Theses & Dissertations - All (2011-
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This collection contains all theses and dissertations produced at the University of Guelph since 2011 when the requirement to submit electronic theses to the Atrium was adopted by the University.
Graduate students should refer to the Atrium submission instructions for guidance related to submitting their thesis or dissertation to the Atrium.
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- ItemConstitutional Interventions: Constitutional Litigation, Third-Party Interventions, The Supreme Court of Canada, and Mobilization in Legislative Replies(University of Guelph, ) Nicolaides, Eleni; Riddell, TroyThe Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) makes constitutional law decisions with wide-ranging policy impacts. These rulings are made in the context of legal submissions by parties and various third-party interveners, including government and interest group actors. Yet, little scholarly attention has been paid to how legal and political mobilization by actors or groups may shape both the SCC’s rulings and legislatures’ subsequent policy-making decisions. To this end, this doctoral thesis studies 71 constitutional law cases decided by the SCC from 2009-2019 with 581 interventions by 256 unique interveners. It tracks success rates of litigants and interveners in having their policy positions (concerning the constitutionality of the laws) adopted by the SCC. It finds that there is a clear group of most frequent and most frequently successful interveners, including attorneys general, civil liberties associations, lawyers’ groups, and legal clinics. The research also demonstrates correlations between interventions (by top repeat interveners, majorities of government interveners, or majorities of all interveners) and the Court’s policy positions. Lastly, the research assesses existing explanations of interventions to build an explanation consistent with the constitutional cases studied. The thesis also examines legislative policy-making replies to the SCC’s decisions, and the role of interest group mobilization therein. For example, in cases with Charter infringements, legislative responses almost always complied with the judicial decisions; in rare instances of legislative avoidance or non-compliance, replies were consistent with third-party interventions and counter-mobilization. In Charter cases in which the laws were upheld, judicial decisions tended to solidify the policy status quo, though some exceptions include legislative non-compliance and reversal, a test of constitutional limits, an instance of ‘losers’ winning, and codification of the judicial ruling. Only one of the non-Charter cases in which the law was upheld was followed by policy change, which tested the constitutional limits. Most of the legislative replies to decisions which upheld the laws were formulated in the seeming absence of mobilization to the contrary, though one exception was mobilization by law enforcement and others to restrict access to supervised consumption sites following PHS. Finally, in non-Charter cases where the laws were deemed unconstitutional, a minority of cases involved policy change (generally) in compliance with the judicial decisions.
- ItemInfluence of immersion in a space-like environment on taste and odour perception(University of Guelph, ) Tran, Alicia; Duizer, LisaExisting literature suggests that environmental factors (i.e., sound and smell) may contribute to a change in sensory perception of food eaten in space, however, this has yet to be fully investigated. To explore the effects of environmental space-like conditions on taste and odour perception, two studies were conducted. The first study investigated the effect of environmental International Space Station (ISS) sounds played through headphones on intensity of the five basic tastes. The second study immersion in a space-like environment on odour perception and emotional responses. Results showed that environmental ISS sounds of 70 dB had no effect on taste perception, and odour perception and emotional responses may be influenced by different odours and light conditions. Further studies must be performed under more representative conditions and with more dynamic food systems to fully characterize the effect of environmental factors on perception of taste and odour in space.
- ItemBANG(University of Guelph, ) Barss, Kate; Thamavongsa, SouvankhamCan a book be birthed? Can a poem be mothered? These are the central questions behind BANG, a lyric narrative collection investigating concepts of artistic embodiment, abortion, and pregnancy. Incorporating inspiration from the artwork and life of Ana Mendieta, this project explores the body as material, as something we create, sculpt, and birth. Mixing voice-driven poetry with forms invoking mothering, like ekphrasis and erasure, this work asks if living can be an act of art, if life itself can be a text. This collection operates in murky territory: exploring our blurry cultural holdings around abortion, gendered violence, and art. It explores ethical questions around pregnancy, what it means to choose, or not choose, to give birth. Ultimately, this text argues that abortion can be an act of care and mothering. These poems offer a look at a text that attempts to live, breathe, and blurs boundaries between life and art.
- ItemAssessing Methods to Monitor Rivaroxaban Therapy and the Viability of the Calibrated Automated Thrombogram (CAT) using Low Plasma Volumes in Dogs(University of Guelph, ) Phillips, Erin; Blois, Shauna; Cuq, Benoit; Abrams-Ogg, Anthony; Wood, Darren; Blois, ShaunaHypercoagulability, thrombosis, and the use of anti-thrombotic drugs in companion animals are important areas of research in veterinary medicine. There is a paucity of information regarding dosing, effect, and monitoring of anti-thrombotic drugs, such as rivaroxaban, in clinically ill animals. In the first study, 12 client-owned dogs diagnosed with hypercoagulability and/or thromboembolic disease and prescribed rivaroxaban, were recruited. Blood samples were collected prior to treatment, then 1-week and 1 to 3-months after initiation of therapy. The hemostatic tests prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), fibrinogen, rivaroxaban specific anti-Xa assay (raXa), thromboelastography (TEG) with strong activators, and thrombin generation (TG) were performed at each visit (3 hours after rivaroxaban dosing). There was a strong correlation between raXa and PT (p<0.001). The raXa was strongly positively correlated with TG variables- time to peak (ttpeak, p<0.001) and lag time (lag time, p<0.001), and negatively correlated with TG variables- endogenous thrombin potential (ETP, p<0.001) and peak (peak, p<0.001). There was poor correlation between raXa and aPTT, fibrinogen, and all TEG variables. In the second study, archived plasma samples from dogs previously determined to have low (hypocoagulable, n=10), normal (n=10), and high (hypercoagulable, n=10) thrombin generation potential were used. Method comparison was performed for the calibrated automated thrombogram (CAT) using standard (80 μL plasma, 20 μL reagent- method 1) and low volume (40 μL plasma, 10 μL reagent- method 2) plasma and reagent, respectively. Four parameters of the TG curve were assessed: lag time; ETP; peak; and ttpeak. There was excellent agreement between methods 1 and 2 for all parameters. In conclusion, PT and TG were found to strongly correlate with raXa and may be a convenient method to monitor hypercoagulable dogs receiving rivaroxaban therapy. Additionally, low volume CAT appears to be a valid alternative to the standard testing method in dogs with a range of thrombin generation potentials.
- ItemEvaluation of The Use of a Deep Active Learning Model in Anatomic Segmentation Tasks in Canine Thoracic Radiographs(University of Guelph, ) Norena, Nicole; Appleby, Ryan; Appleby, RyanThe main objective of this work was to assess the use of a semi-automated segmentation method compared with a manual method for canine thoracic radiographs. Additionally, this study seeks to compare the accuracy of novice evaluators to that of experts in basic anatomic segmentation tasks using an active learning (AL) model. The artificial intelligence algorithm was trained using 900 thoracic radiographs from patients referred to the Ontario Veterinary College between January 2020 to July 2021. Participants achieved better intersection over union (IoU) and Hausdorff distance scores using the semi-automatic method for the segmentation of the heart, abdomen, and spinous process in comparison to the manual method. There were no significant differences in the mean IoU scores between cohorts for the automatic method. In conclusion, the AL segmentation model is a feasible model for assisting users with varying levels of radiology experience to segment anatomical structures effectively on canine thoracic radiographs.