title: Earnings Announcement Premium: Evidence from the XBRL Mandate

subject:
earnings announcement premium
idiosyncratic volatility
abnormal volume
investor attention

abstract: In 2009, the SEC implemented the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) filings of company reports to facilitate better analysis and interpretation of financial statements. In this study, I analyze whether the XBRL filings has an impact on the earnings announcement premium of the three different sizes (tiers) of XBRL firms. In cross-sectional analysis, I find that there has been a significant increase in the earnings announcement premium for the larger and medium firms in the post-XBRL period, whereas the change in announcement premium for the smaller firms is not significant. I also find that in the post-XBRL period, there has been an increase in abnormal idiosyncratic volatility and abnormal volume for all the three different tiers of firms. Results indicate that announcement premium may have increased as a result of an increase in information asymmetry between the larger and smaller firms in the post-XBRL period as documented by Blankespoor et al. (2014).


title: Silence is Golden? Evidence from Social Disclosure Gap

subject:
social disclosure
cost of equity capital
disclosure gap
voluntary disclosure
limited attention

abstract: Social disclosure is available through different internal channels, such as SEC filings, stand- alone sustainability reports, or financial reports and available through external channels, such as business news. Based on analytical models that suggest that investors price social disclosure, as part of their firms’ risk assessment, I analyze whether the social disclosure gap is related to the firms’ cost of equity capital. I employ Latent Dirichlet Allocation, an unsupervised machine leaning technique to compare the thematic content of news articles and company reports, comprising of 5 billion words to compute the social disclosure gap for a sample of 1801 US firms. I find that the social disclosure gap is negatively associated with the cost of equity capital. This result is consistent with the limited attention theory, which suggests that investors tend to focus their attention on the most salient and easily processed social disclosure information and neglect the disclosure gap. I also show that customer awareness and product market competition are channels that link the social disclosure gap to the cost of equity capital. My findings contribute to the debate around the challenges hindering the widespread adoption of sustainability, including the absence of a standard, measurement uncertainty, different measures of materiality, inconsistent reporting methods, boilerplate language, and comparability.


title: Effects of a Brief Mobile Mindfulness Application on Mindful Parenting, Noncompliance of Children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder, Perceived Parenting Stress, and Parent-Child Interactions

subject:
mindfulness
parenting
stress
noncompliance
parent-child interactions

abstract: Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at an increased risk of stress, anxiety, depression, and caregiver burnout compared to parents of children without ASD. These risks remain stable over time due to the pervasiveness of autism and its associated behavioural challenges. Parent-focused mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to positively impact parenting behaviour, behavioural difficulties of children with ASD, parenting stress, and parent-child interactions. Research examining the impact of mobile mindfulness application interventions on parenting children with ASD is needed. In the current study, we used an AB design (pilot) followed by a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design to examine the effects of Headspace®, a mindfulness mobile application (app), on mindful parenting vocal statements, child noncompliance, parenting stress, and parent-child interactions of three parents and their children with or without ASD. Behavioural observations and self-report data were collected throughout the study. Behavioural data indicated an increase in the mean level of mindful parenting vocal statements per minute from baseline to intervention phases. Relative to baseline, parent-reported mindful parenting and positive parent-child interactions increased for two parents and parenting stress decreased for two parents. Parent-child observational data demonstrated a variable decreasing trend in child noncompliance across two participants and a decrease in parent reactivity. Overall, these findings suggest that Headspace® is a promising tool for improving mindful parenting behaviours, parent-reported parenting stress, child noncompliance, and parent-child interactions. Future studies should consider evaluating the effects of a parent-targeted virtual self-guided mindful parenting intervention and its effects on both parent and child outcomes.


title: Positive Experiences, Dreams, and Expectations of International Master’s Students at a Southern Ontario University: An Appreciative Inquiry

contributor: Department of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies in Education

subject:
Appreciative inquiry
International master's students
Student experience
Student voice
Positive

abstract: This study used appreciative inquiry (AI) as a methodological and theoretical framework and positive psychology theory to investigate international master’s students’ positive experiences, dreams, and expectations in their programs and institution to inform policies, programs, and practices. Although the literature describes international students’ mixed experiences in Canada, including developing critical thinking skills, making friends with other nationals, culture shock, and financial challenges, previous studies seldom focus on life-affirming conditions that enrich and improve such students’ schooling experiences. The first three stages of AI’s 4-D cycle—discovery, dream, and design—informed the study’s data collection methods (14 semi-structured individual interviews and three focus group discussions) to generate strength-based data for analysis, resulting in five key themes: (a) personal well-being and sense of belonging, (b) instructors’ pedagogical practices, (c) financial constraints and employment opportunities, (d) career development, and (e) policies. Based on its findings, the study makes six recommendations to inform international graduate student policy and practice: (a) allow international master’s students to study with their domestic counterparts, (b) increase international student diversity, (c) regularize socializing events for students and community members, (d) bridge the gap between theory and practice (hands-on experience), (e) work with all stakeholders to make international master’s students’ tuition fees more affordable, and (f) create on- and off-campus employment opportunities. Participants’ first-person accounts emphasize the need to include student voices in their own education and also shift the conversation from a deficit lens to a more positive discourse to balance the narratives around international students’ experiences.


title: The effects of various combinations of form-focused instruction techniques on the acquisition of English articles by second language learners of English

subject:
form-focused instruction
second language acquisition
English articles
instructional techniques
second language instruction

abstract:
Although English articles (the/a(n)) are two of the most frequently occurring words in the language, second language (L2) learners of English tend to exhibit extraordinary difficulty acquiring them. Uniquely resistant to instruction and often overlooked due to a lack of inherent meaning, articles are a suitable linguistic target for form-focused instruction (FFI), an approach that has demonstrated its efficacy over decades of research, across multiple domains of instructed L2 acquisition. With the aim of integrating attention to form into communicative L2 instruction, FFI encompasses numerous instructional techniques that promote various types of linguistic processing that contribute to L2 learning. The current study in particular focuses on three proactive FFI techniques—input enhancement, metalinguistic explanations, and practice—that sequentially facilitate noticing, awareness, and practice, respectively (Lyster, 2007, 2017; Ranta & Lyster, 2018). Targeting English articles, an experimental study was conducted to measure the differential effects of various combinations of the three FFI techniques, in order to examine the benefits attributable to each technique and its corresponding linguistic processing.
	Forty-six L2 learners of English were randomly assigned to four conditions: input enhancement only (n = 12); input enhancement and metalinguistic explanations (n = 11); input enhancement, metalinguistic explanations, and practice (n = 11); and a control condition (n = 12). The L2 learners each completed six hours of online English lessons. The three treatment groups received instruction on English articles according to their respective condition, while the control group received general instruction with no focus on articles. The participants’ knowledge of English articles was measured by four tasks (i.e., grammaticality judgment task, metalinguistic knowledge task, elicited imitation task, and picture-description task) in a pretest, an immediate posttest, and a delayed posttest. Results showed that the group that received input enhancement and metalinguistic explanations exhibited clear and durable gains in the metalinguistic knowledge task after the lessons. Furthermore, a subset of participants who benefitted the most from the instructional treatment revealed two factors in common, which were their article-less native languages and a high level of participation during the lessons.
	Based on these results, the present study contributes meaningfully to the current understanding of FFI and the L2 acquisition of English articles. In addition, it seeks to bring L2 research and L2 pedagogy one step closer together by offering evidence-based insights that further inform instructed L2 acquisition.


title: Low-Dose Lithium as a Therapy for High-Fat Diet Induced Obesity: A Burning Topic in Metabolic Research and Adipose Tissue Browning

subject:
Adipose
Lithium
Thermogenesis
UCP1
Adipose Tissue Browning

abstract: The prevalence of obesity is rising at an alarming rate around the globe. As a way to combat obesity, the activation of white adipose tissue thermogenesis has been a burning topic in metabolic research. Recent findings from our lab demonstrate that this thermogenic program is inhibited by a protein kinase known as glycogen synthase kinase 3-β (GSK3β); and the inhibition of GSK3β provides a mechanism to activate adipose tissue browning. Lithium (Li) is a well-known inhibitor of GSK3β and also a known sensitizer of insulin signalling. Our previous work has demonstrated that low dose lithium inhibits GSK3β and induces adipose browning in healthy male chow-fed mice. The purpose of this thesis was to examine the efficacy of low-dose lithium supplementation to inhibit adipose tissue GSK3β to activate the browning process to overcome the effects of high-fat diet (HFD) induced obesity and insulin resistance. 72 male C57BL/6J mice were divided into three experimental groups: 1) control (CON; n=24), 2) HFD (60% fat; n=24), and 3) HFD supplemented with a low-dose of lithium in their drinking water (10mg/kg body weight/day; HFD+Li; n=24) for 12 weeks. Inguinal white adipose tissue (iWAT), epididymal white adipose tissue (eWAT), and interscapular brown adipose tissue (BAT) were collected and underwent western blot and histological analysis. Lithium supplementation did not blunt the diet induced gain in body mass with the HFD. However, the HFD+Li mice ingested more calories than the HFD mice indicative of decreased metabolic efficiency. Lithium supplementation blunted the initial spike in a glucose tolerance test but exhibited no effects on insulin sensitivity at the whole body or tissue specific level. Lithium supplementation did not blunt the HFD induced reduction in GSK3β inhibition (Ser9) in iWAT, however, in eWAT the HFD+Li mice demonstrated higher GSK3β inhibition. Additionally, mitochondrial markers such as PGC-1α and cytochrome C were higher in HFD+Li eWAT compared to control, with cytochrome C being higher compared to HFD mice. This data provides evidence that low-dose lithium supplementation alone can increase the thermogenic program in visceral WAT depots but may not be robust enough to increase thermogenesis in subcutaneous WAT depots under HFD conditions.


title: Exploring Fan Experience with Multiple Cases of Relocation and Expansion

subject: Hockey, Fans, Relocation, Expansion, Sports

abstract: Current literature surrounding sport team relocation and expansion only examines a fan’s experience with one relocation or expansion at one point of time. With relocation and expansion being a commonality in the sports industry, there are many sports fan who have experienced multiple cases of relocations and expansion. Experiencing multiple relocations and expansions may also expose individuals to teams at varying levels of play. In Canada alone, 17 cities have hosted both a hockey team at the professional minor-league and amateur major-junior level at different points in time. To examine this phenomena, 12 individuals from Belleville, Ontario were interviewed, as Belleville has had four cases of relocation and expansion in their surrounding region in the last 40 years. These participants demonstrated four themes that suggest that experiencing multiple relocations and expansions has a lasting impact on their fan behaviour and attitudes. First, participants suggested that geography, distinctiveness, and exposure at a young age acted as a motivation to cheer for a newly established team, while existing team allegiances acted as a barrier. Second, participants discussed the unique consumption strategies they used to maintain an identity with a relocated team, such as following ex-players, recalling memories, and incorporating the relocated team into their present-day activities. Third, participants outlined the different points of attachment they developed with an amateur team versus a minor league team, as well as the points of detachment that they claimed to have with minor league hockey. Lastly, participants suggested that they have experienced six changes in perspectives towards teams, leagues, and hockey.


title: GSK3 signalling in DBA/2J mdx mice: a comparison against the traditional C57BL/10 mdx model and investigation into its pathogenic contribution

subject:
muscular dystrophy
mdx
tideglusib
muscle wasting
Duchenne's

abstract: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is an X-linked disorder caused by an absence of dystrophin that compromises membrane integrity, ultimately resulting in muscle weakness, wasting and premature death. There is currently no cure for DMD, however, promoting the slow oxidative fibre type and reducing inflammation in muscle has become a viable therapeutic strategy. In this thesis, the role of glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) in DMD pathology, as it relates to inflammation and muscle fibre type composition, was examined. Specifically, the purpose of this thesis was to first characterize GSK3 signalling in two mdx mouse models of DMD, the traditional C57BL/10 (BL10) mdx mouse and the more severe DBA/2J (D2) mdx mouse model. Next, it was examined whether inhibiting GSK3 with a clinically relevant drug called tideglusib would promote the slow oxidative fibre type, reduce inflammation and ultimately enhance muscle structure and function in the D2 mdx mouse. In the first objective of this thesis, it was found that total GSK3 was significantly higher in extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles from D2 mice compared with BL10 mice. Inhibitory serine9 phosphorylation of GSK3 was also significantly lower in D2 mice compared with BL10 mice, suggestive of a strain effect whereby D2 mice had more active GSK3. In the second objective of this thesis, it was found short-term (2-4 weeks) tideglusib treatment (10 mg/kg/day) increased EDL:body mass ratio and reduced serum creatine kinase levels compared with vehicle control. Tideglusib treatment also enhanced muscle function with a significant improvement in hangwire impulse, and EDL specific force production and fatigue resistance. In the EDL muscles, tideglusib treatment reduced total GSK3, a result that was associated with an increase in the proportion of oxidative type I and IIa fibres and elevated utrophin mRNA  expression. However, tideglusib treatment did not alter inflammatory cytokine expression of IL-1 and TNF-. Collectively, these results show that GSK3 activation may contribute to dystrophic pathology in the D2 mdx mouse and that short-term tideglusib treatment can inhibit GSK3 in these mice leading to a promotion of the oxidative fibres and an improvement in muscle form and function.


title: Objects in your rear may be less important than they appear: How objects in candidates’ video interview backgrounds influence interviewers’ perceptions of fit and hiring recommendations.

subject: interview

abstract: Interviews are widely used by hiring managers to inform their decisions; however, the interview evaluations have been found to be influenced by various factors, including the physical and professional appearance of the candidates. With the growing popularity of video interviews, my research examines how the appearance of video backgrounds, through the presence of personal objects, can influence interviewer judgements. It also adds to the personnel selection literature by testing a theory – the Prototype Match Model – to examine how appearances, more generally influence interviewer judgements. Using an experimental design that controls for the video background and involved 92 undergraduate and graduate students, I found no evidence that the presence of personal objects in the background elicit inferences of personality traits and influence interviewer evaluations. There was, however, some evidence to suggest that a prototype match process occurs in the interview, where the closer candidates match the interviewers’ vision of the ideal employee, the more positive their interview outcomes are.


title: More Than a Green Roof: An Analysis of Low Impact Development Policies and Practices

contributor: Environmental Sustainability Research Centre

subject:
Green Infrastructure
Best Management Practices
Stormwater Management
Climate Change

abstract: While the concept of green infrastructure is becoming increasingly popular, practitioners and institutions that implement it have varying perspectives on its meaning. This case study aimed to understand how a medium-sized municipality defines green infrastructure as a concept and incorporates it into official policies and related development plans to encourage green stormwater management strategies. It further sought to understand how the analyzed policies and related plans stimulate low impact development implementation in response to climate change adaptation efforts. A content analysis of eight official documents was conducted to determine how the City of St. Catharines, Ontario defines green infrastructure and includes it in its policies and plans. NVivo 12 was used to gather the meaning of green infrastructure and related terms qualitatively. The findings discuss how green infrastructure was defined and incorporated, as well as the consistency of its usage and meaning across the sampled official documents.


title: Enhancing Online Faculty Development Programs During COVID-19 and Beyond: A Multiple Case Study of Faculty Members Teaching Online

subject: Online faculty development

subject: faculty development needs

subject: development programs for faculty in Higher Education

subject: multiple case studies of faculty development

subject: online faculty as adult learners

abstract: This study explored how the development needs of faculty members teaching online can inform professional development (PD) programs in higher education (HE), especially after a year and a half of transition to fully online courses due to the pandemic. The research was conducted in a midsize university in Ontario and utilized a multiple case study approach that examined the cases of four faculty members through an emergent process of in-depth interviews. The main criterion used to select participants was an experience with online teaching of at least 1 year. Data were collected from interview responses as well as from documents representing research studies the faculty members wrote about their teaching experience. Multiple cases were constructed using an inductive coding analysis process, and a cross-case analysis was conducted to identify themes common across the cases. Inductive coding was used to analyze the data. Findings revealed that faculty PD programs should be diversified when it comes to program format, duration, regularity, and topics. Programs differentiated in these ways are essential to accommodate diverse PD needs as well as the different stages of online faculty members’ development of expertise. One-time PD events may not offer the best opportunity to develop faculty members. Informal learning opportunities such as learning communities, research publishing, and mentoring are the most preferred and should be prioritized. HE institutions play an important role in enhancing PD programs either directly through improving program design or indirectly through modifying institutional policies and budgets.


title: The Role of CRISPR-Mediated Phage Resistance in the Development of Phage-Based Biocontrol for Erwinia amylovora

subject:
Phage Resistance
CRISPR-Cas
Antibiotic Resistance
Biocontrol

abstract:
In the post-antibiotic era, resistance in pathogenic bacteria is projected to significantly hinder crop production and become one of the leading causes of death. This has necessitated the development of therapies to address antibiotic resistant microbes and prolong the period for which antibiotics remain a viable treatment option. A prominent alternative technology that has recently re-emerged is the use of bacterial viruses known as phages. Phages selectively lyse their bacterial hosts during the replication process but must avoid phage resistance mechanisms to eliminate a bacterial population. In this dissertation, the impact of phage resistance on biocontrol efficacy is examined using the phytopathogen Erwinia amylovora.
The primary source of acquired phage immunity in bacteria is the CRISPR-Cas system. However, the absence of methodologies to study Erwinia phages, and a lack of genomic data for E. amylovora, has previously hindered this avenue of research. Quantitative real time PCR assays were developed to simultaneously monitor both the E. amylovora and phage populations. The individual steps of the phage lytic cycle during infection were characterized by further modification of this methodology. Through this, phage candidates ΦEa46-1-A1 and ΦEa21-4, that previously demonstrated high biocontrol potential, were shown to produce a large number of progenies over a short period of time. A comparative genomic analysis using 127 sequenced isolates of E. amylovora was then completed. This study proposed three primary clades of E. amylovora which infect apples in North America. A novel bioinformatic pipeline was subsequently  developed to analyse the CRISPR regions of E. amylovora and the activity of the CRISPR-Cas system was then confirmed. While each clade of E. amylovora exhibited a unique CRISPR arrays, none of the identified CRISPR spacers provided inherent protection against any biocontrol candidate. CRISPR-mediated phage resistance was confirmed in E. amylovora against biocontrol candidate ΦEa21-4 but only in isolates with primed CRISPR-Cas systems. Still, phage resistance to ΦEa21-4 was observed through an unknown resistance mechanism in wild-type isolates. Overall, this work demonstrates new techniques to improve trial outcome prediction and lays the foundation for further investigation into the phage resistance mechanisms of E. amylovora.


title: Innovation and Stock Returns

subject: Innovation and Stock Returns

abstract: The main aim of this thesis is to determine the relevance of innovation for the average stock returns, thereby investigating if innovation is one the factors explaining the stock returns. Innovation has been identified as an important determinant of economic growth and has been incorporated in economic growth models. With respect to equity returns, one part of literature identifies innovation as source of increased risk given the uncertainty associated with its outcome while another part of literature finds high innovation to reduce technological risk of a firm. In this thesis, we find that there is a premium to high innovation particularly for small size stocks. The highest innovation stocks earn higher average returns than lowest innovation stocks and this effect is significant and prominent for small size stocks. This persists when innovation is accounted for along with other variables like book to market value, operating profitability and investment.  Regressing innovation sorted portfolios against Fama-French 5 factors model generates positive significant alphas for high innovation portfolios, even when controlled for size. Based on this, an innovation factor is constructed that captures the difference between the average return on high and low innovation portfolios. This innovation factor is incorporated in the Fama-French 5 factors model as the sixth factor evaluating if the model better explains the average stock returns. The six factors model incorporating innovation factor is rejected based on the test statistic testing if the alphas produced by the model are jointly equal to zero. However, the six factors model produces lower values of test statistics and alpha based measures used for model comparison, implying an improvement over the existing model.


title: The Logo “Visual Thickness Effect”: When and Why It Boosts Brand Evaluation. Does It Relax the Logo Visual Asymmetry Side-effect?

subject:
Logo Visual Thickness Effect
brand power
brand personality
Logo Visual Asymmetry Effect
power of the self
visuospatial sketchpad

abstract: Logos are one of the first elements of brands with which new consumers interact. Thus, the symbolic meanings that a logo implies by its visual characteristics, e.g., circularity vs angularity, symmetry vs asymmetry, etc., can form consumers’ early perception of personality of the associated brand. A considerable body of research studies the key visual elements of logos that influence consumers’ perceptions about the associated brands. The primary aim of this research is to contribute to this body of literature by documenting the logo “Visual Thickness Effect” (VTE) as an understudied but influential visual phenomenon. Using 4685 MTurk participants and 34 fictitious logos, across two pre-studies and five main studies, we find support for the logo Visual Thickness Effect, in that thick logo boosts perception of brand personality, as a result of boosting perception of brand power. Also, the perception of brand power induced by logo thickness is moderated by consumer’s level of perceived power of the self, in that consumers with higher sense of power are less influenced by thickness of logo, as a sign of brand power, when evaluating a brand. Further, the perception of brand power induced by logo thickness is moderated by consumer’s level of visuospatial capacity, meaning that people with higher visuospatial sketchpad are less influenced by thickness of logo, as an extraneous visual stimulus, while evaluating a brand. Also, results suggest that the logo Visual Thickness Effect is at play as long as consumers do not already possess complementary information about the associated brand. Furthermore, we try to contribute to the findings of prior research by suggesting perception of logo familiarity as the underlying mechanism why asymmetric logo attenuates the perception of brands sincerity, competence, and ruggedness. Results show that symmetrical logos can be perceived as more familiar than asymmetrical logos. Findings of this research imply that brands, especially new-to-market brands, might exploit thick logos. This research contributes to the literature for perception of visual elements, logo design, brand evaluation, perception of power, and sensory marketing.


title: Mean Power Frequency of Boys and Men  during a Progressive Isometric Contractions Protocol to Exhaustion

subject:
electromyography
children
MPF
motor unit

abstract:
Background: The mean power frequency (MPF) of an electromyographic (EMG) signal is affected by contraction intensity and muscular fatigue but is also a potential indicator of motor unit (MU) recruitment.
Methods: This study is a secondary analysis (Woods et al. 2019) in which participants (17 boys, 20 men) completed a progressive isometric contraction protocol while EMG was recorded from the vastus lateralis (VL), using tripolar surface electrodes. MPF and EMG threshold (EMGTh) were calculated for each completed intensity. The latter reflects the onset of accelerated increased in higher-threshold MU recruitment. Independent t-tests were used to assess differences between groups in demographic variables, mean MPF (MPFmn), peak MPF (MPFPK), force (%1RM) at MPFPK, and MPF range. An ANOVA for repeated measures was used to assess differences between groups in MPF pattern, interpolated over ten stages. A correlation analysis was used to assess the relationship between %1RM at MPFPK and %1RM at EMGTh.
Results: Both, MPFmn and MPFPK were higher in the men, but only reached statistical significance when %body fat was used as a covariate in the statistical analysis. 65% of participants displayed an expected (inverted-U shape) MPF pattern. Within this subset, the %1RM at which MPFPK occurred was significantly higher (i.e., occurred later) in the boys compared with the men. Additionally, a moderate correlation was observed between the %1RM at MPFPK and the %1RM at EMGTh (r = 0.51).
Discussion: Overall, the findings of the current analysis provide support for the hypothesis of lower type-II MU activation in children. The high variability in MPF patterns may be a result of the interaction between confounding factors that affect MPF (intensity and fatigue). Future research should use an exercise protocol that examines MPF under the influence of each factor separately.


title: Multi-guide Particle Swarm Optimisation for Dynamic Multi-objective Optimisation Problems

subject:
Dynamic Multi-objective Optimisation
Multi-guide Particle Swarm Optimisation
Archive Management
Quantum Particle Swarm Optimisation
Sensitivity Analysis

abstract: This study investigates the suitability of, and adapts, the multi-guide particle swarm optimisation (MGPSO) algorithm for dynamic multi-objective optimisation problems (DMOPs). The MGPSO is a multi-swarm approach, originally developed for static multi-objective optimisation problems (SMOPs), where each subswarm optimises one of the objectives. It uses a bounded archive that is based on a crowding distance archive implementation. Compared to static optimization problems, DMOPs pose a challenge for meta-heuristics because there is more than one objective to optimise, and the location of the Pareto-optimal set (POS) and the Pareto-optimal front (POF) can change over time. To efficiently track the changing POF in DMOPs using MGPSO, six archive management update approaches, eight archive balance coefficient initialization strategies, and six quantum particle swarm optimisation (QPSO) variants are proposed. To evaluate the adapted MGPSO for DMOPs, a total of twenty-nine well-known benchmark functions and six performance measures were implemented. Three experiments were run against five different environment types with varying temporal and spatial severities. The best strategies from each experiment were then compared with the other dynamic multi-objective optimisation algorithms (DMOAs). An extensive empirical analysis shows that the adapted MGPSO achieves very competitive, and often better, performance compared to existing DMOAs.


title: Molecular Detection for the Apicomplexan Parasites Cyclospora cayetanensis and Cryptosporidium spp.

subject:
Cyclospora cayetanensis
Cryptosporidium spp.
PCR optimization
Molecular Detection

abstract:
Background: Cyclospora cayetanensis and Cryptosporidium spp. are intestinal Apicomplexan parasites that can cause severe diarrheal disease in children and immunocompromised hosts. Diagnostic challenges using routine diagnostic methods lead to an underreporting of these parasites, particularly in resource-limited settings. Establishing affordable molecular detection techniques will allow for the reliable determination of these parasites’ prevalence in those settings.
Objective: The overarching objective was to optimize polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocols to detect the presence of C. cayetanensis and Cryptosporidium spp. in human stool samples. Once optimized, these protocols will be used to undertake epidemiological research in Honduras.
Methods: To optimize the C. cayetanensis PCR assay, we utilized a previously identified sample that contained C. cayetanensis oocysts, as confirmed by epifluorescence microscopy and safranin staining. Two additional samples from a Honduran epidemiological study on soil-transmitted helminths (STH) reported positive by the modified Ziehl-Neelsen staining were also used. The PCR protocol comprised the amplification of the 18S rRNA gene. To optimize the Cryptosporidium spp. PCR assay, a first step was to identify positive samples among donated specimens from a Honduran epidemiological study on STH. Initial screening was done with an enzyme immunoassay (copro-antigen ELISA). The PCR protocol comprised the amplification of the COWP gene and subsequent species identification using RFLP.
Results: The C. cayetanensis and Cryptosporidium spp. PCR assays were both optimized. The C. cayetanensis PCR assay revealed one positive sample of the three tested. The positive sample using epifluorescence microscopy and safranin staining showed the corresponding 18S rRNA gene band at ~501 bp. As for the Cryptosporidium PCR assay, only one was PCR-positive out of 4 ELISA-positive samples. RFLP analysis of this sample revealed a possible mixed infection by both C. hominis and C. parvum.
Conclusions: Both protocols can now be used to analyze human stool samples in future collaborative epidemiological research with our partners in Honduras.


title: Integrating Behavioral Skills Training within an E-Learning Modality to Train Volunteers Working with Neurodiverse Populations

subject: behavioral skills training

subject: video modeling with voice over instruction

subject: neurodiverse populations

subject: volunteer training

abstract: People supporting neurodiverse populations (often volunteers) must acquire adequate training on instructional strategies to ensure the safety of the people they support and those around them. While behavioral skills training (BST) is an empirically validated training framework, it has some resource constraints such as requiring an experienced trainer. Adapting a BST framework for an interactive mobile application (app) to train volunteers may increase their ability to accurately implement a set of pre-determined target behaviours with fewer resources needed. This evaluation included two studies. In Study 1 the researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with volunteers with experience in an adaptive physical activity program to inform app training content. Experienced volunteers indicated three skills they wanted to receive training on to support neurodiverse people (visual schedules, modeling, and high-probability instructional sequence). In Study 2 a multiple probe design across behaviours was used to assess the efficacy of the app for teaching the three target skills to two novel volunteers. Direct observations were conducted virtually to determine the efficacy of the app for increasing volunteers’ performance accuracy on the pre-determined skills. Both participants demonstrated increased performance accuracy of each target skill following relatively brief interaction with the app. They also reported that they found the app to be acceptable and showed improvement on pre-and post- quizzes after using the app. These results suggest preliminary evidence of the efficacy and acceptability of providing training via an interactive technological platform (using BST) for volunteers working with neurodiverse populations.


title: Emerging Market Indexes During the Pandemic Period

subject:
emerging index
pandemic news
return volatility
vaccine news
covid

abstract: The thesis empirically examines and analyzes an unusual episode in the behavior of emerging indexes. Specifically, it investigates the sensitivity of high-frequency five-minute interval index price movements to COVID-19-related news announcements and macroeconomic news announcements during the pandemic. The author hypothesized that COVID-19 infection cases, deaths, vaccination counts, major vaccine development announcements, and government response measures related to COVID significantly impact the emerging equity markets’ returns and volatility, namely Argentine, Brazilian, Chilean, and Mexican equity indexes. They also hypothesized an asymmetric effect of macroeconomic news before and during the pandemic. Findings reveal that pandemic cases, vaccination, and death-related news announcements exhibit a statistically significant effect on intraday volatility but not so much on returns. At the same time, government response measures have a more pronounced and significant effect on return and volatility. Additionally, vaccine research & development and approval news increase intraday volatility. Findings also suggest that very few macroeconomic news indicators exhibit statistically significant asymmetric interaction before and during the pandemic, and fewer US macroeconomic news indicators are significant during the pandemic than before. The results support previous findings that US macroeconomic news announcements significantly impact Canadian and Mexican equity indexes, suggesting a linkage between them with US financial markets.


title: The Influence of Occupational Footwear on Slip Responses

subject: balance gait slips falls footwear

abstract: Falls in the workplace most often occur due to slips and unsuitable footwear. While industry standardized occupational footwear (OF) is required for the safety of occupational activities, little is known about how OF influences how individuals respond to an unexpected slip. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate how OF affects balance recovery strategies and slip outcome in response to an unexpected slip during walking. Twenty-five individuals (13 males, 12 females) completed a total of 12 walking trials at a self-selected pace in either barefoot (BF) or while wearing OF. The first five trials consisted of the no-slip condition, where individuals walked over a sheet of high friction aluminum foil. On the sixth trial and without the participant’s knowledge, the aluminum foil was replaced with a low friction hard plastic surface to induce an unexpected slip. The remaining six trials were conducted over the low friction surface while participants were aware of the low friction surface. For each walking trial, ground reaction forces, lower limb electromyography and kinematics were recorded. It was found that when individuals in both groups first experienced the unexpected slip, both groups responded with a macro-slip. However, the slip was less severe in the OF group, with a 13 cm shorter heel slip distance and a 0.6 m/s slower heel slip velocity, compared to the BF group. A less severe slip may have been due to differences found in normal walking, since the OF group applied 23% less shear force and had a 16% smaller co-efficient of friction utilized. Differences in slip severity may have also contributed to the ensuing slip response. The OF group, who experienced a less severe slip, demonstrated 35-49% less muscle activity in the left (slip limb) medial hamstrings and left tibialis anterior as well as 2˚ less plantar-flexion after encountering the slip. The OF group also activated their right (non-slip) tibialis anterior, medial gastrocnemius, and vastus lateralis to a lesser extent, by 66-78%, after the slip onset. Although walking in OF appears to lead to a decreased slip risk and a less severe slip outcome, more research is required to evaluate the effectiveness of these slip recovery responses in reducing workplace falls.


title: COVID-19 news announcements and the foreign exchange markets

subject: COVID-19 announcements; FX market; macroeconomic news; exchange rate

abstract:
This thesis entails an empirical study investigating the intraday effects of corona-virus pandemic news announcements on FX market price diffusion components, return, and volatility. The study examines explicitly the major foreign exchange market response to the COVID-19 news release, including pandemic figures related to new confirmed cases, number of deaths, progress of vaccine development and administration, government intervention measures to mitigate virus spread, and the World Health Organization senior official speech about pandemic progress. In addition, this paper investigates the context-specific effects of macroeconomic news. In other words, it examines the effects of important macroeconomic news on currency price components prior to and during the pandemic period.
    The reason behind this is that the literature has reached a clear consensus about macroeconomic news’s significant effects over time. The findings of this research contribute to both the empirical finance literature and the financial industry because they include insights into the behavior of foreign exchange market participants and international finance portfolio managers when analyzing the effects of unprecedented health, social and economic crises.
     Previous literature shows that the stability of a country’s foreign trade and its external environments impacts the exchange rate return and volatility. COVID-19 made financial markets more volatile as the pandemic increased uncertainty in foreign trade and foreign investment and intensified financial market risks. To have a clear picture of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on FX markets, we incorporate all the essential COVID 19 announcements in this study. Our analysis documents that COVID-19 pandemic indicators and government response policies profoundly impact FX market volatility than a return. Also, regarding vaccine development news, there is strong evidence of FX market reaction to phase 3and emergency approval news related to COVID-19 vaccine development news. There is no evidence of market reaction to WHO official speeches about the COVID-19 pandemic in FX markets. The findings reveal that the FX market reacts to fewer macroeconomic news during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the market reaction to US macroeconomic news is still state-dependent.


title: The Linkage of Yeast Metabolites, Produced Under Hyperosmotic Stress, to Cellular Cofactor Systems During Icewine Fermentation.

subject:
Icewine
Acetic Acid
Hyperosmotic Stress
NAD(P) Cofactors
Glycerol

abstract:
Icewine is a dessert wine of critical importance to the Canadian wine industry. The Icewine grapes are frozen on the vine, creating ice crystals, and subsequently concentrating the solutes in the juice. Icewine juice places yeast under increased osmotic stress, resulting in altered metabolism. This includes increased glycerol production, an internal osmolyte, and higher acetic acid production as they are linked to the cytosolic NAD+ and NADP+ cofactor systems. The yeast glycerol transporter Stl1p allows for glycerol uptake, lowering the production of glycerol and therefore acetic acid. Here we compare two Saccharomyces cerevisiae wine yeast strains, K1-V1116 wild type and K1-V1116 Δstl1, with Saccharomyces uvarum CN1, and relate the differences in metabolite production to the cofactor systems.
To that end, starter cultures of each strain were established Icewine juice with samples collected at fixed intervals and assayed for acetic acid, glycerol, ethanol, acetaldehyde, sugar, and the NAD+/NADH and NADP+/NADPH cofactor systems.
K1-V1116 wild-type, K1-V1116 Δstl1 knockout, and CN1 showed different kinetics of glycerol and acetic acid production. Although glycerol production per unit time did not vary among the three yeast strains, per unit sugar consumed, K1V1116 Δstl1 produced the most glycerol followed by CN1 and then K1-V1116. K1-V1116 Δstl1 was found to produce the highest amount of acetic acid as a function of sugar consumed compared to the wildtype. CN1 produced the lowest amount of acetic acid as a function of sugar despite producing higher glycerol than the K1 V1116 wild-type.
While there was no statistical difference in the NAD(H) redox system ratios between the three yeast to account for the differences in glycerol and acetic acid production, S. uvarum CN1 showed statistically lower amounts of oxidized NADP+ to total NADP(H) compared to both of the S. cerevisiae K1 strains. These findings provide further insight about yeast metabolism under hyperosmotic stress.


title: Effects of Image Temperature and Types of Messages on Advertisement and Product evaluations

subject:
advertisement image
advertisement message
processing fluency
advertisement evaluation
product evaluation

abstract: This study examined the effects of images and messages in advertisement and product evaluations. The study categorized advertisements into two parts: images (warm and cold imagery) and messages (abstract and concrete messaging). It is expected that an advertisement with warm images and concrete messages, cold images and abstract messages is more effective in stimulating positive advertisement and product evaluations. The study also explored the mediating role of processing fluency toward advertisement and product evaluations. Results suggest that a warm image fits better with abstract messages, a cold image fits better with concrete messages, which could generate more positive advertisement and product evaluations. In addition, the effect of the “fit condition” of image and message on advertisement and product evaluations is mediated by viewers’ advertisement processing fluency.


title: Advancing a Youth-Centered Pedagogy that Fosters Physical Literacy by Working with Youth and YMCA Recreation Providers

subject:
physical literacy
youth
pedagogy
action research
recreation

abstract:
Participation in sport and physical activity declines in children at approximately 11-14 years of age. Efforts to support long-term participation in physical activity have focused on the promotion of physical literacy, which offers a holistic view of the factors affecting youth participation. Limited research has explored pedagogical approaches that can support youth physical literacy and engagement in recreational sport and physical activity contexts. This dissertation investigates pedagogical approaches aimed at supporting youth physical literacy in a YMCA recreation context using action research. An important objective was to support change in YMCA organizational pedagogical practices. Practical implications for the implementation of physical literacy are discussed throughout.
Interviews with 10 youth and eight coaches involved in YMCA recreational sport and physical activity programs were conducted in the first study of this dissertation. Factors that supported youth engagement included sense of enjoyment, learning and accomplishment, and comfort with peers in the program. Youth described feeling disengaged when they felt a low sense of autonomy, excluded, or if there was potential for embarrassment. Gender stereotypes were identified as a contributing factor leading to lower levels of participation and engagement in girls. Coaches who had previously taken physical literacy related training perceived improvements in their instructional ability to engage youth.
In the second study, 31 youth participated in a series of focus group meetings exploring what approaches to physical literacy resonate amongst youth. During a wrap-up meeting with YMCA stakeholders, youth participants shared their ideas and courses of action. Findings demonstrated that the presence of a caring adult, interacting with peers of a similar age, opportunities to have input and co-create their programs, games-based approaches, and the
flexibility of their program structures were important factors for enhancing youth involvement in sport and physical activity.
In the last study, a youth-informed recreation instructors training was designed, developed, and co-created with six YMCA stakeholders over the course of seven focus group meetings. A key outcome was the development of a recreation instructor training, called Working ‘with’ Youth in Sport and Physical Activity. Findings provide insight on the challenges that recreation organizations face with implementing physical literacy concepts.


title: Fabrication and Characterization of CoFe2O4-BiFeO3 Core Shell Nanocomposite and SrFe(12−2x)CoxRuxO19 Hexaferrites

subject: Nanocomposite

abstract:
This thesis consists of three parts. The first section is about CoFe2O4-BiFeO3 core-shell
multiferroic nanocomposite synthesized via a two-step wet-chemical process. The presence
of both spinel and perovskite constituents as well as the core-shell structure of nanocomposite
have been identified using x-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron
microscopy, respectively. Low temperature (5 K) magnetic measurement exhibited a significant
exchange bias in the core-shell nanocomposite which confirms promising connectivity
of the constituents in the interface. An enhancement in magneto-dielectric of the core-shell
nanocomposite over the CoFe2O4-BiFeO3 (0-3)-type nanocomposites has been seen. Further
study on the magneto-loss demonstrated the contribution of the magneto-electric and
Maxwell-Wagner effects in magneto-dielectric of the core-shell nanocomposite.
The second part of this thesis has focused on the bulk of SrFe(12−2x)CoxRuxO19 (x =
0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) which have been synthesized through the solid-state reaction process.
DC magnetic measurement at room temperature exhibited a significant reduction in the
coercive field of samples as the concentration of dopants increased. Contrary, an increase in
the saturation magnetization was observed in the doped samples. Furthermore, a transition
from conical to uniaxial anisotropy has been seen for the doped samples above x=0.3.
Thin films of SrFe(12−2x)CoxRuxO19 / (111) SrTiO3 fabricated by a pulsed laser deposition
technique, have been studied in the last part of this work. High-resolution parallel
beam x-ray diffraction results have shown single orientations for all thin films except one.
The thickness of thin films has been determined by the x-ray reflectivity measurement. A
certain level of mosaicity has been detected in the prepared films using the rocking curve
measurement. The strain and the epitaxial growth of thin films have been investigated
utilizing the reciprocal space map technique. Finally, in-plane pole figure measurements
revealed high textured films with three-fold and six-fold hexagonal symmetry. The formation
of a perpendicular anisotropy in Co-Ru doped Sr-M thin films has been detected
from room temperature magnetic measurement. The distribution of Co2+ and Ru4+ ions
in different interstitial spaces, the thickness of films, and change in the magneto-anisotropy
with a concentration of dopants have a significant effect on the magnetic characteristic of
thin films.


title: The Role of Knowledge and Perceived Level of Self-Efficacy on Junior Division Teachers’ Implementation of Physical Literacy in Ontario

subject: Physical Literacy, Self-Efficacy

abstract: The Ontario, Health and Physical Education, Grades 1-8 (HPE) curriculum policy document identifies physical literacy as a key component of the overall vision and goal of the subject. Teachers play a primary role with the implementation of the HPE curriculum policy document and as a result can significantly influence a student’s overall physical literacy journey. The release of the HPE curriculum policy document in 2010 provided a definition of physical literacy for elementary teachers in Ontario, which has remained consistent since that time. However, there is limited data on how school boards, schools, and teachers have implemented physical literacy within the context of the Ontario HPE curriculum. This research explored the role that junior division (Grades 4-6) teachers’ knowledge of physical literacy and perceived levels of self-efficacy for teaching HPE has on their implementation of physical literacy within their classroom. Using a mixed methods design, this study examined how junior division teachers’ (n = 35) perceived levels of self-efficacy and knowledge of physical literacy influenced their ability to implement physical literacy within the classroom program. Participants completed an online survey and eight individuals participated in individual interviews for this study. Two main findings related to implementation of physical literacy were that: (a) teachers indicated a need for resources/supports and accessed them from several sources; and, (b) teachers reported several barriers for both implementation of HPE along with others that were more specifically related to COVID-19 protocols. These results have implications for how teachers in schools can be supported with the implementation of physical literacy in order to provide quality learning opportunities that contribute to a student’s physical literacy journey.


title: Investigating the Effects of a Task-Specific Fatigue Protocol on Hand Tracking Performance Using a Wrist Robotic Device

subject: Anthropometrics Fatigue Robotics Performance

abstract: The purpose of this work was to evaluate the effects of a dynamic submaximal fatigue protocol and forearm/hand anthropometrics on hand tracking performance. Participants traced a 2:3 Lissajous curve using a haptic wrist robotic device (WristBot). This same curve was traced before the fatigue (baseline), during the fatigue protocol, and after the fatigue protocol. Post fatigue trials were completed at 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 minutes after the cessation of the fatigue protocol. Overall tracking performance and movement smoothness decreased immediately. Directional biases in the normal and longitudinal component of tracking error were present after the fatigue protocol. Proximal forearm circumference and forearm length had a negative correlation with movement smoothness. Hand tracking performance decreased due to the submaximal fatigue protocol. Those with a larger proximal forearm circumference and longer forearm length had better movement smoothness performance which can be applied to the workplace where hand and wrist are predominately used.


title: Re-evaluation of analytical chemistry techniques in  studying DNA structures

subject:
B-DNA
Z-DNA
Circular dichroism
Differential scanning calorimetry
denaturation
ultra violet visible spectrometry
flexi cell

abstract: This work describes the use of analytical chemistry techniques to examine the structural changes that DNA adopts when subjected to a number of external/internal factors. A self-complementary sequence, d(CG)9, and a non-self-complementary sequence (mixed sequence) were used to study the conformational effects displayed by each type of oligonucleotide sequence. The structural changes adopted by DNA was examined using a variety of analytical techniques, such as: nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), ultra violet visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). 1) d(CG)9 and a mixed sequence in the B- and Z-DNA conformation was examined by CD and UV-Vis at a concentration of 1mM using a home-made cuvette called a Flexicell with a minimum pathlength of 0.129± 0.015 mm. The CD and UV-Vis spectra’s produced were found to be reliable when compared to commercial cuvettes with a pathlength of 1 cm and sample concentration of 10 µM. 2) d(CG)9 was lyophilized and reconstituted using either water or buffer to determine if d(CG)9 adopts a different structure when reconstituted using different conditions. It was determined that lyophilized d(CG)9 adopts a hairpin conformation when reconstituted with water, and a B-DNA duplex when reconstituted with a buffer containing NaCl. 3) d(CG)9 was thermally denatured using DSC to determine if DSC can be a viable method to study oligonucleotides. It was determined that d(CG)9 undergoes a two-state unfolding pathway. 4) Nuclear Overhauser Effect spectroscopy (NOESY) and correlation spectroscopy (COSY) were used to examine the conformational differences of 2’-deoxyadenosine when incubated in water. From the distance and torsion angle constraints obtained from NOESY and COSY respectively, and from existing crystal structures, it was found the structures that were determined by NMR spectroscopy were misleading because of spectral artifacts. 5) A mixed sequence was treated with organic modifying agents to determine the minimal condition required for DNA denaturation when different modifiers were used. It was determined that urea at a concentration of 8 M and at a pH of 12.5 is sufficient to denature the mixed sequence duplex.


title: Sclerostin influences body composition adaptations to exercise training

subject: Sclerostin Wnt/B-catenin Obesity Exercise Metabolism

abstract: Sclerostin is a secreted glycoprotein mainly produced by the osteocyte, which inhibits the canonical Wnt/ß-catenin signalling pathway. In mice, genetic deletion, or inhibition of sclerostin with a neutralizing antibody increases bone mass while also improving insulin sensitivity and lipid homeostasis. Despite sclerostin not being expressed by adipose tissue (AT), reductions in white AT (WAT) mass and adipocyte cross-sectional area can also be observed with sclerostin inhibition, ultimately conferring resistance to a high-fat diet. Resting circulating sclerostin has also been shown to decrease following exercise training. This dissertation includes six studies examining the hypothesis that sclerostin influences adaptations in fat mass in response to exercise training. Study 1 did not identify serum sclerostin’s response to acute exercise with a top-down proteomic analysis. Study 2 of this thesis utilized a targeted approach and found sclerostin increases in the circulation transiently following acute exercise in adolescents with excess adiposity while those with normal weight have a blunted response. Study 3 utilized a longitudinal study design and found a diet and exercise intervention that leads to a reduction in fat mass attenuates sclerostin’s post-exercise increase in adolescents with excess adiposity. Study 4 identified sclerostin was present in human AT and decreased following exercise training in adults with excess adiposity. Study 5 characterized sclerostin’s response to acute exercise within serum and WAT depots of a mouse model and showed that serum sclerostin is elevated during recovery only in obese mice compared to lean mice and the monomeric form of sclerostin is reduced in scWAT during recovery from acute exercise and is abolished in visceral WAT in response to an obesogenic diet. Study 6 showed that prevention in the reduction in sclerostin seen with exercise with daily injections of recombinant sclerostin also prevents the reduction in scWAT mass and adipocyte cell size and increased lean mass seen with exercise training. These changes may be related to a shift in fuel utilization. Taken together, this thesis provides evidence that sclerostin is influenced by adiposity and exercise training and fluctuations in sclerostin content can regulate adaptations in fat mass and lean mass, which may be mediated by changes in metabolism.


title: Volitional muscle activation and its reliability in boys and men

subject:
children
adults
volitional activation
muscle

abstract:
Background
Maximal torque production largely depends on the ability to activate the available motor unit (MU) pool. Using the interpolated twitch technique (ITT), early studies reported lower volitional MU activation (VA) in children compared with adults, while several recent studies suggested no age-related differences. The reliability of VA determination has been studied to a limited extent in adults but has not been examined in children.
Purpose
To assess age-related VA difference and its reliability in boys and men.
Methods
Eleven boys (8‒12 years) and 12 men (18‒30 years) completed two identical test sessions (following habituation session) which included 10 x 5-s knee-extension MVCs, with 2-min rest intervals. Each contraction was immediately followed by an evoked twitch (Tc). A superimposed twitch (SiT) was applied only to the last five MVCs each day. Age-related VA differences were determined using a repeated measures ANOVA. ITT reliability (SiT, Tc, VA) was assessed in 7 boys and 12 men, using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), derived from a fully nested ANOVA model.
Results
Maximal knee extension torque was significantly lower in boys compared with men (84.4±18.5 vs. 267.8±67.6 N.m, respectively), even after correcting for body mass (2.3±0.5 vs. 3.3±0.6 N.m.kg-1, respectively). VA was significantly lower in boys than in men (visit 2: 92.6±4.5 vs. 95.2±2.0 %, respectively; visit 3: 93.5±3.4 vs. 96.2±2.8%, respectively, group effect = 0.04),
ii
with no difference between visits nor group-by-visit interaction. A similar pattern was observed for the SiT and Tc. The ICC for VA was higher in men than in boys (ICC=0.80 vs. 0.33, respectively). In both groups, most of the variance in VA stemmed from inter-trial variability (58.2% and 59.7% of total variance for boys and men, respectively), indicating inconsistency in both groups. In boys, large day-to-day variance (32.5%) indicated poor stability. The SiT reliability was moderate in both groups (ICC=0.69 and 0.47 for boys and men, respectively). The Tc reliability was high for boys and men (r = 0.96 and 0.85, respectively).
Conclusions
In congruence with early previous findings, boys’ knee extensors VA was lower than that of the men. Contradictory reports of age-related differences in VA in the literature may be due to lack of reliability, and specifically, lack of trial-to-trial consistency using the ITT.


title: The individual and combined effects of creatine monohydrate and lithium chloride supplementation on brain creatine uptake in male and female rats.

subject: creatine, lithium, brain, TBI, rat

abstract: During ischemia and traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), phosphocreatine (PCr) acts as a temporal energy buffer preventing rapid decreases in intracellular ATP concentrations. Though, the brain has limited stored creatine and it therefore relies heavily on exogenous substrates. Moreover, creatine monohydrate (CrM) supplementation can significantly increase brain total creatine concentration (TCr). Creatine’s ability to enter the brain is dependent on creatine transporters, and limited evidence suggests lithium (Li), through GSK3 inhibition, upregulates this transport. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to investigate the individual and combined influences of in vivo creatine monohydrate and lithium chloride on creatine concentrations in the rat brain. 64 Sprague-Dawley rats (32 males, 32 females), given ad libitum access to a pelleted 14% certified protein rodent maintenance diet, were randomized into four experimental groups: control (CON), creatine (Cr), lithium (Li), and creatine-lithium (Cr-Li). CrM at 5g/L (0.412g/kg/day) and lithium chloride (LiCl) at 0.2g/L (0.018g/kg/day) were supplemented in the reverse osmosis drinking water. Brain [TCr] was greater with LiCl (p=0.0002), irrespective of CrM, and greater with CrM (p<0.0001), irrespective of LiCl. For slc6a8 mRNA expression, there was a trend for increased expression with LiCl (p=0.12). The female Li group also had a trend greater (p=0.06) than the Cr group. Relative daily CrM consumption was higher without LiCl (p<0.0001) and higher in females (p=0.0001). Relative daily LiCl consumption was higher among females than males (p<0.0001). LiCl inhibited GSK3 activity through an increase in pGSK3a, pGSK3b, ratio of pGSK3a:GSK3a, and ratio of pGSK3b:GSK3b and there was a trend for reduced total GSK3 activity (p=0.11) with LiCl. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that CrM and LiCl supplementation alone and in combination similarly increased brain TCr, with no synergistic or additive effects when combined.


title: Nurturing Empathy through Critical Media Literacy and Design Thinking: Partnering Pedagogy to Build Community

subject:
empathy
design thinking
critical media literacy
photography
education

abstract:
What counts in critical literacy education today and for learners’ futures? The neoliberal agenda in Canada prioritizes standardization, efficiency, and results- based performance. The social isolation and unrest of the global pandemic are reflected in media headlines and images. This thesis considers narrow views of success in light of critical educational practices that nurture competencies such as critical empathy, collaboration, and communication. This arts-informed multimodal research contemplates how educators can begin addressing what pedagogies work and are important for learners right now.
This action research and thesis is framed by design thinking (Ask, Imagine, Design, Build, Evaluate, Refine and Share). Research examined experiences created in a primary classroom where pedagogies were designed to nurture critical empathy (CE) by utilizing design thinking (DT) and critical media literacy (CML).  Students worked for a six-month period on an inquiry into family cultures and traditions, which included photographing an important family object, editing, and manipulating these photos (their own and their peers’) and sharing them with audiences. The photographic processes and pedagogies build on Wendy Ewald’s Literacy through Photography work.
Data included photographs, journaling, and audio and video recordings were analyzed using my adaptation of Suchar’s (1997) framework. Findings indicated that CE could be nurtured through intentional experiences utilizing DT and CML, reaching both participants and a wider audience who interacted with student work. Specifically, CE was nurtured when students worked towards common goals through opportunities that built upon collaboration, communication, and problem solving over time. CE was nurtured when students had opportunities to become experts, take risks, practice being leaders, and make decisions in a safe and supportive environment. Lastly, CE was nurtured when students had opportunities to build relationships with their peers and consider multiple points of view. Limitations included separating teacher-learner from teacher-researcher roles, and restrictions put into place due to the global pandemic.
This research examines and illustrates an alternative to performance-based “best practice” teaching. Utilizing critical literacy, multimodal, photographic pedagogies employed through design thinking, an environment was created where each student could be successful, and competencies were valued over standardized results.


title: Mad Futures Now: Avant-Garde Dishumanism in the Poetry of Claude Gauvreau, Hannah Weiner, and bill bissett

subject:
poetry
disability
madness
avant-garde
literary disability studies

abstract: This interdisciplinary dissertation puts the theories and aesthetics of avant-gardism into conversation with recent theories of mental disability arising from critical disability studies and madness studies. It does so in order to develop a critical approach that both expands literary disability studies' formal criticism, and provokes avant-garde theorization to reconsider some of its founding aestheticization and metaphorization of mental disability. Through a close analysis of the poetry and poetics of three North American avant-garde writers who have documented lived experiences of mental disability and ableist harm, including Claude Gauvreau (1925-1971), Hannah Weiner (1928-1977), and bill bissett (b. 1939), this dissertation analyzes the modes by which mentally disabled avant-garde poets integrated disruptive aesthetics with their lived experience. Through this analysis, this dissertation theorizes avant-garde dishumanist aesthetics and social critique. With critical attention to silenced narratives, a combined avant-garde dishumanism presents a complex temporality that acknowledges incompleteness, messiness, and the shifting critical positions of communicative relation in audiences of the present. Avant-garde dishumanist texts trouble normative and dominant ideologies for the purposes of creating experiences of future modes of relation and communication from located and embodied positions of disability. Avant-garde dishumanism finds form in a poetics of linguistic rupture and creation of a sense of more equitable futurity in poetry that resists, speaks back to, and reframes mental ableism. This dissertation ultimately argues for a literary disability studies approach informed by avant-garde poetics to both address the avant-garde's roots in mental ableism, and deepen disability studies' formal textual analysis.


title: What Factors Increase Odds of Long-Stay Delayed Discharge in Alternate Level of Care Patients?

subject:
Delayed Discharge
Emergency Department
Public Health
Alternate Level of Care
Hospital Overcrowding

abstract:
Background: Patients no longer requiring the current level of care they are receiving, but continue
to be delayed from discharging, are designated as Alternate Level of Care (ALC) patients. These
patients add to the continued challenge surrounding hospital overcrowding. We assessed risk
factors of long-stay ALC patients; patients who have been delayed more than 30 days.

Objective: The primary objective of this study was to determine the factors that increase the odds
of long-stay delayed discharge in ALC patients.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study utilizing data from Niagara Health’s WTIS
database between September 2014 and September 2019. We compared hospital location,
demographic and needs/barriers factors pertaining to regular versus long-stay ALC patients using
logistical regression analysis.

Results: Of the 16,436 patients, 1,679 (10.2%) were considered long-stay ALC patients. Long-stay
ALC patients were more likely to be male (OR=1.22, [1.08-1.38]), be directly admitted as opposed
to through the ED (OR=1.30), currently occupy a convalescent care bed (OR=5.52, [1.66-18.37])
or mental health bed (OR=9.75, [2.36-36.17]) and have a discharge destination of an LTC bed
(OR=66.39, [26.22-168.09]). Each present barrier increased the odds of becoming long-stay ALC
by 44%. Odds were also increased by the presence of a bariatric (OR=6.13, [2.98-12.59]), feeding
(OR=6.48, [1.92-21.92]) or infection (isolation) (OR=2.03, [1.49-2.77]) barrier.

Conclusions: Long-stay ALC patients were more likely to be directly admitted, males with
discharge destinations to LTC and assisted living facilities with the presence of bariatric, feeding
and/or isolation requirements.


title: Subjective cognitive decline and related worry: Examining biopsychosocial correlates in mid-age and older Canadians

subject: aging cognition scd clsa

abstract: Introduction: Subjective cognitive decline (SCD), a self-reported decline in cognition in otherwise cognitively healthy people, has been acknowledged as a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. Using data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), a large national study with participants ages 45-85 at baseline, we sought to identify correlates of SCD and SCD-related worry. Methods: In our primary analysis using a Poisson regression model, associations between biopsychosocial variables and SCD were identified (analytic sample: n=21,920). In a second analysis using an ordinal regression model, associations between biopsychosocial variables and SCD-related worry were identified (analytic sample: n=12,694). Results: Multiple risk and protective factors of cognitive decline were not associated with SCD within our sample (i.e., physical activity, hypertension, vision problems), as well as minority stress variables such as sexual orientation and race. Rather, psychosocial variables (i.e., depression, perceived social status, and personality traits) showed a more consistent association with SCD within the sample. Greater SCD-related worry, which is believed to increase the risk of future dementia, was associated with specific personality traits, depression, age, gender, and sexuality. Conclusion: The results from this study confirm the association between multiple health variables and SCD but also emphasize the importance of considering psychological and social factors when conceptualizing SCD and its risk factors.


title: AN EXAMINATION OF NOTCH SIGNALLING IN THE REGENERATING SPINAL CORD OF THE AXOLOTL, Ambystoma mexicanum:  ESTABLISHMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF AN AXOLOTL OPTOGENETIC CONSTRUCT FOR UPREGULATION OF NOTCH1 SIGNALLING IN VIVO.

subject: Regeneration CNS Axolotl Notch Optogenetics

abstract: The Notch signalling pathway is a juxtacrine signalling pathway conserved across vertebrate and invertebrate species and is known to be a potent regulator of progenitor cell fate decisions during nervous system development. The dysregulation of the Notch pathway has been implicated in the establishment of an anti-neurogenic environment following spinal cord injury in mammals that ultimately prevents functional recovery. In regeneration-competent species, where both neurons and glia are produced by resident progenitor cells in response to trauma, Notch appears to be regulated differently. In the regeneration-competent axolotl, very little is known regarding the role of the Notch signalling pathway in the establishment of a regeneration permissive environment. Here I report that the axolotl possesses a homolog of the Notch1 receptor and qPCR data indicate that its expression decreases significantly at 7 days post injury in caudal spinal cord tissue. I further report that the Notch downstream target gene, Hes1, is expressed in the spinal cord 3 days following injury and that bath application of the indirect Notch inhibitor, tert-Butyl (S)-{(2S)-2-[2-(3,5 difluorophenyl)acetamido]propanamido} phenylacetate (DAPT), impairs spinal cord regeneration. Finally, I have modified an existing optogenetic plasmid construct that allows for light-dependent temporal and spatial Notch receptor-independent signalling through the axolotl Notch intracellular domain (NICD). In vitro characterization has included the determination of an effective membrane anchor for this construct and the production of an appropriate light-insensitive negative control plasmid. This research has provided evidence for a role of Notch during spinal cord regeneration in the axolotl and provided a unique optogenetic tool to facilitate the determination of the in vivo role that Notch signalling plays during spinal cord regeneration in the axolotl.


title: The temporal relationship between cardiolipin biosynthesis and remodeling enzymes and cardiolipin content during unloading atrophy in mouse soleus

subject: Tenotomy Atrophy Soleus Tafazzin Cardiolipin

abstract: Skeletal muscle is a heterogeneous tissue that consists of individual fibers that differ in contractile and metabolic properties. Skeletal muscle is also dynamic in its ability to adapt to external stimuli through changes in cell size, number, and/or fiber type composition, which are matched by mitochondrial content. Mitochondria are central to skeletal muscle adaptations and mitochondrial energetic function is highly dependent on the membrane phospholipid composition, specifically the mitochondrially exclusive cardiolipin (CL). CL biosynthesis results in nascent CL which must be remodeled by tafazzin (Taz) to form the predominant CL species in mammals, tetralinoleoyl cardiolipin (TLCL). Previous research has shown that CL content and 18:2n6 composition decreased and Taz protein content increased in tenotomy-induced atrophied mouse soleus, suggesting the upregulation of Taz may play a role in slowing this process. Thus, the purpose of this thesis was to examine the temporal relationship between enzymes of CL biosynthesis and remodelling and CL content during unload induced atrophy. Fourteen days post tenotomy resulted in reduced expression of phosphatidyl glycerol phosphate synthase (PGS1) and Taz protein, as well as a reduction in CL content. PGS1 appeared to be reduced prior to changes to CL content, while Taz was reduced following changes to CL content, suggesting that CL content is mainly dependant on PGS1, and the reduction in total CL may have reduced the need for Taz. This is the first study to show a temporal relationship between CL, CL biosynthesis and remodeling enzymes during muscle atrophy. Our identification of the CL biosynthesis proteins which are impacted during muscle atrophy resulting in reduced CL content, may pave the path for future treatment strategies to preserve the function of these enzymes during atrophy, and maintain CL content.


title: The Good Sport: Physical Literacy and a Moral Self

subject:
Physical Literacy
Sport-as-Play
Moral Self
Sense of Self
Sportsmanship

abstract: Physical literacy is a theoretical concept defined by Margaret Whitehead as an individual’s competence, knowledge and understanding, and motivation to participate in lifelong physical activity. This concept emerged out of concern for the seeming disregard of human embodiment, particularly in the education sector, and is firmly rooted in the philosophical concepts of monism, existentialism, and phenomenology. In accordance with existential philosophers such as Merleau-Ponty and Sartre, who argue human beings are fundamentally beings-in-the-world, physical literacy purports physically literate individuals should have a well-established embodied sense of self. They are to develop as proficient movers capable of exemplary self-expression, self-presentation, and interactions with others. But this conception of ‘self’ is incomplete absent the recognition that we are not only beings-in-the-world, but rather socially situated embodied beings whose interactions demand more than a sharp sense of kinesthetic awareness. Herein lies my motivation for this thesis. Specifically, the current philosophical foundations of physical literacy are inadequate to account for a conception of self which recognizes humans as both, embodied movers, and moral beings. As such, this thesis critiques the concept of sense of self foundational to physical literacy and its failure to account for a moral self. In response to this gap in the extant literature, the remainder of this thesis is dedicated to expanding the philosophical foundation of physical literacy to include the development of a moral sense of self by drawing upon the concepts of sport-as-play and sportsmanship.


title: Problematic Parents: An Efficacy Analysis of Code of Conduct Policies in Ontario Minor Hockey Associations

subject:
Minor Hockey
Parental Behaviour
Policy Evaluation
Code of Conduct

abstract: Minor hockey in Canada holds significant historical and cultural importance. Many children in Canada aspire to become professional hockey players and many parents dream of their child succeeding in the sport at the highest levels. This perceived importance runs the risk of creating a hypercompetitive environment with overinvolved parents that can adversely affect multiple minor hockey stakeholders, such as young athletes, coaches, referees, administrators, and other parents. Existing research has examined violations from parents in various youth sport settings and a lack of institutional policies to inform, monitor, and discipline parents who violate behavioural expectations. Many studies have recommended the inclusion of parental education tools and association disciplinary procedures, but current literature lacks a fundamental understanding of current behaviour policies and their effectiveness. This study examines the contents of code of conduct policies in Ontario minor hockey associations, the behaviour expectations of parents, the effectiveness of code of conduct policies, the various violations that parents commit, and potential recommendations to improve parental behaviour. Employing constructivist epistemology and qualitative research design, this study used interpretive phenomenology and thematic analysis to analyze two types of data: 58 existing code of conduct documents, and 21 semi-structured interviews with minor hockey rep coaches and administrators. This analysis revealed that while many Ontario minor hockey associations have some form of conduct policy in place, content and implementation varies significantly between associations. Furthermore, while participants perceived that parental behaviour appears to be improving in recent years, misconduct incidents still commonly occur with significant negative consequences to various minor hockey stakeholders. Participants identified many strategies to better prevent and respond to parental misconduct in minor hockey are identified and examined, making this study useful to minor hockey associations in developing better policies and procedures to effectively deal with parental misconduct incidents.


title: Decolonizing Graduate Education: Considerations for Integration and Internationalization of a Master of Education Program

subject:
Decolonizing education
graduate studies
internationalization
international students
program integration

abstract:
Abstract
The internationalization of graduate education at Western higher education institutions (WHEIs) is seldom offered in programs that segregate international students from domestic students. The Master of Education Internationally educated Students Program (MEd ISP) at Brock University in Ontario, Canada had offered a segregated graduate program prior to the university’s decision to terminate the program and integrate all future international and domestic students in its Master of Education (MEd) program. While current knowledge of internationalization approaches at WHEIs reveals disparities between official discourses for internationalization and international students’ experiences at WHEIs, this study identified a gap in the knowledge of WHEIs’ strategies for transitioning internationalization from segregated to integrated graduate programs. Adopting a decolonial theoretical framework, the study explored dominant, neoliberal, and colonizing approaches to internationalization in the MEd ISP and sought to advocate for decolonizing considerations for future internationalization of the MEd program at Brock University. The study engaged 5 international students and 1 domestic student in a decolonizing phenomenology that utilized qualitative interviews to explore participants’ firsthand accounts of the strengths and weaknesses of the MEd ISP as well as their perceptions of colonizing and decolonizing attributes of internationalization at Brock University. Interestingly, the study found that the most relevant attributes of colonizing educational approaches were perceptions of the superiority of Western knowledge and not the segregationist approach to internationalization as had been anticipated. Rather than offering formulations for decolonizing the internationalization of graduate programs, the study recommends a process of pertinent questioning that problematizes naturalized Western knowledge through epistemic and ontological pluralization. Further, the study offers initial questions that can be advanced through an iterative interaction of neoliberal, critical, and decolonizing considerations for internationalization of graduate programs at WHEIs. The narrowed scope of the study’s pool of participants contributed a significant limitation to the generalizability of the study. Future studies on internationalization approaches at WHEIs may be inspired to build on the study’s findings to include insights from graduate program administrators and instructors.


title: Dynamic Configuration of Large-Scale Cortical Networks: A Useful Framework for Clarifying the Heterogeneity Found in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

subject: ADHD, EEG, Dynamic Functional Connectivity, Network Neuroscience

abstract: The heterogeneity of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) traits (inattention vs. hyperactivity/impulsivity) complicates diagnosis and intervention. Identifying how the configuration of large-scale functional brain networks during cognitive processing correlate with this heterogeneity could help us understand the neural mechanisms altered across ADHD presentations. Here, we recorded high-density EEG while 62 non-clinical participants (ages 18-24; 32 male) underwent an inhibitory control task (Go/No-Go). Functional EEG networks were created using sensors as nodes and across-trial phase-lag index values as edges. Using cross-validated LASSO regression, we examined whether graph-theory metrics applied to both static networks (averaged across time-windows: -500–0ms, 0–500ms) and dynamic networks (temporally layered with 2ms intervals), were associated with hyperactive/impulsive and inattentive traits. Network configuration during response execution/inhibition was associated with hyperactive/impulsive (mean R2across test sets = .20, SE = .02), but not inattentive traits. Post-stimulus results at higher frequencies (Beta, 14-29Hz; Gamma, 30-90Hz) showed the strongest association with hyperactive/impulsive traits, and predominantly reflected less burst-like integration between modules in oscillatory beta networks during execution, and increased integration/small-worldness in oscillatory gamma networks during inhibition. We interpret the beta network results as reflecting weaker integration between specialized pre-frontal and motor systems during motor response preparation, and the gamma results as reflecting a compensatory mechanism used to integrate processing between less functionally specialized networks. This research demonstrates that the neural network mechanisms underlying response execution/inhibition might be associated with hyperactive/impulsive traits, and that dynamic, task-related changes in EEG functional networks may be useful in disentangling ADHD heterogeneity.


title: Representing Recovery: A discourse analysis of the television shows You, AJ and the Queen, and Mom

contributor: Social Justice and Equity Studies Program

subject: Recovery Abstinence Television Addiction Discourse

abstract: This thesis analyses representations of mothers seeking recovery from drug use in the first season of three serial shows available on Netflix: Mom, AJ and the Queen, and You.  Prior to the main analysis of these shows, a literature review was conducted resulting in the opportunity to address a lacuna in the literature related to gender-focused studies looking at recovery from addiction. The shows that were chosen all include at least one character who is a mother and begins the process of recovery. These shows possess striking similarities in their portrayals of an abstinence-based approach to addiction recovery as well as intersecting discourses of addicted women as bad mothers who reproduce deviance through their children.  A discursive analysis of Mom, AJ and the Queen, and You seeks to understand which discourses of addiction, drug use, gender, motherhood, and deviance are present in these representations and the messages that are communicated to the viewing public. This thesis illustrates that these representations reproduce dominant, gendered discourses which construct drug using women as deviant women and “bad mothers” who produce “bad children”. These representations further reinforce the dominant abstinence-based recovery discourse that creates a dichotomous understanding of addiction and recovery as active use as the problem and total abstinence as the only solution. Despite the presence of some resistance to these discourses, these shows ultimately reproduce stereotypical, and often harmful, gendered discourses of addiction and recovery.


title: The development of sensitivity to threat among children and adolescents

subject:
Sensitivity to threat
EEG
Longitudinal
Development
Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory
Consistency

abstract: Several theories of adolescent brain development suggest that adolescence is a sensitive period of development characterized by the onset of internalizing problems, such as anxiety. Sensitivity to threat, a heightened responsiveness to aversive situations, has been suggested to be a precursor to anxiety, highlighting the importance of understanding sensitivity to threat among children and adolescents. Yet relatively little is known about the development of sensitivity to threat. Further, identifying the neural indicators that are associated with heightened sensitivity to threat would help classify which youth are most at risk for anxiety. The primary goals of my dissertation were: 1) to explore whether adolescents, compared to children, have heightened sensitive to threat, 2) assess which neural indicators are associated with heightened sensitivity to threat, and 3) assess whether individual differences (e.g., in consistency of sensitivity to threat across time and situation) help predict which youth are most at risk for anxiety-related problems. Study 1 of my dissertation examined, with concurrent data, whether adolescents have greater neural sensitivity to negative feedback compared to children. Study 2 examined whether children and adolescents differ in their longitudinal trajectories of sensitivity to threat (e.g., consistency across time). I also was interested in whether these trajectories were associated with frontal asymmetry, a neural indicator associated with avoidance motivations. Study 3 extended the findings from Study 2 to examine consistency across threatening situations. While Studies 1 through 3 investigated whether adolescence is a period of heightened sensitivity to threat, Study 4 of my dissertation used a latent class analysis to investigate whether individual differences in sensitivity to threat, impulsivity, and emotion dysregulation are associated with anxiety and/or risk taking. Results indicated that adolescence (especially when defined by pubertal status), may be a normative period for sensitivity to threat. At the same time, not all youth who are sensitive to threat go on to develop anxiety; thus, it may be that for many adolescents, sensitivity to threat is an adolescent-limited phenomenon, meaning that threat sensitivity may peak in adolescence, but then tapers off into adulthood. Importantly, neural indicators associated with threat sensitivity helped identify which youth may have the highest levels of threat sensitivity. Overall, my dissertation shows that while some level of sensitivity to threat is normative, it is less common for youth to be consistently sensitive to threats and importantly, these youth who are consistently sensitive appear to be most at risk. Taken together, the four studies of my dissertation incorporate EEG, longitudinal designs, multiple indicators of development (age and pubertal status), and self-report data to gain a holistic understanding of sensitivity to threat from childhood to adolescence.


title: Children’s Developing Use and Understanding of Coercive Language: Applications in a Legal Setting

subject:
coercion
deontic modals
linguistic development
child testimony
juror perception

abstract: Within adult-child interactions, where children may be the target of coercion, it is important for children to understand and accurately describe their experiences. Coercive language is expressed using deontic modals, distinguishing between terms of obligation (i.e., implying compliance is required) and permission (i.e., implying compliance is optional). Children’s ability to understand and use coercive language is particularly relevant within applied legal settings where children may be required to testify about coercive tactics, and jurors may use this information to form perceptions about the case. Across three studies, my dissertation examined children’s understanding and use of coercive language, and the influence of using terms of obligation and permission on jurors’ perceptions of children’s reports. In Study 1, I examined 160 3- to 6-year-olds' understanding of the deontic modals tell and ask (referring to obligations and permissions) compared to their epistemic understanding of these terms (referring to knowledgeable and ignorant conversationalists), and the role of theory of mind in their understanding. In Study 2, I examined attorney and children’s use of coercive language within 64 transcripts of children’s testimony for cases involving alleged sexual abuse. In Study 3, I examined the influence of coercive language and maltreatment type on 160 adults’ perceptions of coercion and the child, as well as their judicial decision making. Overall, children’s understanding of the terms tell and ask emerged around 5 years of age, supported by their developing theory of mind. Additionally, children (as young as 6 years) and attorneys used terms of obligation and permission to describe coercion, and jurors were sensitive to these linguistic differences, perceiving children using terms of obligation as more coerced and the adult as more to blame. Of benefit, jurors’ decision making was not influenced by language, but rather focused on the nature of the abuse. Altogether these studies provide insight into children’s developing understanding of coercive language and suggest that even when used appropriately by 5 years of age, terms of permission minimize perceptions of coercion and adult blame. These findings demonstrate the need for educating adults about factors (e.g., coercive language) that may influence their perceptions of children’s disclosure.


title: Climate Discourse Among Canadian NGOs: Ecological Modernization, Civic Environmentalism, and Climate Justice

subject:
climate change
NGOs
critical discourse analysis

abstract: This research examines the websites of twenty-three Canadian NGOs using critical discourse analysis to understand: (i) What climate change discourses are dominant among Canadian NGOs? (ii) What are the goals and strategies being promoted through these discourses? (iii) How are climate issues being framed by these organizations? (iv) Who do NGOs see as the primary agents and mechanisms of change in addressing climate change? The findings illustrate three main discourses--ecological modernization, civic environmentalism, and climate justice--though the distinctions between discursive categories are often blurred as many organizations draw from multiple discursive narratives in their appeals for climate action. Ecological modernization discourse underpins much of the framing of climate change as a threat to the Canadian economy and the benefits of transitioning to a zero-carbon economy through market interventions and green innovation. Equally represented is a Canadian stream of civic environmentalist discourse. Civic environmentalism has a strong presence in how many NGOs attribute the climate crisis to an imbalance in decision-making power between elites and the rest of Canada where the solution is then to restore democracy in political institutions. Climate justice was least represented but offers a more critical understanding of the nature of the climate crisis and emphasizes the need for a broad-based movement that unifies the fights for social, economic, and ecological justice.


title: Do we become more honest as we age? A multi-methodological approach to studying dishonesty across adulthood

subject:
honesty
dishonesty
aging
older adults
lying

abstract: Being dishonest with others is a common social behaviour, and it has been proposed that dishonesty increases throughout childhood, peaks in adolescence, and gradually declines across adulthood (i.e., an aging-honesty-effect among older adults). Yet, very little research has comprehensively explored how dishonesty is used and evaluated in later life. Using a multi-methodological approach, the primary goals of my dissertation were to examine if this aging-honesty-effect replicated across methodologies and social contexts and to provide a deeper understanding of the deceptive profiles of older adults to uncover what they lie about, who they lie to, and how they morally evaluate lies. In Study 1, I measured younger and older adults’ willingness to cheat in a spontaneous deceptive paradigm and personality traits of honesty-humility. In Study 2, younger and older adults completed an experience sampling study where they recorded their daily lies for a 7-day period. In Study 3, younger and older adults morally evaluated truths and lies, and participants were recruited in Canada, Singapore, and China to examine if age differences were culturally dependent. Results supported the proposed aging-honesty-effect where older adults were less likely to cheat in a task when given the opportunity (Study 1), they scored higher in the honesty-humility personality trait (Study 1), and they told fewer lies across a 7-day period (Study 2) compared to younger adults. Extending these results beyond lie frequency, Study 2 provided insight into the ways in which younger and older adults use lies in their natural social lives, uncovering that this aging-honesty-effect can vary depending on the type and topic of the lie and the relationship between the liar and the lie recipient. Finally, Study 3 found that not only are older adults more honest themselves, but they evaluate blunt or immodest honesty more favorably and good-intentioned lies less favorably than younger adults, and these effects persisted beyond a Western cultural context. These results provide the foundation for understanding older adults’ use and evaluation of dishonesty and can contribute to constructing a lifespan model of dishonesty from childhood through to old age.