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Illuminating novel predictors of psychosis: Investigations of environmental and bioelectromagnetic predictors of psychosis symptoms in healthy adults
Get PDFSchizophrenia is a debilitating disorder, which often results in irreversible tissue loss in the
brain, making it a difficult disorder to treat. The defining feature of schizophrenia is psychosis,
which also occurs in schizoaffective disorder, substance use disorders, bipolar disorder, delusional
disorder, and dementia. We are slowly getting a better understanding of schizophrenia as novel
biomarkers are discovered and we learn what influences its prevalence rates. For example, many
studies have shown that schizophrenia is positively correlated with latitude. This knowledge
compliments our understanding of the importance of inflammation and vitamin D deficiency as
risks for schizophrenia. The purpose of the current thesis was three-fold: first, to determine
seasonal variability of background photons as a novel environmental variable to use as a psychosis
predictor. Second, to determine if the relationship with latitude was present with psychosis
symptoms in healthy adults. And third, to investigate a novel biomarker, biophotons, as a predictor
of psychosis/schizotypy symptoms in healthy adults. There were three different studies completed
to investigate these questions. The first measured background photon over the course of a year to
understand seasonal variations and correlations with other geophysical variables. In the second
study, online psychological questionnaires were administered to a global sample. The results
suggested the symptoms of psychosis were negatively correlated with latitude, opposite of the
previous findings with schizophrenia. Negative correlations were present in spirituality and
hypomanic scores, but not depression or anxiety. Additionally, regression analysis revealed that in
females but not males, components of the Earth’s electromagnetic field were better at predicting
psychosis symptoms. In the third study, biophoton emissions from the hands (BPEs), quantitative
electroencephalographic (QEEG), electrocardiographic (ECG), and psychological questionnaires
were measured from participants in Sudbury, ON, Canada. The psychological questionnaires used were the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-IV) and the Temperament Character
Inventory (TCI-R). The results suggested that biophotons showed some specificity, with overall
BPEs from the hands predictive of affective scales in females, and the absolute difference between
hands predictive of Schizotypal, Paranoid, and Schizophrenic Spectrum scores in females.
Surprisingly, there were very few significant correlations in males. We also found that BPE and
QEEG variables combined were able to predict scores on a Depression/Somatic Symptom factor.
These results demonstrate that biophotons could be a potential biomarker for mental health
disturbances. Taken together, these results demonstrate the importance of investigating the
environmental electromagnetic and bioelectromagnetic variables to predict and understand
psychosis.Doctor of Philosophy in Human Studies & Interdisciplinarit
Exploring implicit and explicit judgements in gender expression and sexual orientation
No full textThe current study aimed to investigate stereotypes pertaining to individuals’ views of sexual orientation and gender expression. This study investigated these stereotypes through the binary viewpoint of an Implicit Association task in conjunction with open-ended questions, which allow space for more fluid responses in accordance with Queer Theory. One-hundred and forty individuals participated in a modified IAT study with pictures of couples varying in sexuality (i.e. gay or straight) and gender expression (i.e. feminine or masculine). They also judged sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression in open-ended questions. Gender expression was found to play a critical role in individuals' perceptions of sexual orientation and their categorization tendencies, regardless of whether the individual was depicted in a homosexual or heterosexual couple. For example, it was found that those with gender non- conforming appearances (i.e. men wearing feminine clothing) tended to be categorized as homosexual. They were also processed slower in the IAT. In addition, within homosexual couples, variations based on gender expressions were also observed (e.g. two feminine women being processed faster, while two masculine men, slower). Overall, results show a clear confusion in understanding gender expression, with a large variation of words used to describe gender based on expression, particularly for individuals with a non-stereotypical presentation. The results suggest that gender expression, which has rarely been included in studies, should be taken into account in research
Predicting the breakdown pressure in hard rock material subjected to hydraulic fracturing and quantifying fluid flow within a fracture network
No full textThis research is part of the Natural Heat Exchange Engineering Technology for Mines (NHEET)
project conducted by Mirarco Mining Innovation. The NHEET project consists of developing a
system using natural means to provide economically significant thermal regeneration capacity
through a volume of rock fragments for ventilating mine workings. This system can provide
heating (during winter) and cooling (during summer) of air on seasonal basis, without using
artificial refrigeration. Optimizing the system requires creation of a specific volume of rock
fragments having, among other criteria, a pre-determined porosity and fragment size distribution
to meet the thermal storage and ventilation requirements of the mine site. This research is part of
the NHEET project’s scope of work and investigates an alternative system, which consists of a
fractured rock mass with sufficient fracture density and connectivity to admit enough airflow for
the NHEET system requirements. This alternative system has the potential of reducing the
footprint at surface.
Firstly, the hydraulic fracturing (HF) method is investigated for preconditioning the rockmass with
the objective of strategically creating additional fractures. Increasing the volumetric fracture
intensity and fracture network connectivity within the rock mass can optimize airflow within the
fracture network. A numerical predictive model for the breakdown pressure in hard rock subjected
to hydraulic fracturing is developed using the lattice spring modeling method for HF simulation.
The developed numerical model is calibrated based on the results obtained from a HF field
experiment conducted in a northern Ontario mine.
Secondly, a laboratory experiment is conducted to quantify fluid flow through a fracture network.
In this context, a 3D physical model representing a fractured rock mass is generated using 3D
printing technology. The 3D printed model is fixed into an experimental setup for fluid flow
measurements. This experiment allowed for establishing the behaviour of the changing pressure
to fluid transfer through fracture openings. The flow-pressure measurements are compared to a
simple model for the volumetric flow rate in a block of naturally fractured rock with a number of
fractures.
The numerical model developed, and laboratory results obtained in this thesis provide valuable
information for the construction of a NHEET system. The numerical predictive model for the
breakdown pressure in hard rock subjected to HF is a tool to evaluate the amount of fluid pressure
needed to create additional fractures in the rock mass and facilitate the planning of HF operations.
The pressure-flow rate laboratory measurements are key data that can be used to calibrate a
subsequent numerical simulation at a larger scale, representative of the NHEET system.
Additionally, direct fluid flow measurements in fracture networks are useful to assess the influence
of various fracture properties (e.g. intensity, connectivity, aperture) on fluid flow.Master of Applied Science (M.A.Sc.) in Engineering Scienc
Creating a sense of home: assisted living in the Timiskaming District
No full textWith a rapidly growing aging population, there is an
imminent need for assisted living. This is especially true for
Northern Ontario; specifically, more remote northern communities
such as ones within the Timiskaming District. These communities
suffer from being under serviced, leaving aging members of these
areas unable to receive the levels of care they require.
Moreover, when assisted living is offered, it is within the form
of facility-based design. This creates a problem as these facilities
do not take into account the northern identity, but also, they are
not proven to be beneficial to the well-being and independence of
senior adults.
This thesis presents an alternative way that assisted living
can be designed for the well-being of aging individuals through
village – based, community design, that takes into account the
northern identity. This can be done through creating a strong
community amongst the residents, but also within the surrounding
external community of Kirkland Lake, Ontario.Master of Architecture (M.Arch
Extracting the time of core-bounce from core-collapse supernova neutrino signals in current and next-generation neutrino detectors
Get PDFCore-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) are amongst the most rare and energetic events in
the galaxy. In the Milky Way, they are predicted to happen as infrequently as 1.64±0.46
times per century. Over a duration of approximately ten seconds, a CCSN will convert
≈ 99% of its iron core’s gravitational binding energy into neutrinos. The initial wave of
neutrinos is powered by the neutronization burst, which is generated by electron capture
reactions on the collapsing core, which follows a critical time in the dynamics of a CCSN,
core-bounce. It has been 36 years since a CCSN was observed via its neutrinos. With
the observation of SN 1987A via its neutrino signal, a global effort has been undertaken
to bring together all neutrino detectors under a common goal: providing an early alert to
the astronomical community of an impending supernova and, if possible, triangulate to
the CCSN using its neutrino signal. This effort is called the SuperNova Early Warning
System (SNEWS). Triangulation simulations have recently seen tremendous success in
determining where a supernova is positioned from its neutrinos, but these studies have
made use of high statistics detectors such as HyperK, JUNO, and DUNE. This work im-
plements six analytic techniques into the detectors HALO and HALO-1kT, with the intent
of extracting a common reference time across all detectors to use for triangulation efforts.
The common reference time chosen is the time of core-bounce (t0), as it is followed by a
rapid rise in νe events within νe sensitive neutrino detectors. Our analysis made use of the
SNOwGLoBES event rate calculator, which quantifies event rates from supernova neu-
trino signals, which was then simulated through each detector’s Monte Carlo simulation
code. Various supernova models were taken into consideration to account for systematic
uncertainties between different mass progenitors, equations of state, etc. Our analysis
determined that for HALO and HALO-1kT, a constant fraction discriminator (CFD)
technique was optimal in extracting the time of core-bounce from the neutrino signal at
close distances (< 3 kpc), while a negative log likelihood technique was optimal at further
distances. At 1 kpc, HALO-1kT had a precision of 543 μs when using the CFD technique
to extract t0, which falls within the precision required to triangulate effectively (< 1 ms,
which HALO-1kT can obtain out to 3 kpc). With the intent of eventually implementing
these techniques into all experiments involved in SNEWS 2.0, SNO+ was incorporated
into our analysis in the later stages of this research. A preliminary exploration showed
severely degraded performance in contrast to HALO-1kT, where the CFD technique could
only obtain millisecond precision, not microsecond. Further analysis is encouraged.Master of Science (MSc) in Physic
La conceptualisation et l'animation d'une programmation scolaire visant l'enseignement des valeurs prosociales issues de la masculinité positive pour nos jeunes garçons
No full textComme travailleur social scolaire, nous composons avec de nombreux défis
sociaux. Nous intervenons d’ailleurs pour répondre à ces besoins, par
l’enseignement et la prévention. Par contre, certains défis sociaux, comme le
harcèlement sexuel et la violence faite aux femmes, persistent.
En collaboration avec le Centre Victoria pour femmes, nous avons construit et
réalisé un projet préventif pour accompagner le parcours identitaire et la
socialisation des jeunes garçons, par l’expression de soi, l’introspection, la
réflexion sur les modèles et les problèmes dans leur vie actuelle liées aux rapports
de genre.
Ce projet nous a offert l'occasion d'animer une programmation psychoéducative
empreinte de la masculinité positive pour faire la promotion de valeurs
prosociales. La masculinité positive est conceptualisée comme un moyen
d’affirmer, identifier et promouvoir des qualités positives, représentatives de la
masculinité afin d’engager les jeunes garçons en tant qu’hommes en devenir.
Cet essai est une description de la démarche de planification, de réalisation et
d’analyse d’un programme de 6 ateliers avec un groupe de jeunes garçons de la 8
e année de l’école secondaire Hanmer (ESH).Maîtrise en service social (M.S.S.
Exploring the impacts of adverse childhood experiences on anxiety and depression in adulthood: learning through practice
No full textThis report focuses on my 450-hour advanced practicum at the Northern Ontario
Counselling Clinic (NOCC) as a partial requirement of the Laurentian University Master of
Social Work program. The Northern Ontario Counselling Clinic is a private practice located in
Sudbury, Ontario that provides individual, couple, family, and group counselling in both official
languages. The primary focus of my advanced practicum at NOCC was to explore the
relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and anxiety and depression in an
adult client population situated in northeastern Ontario. My advanced practicum also examined
how social workers, using various intervention approaches, can work with adult survivors of
ACEs to support them in their path towards healing and recovery from early trauma. In this
practicum report, I present my learnings derived from the literature as well as from my practicum
experience at NOCC
HALO-1kT prototype He-3 counters: background studies
No full textThe last supernova near our galaxy was in 1987. HALO-1kT will be a low background galactic
Supernova detector. HALO- 1kT needs to have low backgrounds to detect a supernova on the far
side of the galaxy. A big source of backgrounds is the planned 4.3 km of helium-3 proportional
counters. My research tested the prototype proportional counters to ensure their backgrounds are
low enough to avoid regular false positives. The first way of testing them was to take the 4 counters
underground at SNOLAB to collect 3-4 months of data as well as a 2-day calibration run to see
what the base background rate is. Two of the counters were then attached to electrostatic counters
and counted to determine the background of the wall material. Those results showed emanation
rates of 0.137 Hz to 0.811 Hz in the wall material. While that is clean, it is not clean enough to
meet HALO-1kT background goals.Master of Science (MSc) in Physic
Mixed methods approach for secondary data using survey reports from an exploration industry database
No full textThe rich information acquired from incident and near miss reporting has been studied
within high-risk industries and such industries have used statistics acquired from past incident
reports to reveal trends to improve occupational health and safety. The proposed project aims to
understand the specific nature of injury severity reports within Canada’s mineral exploration
field to enhance existing occupational health and safety. The proposed research is unique as the
data arises from the entire mineral exploration industry in Canada, gathered by Prospectors and
Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), to represent a group of companies, working across
Canada. Data of this magnitude, over such a long time span, in this workforce, has never been
conducted before. Much research in H&S in the mining field has focused on mine workers, not
on mineral exploration, due to the difference in numbers. It is difficult to extrapolate knowledge
from other fields to mineral exploration, because of its high specialization, creating unique H&S
challenges. Although closely linked to production mining, Mineral Exploration requires a
different health and safety approach. This workforce has unique health and safety needs that arise
due to: the nature of the working environment; remote locations subject to extreme weather and
terrain; difficulty recruiting skilled workers in times of economic booms due to production
pressures or conflicts of interest between H&S superiors and trainees; lack of available resources
in the field which vary and are dependent on financial capacities of each company ; and H&S
efforts heavily influenced by a company’s market capitalization meaning smaller companies
often times not having one person specifically in charge of H&S or potentially be less obliged to
follow or partake in H&S procedures, and in large companies it is more likely to have a whole
group whose sole focus is H&S and the environment. Determining which factors influence
health and safety within mineral exploration is therefore a crucial first step to better understand the safety culture, safety consciousness, and the specific needs of this field. Given that the health
and safety environment of mineral exploration is multidimensional, it is pertinent that research
be conducted directly within this field to bridge gaps in prevention and practice. The expected
outcome for this project was twofold: i) to highlight the health and safety trends in the industry;
and ii) to determine common trends, areas of importance, critical issues, and actionable training
suggestions, to mitigate risk for workers. This was done by taking survey data and showcasing
points for industry and occupational health and safety advocates through knowledge transfer
components, to provide a deeper understanding of various components that contribute to injuries
and fatalities.Master of Human Kinetics (MHK
Providing care to a loved one diagnosed with dementia: the biopsychosocial impact on caregivers
No full textFor the person living with a dementia, there becomes a dependency on others that
is typically taken on by a close female relation within the family. These informal carers
provide invaluable service to the person living with dementia and a more in-depth
understanding of the experiences of informal carers is required to ensure that their
needs are identified, and we better understand how best to support them.
My study examined the experiences of informal caregivers providing care to a
family member diagnosed with a dementia. I investigated their experiences using a
narrative approach that allowed for the voices of the carers to be heard, and I identified
key issues that the 10 female participants reported in relation to their caregiving roles.
The study was designed to answer the research question:
1) What is the biopsychosocial impact on an informal caregiver providing care to a
loved one diagnosed with a dementia?
Previous research was mostly quantitative in nature and focused primarily on the
experiences of the person living with dementia. My study utilized a qualitative research
process and thematic analysis through one-to-one in-depth interviews based on open-
ended questions. This method enabled caregivers to give voice to their experiences.
Three main themes were developed from the data (1) biological impact (2) sociological
impact and (3) psychological-emotional challenges. The findings help us better
understand the informal caregiver experience of providing care to a person living with a
dementia and offer insight into the value of engaging informal caregivers of persons
living with dementia in service development, implementation, and also with respect to
technological research in the use of devices in support of the carer journey. The study provides a vision for the equal integration of social work services into healthcare teams
as well as identifying the need for specific skills and training in social work related to the
field of dementia and service provision.Master of Social Wor