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The impact of social distancing on an aging population during a pandemic: the relationship between social connection and mental health symptomatology
Get PDFIn past research, social connection, as defined by its functional, qualitative, and structural
aspects, has been shown to positively impact older adults' mental and physical health.
Considering the tremendous public health issue SARS-CoV-2 (also called COVID-19) has become,
examining these factors is needed during an active wave of the pandemic. In the current study,
two social connection constructs—social isolation assessed with the Social Network Index and
loneliness evaluated with the University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale—were
administered along with the Geriatric Depression Scale: Short Form and the Geriatric Anxiety
Inventory. These surveys, along with a COVID-19 related survey and demographic questionnaire,
were completed by 63 older adults. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to evaluate
how well the connection measures predicted depression and anxiety scores. Loneliness
significantly predicted both mental health variables in the regression analyses; however, social
isolation did not, which indicated perceived connection might have more impact on mental
health than the number of people in one’s network and frequency of contact. Thus, quality and
perception of relationships could be a more efficacious area of focus in intervention plans than
structural social connection (i.e., CBT model).Master of Arts (MA) in Psycholog
Social dominance orientation and terrorist religious affiliation: predictors of dehumanization and affect toward Muslims
Get PDFResearch has strongly evidenced the disparity among media and public attitudes toward nonMuslim and Muslim perpetrators of crimes. Recent research demonstrated this discrepancy,
whereby non-Muslim perpetrators are viewed as mentally ill and humanized in the media, while
Muslim perpetrators are dehumanized and derogated (Elmasry & el-Nawawy, 2020; Mercier et
al., 2018). The present study sought to investigate the influence of the reported religious
affiliation of a perpetrator on participants’ (de)humanizing attitudes toward Muslims. NonMuslim undergraduate student participants (N = 122) completed a measure of Social Dominance
Orientation before exposure to a randomly assigned article reporting on a vehicle bombing with
either a Muslim, Christian, or unspecified religious affiliation perpetrator. Results show
moderate to higher SDO participants in the Muslim perpetrator condition displayed more
dehumanization toward Muslims, while those in the Christian and unspecified perpetrator
conditions displayed the opposite. Interestingly, psycholinguistic analyses demonstrated a similar
effect, with those in the Muslim and control perpetrator condition utilizing more negative affect
language in their free-writing responses than those in the Christian perpetrator condition.
Implications for how media reporting influences attitudes toward Muslims will be discussed,
along with future directions.Master of Arts (MA) in Psycholog
The influence of emotional context scenes on the interpretation of masking smiles
Get PDFThe current study investigated the effects of emotional context scenes on the interpretation of
masking smiles. The study was conducted using 3 groups, a control group (29 participants) and 2
experimental groups (30 and 25 participants respectively). The control group was shown the
name of one of 4 emotions (Anger, Disgust, Fear or Sadness), followed by masking smiles with
traces of negative emotions. They were then asked to identify the masking smiles that
corresponded to the emotion. The first experimental group was shown an emotional context
scene meant to convey one of the same 4 emotions in the control group, followed by pictures of
the same masking smiles with traces of negative emotions. Finally, the second experimental
group followed the same procedure as the first but were presented with an emotional context
scene with the name of the emotion that it was meant to convey at the bottom of the screen.
Participants in the experimental groups were asked to identify the masking smile that best
corresponds to an individual trying to mask the emotion that was previously presented to them.
The results showed that the context images did not have any major effects on the interpretation
of masking smiles, with anger only being recognized at a below chance level in the first
experimental group.Master of Arts (MA) in Psycholog
Beneath the pines: rebuilding the natural image of Sudbury through alternative residential development strategies.
No full textSudbury Ontario has been host to to innumerable
extraordinary events, both natural and man-made,
that have created polarizing perspectives of the
natural. The relatively short 140-year history of
white settlement in the Sudbury area at the hands of
industrialists has seen the scarring of a unique and
geologically rich landscape composed over billions
of years which has contributed to an uncertain
image of the city, a loss of northern identity, and
more generally, an image that does not reflect the
spirit of the place of the people that reside inhabit
the area. More recently, the suburbanization of
Sudbury has further alienated the concept place
and identity through the quick development of
sub-divisions complete with foreign concepts
of living in manufactured landscapes. The thesis
explores the relatively short history of settlement
within the natural landscapes of Sudbury and how
it can inform strategies for the slow development
of architecture that is distinctly of the place and of
the people. The study of the morphology around
Ramsey Lake informs new strategies for the public
stewardships of important natural contributors to
the image of the city. The thesis questions how
alternative strategies for community building united by strong and formalized position of stewardship,
can be formalized into new architectural typologies
that contribute to the natural image of the city.
Ultimately, a scarred image of the city has emerged
and as the mining industry slows, and arguments
against suburbanization strengthen, the thesis
explores how individuals can reclaim a sense of
ownership in the development of the image of
the city through thoughtfully considered individual
dwellings united by a collective focus of sensitive
growth in tune with that of the natural landscape.
Since the permanent settlements in the Sudbury
area, industrialization have damaged the natural
image of the city to the point where descriptions
and pictures of the ancient landscapes only live in
the imagination. This is a story of understanding
the humans place within the timeline of history and
serves to create new perspective of development
in the naturally rich landscapes of Sudbury. There
is a beauty of the Sudbury landscape, a beauty
worth preserving through the oil paints of the
Group of Seven that lies under scars of industry.Master of Architecture (M. Arch
Our posthuman present: thinking through ableism, disability, and untethered norms
No full textThis dissertation aims to show, through the example of disability studies, how changes in the
modes of normalization in our contemporary society have affected how abnormality is
perceived and controlled. The purpose is to explore, promote, and contribute in some way to
the more critical currents of Disability Studies, but also to use these more nuanced critical
currents as roadmaps to how we may destabilize dominant narratives that affect, or are slated
to affect, an increasing number of people in the near future. I argue that to understand the
situation of disability today is to understand our shared posthuman condition. In Part 1, I
describe the ways in which biomedicine and neoliberalism as technologies of control have
mutated beyond the historical limits of modernist thinking. Practically speaking, it is argued
that we can think of optimization and maximization as fundamental orienting norms in a de
facto posthuman world. In Part 2, I describe transhumanism as the dominant framework
through which we develop our ideas about the future, and oppose it to a disability informed
critical posthumanist perspective. I conclude the work with some preliminary political and
ethical considerations about our relationship to technology, the value we place on alternative
embodiments, and the need to include alternative voices in choosing an acceptable future.
These remain preliminary because the purpose is not to offer a definitive vision of the future
but offer some enabling conditions for those marginal and minoritarian voices to contribute
to our shared project of world-makingDoctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Human Studie
An architecture of reclamation in the city of Sudbury: where land and water meet
No full textThe City of Greater Sudbury is home to a unique terrain that has
been shaped by many events throughout time. The culture of the
place is deeply rooted in industry as well as distinctive landscape
feature such as barren rock outcroppings and bounty of lakes.
After a century of invasive mining activity, the landscape is being
reclaimed and the city of rocks is shifting to a city of lakes. Thanks
to re-greening efforts many of Sudbury’s 330 lakes have been
brought back from their acidic state. However, urban development
has created new challenges for lakes found within the city’s core.
This thesis explores the potential for an architecture of reclamation
that doesn’t impose itself on the land but aids in the rehabilitation
and ecological functions of the specific site. The project is a piece
within a complex ecosystem that provides stormwater management
benefits, educational amenities and ecological regeneration. Within
the riparian zone of Ramsey Lake, this proposal acts as a mediary
for clean water environments, where land and water meetMaster of Architecture (M.Arch
Spaces of the device: Camera Obscura
No full textThe use of light in architecture presents two critical factors that
can be applied for experiencing space when designing. The most
intimately known is when the designer or artist uses light to invoke
emotion through shadow and colour in the built environment, such as
where light conducts a critical role in the design and the perception
of space. Cameras, like eyes, receive light and translate them into
an understandable medium, such as onto film. The Camera Obscura,
a device changed through the centuries for scientific and artistic
purposes, provides a useful lens for understanding the uses of light.
Studying the origin and evolution of the camera and its impact on
art and architecture presents a reimagined architectural form for
daylighting design. To showcase this connection, the proposed
buildings for this thesis will be an artist residency and an exhibit
on optics. These two programs will be connected through their
commonalities regarding daylighting. The light and optics exhibit will
repurpose a building into a space fit for learning the functionalities of
light and optics. The artist residency will have living quarters for up to
two artists and a dynamic studio workshop that will be adaptable to
suit the needs of the art. The studio space will then act as a showcase
for the artists’ works. The proposed buildings, named The Camera,
and The Periscope Tower, will attempt to be dynamic structures that
can adapt the lighting to the users’ needs.Masters of Architecture (M.Arch
Non-directional forecasting of stocks using Twitter’s quantitative metrics
No full textUsing public opinion to forecast political, social, and financial phenomena has usually been an
attractive subject for researchers. With the unprecedented growth of social networks, along with
the growth of technology and data mining methods, we have seen researchers move to platforms
such as Twitter to predict political, social, and economic indicators. However, most researchers
have turned to sentiment analysis of posts on social media, and mostly due to the quality of the
output of sentiment analysis algorithms, have reached results with not good accuracy. This thesis
seeks to prove the assumption of a significant relationship between quantitative data extracted
from social networks and economic indicators especially focused on stock value changes of certain
brands and companies. The results presented in this thesis are based on determining the severity
or extent of the change in stock value, regardless of the direction of change. In other words, the
presented outcome is for non-directional prediction. Due to time and financial constraints, this
thesis focuses on proving the existence of a significant relationship between stock price changes
of three brands, Apple, IBM, and Pfizer, and measurable Twitter indicators containing likes,
replies, followers, quotes, and retweets. To find out how feasible is this method, four machine
learning algorithms are applied, namely Artificial Neural Network, Random Forest, Support
Vector Machine, and Adaptive Boost. Except for SVM, the results are satisfying and promising,
especially with AdaBoost.Master of Science (MSc) in Computational Scienc
Evolutionary responses of amphibian populations exposed to mining-impacted environments and climate stress
No full textEnvironments impacted by pollution can often be characterized by numerous compounding
stressors. These pollutants, and their interactions with environmental variables, present unique
challenges for wildlife, often resulting in profound evolutionary changes. However, evolutionary
mechanisms such as local adaptation to multiple anthropogenic and environmental selection
pressures are still poorly understood. I conducted a laboratory experiment with Northern leopard
frog (Rana pipiens) tadpoles from three populations to test if they are adapted to miningimpacted environmental conditions. I also assessed the potential role of global warming on the
evolutionary outcome of these different populations by using two different temperature regimes.
Variability in survival was largely consistent with life-history trade-offs associated with local
adaptation to environments impacted by metals. Specifically, tadpoles from the environment
with high levels of toxic metals showed no difference in mortality, but had slower growth rates,
when raised in environments with medium and low levels of toxic metals. By contrast, tadpoles
from environments with medium and low levels of toxic metals displayed a higher risk of
mortality but no changes in growth rate when raised in an environment with high levels of toxic
metals. Unexpectedly, a warmer environment (25°C) led to higher survival for tadpoles from the
high toxic metal environment when raised in medium and low toxic metal environments
compared to tadpoles born in medium and low toxic metal environments. My study demonstrates
the potential for amphibian populations to adapt to mining-impacted environments and provides
evidence that such environmental conditions can influence life-history traits. This work also
highlights that multiple stressors associated with pollution and climate change can produce a
greater effect in isolation than in combination, which is an unlikely scenario according to current
climate change research.Master of Science (MSc) in Biolog
The role of community development in addressing food insecurity
No full textThis report examines the experience of my Advanced Practicum at the London Food Bank (LFB). Community development and food security are two concepts that will be discussed in detail throughout the duration of my report, and were a large focus of the advanced practicum setting. The London Food Bank is located in a low-income neighbourhood, and serves thousands of people who are experiencing poverty and food insecurity each month. Throughout my practicum, I was also able to understand how different social service organizations in London employed food security interventions for their clients who were vulnerable in terms of experiencing food insecurity.
I engaged in community development work at the London Food Bank through helping lead a community garden project called Adopt a Plot/Plant a Row Grow A Row. An overall review of frameworks and theories relevant to community development social work practice addressing food insecurity will also be included. Throughout my advanced practicum, I developed an understanding of how community development can be used as a tool to address food insecurity. A review of literature surrounding food bank models, food security interventions and the ways in which policy can be used as a tool to alleviate food insecurity will also be included in this report. An unfortunate reality exists today even in developed nations such as Canada: many people lack access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. While they are not without critique, food banks certainly play a vital role in addressing food insecurity in Canada