3855 research outputs found
Sort by
Understanding the acculturation experiences of immigrant athletes within the Canadian sport system
No full textSocieties are in constant evolution and have become more culturally and ethnically
diverse. One of the contributors to this diversity is the movement of people
between/within countries. Although the reason for relocating to an unfamiliar country or
context varies for these individuals relocating (Berry, 1997; Berry, Poortinga, Segal, &
Dasen, 2002), they all face the task of navigating between their home culture and a new
culture (i.e., that of the receiving community). Acculturation refers to a process of
psychological and socio-cultural change and adjustment to unfamiliar cultural practices,
such as in eating patterns, dress, and language, which an immigrant undergoes to align
with the dominant societal group (Schinke, McGannon, Battochio, & Wells, 2013). The
acculturation process of immigrants has been considered from various disciplines (e.g.,
psychology, sociology, and sport psychology) and various theoretical approaches (e.g.,
positivist, interpretivist, and social constructionist) have been used to examine this
concept. Within this dissertation, acculturation was examined through a critical sociocultural and interdisciplinary position to better excavate into the stories of sport
participants in multicultural societies. This project was designed to advance acculturation
research area by examining the stories told by immigrant athletes about their acculturation
challenges within their sport and non-sport contexts from a critical epistemological position (Chirkov, 2009a; Schinke & McGannon, 2014), the impact of such challenges,
and multi-level strategies they utilized to overcome such challenges. Data was collected
using the following four methods: (a) arts-based approaches focused on representation of
the athletes’ daily routine, (b) conversational interviews, (c) guided journey, and (d) fieldnotes. Moving stories were the culmination of the four data sources and were used to tease out and bring to light the athletes’ stories and voices, allowing readers to vicariously
learn from their acculturation journeys. The data analysis was done using an interpretive
thematic analysis (ITA), followed by the development of composite moving stories. Two
overarching themes were driven by my engagement with the data and methods; (a) role of
family (sub-themes; family support, athlete-family settlement conflicts, times and mutual
understanding) (b) role of community-sport community (sub-themes; immersion through
communication and creating relationships, exchange of goals and values, skill level,
openness creates ease of communication, preserving home, and culture and accepting the
new). The moving stories within theme one allows for the highlighting of the complicated
web of relationships (i.e., struggles between competing cultural narratives of
expectations) and the role that each member of the family played in helping the athletes
achieve success. The stories within the second overarching theme allow for the
highlighting of vacillations (i.e., integrating within the receiving community while
preserving cultural practices of home culture) as the immigrant athletes engaged in and
experienced the receiving community. The findings contributed towards the acculturation
scholarship in sport psychology by providing highly contextualized insights into how athletes navigated their transition between cultures as they progressed through their day.
The use of moving stories as a form of representation extended this research area by
offering the reader an opportunity to think along with the athletes and learn through an
embodied response to the complex relocation stories encountered by elite immigrant
athletes
Canadian BIBFRAME Readiness Task Force survey instrument
No full textThis study aims to measure two aspects of Canadian libraries concerning the BIBFRAME bibliographic description model and vocabulary: 1) Measuring the level of understanding Canadian libraries currently have of BIBFRAME 2) Measuring how ready Canadian libraries are to transition from the MARC bibliographic format to BIBFRAME. The survey results will inform a list of recommendations for training, education and advocacy for Canadian libraries, as requested by the Canadian Federation of Library Associations-Cataloguing and Metadata Standards Committee (CFLA CMSC).Cette étude vise à mesurer deux aspects des bibliothèques canadiennes concernant le modèle de description bibliographique et le vocabulaire de BIBFRAME : 1) Mesurer le niveau de compréhension que les bibliothèques canadiennes ont actuellement du BIBFRAME 2) Évaluer dans quelle mesure les bibliothèques canadiennes sont prêtes à passer du format bibliographique MARC au format BIBFRAME
Les résultats du sondage serviront à dresser une liste de recommandations relatives à la formation, l'éducation et la promotion des intérêts des bibliothèques canadiennes, conformément à la demande du Comité des normes sur les catalogues et les métadonnées de la Fédération canadienne des associations de bibliothèques (FCAB CNCM)
SNO+ waterphase burst principal component analysis
No full textSNO+ is a kilo-tonne scale neutrino detector utilizing much of the same hardware that was used during the SNO experiment. The SNO+ experiment will be
conducted using three different target media in three phases: water phase, pure
scintillator phase and tellurium loaded scintillator phase. Through all phases
SNO+ will be sensitive to a large neutrino burst from a nearby supernova.
Data bursts can be caused by a supernova neutrino burst or other physical
phenomena such as electronic pickup, static discharge, equipment malfunctions
and unintended light injection. This thesis examines data bursts which occurred
during the light water phase commissioning of detector operation using a principal component analysis. The principal component analysis showed 3 major
groupings within the analysed bursts: bursts during period of time with detector
running issues, burst generated due to electronics break downs or light injection
and bursts occurring during periods of time where the detector is operated in an
abnormal running mode.
The analysis in this thesis also shows that many of the data bursts were caused
by detector running issues after some initial burst event. Since the state of the
detector has been improved, a repetition of this study is recommended with more
recent dat
Patient experiences in rural Northern Ontario: small hospital utilization and perspectives on community paramedicine
Get PDFThis thesis adhered to an integrated article format with two distinct studies focusing on
the analysis of patient medical records from a rural hospital in north east Ontario (Study
1) and a cross-sectional observational investigation of patient perspectives on community
paramedicine (CP) (Study 2). The aim of Study 1 was to help hospital administrators
identify patients at high risk of frequent hospital resource utilization (emergency
department (ED) visit or admissions) so that if appropriate, they may be redirected to
alternative services available in the community. Therefore, the two main research
questions for this study were: (1) Which types of patients are more prone to having repeat
ED visits and hospital admissions; and (2) What types of services could better serve or
help improve the health of these patients? Study 2 aimed to evaluate patient and caregiver
perspectives related to their involvement in three CP programs in rural communities
across Northern Ontario. There were two research questions guiding the evaluation of
patient perspectives in this study: (1) How effective is CP at supporting patient-centered
care; and (2) How do perceptions differ between home visit (HV) and wellness clinic
(WC) patients? In Study 1, twenty-six patients met the criteria for repeat ED visits (65%
female; mean age 52 years) and accounted for a total of 623 ED visits. Seventeen patients
met the criteria for repeat admissions (41.2% female; mean age 73 years) and accounted
for 69 repeat hospital admissions. The most common reason cited for repeat ED visits
was dressing changes and the most common reason cited for repeat admissions was
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. For Study 2, 91.7% (n=55) of patients reported being satisfied with the CP services they received and 98.3% (n=59) of the patients
indicated that they would recommend CP to others. Patient perspectives of CP suggest
that the service model is consistent with a patient-centered framework that includes
interpersonal, psychosocial, clinical, and structural dimensions. The patients also valued
CP for the ease of access and the reassurance provided by the paramedics monitoring
their health concerns. Our studies found that an older population with increased health
needs appear acceptable towards receiving alternative health care services outside of the
hospital. Based on the perspectives of patients currently enrolled in CP programs across
Northern Ontario, the HV and WC services of CP appeared to be considered as an
acceptable program that can provide patient-centered care in rural and northern
communities. Collectively, these two studies provide important data related to the patient
experience in a rural and northern health care system context. These are encouraging
signs that alternative health care services, like the CP programs, can address non-urgent
issues for residents of northern and rural communities in Ontario
“A place where kids like me can be ourselves”: Exploring the meaning of summer camp with adolescents with neurobiological disorders
Get PDFRecreational opportunities are valuable opportunities for physical, social, and emotional development. Summer camp provides youth with the chance to be outside among their peers and learn through play. Unfortunately, social, physical, and institutional barriers often result in the exclusion of high-needs individuals with neurobiological disorders from these camp opportunities and experiences. This research used a qualitative photovoice methodology in order to explore what summer camp means to adolescents with neurobiological disorders.
Teens aged 14-17 at Camp Neuro, a sleepaway summer camp in Ontario, were invited to take photographs of things that were meaningful to them (n=23) followed by an individual interview to contextualise the photographs (n=13). Results suggest that the physical, social, and emotional camp environments are important to youth with neurobiological disorders.
Additionally, the opportunity to learn at summer camp was a recurring theme as teens discussed learning skills, learning to make friends, and learning broad life lessons. Overall, the results suggest that youth with neurobiological are successful at summer camp and value their experiences when they are provided with appropriate accommodations and support. Ultimately, the participants expressed that Camp Neuro supported them to ha to be themselves, try new things, and make friends
Global 0ptimization of pairwise comparisons matrix based on differential evolution algorithm
Get PDFPairwise comparisons matrices (PCM) are commonly used when different entities or abstract concepts are compared for making decisions. The compared entities for decision making can be both subjective and objective indicators. The elements in PCM are ratios in case of multiplicative version. Using differential evolution (DE) heuristic algorithm, we can find an optimal solution for a given PCM. The optimization results are fairly good with geometric mean (GM) and eigenvector (EV). The thesis provides an introduction of differential evolution and how to apply it to the global optimization of PC matrices. IDEs and Java/R packages used in the Monte Carlo experiment will be discussed. Some results of considerable importance for PC matrices that have
been obtained will also be illustrated in the thesis
Discrimination of biological systems with photon emission: steps toward diagnostics in humans and cell cultures
No full textSpontaneous biophoton emission has been observed in virtually all living organisms.
Differences between individuals of the same species have not been documented thoroughly. The
biophoton emission of both humans and cell cultures were measured. Two humans had their
biophoton emission repeatedly measured over the course of five months. Significant spectral
power density peaks were able to differentiate between the two human participants, but only in the
first month of measurement. Multiple cell cultures, some non-malignant and some cancerous, had
their biophoton emission measured in different sizes of containers filled with nutrient agar.
Significant spectral power density peaks were observed between the B16-BL6 and C2C12 cell
lines. B16-BL6 cells were exposed to an extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field for one
hour. Their biophoton emission was measured immediately following exposure. Significant
variability was observed in the spectral power density within specific frequency ranges. These
results indicate that there exists temporal characteristics of biophoton emission that can be used to
successfully discriminate within and between individuals. The potential for biophoton emission to
be useful as a diagnostic tool is discussed
A textural and mineralogical study of the footwall rocks to the Sudbury Igneous Complex (North and East ranges)
No full textIn the North and East range footwall rocks of the 1.85 Ga Sudbury Igneous Complex (SIC), quartz and
plagioclase (An20-30), plastically deformed prior to the emplacement of the SIC, were thermally
annealed, resulting in their replacement by aggregates of strain-free grains that coarsen towards the SIC
footwall contact due to radiant heat. In the Victor footwall deposit, SIC East Range, granoblastic
polygonal quartz was overprinted by dynamically recrystallized quartz, with microstructures indicative
of bulging (BLG) recrystallization. Incipient melting at quartz-plagioclase interfaces in Victor footwall
rocks is recorded as interstitial plagioclase seams in quartz with quartz-quartz-plagioclase dihedral
angles that peak at ~40 ⁰, characteristic of wetting angles. Subsequent fluid-mediated modification of
least-altered plagioclase (An20-30) generated porous albite (An0-10) through a coupled dissolutionprecipitation (CDP) mechanism, which was likely contemporaneous with the crystallization of
secondary epidote-group minerals. In the Victor footwall, textures and mineral chemistry of plagioclase,
epidote- and chlorite-group minerals support the notion that a relatively oxidized, acidic, Fe-bearing
fluid with a temperature of ~310 – 385 ⁰C favoured quartz-plagioclase interfaces as grain-scale fluid
pathways, preferentially dissolving the anorthite component of plagioclase and creating void space prior
to formation of disseminated chalcopyrite proximal to massive Cu-rich sulfide veins in the footwall
setting
Infrastructural architecture: social design for the public realm in underground transit systems
No full textThere’s a certain allure and poeticism to
mass transit, from buses, to streetcars, and trains.
It’s curious that a strictly infrastructural marvel
of engineering houses such an honest and diverse
application of shared architecture, mutual in it’s
urban scope. In many ways, the architecture of
these utilitarian transit spaces (subways most
notably), are comparable in their role to that of
the public square, court, or forum. There is an
untold architectural relationship within these
urban environments between subways as a space
of movement, and as a place of activity.
This thesis aims to re-examine subways
under this lens. To posit that subways offer more
to the urban fabric than a functional vessel for
movement, and are indeed vital at providing
opportunity for social life to flourish in an urban
context. Questions of democratizing space, spatial
legitimacy, functionalism, and the dichotomy
between space and place, arise when examining
these constructs of subterranean infrastructure.
These relationships will be explored by
studying and reimagining a particular site along
the City of Toronto’s subway system, specifically;
Spadina Station. It is the intersection of both the
University-Yonge Line, the Bloor Line, as well as
the terminal to the Spadina Avenue streetcar. The
key methods of research for this study include
studying, drawing, and photographing the space
to better understand it’s prescriptive needs, and
to inform a modified architectural response and
proposal.
Ultimately, this project aims to be didactic in its thinking with regards to infrastructural
architecture through proposal work. The core of
transit is the people who use it, and it must be understood that these people interact socially with
their surroundings, far beyond just the isolated
motions of coming and going. We must ask how
utilitarian infrastructure can shift it’s functional
role in cities to reclaim the public realm as a space
of communal activity, and shared program
Neuroarchitecture : quantifying perception to inform a design for improved mental well-being
No full textAs complex, biological organisms, neuroarchitecture
aims to address notions that natural and built environments
can effect changes in our organismic systems at cellular,
neurological, emotional, perceptual, and cognitive levels.
Knowing this however, there is still little quantifiable data
regarding the metrics of interior environments and how they
impact human cognition. The question thus arises:
Can we attempt to quantify human perception pertaining to
architectural experience through the use of sensing technologies,
in order to substantiate the effects of natural elements, and thus
inform a design for improved mental well-being?
This thesis aims to explore these ideas first through existing
knowledge and theory regarding human perception and
sensory stimulation. Furthermore, through self-analysis per
the use of modern sensing technologies, both cognitive
and environmental data will be gathered in order to gain an
understanding of the relationships between spatial qualities
and the physiological responses they evoke. Through this
method of theory and data collection, a more informed design
framework will be proposed to design a student residence that
places a greater focus on improved mental well-being