Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Decades of sulphur and nitrogen deposition acidified forest ecosystems across northeastern North America causing declines in pH and exchangeable base cation concentrations, negatively affecting biota. To assist natural recovery, researchers are investigating using alkaline soil amendments such as wood ash. However, much remains unknown about its use. This thesis evaluated the effects of… more
Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Name(s): Creator (cre): Lau, Vincent, Thesis advisor (ths): Tanentzap, Andrew, Degree committee member (dgc): Emilson, Erik, Degree committee member (dgc): Stock, Naomi, Degree committee member (dgc): Moorthy, Arun, Degree committee member (dgc): Braga, Lucas, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University Abstract: <p>Climate-driven permafrost thaw releases microorganisms and dissolved organic matter (DOM) into northern lakes, where their interactions with microbial communities and seasonal processes shape greenhouse gas emissions. In a factorial experiment mixing DOM and microbes from thermokarst ponds and lakes, we found that both DOM and microbial identity strongly influenced degradation. Lake… more
Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Pain conditions occur at an increasing rate alongside people with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and can include chronic headaches, migraines, and neuropathic pain. In order to begin to understand the concurrence, this experiment aimed to investigate the effect of long-term amygdala kindling, a model of TLE, on the affective and nociceptive components of pain in rats. Formalin-induced… more
Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>This work presents a new online method using gas chromatography coupled to the multicollector-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer for methylmercury (MMHg) isotope ratio measurement. An extraction method using distillation was developed that effectively extracted MMHg from up to 5 grams of sediment, imparting no isotope fractionation on MMHg during extraction. Isotope ratios from… more
Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Agriculture may result in soil disturbances, including contamination by rare earth elements (REE) and trace elements (TEs) from agricultural inputs (e.g. fertilizers, pesticides). Regulations concerning agricultural inputs currently do not consider TE background concentrations, concurrent use of inputs, and emerging contaminants. Therefore, they may not sufficiently protect against TE… more
Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>This thesis presents a case of the aquatic plant species Fanwort (Cabomba caroliniana) significantly naturalizing in Kasshabog Lake in bays where it had been invasive. This significant naturalization presents major implications for invasive species management and invasion biology because the naturalization of invasive species is a phenomenon that has been largely omitted from study… more
Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>The Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) is a steeply declining shorebird that breeds across boreal North America. I studied nest survival in Anchorage, Alaska, USA and Churchill, Manitoba, Canada and nest site selection factors in Churchill. Nests were monitored at each site and daily nest survival rates (DSR) were calculated based on a maximum likelihood approach. Overall nest survival… more
Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>I utilized analytical autoethnography to analyze and interpret my own experience of what caring for a child that died was like for me within the academic and institutional culture that I was educated and trained in (Chang, 2008). Themes of lack of preparedness, relationships, loss and emotion, death denial, and lasting impacts and growth were identified. Pediatric death and dying… more
Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Amphibian biodiversity is in global decline, driven primarily by habitat loss and fragmentation arising from landcover alteration. For pond-breeding amphibians, larval abundance should be governed by aquatic breeding site quality, surrounding terrestrial habitat characteristics, and proximity to neighbouring populations. If safeguarding salamander populations is a priority, conservation… more
Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>The involvement of families in the care of their infant in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) may be influenced by the unit environment (O'Brien et al., 2013). The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of the open pod NICU through the research question: What is the impact of unit design in the NICU at Kingston General Hospital (KGH) on the lived experiences of… more
Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Name(s): Creator (cre): Ackuayi, Stephen Makafui, Thesis advisor (ths): Cater, Bruce, Thesis advisor (ths): Parker, James, Degree committee member (dgc): Cater, Bruce, Degree committee member (dgc): Parker, James, Degree committee member (dgc): Pollanen, Marco, Degree committee member (dgc): Kam, Eric, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University Abstract: <p>Accurately forecasting financial distress in companies is crucial in the turbulent economic conditions of our time. This study highlights the potential benefits of incorporating qualitative data into financial distress prediction models. The study assessed the relative effectiveness of traditional distress prediction models against integrated models, determined which variables… more
Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Climate change is a global challenge with profound environmental, health, andsocio-economic implications. Canada's diverse geography offers a unique lens to study
localized climate trends. This thesis models and clusters climate variables, focusing
on temperature trends, using Bayesian hierarchical models and clustering techniques
to uncover regional patterns and health impacts.… more
Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Microplastics are intricate plastic particles (<5 mm in length) with complex chemical mixtures that are pervasive globally. Nonetheless, our understanding of microplastic contamination in the Canadian Arctic is limited. Therefore, this thesis aimed to investigate the concentration and characteristics of microplastics in and surrounding the community of Iqaluit, Nunavut. Our… more
Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>It is well known that pain can heighten sensitivity to stimuli that signal threat in most species. In rodents, exposure to predator odor, such as 2,5-dihydro-2,4,5-trimethylthiazoline (TMT), induces anxiety and alters pain sensitivity. This study explored the effect of predator odor stress on mechanical pain sensitivity in a rat model of acute inflammatory pain induced by suboptimal… more
Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Metaphors are a ubiquitous component of communication, which are either conventional (familiar) or novel phrases. Metaphors are useful for discussing abstract concepts such as emotions that can be difficult to discuss literally, and as such benefit social relationships (Nippold et al., 2017). Research on contributors to novel metaphor production is limited and previous methodologies have… more
Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Prevailing rates of sexual violence have necessitated research on sexual consentcommunication to remedy these issues. Research has found that individuals possess sophisticated
knowledge of consent, and that discrepancies between people's attitudes and behaviours are
resulting in sexual violence and compliance behaviours. The BDSM community–with its greater
diversity and effective… more
Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>In an effort to improve upon existing analytical methods, electrochemical sensors offer portable, cost-effective alternatives to traditional lab-based techniques. Recent advances in supramolecular chemistry offer a unique alternative to achieve high selectivity while also benefitting from facile scaling for mass production. Thus, by incorporating host-guest chemistry with electrochemical… more
Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Name(s): Creator (cre): Reyes, Kyle Matthew Dabu, Thesis advisor (ths): Vreugdenhil, Andrew J, Degree committee member (dgc): Keske, Eric, Degree committee member (dgc): Zenkina, Olena V, Degree committee member (dgc): Adronov, Alex, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University Abstract: <p>The oil sands industry is producing large volumes of tailings waste reaching 2 billion cubic meters by 2034 In this study, the industrial standard flocculant, high molecular weight PAM, was grafted from the surface of activated carbon (AC). This material was designed to increase the flocculant's hydrophobicity and density. Different molecular weight PAM was grafted from AC with… more