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Racialized victims of police violence and Canadian media : racial victim blaming and absolving the police
Get PDF1 online resource ( 66 pages)Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (pages 55-66).The purpose of this thesis was to determine whether Canadian news media relied on racist tropes and stereotypes of black people in their portrayal of black men who had died as the result of police violence. Additionally, the thesis wanted to identify the different uses of language that news media uses to absolve the institution of policing. For this thesis, news media articles published by Canadian outlets that pertained to Canadian cases of black men dying because of direct police violence or death exasperated by police violence had their content analyzed. The articles were made up from regional and national outlets and they were themed and coded to identify specific uses of phrases and words that speak to premature or unfounded absolving of the police and victim blaming with overt racist tropes and stereotypes. What the methods found was that Canadian media often includes irrelevant information pertaining to the victim that is used to implicitly blame the victim for their fate. The thesis also found that specific language tactics were used by these articles to reduce the violence done by the police officers and to remove the officer from the ordeal entirely. This thesis wants to contribute to the literature on the media portrayals of racial minorities and the ways in which implicit racist practices are embedded in societal institutions. The thesis also wanted to shed light on racism and discrimination within Canada that may not be apparent in contemporary society
Were you being coercive or providing an opportunity to come clean? : an investigation of alternative questions
Get PDF132 leaves ; 29 cmIncludes abstract and appendices.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-107).Interrogations in North America are guided by the Reid Model of Interrogations. The model comprises nine steps, and the two studies presented in this paper investigate step seven: alternative questions (AQs). Alternative questions provide a suspect with two incriminating options in the form of a forced-choice question. Study 1 investigated interrogations using 33 police interrogation videos provided by an Atlantic Canadian Police Department. It was found that officers rely heavily on AQs, but often the questions are met with silence. Study 2 (N = 43) investigated AQs in a lab setting which induced participants to cheat during a task meant to be completed independently. Participants were interrogated either using AQs or not. It was found that participants felt low levels of pressure to confess, and about half of participants lied about cheating on the independent task. No false confessions were obtained. Results of the studies are discussed independently and in combination
Physical properties dynamics of oil sands products and their influence on spill response
Get PDF247 leaves : illustrations (chiefly colour) ; 29 cmIncludes abstract and appendix.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 164-185).If current trends continue, Alberta oil sands production could increase by a million barrels per day in the next decade. Demand would then overwhelm existing domestic transport routes, and one would predict pressure to mount for new pipelines and expansion of existing ones, and increased tanker traffic to provide access to new overseas markets. In Canada, mechanical recovery is the primary oil spill response option. It is effective, but only under relatively calm seas. Alternative oil spill countermeasures exist, such as chemical dispersant and in situ burning. The analysis here indicates that, if approved through legislation and applied in conditions to achieve best results, these alternatives could considerably reduce environmental and socio-economic impacts than mechanical recovery alone. Current Canadian contingency plans lack the decision-making tools to predict the effectiveness of oil spill countermeasures to treat and assess the risk from spills to protect sensitive aquatic areas.
Blended bitumen and conventional oils were selected and their physical properties and chemical compositions, relevant to ecological impacts and oil spill response, were characterized. Empirical models were developed to predict the rate and decay of water soluble chemicals released from spills of bitumen blends to provide implications for risk assessments. A decision matrix was created from newly developed models for the time evolution of the density and viscosity of oil to forecast windows of opportunity, where countermeasures are effective at treating spills and the conditions under which oil would sink in aquatic areas. Also, evaluation of seasonal climatic factors revealed that sunlight exposure, wind speed and temperature had a significant (p<0.05) influence on weathering of oil. A new oil dispersion model was developed to estimate effectiveness values for dispersant to treat oil at points in time after its release. These new developments offer to strengthen critical elements that are often missing in contingency plans
Differential colonization by ecto-, arbuscular and ericoid mycorrhizal fungi in forested wetland plants
Get PDF99 leaves : illustrations (chiefly colour) ; 29 cmIncludes abstract and appendix.Includes bibliographical references.The roots of most land plants are colonized by mycorrhizal fungi under normal soil conditions, yet the influence of soil moisture on different types of mycorrhizal symbioses is poorly understood. In wet soils, colonization of woody plants by ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi tends to be poor, and colonization of herbaceous plants by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) is highly variable. However, little information is available on the influence of soil moisture on the colonization of ericaceous roots by ericoid mycorrhizal (ErM) fungi. Colonization was assessed microscopically in the ECM plant Pinus strobus, two AM plants (Cornus canadensis and Lysimachia borealis) and two ErM plants (Kalmia angustifolia and Gaultheria hispidula) along two upland to wetland gradients in Southwestern Nova Scotia. For the ErM plants, fungal ITS sequencing was used to assess community structure. The data indicate that ErM colonization increases with soil moisture in forested wetlands and is associated with distinctive fungal communities
Investigating X-ray variability of AGN through spectral and temporal analyses : Mrk 530 & Mrk 335
Get PDFviii, 104 leaves : illustrations (chiefly colour) ; 29 cmIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-104).X-ray observations of two Seyfert AGN were analysed in an effort to characterise the nature of their variability. A spectral analysis was performed on a Suzaku observation of the Seyfert 1.5 AGN Mrk 530, and a timing analysis on XMM-Newton observations of the narrow-line Seyfert 1 Mrk 335. Mrk 530 was found to exhibit two distinct spectral states over the course of a single observation, as well as apparent periodic variability in the light curve. Three physical models (blurred reflection, partial covering, and soft Comptonisation) were explored to characterise the spectrum however the spectral fits were indistinguishable. The timing analysis of Mrk 335 revealed evidence of non-stationary behaviour using multiple timing methods, though it is diffcult to determine if these results are real or artifacts of undersampling. As such, further testing is required to confirm these results
Fabrication of multidimensional surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrates using bioscaffolds
Get PDF1 online resource (xiv, 78 p.) : illustrations (some colour)Includes abstract and appendix.Includes bibliographical references (p. 60-67).Plasmonics is the field of research which explores the unique optical and electronic effects observed when certain nanoscale metals interact with light. Plasmonic nanostructures that are uniform in size and shape are highly desirable for many applications, including plasmon-enhanced solar cells. Unfortunately, plasmonic structures are difficult and costly to prepare, which limits their widespread application in society. In this work, biological materials are used as scaffolds for the production of highly functional plasmonic materials. This thesis work explores five different biological materials: blue mussel shells, scarab beetle elytra, buttercup petals, damselfly wings and Japanese rice fish scales that are abundant in nature and exhibit interesting nanoscale order. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) were used to characterize each bioscaffold with a focus on developing an optimal substrate by varying the deposition parameters for physical vapour deposition (PVD). The results of this work demonstrate the significant enhancement of the SERS spectra in the case of both damselfly wings and buttercup petals and highlights the promise of using these bioscaffolds as affordable and sustainable SERS-active substrates
Addressing traumas of Syrian refugee children through education in Turkey
Get PDF1 online resource (55 p.) : colour mapsIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (p. 47-55)This thesis examines the therapeutic aspect of education that can be pivotal in the rehabilitation of refugee children. The focus of the research is on Turkey and the lack of attention that has been paid to the rehabilitative benefits that education provides for the traumas experienced by Syrian refugee children. Turkey and Non-governmental organizations working in Turkey to help with the Syrian refugee crisis have not made enough of a priority in addressing the widespread trauma the Syrian refugee children have experienced. We argue that education can be used as a method of rehabilitation for the traumas Syrian refugee children have experienced. We also show in this thesis the lack of priority, and funding towards education, and mental health programs during a humanitarian crisis. Furthermore, we show that addressing the traumas of Syrian refugee children is essential in preventing a potentially lost generation of Syrian refugee children. Preventing a lost generation of Syrian children is vital because it is these children who will be tasked with rebuilding Syrian society. However, we show in this thesis that the benefits from education extend from just educating the next workforce. We highlight in this thesis that education helps to provide Syrian refugee children with a sense of normality, provides an escape from the traumas they have experienced, and build a support network of peers. In our recommendations, we advise that Turkey needs to make education for Syrian refugee children more of a priority, so Syrian refugee children do not result in a lost generation
‘This will not be the first time that the softest hand has proved the strongest’ : the Eastern Division of the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church in Canada and the fate of Scottish identity, 1876-1914
Get PDF138 leaves ; 29 cmIncludes abstract and appendices.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-136).Scotland’s commitment to the British imperial project after 1707 helped configure ‘Scottishness’ as a decidedly masculine construct, while the methodology developed by historians in the study of Scottish migrant identity since then promotes a male-centric source base. This undermines how Scottish migrant women associated with their Scottish cultural, ethnic and national identities. Through detailed analysis of the composition, operations and rhetoric of the Eastern Division of the Women’s Foreign Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church in Canada during the society’s lifespan, 1876 to 1914, this thesis investigates the underexplored potential of civic institutions in developing a more nuanced understanding of Scottish identity during Britain’s ‘victorious century’. It also demonstrates how decisions to engage with certain local, national and global issues during the post-Confederation period contributed to the gradual disintegration of the society’s distinctively Scottish identity in favour of increasing identification with Canada before the First World War
Characterization of three mineralization styles of the Revenue Au occurrence, Dawson Range, Yukon Territory, Canada : implications for a large-scale, intrusion related system
Get PDF1 online resource ( v, 165 pages) : illustrations (some colour), colour mapsIncludes abstract and appendices.Includes bibliographical references (pages 108-112).The Revenue Au occurrence, located in Dawson Range, Yukon, Canada is a complex magmatic-hydrothermal system comprised of at least three styles of mineralization with distinct mineral assemblages and textures, though the paragenic relationship between styles is poorly understood. This integrated field and microanalytical study aims to characterize the styles of mineralization using petrography, mineral chemical analysis, and thermometric methods. Methods applied include SEM-BSE imaging, EMPA analysis of the major and minor chemical compositions of sulfides and sulfarsenides, and LA-ICP-MS analysis of trace elements in major sulfides. The data show that in the Blue Sky Zone of the Revenue granite host rock, style 1 mineralization is divided into an earlier, porphyry-like mineralization stage (Cu-Au) which is later overprinted by a later, epithermal-like (Cu-Ag-Au-Mo) mineralization stage. The breccia-hosted and W-Sn enriched style 2 mineralization (Cu-Au-Mo-W) cross-cuts the early style 1 mineralization, and both early style 1 and style 2 mineralization are cross-cut by diatreme-hosted style 3 mineralization. Additionally, regional quartz-feldspar porphyry dykes are commonly associated with Au mineralization in the Dawson Range. This study shows that at the Revenue location there is evidence that these dykes formed pre- to syn- mineralization with respect to late style 1 and style 2 mineralization, suggesting their involvement in the formation of Au mineralization on site