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Fair Share or Free Ride? A thematic and critical analysis of the political discourse of Canada’s equalization program under the Harper and Trudeau government
No full textCanada’s constitutionally entrenched equalization program is intended to ensure that every province can deliver comparable public services at comparable tax rates, yet it has become one of the federation’s most polarizing symbols. This study asks how political discourse around equalization evolved in Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Ontario between 2006 and 2024, and what that discourse reveals about contemporary Canadian federalism. Drawing on 1,339 Hansard references, the paper first conducts a thematic analysis to map recurrent narratives inside each legislature. It then applies critical discourse analysis to the rhetoric of leading provincial actors, such as Jason Kenney, Dwight Ball, and Dalton McGuinty, to uncover the ideological work equalization performs. The findings show that while themes of fairness, federal tension, and political accountability recur everywhere, their expression diverges sharply. Alberta frames equalization as evidence of systemic exploitation and Western alienation; Newfoundland and Labrador oscillates between pride in brief “have-province” status and betrayal over unmet federal promises; Ontario turns the program into a mirror of provincial decline and partisan blame. Across all three cases, limited federal transparency allows provincial leaders to recast equalization as a discursive battleground for identity, grievance, and legitimacy. Reform must begin with communication: without clear, accessible explanations of how equalization works, attempts to depoliticize or restructure the program will founder on a widening gap between fiscal reality and political narrative
Ancient Water Governance for Modern Cities: Lessons from the Ancients
No full textThis research paper examines how ancient water governance systems, particularly those of the Minoans, Egyptians, and Mesopotamians, can offer critical insights for contemporary urban planning practices rooted in equity, sustainability, and resilience. Drawing on archaeological evidence, cultural cosmologies, and infrastructure design, the study explores how water has historically functioned not only as a resource, but also as a sacred element, a civic duty, and a moral principle embedded in the fabric of everyday life.
Using a comparative-historical methodology, this paper identifies four recurring themes in ancient water governance: cosmological integration, adaptive infrastructure, decentralized control, and systems thinking. These societies positioned water within ritual, legal, and architectural systems that reinforced collective identity and environmental attunement. Their water management practices reveal a deep connection to place where water was not abstracted, but intimately known, honored, and shared. Contemporary case studies including Cochabamba, California, and Mexico City are juxtaposed with historical models to demonstrate that many modern water crises stem less from technical incapacity and more from failures of governance, imagination, and cultural continuity. By centering cultural and ethical dimensions alongside material ones, the research argues for a renewed planning paradigm that treats water as a relational and symbolic force rather than a purely engineered commodity.
This paper calls for a shift in planning education and practice: to recover long-view thinking, restore cultural context to infrastructure, and reimagine water governance as an act of ethical and communal stewardship. In doing so, it affirms that ancient knowledge systems, though distant in time, remain profoundly relevant to shaping more just and resilient futures
Differential BCAA Metabolism in Tissues of Tumor-Bearing Mice: A Path to Understanding Cancer Cachexia
No full textCancer cachexia is a complex syndrome marked by muscle and fat loss, often resistant to nutritional support. While branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) stimulate muscle protein synthesis, BCAA-targeted therapies have shown inconsistent results. In this study, a C26 colon cancer mouse model was used to examine how tumor burden alters BCAA metabolism across skeletal muscle, liver, kidney, and adipose tissue. Tumors accumulated BCAAs and showed increased enzymatic activity, whereas peripheral sites displayed widespread BCAA depletion, reduced expression of the amino acid transporter LAT1, and suppression of mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling. Notably, the soleus muscle maintained mTORC1 activity despite reduced BCAA availability, suggesting fiber-type–specific adaptations. These findings indicate that tumors act as metabolic sinks, diverting systemic amino acids away from host tissues. Such reprogramming may underlie the limited success of BCAA-based interventions in cachexia and highlight the need for therapies that address both tumor and host metabolism
Initial Implicit Changes in Adaptation as a Function of Different Perturbations
No full textImplicit motor adaptation allows us to maintain accurate movements under changing conditions. This process, driven by sensory prediction errors (SPE), mismatches between predicted and observed sensory-motor outcomes, corrects motor commands unconsciously. This study examined the extent to which initial implicit adaptation is sensitive to error magnitude and whether it reflects the behaviour observed in prolonged exposure contexts. We employed a single-trial learning (STL) paradigm within a classical visuomotor adaptation task. Participants reached to dot and arc targets while experiencing single rotated-cursor trials (1°-90°), isolating trial-by-trial changes in motor outputs, along with a long-exposure block involving a 20° rotation to test STL predictability in prolonged contexts. Results suggest initial implicit adaptation follows a saturating response pattern with increasing error magnitude while model-derived predictions tracked reasonably with long-exposure performance. Our findings reveal key features of early implicit adaptation and highlight STL as a promising tool for examining implicit adaptation in varying contexts
Design, Synthesis, and Characterization of Novel Phosphorus-Containing Conjugated Materials Based on Vat Orange 3
No full textAs the global production and diversification of electronic devices—ranging from energyconversion to energy-storage applications—continues to surge, enhancing their efficiency has become a critical objective. While the well-built metal-based technology of these devices warrants recognition, the associated sustainability and toxicity issues must not be overlooked. This is where π-conjugated organic materials play a pivotal role. Research in the new millennium has provided numerous types of conjugated materials possessing properties that offer clear paths towards integrated electronic devices (e.g., Organic Light-Emitting Devices (OLEDs), Organic Solar Cells (OSCs), Organic Field-Effect Transistors (OFETs), organic batteries) with performances approaching those of their metal-based counterparts. Accordingly, a multitude of developed compounds such as Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) or strategies that embed main group elements into carbon-based synthons, have all been aimed at this common goal. However, the development of PAHs and incorporation of heaver main group elements such as phosphorus have rarely intersected until recently. This marriage is facilitated by the emergence of vat dyes as cost-effective precursors for organic semiconductors as their scaffolds provide a convenient route to PAH cores, such as anthanthrene and chrysene. Therefore, this thesis is focused on methods of merging phosphacycles with Vat Orange 3, along with investigating the photophysics of these functional materials, their capacity and ease of undergoing redox processes, and the role of phosphorus in modulating the systems’ electronics and impact on the overall functional properties. Through bridging heavier main group elements and large conjugated scaffolds, the emerging platform also attempts to overcome long-standing limitations in the literature, such as inefficient low-energy luminescence, restoration of the original keto groups in the vat dye-based frameworks, and doublet emission from phosphorus-containing conjugated materials
Maximizing and Assessing the Accuracy of Equilibrium Dissociation Constants for Affinity Complexes
No full textAffinity interactions are fundamental to both biophysical technologies and biological systems, with the equilibrium dissociation constant (Kd) serving as a critical parameter that quantifies binding strength. Accurately determining Kd is essential for applications ranging from drug discovery and diagnostics to mechanistic studies in molecular biology. However, despite its importance, Kd values determined by different biophysical methods often vary significantly, highlighting unresolved measurement inaccuracies. Before this work, no comprehensive framework has been established to systematically identify the root causes of these inaccuracies or to provide accessible tools for reliably evaluating Kd accuracy.
This dissertation addresses these challenges through both experimental and theoretical advancements. On the experimental side, I confirmed the robustness and ruggedness of the Accurate Constant via Transient Incomplete Separation (ACTIS) method. Initially applicable only to protein–small molecule systems due to its reliance on diffusivity differences, ACTIS was extended to study protein–DNA complexes by optimizing instrumentation and experimental protocols. On the theoretical side, I performed a systematic analysis to identify the key determinants of Kd accuracy that are independent of measurement method. The study revealed that minimizing the concentration of the limiting component and reducing systematic errors in reagent concentrations and signal measurements are essential for achieving accurate Kd values. Recognizing practical constraints such as the limit of quantitation (LOQ), I investigated common sources of systematic error and proposed mitigation strategies.
To provide researchers with a practical tool for assessing Kd accuracy, I developed a computationally efficient algorithm to estimate the Accuracy Confidence Interval (ACI) for Kd from a single binding isotherm, which serves as the foundation for the web-based tool ACI-Kd. Given the mathematical similarity between Kd and the Michaelis constant (Km), the framework was further extended to enzyme kinetics, resulting in ACI-Km.
Additionally, I developed ACI-ITC, a Monte Carlo-based tool that evaluates the accuracy of Kd, binding enthalpy (ΔH°), and stoichiometry (n) from isothermal titration calorimetry data. All tools are accessible through a unified web platform: https://aci.sci.yorku.ca. Collectively, this research provides rigorous, accessible methodologies for enhancing the reliability of molecular interaction measurements across a wide range of experimental systems
"We're the One's Working on the Ground, the 'Real' Ground": Exploring Tensions and Realities of Global South SFD NGOs in Fostering 'Safe Sport' Environments for Children and Youth
No full textAcross the globe, mounting concerns have been raised about the safety of children and youth in sport (Kerr et al., 2020). As such, many global sport organizations have been implementing safe sport policies and frameworks, such as the International Safeguards for Children in Sport, to protect children and youth from abuse and maltreatment (Gurgis et al., 2022). However, in Global South countries, the implementation of safe sport initiatives remains limited, further complicating efforts to protect children and youth. This study examines the relationship between Sport for Development (SFD) programs and safe sport policies and practices, focusing on how these initiatives support – or fail to support – the safety of children and youth participating in Global South contexts. Grounded in decolonial feminist theory, the study draws on semi-structured interviews with SFD NGO staff members operating in Global South contexts (n = 15) and a documentary analysis of key SFD NGO safe sport policy documents (n = 10). Data was analyzed using two complementary approaches, including Bacchi’s (2012) What’s the Problem Represented to Be (WPR) approach and critical discourse analysis. Findings revealed that safe sport policies and practices must move away from a universal and ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to safeguarding. Instead, there is a critical need for context-specific safe sport policies that account for local geographies and the sociological, cultural, political, and colonial conditions that shape violence and abuse in Global South regions. To meaningfully enhance the safety of children and youth in SFD programs – particularly in relation to gender, race, and class – further research is needed in the SFD field that prioritizes and foregrounds intersectional and decolonial approaches to safe sport
Mercury Supply at Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mines in Africa: Actors, Distribution and Networks
No full textThrough a regional case study of Ghana, this thesis explores the role mercury plays in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) and broader agrarian livelihoods, in rural sub-Saharan Africa. In doing so, it seeks to introduce a fresh perspective to the debate on mercury in the region’s ASM sector, which has focused predominantly on the environmental and health-related impacts linked to its widespread usage. With ASM responsible for close to 40 percent of global anthropogenic emissions of mercury, donors and international NGOs have pushed to minimize – and where possible, eliminate altogether – its use. Findings reveal that mercury distribution and supply networks are firmly entrenched, populated by actors who are also embedded in the circuits linked to gold production at ASM sites. It is hoped that findings such as those reported here will help to stimulate a critical reflection on mercury management in the region’s ASM sector
Writing Violence in Victorian Children’s Adventure Fiction, 1880–1914
No full textThis dissertation investigates depictions of violence in late Victorian children’s adventure fiction in a range of canonical and obscure texts written between 1880 and 1914. Based on these analyses, I argue for expanding the definitions of adventure, then and now. Traditionally, adventure has been understood as a journey to a foreign locale, followed by tests of skill, and concluding with a return home. Instead, I contend that violence is the crucial component of adventure, regardless of the protagonist’s gender or race, and that at its core, adventure consists of forceful encounters with “others,” wherein “otherness” is composed of the marginalizing factors of race, gender, class and/or caste, disability, and animals. By redefining adventure, this project delineates the various narrative permutations that are possible, which effectively allows for a recovery of female authors (and their female protagonists) whose works have fallen into obscurity or who have been excluded as writers of adventure. Girls are, as I demonstrate, just as capable of committing acts of violence as boys. Critics’ attempts to reinforce gendered divisions of the genre (in terms of subject matter and readership) and late nineteenth-century reading markets are inaccurate. Although the majority of this dissertation explores the disciplinary and dehumanizing function of violence as a method to inculcate children into imperialist ideology, it concludes with an examination of how children’s adventure narratives can also deploy violence to destabilize imperialist attitudes
Education Behind Bars: Understanding Educational Access in Ontario’s Juvenile Detention Centres
No full textThis research paper examines the accessibility of secondary school education for youth incarcerated in Ontario’s juvenile detention centres, focusing on why access remains inconsistent despite education being recognized as a legal right and a vital part of rehabilitation. It highlights how educational disparities are shaped not by legislative gaps, but by fragmented and inconsistent implementation across the province. Drawing on original field research, including a comprehensive literature review and in-depth interviews with eight participants from school boards, the Ontario public service, and detention facilities, the study reveals systemic inequities in areas such as French-language instruction, vocational training, online learning, and timely access to student records. The findings indicate that the quality and scope of education provided to incarcerated youth are largely dependent on regional factors, institutional partnerships, and resource allocation. This thesis contends that these disparities undermine the rehabilitative purpose of detention and threaten youths’ rights and chances for reintegration. To address these service gaps, it offers evidence-based policy recommendations aimed at provincial and school board decision-makers, including the implementation of a centralized student record system, expansion of culturally and linguistically relevant programmes, enhancement of vocational and digital learning opportunities, and equipping educators with trauma-informed training. Ultimately, the research calls for a coordinated, province-wide strategy that moves beyond the current patchwork approach and affirms education in custody as a rehabilitative right owed equally to all youth