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Bridging external symbols with internal subsymbolic learning and reasoning using cross-modality autoencoders
No full textNeuro-symbolic AI seeks to integrate the strengths of subsymbolic learning and symbolic reasoning. A key challenge in this integration lies in developing a unified internal representation that supports both perceptual understanding and abstract inference across modalities. While neural networks are effective at processing sensory data such as images and text, they often lack symbolic interpretability. Conversely, symbolic systems are limited in their ability to handle complex, high-dimensional inputs. This thesis addresses this gap by introducing a cross-modal autoencoder architecture that learns subsymbolic bidirectional transformations between images and text. These learned representations are then used to interpret external symbols (text) or generate them as explanations for concepts (images).Grounded in the neuro-symbolic framework proposed by Silver and Mitchell, the model distinguishes between conceptual representations (conrep), which capture internal subsymbolic features from perceptual inputs, and symbolic representations (symrep), which enable external symbolic communication. The architecture encodes an image into a conrep and transforms it into a symrep for symbolic decoding, and conversely can map textual input into a symrep before decoding it as a conrep for image reconstruction. This bidirectional mapping supports both learning and reasoning across modalities.To support robust multimodal reasoning, the system employs a shared reasoning layer, selective input masking, and a curriculum-based training strategy. The model is first trained on unimodal tasks before progressing to cross-modal generation, stabilizing learning and promoting better symrep–conrep alignment. Empirical evaluations—including standard testing, cross-validation, and qualitative inspection—demonstrate that the model performs stable and accurate reconstructions, even when one modality is masked.This work contributes a unified neuro-symbolic learning framework that integrates symbolic and conceptual representations through structured training and shared latent reasoning. The proposed approach enables interpretable and resilient cross-modal inference, with applications in computer vision, natural language processing, and multimodal reasoning tasks.</p
Alexander the Good: determining how Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics influenced Alexander the Great
No full textBefore Alexander was Great, he was taught by Aristotle starting at the age of 13. This thesis explores what Aristotle taught Alexander, and how much of it Alexander lived by. Through looking at Aristotle and Alexander’s lives and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics this thesis determines to what extent Alexander followed Aristotle’s beliefs to live the Good Life.My thesis focuses on Aristotle’s beliefs in terms of four virtues: courage, temperance, justice, and prudence, as well as the concept of friendship, and what it meant to have a true friendship. By the end, I determine that Alexander was influenced by Aristotle’s teachings. However, due to his defiant personality, as well as ability to veer on the side of vice, he ends up living Alexander’s good life, not Aristotle’s.</p
The relationships between year of study, age, alcohol use, alcohol related harms, cannabis use, and physical activity level
No full textAlcohol and cannabis are prevalent substances used throughout society that individuals can begin using at a young age. By exploring the potential connections between year of study in university, age, alcohol use, cannabis use, and physical activity levels this study aims to identify factors that contribute to experiencing increased numbers of alcohol related harms in young adults. Using survey data, students (n=760) experiences were recorded and analysed. The results revealed significant correlations suggesting that younger students and students in their first years of post-secondary education are more likely to consume alcohol in the form of coolers and experience greater alcohol-related harms. The survey results and interpretation also highlight the importance of a comprehensive intervention for safe alcohol practices targeted towards younger individuals and individuals in their earlier years of study. A directed initiative may assist in decreasing the harms experienced by students.Keywords: Alcohol, Type of Alcohol, Alcohol Related Harms, Cannabis, Age, Year of study</p
The role of social well-being in the loneliness of aging Canadian veterans
No full textLoneliness is a pervasive issue with significant implications for mental and physical well-being, particularly in older adults. For military veterans, loneliness is a double burden; veterans face the typical challenges of aging such as physical health decline, alongside unique difficulties stemming from their military experience such as post-traumatic stress disorders and difficulty relating to civilians post-deployment. Although Social well-being (SWB) is a known protective factor against loneliness, it is unclear which aspect of SWB best predicts loneliness in aging Canadian veterans. SWB may be conceptualized according to its structural (quantity related), and functional (quality related) aspects. With a sample of 1538 aging Canadian veterans who participated in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, we examined the relationships between SWB and loneliness. We hypothesized that functional aspects of SWB would be stronger predictors of loneliness in aging Canadian veterans, compared to structural aspects of SWB. The latter was measured using social network size, participation in social activities, perceived social support availability, and social cohesion. Correlation and linear multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between aspects of SWB and loneliness. Results indicate that functional aspects of SWB (i.e., perceived social support and social cohesion) contribute the most to the variation of loneliness within the sample. Though preliminary in nature, our findings suggest the importance of focusing on the quality aspects of a veteran’s SWB.Keywords: loneliness, social well-being, social network size, social participation, social support, social cohesion, veterans</p
Intolerance of uncertainty as a moderator of the association between threatening relationship uncertainty and maladaptive relationship outcomes
No full textThe purpose of the current study was to assess how individuals responded to uncertain relationship vignettes that were either relatively lower vs. relatively higher in threat, and whether their responses were moderated by Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU), a trait-like tendency to perceive uncertainty as unfair and distressing. We recruited 254 18–25-year-old English speaking participants who were currently in a romantic relationship for an online study. These participants were randomly assigned to a low or high threat condition and were asked to imagine three uncertain relationship scenarios occurring in their current relationship, and to indicate how they would respond if the events happened with their partner tomorrow. We found that, relative to individuals lower in IU, individuals higher in IU were overall more distressed, more apt to appraise the situations as threatening and uncertain, and endorsed different behaviours at both low and high threat levels. At low threat, higher IU individuals were more likely to engage in avoidance or safety behaviours; at high threat, higher IU individuals were more likely to argue with their partner. Clinical interventions targeting IU beliefs, emotion regulation, and interpersonal skills may be especially helpful for higher IU individuals, to improve their ability to cope with uncertainty within their relationships, and in turn potentially improve their relationship experiences.</p
M.U.R.P.H. Generating reproducible ecological research through accessible data management and communications practices
No full textThe introduction of research data management policy in Canada and subsequent data management plans attempt to provide more standard approaches to conducting and communicating research data to ensure that it is FAIR: 1) Findable, 2) Accessible, 3) Interoperable, and 4) Reusable. Globally, the emergence of the FAIR principles promotes the use of open access research tools to help format, analyze, and communicate research data. Making research data available is a crucial component to current research data management policy that requires researchers to upload research data to online repositories like OBIS, GBIF, and Dataverse. These repositories each have differing data standards (e.g. the Darwin Core Archive) that can be confusing to understand and use. In addition to data formats and storage, coding languages like R and accompanying interface software RStudio are popular and used to analyze and visualize data within many disciplines including ecology, yet require training and expertise. The increasing popularity of Large Language Models like ChatGPT and CoPilot to help create code to solve complex problems complicates the ability to provide detailed and accurate user prompts and contribute to researchers being undertrained and/or overconfident in their research data management abilities.Current infrastructure for research data management tools is not equipped to address the growing variety in data formats and types within different ecological fields. Researchers are not equipped or trained with the proper skills and attempt to meet research data management policy requirements after the fact. This causes most ecological research to lack reproducibility and limits accessibility. To combat a lack of understanding in data formatting and coding skills, an open access free interactive tool, MURPH, was created to allow researchers to upload research data and produce various outputs. These outputs will allow users to reformat research data into OBIS format (using Darwin Core standards), and produce plots, tables, and maps. Users receive outputs and code used to generate them outside of the tool, which serves as a guide for future work. Overall, this tool is aimed to increase the knowledge, education, and understanding of research data management and communication practices in ecological research as they are made to be accessible, interactive, reproducible, and presented in formats that are broadly understood by online repositories.</p
Retirement in Nova Scotia: dream or reality? A qualitative review on the retirement preparedness of Generation X
No full textFinancial institutions, investment firms, and media outlets have raised concerns about Generation X’s (born 1965–1980) retirement preparedness. However, despite this growing concern academic research on the retirement preparedness of Generation X remains limited. This study examines the financial knowledge and retirement goals of 14 Canadian men and women (born 1967–1980) using a qualitative approach. Through semi-structured interviews and a life course perspective, along with cumulative advantage/disadvantage and social learning theory, this study explores the education, employment history, financial responsibilities, retirement education and preparation of these 14 participants of Generation X. Five key themes emerged: economic security, health, retirement goals, retirement education, and financial planning. Economic challenges, including declining pensions and increased debt, make planning for retirement difficult. Notably, the traditional ideal of fully exiting the workforce is shifting. Whether by choice or by necessity, eight of the 14 participants planned to continue working during their retirement years, reflecting a change in previous retirement expectations.</p
Petrology, age, and tectonic implications of the Folly River and Gamble Brook formations, Cobequid Highlands, Nova Scotia
No full textThe Cobequid Highlands in northern mainland Nova Scotia are interpreted to be part of Avalonia. Precambrian rocks of the Cobequid Highlands have been divided previously into three fault-bound blocks: Jeffers, Bass River, and the more recently identified Mount Ephraim block. The stratified rocks of the Bass River block are divided into the Folly River (FRF) and Gamble Brook (GBF) formations, which have a long history of geologic work with differing interpretations of units, boundaries, and age, both intruded by the Ediacaran Bass River Plutonic Suite. This thesis project is a comprehensive petrological, geochemical, and geochronological study of the FRF and the GBF that sheds light on the complex history of these rocks. The FRF is dominated by metamorphosed autobrecciated pillow basalt and aquagene tuff, related gabbro dykes and sills, chemically precipitated iron formation, and minor lithic tuff and clastic sedimentary rocks. The GBF is composed mainly of quartzite interlayered with metasiltstone and metawacke, with minor calc-silicate rocks, marble, and mafic metavolcanic rocks like those in the FRF. Although petrographically similar, mafic rocks in both the FRF and GBF display three types of chemical characteristics: tholeiitic N-MORB, tholeiitic E-MORB/oceanic-island basalt, and alkalic basalt. Lithic tuff in the FRF yielded two large zircon populations at ca. 780 Ma and ca. 890 Ma, direct evidence for the oldest arc magmatism yet reported in Avalonia. Detrital zircon spectra from sedimentary rocks are dominated by Meso- and Paleoproterozoic continental sources with a pattern characteristic of Baltica. Based on petrological and age characteristics, the FRF and GBF are interpreted to have been formed in a Tonian back-arc basin associated with a ca. 770–725 Ma continental margin magmatic arc represented by mafic to felsic volcanic and plutonic rocks in the Mount Ephraim block.</p
The effect of environmental, social, and governance factors on financial performance in the Canadian energy sector
No full textEnvironmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) is a framework used to assess an organization’s operations and practices against sustainability and ethical issues to determine how the organization is performing in the face of those issues. This means that companies are focused on improving the negative environmental impacts of business operations, as well as being conscientious of its impact on society, and whether the business is being governed ethically.This study examines the relationship between Environmental, Social, and Governance scores from MSCI’s ESG ratings, collected using the company’s Climate Search Tool and the financial performance of companies in the Canadian energy sector. The literature will provide insight into various aspects of ESG including the history and popularization of the term ESG, the details behind an ESG score with a brief breakdown of the scoring process, and factors such as firm size, industry, and shareholder preference that act as moderators in the relationship between ESG scores and financial performance. Next, using data from 10 major Canadian energy companies for the period of 2015-2024, the study will examine the effect of ESG scores on financial performance using various regression models.The results of this study find no statistically significant relationship between ESG scores and financial performance. These results are found to be inconsistent with prior literature, which primarily supports the theory that ESG practices have a positive correlation in financial performance. Certain limitations exist which should be taken into consideration. These limitations include sample size and the constraint of solely examining one industry.</p
Examining the effects of a dynamic warm-up intervention on vertical jump performance in healthy young adults
No full textThis thesis investigates the potential effects of a dynamic warm-up on exercise performance. Dynamic warm-ups include active movements that engage large muscle groups around joint range of motion. Participating in these activities could lead to improved exercise performance. In this study we investigated the influence of a dynamic warm-up intervention, including a five-minute cycle ergometer ride paired with an eight-minute standardized warm-up video led by an athletic therapist. We examined the effects of this intervention on countermovement jump performance metrics using force plates. Of the metrics we analyzed, jump height did improve by 2.9%, but did not reach significance (p=0.220). However, three performance metrics were improved significantly following the dynamic warm-up intervention. These included peak power (2.8% increase), flight time to contraction time ratio (8.6% increase), and concentric peak force (5.5% increase), all p<0.05. These performance variables are important when examining vertical jump performance more broadly, rather than just jump height alone. These findings reinforce the possible beneficial effects of a dynamic warm-up prior to explosive athletic performance events.</p