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Dual Mechanisms of Control in Fine Motor Response Inhibition: A Comparison Between Young and Older Adults
Get PDFWhile past studies have proposed that age differences in fine motor response inhibition can be partly explained by age-related declines in proactive cognitive control, this association has never been formally investigated. The present study thus aimed to examine the extent to which fine motor response inhibition relies on specific modes of cognitive control. To do so, 34 younger adults (YA) and 26 older adults (OA) completed a novel visual-motor finger sequencing task incorporating the AX-CPT paradigm, a common test of cognitive control processes. Participants were first trained on a short sequence of key presses to develop a prepotent visual-motor pattern. Then, they completed mixed blocks of sequences composed of 70% prepotent sequences and 30% conflict sequences, for which successful performance relied on response inhibition and reprogramming to override the prepotent pattern. In the final two blocks, stimulus onsets were preceded by an asterisk cue to promote the use of proactive control. Results from linear mixed effects models showed that cueing improved reaction time performance across all sequence types, and particularly so for the conflict sequence causing the most proactive interference (η_p^2 = 0.03). However, the effect of cueing did not significantly differ across age groups. Moreover, OAs' reaction patterns across sequence types resembled YAs'. This implies that inducing proactive control through cueing may be a viable means of improving fine motor response inhibition. However, given our high-performing OA sample, further investigation is needed to determine whether promoting proactive control will help all OAs as much as YAs
Kokoro no Kenko: Understanding Mental Health Beliefs from a Culturally Grounded Perspective Using a Mixed-Methods Approach in Japan and Canada
Get PDFCulture plays a crucial role in shaping how people perceive, interpret, and navigate psychological suffering. This dissertation examines cultural variations in mental health beliefs within Japan and Canada, utilizing two mixed-methods research designs. The overarching objective is to engage in interdisciplinary and culturally grounded research practices, driven by the need to address the lack of diversity, inclusion, and global perspectives in psychological science, commonly referred to as the “WEIRD” problem. These research practices entail critically reflecting on the generalizability of Western biomedical models, conducting literature reviews in Japanese, and fostering collaborations with Japanese researchers.
Manuscript 1 examines the differences in causal and help-seeking beliefs about mental illnesses between Japanese and Euro-Canadian students. In this study, content analysis revealed themes related to social-contextualization and unique cultural perspectives, such as filial piety and resting. Statistical analysis showed group differences in the endorsement of explanatory models across various conditions, including depression, autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, alcohol use disorder, and hikikomori. Overall, Japanese students tended to psychologize and recommend social support, whereas Euro-Canadian students tended to medicalize and recommend medication and self-care.
Manuscripts 2 and 3 apply cultural consensus theory to explore shared beliefs about mental health, depression, and therapeutic alliance among Japanese clinical psychologists. Using a two-phase sequential mixed-methods design, cultural domain analysis identified salient terms reflecting mental health issues and changes in licensure within Japan’s socio-cultural and historical context. Cultural consensus analysis demonstrated shared models for most domains, with exceptions in for beliefs about an incompetent clinician, a difficult client, and external barriers.
This dissertation makes a valuable contribution by exploring culturally distinctive mental health beliefs and advocating for the benefits of mixed-methods approaches. It addresses the limitations of the contemporary psychological literature, which predominantly relies on theories, sampling, and methods prevalent in Western (i.e., “WEIRD”) contexts. These studies are proposed as an initial stride towards developing culturally grounded models for clinical assessment and care, catering to the needs of people from non-Western cultural backgrounds. The findings carry important implications for mental health research, policy, community care, practice, and education, especially in multicultural contexts
Ecopoetics, Decolonizing Aesthetics, and the Fluid Spaces of Co-Existence in Contemporary Circumpolar Indigenous Art and Exhibitionary Practice
Get PDFResponding to the explosive presence and participation of circumpolar art and artists in the global contemporary art world, this dissertation examines the transformative potential and influences of contemporary circumpolar Indigenous art, focusing on how they are reconfiguring institutional norms, cultivating ethical and caring spaces, and envisioning global futures. By exploring the intersections of ecopoetics, decolonizing aesthetics, and the concept of "How Institutions Think," this study unveils how Circumpolar art and artists have emerged as catalysts for social change within exhibitionary contexts. Through experimental poetic engagements with new materialisms, media, and performance, this dissertation addresses how circumpolar artists reconfigure boundaries, produce new narratives, and assert presence and collective existence in institutional spaces. Through an analysis of five seminal circumpolar exhibitions (post-2010s) at diverse institutions—a historic art gallery, an architectural research institute, two campus/university art galleries, and an Indigenous artist run-centre—this dissertation elucidates the historical, sociopolitical, and aesthetic impacts of this participation. Consequently, it investigates how circumpolar art, artists, and institutions coordinate to resolve the inner tensions that arise within the conditions of contemporary art and past representational discourse. This dissertation approaches expanded poetics as an underexplored genre of storytelling in Indigenous visual art, to tease out creative and conceptual potentials and reconfigurations of conventional discourses of aesthetics. An emphasis on ‘aesthetic action’, storytelling poetics as praxis, collapses the aesthetical-political binary and establishes how circumpolar artists affect and effectuate ‘presencing’ and collective existence in institutions. The incorporation of poetry and Indigenous institutional critiques throughout contributes to the scholarly record in this emerging field and addresses critical gaps in knowledge. This research contributes to the growing discourse on circumpolar ecopoetics by shedding light on the multifaceted ways in which circumpolar artists are reshaping institutions, mobilizing the rhetoric of decolonial love, and catalyzing climate justice towards a more just, liberating, and inclusive artworld and beyond. As such, the dissertation posits that the creative resurgence of expanded poetics diverts the historic ‘Arctic Gaze’ and repurposes it as a decolonizing instrument for aesthetic exploration, global environmental stewardship, and for advocating collective existence and co-existence
p-Adic L-Functions Attached to Dirichlet's Character
Get PDFThis thesis aims to extend and elaborate on the initial sections of Neal Koblitz's article titled "A New Proof of Certain Formulas for p-Adic L-Functions". Koblitz's article focuses on the construction of p-adic L-functions associated with Dirichlet's character and the computation of their values at s = 1. He employs measure-theoretic methods
to construct the p-adic L-functions and compute the Leopoldt formula L_p(1,χ).
To begin, we devote the first section (1.1) to providing comprehensive proof of Dirichlet's theorem for prime numbers. This is done because the theorem serves as a noteworthy example of how Dirichlet L-functions became relevant in the field of Number Theory.
In the second chapter, we introduce the complex version of Dirichlet L-functions and Riemann Zeta functions. We explore their analytical properties, such as functional equations and analytic continuation. Subsequently, we construct the field of p-adic numbers and equip it with the p-adic norm to facilitate analysis. We introduce measures
and perform p-adic integrations.
Finally, we delve into the concept of p-adic interpolation for the Riemann Zeta function, aiming to establish the p-adic Zeta function. To accomplish this, we employ Mazur's measure-theoretic approach, utilizing the tools introduced in the third chapter. The thesis concludes by incorporating Koblitz's work on this subject
Raising Twins: Studies on Maternal Well-Being and Characterization of Twins’ Early Brain and Behavioural Development
Get PDFAbstract
Raising Twins: Studies on Maternal Well-Being and Characterization of Twins’ Early Brain and Behavioural Development
Sutton Smith, Ph.D.
Concordia University, 2023
The early environment which includes the in-utero and the postnatal period, plays a role in brain and behavioural development. Twin designs provide us with the unique opportunity to study non-shared environmental contributions while controlling for genetic effects and the shared environment. However, there is some evidence to suggest that parents of twins also face unique stressors. The main objective of this thesis is to better understand maternal mental health in mothers of twins and behavioural and preliminary brain outcomes in the twins. The first chapter is a meta-analysis that included 14 articles to quantify the differences in depressive symptoms in mothers of singletons and mothers of twins. The second chapter is a latent class analysis in mothers of twins three, six, and nine months postpartum. We identified three possible trajectories for mothers of twins’ depressive symptoms. We tested the hypothesis that mothers with a trajectory of increasing symptoms over time were not associated with behavioural outcomes in the twins at 24 months. The third chapter of this thesis is a case report paper about five families that agreed to participate in a neuroimaging study when the twins were four years old. We showed the feasibility of doing brain imaging in twins at the preschool age and obtained data regarding the twins’ experiences in the MRI. This dissertation highlights the need for additional resources for mothers of twins. Additionally, the resources should be offered more than immediately postpartum. We conclude that neuroimaging in a pediatric population of identical twins is feasible.
Keywords: Twins, mental health, maternal, brain development, behaviour, longitudinal cohort, depressio
The Political Dynamics of Electricity Sector Performance in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire
Get PDFWhat factors drive variation in policy choices related to the electricity sector and, ultimately, in sectoral performance over time? This dissertation argues that differences in the form and intensity of competitive political pressures affect the choice and implementation of electricity sector policies and thus sectoral performance.
First, I explore bivariate relationships between commonly cited external factors – natural resource endowments, economic shocks, investment climate, droughts, and civil wars – and sectoral performance across Sub-Saharan Africa. The findings confirm associations between these factors and sectoral performance. Yet they indicate considerable unexplained variation in sectoral performance, which requires qualitative analysis.
Second, I analyze the politics of electricity sector management in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. In the 1980s and 1990s, these two countries faced similar economic and climatic crises that brought the electricity sector to its knees. Yet when the World Bank and the IMF pushed neoliberal policies as solutions for sectoral challenges, they responded differently. Liberalization and privatization policies moved forward more quickly in Côte d’Ivoire than in Ghana. Moreover, electricity sector performance differed in the two countries during 1990-2019. Electrification rates accelerated in Ghana, but they slowed in Côte d’Ivoire. Côte d’Ivoire improved the reliability of electricity supply more than Ghana. Electricity prices also reflected costs of service in Côte d’Ivoire but not in Ghana.
The comparative political analysis traces how different forms and intensity of competitive political pressures, especially coups d’état, electoral threats, civil wars, and risks of civil wars, affect the implementation of electricity sector policies and then sectoral performance in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. I argue that intense political competition encourages Ghanaian politicians to extend electricity access to rural areas to mobilize political support and to set artificially low tariffs to appease urban residents and swing voters. Politically motivated low tariffs, coupled with unpaid subsidies and governments’ failure to pay their own electricity bills, result in inadequate investments in power utilities and, in turn, recurrent power shortages and outages.
On the other hand, I argue that existential threats, mainly contestations over Ivorian identity and citizenship and civil war, slowed electrification programs with governments prioritizing regime and national stability. My study shows that (the risks of) civil wars crowd out ordinary concerns like electricity provision. However, when political life returns to normal, high competition drives governments to mollify voters by extending access to electricity and setting below-cost tariffs. Low competition allows governments to make policy changes they view as solutions for sectoral challenges but might defer short-term voter gratification. I demonstrate that low electoral threats encouraged the privatization of the state-owned electricity company in Côte d’Ivoire. In contrast, intense political competition discouraged ruling elites from privatizing the national electricity distributor in Ghana
PARAMETRIC ARCHITECTURE From Context and Livability Challenges to Optimization Complexity
Get PDFIn architecture and urban design, computer instruments have revolutionized how architectural drawings are produced and how buildings are visualized, optimized, assessed, and constructed. These tools have gained popularity because they allow architects to design forms that were not conceivable before and lead to an approach named Parametricism. However, this paradigm shift comes with two major consequences: First, there is an epistemological dilemma on how parametric architecture addresses qualitative parameters since it is highly dependent on quantitative and context-free standards. Second, the seductive forms designed with parametric tools often exhibit excessive complexity. This complexity exceeds the capabilities of regular simulation and optimization tools, leading to high computational costs. Therefore, this interdisciplinary research aims to produce a framework to incorporate contextual and livability factors in parametric architecture, propose a method to decrease computational optimization cost of parametrically designed forms, and reflect on how these forms can address contextual and livability concerns. Based on these three overarching objectives, this manuscript will be distributed across three sections. First, the consequences of over parametricism will be explored and discussed. Despite its automations and spectacular outcomes, it still fails to sensitively address aspects of locality, culture, and sustainability. Second, the shortcomings of parametric architecture in addressing qualitative factors will be discussed. Pure quantitative metrics and indexes do not adequately reflect aspects such as culture, history, and aesthetics. To overcome this limitation, the section will propose an innovative approach that incorporates qualitative factors into the parametric design process. Third, the research proposes a method to optimize parametrically designed complex facades such as louver and patterns regarding energy and visual comfort by integrating parametric tools and Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II). Furthermore, this research will bridge the gap between qualitative concerns and quantitative parameters by investigating how small-scale façade optimization can improve broader contextual considerations, urban livability, and overall sustainable architecture. Overall, the research contributes to the field of architecture and urban design by paving the way to implement quality in parametric design and ensure sustainability in the built environment. It also contributes to the building engineering domain by providing a workflow for optimizing complex façade forms
The Effects of Six Potent Age-Delaying Plant Extracts on the Cellular Lipidome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Get PDFThe objective of this study is to better understand the involvement of anti-aging plant extracts on the lipidome. My hypothesis was that some of the previously studied twenty-one age-delaying plant extracts extend aging by altering lipid and free fatty acid synthesis and/or metabolism. To test this hypothesis, my thesis analyzed the lipidome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae after treatment with Plant Extract 4, 6, 12, 21, 26, and 39, all of which have been previously shown to delay aging. The lipids were extracted from the treated and untreated S. cerevisiae and analyzed by a Mass Spectrometer. My results revealed that the six plant extracts enhanced the level of certain lipids and significantly decreased the level of free fatty acids. Similar results were obtained in a previous study done on caloric restriction, where caloric restriction enhanced the level of lipids and decreased the level of free fatty acids. Notably, while some lipids increased or decreased, during both caloric restriction and plant extract exposure, there was a general trend for free fatty acids to decrease, supporting that they may have a more consistent role in aging compared to lipids
Hidden figures: how legal experts influence the design of international institutions
Get PDFWhose preferences influence the design of international institutions? Scholarship on the legalization of international politics and creation of international legal institutions largely adopts a state-centric perspective. Existing accounts, however, fail to recognize how states often delegate authority over institutional design tasks to independent legal experts whose preferences may diverge from those of states. We develop a principal–agent (PA) framework for theorizing relations between states (collective principals) and legal actors (agents) in the design process, and for explaining how legal actors influence the design of international institutions. The legal dimensions of the PA relationship increase the likelihood of preference divergence between the collective principal and the agent, but also create conditions that enable the agent to opportunistically advance its own design preferences. We argue that the more information on states’ preferences the agent has, the more effectively it can exploit its legal expertise to strategically select and justify design choices that maximize its own preferences and the likelihood of states’ acceptance. Our analysis of two cases of delegated institutional design concerning international criminal law at the United Nations and the African Union supports our theoretical expectations. Extensive archival and interview data elucidate how agents’ variable information on states’ preferences affects their ability to effectively advance their design preferences. Our theory reveals how independent legal experts with delegated authority over design tasks influence institutional design processes and outcomes, which has practical and normative implications for the legalization of international politics
Recommendations for Fostering Open Science at Concordia University
Get PDFOpen science—and open scholarship more broadly—is revolutionizing how research is conducted by democratizing access to knowledge and bringing inclusion and transparency to the forefront. By making research processes and products open and accessible to all, open science promotes fairness, efficiency, and accountability in the scholarly enterprise and ensures that the benefits of scientific and humanistic progress are shared with all segments of society.
In Canada, fostering the practical implementation of open science practices (e.g., open access, open educational resources, open data, open labs, open notebooks, open evaluation, open hardware, open-source software, and citizen science) is rapidly becoming a top priority. The Government of Canada’s Roadmap for Open Science envisions a complete transition to an "open by design and by default" model by 2025. This transition is underway, with policies being promoted by federal and provincial funding agencies. For example, the federal funding agencies, also known as the Tri-Council, have enacted an open-access policy requiring grant recipients to ensure that publications funded by the agencies are freely accessible within 12 months of publication. This can be achieved by depositing peer-reviewed manuscripts in institutional or disciplinary repositories or publishing them in open-access journals. Departing from the Tri-Agency model and aligning with Plan S, the Fonds de Recherche du Québec (FRQ) updated its Open-Access Policy in 2022, requiring that articles and theses be made freely available under an open license upon publication or institutional deposit. The fast-approaching date of 2025, in combination with new mandates and policies, will require institutional support and advocacy to achieve effective solutions.
On May 27, 2022, Concordia University took a decisive step towards advancing open science by hosting the Open Science @Concordia conference, which brought together a diverse group of open science advocates and stakeholders from Concordia University and other institutions. The conference included keynote talks by national and international speakers, interdisciplinary lightning-talk sessions, and roundtables. Ten national and international speakers presented on topics like open access, open data, open infrastructures, open educational resources, and citizen science. Jessica Polka (ASAPbio, USA) delivered a powerful keynote on the pressures of publishing with preprints, and Malvika Sharan (The Turing Way, UK) presented on fostering open communities.
Building upon the momentum generated from the conference, we established the Concordia Open Science Working Group, whose first workshop was held on September 30, 2022. During this half-day session, more than 20 faculty members, trainees, and students from 8 different academic units, including Psychology, Computer Science and Software Engineering, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Biology, Mechanical, Industrial, and Aerospace Engineering, Education, Communication Studies, and the Library, gathered at the Loyola Campus to explore the challenges and possibilities of promoting open science at Concordia. This report presents the key insights derived from this workshop, as well as a comprehensive examination of the methodologies used and a full account of the results