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An in-depth investigation on the inhibitory activity of a native cave fungus against Pseudogymnoascus destructans
Get PDF1 online resource (ix, 111 pages) : colour illustrations, charts (some colour), graphs (some colour)Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (pages 107-111).A metabolite-based treatment for Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the causative agent of bat White-nose syndrome, was isolated from a soil fungus native to Eastern Canada.
Three application methods were modelled using media-based assays to determine how the treatment could be applied in situ: an environmentally-applied prophylactic, a topically applied prophylactic, and a topical post-infection treatment. P. destructans growth was
effectively slowed in all three models. After separation and characterisation, an active molecule in the metabolite-based treatment was determined to be griseofulvin, a known antifungal compound. This compound was tested against P. destructans using the topically-applied prophylactic method and proved to be more potent than the crude metabolite mixture. To identify the mechanism of action of the metabolite-based treatment, transcriptome analysis was performed on control and treated groups of the target fungus P. destructans and a non-target Pseudogymnoascus species. To date, transcript reads were aligned and quantified. Further differential expression analysis must be completed
Frontline care workers health
Get PDF1 online resource (v, 63 pages) : charts, graphs.Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (pages 50-63)COVID-19 pandemic has placed unprecedented pressure on health care workers (HCWs). This pressure is caused by the scarcity and prolonged use of PPE (Hu et al., 2020), being exposed to suffering from their patients (Brooks et al., 2020), making difficult moral
decisions (Xiang et al., 2020), constant changes in policies and regulations (Chen et al., 2020), and the fear of death or spreading the infection to their loved ones (Shanafelt et al., 2020). To investigate this issue, 329 HCWs in Nova Scotia were recruited. Participants completed a survey asking about their demographics and pertinent occupational health constructs. The hypotheses
were tested using structural equation modelling and regression analysis. Based on the results,
pandemic anxiety was associated with emotional exhaustion and cynicism. Moral distress was
associated with cynicism. Peer social support was associated with lower cynicism and higher
professional efficacy. Organizational support was highly correlated with all three subfactors of
burnout. Burnout subfactors alone could predict up to 30% of the variance in turnover intention
controlling for the participants’ demographics and work characteristics. The findings did not
support the mediation effect of burnout in the relationship between COVID-19
demands/resources and withdrawal behaviour. In conclusion, during large-scale public health
events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, boosting peer and organizational support skills can
buffer and mitigate the stressors to help people be more engaged with their work and stay longer
in their organization
“A labyrinth of snake pits and traps at every corner” : understanding experiences of Canadian women in building and construction trades through a feminist existential lens
Get PDF1 online resource (v, 141 pages)Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (pages 130-141).By 2010, women made up almost half (47%) of the entire Canadian workforce (Ferraro, 2010) and the majority of women work in the service sector with the highest concentration (82%) in the healthcare and social assistance sectors. While the number of women in the workforce has been increasing, there has not been an increase in the number of women in the building trades despite initiatives that have been steadily encouraging women to pursue careers in trades as a viable option to earn a living.The stories of ten female tradespeople were examined using narrative analysis (Riessman, 2008) through a feminist existential lens using the work of de Beauvoir (1976, 1989). Women choosing to pursue a career in trades face much different consequences for their choice than their male counterparts. Through a feminist existential analysis, I argue that the basis of these issues stems from women being viewed as the Other. The major themes that arose from this study were ways in which women are both openly objectified and oppressed at work and how those actions limit their choices, and in turn their existential freedom, creating a space in which they end up working in bad faith
Stairway to heaven or highway to hell? : the potential missiological efficacy of liturgical rock music in Canada
Get PDF1 online resource (v, 108 pages)Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (pages 99-108).Music is a sacred language that facilitates divine encounter. The church has developed a unique musical language which is distinct from other contemporary genres. This thesis explores the efficacy of liturgies that use vernacular, functional, and communal forms to fulfill a missiology of radical welcome. Living in the midst of a consumer-driven environment, the church can employ popular forms to facilitate life-changing encounters with the living God, but it also must wrestle with a populace who has been raised to believe that relationality is expressed transactionally. Contemporary rock artists have already been authentically grappling with this reality for decades, making their music an ideal liturgical choice to facilitate contemporary peoples' encounter with the paschal mystery which is the eternal rhythmic heart-beat of Christ's living Body
Assessing the relationship between climate change and human migration in the Republic of Mauritius
Get PDF1 online resource (vii, 53 pages) : colour illustrations, colour mapIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (pages 48-53).Small Island States are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change such as sea-level rise and coastal erosion among others. The Republic of Mauritius is a Small Island States in the Indian Ocean with a population of approximately 1.3 million people and is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The aim of this paper is to determine if there is a need to include human migration as a climate change adaptation strategy for the Republic of Mauritius. By analyzing the literature about the impacts of climate change on the island, this research assesses the adaptation strategies that has already been implemented or will be implemented on the island. This paper also explores the relationship between other Small Island States such as Kiribati and human migration as an adaptation strategy to climate change. Some of these small islands have officially implemented migration as an adaptation strategy to climate change and this has contributed to the assessment of the need for migration in the Republic of Mauritius. While it was determined that the Republic of Mauritius has a good adaptation strategy plan, such as the development of a coastal protection plan, yet internal migration will increase due to sea-level rise, coastal erosion, and storm surges. Therefore, in order to prevent forced and unplanned migration from taking place, there remains a need to implement a more relevant strategy geographically and ecologically in relation to human migration and climate change
Probing the x-ray and radio emission of jetted sources
Get PDF1 online resource (ix, 36 pages) : illustrations (some colour)Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (pages 35-36).Five jetted sources are used in this work to probe the relationship between the X-ray and Radio emission from radio-loud active galactic nuclei. Timing techniques probing variability, light curve correlation, and power distribution are used to compare the two emission regimes. The power distribution, found using a structure function, showed some correlation with overall variability within the same emission regime, and also showed correlation between the power distribution of the different emission regimes. These correlations may indicate that the Radio and X-ray emission coming from these jetted sources are powered by the same processes
Grand Manan Island perceptions of environmental problems and change
Get PDF1 online resource (iv, 94 pages) : colour mapIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (pages 89-94).This thesis investigates the island of Grand Manan, New Brunswick. The study focuses on perceptions which residents of Grand Manan have of their natural environment, whether they see change as necessary, and what their feelings are towards potential change. The study includes discussion about methods for creating change in ways that residents support. A literature review of methods for effective environmental policy implementation was conducted. Findings discuss methods of implementing environment related rules, and what motivates personal environmentally friendly actions. Factors which influence public support for environment related rules and/or self-driven actions include: trust, education, environmental knowledge, ignorance, apathy, empathy, efficacy, uncertainty and powerlessness. These factors relate to one's personal perception and experience, and were identified in participants responses throughout the study. Information from residents was collected using one on one interviews based on a set of 11 uniform questions, plus additional discussion if required. Interview responses contain personal perceptions of the island's environment and rules, personal behaviours and practices related to the environment, perceptions about efficacy of current environmental rules, and personal ideas for methods to increase environmentally friendly behaviour amongst residents of the island. The interviews also revealed perceived barriers to creating changes on the island. Feelings of threat and resistance to change, as well as municipal communication issues were detected in many interviews. Municipal communication issues are barriers which appear to prevent residents from easily participating in common environmentally friendly behaviours such as recycling and biking to work. Participants listed methods they felt would address the existing barriers, including penalties and fees, increased environmental education, and leading by example amongst the community. Some listed ideas for initiatives that they thought would help the environment, which they felt would also be welcomed on the island. Recommendations include increasing education and communication of environmental issues, increased transparency from the waste management facility, and community involvement in creating change on the island
Americanization of management studies
Get PDF1 online resource (159 pages)Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (pages 138-159).Using ANTi-History this dissertation sets out to understand the development of management studies in a Canadian context. The dissertation traces 18 human scholars by analyzing Administrative Sciences Association of Canada (ASAC) conference papers and Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences (CJAS) journal articles to explore how actor networks come to develop a model of management studies. Understanding how management studies has seemingly come to represent American values and interests is important to surface other accounts of management studies. The surfacing of other accounts using an amodernist approach revealed the tensions that have existed in Canada between what has come to be seen as 'universal' or 'scientific knowledge' and the importance of providing a venue to protect Canadian identity and scholarship. By examining the actions of the 18 actors across conference and journal articles, analysis reveals how management studies in Canada was influenced by and founded upon American values and traditions
Queer(ed) fairy-tales of valor : Sapphic love in all-ages graphic narratives
Get PDF1 online resource (159, 3 unnumbered pages) : colour illustrationsIncludes abstract and appendices.Includes bibliographical references (pages 148-155).In this thesis, twenty-five selected fairy-tales from the first two Valor anthologies,
featuring female protagonists, have been analysed using a multi-thematic methodology
and an intersectional queer feminist lens. Framed in great part by Sara Ahmed‘s concepts
of "disorientation" and "queer objects," this study foregrounds the Sapphic-Queer
elements in these stories. In an effort to understand the narratives, the main themes were
divided into three categories: Challenges & Transformation, Family & Community, and
Romance & Sexuality. The main goal of this thesis has been to bring a queer feminist
academic focus to the study of fairy-tales, in an effort to understand some of the recent
graphic narrative trends that are emerging from independent creators/creatixes as a result
of a social and cultural desire for stronger and more diverse female archetypes, as well as
what José Esteban Muñoz would have called "hopeful queer aesthetics.
