Graduate Theses & Dissertations

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ECTOPARASITIC INFLUENCES OF DIPTERA ON THE ACTIVITY AND BEHAVIOUR OF WOODLAND CARIBOU (RANGIFER TARANDUS) IN A MANAGED BOREAL FOREST LANDSCAPE IN NORTHERN ONTARIO
Caribou experience direct and indirect negative effects of harassment from biting flies, influencing behavior and activity on several spatial and temporal scales. I used systematic insect collection surveys during the summers of 2011 and 2012 to examine the spatial and temporal distributions of black flies (Simuliidae), mosquitoes (Culicidae), and deer flies and horse flies (Tabanidae) in a managed boreal forest in northern Ontario. Mosquitoes had a positive association with densely treed habitats, whereas black flies more often occurred in open areas, and tabanids had a strong presence in all habitat types. Habitats in proximity to large bodies of water had fewer biting flies than inland areas. Young stands supported higher abundances of tabanids despite vegetation community type. Next, I tested for seasonal effects of biting fly abundance on caribou activity by modelling the seasonal trend in abundance for each fly family for each year and compared this to an index of daily activity for 20 radio-collared female caribou in 2011 and 10 females in 2012. I modeled this index of caribou activity for each animal in each year and extracted the set of partial correlation coefficients from multiple regressions to test for effects of biting fly abundances on caribou activity. Caribou reduced their daily activity when tabanids were more numerous, and increased activity when mosquitoes were numerous. This divergent response may reflect a difference in the efficacy of moving to reduce harassment, owing to the stronger flight capabilities of tabanids. Author Keywords: Activity, Anthropogenic Disturbance, Behaviour, Insect harassment, Temporal distribution, Woodland Caribou
FIRST NATION COMMUNITY PERCEPTIONS OF POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR CHANGES IDENTIFIED IN YOUTH ASSOCIATED WITH PARTICIPATION IN A COMMUNITY RECREATION PROGRAM
This research project focused on the positive behaviour changes in First Nations youth as a result of participation in a community-based recreation program. The study was a secondary analysis based on a qualitative data set. Both adults and youth were interviewed in one-on-one and focus group settings in 12 First Nations communities across Ontario. The data was analyzed using a grounded theory approach and a substantive model was formed based on the themes that emerged from the data. The most significant of these themes were the job of the role model, self-esteem and self-efficacy. The issue of overcoming shyness and peer mentoring are also discussed. Author Keywords:
Rewiring the State
ABSTRACT Rewiring the State: The Privatization of Information Technology in the Ontario Public Service (1972-2003) David Rapaport Senior managers in the Ontario Public Service (OPS) and neo-liberal public policy advocates rationalize the privatization of Information Technology (IT) as an organizational quest for new efficiencies, specifically efficiencies imported from market economies. The findings of the research for this study indicate that IT privatization frequently results in inefficiencies, dependencies and a loss of core skills. The explanation for widespread IT privatization must be sought elsewhere. This study researches and depicts two related IT developments. The first development is the evolution of IT privatization from the earlier practice of body-shopping, i.e. the hiring on contract of IT consultants to the more complex public private partnership. This evolution is a reflection of the maturation of privatization. Body-shopping informs the alienation of IT skills from the public sector, the shaping of a labour hierarchy based on skills distribution, and the foundation for the public-private partnership. The second development, the evolution of OPS management attitudes towards IT privatization, is a reflection of growing neo-liberal hegemony. Archival research indicates middle management disdain towards excessive IT privatization in the early 1980's; particularly its high costs, loss of skills and growing dependency on external private sources. By the ii late 1990's, parliamentary committee transcripts indicate IT management acceptance of more excessive IT privatization. As neo-liberal practice became more accepted and as governments and central ministries pressured line ministries through budgetary and organizational controls, IT managers accepted their new roles as authors of RFP's and tenders of public sector work. The IT service providing industry gladly bid on contracts and acquired the new skills required for future IT projects, exacerbating the provision/dependency cycle. Furthermore, the new technologies provided an ideological smokescreen of technological necessity to conceal the market forces that promoted and benefitted from IT privatization. "Why do managers in the Ontario Public Service privatize the production of Information Technology systems?" The dissertation has two tasks when answering this central question. First, it must refute the efficiency arguments. Second, it must formulate an answer within the context of neo-liberal state transformation, new investment strategies of IT service providing corporations and a restructured IT labour hierarchy. Author Keywords: neo-liberalism, New Public Management, Ontario, privatization, public private partnership, public sector
Home range use, habitat selection, and stress physiology of eastern whip-poor-wills (Antrostomus vociferus) at the northern edge of their range
The distribution of animals is rarely random and is affected by various environmental factors. We examined space-use patterns, habitat selection and stress responses of whip-poor-wills to mining exploration activity.To the best of my knowledge, fine scale patterns such as the habitat composition within known home ranges or territories of eastern whip-poor-wills have not been investigated. Using a population at the northern edge of the distribution in an area surrounding a mining exploration site, we tested whether variations in habitat and anthropogenic disturbances influence the stress physiology of individuals. We found no effect of increased mining activity on the stress physiology of birds but found a significant scale-dependent effect of habitat on their baseline and stress-induced corticosterone levels, and we suggest that these are the result of variations in habitat quality. The importance of other factors associated with those habitat differences (e.g., insect availability, predator abundance, and microhabitat features) warrants further research. Author Keywords: anthropogenic disturbances, Antrostomus vociferus, corticosterone, eastern whip-poor-will, habitat selection, radio-­telemetry
Application of the Sexual Self-Control Model and the Two-Dimensional Sexual Double Standard Scale to Heterosexual Undergraduate Men and Women
This thesis examined the applicability of the sexual self-control model to men, which resulted in the creation and analysis of a new two-dimensional sexual double standard scale. In Study 1, a sample of 124 men completed the Self-Control Schedule assessing general learned resourcefulness, the Sexual Resourcefulness Inventory, Sexual Self-efficacy Scale, Reasons for Consenting to Unwanted Sexual Advances Scale, and the Sexual Giving-in Experiences Survey. Contrary to expectations based on female samples, lower sexual resourcefulness was not a unique predictor of consenting to unwanted sexual advances in men. Instead, a mediation model was supported whereby men having more reasons for consenting to unwanted sexual advances were more likely to comply despite having higher levels of sexual resourcefulness skills. Concurrent with Study 1, 11 men were interviewed in Study 2 to further examine their giving-in to unwanted sexual advances, reasons for consenting, and sexual resourcefulness, but men shifted the conversation toward the sexual double standard despite scoring neutral to a quantitative sexual double standard measure in the survey of Study 1. Therefore, a new sexual double standard scale was created based on the content of the interviews. Study 3 examined the new scale's psychometric properties and its association with sexual consenting. The findings revealed that the new scale was best represented by two dimensions: personal attitudes and peer responses. Neither of these two subscales uniquely predicted giving-in to unwanted sexual advances, but were significantly associated with several key variables differentially. Author Keywords: learned resourcefulness, sexual double standard, sexual health, sexual resourcefulness, sexual script theory, unwanted sex
Productive Capacity of Semi-Alluvial Streams in Ontario
Changes in climate and land-use practices are leading to higher peak flows and increased transport capacity of channel substrate. Semi-alluvial streams underlain by bedrock or clay were examined to understand the potential impacts of alluvium loss on the biological community and overall productive capacity of semi-alluvial rivers. More specifically, this research investigates the productivity of gravels, bedrock, and consolidated clay, through the biomass and density of periphyton, coarse particulate organic matter, benthic invertebrates, and fish. The ecological approach undertaken demonstrates the relationships among each trophic level and linkages to productive capacity between different substrate types. Significant results were detected at the stream type level and substrate level. Bedrock-based streams were overall more productive in terms of CPOM, biomass and density of benthos in comparison to clay-based streams. Stream reaches with small to large areas of exposed bedrock or clay at the site level did not differ to areas with 100% gravel coverage in the comparison of any variable, including stream fishes. At the substrate level, gravels demonstrated the highest productive capacity in comparison to bedrock and clay substrates. CPOM biomass in gravels compared to bedrock and clay at a ratio of 30:14:1, respectively. Biomass of benthic invertebrates also demonstrated a higher productivity on gravels with a ratio of 59:19:1 in comparison to bedrock and clay, respectively. Positive relationships between CPOM and benthic invertebrate biomass were detected in both stream types. Relationships were also detected between fish biomass and benthic invertebrate biomass. Examination of benthic fishes also demonstrated positive relationships with benthic invertebrate biomass and density. Clay substrate on all accounts supported little biota. Results indicate alluvium loss in clay bed streams could reduce productive capacity. Understanding and integration of the potential impacts of alluvium loss would aid management and No Net Loss compensation plans to protect fisheries resources in semi-alluvial streams. Author Keywords:
sustainability of Community-based Water supply Organizations (CWOs)
The world has met the target of halving the number of people without access to improved-drinking water . However, the focus in rural areas (where 83% of the people without access to improved-drinking water live) has been on the construction of infrastructure, rather than on the strengthening of existing local institutions to create a long-term sustainable solution. This research aims to understand what are the necessary characteristics that CWOs, the main rural water supplier institutions around the world, must have to offer safe water continuously and in the long term. The results indicate that to offer such conditions, internal and external characteristic need to coexist. Those characteristics will emerge from case studies analysis in rural and peri-urban areas in Colombia, through interviews, surveys, document reviews, observation exercises, and a comparison with the literature. Internal characteristics include proper infrastructure conditions, user satisfaction, best management practices, social capital, be a development catalyzer, and environmental awareness. External characteristics include easy access to subsidies, efficient communication channels with authorities, continuous training, and environmental legislation/education. This study concludes that enforcing these characteristics will strengthen the existing institutions and can provide a sustainable solution for rural water supply issues. Author Keywords: community-based water supply organizations, costs, management, financial sustainability, rural Colombia, state subsidies, water tariffs
VISUAL INFORMATION-PROCESSING AND THE EVOLUTION OF FLAKE MAKING SKILL
Flaked stones tools are the oldest and longest persisting human cultural remains. Some of these tools were made by hominins who were not anatomically or cognitively modern. My thesis uses an eye-tracking device, developed by psychology, to study modern day novice and expert tool making. By comparing these two groups I was able to characterize the behaviours that lead to successful flake making, and furthermore make inferences about the cognitive capacities that hominins would have had to have to have been successful themselves. This study suggests limited engagement of short-term memory and problem solving skills, which is consistent with other studies. However, this study seems to refute the hypothesis that improvements in hand-eye coordination alone account for the rise of flaked stone technology. My thesis also shows that eye-tracking is a fruitful way to study flake making and, based on my research, I propose several future directions of study. Author Keywords: Eye-tracking, Human Evolution, Knapping, Oldowan, Skill
An Investigation of Load Balancing in a Distributed Web Caching System
With the exponential growth of the Internet, performance is an issue as bandwidth is often limited. A scalable solution to reduce the amount of bandwidth required is Web caching. Web caching (especially at the proxy-level) has been shown to be quite successful at addressing this issue. However as the number and needs of the clients grow, it becomes infeasible and inefficient to have just a single Web cache. To address this concern, the Web caching system can be set up in a distributed manner, allowing multiple machines to work together to meet the needs of the clients. Furthermore, it is also possible that further efficiency could be achieved by balancing the workload across all the Web caches in the system. This thesis investigates the benefits of load balancing in a distributed Web caching environment in order to improve the response times and help reduce bandwidth. Author Keywords: adaptive load sharing, Distributed systems, Load Balancing, Simulation, Web Caching
Punk as Public, Punks as Texts
This thesis is an attempt to explore the role that musical texts played in the development of a public by writing a work of fiction and then applying to it a critical exegesis. Part One, the literary text Some Of This Is True, (re-)creates and remembers punk in its iteration in Regina, Saskatchewan, in the late 1970s. Part two, the critical exegesis, examines how the theories of public formation outlined in Michael Warner's Publics and Counterpublics can partially explain the creation and behaviour of publics, but not entirely. Similarly Mikhail Bahktin's theory of carnival helps explain punk, but not entirely. Some gaps can be filled partly with theory borrowed from art history that reveals useful links between punk and Continental art movements; Michel Foucault's concept of heterotopia fills other gaps. Literature fills the rest. Author Keywords: Creative Writing, Heterotopia, Michael Warner, Michel Foucault, Mikhail Bakhtin, Punk & Punks
RE-IMAGINING THE LAW OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION
This project examines the development and deployment of mediation frameworks in Canada with the goal of advocating for the restoration of dispute resolution as the site of democratic politics. In doing so we enlist the work of Petyr Kropotkin's theory of Mutual Aid and a brief history of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Canada to identify procedural differences in mediation processes that separate interest mediation, rights mediation and litigation. We then turn to two separate analyses of these differences. The first utilizes the theoretical framework of Jacques Rancière. The second examines the work of Hannah Arendt. Despite the significant differences in their approaches, the work of Rancière and Arendt, in admittedly different ways, show that interest mediation holds the greatest potential for approaching dispute resolution as an exercise in democratic politics. As a result the project advocates for the expansion or further empowerment of interest mediation as a way of securing and ensuring the continued development of Canada as a democratic community. Author Keywords: Alternative Dispute Resolution, Hannah Arendt, Jacques Rancière, Mediation, Mutual Aid, Petyr Kropotkin
Demography of a Breeding Population of Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) Near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada
I used a GIS raster layer of an area in the Churchill, Manitoba region to investigate the effect of breeding habitat on demography and density of Whimbrel from 2010 through 2013. Program MARK was used to quantify adult and daily nest survival. Apparent annual survival of 0.73 ± 0.06 SE (95% CI = 0.60-0.83) did not significantly differ between sexes or habitats and was lower than expected based on longevity records and estimates for other large-bodied shorebirds. Nest success, corrected for exposure days, was highly variable, ranging from a low of 3% (95% CI = 0-12%) in 2011 to a high of 71% (95% CI = 54-83%) in 2013. The highest rate of nest survival occurred in the spring with the warmest mean temperature. I developed a generalized linear model (GLM) with a negative-binomial distribution from random plots that were surveyed for abundance to extrapolate a local breeding population size of 410 ± 230 SE and density of 3.2 birds per square km ± 1.8 SE. The result of my study suggests that other aspects of habitat not captured by the land cover categories may be more important to population dynamics. Author Keywords: abundance, apparent survival, curlew, land cover map, nest-site fidelity, nest success

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Graduate student theses produced at Trent University. You may also browse theses and dissertations by year, program, or author.

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