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Follow me as I follow Christ: the challenge of theological integrity for itinerant United Methodist clergy in the context of theological pluralism as experienced by pastors in the Niagara Frontier District
No full textThis research attempted to explore theological integrity within the context of the United Methodist clergy covenant, and whether maintaining theological integrity with the Superintendency of The UMC impacted theological integrity in the context of local church ministry. By theological integrity this research means: a commitment to an internally coherent set of doctrines and beliefs at the core of one’s identity in Christ, while living and expressing these in a consistent manner.The historical research contextualizes the United Methodist clergy covenant and explores the development of theological pluralism within the denomination and its relationship to itinerancy. The contemporary empirical study explores the degree of theological integrity maintained by pastoral leaders in the Niagara Frontier District of the Upper New York Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church. The survey utilized a series of demographic questions, theological questions derived from a study published 1 February 2019 by United Methodist Communications entitled: “Theological Perspectives Among Members: Beliefs & Practices,” and questions about issues related to race, gender, and human sexuality in the context of pastoral ministry. Follow-up interviews were conducted to better understand the survey data.The surveys and interviews suggested pastoral leaders perceive themselves as more effective in their ministry settings when they act with theological integrity. However, the research does not suggest a direct relationship between theological integrity in relationships with the Superintendency and the local church.</p
Experiences of sexual fluidity: towards a new model of understanding
No full textContemplation about one’s sexual orientation identity (i.e., the conscious understanding of sexual orientation in context) may occur for a variety of reasons over time. A small body of recent research has begun to address the mechanisms and factors that may influence changes in sexual orientation identity during adulthood. The Sexual Landscape Model, the Facilitative Environments Model, and the Life Course-Sexual Landscape Model all have begun to describe the factors influencing change. However, these models conflict in the way they group mechanisms of change, and none functionally differentiate between identity development factors that may map onto disparate health outcomes. For the current study, virtual interviews were conducted with 25 participants. A Multi-Grounded Theory approach to qualitative analysis was utilized to broaden the understanding of factors that predict change or stasis in sexual orientation identity during adulthood. The Contextual Motivations Model was developed to describe mechanisms underlying and factors influencing change or maintenance of one’s sexual orientation identity label, specifically as they may relate to health outcomes. The Contextual Motivations Model consists of five levels of influence (Sociocultural Context, Interior Context, Relevant Events, Motivations, and Responses), which are organized as a series of concentric nested circles, with each level further represented by a visual map. The model is bidirectional, wherein each level of influence may interact with its counterparts. In addition to developing the Contextual Motivations Model, the current research identified unique properties of “queer” as an identity label, and potential gaps in the current academic understanding of sexual fluidity.</p
Plastic ingestion and dietary analysis of northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) in the Canadian Arctic and northwest Atlantic
No full textColonial seabirds have been used for decades as sentinels of the health of the marine environment, because they integrate changes in marine ecosystems through their diets and physical condition, and then reflect this in physiological metrics or reproductive effort and success. In the Canadian Arctic, seabirds are found in a few relatively large colonies, and must contend with sea-ice covering their foraging areas for much of the year, which places constraints on them not experienced by conspecifics or similar species breeding farther south. However, the marine environment is changing in the Arctic, and seabirds are responding. The northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) is a medium-sized petrel that breeds in the Canadian Arctic in cliff-side colonies of several thousand pairs. They are opportunistic, generalist foragers with an advanced sense of smell, and can travel hundreds of kilometers to locate food. Their diet can consist of zooplankton, fish, marine mammal carcasses, and fisheries discards, and varies seasonally (typically feeding lower in the food web in winter) and regionally (typically consuming more fisheries discards in the northeastern Atlantic). Fulmars are also vulnerable to ingesting plastic debris in the ocean. They can mistake pieces of plastic as food and ingest it directly, or they can ingest it through trophic transfer by eating prey that in turn have consumed plastic. Northern fulmars are monitored across the North Atlantic for plastic ingestion rates, and are the only biomonitor of plastic debris in Canada. Previous studies in the Canadian Arctic have demonstrated that fulmars eat proportionally more invertebrates if they inhabit the high Arctic compared to birds at low Arctic colonies, and that there appears to be a pattern in eastern Canada with a lower frequency of plastic occurrence in fulmars breeding at higher latitudes. As environmental conditions change in the Arctic (increased shipping, sea-ice breaking up sooner and forming later, warming oceans), scientists expect this to be reflected through dietary changes in seabirds such as fulmars. Warming conditions may lead to a greater proportion of fish than invertebrates in their diet, along with more plastic because it is expected to continue to spread into Arctic waters. In this thesis, I examined diet and frequency of occurrence of plastic debris in northern fulmars collected by Inuit hunters at two colonies in Nunavut, Canada: Qikiqtarjuaq and Pond Inlet. I found that the diet was dominated by fish and squid, contrasting earlier studies in the region showing proportionally more invertebrate prey. I also found that plastic debris had been ingested by fulmars, but at a lower frequency of occurrence than in earlier studies. However, my power analysis demonstrated that I would need to sample more than triple the amount of birds to confidently detect a trend in numbers of fulmars containing plastic. Overall, my results suggest interannual and regional differences in diet and plastic ingestion rates by northern fulmars, but additional monitoring is required to determine if this likely reflects typical, interannual variation, or in fact a directional trend, likely influenced by habitat degradation through climate change and the proliferation of marine plastic pollution.</p
Calibration weighting and estimation under unequal probability sampling
No full textSurvey sampling often relies on calibration weighting to improve the precision of estimators by incorporating auxiliary information. Traditional methods such as generalized regression (GR), exponential tilting (ET), and empirical likelihood (EL) effectively align survey weights to known population totals but may struggle to explicitly balance closeness to design weights and calibration accuracy. This thesis proposes a new calibration weighting method based on gradient descent (GD) optimization, offering a flexible, iterative approach to simultaneously minimize deviations from both design weights and auxiliary totals. The methodology reviews unequal probability sampling, Horvitz-Thompson (HT) estimation, and calibration frameworks, and formulates a cost function enhanced with momentum, learning rate decay, gradient normalization, bounding constraints, and bootstrap-based variance estimation.Extensive simulation studies under a Rao-Sampford sampling design compare the GD method to traditional calibration approaches. Results demonstrate that the GD method, particularly its auxiliary-focused variant (auxGD), achieves competitive or superior performance relative to traditional methods, offering low bias, strong calibration to auxiliary totals, and reasonable weight stability. While traditional methods converge more quickly, the GD approach offers greater flexibility and control. The intial findings suggest that optimization-based calibration presents a promising alternative for survey estimation when reliable auxiliary information is available.</p
The impact of exposure to polystyrene microparticles on cold tolerance in mosquito larvae
No full textUnderstanding cold tolerance in insects, such as mosquitoes, allows us to predict changes in their populations, including range expansion and shifts in diversity and abundance. The geographical range of mosquitoes dictated by environmental temperature. However, cold tolerance can change if an animal is experiencing additional stress, such as exposure to pollutants. Microplastics are a ubiquitous pollutant and are ingested by mosquito larvae; thus, this study examined if exposure to polystyrene microspheres impacts the ability for mosquito larvae to recover from low temperatures. I exposed three species of mosquito, Aedes aegypti, Culex pipiens, and Culex territans to two concentrations [low (20 microparticles/mL) and moderate (200 mp/mL)] of 3 μm dark red polystyrene spheres during growth and acclimation to autumn conditions. I then measured the ability for each species to recover from a stressful low temperature exposure (chill coma recovery), as well as the freezing point in the body (supercooling point) of Culex pipiens. Overall, there was no impact on recovery times or supercooling points from microplastic exposure. Thus, microplastic pollution may have no impact on our ability to predict the northward range expansion of mosquitoes. Nevertheless, future research should focus on understanding if other types of microplastics (e.g. fibres) will have properties that modify thermal tolerance and mosquito survival.</p
Evaluating the impact of the S.M.I.L.E.® program on participant physical fitness
No full textChildren and youth with disabilities often engage in insufficient physical activity, leading to lower physical fitness levels and an increased risk of developing severe health complications. This is due to a quantity of barriers to physical activity participation that individuals with disabilities uniquely experience. The Acadia University Sensory Motor Instructional Leadership Experience (S.M.I.L.E.®) program aims to address these barriers and may provide an opportunity for improved fitness among its participants. This study evaluated changes in the physical fitness of participants between 4-24 years of age over one year of the S.M.I.L.E. program. The data collection involved four physical fitness assessments: the 2-minute walk endurance test as a measure of sub-maximal cardiovascular endurance, standing long jump as a measure of lower body muscular power, grip strength as an indicator of whole-body muscular strength, as well as measurements of height and weight for body composition. In addition to the physical assessments, the International Fitness Scale was used to assess the participant and caregiver perceptions of participant physical fitness, providing an intrapersonal perspective of their abilities. These assessments took place across four time points (March 2023, September 2023, March 2024, and September 2024) and data was examined through ANOVA calculations. There was a total of 54 participants who participated in the study (34 males, 20 females), identifying predominantly with developmental disabilities (94.4%). While the S.M.I.L.E. program demonstrated positive effects on improvements in strength, the lack of significant changes in other measured areas of fitness, combined with the participants’ perceptions of fitness decreasing over time, suggests that there is a need for additional or modified aspects of programming to address the full development of the physical fitness of participants.</p
Assessing state compliance: normative approaches to arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court
No full textAs global humanitarian crises persist, the International Criminal Court (ICC) plays a central role in upholding international justice by issuing arrest warrants for individuals accused of serious crimes such as genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. However, since the ICC lacks enforcement powers, it relies on state compliance to carry out its mandates. This thesis explores the factors leading to a state’s decision to comply with ICC arrest warrants, asking: Are democratic states more likely to comply with an ICC arrest warrant than authoritarian ones? Using the international relations theory, neo-liberalism, specifically the normative approach, this thesis tests four hypotheses rooted in regime type, liberal democracy and rule of law.Using data from the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project, 125 ICC member states were coded based on regime type, with a focus on 20 randomly selected cases (10 democratic and 10 authoritarian). These states were analyzed across 920 potential instances of compliance or non-compliance with 46 ICC arrest warrants. Only 28 instances of clear compliance were observed. Further comparative case studies of France (a democracy) and Chad (an authoritarian state) revealed a limited relationship between the neoliberalist theory and compliance behaviours.The findings suggest that neoliberalist theories, which emphasize international norms and a concern for one’s reputation, are insufficient to explain or predict state compliance with ICC arrest warrants. This thesis highlights the limitations of neoliberalist assumptions regarding state compliance and calls for further research to be done using a broader theoretical framework, such as neorealism.</p
Enhancing early Alzheimer's diagnosis with interpretable 3D CNN models using MRI scans
No full textThe main objective of this research is to develop a deep-learning model to detect Alzheimer’s disease. More specifically, we aim to build a 3D Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) from scratch that can classify stages of Alzheimer’s in both binary and multi-class settings with great accuracy. For this objective, we explore the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) dataset extensively. Focusing on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) images, even though many studies report lower accuracy with MRI, our approach demonstrates that a carefully designed preprocessing pipeline and optimized hyperparameter tuning can unlock the true potential of MRI for AD classification, achieving high accuracy that outperforms some state-of-the-art models. Our final model achieved an average accuracy of 94.37% in the multi-class classification of AD, MCI, and CN subjects, and 91.79% accuracy in the binary classification of AD vs. CN cases. In addition, we add interpretability to these models using an occlusion-based technique, which highlights the brain regions that contribute most to the model’s predictions. The occlusion analysis revealed that the most influential regions were part of the regions of interest chosen (hippocampus, amygdala, and thalamus) which are areas known to be critical in AD, which validates our model’s focus on clinically relevant features.</p
Girls with curls: exploring the politics of natural hair
No full textThis thesis explores how Black women in Nova Scotia embrace their natural as a form of resistance against structures of racism and sexism. To contextualize the research conducted, a review of relevant literature on natural hair resistance movements and Black feminist activism were consulted and presented through a geographical comparison between the United States and Canada. The geographical comparison served to highlight the history behind resistance movements against governance of natural hair. Looking through lens of Black feminist theory with a specific focus on intersectionality, the works of Kimberle Crenshaw, Patricia Hill Collins and bell hooks were thoroughly implemented to strengthen this thesis’s overall argument. Data collected through semi-structured interviews with Black women at Acadia University provided thorough insight to this practice of resistance. The research gathered identified four significant themes of how Black women engaged in political resistance and the experiences that exposed systematic racism within the everyday lives of Black women in Nova Scotia. Beginning with attempts of governance highlighted the various forms of regulation placed on Black women’s hair. Secondly, acts of resistance, which worked to present how Black women defined and engaged in political resistance by embracing their natural hair. Third, intersectionality, highlighting how Black women endure unique experiences created through the intersection of racism and sexism. Finally, threats to autonomy and how attempted regulations and questioning created threats toward Black women’s autonomy. Through these findings, this thesis works to close the gap within current literature that explores how Black women in Nova Scotia engage in political resistance against the governance of natural hair.</p
A critical review of impact assessment processes and their contribution to sustainable aggregate mining in Nova Scotia
No full textThis thesis examines how sustainability principles are implemented in Nova Scotia's aggregate mining industry and explores how impact assessments contribute to promoting sustainable practices in the mining sector. Sustainability in this thesis is defined by the critical aspects of performance outlined by the Mining Association of Canada: Indigenous and Community Relationships, Crisis Management, Biodiversity and Conservation Management, Tailings Management, Water Stewardship, and Climate Change. This study analyzes legislation and impact assessments for approved aggregate operations in Nova Scotia between 2006 and 2016 to evaluate their contributions to each of these indicators. This research indicates that the industry exceeds regulatory minimums in the areas of Indigenous and Community Relationships.; Crisis Management is an area of variability. Other areas – namely Biodiversity and Conservation Management, Tailings Management, and Water Stewardship are positive though heavily reliant on case-by-case assessments by Nova Scotia Environment. Finally, Climate Change management practices are weak and may benefit from further research and development. Recommendations include creating support documents for acid rock drainage contingency planning, selecting Valued Environmental Components, and implementing greenhouse gas monitoring. Further research on acid rock drainage in Nova Scotia, as well as the impact of dust on waterways and terrestrial photosynthesis, is also recommended.</p