English

EXAMINING DREAMS, DREAM CONTENT, AND MEANING OF DREAMS IN BEREAVEMENT

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Creator (cre): Black, Joshua, Thesis advisor (ths): DeCicco, Dr. Teresa, Degree committee member (dgc): Smith, Dr. Carlyle, Degree committee member (dgc): Deslauriers, Dr. Daniel, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University
Abstract:

Dreams that occur in bereavement have been mainly overlooked in the psychological literature. This study focuses on the most memorable dreams of the bereaved that contain imagery of the deceased. There were 52 participants who completed the study via email. The main goal of the study was to investigate the occurrence of common themes in the dreams that have the deceased as a character. It was hypothesized that the most memorable dreams are memorable because they positively influenced the dreamers waking life grief process, which was partially supported. Furthermore, it was expected that that the most memorable dreams will have a greater frequency of positive elements and a lower frequency of negative elements than the normative data on dreams, which was partially supported. These findings support past research on dreaming of the deceased and expand the impact that these types of dreams can have on the grief process.

Author Keywords: bereavement, deceased imagery, dream content, dreams, grief

2014

A GIS-based Spatial Analysis of Visibility and Movement Using the Ancient Maya Center of Minanha, Belize

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Creator (cre): Barry, Jack, Thesis advisor (ths): Iannone, Gyles, Degree committee member (dgc): Haines, Helen, Degree committee member (dgc): Elton, Hugh, Degree committee member (dgc): Estrada-Belli, Francisco, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University
Abstract:

It has long been hypothesized the location of the ancient Maya center of Minanha was a strategic one based on its ability to control the flow of communication and key resources between major geopolitical zones. Situated in the Vaca Plateau, at the nexus of the Belize River Valley, the Petén District of Guatemala, and the Maya Mountains, Minanha became a Late Classic polity capital that was tapped into a regional economy as well as long-distance trade networks. In this thesis I present a GIS-based spatial analysis that includes viewshed and cost surface analysis (CSA) to model visibility and movement within the north Vaca Plateau and neighboring regions to address specific questions concerning Minanha's strategic value. The results indicate that Minanha occupied a visually prominent location in proximity to major corridors of movement that suggest it was strategically, and in fact ideally located, as a polity capital with the ability to monitor the movement of people and resources.

Author Keywords: Belize, GIS, Least Cost Path, Maya, Minanha, Viewshed

2014

Near-Hand Effects and Recruitment of Visual-Tactile Bimodal Cells

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Creator (cre): Carlin, Sean, Thesis advisor (ths): Brown, Liana, Degree committee member (dgc): Chan-Reynolds, Michael, Degree committee member (dgc): Im-Bolter, Nancie, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University
Abstract:

Near-hand benefits are seen when individuals are able to process targets more quickly, accurately, and with greater precision when a hand is placed near, rather than far from a target. One possibility is that near-hand stimuli recruit visual-tactile bimodal cells. Research reports that placing a hand near a target delayed immediate saccade onset and speeded delayed saccade onset. Study 1 examined saccade onset to targets appearing near a real hand, a realistic fake hand, or a non-hand visual cue. Immediate saccades were facilitated and delayed saccades were slowed with a real hand in the display, in comparison to a fake hand and no-hand. To establish the link between near-hand effects and bimodal cells, Study 2 used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to depress cortical activity in PMd. RTMS did not induce a reversal of interference induced by near-hand, congruent targets. However, a reversal of the hand effect was found in the stimulation group; a real hand in the display may delay immediate saccades and improve delayed saccades post-stimulation. This finding may double dissociate the effect of the real hand from the fake hand and may be inconsistent with the hypothesis that the hand is attracting attention.

Author Keywords: multisensory integration, near-hand effects, PMd, premotor cortex, rTMS, visual-tactile bimodal neurons

2014

Sponsoring Private Schools in an Informal Empire: The United States and the Inter-American Schools Service

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Creator (cre): Cook, Christopher Donovan, Thesis advisor (ths): Sheinin, David, Degree committee member (dgc): Palmer, Bryan, Degree committee member (dgc): Dunaway, Finis, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University
Abstract:

This thesis analyzes the history of the Inter-American Schools Service (IASS), which ran under the auspices of the American Council on Education beginning in 1943. The program was defined as a private initiative aimed at spreading U.S. democratic values throughout the hemisphere for the mutual benefit of both the United States and Latin America. Yet the program was ultimately one facet of the United States' informal imperialism and a tool for the consolidation of U.S. hegemony, which came at the expense of Latin Americans' pursuit of the very values the IASS was said to facilitate. This theme is explored through a general discussion of cultural policy in the twentieth-century United States as well as the specific history of the IASS program and its relation to U.S. policies of intervention in Guatemala and Bolivia.

Author Keywords: American Schools, Cultural Imperialism, Guatemala, Hegemony, Informal Imperialism, Inter-American Schools Service

2014

Canadian Refugee Policy: The Politics of the Frame

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Creator (cre): Colson, Jo Anne, Thesis advisor (ths): Torgerson, Douglas, Thesis advisor (ths): Struthers, James, Degree committee member (dgc): White, Melissa A., Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University
Abstract:

This dissertation is an inquiry into the politics of the frame in Canadian refugee policy. It is focused on "framing," thereby taking up the stance of critical policy studies while pressing the contribution of Donald Schön and Martin Rein in a critical and politically inflected direction. The dissertation unfolds as a political history of Canadian refugee policy that provides a "contextual mapping," relevant to both inquiry and action in regard to the framing of refugees. The main argument is that twentieth- and twenty-first- century refugee policy in Canada is a story of three shifting meta-frames: beginning with humanitarianism (in the inter-War years and the post-World War II period); shifting to neo-humanitarianism (beginning in the late 1970s, in connection with the rise of neoliberalism); then shifting again (beginning in the 1990s) to securitization. The concept of a meta-frame here is analogous to that of a "metacultural frame" in Schön and Rein, but accents political rather than cultural dimensions. This concept is developed in a manner suitable to a political history by illustrating how meta-frames both become stable and change. With humanitarianism, the refugee was typically portrayed in ambivalent terms - both deserving of and entitled to protection, while also posing a burden for the national interest. In the context of neo-humanitarianism, this ambivalence began to wane, and the refugee was more typically portrayed as a potential criminal. With securitization, especially as it has become entrenched and intensified, the refugee has been more typically portrayed as a potential terrorist. The analysis includes a focus on the particular importance of ambivalence and contingency in the politics of the frame. Securitization has become so deeply entrenched since September 11, 2001 that it appears virtually fixed in place. However, it may still become possible in moments of contingency for refugee advocates to destabilize the securitization meta-frame and help shift the framing of refugees into a more hospitable register.

Author Keywords: ambivalence, contingency, humanitarianism, neo-humanitarianism, refugees, securitization

2013

A knight and his horse: The social impact of horses in medieval France, 1150-1300

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Creator (cre): Seabolt, Amanda Peyton, Thesis advisor (ths): Harris-Stoertz, Fiona, Degree committee member (dgc): Findon, Joanne, Degree committee member (dgc): Elbl, Ivana, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University
Abstract:

This thesis examines the social impact of horses on French elites between 1150 and 1300. Using courtly literature, a veterinary treatise, manuscript illuminations, archeological studies, material artefacts, and account books, it explores the place of horses in elite society—practical and symbolic—and assesses the social costs of elite use and ownership of horses. While horses served practical functions for elites, their use and investment in horses clearly went far beyond practicality, since elites used horses recreationally and sought prestigious horses and highly decorated equipment. Their owners used horses in displays of power, status, and wealth, as well as in displays of conspicuous consumption and the performance of gender roles. The social display associated with horses was integrally tied to the ideology and performance of chivalry. This study examines the broader use of horses by elites to understand their place in the elite culture of the High Middle Ages.

Author Keywords: Horses, Knighthood, Medieval France, Military History, Nobility, Social History

2020

Study of Aerosols for use in Water Remediation of Pharmaceutical Pollutants

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Creator (cre): Roy, Tyler Mackenzie, Thesis advisor (ths): Ellis, David, Degree committee member (dgc): Metcalfe, Chris, Degree committee member (dgc): Parnis, Mark, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University
Abstract:

In this thesis, aerosolization was studied as a possible means of water remediation for several environmentally relevant pharmaceutical pollutants, known for their persistence in wastewater effluent and potable water sources. Seven different pharmaceutical compounds and a well-known plasticizer were all shown to decrease considerably in concentration in aerosol that was produced and subsequently collected within a short time span. Strong evidence is presented that an enhanced rate of partitioning into the gas phase at the air-water interface of water droplets exists for every compound tested relative to that occurring in bulk solution. UV photolysis in aerosols was also explored and shown for sulfamethoxazole to be at least an order of magnitude faster in aerosols then in bulk solution. The implications towards both the environmental fate, and removal of these compounds from water sources is discussed.

Author Keywords: Aerosols, Air-water partitioning, Pharmaceuticals, Photolysis, Sulfamethoxazole

2019

Anthropogenic microfibres in background natural environments in Ireland

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Creator (cre): Roblin, Brett, Thesis advisor (ths): Aherne, Julian, Degree committee member (dgc): Vreugdenhil, Andrew, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University
Abstract:

Microfibres, which are threadlike particles < 5 mm, are the most common type of microplastic reported in the environment. However, few studies have focused on their abundance in background natural environments. This study assessed the abundance of microfibres in rainfall samples (from four precipitation monitoring stations) and across three headwater lake catchments that were in remote, undeveloped areas, away from anthropogenic disturbance and anthropogenic emission sources (i.e., sites were background natural environments). Anthropogenic microfibres were observed in all samples using visual identification methods, with Raman spectroscopy confirming the presence of polyester film and synthetic pigments, e.g., indigo and hostasol green. The estimated annual average atmospheric deposition of microfibres was ~28,800 mf m-2. Meteorological variables, e.g., rain, wind direction, and relative humidity were correlated with the abundance of microfibres. The average abundance of microfibres in headwater lake catchments was 24 mf g-1 in moss, 0.70 mf m-3 in surface trawl, 9,690 mf m-3 in subsurface, 910 mf kg-1 in lake sediment and 576 mf kg-1 in lakeshore sediment.

Author Keywords: Atmospheric Deposition, Background Environments, Headwater Lake Catchments, Microfibres, Microplastics, Rainfall

2019

An Emergent Model of the Return to Learn Process for Adolescents with Prolonged Concussion

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Creator (cre): Robinson, Jackie, Thesis advisor (ths): O'Hagan, Fergal, Thesis advisor (ths): Lehmann, Hugo, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University
Abstract:

Current literature on concussion management focuses primarily on the return to physical activity, while the return to learn process is less clearly understood. This knowledge gap is particularly problematic for adolescents, whose primary responsibility is academics. The present study sought to develop a more in-depth understanding of the return to learn process through the perspectives of adolescents who had sustained a concussion and their parents in in-person, semi-structured interviews. A substantive grounded theory of the return to learn process for adolescents that emerged from the data is provided. The basic model is consistent with many speculative, non-empirically based concussion management protocols, but extends these models by emphasizing the central role of parents in managing their child's recovery process, highlighting the importance of role fulfillment within the concussion management network, and identifying the impact of the adolescent's capacity and readiness for help-seeking. The results also highlight the vulnerability of concussed adolescents to losing their support structure as they move through key school transitions. Implications for educators, medical professionals, parents, and adolescents in the return to learn process are also discussed.

Author Keywords: Adolescent, Concussion, Concussion Management, Multidisciplinary Management, Return to Learn, Return to School

2020

Canoeing through Resurgence: Wiigwaas Jiimaan and Cultural Resurgence within n'Daki Menan

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Creator (cre): Mathias, Demi Lynn, Thesis advisor (ths): Newhouse, David, Degree committee member (dgc): Sherman, Paula, Degree committee member (dgc): Plain, Sylvia, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University
Abstract:

Anishinabai are jiimaan people. The traditional building of wiigwaas jiimaan is a part of a resurgence project that is restoring and maintaining cultural connection to our homelands, the water, and community members. An approach to cultural resurgence, such as the wiigwaas jiimaan, is an attempt to generate a better connection to our homeland, self- determination, and forms of healing within a cultural context. Through diverse research methodologies, this project will open new doors to cultural resurgence methods, Indigenous knowledge and the story telling of the wiigwaas jiimaan.

Over the summer of 2018, I built a wiigwaas jiimaan in my home community of Temagami First Nation. It is from this experience that this research shaped. Through the approach of storytelling to my reflective notes, while incorporating an Indigenous knowledge and resurgence methodology. It is important that when you are reading this, that you keep an open mind, sit comfortably and enjoy the interweaving of story and research. The thesis creates a better understanding of resurgence practices, the history of the Teme- Augama Anishinabai, my story and experience with the wiigwaas jiimaan, and the rebuilding of my community through this cultural initiative. Moving forward I hope that this research continues and evolves to other communities, who look for healing and cultural reclaiming through the land. Miigwetch.

Author Keywords: Culture, Healing, Land-Based, Resurgence, Temagami First Nation, Wiigwaas jiimaan

2019