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Long-term biophysical conditions and carbon dynamics of a temperate swamp in Southern Ontario, Canada
No full textIn Canada, wetlands cover a land area of 1.5 106 km2 and store ~129 Pg C. However, the carbon (C) cycling of swamps has been understudied even though they store substantial quantity of C in their biomass and can also accumulate peat. In particular, southern Ontario swamps are estimated to hold ~1.1 Pg C under distinct hydroclimatic conditions. Previous studies on temperate swamp C fluxes were mostly based on short-term (<5 years) field measurements that limit our understanding of the multi-decadal dynamics that exist between this ecosystem’s C flux and biophysical conditions. To elucidate the long-term interactions and feedbacks that are important to temperate swamp C dynamics, a process-based model (CoupModel) was used to simulate plant processes, energy, water and C fluxes in one of the most well-preserved swamps in southern Ontario over 78-year period (1983–2060). CoupModel reasonably simulated the C flux and controlling variables when validated with compiled historic field measurements (1983–2023) with coefficient of determination (R2) values of 0.60, 0.95 & 0.61 for soil respiration, surface soil temperature (0–5 cm) and water table level (WTL). Systematic calibration of the initialized model for Beverly Swamp with the Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation (GLUE) approach moderately reduced the uncertainty associated with modelling processes and assisted in identifying the important parameters that greatly influence temperate swamp C flux simulations. Plant-related processes and hydrological variables exerted the strongest control on the simulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) efflux through soil respiration. The forcing of the GLUE calibrated CoupModel with an ensemble of climate projections downscaled from earth system models (ESMs) under shared socio-economic pathway (SSP5) by mid-century (2060) produced a decline in the swamp’s C uptake capacity as net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO2. Relative to the reference period of 1983–2002, the projected increase in mean air temperature (4.3 ± 0.8 oC) and precipitation (0.2 ± 0.1 mm) by 2050s triggered increase in 5 cm deep soil temperature, vapor pressure deficit, and evapotranspiration at Beverly Swamp. These changes to the swamp’s thermal and hydrological conditions dropped its WTL and VMC. Consequently, drier and warmer conditions raised the swamp’s CO2 efflux through ecosystem respiration, while its GPP moderately increased. These bidirectional feedbacks contributed to a reduction in the swamp’s net C uptake (NEE) by the 2050s but it mostly still maintained its net C sink role. While uncertainty in future climate projections and model fit limit our confidence in the precise estimate of future carbon exchange, it was clear that seasonal timing of warming and precipitation played an important role in the swamp response, with coincident declines in precipitation and warming temperatures in summer that caused water stress for plants. Results from this long-term study will help improve our understanding of the important ecohydrological interactions and feedbacks that drive the C cycle of temperate swamps, and their contributions to regional terrestrial C and water cycles. This will help inform decision making on the role of swamp peatlands as nature-based climate solutions through improved understanding of their net C exchange with the atmosphere
English Identity After Britain: Restructuring Englishness in the 20th Century
No full textThis dissertation explores how writers in early 20th-century Britain grappled with nationalism, particularly its relationship to English national identity. I analyze how authors during this pivotal moment in British history attempt to disentangle or redefine concepts of patriotism, nationalism, and national identity. I explore the tensions between ethnic and civic forms of nationalism and how authors navigated this divide. Grounded in critical nationalism studies drawing on the work of theorists like Benedict Anderson, Michel Foucault, Craig Calhoun, and Stuart Hall, I conduct close readings of both fiction and non-fiction, focusing on how writers engage with ideas of Englishness. Chapter One considers how George Orwell attempted to harness national identification for left-wing politics—with particular attention to his attempt to distinguish between “patriotism” and “nationalism”—and examines the difficulties of such an approach. In chapter two, I explore how Virginia Woolf rejected both patriotism and nationalism, in favour of a cosmopolitan project that retained national identity while also promoting a “global citizen” ethos. In chapter three, I discuss J.R.R. Tolkien’s focus on creating a national myth for England, separating Englishness from the larger imperial category of “Britishness.” This chapter also explores Tolkien’s use of fantasy to enact what he called a “recovery” for national identity, looking backward in the style of Romantic Nationalism but using it progressively. Lastly, chapter four turns to Scottish and Irish case studies via the work of Hugh MacDiarmid and James Joyce, in order to provide a point of comparison for the English writers’ projects and the complex relation between their versions of “Englishness” and anticolonial nationalisms from elsewhere in the home empire. I argue that while the English authors studied might not have been entirely successful in articulating an English national identity separate from imperial Britishness, their efforts demonstrate a potential for a progressive use of national identity. These writers were aware of nations as rhetorical constructs. They sought to use this understanding to cultivate an ethics of care at home rather than a defensive or expansionist attitude abroad. The work of these authors demonstrates how literature can shape, critique, and reimagine national identity. Completely separating national identity from its problematic aspects may not always be possible or desirable. While acknowledging that risk, this study shows that national identity can potentially be mobilized for progressive purposes and to foster an ethics of care
SWE-bench-secret: Automating AI Agent Evaluation for Software Engineering Tasks
No full textThe rise of large language models (LLMs) has sparked significant interest in their application to software engineering tasks. However, as new and more capable LLMs emerge, existing evaluation benchmarks (such as HumanEval and MBPP) are no longer sufficient for gauging their potential. While benchmarks like SWE-bench and SWE-bench-java provide a foundation for evaluating these models on real-world challenges, publicly available datasets face potential contamination risks, compromising their reliability for assessing generalization.
To address these limitations, we introduce SWE-bench-secret, a private dataset carefully selected to evaluate AI agents on software engineering tasks spanning multiple years, including some originating after the models’ training data cutoff. Derived from three popular GitHub repositories, it comprises 457 task instances designed to mirror SWE-bench’s structure while maintaining strict data secrecy. Evaluations on a lightweight subset, called SWE-Secret-Lite, reveal significant performance gaps between public and private datasets, highlighting the increased difficulty models face when dealing with tasks that extend beyond familiar patterns found in publicly available data.
Additionally, we provide a secure mechanism that allows researchers to submit their agents for evaluation without exposing the dataset.
Our findings emphasize the need for improved logical reasoning and adaptability in AI agents, particularly when confronted with tasks that lie outside well-known public training data distributions. By introducing a contamination-free evaluation framework and a novel secret benchmark, this work strengthens the foundation for advancing benchmarking methodologies and promoting the development of more versatile, context-aware AI agents
Bending the curve of biodiversity loss: Identifying barriers and opportunities to accelerate endangered species recovery in Canada
No full textThe decline of wild species represents one of the most urgent crises of our time, with significant ecological, cultural, and economic implications. Understanding the barriers and opportunities to accelerate wildlife recovery is essential to inform effective conservation planning, policymaking, and action, and ultimately to halt and reverse the loss of nature. Research for this thesis was guided by three interconnected objectives: 1) identify the patterns and processes of wildlife extinction and recovery in Canada, with a detailed examination of nationally endemic species, 2) compare and examine the effectiveness of national approaches to endangered species assessment, listing and recovery, thereby identifying bridges and barriers to recovery, and 3) develop and advance new approaches to planning and implementation that will accelerate endangered species recovery in Canada. These objectives are intended to provide novel contributions that fill key knowledge gaps to support the practice of endangered species conservation.
This research describes over 200 species ‘missing’ from Canada since European settlement, revealing significantly more extinctions and extirpations than reported under the Species at Risk Act. These losses are concentrated in Ontario, BC, and Quebec, with unsustainable harvesting historically driving extinctions, and habitat degradation emerging as the dominant contemporary threat. In contrast, the research also identifies 49 species with genuine improvements in conservation status, as well as over 50 species that began to recover before formal national assessments began. Key drivers of recovery include harvest management, pollution abatement, with more contemporary recoveries resulting from translocations, stewardship, and protected areas. The research also highlights that most improvements in the conservation status of species at risk are the result of discovering new populations and cautions against misclassifying these as conservation successes.
This research also provides the first comprehensive inventory of Canada’s 308 nationally endemic species, approximately 90% of which are of global conservation concern. The analysis identifies 27 spatial concentrations of endemic species, many of which are associated with glacial refugia, islands, coasts, and unique habitats. Despite their significance, nationally endemic species have not been prioritized in national conservation efforts, but their conservation will play an essential role in Canada’s contribution to preventing global extinctions.
Drawing on comparisons with the US and Australia, the thesis identifies systemic barriers to endangered species recovery and offers ten strategic "bridges" to overcome them. These include ecosystem-based recovery, community co-governance, linking wildlife recovery to ecosystem services, and improving public narratives around wildlife loss and recovery. Insights from a survey of 136 Canadian recovery planning practitioners further highlighted that effective implementation of SARA remains illusive, with respondents emphasizing the need for improved consultations, co-production with Indigenous communities, streamlined processes, and knowledge sharing.
The thesis concludes by proposing pathways to reduce extinction risks and accelerate recoveries that are based on the relationships between processes, places and peoples. These include approaches to increase proactive conservation, supporting community-based recovery planning and action, and improving knowledge mobilization. These recommendations aim to strengthen Canada’s capacity to meet its national and global biodiversity commitments and bending the curve of biodiversity loss
The development of the sunk cost bias
No full textThe sunk cost bias is when people overvalue objects or projects because they have already invested time, money, or effort into them. Most sunk cost research over the past 50 years investigated the bias in adults, exploring the conditions in which people expect themselves and others to be biased by sunk costs. However, very little work has examined the developmental origins of the bias, despite much evidence that young children reason about costs for a host of predictions and inferences about others. Across three papers, this dissertation examines children’s (N = 990) and adults’ (N = 934) sunk cost predictions. Chapter Two first explored whether children predict others’ actions are biased by sunk costs. After seeing agents collect two identical objects but being able to keep only one, adults expected agents will be biased by sunk costs and choose high-cost objects. However, 5- to 6-year-olds chose between high- and low-cost objects equally. Across four experiments, children consistently failed to anticipate that sunk costs biased others’ choices, their own hypothetical choices, or their choices in interpersonal contexts where costs are sunk by others. Children were not insensitive to costs, though, as children predicted agents would collect low-cost objects in the future. Together, the findings from this chapter show that children do not anticipate sunk cost bias across various scenarios. Chapter 3 tested between two accounts for why children overlook sunk costs when predicting actions. On one account, children do not see sunk costs as causing future outcomes, while on another, they can recognize this causal link but do not see actions as avoiding losses. In three experiments, 5-7-year-olds again did not expect sunk costs to bias others’ actions, as they responded at chance when predicting which objects agents would keep. However, children reasoned about sunk costs to predict emotion, anticipating that agents would feel sadder about high-cost objects. Together, the findings of this chapter support the view that children see sunk costs as causally relevant but do not expect actions to compensate for losses. Chapter Four examined whether children can be prompted to anticipate the sunk cost bias. Before predicting which objects agents would keep, children were asked about effort, waste, or negative emotion. In three experiments, children around age 6 predicted the sunk cost bias when prompted with effort and around age 7 when prompted with waste. Prompting children with waste did not always lead to sunk cost predictions, though, and children only showed some sensitivity to predicting the bias with negative emotion. Overall, this dissertation shows that children do not spontaneously predict the sunk cost bias. Yet, children are not entirely unable to reason about sunk costs, as they can recognize how sunk costs relate to waste, effort, and negative emotion, and predict the bias when prompted. This work deepens our understanding of children’s cost-based reasoning and the developmental trajectory of the sunk cost bias. This work also contributes to theories of the bias and raises questions about the role of experience and theory of mind in the emergence of sunk cost predictions
Adapting to climate change: Canadian skiers' behavioural responses and perceptions of snowmaking
No full textSki tourism is predicated on low temperatures and natural snowfall, with climate change directly impacting the multibillion-dollar ski industry. As the ski industry continues to invest in snowmaking technology in response to warming climatic conditions, concerns regarding the sustainability of snowmaking are amplifying, including high levels of water and energy consumption required to produce snow, as well as associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated by snowmaking equipment. During the 2023/2024 ski season, Canada experienced a record-warm winter that generated country-wide impacts in the form of late openings, temporal closures, and an early end to the season. The presented thesis is the first to explore skier/snowboarder experiences and behavioural responses immediately following a record-warm winter, and is the first to provide an empirical assessment of Canadian skier perceptions of snowmaking as an environmentally sustainable climate adaptation strategy. Using an online survey administered to active skiers and snowboarders across Canada from March through June 2024, a total of 209 surveys were collected and analyzed. The results reveal that during the 2023/2024 season, skiers have a high tolerance for marginal conditions (e.g., 59% would ski regardless of snow coverage), with most (57%) opting to ski less often (i.e., temporal substitution) versus a spatial (i.e., travelling elsewhere) or activity substitution (i.e., stop skiing). The frequency with which certain conditions were experienced statistically differed by region (e.g., machine-made snow), gender and age (e.g., warm temperatures, thin/bare patches, narrow snow coverage), with women and younger skiers more likely to have experienced these marginal conditions compared to men and older skiers. Older generations were also found to be less accepting of crowding conditions, more tolerant of poor snow conditions, and more in favour of snowmaking as a necessity to maintain ski seasons when compared to younger skiers. Most respondents (80%) are concerned about climate change negatively impacting current and future ski conditions, with a link between reported (i.e., behavioural response in 2023/2024) and projected future behaviours, suggesting a high reliability of using current behaviours following a record-warm season to predict future intentions. Moreover, almost all (90%) of respondents agreed that snowmaking is necessary, and over 80% agree snowmaking capacity must increase in the next five years. The results show the majority of skiers believe snowmaking requires significant water and energy to produce (82% and 80%, respectively), which negatively impacts water resources (36%) and results in significant GHG emissions (28%). Importantly, over one-third of skiers are undecided as to whether or not snowmaking negatively impacts water resources (38%), results in GHG emissions (43%), contributes to climate change (35%), and negatively impacts human health (59%), with women reporting significantly higher uncertainty than men, and older respondents agreeing less to the negative environmental and health impacts of snowmaking than young skiers. Emerging research suggests snowmaking can be compatible with climate action plans, underscoring an important opportunity for mountain destinations engaged in sustainable development to better communicate their adaptation-mitigation efforts to minimize uncertainty
What Slows Down FMware Development? An Empirical Study of Developer Challenges and Resolution Times
No full textFoundation Models (FMs), such as GPT-4, have revolutionized software engineering by enabling the development of FMware — applications and infrastructures built around these
powerful models. Despite their transformative potential, FMware solutions face significant
challenges in their development, deployment, and maintenance, particularly across cloudbased and on-premise platforms; this is because many of the goals, processes, tools, and
technical assets of FMware development are different from those of traditional software
systems. This study presents an empirical investigation of the current FMware ecosystem,
focusing on three key questions: (1) what topics are most prevalent in issue discussions of
FMware systems, (2) what specific challenges are commonly faced by FMware developers,
and (3) what kinds of issues in FMware development have the longest resolution times?
Our analysis uses data extracted from both GitHub repositories of FMware systems as
well as systems hosted on popular FMware platforms such as HuggingFace, GPTStore,
Ora, and Poe. Our findings reveal a strong emphasis on education, content creation, and
business strategy, alongside critical technical challenges such as memory errors, dependency management, and tokenizer configurations. We further identify bug reports and
core functionality issues as the most common problem types on GitHub, and show that
topics concerning code review, similarity search, and prompt template design require the
longest time to resolve. By uncovering insights into developer practices and pain points,
this research highlights opportunities for improving FMware development tools, workflows,
and community support. These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of the current FMware landscape and provide actionable recommendations for practitioners and
researchers
Examining the Association Between Climate Worry and Psychological Distress in Canadian Youth
No full textYoung people are highly susceptible to the development of mental illnesses, which may be measured through psychological distress scores. Mental illnesses in youth may vary by gender as cis-gendered girls and gender minorities are more likely to experience mental illnesses than their cis-gendered boy counterparts. Within Canada, one in four youth meet the diagnostic criteria for a mental illness regardless of gender.
While effects of climate change and associated health outcomes are experienced by diverse populations, these outcomes are particularly concerning pertaining to youth as they will inherit the environment in its current state. One factor that may be associated with increases in psychological distress is that of climate worry: the feelings of worry or fear associated with the ongoing climate change crisis. However, climate worry remains a novel topic with limited existing literature.
For youth, climate worry may result in negative emotions including worry, fear, or sadness attributed to their concern for the worsening global climate. Youth are likely to access information regarding climate change through online channels, prompting interest in screen time as a covariate. Climate worry may also be associated with difficulties in focus on daily tasks and may impact sleep due to excessive worry, as well as causing a sense of responsibility to “act.” These concerns are measured through the climate worry section of the Compass Questionnaire.
The objective of this thesis was to examine whether climate worry is associated with psychological distress among youth in the COMPASS Study, and whether selected covariates impact this association using linear regression modelling. This thesis used data from the 2022/23 Compass Study cohort of 31,042 high school students from across Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec, Canada.
Findings from this study support the hypothesis that climate worry is associated with psychological distress in Canadian youth. Across all genders, the mean psychological distress score was 18.3 (std. dev. 12.1, p = <0.05) and the mean climate worry score was 9.0 (std. dev. 1.9, p = <0.05). The results of this study show that as scores of climate worry increase, scores of psychological distress also increase (Beta = 0.7, p = <0.05). Gender-stratified models were run to ascertain differences in the experience of climate worry and psychological distress for cis-gendered boys, cis-gendered girls, and gender diverse individuals.
Results of this thesis reveal that climate worry is modestly associated with increases in psychological distress and may be used to inform future research on the associations between climate worry and psychological distress. Future studies should aim to explore potential causal pathways for the inception of climate worry (e.g., media literacy and climate worry rooted in media use), and outcomes of climate worry (e.g., psychological distress, anxious, or depressive symptoms)
Ghana's National Health Insurance enrollment: Does the intersection of educational and residential status matter?
No full text© 2025 Antabe et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Background
Since its inception in 2003, Ghana's Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has received considerable scholarly attention on the determinants of enrollment. While most of these studies highlight the role of some socioeconomic and geographical factors, no study has explored the intersection of educational attainment and residence on NHIS enrollment. We aim to contribute to the literature and health policy in Ghana by examining the intersection of educational attainment and rural-urban residence on NHIS enrollment among women and men.
Methods
We used nationally representative data from the 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS). Using STATA 17, we applied multivariable logistic regression to our analytical sample comprising women (n=14997) and men (n=7040).
Results
Overall, we found that more women (90%) than men (73%) enrolled on the NHIS. Adjusting for a range of control variables, we found that women and men with secondary (OR: 1.81, 95% CI: 1.24-2.64; OR: 2.85, 95% CI: 2.03-3.99) were more likely to have enrolled into the NHIS compared to those with no formal education. The difference was particularly heightened among women and men with no education. Rural women (96%) and men (90%) with higher education had higher enrollment rates compared to their urban counterparts.
Conclusion
We recommend revising the NHIS equity and pro-poor policy to include vulnerability at the intersection of low educational attainment and rural residence
Towards Optical Simulation of Topological Phenomena with Ring Resonators
No full textIn recent years, there has been a growing interest in synthetic dimensions. Unlike physical dimensions where one is restricted with three possible dimensions, one can tailor a lattice system with several higher order dimensions even with a lower-order physical system. In this thesis, we will explore, both theoretically and experimentally, how equidistant frequency modes in a resonator—specifically a ring resonator—can be used as a synthetic dimension. In this respect, we will first explore basics of resonators by reviewing a Fabry Perot resonator and developing a coupled-mode theory to understand its transmission and reflection spectrum. We will then expand and develop a coupled-mode theory for the case of a ring resonator, and explore experimental results for a basic fiber-beam splitter based ring resonator. Next, we will modify the ring resonator with a few off the shelf fiber optic components like a Dense Division Wavelength Multiplexing filter, a fiber electro-optic modulator, and an optical amplifier, and see how they transform the transmission characteristics. Lastly, we will modulate the ring resonator at the same frequency as the free-spectral range of the resonator to couple the modes to observe a band structure in the reciprocal space, much like atoms in a periodic solid-state crystal coupled via Coulomb interactions lead to energy bands in the conjugate momentum space. For this purpose, we will develop a coupled-mode theory for a ring resonator modulated by a phase modulator, look at some theoretical results for symmetric and asymmetric band structures, and observe some experimental results for the symmetric case. Thus, we highlight the potential of fiber ring resonators as versatile platforms for optical simulation of topological systems. Further, the ability to replicate higher-dimensional phenomena using frequency modes opens new pathways for investigating exotic physical behaviors, such as non-Hermitian systems and synthetic magnetic fields, in compact and experimentally accessible setups