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Mining workers’ perceptions of the barriers to and facilitators of return to work subsequent to illness or injury
No full textThe goal of this thesis is to identify barriers to and facilitators of a successful return to work (RTW) following an occupational or non-occupational injury or illness within the mining industry. This study used qualitative research methods to better understand the recovery and RTW process from the perspectives of mining workers. Research participants engaged in semi-structured interviews to explore mining workers’ experiences with the RTW process following an injury or illness. Data analysis was guided by interpretive description (Thorne, 2016) and the following key themes emerged: holistic pillars of well-being supporting the RTW process, holistic supports, navigating the maze, and organizational championship. In conclusion, the results of this study illustrated the importance of various supports in facilitating recovery and RTW. Supports can manifest in organizational policy, RTW navigation guidance, and stakeholder appreciation for and understanding of the mind–body connection
Analysis of tramadol and its metabolites in rat skeletal tissues following acute and repeated dose patterns using high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry
No full textThe use of skeletal elements for the viable analysis of drugs of abuse has seen increased
prevalence in the past 10 years. Advancements in the analytical methods used, including solid
phase extraction and mass spectrometry, have allowed for increased sensitivity and selectivity.
Previous studies have focused on the influence of dose-death interval, microclimate, differential
patterns of exposure, and the influence of body position. In this work, the opioid analgesic tramadol
was investigated for its pharmacological behaviour when administered as part of three dosage
patterns to male Sprague Dawley rats. The three exposure patterns consisted of an acute low (n =
4, 1 doses, 30 mg/kg) group, a repeated high survived group (n = 5, 3 doses, 30 mg/kg) and a
repeated high overdosed group (n = 11, 3 doses, 30 mg/kg). Drug free rats (n = 4) served as
negative controls. Following euthanasia by CO2 asphyxiation, animals were decomposed to
skeleton outdoors over the summer of 2019 in Sudbury, Ontario. Bones were sorted by animal and
skeletal element (skull, vertebrae, ribs, pelvis, femur, tibia/fibula), then washed and ground to
powder before undergoing dynamic methanolic extraction. Semi-quantitative analysis of tramadol
and four of its metabolites – O-desmethyltramadol, N-desmethyltramadol, N,Odidesmethyltramadol and tramadol N-oxide – was conducted using high-performance liquid
chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) in positive ion mode.
Analyte levels were expressed as a mass-normalized response ratio (RR/m) in order to account for
the exact mass of bone used. Method validation for the analysis of tramadol and its metabolites
was investigated in accordance with the Scientific Working Group of Toxicologists (SWGTOX)
standards of practice, with all criteria except for dilution integrity successfully met at a limit of
detection and limit of quantitation of 1 ng/mL. The effect of exposure pattern on analyte level and
analyte level ratio was assessed using the Kruskal-Wallis test for significant differences (P < 0.05).
A total of 315 pairwise comparisons were performed to assess significant differences, with the
ratio of tramadol to N-desmethyltramadol determined to be the metric most commonly able to
identify these differences in 91% of tests. Additionally, the effect of skeletal element on analyte
level and analyte level ratio was also assessed, with a total of 675 pairwise comparisons. Skeletal
element was determined to be a significant factor in all cases. This data suggests that both skeletal
element and dose pattern are important measures to evaluate with respect to the analysis of drugs
of abuse in bone tissues. Furthermore, different metrics, including analyte level and analyte level
ratios, may be useful for discriminating between these different dosing patterns
Combined effects of maternal traits and spring warming patterns on spawning success of walleye
Get PDFFactors influencing survival through the earliest life stages are believed to be strong
drivers of recruitment variability in many fishes. Previous research on walleye (Sander
vitreus) has suggested that early life survival and subsequent year-class strength may be
related to the age composition of spawners through maternal influences on egg quality, as
well as environmental conditions during spawning and early rearing periods. My
objective was to examine survival and developmental rates for embryo batches of
individual female walleye of Lake Nipissing, Ontario, in relation to the combined
influences of maternal effects and incubation temperature.
Female walleye were spawned on multiple dates in each of three consecutive years (2017
– 2019) and their embryos incubated under three spring warming regimes (slow,
seasonal, and rapid warming; approximately 4 °C range in mean daily temperature) in a
controlled laboratory setting. Embryo survival to hatch and thermal units to hatch (TU50;
cumulative growing degree-days) were determined for each egg batch. Maternal traits
measured included female age and length, ovum (egg) size and total lipid content, and
relative abundances of essential fatty acids in ova lipids. For each year, embryo survival
and TU50 were modelled as functions of spawning date, incubation temperature treatment
and maternal and ova traits using standard frequentist statistics and a model selection
approach based on AICc ranking.
Embryo survival varied among spawning dates in 2017, the year with the earliest
spawning period, but not in 2018 or 2019. Embryo survival did not vary with respect to
incubation warming rate in any year. Relationships between embryo survival and
maternal and ova traits varied among spawning years but did not appear to be related to
incubation temperature treatments within years. Contrary to my predictions, embryo
ivsurvival was more consistently related to ova characteristics than to female age or size,
and relationships between embryo survival and indices of ova quality were not always
positive. Mean TU50 was higher in 2017, the year with the earliest spawning period, than
in 2018 and 2019. Spawning date and incubation warming rate had interactive effects on
TU50; there was generally a positive relationship between TU50 and spawning date in all
years in the seasonal and slow-warming incubation treatments but not in the rapidwarming treatment. Similarly, relationships between TU50 and maternal and ova traits
were strongest in the slow-warming treatment and weakest in the rapid-warming
treatment. TU50 tended to decline with increasing female age and size, and egg size. Time
to 50% hatch ranged from 13 to 33 days across all years, spawn dates, treatments and
females in my experiments. Based on my laboratory results and temperature
measurements at natural spawning sites I estimated that walleye would hatch 3 to 5 days
earlier at river inflow sites than at shoreline spawning sites in Lake Nipissing.
My results provide new and unique information on reproduction and the recruitment
process in walleye and have implications for size-selective harvest guidelines used in
fisheries management. It appears that the older and larger females of spawning stocks
may not always produce the eggs with highest survival. Also, it appears that temperature
could influence early life survival more indirectly, through its effects on hatch timing,
this is an aspect that merits further investigation
A systematic study of interaction effects between plants, microbes, and metals in a model constructed wetland system treating mining influenced waters
Get PDFConstructed wetlands (CW)s have been utilized for decades to treat acid mine drainage (AMD), either directly or as a final polishing step in a series of treatment processes. However, the role of wetland plants and how they influence the treatment potential is still poorly understood, especially when testing is done in an open field-based setting. The main goal of my thesis research was to investigate how plants influence the underlying geochemical conditions and microbial communities in wetland soils and how they in turn affect metals removal and storage potential when wetlands are used to treat waters impacted by mine drainage. In order to achieve this goal, I designed a novel constructed floating wetland (CFW) system that was capable of replicating processes that occur in a subsurface flow wetland and survive repeated freeze-thaw cycles (Chapter 2). The successful CFWs design contained a 20 cm deep, organic rich sediment profile, and was planted with Carex lacustris, Typha latifolia and Juncus canadensis. Five of my designed CFWs were deployed in two waterbodies impacted by mine drainage and located either near an active, or closed, Ni and Cu metal smelter in Sudbury Ontario.I found that both C. lacustris and T. latifolia promoted reductive processes in the CFW soil profile and had significantly higher porewater sulfide than the unplanted control for the entire duration of our experiment (Chapter 2). Additionally, the sediments of these two plants had a higher relative abundance of microbes involved in sulfur cycling and higher relative abundances of enzymes involved in the assimilatory and dissimilatory sulfate reduction pathways (Chapter 3). On the other hand, J. canadensis promoted oxidative processes and had 2-3 times higher porewater sulfate concentration compared to the open water. Additionally,
sediments of J. canadensis did not show any selectiveness towards sulfur reducing microbes, or the enzymes involved in the sulfate reduction pathway. Lastly, compared to the unplanted control, both C. lacustris and T. latifolia planted sediments had higher metal concentrations of Co, Cu and Ni, while J. canadensis did not. All the plants influenced metal partitioning to a certain degree and there was a strong site-specific influence on CFWs ability to remove metals (Chapter 4). My research provides a comprehensive look at how plants can either up-or-down regulate treatment potential of constructed wetlands and thus improves our understanding of how such systems can be used to better manage mining impacted waters
Storied attunements: revitalizing public space in downtown Sudbury
No full textExpressed in various art forms and across diverse media, narratives communicate
universal themes that enable audiences to identify with the work despite references to culturally, geographically
and temporally-specific details. As non-visual carriers of narrative, stories and music in particular rely on the involvement of the audience’s imagination to visualize scenes, atmospheres and places. These
interests orient research into the complex interrelationships between the arts of narrative, music and architecture to develop a translative framework for architectural and urban design that yields atmospherically rich spaces inspired by place-specific narratives. Focusing on Sudbury, Ontario, four sites were selected in the downtown core for their connections to overlooked local (hi)stories apropos of the railway, the
surrounding rock blackened from mining exploits, and buried creeks. Significantly, these sites are also neglected, or at best underused areas in the city, which the proposed design interventions tackle in
order to stimulate an urban revitalization that shifts the emphasis away from a carcentric urban fabric to a more pedestrian friendly, and environmentally and culturally sustainable experience. Culminating in the
design of a Mist Park, a Connective Garden, an Urban Terrace and a Resource Centre
with an exterior plaza, this thesis project celebrates local identity in its translation of narrative and ambient soundscapes into locally “attuned” public spaces, offeringa critical-poetic commentary on how a
design approach interwoven with (hi)story and sound can contribute to a network
of sensitive architectural responses that instigate an inclusive, ground-up urban
revitalization
Optimization of small modular nuclear reactor integration at a remote mine site in Canada
No full textThe concept of design envelope energy system optimization was developed and used to investigate
the feasibility of small modular reactor (SMR) deployment at a remote off-grid mine in northern
Canada. A set of design envelope demands was produced based on engineering estimates to
represent the anticipated actual nominal and peak demands of the mine, with a focus on
preserving characteristic variability on a per-utility basis. The formulation of design envelope
optimization was successful in optimizing a mine’s energy supply system given a design envelope of
nominal and peak energy demands to ensure the peak demand could always be satisfied, as
demonstrated through optimization of a wind-diesel hybrid system. A SMR was integrated into
the optimal mine site energy supply (OMSES) optimization model. However, the SMR was not an
economic solution for the mine given the economic circumstances of the project. The high specific
capital cost of the SMR was not competitive against an incumbent wind-diesel hybrid system.
Therefore, additional opportunities to integrate a SMR more deeply into a mine’s operation were
conceptualized and proposed for future work
CROSH COVID Conversations: Managing the Flow in the Workplace
No full textIn Part 2 of CROSH COVID Conversations, Industrial Hygiene Specialist Judit Nelson of Workplace Safety North and Dr. Thomas Merritt of Laurentian University (and CROSH) discuss 1) COVID-19 transmission via aerosol and ventilation controls we can consider in order to reduce the risk of transmission and 2) using direct genome sequencing to identify SARS-CoV2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, in municipal waste water
Subsisting frequencies: the Intersection of media arts and architecture
No full textThe facilities currently available for the creation of new media art are exclusively
reserved for funded professional artists. This inaccessibility is problematic for young and
emerging media artists that do not have the resources to develop their work in physical space.
Without the access to a proper facility, these emerging artists use projective equipment to
exhibit their work onto large public surfaces hoping to be seen. The proliferation and growing
popularity of projective art demonstrates a need to expose this work beyond the limitations
of computer monitors, into the potential of an architectural context. This potential relationship
between architecture and media arts offers an opportunity to create a building that prioritizes
public access to this art form rather than a strict professional use.
The concepts of analog and digital pertaining to light and space are fundamental in
developing a methodology while working at the intersection of media art and architecture. The
term analog defines a signal represented by a continuously variable physical quantity, such as
voltage, spatial position, etc. Analog rhythms are found in waves, usually evidenced by natural
phenomena with cyclical behavior. It can be argued that the sun is considered an analog
source of light and rhythm. Within an architectural context, for example, an array of window
mullions can modulate sunlight into analog rhythms of shadow. Whether they realize it or not,
architects create these analog experiences. The work of Iannis Xenakis and Le Corbusier
in La Tourette is exemplary in demonstrating the ability to create spatial experiences with
analog rhythms. Their work designing the Philips Pavilion demonstrates how architects can
create spaces at the intersect of both analog and digital rhythms.
The term digital describes attributes of computational language represented through
binary sequences of ones and zeros. Digital is precise and does not continuously fluctuate.
While a flashing light controlled digitally with a microcontroller may appear to continuously
change in amplitude, it is doing so by a miniscule and imperceivable stepping pattern. This
boundary is known as granularity, a phenomenon that is at the core of differentiating between
analog from digital. Unlike architects, new media artists work with a focus on digital experiences.
As this architectural thesis is heavily rooted in computational media, the intersection of analog
and digital is a vital concept in exploring boundaries of both practices. The core question then
is how can rhythms between analog and digital light act as a common foundation for media.arts and architecture? Spatial experimentation with analog and digital rhythms is essential in developing an
architectural project alongside media art. The window became a spatial interface between the
sun and computer generated projections, conceptually provoking a dialogue between analog
and digital light. This experimentation derived principles that could be applied to architectural
design. Using a physical architectural model as the interface between analog and digital light
is the methodology behind the design. The intention is for the architecture to embody the intersection of analog and digital. A public media art facility requires a site that suits the cultural mandate of its local community. Montreal is considered to be a leading capital in digital media, it is evident that this type of project would be valuable to this community. The Mile-end district of that city is a culturally unique location that would meet this expectation. Hosting numerous cultural events, the mile end is favorable for a project providing a space for social gathering. Situating this project in this district can take advantage of this neighborhood’s unique cultural life while challenging the traditional assumptions of what it means to create a public building
La cyberintimidation: perspectives et interventions pour les écoles secondaire francophones à Timmins
Get PDFLa société contemporaine est marquée dans son rapport au monde par la centralité
de la technologie. La cyberintimidation (CI) est un symptôme dévastateur de cette
centralité. La CI est l’imidation traditionnelle amplifiée par des caractéristiques
technologiques tout à fait inédites.
Dans ce mémoire, nous nous sommes intéressés aux enseignants spécifiquement
formés par le Ministère de l’Éducation de l’Ontario pour agir comme intervenants pour
contrer la CI. Le but de la recherche est donc de comprendre la perception qu’ont les
enseignants de leurs interventions pour diminuer la CI telle qu’elle se déploie parmi les
étudiants des écoles secondaires à Timmins. De cette manière, nous visions à développer
une expertise locale d’intervention préventive précis aux travailleurs sociaux
communautaires et scolaires de la région. En analysant les interventions des enseignants,
il a été possible de vérifier si leurs interventions correspondent aux pratiques
potentiellement efficaces relevées dans les recherches canadiennes antécédentes.
Nous avons mené des entrevues de groupe semi-dirigé avec ses enseignants. Nous
nous sommes servis de l’approche écologique, ainsi que des concepts théoriques de
Freitag (2013) sur la postmodernité et des concepts philosophiques d’Hottois (1984) sur
la technologie pour ancrer notre compréhension du phénomène.
À partir de notre cadre théorique, nous avons émis l’hypothèse d’un manque de
connaissance des enseignants quant à la profondeur réelle du phénomène, ainsi qu’une
hypothèse quant au niveau d’inconfort de l’intervention des enseignants. Notre étude a
confirmé ces hypothèses. Nous concluons sur le manque de formation continue sur la CI
et sur les méthodes de prévention et d’intervention incomplètes envers la CI dans le
curriculum quotidien dans les programmes-cadres de l’Ontario comme la citoyenneté numérique.Maîtrise en Service Socia
Muscle temperature influences oxygen uptake and blood flow during single leg isokinetic exercise.
Get PDFThermal changes in muscle tissues (i.e: cooling and heating) modulate local oxygen
transport from the muscle and into the cell. Whether a change in skeletal muscle oxygen
transport subsequently regulate oxygen consumption (V̇ O2m) and tissue oxygenation
(%TSI) during exercise is unclear. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of
skeletal muscle cooling and heating on muscle blood flow (Q̇ mus), V̇ O2m, and %TSI during
single-leg isokinetic exercise. Eleven men exercised during 3-min intervals under
thermoneutral (TN) condition, and localized muscle heating (HT) and cooling (CO), at
10%, 30%, and 50% of their maximal voluntary contraction (MVC). An occlusion
technique combined to near-infrared spectroscopy was used to estimate V̇ O2m and Q̇ mus
before and after exercise bouts.
The results of this study showed that Q̇ mus was significantly increased in HT, while
V̇ O2m was instead decreased in CO. Muscle temperature did not significantly change %TSI
during exercise. Moreover, the relationship between Q̇ mus and V̇ O2m (TN: 0.173 0.101,
CO: 0.187 0.0655, and HT:0.107 0.0413) was steeper in CO compared to HT (p =
0.009). In conclusion, this study demonstrated that muscle temperature regulates the blood
flow/O2 consumption relationship during incremental isokinetic exercise