Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Name(s): Creator (cre): Blanchard, Dane Alexander, Thesis advisor (ths): Aherne, Julian, Thesis advisor (ths): Gordon, Mark, Degree committee member (dgc): Aherne, Julian, Degree committee member (dgc): Gordon, Mark, Degree committee member (dgc): Dang, Huy, Degree committee member (dgc): Koprivnjak, Jean-François, Degree committee member (dgc): Mangal, Vaughn, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University Abstract: <p>Chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM), a chemically diverse family of organic compounds defined by their ability to absorb ultraviolet and visible light, is a critical constituent of numerous environmental systems, including freshwater lakes. Industrial operations in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR, Alberta, Canada) are major sources of acidic inorganic gases and organic… more
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
Abstract: <p>Diversity of flowers in flowering plants is understood to facilitate mating success, and yet understanding the relationships between plant sexual diversity and mating patterns remains a challenge. In this thesis, I used Sagittaria latifolia, an aquatic plant with unique sexual systems, to investigate relationships between plant sexual diversity, mating patterns, and reproductive success… 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
Name(s): Creator (cre): Knott Fife, Shelley, Thesis advisor (ths): Bell, Nicole, Thesis advisor (ths): Iannacci, Luigi, Degree committee member (dgc): Brunette-Debassige, Candace, Degree committee member (dgc): Wall, Barbara, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University Abstract: <p>This dissertation focuses on the special education of First Nation students in Ontario. The primary researcher is an Anishinaabekwe with decades of experience in special education. Taking an Indigenized qualitative research methodology drawing on the Two-Eyed Seeing Framework (TESF) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) exploring disability discourse, this study explores what '… more
Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>This research explored how systemic barriers contribute to poverty among Black immigrants in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA). Using a qualitative approach, I explored how factors like race, immigration status, and other identity factors shape Black immigrants' experiences in the employment and housing markets and healthcare system, consequently predisposing them to… 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
Name(s): Creator (cre): Brown, Taylor Marie, Thesis advisor (ths): Burness, Gary, Degree committee member (dgc): Davy, Christina, Degree committee member (dgc): Mastromonaco, Gabriela, Degree committee member (dgc): Wilhelm, Sabina, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University Abstract: <p>Globally, fledglings of more than 50 seabird species are vulnerable to stranding in human settlements near their colonies as they leave their nests for the first time. This phenomenon has been attributed to attraction toward and disorientation by artificial light at night (ALAN). Grassroots rescue programs find more birds in illuminated locations than in dark ones, but it is unclear to… more
Year: 2025, 2025
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>This study aimed to develop a culturally responsive teacher framework and evaluation tool for educators at Seabird Island Community School (SICS) and other Stó:lō First Nations community schools in British Columbia. Drawing from the perspectives of educators at SICS, the research sought to provide direction for wise pedagogical practices and establish effective evaluation methods rooted… 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>Mnoomin (Wild Rice) is an important ecological and spiritual Being, and a highly nutritious food source with deep spiritual and cultural kinship to Anishinaabeg. Gathering and processing Mnoomin engages the whole body, mind, and spirit, providing access to culturally nutritious food/s that also sustain a healthy environment. However, settler colonialism has disrupted these practices,… 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
Name(s): Creator (cre): McKeown, Matthew F, Thesis advisor (ths): Sheinin, David, Degree committee member (dgc): Hatton, Nathon, Degree committee member (dgc): Wright, Robert, Degree committee member (dgc): Kidd, Bruce, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University Abstract: <p>This study considers the impact of urban revitalization through community engagement and the promotion of activities, in particular boxing in early twentieth century Winnipeg. It details the development of a multiethnic amateur boxing league which arose in the city during this period, using both qualitative and quantitative sources and a series of maps. This research shows how spaces in… 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): Yang, Yaochong, Thesis advisor (ths): Mitchell, Liam, Thesis advisor (ths): Epp, Michael, Degree committee member (dgc): Manning, Paul, Degree committee member (dgc): Lamarre, Thomas, Degree committee member (dgc): Pendleton Jimenez, Karleen, Degree committee member (dgc): Synenko, Joshua, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University Abstract: <p>This research examines the digital game through the subject of the Apocalypse, both in its literal revelatory form and its colloquial disaster form. To accomplish that, it employs Louis Althusser's concept of structural causality as a springboard for a structure-based interrogation of interlocked systems. Drawing a comparison between Ian Bogost's definition of black-box… more