Year: 2021, 2021
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Higher education is important. It enhances both individual and social welfare by improving productivity, life satisfaction, and health outcomes, and by reducing rates of crime. Universities play a critical role in providing that education. Because academic institutions face resource constraints, it is thus important that they deploy resources in support of student success in the most… more Year: 2021, 2021
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Soil and tree chemistry were measured across 15 limed sites that were established 14 to 37 years ago within the Sudbury barrens in Ontario, along with two unlimed pre-treatment condition reference sites and an unlimed remnant pine forest. Soil pH and base cation (calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and potassium (K)) concentrations were elevated in surface organic [FH] horizons up to 37-years… more Year: 2021, 2021
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Peatlands can be found widely across all latitudes and play a significant role in global cycles within the earth's biosphere. The anoxic conditions in peatlands promotes the accumulation of organic matter through decreased rates of decomposition and the storage of certain elements, which have received contaminant loading over the course of human existence, with significant increases… more Year: 2021, 2021
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Name(s): Creator (cre): Grich, Nourhene, Thesis advisor (ths): Emery, Neil NE, Degree committee member (dgc): Saville, Barry BS, Degree committee member (dgc): Morrison, Erin EM, Degree committee member (dgc): Donaldson, Michael MD, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University Abstract: <p>The oyster mushroom, Pleurotus ostreatus, is one of the most widely cultivated edible basidiomycetes. It has gained increased attention for its economic, environmental, and medicinal properties. While a lot is known about cytokinins (CKs) and their actions at the molecular and cellular levels in plants, much less is known about the function of CKs in other kingdoms. Cytokinins, which… more Year: 2021, 2021
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Name(s): Creator (cre): Johannessen, Cassandra, Thesis advisor (ths): Metcalfe, Chris D, Thesis advisor (ths): Parnis, J. Mark, Degree committee member (dgc): Metcalfe, Chris D, Degree committee member (dgc): Parnis, J. Mark, Degree committee member (dgc): Dang, Huy, Degree committee member (dgc): Hickie, Brendan, Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University Abstract: <p>Road runoff is a vector for the transport of potentially toxic chemicals into receiving waters. In this study, selected tire-derived chemicals were monitored in surface waters of rivers adjacent to two high traffic highways in the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Composite samples were collected from the Don River and Highland Creek in the GTA during 5 hydrological events that… more Year: 2021, 2021
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Opioid drugs are among the microcontaminants that are discharged with domestic wastewater into the aquatic environment with the potential to affect the development and reproductive capacity of aquatic organisms. To study the effects of exposure of fish to opioid drugs, Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) were exposed over a full life cycle to environmentally relevant (i.e. ng/L)… more Year: 2021, 2021
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Assessments of the adaptive potential of natural populations are essential for understanding and predicting responses to environmental stressors like climate change and infectious disease. The range of stressors species face in a human-dominated landscape, often have contrasting effects. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus, deer) are expanding in the northern part of their range… more Year: 2021, 2021
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>As wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) move farther north, informed management decisions are critical to support the sustainability of this reintroduced species. We tracked roost tree selection and patterns of the network of roost trees, for wild turkeys, over 2 years in Peterborough, ON, using GPS and VHF transmitters. Wild turkeys showed preference for taller and larger roost… more Year: 2021, 2021
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Social anxiety often co-occurs with substance use disorders – various psychological variables, contextual factors, and implicit cognitions may help explain their relationship. This thesis examined whether social anxiety and psychological variables (jointly and independently) helped predict substance use and related problems. It also explored whether social anxiety group membership helped… more Year: 2020, 2020
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Depression during the transition into adulthood is a growing mental health concern, with overwhelming evidence linking the developmental risk for depressive symptoms with maternal depression. In addition, there is a lack of research on the protective role of socioemotional competencies in this context. This study examines independent and joint effects of maternal depression and trait… more Year: 2020, 2020
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>This thesis examines how dissolved organic matter quantity and quality and nutrients influence the flux potential of greenhouse gases (GHG) from sediments collected from streams across southern Ontario as well as Lake Erie. Sediments were collected and incubated in a laboratory setting where headspace gases and interstitial waters were analyzed. Results demonstrated that nutrients (… more Year: 2020, 2020
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>The waterborne protozoan Giardia intestinalis cycles between the environmentally-resistant and infectious cyst and the metabolically-active trophozoite that adheres to the epithelial lining of the small intestine. Adhesion can trigger the innate immune response in epithelial cells, including the synthesis of the free radical nitric oxide (NO) that inhibits cell proliferation and… more Year: 2020, 2020
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) are declining across Ontario in both numbers and distribution, prompting concern for their future. Here, conventional, emerging, and predictive tools were combined to document brook trout occupation across seasons using streams in Haliburton County, ON as model systems. By using the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry's (OMNRFs)… more Year: 2020, 2020
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>The digital typesetting of mathematics can present many challenges to users, especially those of novice to intermediate experience levels. Through a series of experiments, we show that two models used to represent mathematical structure in these typesetting applications, the 1-dimensional structure based model and the 2-dimensional freeform model, cause interference with users'… more Year: 2020, 2020
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>The human cornea is required to exhibit specific material properties to maintain its regular shape under typical intraocular pressures which then allow for its correct optical functionality. In this thesis, the basis of continuum solid mechanics and the finite element method are introduced. We use finite element modelling to simulate the extension of an effective-1d, linear-elastic bar,… more Year: 2020, 2020
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Mafic and ultramafic mine wastes have the potential to sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) through enhanced weathering and CO2 mineralization. In this study, kimberlite residues from South African diamond mines were investigated to understand how weathering of these wastes leads to the formation of secondary carbonate minerals, a stable sink for CO2. Residues from Venetia Diamond… more Year: 2020, 2020
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Natural populations are often difficult and costly to study, due to the plethora of confounding processes and variables present. This is of particular importance when dealing with managed species. Ungulates, for example, act as both consumers and prey sources; they also provide economic benefit through harvest, and as such, are of high ecological and economic value. I addressed… more Year: 2020, 2020
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Forecasting future values of time series has long been a field with many and varied applications, from climate and weather forecasting to stock prediction and economic planning to the control of industrial processes. Many of these problems involve not only a single time series but many simultaneous series which may influence each other. This thesis provides methods based on machine… more Year: 2020, 2020
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>This thesis investigated coloured and fluorescent dissolved organic matter in the Canada Basin, Arctic Ocean from 2007 to 2017. The first interannual time-series of its kind in the Canada Basin incorporated the use of EEM-PARAFAC to validate a seven-component model. Statistical temporal tests revealed (1) an increasing protein-like intensity in the upper polar mixed layer (UPML); (2)… more Year: 2020, 2020
Member of: Trent University Graduate Thesis Collection
Abstract: <p>Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) have reached human-level performance in numerous tasks in the domain of computer vision. DNNs are efficient for both classification and the more complex task of image segmentation. These networks are typically trained on thousands of images, which are often hand-labelled by domain experts. This bottleneck creates a promising research area: training accurate… more
