lexicon with which to engage and enhance public dialogue around racism and Islamophobia in the Netherlands. It also invites white Dutch society to sit with and practice discomfort as a way of moving beyond white innocence and other forms of privilege which shut down conversation. Finally, it contributes to understanding resistance as working in the margins of consciousness towards a third space of imagined possibilities.


title: An Investigation into the Effects of Nano Copper Oxide to the Soil Invertibrates Eisena Andrei and Folsomia Canadida

abstract: The fate and effects of nano copper oxide (nCuO) to soil invertebrates in field collected soil and in biosolid amended field soil were investigated in order to understand the risk CuO nanomaterials present to the soil environment. The effects of nCuO were compared to a soluble Cu-salt (i.e., CuSO4) through sub-lethal toxicity studies with the earthworm Eisenia andrei and the springtail Folsomia candida, which included survival and reproduction tests for both species and bioaccumulation in E. andrei. The fate of both Cu forms was examined in soil through the characterization of Cu, namely total Cu, extractable Cu2+ and extractable nano particulate CuO in each exposure scenario. In general, exposure to nCuO compared to CuSO4 was less toxic for both reproduction and bioaccumulation tests and with or without biosolid amendment. Results demonstrated that the solubilization of and availability of Cu2+ in soils could explain the observed effects.


title: This Job is Beneath Me: Subjective Underemployment, Person-Job Fit, and the Role of Proactive Career Behaviours

abstract: Bachelor degree acquisition is increasingly common, with many enrolling in university programs in hopes of providing a stable financial foundation for later life. However, new university graduates are greatly outpacing careers which mandate a university education, resulting in many of them occupying positions lesser than their expectations, and/or positions which do not mandate a university degree. A sample of 500 Amazon Mechanical Turk workers completed a battery of previously validated scales, and self-reported subjective underemployment / perceived overqualification was examined alongside several personal and organizational outcomes of interest.


title: Erythropoietin as a Modulator of Pathology in a Toxicant Mouse Model of Parkinson’s Disease

abstract: Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder and has no known disease-modifying treatments. Due to the complexity of the disease pathology, effective treatments for PD will likely involve a combination of treatment factors. The current experiments sought to profile the pro-survival effects of the trophic cytokine, erythropoietin (EPO), in a 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) mouse model of PD. Methods: To this end, male C57Bl/6 mice were used in a series of four experiments investigating the potential anti-apoptotic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of the trophic cytokine. EPO's ability to protect dopaminergic terminals in the striatum, cell bodies in the substantia nigra (SNc) and modulate 6-OHDA-induced motor deficits was characterized at different doses of 6-OHDA and EPO. Results: Our results did indeed demonstrate EPO's ability to exert pro-survival effects that were brain region-specific. While intra-nigral EPO was ineffective, intra-striatal EPO preserved striatal terminals and nigral soma in two different 6-OHDA lesion models. EPO further attenuated apomorphine-induced rotations at two doses of 6-OHDA. EPO demonstrated anti-apoptotic signalling through phosphorylation of Akt and the Bcl-2 associated proteins and anti-inflammatory activity through modulation of microglial morphology. Finally, EPO demonstrated antioxidant activity through elevated levels of striatal glutathione peroxidase, in addition to retrograde signalling that resulted in elevated levels of glutathione peroxidase in the SNc in response to EPO treatment. Conclusions: In short, EPO appears to modify antioxidant and anti-apoptotic factors and act in a brain-region specific manner to mitigate neuronal loss. Taken together, the results of the current set of experiments indicate EPO's potential for use as an adjuvant therapy in the treatment of PD.


title: Load Transfer and Creep Behavior of Pile Foundations in Frozen Soils

creator: Abdulrahman, Abdulghader Abdulrahman Hassan

abstract: Pile foundations have long been used in cold region to support structures and infrastructure situated on frozen grounds. The main issue associated with the present design approaches are that they were developed based on data from limited observational studies on performance of pile foundations in field and lack important information on soil type, ground temperatures, and normal stress conditions. Furthermore, there is a lack of clear guidance for design of some of the commonly used types of pile foundations such as helical piles in frozen ground. Such short comings contributed to a wide range of uncertainties associated with predicting the load carrying capacity and creep behavior of piles installed in ice-poor and ice-rich soils. Ultimate load carrying capacity, for instance, has been often correlated to the shear strength of the surrounding frozen soils using a surficial roughness factor "m". This roughness factor is different for various pile materials (e.g., steel, concrete, timber), but often assumed constant for any soil type, ground temperature, and stress condition. This study investigates the load transfer mechanism and creep behavior of concrete piles, open-ended steel pipe piles, heliacal piles, and grouted shaft helical piles installed in frozen ice-rich and ice-poor soils in the field. The evolution of unfrozen water content and the associated thermally induced normal stress and adfreez strength of the pile-soil interfaces following to soil freeze-back after pile driving was also studied using laboratory experiments. The effects of strain rate on load carrying capacity of model steel piles in ice-poor and ice-rich soils were also investigated. The results showed that the roughness factor "m" may not be considered constant for a given pile material but rather changed as a function of ground temperature. In addition, the roughness factor was significantly different for a given pile installed in different soil types. The load carrying capacity of pile foundations in frozen ground was influenced significantly by the loading rate, showing lower values under slower loading condition. Modified forms of previously proposed theoretical models for predicting load carrying capacity and creep behavior of piles in frozen ground were introduced.


title: Spooking the System: Re-evaluating Belief Formation Through Psychological Disturbance and Supernatural Encounter in Early Modern English Drama

abstract: My dissertation explores the dramatic merit of encounters between supernatural and human characters on the early modern English stage. I argue that the psychological disturbance these encounters engender allows for a re-evaluation of the process and nature of belief formation. Rather than dismiss representations of the supernatural in English theatre as theatrical spectacles void of critical significance, I argue that the supernatural can be productive conduits for exploring the psychological complexities of the human mind. I demonstrate that because ghosts, devils and witches are products of the same theological and philosophical systems which conceptualize the workings of the early modern mind, they are able to infiltrate and influence the aspects of human psychology which are particularly susceptible to doubt and desire. These encounters then result in the psychological unravelling of human characters, who must navigate conflicting ideals in order to move towards action. However, the experience of this internal struggle is significant not only for revealing the competing influences characters must reconcile in the process of forming beliefs and opinions, but also for emphasizing the importance of critical evaluation of the discourses of belief that surround them, regardless of external pressure to blindly accept them. As ghosts, devils and witches are supernatural figures rooted in widespread theological doctrine, and whose function is determined by the religious, social and political authorities that shape early modern English belief, so are they imbued with a powerful potential to shake the foundations of those belief systems of which they themselves are part. I analyze supernatural representations of these figures in plays by Shakespeare, Middleton, Marston, Chapman, Goffe and Marlowe, and the psychological effects of their encounters with human characters, in order to examine how they can facilitate alternative perceptions of beliefs around gender and power in sixteenth and seventeenth-century England.


title: A novel protocol for identifying storm derived waves on substrate reworking in lakes: implications for selection of optimal sites for paleolimnological research

abstract: Harvey Lake, located within the Atlantic region of Canada, endures many storms, including Hurricane Arthur in 2014, and likely archives lake sediment records including past storm signals. Lakes are often characterized by a single central site, rather than a suite of sites, due to cost and time constraints. This research sought to develop a novel geomatics protocol to optimize coring site selection using a multi-site (n = 96) characterization. Areas prone to resuspension were modeled using lake morphology and historical wind speed records (1953-2015). Modeled resuspension areas agreed with the spatial distribution of sedimentary proxies (i.e., grain size and Itrax-XRF). End member mixing analysis identified a very coarse grain end member that likely reflects the deposition of resuspended sediments. In addition to the central basin, our approach highlighted Herbert's Cove as a suitable coring target as it was in closer proximity to a source of allochthonous sedimentation.


title: Seismic Polarization in the Near-surface

abstract: Seismic polarization is investigated for near-surface reflection data with the development of two processing tools. The first tool uses a Red-Blue-Green colour map to visualize the results of principal component analysis. The second tool is a method to estimate time-dependent time-shift from trace to trace in a seismic gather. The method makes use of changes in the phase content of the two signals. Compared to other methods such as Dynamic Time-warping it is more robust to noise, but more vulnerable to aliasing. When incorporated into the velocity independent processing framework, zero-offset sections can be produced in a fully automated fashion, which is particularly useful for multicomponent data sets. Combining these processing tools allows for the polarization to be visualized on the scale of survey, and the resulting polarization from different source orientations can be compared conveniently.


title: Marriage Migration and National Boundary-Making: A Comparative Study of Marriage Migration in South Korea and Canada

abstract: This dissertation provides a comparative analysis of marriage migration to South Korea and Canada. It examines how marriage migration has been regulated and how it has contributed to national boundary-making in these countries. In each country's endeavours to manage the population and shape the boundaries of the nation, the entry and integration of marriage migrants are regulated reflecting intersecting social relations of gender, race/ethnicity, class, age, and the divide between global South/North. In this dissertation, I develop five key arguments. Firstly, Korea and Canada have exerted hegemonic power over the entry of marriage migrants from developing countries. In Korea, the entry of female marriage migrants is encouraged as desirable source of immigration for their expected role as reproducers of the patrilineal Korean nation, and gendered subjects who are expected to solve the country's crisis of social reproduction. In Canada, spousal and partner immigration currently takes a smaller role in reproducing the Canadian nation and is perceived more as an undesirable source of immigration. Even though the direction of each government is different, each government has built gendered, racialized/ethnicized and classed mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion at their national border and within the nation. Secondly, I argue that neoliberal logic and human capital thinking function as a tool to divide migrants into 'productive' migrants and 'unproductive' migrants. Whereas family class immigrants in Canada are discursively constructed as 'unproductive,' marriage migrants and their children in Korea are hierarchized based on their potential cultural resources, which can be transferred to economic assets for the Korean economy. Thirdly, I argue that discourses of 'fraudulent marriage' serve as an effective governmental tool to securitize and exclude certain gendered and racialized marriage migrants in both countries. Fourthly, visa and immigration officers play a major role as gatekeepers, shaping the boundaries of the nation by regulating the entry and belonging of marriage migrants to the nation. Finally, I argue that the multiple processes of national boundary-making are negotiated by marriage migrants who employ a variety of successful and less successful strategies in order to be accepted as 'legitimate' members of the nation.


title: Cultural and Linguistic Variables in Usability Testing

abstract: Canada is a country where more than 1 in 5 are immigrants. While industries and public services in the country interact with a diversity of users, it is unclear if the cultural and linguistic background of their users can influence their perceived usability. We conducted a usability test of the website of Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada to explore cultural and linguistic variables during usability testing, by using cultural dimensions, global English proficiency index and personality test. Our results show that the dimensions of Individualism, Time orientation, Power distance, and Uncertainty avoidance do influence participants' answers. We found that Indian participants were more comfortable with the website's English level while Chinese and Nigerians criticized it more. This thesis concludes that to assure the consistency, reliability and reproducibility of research results and protocols, researchers should recruit participants from multiple cultural and linguistic backgrounds to gather a general ideation of the usability.


title: Impaired Tuning of Afferent Excitatory Synapses onto Hippocampal Fast-Spiking Interneurons by Acute Early Life Seizures

abstract: Early life represents one of the highest incidence periods for early-life seizures (ELS). Patients with ELS are often refractory to anti-epileptic drugs. Here, I aimed to understand the effects of ELS on the immature brain to identify novel cellular targets using an ELS mouse model. I demonstrated for that ELS impaired the excitatory synaptic inputs into a specific subtype of interneurons, the FS interneurons. ELS significantly altered the probability of release and the readily releasable pools at the excitatory presynaptic terminals. This changed the short-term plasticity at these excitatory inputs and FS interneurons during repetitive excitatory activity. Additionally, ELS significantly depressed asynchronous neurotransmitter release at the excitatory inputs, resulting in impaired postsynaptic spike timing and temporal fidelity of the FS interneurons. These data demonstrated ELS-induced target specific modulations in FS interneurons and provided a novel cellular mechanism by which ELS alter the immature brain and disrupt the excitation/inhibition balance.


title: Assessment of FlowCam VisualSpreadsheet as a potential tool for rapid semi-automatic analysis of lacustrine Arcellinida (testate lobose amoebae)

abstract: Arcellinida are an established group of bioindicators in lake studies, but conventional labor-intensive microscopic analysis can limit the number of samples analysed. In this study, the FlowCam with VisualSpreadsheet (FCVS), a flow cytometer and microscope with machine learning software, was assessed as an instrument for rapid Arcellinida analysis. In a 2016 study, conventional Arcellinida analysis was performed on 46 samples collected from Wightman Cove, Oromocto Lake, New Brunswick, Canada. The samples were reanalyzed by FCVS and the two datasets were compared at the morphotype level using cluster and Bray-Curtis dissimilarity analyses. The methods produced highly similar arcellinidan assemblages that corresponded to specific lake habitats. FCVS was found to reduce analytical time by approximately 45%. FCVS shows potential as a reliable method for more rapid analysis of lacustrine Arcellinida; however, assemblage results can only be obtained at the morphotype level. Microscopic methods should still be used if species-level results are desired.


title: The Possibilities of Transforming Settler Consciousness: Community Spaces and White Settler Responsibility

abstract: In Settler Colonial Theory, there is a growing body of work that looks at the ways settler colonization is being challenged. The understanding of how settlers are engaging with these potential transformations remains unclear. I build on Davis et. al's (2017) idea of "transforming settler consciousness" to consider what conditions, spaces, and practices are facilitating white settlers to challenge settler coloniality. Working with five white settlers in community groups, I use a narrative inquiry methodology to ask what about these initiatives did, or did not, catalyze transformed settler consciousness? Through a political ontology framework, the stories shared reveal the paradoxes, challenges and complexities about what facilitates a politics of recognition (Coulthard 2014) and what facilitates spaces of ontological negotiation. While the former does not demand a transformation in settler consciousness, the later does and with that transformation, settlers have the potential to contribute to a radical transformation of settler coloniality.


title: What are the Risks? From School Bullying in Youth to Cyberbullying in Emerging Adulthood

abstract: Objective: Cyberbullying is a complex phenomenon, and the risk factors associated with cyberbullying are dynamic in nature. Several cyberbullying risk factors identified in the literature were examined as moderators in the relation between youth school bullying and cyberbullying in emerging adulthood. Method: Carleton University undergraduates (N = 932) were invited to complete questionnaires about their childhood experiences with traditional bullying, cyberbullying in university, impulsivity, empathy, mental health, and parental bonding. Results: Multiple regression analyses indicated that empathy, depression, and anxiety significantly moderated the relationship between early bullying experiences and cyberbullying. Further, exploratory three-way interaction results indicated that depression and anxiety together moderated the relation between traditional victimization and cyber victimization. Conclusion: These results have the potential to help researchers and practitioners target relevant factors, such as empathy and mental health when developing intervention strategies. Limitations and future directions were presented.


title: Hybrid Government Institutions:  Reconciliation or Institutional Colonialism?  The Case of the Tlicho Peoples, Northwest Territories

abstract: Contributing to debates surrounding reconciliation, this study argues that meaningful reconciliation requires more than simple recognition of rights; it requires integration of Indigenous practices and perspectives into formal institutions, and specifically formal government institutions. A combined structural institutional and discourse analysis of formal government institutions and documents of the Tłı̨chǫ Government, the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Management Board and the Government of the Northwest Territories was conducted focussing on land and water management. It found that the Tłı̨chǫ Government has created unique hybrid government institutions, grounded on Tłı̨chǫ history, culture and practices, and augmented by modern knowledge and practices. However, integration of Indigenous practices and perspectives remains limited in formal government institutions and documents, and therefore formal practices, at the watershed and Territorial levels. This study questions whether hybrid formal government institutions can become institutions of reconciliation or will these continue to promote institutional colonialism under resilient settler colonialism.


title: Aristotle on the Preparatory Role of Habits in Education

abstract: Aristotle claims that habituation is a necessary first step in moral education. In this thesis we ask why he says this and what this statement means. We find that good habits are a special class of motivations which prepare for the acquisition and exercise of virtue. We define good habits as the non-rational love of what is noble, the desire to take pride in what is expansive and difficult. We suggest that this desire is at the root of all the reasoning and motivation involved in moral virtue. The rational wish for happiness as the ultimate good, the prudent choice of individual excellent actions, and the obedience of non-rational desires and feelings to this rational choice all develop and function on the basis of non-rational noble motivations. This is why habituation, which cultivates the love of the noble, is a first and necessary step in moral education.


title: Southern Heretics: The Republican Party in the Border South During the Civil War Era

abstract:
This dissertation examines the emergence and establishment of the Republican Party in the Border South slave states of Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri during the Civil War era. As regional and national tensions over slavery began to consume American political life, Frank Blair and other likeminded antislavery leaders attempted to build a Republican organization within the Border South. This dissertation argues that to become a viable political alternative, Republicans in the Border South developed a particular ideology of liberal political antislavery. This ideology promoted a message of white supremacy and free white labor, and reinforced a desire to see the economic progress of their states untrammeled by slavery. As a result, this ideology attracted enough antislavery men to form the only viable contingent of Republicans in the southern slave states.
This dissertation also argues for the political importance of Border South Republicans during the Civil War era. Despite being small in number, they played an outsized role in the political and strategic direction of the Republican Party. Border South Republican leaders took an active role in party formation, and influenced major political decisions made during the war. Furthermore, Republican policy concerning black civil and political rights during Reconstruction were often made with Border South Republican concerns in mind.
Taking a chronological approach to tell the story of the Republican Party in the Border South, this dissertation examines how the liberal political antislavery consensus was shattered by the Civil War. As emancipation, black civil rights, and disenfranchisement emerged as political issues during Reconstruction, Border South Republicans would find themselves struggling to reconcile their ideological goals with political reality.


title: Everyday Experiences of Women in Mass-produced Housing in the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara, Mexico

abstract: Mass-produced social housing complexes are an outcome of a neoliberal approach to housing that has driven the expansion of urban peripheries in Mexico since the early 2000s. This thesis addresses this research gap by asking the question: what are the effects of the neoliberal project of mass-produced housing complexes on the everyday lives of women? This research draws from feminist research methodologies and uses a case study approach to understand the social and spatial conditions in which women's daily lives unfold in a social housing complex in Guadalajara, Mexico. While I demonstrate how the impacts of this housing model are gendered, I also discuss the places and circumstances that structure women's use of space in the context of mass-produced social housing. I argue that the configuration of mass-produced housing complexes fails to support the complex and multi-dimensional nature of women's everyday lives.


title: ALL-DIELECTRIC METASURFACE THERMAL EMITTERS FOR MID-IR SPECTROSCOPY

abstract: A thermal emitter using a metasurface to tailor the emission spectrum in the mid-infrared for gas-sensing applications is demonstrated. The design consists of an array of high index dielectric elliptical pucks above a metal back-reflector. Using full-wave simulations in HFSS (Ver. 19.0.0), it has been shown that the achievable Q-factor (Q ≈ 150) in this structure is an order of magnitude larger than in plasmonic arrays (Q ≈ 16), attributed to the low-loss in the dielectric materials. Furthermore, the thermal emission properties of the structure can be engineered by manipulating the geometry of the unit cell, and these unit cells can provide polarized thermal emission simultaneously in two separate frequency bands determined by the ellipticity parameter of the puck. Design of the thermal emitter requires accurate knowledge of frequency dependent optical constants of specific deposited materials in the mid-infrared region. Optical parameters for thin film Silicon and Silicon Dioxide deposited by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) are not readily available in the literature. These parameters were measured and used in simulation of the thermal emitter with a resonant frequency corresponding to the absorption spectra of a known industrial gas Sulphur Dioxide (SO2). The narrow-band thermal emitter was fabricated in the Carleton University Micro Fabrication Facility and tested for thermal emissivity. Measured emissivity was found to match simulation when variations in the resonator structure due to process variation were taken into account.


title: Hidden Voices in Transnationalism:  International Post-Secondary Student Experiences of Precariousness and Belonging in Ottawa

abstract: International post-secondary students have been highlighted as potential solutions to the skill and talent gaps in the Canadian economy by federal and provincial governments. Despite this, there are gaps in the literature surrounding these students in relation to their lived experiences during their stay. By applying a theoretical framework composed of transnational feminism, precarious immigration and belonging and citizenship literature, this study contributes to the current research by exploring the factors that affect the experiences of international students. Additionally, through semi-structured interviews with international students and associated staff at Carleton University and policy analysis, this study investigates whether federal, provincial and post-secondary institutions are instrumental in producing a sense of belonging or precariousness for these students. The findings indicate that though there are many resources available to foster a sense of belonging and safety, the lack of integration and knowledge across institutional scales produces precarious environments for international students.


title: An Exploration of the Relationships Among Task Repetition, Formulaic Language, and Perceived Fluency in Chinese L1 EAP Students' Oral Presentations

abstract: This study explored the impact of the task repetition (TR) on the development of formulaic language (FL) - prefabricated sequences that are "stored and retrieved whole from memory" (Wray, 2002, p. 9) - and perceived L2 speech fluency gains. While there is a consensus that FL facilitates fluent speech (Wood, 2015) and that TR can lead to L2 fluency development (Bygate, 1996), it is not clear whether TR alone can yield gains in the FL use and fluency. To investigate the effectiveness of TR in the development of FL use and perceived fluency gain, two versions of oral presentations delivered by 10 Chinese L1 EAP students were studied for instances of FL use and rated for fluency. Students repeated the task twice, four weeks apart. The results indicate that TR led to gains in fluency and promoted an increased use of and variety in FL.


title: Development of a Landing Period Indicator and the Use of Signal Prediction to Improve Landing Methodologies of Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles on Maritime Vessels

abstract: The scope of this thesis is the creation and evaluation of a methodology for improving the overall landing performance for UAVs using signal prediction and a developed Landing Period Indicator (LPI). The research is conducted in a synthetic environment, where the test vehicle is a quad-rotor UAV that is equipped with a light detection and ranging system to aerially detect ship motion. The observed ship motion is forecasted using signal prediction which identifies and notifies the UAV of potential landing opportunities. The Signal Prediction Algorithm (SPA) is also used for Active Heave Compensation (AHC) to facilitate the UAV in maintaining a safe low hover position above the ship deck. Further, an algorithm is developed to use the AHC system to plan trajectories that land the UAV with a specified impact velocity. The results in this thesis indicate that the developed landing methodologies can improve the landing performance of ocean-going helicopters.


title: There Are No Communists in Cuba

abstract: This study explores how Cubans organize their everyday livelihood strategies between the tacit principles of capitalism and socialism. Having conducted four months of ethnographic fieldwork in Cuba, I examine how individuals negotiate the contradictions which unfold within the island's economic system, where competing ideals of free market liberalization and social redistribution collide in discourse and practice. This collision is highlighted through ethnographic vignettes which showcase how Cubans who have grasped the legalized opportunity for self-employment have simultaneously been required to navigate difficult political economic circumstances, as committing oneself to these forms of independent labor also compels them to encounter their own in-formal ways to make up for systemic deficiencies. Blending semiotics and performativity with a political economic approach, I draw out how Cubans improvise beyond these structural limitations, showing how their performances of 'making do' often involve intermeshing seemingly contradictory socioeconomic dynamics.


title: Examining the Effects of Cold on Gut Epithelial Permeability in Locusta migratoria

abstract: When exposed to temperatures below their minimum tolerable temperature, the majority of insects succumb to a comatose state. If the exposure is relatively mild or brief, they are able to recover from this chill coma. However, when exposed to harsh cold stress, an accumulation of cold-induced tissue damage occurs and can ultimately result in mortality. These chill injuries have been consistently associated with a loss of organismal ion balance that occurs at low temperatures. In Drosophila, this imbalance is hypothesized to occur at least partly due to a cold-induced disruption of epithelial barriers along the paracellular pathway. However, the specific location of these barrier failures, and their role in solute leak, remain unknown. The primary goal of my research was therefore to use the migratory locust (Locusta migratoria) and markers of paracellular permeability to investigate the relationships among chilling injury, ionoregulation, and gut barrier integrity in the cold.


title: A Study of Educational Achievement in Sub-Saharan Africa

abstract:
This thesis investigates the role of education achievement in explaining the growth experiences of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Chapter one presents a new regional measure of educational achievement for SSA developed from three large-scale assessments: Le Programme d'Analyse des Systèmes Educatifs de la CONFEMEN, the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality and the Monitoring Learning Project.
Chapter one also presents a cross-country macro-level analysis of the determinants of educational achievement. The results suggest that family factors (proxied using the adult literacy rate and GDP per capita) and school factors (proxied using the percentage of trained teachers) play a role in explaining educational achievement at the primary level in SSA but the magnitude of each effect is dependent on assessment subject.
Chapter two presents a micro-level case study of the determinants of educational achievement. Cameroon is selected for this case study as it is identified as one of the outliers in Chapter one. The results of the analysis suggest that initial performance and included student-, school-, and class- factors are important determinants of educational outcomes but each effect is nuanced and varies by education sector (Anglophone or Francophone), school location (rural area or urban area) and/or assessment subject (mathematics or literacy). The results also provide evidence of the complexities associated with estimating determinants of educational quality and show that local context as well as family and school characteristics matter. Also important are assessment subject, quality of the adopted proxies and interactions between the various explanatory factors.
Chapter three investigates the effect of the educational achievement measure developed in Chapter one on economic growth in SSA. The findings from the regional analyses are generally weak. However, the results of the global analysis provide evidence that lend credence to existing literature on the importance of education in promoting economic growth. The global results also provide corroborating evidence of the essential role of educational quality in promoting economic growth. Finally, the global results suggest that educational quality and educational quantity are distinct yet complementary components of human capital development and explain different aspects of the educational process.


title: Alone with My Phone: Exploring Links Between Solitude, Technology Use, and Socio-Emotional Functioning in Adolescents

abstract: Technology use is ubiquitous in contemporary adolescent culture. Researchers studying social interactive technologies have begun to compare types of technology use (e.g., active versus passive). The increased access to technology is now changing how developmental contexts (e.g., solitude) are experienced. The aim of this study was to investigate how types of technology use while in solitude, might impact upon adolescents' perceptions of aloneness and feelings. Participants consisted of N = 434 grade 11 students from high schools in Ottawa. Based on self-report measures, results showed that within the context of solitude, adolescents believed they would feel more lonely, bored, and sad in the passive scenario compared to the active scenario. However, adolescents reported feeling the most content and socially connected in the audio-visual scenario. In addition, time spent alone was related to lower positive affect and greater loneliness, whereas active technology use was positively associated with negative affect.


title: Characterization and Delivery of DNA Aptamers Selected for the Prevention of Alpha-Synuclein Aggregation in Parkinson's Disease

abstract: Aptamers designed to target α-synuclein, a protein implicated in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease due to its propensity to aggregate, were investigated to probe their affinity for the protein as well as their ability to hinder the aggregation of the protein in vitro. Aggregation assays have proven that the presence of the aptamer candidates targeting monomeric α-synuclein stunt the formation of protein fibrils. One promising aptamer from the research, a-syn-1, was successfully packaged into a liposome vesicle modified to cross the blood-brain barrier and used in in vivo applications. Analysis of the liposomes used for the packaging and delivery of the aptamer has provided insight into the loading efficiency and production efficiency of liposome batches.


title: Structural Performance of Hybrid Timber Connections with Varying Bolt Patterns at Ambient and Elevated Temperatures

abstract: The research project presented in this study aimed to study the effect of bolt numbers and patterns on protected and unprotected concealed steel-glulam hybrid connections. Fifteen full-scale wood-steel-wood (WSW) connections were experimentally examined: five ambient and ten fire resistance experiments. Four and six steel bolts in two different patterns were arranged to form four different connection configurations that were experimentally examined. Also, each connection configuration was tested with and without fire protection of the steel components using wood plugs. Ambient specimens were tested under gradually increased monotonic loads until failure; whereas the other specimens were subjected to elevated temperatures that followed CAN/ULC-S101 standard fire, while being loaded to 100% of the ultimate design load capacity of the weakest connection configuration. The experimental results revealed that, the protected connections exhibited a failure time that is about 20 minutes more than that of the unprotected connections.


title: Three Essays on Statistical Inference on Inequality Measures

abstract: Providing reliable inference on inequality measures is an enduring challenge, mainly due to the complications arising from nonlinearities in their definitions and from the complex nature of the underlying distributions which are typically characterized by extremely heavy tails. The thesis is concerned with proposing non-standard asymptotic and simulation-based inference procedures for moment-based inequality measures (general entropy family of inequality indices) and quantile-based measures (quantile ratio index). The first chapter introduces a Fieller-type method for the Theil Index and assess its finite-sample properties by a Monte Carlo simulation study. The results exhibit several cases where a Fieller-type method improves coverage. This occurs mainly when the Data Generating Process follows a finite mixture of distributions, which reflects irregularities arising from the left tail as opposed to the right tail. Designs that forgo the interconnected effects of both boundaries provide possibly misleading finite-sample evidence. The second chapter proposes confidence set procedures for inequality indices and for differences of indices that do not require identifying these measures nor their differences. The paper documents the fragility of decisions relying on traditional interpretations of - significant or insignificant - comparisons when the difference under test can be weakly identified. The chapter introduces Fieller-type confidence sets for the Generalized Entropy family. Extensive simulations allowing for possibly dependent samples demonstrate the superiority of the proposed methods relative to the standard Delta method and when relevant, to the permutation test method. Third chapter focuses on inference on the quantile ratio index. Three inference methods were proposed: the standard Fieller method and Bootstrap-based alternative Wald and Fieller studentized procedures. In particular, the latter two circumvent complications arising from the dependence of the quantile variance on the underlying density function. Results show that the standard Wald-type confidence sets as well as their Fieller-based counterparts have levels that deviate arbitrarily from the nominal, as well as very low power. In contrast, the proposed studentization which relies on bootstrapping the ratio directly restores coverage and improves power remarkably even with samples of small sizes drawn from extremely heavy-tailed distributions. This suggests that robustness in conjunction with scale-invariance jointly justify the success of our proposed methodology.


title: Validating the Structured Dynamic Assessment Case-Management 21-item (SDAC-21) in a Sample of Incarcerated Offenders

abstract: Given the importance of ensuring that offenders do not engage in offending behaviour while incarcerated and remain crime free once they are released, the field has devoted considerable effort to the development and validation of risk assessment tools. The purpose of this dissertation was to validate the Structured Dynamic Assessment Case-Management 21-Item (SDAC-21; Serin & Wilson, 2012). Importantly, this was the first empirical validation of the SDAC-21.The SDAC-21 is a new body of work that includes empirically derived and theoretically informed dynamic risk factors, responsivity factors, and protective factors. It is an institutional assessment tool that was developed based on the successful implementation of the Dynamic Risk Assessment for Offender Re-entry (DRAOR; Serin, 2007), which is a dynamic risk assessment tool used in the community. Using a sample of 4,217 incarcerated male offenders held in the Iowa Department of Corrections (IDOC), this study examined the psychometric properties and the accuracy of the SDAC-21 in predicting institutional misconducts. In addition, the incremental contribution of the SDAC-21 in predicting institutional misconducts over and above static risk was also evaluated. Lastly, an exploration of the relationship between risk and protective factors in relation to outcomes was also undertaken. The SDAC-21 demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties (e.g., internal consistency, inter-rater reliability). The SDAC-21 significantly predicted institutional misconducts (AUC's ranging from .60 -.75) and demonstrated incremental validity over and above static risk estimates. Further, the results from the moderation analyses indicated that the Protective domain showed independent effects in predicting institutional misconducts, regardless of static risk. These results showed that the SDAC-21 is a valid tool for predicting institutional misconducts. It is anticipated that the results of this research endeavour will improve the overall ability to manage and supervise offenders more effectively within correctional institutions.


title: Unknown Evils: Revisiting the Psychopathy/Responsibility Debate with Epistemic Injustice

abstract: The callous and seemingly emotionless temperament possessed by individuals with psychopathic traits has caused them to be a source of fascination for psychologists, legal theorists, philosophers and laymen alike. Many authors have offered reconciliation for their harmful actions, contending that without the capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of their action, individuals with psychopathic traits ought not be held responsible for them. In this thesis, I discuss many of these arguments, examining assertions for a mitigated attribution of both legal and moral responsibility. Additionally, I consider an unexplored aspect within the debate of psychopathy and responsibility: Miranda Fricker's concept of Epistemic Injustice. Using this concept, I contend that the current standard of holding psychopaths criminally responsible reflects pervasive patterns of injustice, and that individuals with psychopathic traits are not deserving of being held fully responsible for their criminal wrongdoings.


title: Question Generation with Adaptive Copying Neural Networks

abstract: Given the rapid development of communication technology, online business websites are becoming increasingly popular. However, it is time-consuming for customers to read long product reviews. Therefore, if we can generate questions that can be answered by extensive product specifications, customers could obtain their desired information easily. In this thesis, we aim to tackle the automatic question generation task. We proposed a novel network Adaptive Copying Neural Network (ACNN). The proposed model adds a copying mechanism component onto a bidirectional LSTM architecture to adaptively generate more suitable questions from the input data. Subsequently, we calculated the generated questions' summarization score to see if they could be answered by the reviews. In our evaluation experiments, we confirmed that our method can outperform baseline QG methods in terms of BLEU, ROUGE and human evaluation scores. In addition, we combined the summarization scores with our model, which resulted in a performance boost.


title: Evaluating the Relationships of Phenological and Inter-Annual Landscape Dynamics with Farmland Biodiversity using Multi-Spatial and Multi-Temporal Remote Sensing Data

abstract:
Agricultural landscapes are highly variable ecosystems and are home to many species. Farmland spatial heterogeneity has been shown to negatively impact biodiversity. However, phenological and inter-annual agricultural landscape dynamics also have potential to affect species diversity. Remote sensing provides data that enable monitoring landscape changes at multiple temporal and spatial scales. The goal of this research was to determine the response of biodiversity to phenological and inter-annual landscape dynamics.
The study area is the predominantly agricultural region of eastern Ontario. Ninety-three sample landscapes were selected prior to this research. Biodiversity data were collected during the summers of 2011 and 2012 within a 1 × 1 km area at each landscape. This extent and 3 × 3 km were selected for this research to analyze the impacts of spatial scale on biodiversity response.
Relationships between biodiversity and vegetation phenology were modelled using MODIS NDVI, while relationships between biodiversity and long term inter-annual vegetation changes were modelled using Landsat NDVI and Tasseled Cap components. Random Forest Regression was used to determine variable relative importance over all biodiversity models. The most important variables were identified and subsequently used in step-wise regression to determine model significance, the variables entered, and the direction of their relationship with biodiversity.
Results demonstrated that phenological and inter-annual changes in vegetation dynamics were related to biodiversity. For MODIS, most 3 × 3 km models were significant, whereas most 1 × 1 km models were not. For Landsat, model performance was not consistently different for the two extents, indicating that model performance can depend on landscape extent when coarse spatial resolution data are used. Plants and beetles showed the strongest relationships with MODIS phenological variables, particularly greenness onset date (negative) and NDVI (positive), as well as Landsat mean NDVI (positive) and mean Tasseled Cap Brightness (negative) and Wetness (negative). The inter-annual variability of Landsat NDVI and the percentage of pixels in a landscape with significantly decreasing trends in NDVI demonstrated a negative relationship with plant diversity. This thesis emphasized the importance of spatial and temporal variations in the landscape on biodiversity, especially in highly variable landscapes such as agricultural lands


title: Effects of ARVs and HIV on mitochondrial function and immune activation in monocyte derived macrophages in vitro

abstract: While ART reduces HIV associated morbidity and mortality, low levels of persistent inflammation in virally suppressed individuals drive a form of accelerated aging and comorbidity. Macrophage activation drives persistent inflammation but the molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. Uninfected and HIV-infected MDMs were treated with ARVs: TFV, 3TC, and EFV, and alterations in cell viability and mitochondrial function were characterized. Alterations were then examined for effects on inflammatory cytokine production. ARV treatment had distinct effects on mitochondrial function and metabolism. TFV increased cellular ROS, decreased cellular respiration, increased cell death, and decreased TNF-alpha. EFV decreased cellular respiration, decreased ATP production, decreased expression of complex I of the ETC, increased cell death, increased superoxide and cellular ROS, and increased TNF-alpha and IFN-beta production. In the context of HIV infection, TFV and EFV, increased cellular ROS production and TFV also decreased complex I expression of the ETC.


title: Biometric Quality and its Impact on Template Ageing in a Longitudinal Fingerprint Study

abstract:
Biometrics are increasingly deployed in domains ranging from social media authentication right up to border control. An important operational requirement for biometric systems is the supposed uniqueness and permanence of biometric records: physiological changes occurring between enrolment and verification are referred to as template ageing, and increase the likelihood of a misidentification. Its magnitude is hard to estimate, and the factors affecting it are relatively little studied.
This work proposes a measure of template ageing, called biometric permanence, and develops a methodology to estimate it in the presence of confounding factors. The measure is applied to a database of fingerprints obtained over a seven year period, using bootstrap resampling to obtain confidence intervals for the estimates of effect size. Fingerprint quality metrics are evaluated in terms of their ability to predict classification performance, and the subject-dependence of fingerprint quality is explored using the ideas of a biometric menagerie. Statistically significant demographic factors underlying biometric quality and template ageing are highlighted and discussed.
The results of this work may have implications for the procurement and administration of biometric systems: for example, in ensuring consistent performance across a broad population demographic, and in the choice of credential lifetime and re-enrolment policy.


title: Towards a More Critical Consciousness: Race-Making, Affect, and Counter-Knowledges

abstract: While the development of a critical consciousness in racialized youth is not a new subject area, the inclusion of the human capacity for, and the necessity of, affect as crucial components of identity formation and collective action are often missed. Through four semi-structured interviews with 18-25-year-old Black and African young adult attendees of an annual week-long camp for multi-racial families, as well as a content analysis examining the cultural and pedagogical foci of the camp's youth-focused strategic plan, I seek to determine whether and how the camp facilitates the development of a critical consciousness in its youth attendees. Guided by a Gramscian-Marxist theoretical framework, I seek to understand how experiences of a double consciousness can be transformed in order to foster counter-knowledges. In this reading, the relationship between double consciousness and counter-knowledges also becomes a fruitful site for the formation of forms of affect that can cater to anti-capitalist struggles.


title: Where's My Jet Pack? Online Communication Practices and Media Frames of the Emergent Voluntary Cyborg Subculture

abstract: Voluntary cyborgs embed technology into their bodies for purposes of enhancement or augmentation. These voluntary cyborgs gather in online forums and are negotiating the elements of subculture formation to varying degrees of success. The voluntary cyborg community is unusual in subculture studies due to the desire for mainstream acceptance and widespread adoption of their practices. How voluntary cyborg practices are framed in media articles can affect how cyborgian practices are viewed and ultimately, accepted or denied by those outside the voluntary cyborg subculture.


title: Size and Spatial Congruity Effects in Single-Digit Magnitude Judgment Tasks

abstract: The spatial-numerical association of response codes (SNARC; Dehaene, Bossini, & Giraux, 1993) effect and size congruity effect (SiCE; Henik & Tzelgov, 1982) are the results of relationships of numerical magnitude with response location and physical size respectively. These relationships have been the subjects of thorough investigation in the numerical cognition literature. However, such investigations have largely occurred independently of each other, with few studies known to the author offering simultaneous investigation of the relationships between numerical magnitude and response location and between numerical magnitude and physical size. Four experiments using single-digit magnitude judgment tasks resulted in reliable SNARC effects, with little evidence of SICEs and no interactions between the factors that give rise to these relationships. Obtained results suggest the spatial-numerical and size-numerical relationships that give rise to SiCE and SNARC effects are the result of separate representational processes rather than a singular representation of physical and numerical magnitude information.


title: Analysis of Immediate Cellular Changes in Porcine Brains Using an Ex Vivo Model of Traumatic Brain Injury

abstract: The need for a better understanding of the neural responses that occur during a head impact is of upmost importance. The movement of the head and the resulting inertial forces have been shown to create high amounts within the sulcus of the brain. Cellular changes occur after an impact to the head that may begin the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. Given the similarities to the human brain, pig brains were used to investigate the biomechanical forces at play and the cellular changes that occur in the sulcus of the brain after an impact. One hour after an ex-vivo impact, there was a decrease in MAP2 cell density only in the apex of the sulcus of the impacted tissue. While there was no change in neuron density that accompanied the change in MAP2 levels, it could be an indication of compromised cellular integrity and window of vulnerability.


title: Punishing ‘Revenge Porn’: Legal Interpretations of and Responses to Non-Consensual Intimate Image Distribution in Canada

abstract:
The act of distributing nude or sexually explicit images without consent—often colloquially referred to as "revenge porn"—has become an issue of popular concern and the product of frequent news headlines both in Canada and internationally. Activist and academic work has largely focused on gaining recognition of the harms of non-consensual intimate image distribution (NCIID) and campaigning for its specific criminalization; yet, little research has been done to analyze how this act is actually being responded to in the everyday practice of the law and to determine the broader social impacts of these legal responses to and understandings of NCIID. Thus, in this dissertation, I undertake a critical discourse analysis of NCIID case law in Canada. Through this research, I map and analyze the ongoing legal construction of and response to NCIID and trouble many of the prevailing assumptions regarding the nature of NCIID and the efficacy of legal responses to this act.
My discursive analysis of legal responses to NCIID utilizes anti-carceral, pro-sex, intersectional, and critical legal feminisms (along with queer theory and theorizations of technology and photography) to determine what NCIID is "coming to mean" (Crocker 2008, 90) in law. I find that NCIID is a complex issue involving: a diversity of victims and offenders, a range of harms, a plethora of potential framings, and a variable relationship to digital technologies. Ultimately, I argue that an analysis of the efficacy of responding to NCIID in law must consider this diversity of cases and the socio-legal impacts of various constructions of and responses to NCIID.
My research finds that Canadian judges have largely understood NCIID as an extremely harmful act requiring denunciation and deterrence (often via incarceration). Although this may be understood by many "revenge porn" activists and researchers as an unproblematic development that demonstrates the effectiveness of legal responses to NCIID, I argue that it is necessary to critically analyze the unexpected consequences and shortcomings of responding to NCIID through law.