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Variability in egg hatching time as evidence of a bet-hedging strategy in Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes)
Get PDF1 online resource (iii, 30 pages) : illustrations (chiefly colour)Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (pages 27-30).Understanding life-history strategies is essential for developing a clear picture of how organisms have evolved and how they may perform under future conditions. Bet-hedging is a life-history strategy that allows populations to persist in unpredictable, variable conditions. It is a risk reduction strategy that lowers generational fitness while decreasing fitness variability across generations, enabling lineage survival when conditions are not optimal. As such, it may be a favourable life-history strategy as conditions become increasingly variable due to climate change. Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) is a small fish that lives in an extremely variable habitat in the wild. It is commonly used as a model organism for toxicology, oncology, and developmental studies. A robust understanding of their life-history parameters is therefore necessary to determine the effects of different treatments in these studies. These fish demonstrate significant variability in egg hatching times, which does not appear to be influenced by external conditions. The goal of this study was to quantify within-clutch and within-population variability and to determine whether both were consistent across different environments, which would support a bet-hedging theory in medaka egg hatching time. For this study I isolated clutches and determined the hatching dates of the eggs to quantify variability. 24 experimental tanks contained four operational sex ratios (OSR; sexually active males:sexually active females), which allowed for comparison of higher-stress vs lower-stress environments. Maternal size and clutch size were also considered. The observed similarity in variability across all treatments provides support for a bet-hedging theory
Peak performance : an empirical examination in workplace settings
Get PDF1 online resource (iii, 150 pages)Includes abstract and appendices.Includes bibliographical references (pages 105-131).Understanding job performance has been an important and longstanding workplace challenge for over a century. However, continued criterion deficiency has resulted in ongoing disparity between job performance and job performance ratings (Murphy, 2008). In response, this dissertation broadens the traditional focus of job performance to consider the factors that characterize peak performance (i.e., exceptional or optimal performance; Garfield, 1986). Peak performance is a well-established concept in performance psychology that is beginning to emerge in the broader organizational literature (Hays, 2009). However, there is no known empirical work assessing its relation to traditional workplace factors. Therefore, in Study 1, peak performance was conceptualized; exploratory analyses were conducted on a newly-developed measure; and relationships between peak performance and three well-established job performance concepts were examined. They include task performance (Borman & Motowidlo, 1997; Williams & Anderson, 1991); organizational citizenship behavior (Borman & Motowidlo, 1997; Dalal, 2005; Dunlop & Lee, 2004); and counterproductive work behavior (Dalal, 2005; Dunlop & Lee, 2004). Study 2 used confirmatory factor analysis on two independent samples to confirm the peak performance measure. Regression, redundancy, moderator, and relative weights analyses demonstrated the construct and predictive validity of peak performance. Using two-way multivariate analysis of covariance, Study 3 applied the refined measure in an experimental design to demonstrate the individual and combined effects of expected performance and peak performance on ratings of three important workplace outcomes: acknowledgement, rewardability, and promotability. Together, the studies show that it is possible and important to consider peak performance in workplace research and practice. Future research should identify the individual, role, organizational, and external factors that predict peak performance. Having a better understanding of the multidimensional nature of peak performance could improve personnel-related practices, including recruitment, selection, training, performance appraisal, and promotion decisions, resulting in a better-fitting workforce that is more capable and effective
An examination of the household characteristics of high-density neighbourhoods in Halifax, Canada
Get PDF1 online resource (xii, 135 pages) : colour mapsIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (pages 122-135).In recent decades planning policies have promoted population growth in downtown
neighbourhoods, including Halifax, Canada (Grant & Gregory, 2016). These developments
are commonly associated with inner-city renewal, gentrification, spatial segregation, and
displacement; however, most research on the topic limits major metropolitan areas such as
Toronto and Vancouver, with a limited study on high-density development in mid-sized
cities. Much of the existing literature also focuses on the urban core, neglecting to look at
suburban and exurban high-density developments. This study uncovers the population
characteristics of high-density residential areas and the impact of new developments on
existing neighborhoods in Halifax, a mid-sized Canadian city. It employs census data at the
Dissemination Area (DA) level across the entire metropolitan region using two methods:
The first summarizes households' demographic and socio-economic characteristics in the
DAs categorized as high-density (HD) for the study purpose. The second analysis focuses
on the same variables as the first method but applies to the DAs with high-density dwelling
construction between 2011 and 2016. Results show a significant concentration of working-age population in HD DAs and the prominence of smaller households suggesting future
demand for smaller and diverse living spaces to accommodate changing household
structure. In addition, HD households have significantly lower median household income,
more low-income households, and a higher shelter-to-income ratio than the Halifax Census
Metropolitan Area (CMA). Between 2006 and 2016, HD DAs gained more recent
immigrants, visible minorities, and non-permanent residents. Results also indicate high
pedestrian and public transit activity in HD areas, mainly in the Peninsula and parts of
Mainland Halifax. While the rest of the suburban Halifax is car-dependent, the high
pedestrian and public transit activity does not seem to result from a high-density lifestyle
but rather a neighbourhood structure and household socioeconomics. Rising housing costs
and the prevalence of lower median income in HD increase the concern of gentrification
and affordability issues in urban parts of Halifax. As Halifax aims at strategic growth and
population increase for the next 30 years, there is a great need for planning policies to
address housing issues for at-risk households struggling to find accommodation, and
middle-class households who are increasingly unable to secure housing within their budget
Beyond the railway narrative : exclusion and agency in Chinese Canadian history before 1947
Get PDF1 online resource (110 pages)Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (pages 97-110).This thesis examines the role of Chinese in Canadian history by looking beyond the popular railway narrative that reinforces a stereotype of docile cheap labour and a reductive lens of
racism. The research will look at what brought Chinese sojourners to Canada and the economic
and legislation restraints and discriminatory labour practices by the government and employers.
It will look at how Chinese people began to resist the prohibitive social, economic, and political
policies through protests, Chinese unions, and collaborative efforts of Chinese and white
Canadians. The railway narrative rendered Chinese women invisible within Canadian history as it focuses on the racial discrimination of Chinese men. The research will show Chinese women
were impacted economically and socially by their lack of visibility within society due to gender
and cultural discrimination by both white and Chinese communities. Finally, without
acknowledgement and education the perpetuation of racial stereotypes will continue
Spatial patterns of vegetation structure and structural diversity across edges between forested wetlands and upland forest in Atlantic Canada
Get PDFAccepted versionForested wetlands are an integral but understudied part of heterogeneous landscapes in Atlantic Canada, although they are known to provide habitat for species at risk. Our objectives were to explore patterns of forest structure across edges between forested wetland and upland forest, to locate changes in vegetation structure and to assess multivariate relationships in vegetation structure. Our study sites were in temperate (Acadian) forested wetland landscapes. We sampled trees and recorded canopy cover every 20 m along 120-m-long transects. We estimated the cover of trees, saplings, shrubs in three height classes, Sphagnum, other bryophytes, lichens, graminoids, ferns, and forbs in contiguous 1 m × 1 m quadrats. We calculated structural diversity using the Shannon index and used wavelet analysis to assess spatial patterns. We found few clear patterns except for lower tree structural diversity at the edge of forested wetlands. Structural diversity was not a reliable measure for distinguishing forested wetland from upland forest. Forested wetlands are an integral part of many forested landscapes in Atlantic Canada, but their detection and differentiation from surrounding ecosystems can be difficult. Policy should err on the side of caution when mapping forested wetlands and include them in wetland protection
Image feature matching for scene extraction from single-camera videos
Get PDF1 online resource (205 pages) : colour illustrations, charts, graphs.Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-205).Template matching is a widely-used technique for finding an image or a part of an image
that matches the specified reference image, called a template. A tool was implemented using
this technique to find template images in a soccer video. In the initial implementation of
this tool, one approach of the template matching, template-based matching, was used but it
lacked versatility and had some limitations for analyzing single-camera videos.
In this thesis, we first analysed the existing template matching approach and identified its
limitations. We then explored alternate approaches that could potentially address the identified limitations and found that feature-based template matching produced most optimal
results for the tested videos. Feature-based template matching uses keypoints localization
to detect the template in an image. The results showed that feature-based template matching could detect templates despite variances in the video quality and overcome some of the identified limitations of the existing approach
The COVID-19 pandemic : perspectives of Saint Mary’s University students in 2021
Get PDF1 online resource (38 pages) : colour illustrationsIncludes bibliographical references.Students in Psyc 4411 (Advanced Cognitive Neuroscience) report summary research and qualitative data on a variety of Saint Mary's University student experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic
Leader dominance & incivility
Get PDF1 online resource (89 pages)Includes abstract and appendix.Includes bibliographical references (pages 69-86).Drawing on the workplace incivility literature and theoretical lenses on gender (e.g., Role
Congruity Theory; Eagly & Karau, 2002), I predicted that female (vs. male) leaders
displaying dominant (vs. neutral) behaviours would be perceived as more uncivil. Based
on Uncertainty Management Theory (van den Bos & Lind, 2002), this pattern was
expected to be exacerbated within an unstable (vs. stable) organization. Using an online
experimental design, participants (N=815) were randomly assigned to one of eight
vignettes that manipulated leader behaviour, leader gender and organizational stability.
Results revealed no significant interactions for three measures of incivility. There was a
significant main effect of leader behaviour, however; dominant (vs. neutral) leaders were
perceived as more uncivil. Additional analyses found that dominant (vs. neutral) leaders
were perceived as less warm and also increased feelings of job insecurity and
organizational uncertainty, especially within a stable organization. Limitations,
implications and future research avenues are discussed
Immigrant settlement patterns in Canada : does elasticity of substitution between immigrants and native-born workers matter?
Get PDF1 online resource (40 pages)Includes abstract and appendix.Includes bibliographical references (pages 34, 40).Although the number of immigrants coming to Canada has been steady in
the past two decades, their location distribution is uneven across provinces.
The proportion of immigrants in each province varies from 29 percent of the
total population to as low as 2.4 percent. This paper will explore the effects that
elasticity of substitution has on immigrant settlement patterns. This paper adds
an alternative approach to the reasoning behind the disproportionate
immigrant settlement. Using a constant elasticity of substitution model and
information from the 2016 Census we find that the elasticity of substitution
does show similar trends to the proportion of immigrants in a population
Abusive supervision
Get PDF1 online resource (127 pages) : illustrationsIncludes abstract and appendices.Includes bibliographical references (pages 83-103).Over the past few decades, scientists and practitioners have shown a great deal of interest in the topic of abusive supervision. The first generation of abusive supervision researchers focused on defining abusive supervision and understanding its consequences. Recently, the second wave of abusive supervision research has turned its attention to understanding what makes a supervisor abusive. The current study falls under the second wave of abusive supervision research. Drawing on abusive supervision, contextual leadership, and social identity theories, I examined the effect of rejection by subordinates (i.e. an acceptance threat) on the abusive behaviours of supervisors. Using the data collected from two samples of full-time employees and supervisors, I conducted an experiment and a longitudinal study. Overall, the results supported the claim that rejection by subordinates lead to abusive supervision via increased levels of frustration. However, the relationship between rejection, frustration, and abusive supervision did not change depending on supervisors' identification with leadership role. I discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings at the end of this dissertation