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Cross-written letters mentioning the Fenian raid, 1866-67
Get PDFThe Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada is a primary army reserve infantry regiment based in Toronto that was founded on April 26, 1860. It is the oldest continuously serving infantry regiment in Canada. The regiment was called into service during the Fenian raids and participated in the Battle of Ridgeway on June 2, 1866. The Fenians were a group intent on securing Irish independence from England and believed this could be achieved by invading Canada. After crossing the Niagara River from the United States on June 1, 1866, the Fenians took control of Fort Erie and defeated the militia at Ridgeway on June 2, but subsequently withdrew.Two cross-written letters dated 1866 and 1867, Stratford, Ontario. Both letters contain handwritten transcriptions.
The first letter is dated June 18, 1866. The letter begins with news of the birth of a baby boy and asks that the recipient come for a visit. After this mention is made of the Fenian raids and the billeting of the “Queen’s Own” with local families. It is written that “We have been in quite a state of excitement here, the ‘Queeen’s Own’ we have two billeted & would have had six but for ‘Dots’ illness. Our neighbor had 13…some 6-10…I think the Fenian excitement is over and that the Land of our adoption will be quiet again. We were not thankful enough for peace, you may fancy what my anxiety was when I thought my son had joined the Volunteers but thank God he is safe. What a sad thing, the death of all those fine young men…” The recipient of the letter wrote a reply cross-written over the original letter. The letter is signed Kate Arthurton.
The second letter is dated November 4, 1867. The first page has a black border and is addressed to Fanny. The letter opens with thanks for the kind expression of sympathy after “my darlings death”. This letter also contains cross-writing and is signed Kate Arthurton
ACS-IoT: A CNN-BiLSTM Model for Anomaly Classification in IoT Networks
Get PDFThis work proposes an Anomaly Classification System for IoT (ACS-IoT). The proposed system contains a pipeline of machine learning and deep learning algorithms for the effective classification of anomalies and their sub-types. Machine learning algorithms are adopted to distinguish between normal data and anomaly data. The deep networks, on the other hand, are used to perform anomaly-type classification. We propose the use of the Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE) to address the data imbalance problem and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) as a feature selection mechanism to improve accuracy as well as execution time. The proposed system proved to be accurate as well as precise when tested on a publicly available IoT dataset
Advancements in Trichuris trichiura treatment and diagnosis in children: Assessing high-dose ivermectin, benzimidazoles and diagnostic techniques
Get PDFIntroduction
Approximately 350 million people are currently infected with Trichuris trichiura. The WHO recommends mass drug administration (MDA) with benzimidazole (BZ) as the main control strategy, however, these drugs have demonstrated a reduced efficacy against T. trichiura infections. The current strategy is, therefore, not suitable for achieving the recently established goal of eliminating STH as a public health problem by 2030. Administration of combination treatment with broad-spectrum anthelminthic drugs such as IVM has been recommended.
Objective
The aim of this thesis was to investigate the advancements in T. trichiura treatment and diagnosis. First, by conducting an RCT comparing experimental multiple-day, and high-dose IVM drug combinations against ALB monotherapy. Followed by performing a rapid systematic review and meta-analysis to update the current knowledge on the efficacy and safety of IVM administration against trichuriasis in children. Lastly, comparing the performance of RT-qPCR vs. Kato-Katz, to determine their performance in a context of reduced transmission due to treatment intervention.
Methods
The randomized clinical trial was performed in northern Honduras. Efficacy was measured 14-21 days post-treatment through egg reduction rate (ERR) and cure rate (CR). Safety was evaluated by analyzing the frequency and severity of adverse events. A rapid review of evidence was conducted in 5 databases, to explore the literature results with respect to efficacy and safety of IVM against trichuriasis. Finally, two diagnostic techniques were evaluated to determine their performance after treatment intervention.
Results
All the experimental arms containing IVM resulted in significantly higher efficacy compared to the standard of treatment. The combination of ALB and high dose IVM demonstrated an excellent safety profile. The rapid systematic review confirmed the superiority of BZ+IVM combination. The two diagnostic techniques resulted in an almost perfect agreement, in a setting decreasing burden.
Conclusions
These results provide high-quality data contributing to the available body of knowledge related to the challenges faced by the global efforts of STH control, emphasizing in T. trichiura
Can the Finnish Way to Reduce Homelessness Work in Canada? The Limits of Power Resource Approaches in a Time of Economic Crisis
Get PDFWidespread homelessness is at crisis levels amongst advanced capitalist nations, indicating that the promise of neoliberal prosperity is deeply flawed. While Canada’s Liberal tradition is ineffective in combatting homelessness, Finland, a Social Democratic tradition, has successfully decreased its homeless population. This research paper evaluates the possibility of policy adoption between liberal and social democratic traditions to reduce homelessness by employing a political-economy-informed, comparative welfare state analysis. I argue that we must proceed with caution as policies do not always travel well because of the varying political and economic contexts arising from the histories of class struggle. I also argue that policies to solve homelessness are relatively limited because of the crisis-prone and contradictory nature of capitalism and the subsequent welfare state. My findings suggest that Finland’s robust working-class power resources, expressed in parliamentary and extra-parliamentary power, have been vital in homelessness reduction policy development but will inevitably meet their limits
The Effect of Jack Chapters on the Mental Health Help Seeking Attitudes of Canadian Secondary Students in the COMPASS Study
Get PDFBackground: School-based peer-led mental health literacy (MHL) programs may be effective tools to reduce stigma, and improve MHL and help seeking attitudes in adolescent populations. The objectives of this thesis were to evaluate the effectiveness of Jack Chapters—a school-based peer-led MHL program—on the mental health help seeking attitudes of Canadian secondary students at the (1) school- and (2) student-level in all students, and (3) in students with anxiety and/or depression.
Methods: Linked survey data from the COMPASS study collected during the 2017/18 (T1) and 2018/19 (T2) academic years study were used. The total sample included 5808 students at 30 Ontario secondary schools, of which 3194 students had clinically-relevant anxiety and/or depression scores. COMPASS school-level and Jack Chapters data were used to determine the intervention schools (i.e., schools that implemented Jack Chapters at both timepoints). Four control schools were matched per one intervention school based on school size and urbanicity. A t-test was used to compare the difference in help-seeking reluctancy at the school-level by study group and between timepoints. Generalized logistic mixed models were used to determine the effectiveness of the Jack Chapters program on help seeking attitudes at the student-level between timepoints.
Results: At the school-level, there was a significantly greater increase in help seeking reluctancy between intervention schools compared to control schools from T1 to T2. In both the total sample and the subsample, there were higher odds of students being reluctant to seek help at T2 if they were reluctant at T1, however, study group was not a significant predictor of this relationship. Having lower family and friend support were associated with an increase in reluctancy at T2 for both the total and subsample populations, and in the total sample, an increase in school connectedness was associated with a decrease in reluctancy at T2.
Conclusions: This study adds to the sparse literature on the effectiveness of improving school-based peer-led MHL initiatives on mental health help seeking attitudes among adolescent populations. Despite the strengths of Jack Chapters, our null results indicate that programming can improve. Findings may inform program targeting for specific populations within the school
The Effectiveness of Social Media Communications for Visitor Behaviour Management in Ontario's Parks and Protected Areas
Get PDFParks and protected areas in Ontario have long been bastions of conservation while also providing critical outdoor recreation opportunities for the health and well-being of the people. This was particularly evident during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, where parks and protected areas agencies around the world experienced drastic increases in visitation as people sought opportunities to spend time in the natural world. However, the balance of environmental conservation and the provision of outdoor recreation opportunities are often seen as competing interests given the potential degradation that is associated with human use of these natural spaces. As a result, it is crucial for park managers and protected areas agencies to mitigate negative visitor behaviour issues as much as possible.
Communications in their various formats (signage, in-person, etc.) have long been utilized by park agencies to share safety, regulatory, and interpretive information with park visitors. While the study of these communications is an underserved field of research, even less attention has been paid specifically to the utility of social media communications at delivering park agency messaging to visitors, especially in the context of addressing visitor behaviour issues using social media communications. This study will contribute to this identified research gap by exploring the experiences of both park visitors and park managers with respect to the effectiveness of social media communications for park visitor behaviour management.
To do so, this study applied interpretive description methodology (Thorne, 2016) to support semi-structured interviews with park visitors and individuals who work for park agencies in Ontario in park management roles. 17 participants participated in the research project throughout the course of the data collection process.
Conversations with participants revealed that the utility of social media communications for visitor behaviour management varies widely depending on the sophistication of the park agency’s social media strategy. Park visitors often expressed a desire for more specific, authentic, and discussion-oriented communications, while park managers frequently expressed a need to improve and increase the resources and logistics dedicated to social media communications to meet park visitor expectations
Consuming Pornography Predicts Sexual Harm Against Women, but Only When Consumers Are Higher in Hostile or Benevolent Sexism: Multimethod Research Evidence
Get PDFWhether pornography use predicts sexual harm toward women has been debated, with past research producing contradictory findings. To clarify mixed results and qualify existing theoretical frameworks, I examined the viability of a prejudice-based person-by-situation approach focusing on hostile and benevolent sexism as essential moderators of potential anti-women effects of pornography, namely rape myth acceptance, sexual objectification, and sexual harassment.
Study 1 revealed that for men (n = 379) and women (n = 278) higher but not lower in hostile or benevolent sexism, more frequent pornography consumption related to higher anti-women outcomes. Interestingly, however, women lower in hostile sexism exhibited lower anti-women outcomes with more frequent pornography consumption. In Study 2 (N = 253), I explored the dynamic processes of hardcore pornography use and anti-women effects over time. Notably, those high but not low in hostile sexism sexually objectified women more often when they watched more hardcore pornography in previous weeks, but not vice versa. Study 3 explored the effects of brief pornography exposure and the role of sexual arousal. Among men (n = 500) and women (n = 298), exposure to pornography (vs. control) images increased sexual arousal. Although exposure to hardcore (vs. romantic) images generally lowered sexual arousal, those higher in hostile or benevolent sexism were more aroused by the hardcore (vs. romantic) pornography images. Increased sexual arousal correlated with a) higher sexual objectification (regardless of hostile or benevolent sexism) and b) higher rape myth acceptance or sexual harassment inclinations, but only for those higher in hostile or benevolent sexism. For women lower in hostile sexism, increased sexual arousal correlated with lower rape myth acceptance.
With Studies 1-3 demonstrating that anti-women effects are absent or reverse among those lower in ideological sexism, Study 4 delved into ethical pornography consumption in a sample of self-identified feminist women (N = 198). Qualitative data analyses revealed the importance of consent, pleasure, sexual freedom, and the distinction between fantasy and reality as participants navigated ethical tensions. Women overall sought pornography that reflected what they enjoyed in their sex lives, resolving tensions with strategies prioritizing their sexual tastes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed
Evaluating Public Participation in Canadian Municipal Climate Change Adaptation Plans
Get PDFThis research employs a qualitative content analysis to evaluate public participation in municipal climate adaptation plans in Canada. I conducted quantitative scoring and qualitative coding based on the assessment framework adapted from Uittenbroek et al. (2019). The framework highlights three dimensions of public participation: (a) Who participates, (b) When, and (c) How. This study highlights four key findings. First, the majority of plans do not engage with a wide range of community stakeholders, suggesting that the complete representation of community interests is not being included. Second, participation is occurring throughout the planning process in half of the plans, demonstrating a need to increase the number of opportunities for participation. Third, plans were inconsistent in clearly articulating whether participation influenced decision-making in plan development. Finally, plans are inconsistent in their application of the quantity and variety of participation mechanisms. These findings offer insight into public participation in Canadian municipal adaptation planning
Understanding Transitions for Disabled Students from Secondary to Post-Secondary Education Using Ecological Systems Theory: A Mixed Methods Approach
Get PDFThis thesis explored the transition planning experiences from secondary to post-secondary education of disabled students. Transition planning is essential for disabled students to access accommodations in higher education (Newman et al., 2016). Recent changes have been proposed by the Government of Ontario Education Technical Sub-committee to help improve transitions for disabled students by working to remove barriers to transition planning (Government of Ontario, 2021). To date, transition planning processes typically follow an individual model (Small et al., 2013). However, this model has yielded limited results in successfully removing barriers. Further research suggests that an ecological systems approach may be more promising for supporting disabled students in their transition planning process (Small et al., 2013). Based on the literature on transition planning and ecological systems theory, this thesis followed a mixed methods explanatory design using initial surveys and follow-up interviews to contextualize students' experiences. Using the Government of Ontario's recommendations, an initial survey was developed and distributed to disabled first and second-year students at Brock University (n=16). Follow-up interviews were also conducted with participants to contextualize their experiences and discuss recommendations (n=4). A descriptive analysis of quantitative survey results as well as a thematic analysis of qualitative survey responses and follow-up interview responses provides understating on barriers students face and how the government of Ontario’s recommendations may reduce these barriers. The findings of this research demonstrate the need for interdependent supports in transition planning for disabled students when transitioning from secondary to post-secondary education
Urban forest management planning: A case study of municipalities in Southern Ontario
Get PDFThis current study reviews urban forest management planning in Ontario through a sustainability lens. After clarifying key terms and concepts in the field of urban forestry, the paper moves towards an analysis of two urban forest management plans from municipalities in Ontario. This analysis was accomplished using a qualitative content analysis approach, where the content from two urban forest management plans was assessed against a framework that defines core principles of sustainable urban forest management. Key insights from this analysis are then identified and used to present a framework the Town of Lincoln can follow to develop an UFMP for their urban forest. The findings from this study found that municipalities have a strong desire to achieve sustainable urban forest management, but external challenges and internal limitations present barriers to achieve this