14589 research outputs found
Sort by
Abnormal returns from insider trades on special purpose acquisition company’s (SPAC’s) warrants
Get PDF1 online resource (vii, 60 pages) : colour maps, charts (chiefly colour), graphs (chiefly colour)Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (pages 51-60).This Master Research Paper explores the disgraceful impact in the finance industry, and
the lucrative returns from the Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) warrants
with insider and trader trades (information). A SPAC, also known as “blank check company”, is an innovative publicly-traded investment vehicle which began in 1993 for companies to raise funds via an initial public offering (IPO) to complete a targeted acquisition. An event study methodology was conducted to provide a systematic review of the pre-announcement and post-announcement of price and volume movement on SPAC warrants from different industries. A sample size of 11 events was utilized. This study finds that the insider traders causes abnormal movement on warrant price and volumes trades over the event period (between trading day -5 to trading day 30) on those SPAC warrant before any positive announcement from the SPAC companies
2022-11-18 Senate Minutes and Agendas
No full textMinutes and agenda for the November 18th, 2022 meeting of Saint Mary's University Senate
Development of an electrochemical surface-enhanced raman spectroscopy aptasensor for the early detection of acute myocardial infarction
Get PDF1 online resource (xiii, 74 pages) : illustrations (some colour), charts, graphsIncludes abstract and appendix.Includes bibliographical references (pages 58-65).A common cardiovascular disease is acute myocardial infarction (AMI), which is characterized as
an ischemic event within the myocardium that results in irreparable damage to the heart.
Unfortunately, current clinical methods lack sensitivity or are too time consuming to diagnose
AMI events effectively. A common biomarker that is specific to AMI is the protein cardiac
troponin I (cTnI). cTnI is a good protein biomarker for diagnosing AMI because it is part of the
troponin complex which breaks down and is released into the blood stream when AMI events
occur. The goal of this thesis was to build an aptamer-based biosensor (aptasensor) specific to cTnI
using an electrochemical surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (EC-SERS) detection platform.
EC-SERS was first used to prepare, optimize, and characterize a ternary (three component)
monolayer consisting of an aptamer that specifically binds to cTnI, and two alkane thiols which
backfill the surface and limit non-specific adsorption. Once optimized, the ternary monolayer was
tested for blocking efficiency of non-target analytes, which was found to block >99% of non-target
signal. This research also developed a new method for verifying the presence of the aptamer after
the monolayer had been prepared using deuterated thiols. Finally, the ternary monolayer was tested
for its aptasensing capabilities for the determination of cTnI, where no signal was detected for
cTnI due to distance dependence issues that are a limitation of SERS techniques. Future work is
needed to extend the applicability of SERS to aptamer-based sensors
Investigating the excitation spectrum of [superscript 8]He from inelastic scattering with deuterons
No full text1 online resource (viii, 40 pages) : colour illustrations, charts (some colour), graphs (some colour)Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (page 40).Rare isotopes are nuclei with very short half-lives and can have a large asymmetry of neutrons to protons. These isotopes can have unusual structures such as halos that can exhibit a phenomenon known as a Soft Dipole Resonance (SDR). One rare isotope of interest is 8-Helium (8He) which is the most neutron-rich bound nucleus currently known, with a neutron to proton ratio of 3. In previous investigations of 8He two excited states (2+ and 1+) were observed with drastically conflicting reportson their locations. The inconsistent reports on the 2+ state, in particular, have been postulated to be due to the excited state being mixed with a low-lying SDR state. Through an experiment conducted at the IRIS facility located at TRIUMF, Canada’s particle acceleration center, the excited spectrum of 8He has been investigated. The goal of this study is to get additional measurements on the excited states of 8He as well as explore the possibility of the 2+ state being mixed with a SDR. In this thesis,I will outline the experimental set up and the data analysis to determine the Q-value spectrum of 8He from the 8He(d,d′) 8He∗ reaction
Singular they
Get PDF1 online resource (100 pages) : colour illustrations, colour chartsIncludes abstract and appendices.Includes bibliographical references (pages 86-91).This paper explores age and other factors that affect the use of the third person pronoun
they for singular and non-binary antecedents in English. Two methods were used for data collection: an online survey and individual interviews. Models laid out by Bjorkman (2017) and Konnelly and Cowper (2020) were used to categorize participants into 3 stages of the use of singular
they. However, these models may not account for all uses of singular they that arose in the data.
This led to the exploration of the possible effects of discourse features such as hypotheticality on
the use of singular they. These may help explain instances where speakers use singular they when
they would otherwise be unexpected to.
The age effects found in this study support previous research findings that younger
speakers are more accepting of singular they than older speakers (Conrod, 2019; Moulton et al,
2020). Moreover, other factors such as being in the LGBTQIA2S+ community also affect the use
of singular they (Bradley, 2020; Conrod, 2019; Hekanaho, 2020). The results also showed that
some people are unaware of their own use of singular they. Furthermore, this thesis explores how
some speakers resist singular they because they believe they is strictly a plural pronoun and supports previous findings that attitudes to language change can affect acceptance of singular they (Bradley, 2020).
This study is complemented by an overview of generic he and its effect on written English, which helps situate the current use of singular they. This informs the transition in English
from gender exclusive language (the use of generic he), to gender-inclusive language (the use of
he and she as generic pronouns), and finally to a gender-neutral language that is inclusive of not
only masculine and feminine gender but other gender identities as well
2022-12-16 Senate Minutes and Agendas
No full textMinutes and agenda for the December 16th, 2022 meeting of Saint Mary's University Senate
Spatial patterns of structural diversity across the boreal forest-tundra ecotone in Churchill, Canada
Get PDFPublished versionVegetation structural diversity, also called structural complexity, has great effects on biodiversity and ecological processes, with higher biodiversity often observed in areas with higher structural diversity. As for other ecological variables, structural diversity is spatially heterogeneous. Thus, quantifying its spatial heterogeneity may provide clues to the spatial variation in ecological processes. We studied the spatial patterns of structural diversity in two different environments, tundra and forest-tundra ecotone, near Churchill, MB, Canada. We sampled vegetation and quantified five types of structural diversity (ground cover, herbaceous plants, woody plants, all live plants, and deadwood) along five transects, with lengths of 81-227 m, and used wavelet analysis to assess the scales of spatial pattern. We also assessed the effects of soil pH, microtopography, elevation, and distance from lakes on structural diversity. In general, structural diversity was spatially structured on a variety of scales, from 2 to 55 m, with larger scales being observed in the tundra than in the ecotone transects. In addition, structural diversity in the tundra was generally higher near lakes and in areas with a higher pH, whereas in the ecotone it increased mostly with increasing pH and microtopographic variation. Spatial heterogeneity is an important characteristic of the forest-tundra ecotone and even tundra areas that appear homogeneous are structurally diverse at a variety of scales
Kaolin occurrence and formation in the Tobeatic shear zone
Get PDF1 online resource (vii, 73 pages) : illustrations (some colour), maps (some colour), charts (some colour), graphs (some colour)Includes abstract and appendices.Includes bibliographical references (pages 62-69).Kaolin is found along the south-eastern contact of the South Mountain Batholith and the Meguma metasediments, 21 km along length on strike of the Tobeatic shear zone and on trend with regional folds and faults. The Meguma Terrane, along with the exotic terrane of Avalonia, accreted to ancestral North America (Laurentia) during the Middle Devonian Acadian Orogeny, causing voluminous felsic magmatism. The region remained periodically active throughout the final event of the Appalachian orogen, the Late Carboniferous-Permian Alleghanian orogeny (~310 - 260 Ma). The shear zones are inferred to have been active during the igneous emplacement SMB and remained pathways for late-stage mineralizing fluids during uplift. Kaolin is found associated with several types of mineralization, including base metals (Zn, Sn), Cu and aluminum-phosphate-sulfate minerals (APS). Using optical and SEM petrography, geochemical analysis, including 18O values, the kaolin is characterized, according to morphology, fabric and texture, growth mechanics and formation, as well as mineral and textural associations. Two chemically different types of kaolin are identified. 18O values provide additional constraints on the sources of the oxidizing fluids, having a significant contribution of meteoric fluids. Relative chronology of formation is inferred, based on types of alteration and temporal events, with quartz and kaolin not forming synchronously along the Tobeatic shear zone
Record an asynchronous interview anywhere
Get PDF1 online resource (97 pages) : colour illustrations, chartsIncludes abstract and appendices.Includes bibliographical references (pages 80-90).Halifax, N.S. : Saint Mary's UniversityVery little is known in terms of the possible biasing effects that AVI background visual cues may introduce to the selection process. This study examined the possible biasing effects of background setting on initial impression and final interview outcomes. Using a 3 (professional versus blurred versus personal background) x2 (high versus low quality applicant responses) between-subjects design, 400 Prolific participants rated one of six manipulated AVI recorded conditions. The results showed that initial impressions influenced final interview scores, and that applicant response quality had a significant main effect on final interview scores. Background setting was not associated with initial impression or final interview scores. These findings contribute to the literature by testing some of the theoretical elements included in the dual-process theory framework. The results also complement existing practical guidance provided to organizations and applicants seeking to reduce the potential biasing effects introduced by visible
background features in selection processes