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How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else
Get PDFReview of How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else by Jeffrey J. Kripal (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2024
The Divine Invitation to Co-creation: The Effects of Creative Practice on the Vocation of Clergy in the Anglican Church of Canada
Get PDFCreative practice has been confirmed as having benefits for health and well-being for people as well as an effective spiritual practice aiding in discernment. Clergy find their purpose in their sense of vocation, often formed and discerned in the context of seeking ordination. The researcher, an Anglican priest and amateur artist, presents a renewed idea of vocation as co-creation with God by engaging in creative practice. Throughout the dissertation she offers reflections from her own experiences in art, health recovery, and ministry. Fifteen Anglican clergy were interviewed about their vocation, ministry, and creative practice. Each of these clergy met the criteria of engaging in a creative practice on average 2-4 hours a month. The literature review provides foundations in the topics of vocation, identity, creation spirituality, aesthetic theology, clergy health, church context, and creative process. The core category emerging from constructivist grounded theory methodology is a theology of co-creation reinforced by regular creative practice. Through creative practice we connect with our identity as co-creators as we experience flow, or the transcendent state of consciousness produced by engaging fully in an activity, heightening discernment and awareness. Participants experience the impacts of their creative practices in their ministries through sharing art and creating together, forming relationships and connections among people. In the discussion, the findings are put in the context of the literature expanding on the possibilities that come out of embracing our vocation as co-creators including spiritual practice, embodied ministry, and clergy health. The conclusion offers possibilities that centre creative practice for the expansion of the church’s ministry in a new age
Children\u27s Interpretation of Others\u27 Faces Covered with Medical Masks
Get PDFHow we recognize and regulate emotions is fundamental to overall health and wellbeing. Emotional recognition and understanding are key to proper communication and emotion regulation. Barriers, such as masks, might have an impact on the way children recognize and interpret others\u27 emotions, and therefore the way they learn, communicate, and regulate their own. The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated widespread mask-wearing, raising questions about its impact on children’s emotional development. Using a sample of children with varying levels of exposure to mask wearing adults (N= 13, ages 4 to 6), we investigated how prolonged mask wearing predicts emotion recognition, particularly for masked and unmasked faces, and emotion regulation skills of children. Children were given a series of short vignettes and asked to match masked and unmasked facial expressions of emotions that portray the emotion described in the vignette. The Transparent Box Task was used to observe children’s ability to regulate their emotions during a frustrating situation. Caregivers responded to a set of surveys to confirm mask exposure during mask mandates (2020/2021), as well as their child’s emotion regulation skills. Correlation analyses were run to explore associations between mask exposure, emotion recognition, and emotion regulation. Independent Samples T-Tests were used to investigate biological sex differences. Despite the small sample size, several trends emerged that, while mostly not statistically significant, still offer important insights. Older children, who had higher mask exposure, showed poorer emotion recognition. Biological sex differences were noted in emotion regulation, with males displaying higher levels of lability/negativity. Increased mask exposure was found to be associated with a diminished ability to recognize emotions on masked, unmasked, and angry faces. These findings support our hypotheses and highlight the need for targeted educational and psychological interventions, especially in contexts where mask wearing is prevalent
The role of blood glucose and insulin in exercise-induced appetite regulation
No full textPost-prandial glucose fluctuations are influential in appetite regulation through suppressive effects on appetite-stimulating hormones while stimulating the release of appetite-inhibiting hormones. Additionally, exercise is capable of eliciting glucose increases suggesting that these exercise-induced elevations in glucose may be a mechanism involved in post-exercise appetite regulation. Insulin fluctuations also reflect alterations in blood glucose and while evidence has yet to suggest the involvement of insulin in appetite regulation, given the interdependent relationship of glucose and insulin it is worth exploring the implications of these effects post-exercise. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the role of post-exercise glucose and insulin on appetite-regulating parameters through a series of paradigms that are believed to alter circulating glucose and insulin concentrations post-exercise. The main findings of this dissertation include:1) transient post-exercise elevations in plasma glucose increases, irrespective of exercise intensity (Study #1) or menstrual phase (Study #2), however appetite-regulating parameters were unaffected post-exercise; 2) insulin was not altered immediately post-exercise, irrespective of exercise intensity or menstrual phase (Studies #1 and #2), suggesting limited or absent involvement of insulin in post-exercise appetite regulation; 3) manipulations to glycogen availability alter plasma glucose and insulin post-prandially (Study #3), however concomitant changes in post-exercise appetite-regulating parameters are absent. Overall, this dissertation is the first to thoroughly examine potential effects of glucose and insulin post-exercise on appetite-regulating parameters indicating that glucose and insulin are uninvolved in appetite regulation following an acute moderate-intensity exercise bout. Although our sprint interval training (SIT) protocol was able to elicit plasma glucose elevations that coincide with acylated ghrelin suppression immediately post exercise, these effects were transient. Further, given the similar plasma glucose responses between moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) and SIT exercise but divergent acylated ghrelin responses (SIT suppresses, MICT has no effect) in Studies #1 and #2, along with the absent influence of MICT on glucose and ghrelin following carbohydrate replenishment in Study #3, these results suggest minimal effects of glucose and insulin on post-exercise appetite regulation. Future work is warranted to examine higher-intensity exercise protocols that demonstrate more robust glucose and insulin responses along with greater appetite suppressive effects
Pathways to Sustainable Employment: Bridging Community Justice and Social Enterprise Programs for Criminalized Women
No full textWithin the context of the Canadian criminal justice system, women face significant challenges when striving to secure and retain employment due to structural stigma and punitive practices. These challenges form barriers to accessing employment programs or sustainable career paths. To explore these barriers, a qualitative research study including semi-structured interviews and focus groups incorporating an arts-based project was conducted with fourteen women who navigate such obstacles. The arts-based experience mapping exercise served as a foundational generative method to magnify the women’s experiences and validated the transformative contribution of arts-based methods to research processes. Through examination of the intersections established between community-based justice organizations and social entrepreneurship programs, the participants determined how bridging these systems together can support criminalized women to attain sustainable economic security. The constructivist grounded theory analysis reinforced an urgent need for the justice sector to shift from existing institutional-based employment program models to sustainable community-based configurations. The findings from this analysis informed the author’s creation of the Comoptigen Theory and Program Implementation Framework, which provides principles and program components for guiding the creation of a bridged employment program for criminalized women. This study advances the discourses about how restorative trauma-informed approaches and community-based justice development initiatives can contribute to strengthening the social economy in Ontario. Further outcomes of the research include concrete recommendations and practices for how community justice non-profit organizations can deliver employment programs integrating trauma-informed models of collective care
Knowledge, Efficacy, and Experience in Components of STEM Education: The Impact of Teacher Professional Development
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Around the globe, there has been a significant focus on ensuring youth receive sufficient education and training in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) domains. Education reforms often begin with educators, who are responsible for effectively implementing curriculum changes. However, in Canada, although STEM education reform is underway, teacher education and professional learning (PL) and development may not have kept pace, potentially leaving some teachers feeling unprepared to integrate these changes confidently and effectively. This dissertation introduces two studies that investigate pre-service teachers’ readiness to teach STEM domains in the classroom, as well as the impact of a PL intervention aimed at improving teacher knowledge and skills in components of STEM. In both studies, teacher readiness was evaluated through the lens of self-efficacy theory (Bandura 1977, 1986) and the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK; Mishra & Koehler, 2006) framework. In Study 1, pre-service teachers from Canadian Bachelor of Education programs (n = 216) completed a comprehensive survey to establish a baseline for their experiences, knowledge, and perceptions, and to investigate and understand factors that impact pre-service teachers’ preparedness to teach STEM education. Overall, outcomes indicated that pre-service teachers are moderately prepared to teach some components of STEM, but they may benefit from additional PL opportunities to increase confidence and knowledge. These resources may be especially helpful for individuals who lack an educational background or interest in science. In Study 2, pre-service teachers (n = 47) were offered an evidence-based, long-term, online PL focused on teaching STEM using cross-curricular approaches. Pre- and post-test measures focused on teaching efficacy, outcome expectations, TPACK for teaching science, STEM PL need, and confidence with course concepts. Overall, results suggest that the PL was effective at increasing pre-service teachers teaching self-efficacy in science, TPACK, confidence with course concepts, confidence teaching STEM using an integrated approach and decreasing the need for science and technology pedagogy PL
Multi-Lingual and Cross-Domain Frontiers in Machine-Generated Content Detection
Get PDFThe rapid advancement of generative artificial intelligence, particularly Large Language Models (LLMs) such as GPT-4 and their multilingual capabilities, has significantly blurred the distinction between human-authored and machine-generated content. This technological evolution introduces critical challenges concerning the detection and attribution of textual authenticity and authorship, exacerbating societal issues like misinformation proliferation and compromising academic and professional integrity. Traditional detection methodologies, predominantly monolingual and heuristic-based, have demonstrated inadequate generalizability and efficacy against the sophisticated, multilingual capabilities of contemporary generative models.
This thesis addresses two major problems arising from these advancements. Firstly, it introduces novel multilingual detection methodologies explicitly designed to differentiate human-written text from machine-generated content across diverse languages. We present two innovative approaches: a transformer-based hybrid learning framework leveraging multilingual pretrained language models (PLMs), and a stylometric-based classifier specifically designed for interpretability and low-resource environments. Extensive experiments conducted on the multilingual MULTITuDE dataset encompassing eleven languages demonstrate superior detection accuracy and robustness of our PLM-based hybrid classifier compared to ``state of the art\u27\u27 methods. Concurrently, the stylometric classifier offers valuable forensic and interpretative insights, performing effectively under computational constraints and resource limitations.
Secondly, the thesis addresses the urgent challenge of combating AI-generated misinformation and fake news through a multitask learning framework that simultaneously classifies textual authenticity (real vs. fake) and authorship (human vs. AI). The proposed Shared-Private Synergy Model (SPSM), alongside hierarchical and prompt-based classifiers, significantly outperforms traditional single-task methods on the newly introduced FAANR dataset. Comprehensive experimentation, including ablation studies and interpretability analyses employing SHAP and LIME techniques, underscores the effectiveness and transparency of these methodologies, ensuring stakeholder trust and facilitating informed decision-making.
Overall, the thesis substantially contributes to the fields of multilingual machine-generated text detection and AI-driven misinformation classification by providing novel datasets, methodological innovations, and extensive interpretability analyses. While limitations exist concerning computational efficiency, adversarial robustness, and real-world applicability, the research outcomes establish a robust foundation for future studies, ensuring improved societal resilience against misinformation, enhanced academic and professional integrity, and greater transparency in digital communications
Marine and freshwater habitats used by sympatric anadromous Arctic Char (Salvelinus alpinus) and Dolly Varden (S. malma malma) in the central Canadian Arctic
Get PDFTwo closely related but distinct species of char, Arctic Char (Salvelinus alpinus) and Dolly Varden (S. malma), are critically important to the food security and culture of Indigenous peoples in northern North America. Subsistence Inuit fishers in Kugluktuk, NU, Canada, have noticed changes in the timing and locations of their catches of char in the past ~ 10 years. In response, an ongoing partnered research program between the Kugluktuk Hunters and Trappers Organization (HTO) and scientists was formed to study Arctic Char and northern form Dolly Varden (S. malma malma). Char research near Kugluktuk presents a unique opportunity to further scientific understanding because the ecology and life history of sympatric populations of anadromous Arctic Char and Dolly Varden are not well-described, and anadromous individuals of both species inhabit the Coppermine River, NU. Additionally, Dolly Varden were conventionally understood to inhabit only systems west of the Mackenzie River, NT, where populations are listed as a Species of Special Concern under Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA), largely due to concerns regarding availability of spawning and overwintering habitats. Populations of Dolly Varden in Coronation Gulf have recently been described but nothing is known about their spawning and overwintering habitats. In Chapter 1, I used acoustic telemetry to document the summer marine movements of sympatric anadromous Arctic Char and Dolly Varden near the Coppermine River. Using network analysis, I investigated: 1) high-use areas of each species; 2) habitat types used by each species (estuary vs nearshore marine vs offshore marine); 3) minimum total distance travelled by each species; and, 4) inter- and intraspecific shared space use. I observed high-use of estuary and nearshore habitats by both Arctic Char and Dolly Varden. Dolly Varden used offshore habitats more than Arctic Char, although limited receiver coverage in the offshore marine environment likely did not capture the full extent of
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offshore travel. Minimum total distance travelled in each study year was similar between the two species. The median distance individual Arctic Char and Dolly Varden travelled per hour during their summer movements were 134 and 137 m, respectively. Arctic Char appeared to share space with other conspecifics more than expected by chance, whereas Arctic Char and Dolly Varden shared space less than expected by chance. Overall, it appears that these species occupy marine habitats differently. In Chapter 2, I used active tracking of radio-tagged fish to investigate potential spawning and overwintering locations used by Dolly Varden in the Coppermine River. I also deployed a radio receiver station to monitor the timing of movements as fish passed an obstacle (cascade) on their freshwater migration route. I found that Dolly Varden spawned and/or overwintered in the mainstem of the Coppermine River ~ 63-165 river km upstream of the ocean in riffle or run habitats. Fish that ascended the obstacle earlier were significantly more likely to travel a longer distance to their potential spawning and/or overwintering locations. The upper reaches of the Coppermine River appear to be important habitat for spawning and overwintering Dolly Varden. Together, my results can aid the development of species-specific restorative and stewardship measures and support the Kugluktuk HTO in protecting this critically important subsistence char fishery
CHARACTERIZING THE TARGETING OF TOC159 RECEPTORS TO THE CHLOROPLAST OUTER ENVELOPE MEMBRANE AND THEIR ROLE IN THE ASSEMBLY OF DISTINCT TOC COMPLEXES
No full textGlobal agriculture and food security face challenges from climate change, population growth, and other human-driven pressures. Enhancing our understanding of plant biology, particularly chloroplast function, is critical for improving crop yield and stress resilience. As the sites of photosynthesis and key regulators of plant responses to environmental cues, chloroplasts depend on the precise import of thousands of nuclear-encoded proteins to maintain their biogenesis and function. While much is known about the core translocon components in the chloroplast outer envelope membrane that form the TOC complex, the mechanisms underlying their targeting, assembly, and regulation remain incompletely understood.
Plastids, including chloroplasts, evolved from an ancient cyanobacterial endosymbiont and now rely on sophisticated protein targeting pathways to import nuclear-encoded proteins. The chloroplast outer envelope membrane proteome, in particular, remains relatively unexplored. Through a bioinformatic approach, the work in this dissertation expanded the known list of chloroplast outer envelope membrane proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana from 117 to 138 and highlighted novel signals and pathways in protein targeting for this proteome that warrant further investigation. This includes the C-terminal “reverse transit peptide-like sequences” of TOC159 receptors.
Focusing on TOC159 receptors, a core component of the TOC complex, this dissertation investigated the mechanisms guiding their targeting, membrane integration and assembly into maturing TOC complexes. Targeting assays in A. thaliana protoplasts revealed that TOC159 receptors use a novel bipartite targeting signal at their C-terminus composed of a β-signal (G-Q-Φ-[ST]-Φ-[RK]-X-[SN]-[ST]) essential for targeting, and a transit peptide-like sequence that enhances targeting efficiency. Biophysical approaches demonstrated that this transit peptide-like sequence interacts preferentially with chloroplast-specific galactolipids, suggesting lipid-mediated targeting specificity.
Finally, using bimolecular fluorescence complementation, it was demonstrated that while GTPase domains of TOC33 and TOC159 receptor homologs can dimerize indiscriminately, the presence of TOC159 receptor acidic domains restricts certain interactions. These findings support a model in which the acidic domains drive the assembly of distinct TOC complexes that form photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic import pathways. Overall, this work deepens our mechanistic understanding of intracellular protein trafficking to the chloroplast outer envelope membrane of plant cells and informs future efforts to better understand TOC complex architecture and function toward engineering plant productivity and resilience through targeted manipulation of plastid biogenesis
The Effects of Mental Fatigue on Decision-Making for Collision Avoidance
No full textChanges to an individual’s physical or cognitive state can influence their perception of action capabilities. Collision avoidance tasks provide a way to assess these perceptual changes under varying conditions. For example, Snyder and Cinelli (2019) found that physical fatigue slowed response time during a collision avoidance task. Mental fatigue, induced by long periods of demanding cognitive activity, may have similar effects, as it has been shown to impair performance on cognitively demanding tasks (Kunasegaran et al., 2023). Interestingly, research comparing athletes and non-athletes suggests that athletes may be more resistant to the effects of mental fatigue (Jaydari Fard et al., 2019). Despite evidence that mental fatigue affects males and females similarly (Jaydari Fard & Lavender, 2018), much of the past research has focused exclusively on male participants.
While the effects of physical fatigue on decision-making for collision avoidance tasks are established, the effects of mental fatigue remain underexplored, especially in female athletes. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to investigate the effects of mental fatigue on decision-making during a collision avoidance task and determine whether male and female rugby players exhibit similar levels of resistance. Study One compared mentally fatigued non-athlete participants with a Control group, while Study Two investigated sex differences among fatigued varsity rugby players.
For Study One, twenty-six participants were randomly allocated to either the Mental Fatigue or Control group. Participants completed a virtual reality crossing order task, where they walked toward a doorway while a virtual person (VP) approached from the opposite direction. When the screen went blank, they responded whether they would pass first. Following this, the Mental Fatigue group completed a 30-minute Stroop task, while the Control group watched a 30-minute documentary. Participants then repeated the crossing order task. It was hypothesized that performance would decrease following mental fatigue and when the VP’s approach speed closely matched the participants’ own walking speed. The findings revealed that participants’ performance improved across both groups. However, accuracy was significantly lower when the VP approached at 1.1x the participant’s walking speed.
For Study Two, eighteen (9 male, 9 female) varsity rugby players completed the same procedure as the Mental Fatigue group in Study One. It was hypothesized that decision-making performance would decrease following the Stroop task and during conditions where the VP’s approach speed closely matched their own walking speed. Additionally, no sex differences in performance were expected. The results revealed that athletes maintained their performance despite being fatigued. However, they were less accurate when the VP’s approach speed was 1.1x their walking speed. Interestingly, female rugby players exhibited faster response times than males.
In conclusion, mental fatigue did not impair decision-making on this task, possibly because the cognitive demands of the task were insufficient to reveal fatigue-related effects. Additionally, requiring participants to make a binary decision at a fixed point likely simplified the perceptual demands of the task. However, accuracy was lowest when the VP approached at 1.1x the participant’s walking speed, possibly due to participants walking faster than their calculated average speed as they adapted to walking in the virtual environment. The sex differences in response time could possibly reflect differences in cognitive processing. Future research should explore more cognitively demanding tasks involving complex decision-making to better understand how mental fatigue and sex-based differences influence perceptual judgements