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The traditions of spirituality and meditation have been found to connect to psychological health in the form of increased happiness, empathy, and decreased anxiety. The present study aimed to better understand how these practices might connect to such beneficial outcomes. A sample of 363 undergraduate student participants completed a questionnaire that measured their meditation practice, mindfulness, spirituality, happiness, empathy, and anxiety. Contrary to expectations, meditators and non- meditators did not significantly differ in their psychological health outcomes. These findings have implications for how meditators and non-meditator groups should be differentiated in research. Regarding spirituality, the purpose and meaning and innerness dimensions of the construct significantly predicted happiness and decreased anxiety, while the unified interconnectedness dimension significantly predicted empathy. The transcendence dimension of spirituality did not significantly predict psychological health. This pattern of results has implications for spiritual care interventions that intend to augment psychological health.

Author Keywords: Anxiety, Empathy, Happiness, Meditation, Psychological health, Spirituality

This thesis explores the double-bind Indigenous Peoples encounter when pursuing post-secondary education in the field of Indigenous Studies. I argue that Indigenous voices deemed tolerable are incorporated into the commodification of Indigenous thought and experience for the Settler audiences who profit most from post-secondary institutions. My analysis discusses the possibilities for Indigenous Studies to navigate this parasitic relationship and assist Indigenous lives that academia renders unrecognizable. I examine my educational journey and conduct a literature review of the role that Settler Colonialism plays within Indigenous Studies. Through the use of critical self-reflexivity, this thesis employs Haudenosaunee political thought and Indigenous storywork to tell my personal narrative navigating the macro and micro dynamics within the academy that exploits Indigenous student's self-interest to maintain the Settler-Colonial status quo in higher education. I identify strategies to assist academics in conducting ethical research within Indigenous Studies and imagine insurgent education within the Canadian university.

Author Keywords: Commodification, Critical Indigenous Studies, Haudenosaunee, Settler Colonialism

Sexual agency is receiving more attention in sexuality research though its contribution to sexual well-being has yet to be determined. Sexual agency has been theorized as an overarching concept comprised of both internal and external components. Both feelings and behaviours in the sexual domain can be impacted by prevalent culturally prescribed sexual scripts. The present study assessed sexual assertiveness, sexual self-concept, and comfort in sexual communication (i.e., together conceptualized as sexual agency) to determine if greater levels of these indices led to more direct consent communication, more intrinsic motivations for engaging in sex, and more positive sexual evaluations. Analyses were run separately on two samples: a student and community participant pool. Results indicate that greater sexual agency predicts being more intrinsically driven to engage in sex, using more direct consent communication, and reporting more positive evaluations of one's most recent sexual encounter. Gendered analyses reveal that cismen and ciswomen have similar levels of sexual agency, and rate their encounters similarly. Having greater sexual agency was a better predictor of experiencing sexual well-being compared to gender. Implications for policy development and sexual education curriculum reform are discussed, and future research directions are suggested.

Author Keywords: Sexual Agency, Sexual Consent, Sexual Motivations, Sexual Regret, Sexual Well-being

Colonization has transformed the landscapes of the American Midwest and compromised the region's resources and ecologies. In response, governments, environmental scientists, and Indigenous nations have undertaken myriad efforts over the past century to restore Midwestern environments. Yet the appropriate goals and techniques for this work have been deeply contested. This thesis explores the scientific, political, and cultural meanings of ecological restoration in the region. Comparison of different forms of restoration reveals the contingency, malleability, and historical pitfalls of restoration knowledge and practices. By framing the pursuit as a problem of scientific, historical, or technical knowledge, practitioners have often neglected the political and cultural ramifications of restoration efforts. At the same time, restoration practices have influenced the intellectual, environmental, and political history of the Midwest in the twentieth century. The efforts of Midwestern scientists and public agencies have advanced wildlife and ecosystem conservation in the region, but have at times exacerbated environmental injustices and inequalities. More recent wild rice conservation efforts by Ojibwe governments demonstrate that, depending on how the framework has been constructed, ecological restoration has served as a tool for reclaiming Indigenous sovereignty as well as a vehicle for settler colonialism.

Author Keywords: American Midwest, conservation, ecological restoration, ecology, Indigenous history, settler colonialism

ABSTRACT

Development of Forest Degradation Indicators from Long-term Trajectories of Multispectral Satellite Images, and their Projections into the Future under Climate Change, in Ontario, Canada

Md. Mozammel Hoque

Ontario forests are affected by natural and anthropogenic disturbances leading to forest degradation, which significantly impact local ecosystems, health, safety, and economy. This thesis develops a methodology for the continuous assessment, mapping, and monitoring of present and historic (1972–2020) forest disturbances, and future forest degradation trends and projections, using remote sensing data, ground measurements, and predictive models in an Ontario forested area. After testing four supervised classification algorithms, support vector machine was found to be the most robust, consistent, and effective for land cover classification. Seven vegetation indices derived from Landsat and MODIS platforms were used to derive forest degradation indicators (FDIs), which were combined into one composite forest degradation indicator (CFDI) for each year, using the principal component analysis image fusion approach. The CFDI was the most informative indicator. The computed FDIs from available large multispectral image stacks were statistically related to historical climate variables. These relationships were used to project future FDIs related to climate variables derived from General Circulation Models through multiple linear regression models. Spatially-explicit maps of relevant climatic variables and of long-term historical forest degradation were developed from the LandTrendr trajectory analysis. Climate variables P, MA1, MA2, and CFDI were strongly correlated, allowing for the development of a model with a high coefficient of determination, R2 (0.93), and low RMSE (0.28) to predict future values. Forest disturbances (as CFDI) were also monitored from 1972–2020. Overall, these relationships allowed for to the creation of spatially-explicit, long-term historical forest degradation maps derived from the Landtrendr trajectory analysis. Historical and future forest degradation maps identified the areas with projected high vulnerability to climate change, as well as the actual and potential changes in forest cover under climate change. The results indicated 2050 will experience an average temperature increase of 3.0°C, projected yearly decrease in precipitation of 109.5 mm, evapotranspiration increase of 73.0 mm, and moisture deficits of 28.47 mm (MA1) and 37.60 mm (MA2), leading to increased forest degradation.

Author Keywords: Climate change impacts, Forest degradation indicators, Forest disturbance and degradation, Land cover classification, Projections of 2050 forest degradation under climate change, Remote sensing technology

Generativity, or a connection to and concern for future generations, is often premised upon the hetero-nuclear family structure and an elimination of disability, excluding queer and disabled individuals. In this thesis, I extend ideas about queer and crip futures by theorizing an alternative model of generativity that centers queer, and disabled experiences. I argue that queer crip intergenerational relationships contribute to and expand current understandings of generativity in terms of individualism, embodied knowledge, and temporalities. To do so, I used the arts-based participatory methodology, cellphilming. I worked with a group of eight queer, and disabled individuals across the life course in Fredericton, New Brunswick to create short films about aging, queerness, disability, and futures, and analyzed the films thematically. In the context of an ongoing pandemic and heightened backlash against LGBTQ+ rights, I present intergenerational relationship building as a way forward to overcome alienation and imagine a better future.

Author Keywords: aging, cellphilm, disability, generativity, intergenerational, queerness

Games immerse players. Through immersion, players can see themselves embodied in their avatars. There is space for meaningful experimentation of gender through these avatars as embodied players can blur the lines between their real-life and virtual selves. The player's avatar becomes that person — in terms of personality, feelings, and gender identity/expression. In virtual reality, the player becomes a virtual actor in the world of the game, allowing the player to explore their avatar directly. Through various games, books, and anime, I demonstrate how players can find embodiment and how games can achieve a rigid sense of embodiment. Using an intersectional lens of cultural and gender studies, this paper aims to provide a framework for embodied gender exploration that future games can build upon. This framework is enacted through a look at embodiment and how the player is able to find an authentic self in the virtual world.

Author Keywords: Avatars, Embodiment, Embodiment studies, Gender euphoria, Video games, Virtual Reality

Giardia intestinalis is a parasitic protozoan that possesses a flavohemoglobin (gFlHb), an enzyme that plays a role in the detoxification of reactive nitrogen species (RNS) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) via its nitric oxide dioxygenase (NOD) activity as well as its NADH-oxidase activity. This enzyme is a potential target for imidazole-based antigiardial drugs that act as ligands of the iron within its heme cofactor. In this work, two rapid and relatively inexpensive assays, the colorimetric Griess assay and a fluorescence assay, were adapted, optimized, and implemented to screen for flavohemoglobin inhibitors in parallel studies that compared the response of gFlHb to that of Hmp (Escherichia coli flavohemoglobin) when a group of six different imidazole-based compounds was tested. These assays displayed isotype selectivity, showing how the different drugs elicited different responses from the two enzymes. Comparative results for gFlHb and Hmp revealed that bulkier compounds elicited higher inhibition of Hmp, while smaller compounds resulted in better inhibition of gFlHb, which might be explained by the presence of different amino acid residues in the active sites of the enzymes, with two large amino acid sequence inserts being a unique feature of gFlHb, thus blocking the active site from being reached and blocked by larger compounds.

Author Keywords: 2.3-diaminonaphthalene, Flavohemoglobin, Giardia intestinalis, Griess Assay, imidazole-based drugs, nitric oxide detoxification

The transition from student to newly graduated nurse (NGN) can be a period filled with significant stress and uncertainty as NGNs are required to develop and refine practical skills, learn to work with interdisciplinary team members, and adjust to their new professional identity. Clinical externships provide students an opportunity to work alongside nurses as unregulated healthcare workers in hospitals. This study explored how NGNs felt their participation in a clinical extern program influenced their transition from student to nurse. Interpretive description (ID) guided the research of this study and produced a qualitative description of the experiences from a sample of eight NGNs working in Ontario.Three main themes emerged from the data collection: developing self-efficacy, developing a professional identity, and being on the inside. Implications from this study address the need for research on how clinical externships influence transition to practice and the continuation and development of such programs.

Author Keywords: clinical extern, externships, newly graduated nurse, novice nurse, transition, transition to practice

Crutzen and Stoermer's (2000) announcement of the Anthropocene draws attention to the agentic nature of the nonhuman world as it appears to be striking back against human intervention through an environmental crisis that is threatening humans and nonhumans alike. Their narrative reveals complex relationalities where humans are now revealed to beinseparable from the nonhuman world and both the material and discursive nature of their practices (historical, social, economic, and political) prove to be central to (re)shaping the earth, causing climate change, species extinctions as well as racism, sexism, and slavery. Rising sea levels is an important aspect of climate change that threatens major coastal places with disappearance. My dissertation offers a new approach that uses Karen Barad's (2003; 2007; 2017) agential realism and diffractive methodology to study a place called Lyme Regis – a town in west Dorset, England, threatened with disappearance as a result of rising sea levels caused by climate change – as an agential phenomenon shaped by complex multilayered material-discursive practices (political, economic, scientific, and social). Whereas current research on Barad's philosophy mainly focuses on discussions about the theory: explaining, critiquing, or defending (Gandorfer 2021; Lettow 2017; Graham 2016; Segal 2014; Geerts 2013; 2016; 2021; van der Tuin 2011; Alaimo and Hekman 2008; Rouse 2004 and more ), my project is the first ethico-political study of a place, Lyme, that applies Barad's agential realist perspective by engaging the activism of Barad's concept of "re-membering." The processual nature of the concept is particularly relevant today since its nonlinear understanding of time allows me to see how past violent material and discursive practices (racism, sexism, and slavery) at Lyme unfolds in the present troubled time of the Anthropocene. This process of re-membering that I undertake in this study involves concurrently examining the overlapping historical, economic, scientific, literary, and geological intra-acting practices through a method that Barad describes as diffractive reading. I rethink these practices in their relation to material practices and illuminate multiple layers of meaning and relationalities that constitute Lyme as an agential phenomenon, unsettling boundaries between humans and nonhumans, epistemology and ontology, material and discursive practices as well as boundaries between scientific, historical, cultural, and literary aspects of life. Therefore, within the context of the Anthropocene, chapter one rethinks how the scientific discourse (re)shapes nature and demonstrates how prioritizing the needs of human over nonhuman inhabitants in the name of saving Lyme could entail the destruction of both. Chapter two rethinks the dehumanizing and marginalizing effect of the scientific discourse by illuminating the agentic role of Mary Anning and Saartjie Baartman in the apparatus of scientific knowledge production that earned Lyme its heritage status. Finally, chapter three rethinks the entangled nature of scientific and literary practices, arguing for an agential realist account of the sublime that celebrates Lyme as a place of transformative human-nonhuman kinship based on Austen's elaborate depiction in Persuasion (1817). This reading shows science and literature as material-discursive practices operating along the unsettled boundaries between the novel and everyday life, allowing us to rethink Austen's writing as a process in constant flux.

Author Keywords: Agential Realism, Anthropocene, Diffractive Methodology, Lyme Regis, Persuasion, Posthumanist Sublime