Trent University

DNAJC5, an HSP40 member, supports synaptic vesicle release and protein folding byactivating HSP70 ATPase activity. In humans, it localizes to presynaptic terminals and endomembrane compartments that are involved in protein trafficking. Mutations in DNAJC5 cause CLN4 disease, a rare adult-onset Batten disease. Dictyostelium discoideum, a model for neurodegenerative research, encodes a putative homolog of DNAJC5, Dnajc5 (DDB0306688), which remains uncharacterized. This study examined Dnajc5 localization and function in D. discodieum. Dnajc5 localized to the endoplasmic reticulum, cytoplasm and nucleolus under both growth and starvation conditions, suggesting a role in proteostasis. Unlike human DNAJC5, Dnajc5 was absent from endomembrane compartments and extracellularly during starvation. Protein quantification revealed increased levels during early development, peaking at the mound stage, and declining thereafter—paralleling gene expression. Immunoprecipitation of Dnajc5 showed no serine phosphorylation or ubiquitination, unlike human DNAJC5. These findings suggest functional differences despite a possible common role in proteostasis.

Author Keywords: actinomycin- D, CLN4, Dictyostelium discoiduem, DNAJC5, Immunoprecipitation, multicellular development

This thesis explores environmental justice in Peterborough/Nogojiwanong, Ontario, focusing on how marginalized communities—including Indigenous peoples, people of colour, and low-income groups—experience and respond to environmental harm. Using Participatory Action Research and Photovoice, 22 co-researchers shared their lived experiences shaped by colonialism, systemic racism, and other intersecting forms of oppression. The study reveals widespread environmental injustices, including unequal exposure to harm, exclusion from decision-making, and limited remediation. Participants highlighted how race, gender, class, and (dis)ability compound these injustices, while also framing environmental harm as deeply connected to housing instability, economic precarity, and mental health. Although participatory methods fostered community dialogue and empowerment, institutional barriers continue to hinder transformative change. The findings underscore the need for long-term, community-driven strategies that center lived experience and promote distributive, procedural, and restorative justice. This research demonstrates how participatory approaches can support marginalized voices in advocating for more equitable environmental policies and outcomes.

Author Keywords: Environmental justice, Marginalized communities, PAR, Peterborough, Photovoice

This paper examines the potential effects of educational background and math anxiety on Teacher Candidates' (TCs') pedagogical beliefs. To investigate this relationship, I conducted a mixed-methods study. Twenty-five TCs were given a quantitative survey consisting of Likert scales to measure their math anxiety levels and their pedagogical beliefs concerning constructivism and traditionalism and an additional question inquiring about their educational experience with mathematics. Six TCs were then selected for follow-up semi-structured interviews. The data were analysed using Values Coding and Focused Coding. The findings suggest that TCs draw upon personal experience when justifying beliefs, adopt flexible approaches to pedagogy, value the highly disputed Theory of Learning styles, and demonstrate that math anxiety is a motivator for constructivist beliefs. This research helps fill a gap in the literature about how educational background and math anxiety affect TCs' pedagogical beliefs and provides further insight into how TCs' beliefs are formed.

Author Keywords: Educational background, Math anxiety, Pedagogical beliefs, Pre-service teachers, Teacher Candidates, Teacher preparation programs

Stress during adolescence has profound effects on psychological, behavioral, and neurobiological outcomes in adulthood. This study investigates the impact of adolescent stress on safety learning, anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors, and associated neurocircuitry using a rat model. Adolescent male Long Evans rats underwent an unpredictable intermittent stress regimen, followed by behavioral testing and immunohistological analyses in adulthood. It was confirmed that stress impaired safety learning and increased fear generalization. Behavioral assays revealed heightened anxiety- and depressive-like phenotypes in stressed rats, evidenced by reduced open-arm exploration in the elevated plus maze and increased immobility in the forced swim test, although limited changes in sucrose preference were noted during habituation. Immunohistological findings showed reductions in hippocampal neurogenesis (DCX+ cells) and disruptions in GABAergic interneuron plasticity (PV+/PNN+ populations) within the medial prefrontal cortex. These alterations suggest that adolescent stress leads to long-term changes in brain regions associated with emotional regulation and stress resilience.

Author Keywords: Adolescencent Stress, Anxiety-like Behaviour, Hippocampus, Medial Prefrontal Cortex, Neuroplasticity, Safety Learning

Environmental infrastructure transforms the surrounding physical and culturallandscapes. In Canada, it has long been an integral part of settler colonialism. It severs Indigenous ties to the land and furthers colonial goals. This thesis examines the complex history of the Trent-Severn Waterway (TSW) during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when it drastically changed the region. Research using oral history, newspapers, and legal documents corrects a narrative that positions the TSW as a common good. The TSW is alleged to have served the people, but who benefitted? The experiences of riparian residents varied as Anishinaabe First Nations endured a multilayered form of violence, distinct from their settler counterparts. What was often a nuisance for settlers could be life-altering for Anishinaabeg. However, amidst these changes, residents demonstrated resilience. Communities actively shifted the TSW to tourism as they adapted to a transformed landscape.

Author Keywords: Canada, Colonial, Environment, Indigenous, Ontario, Waterway

This thesis aimed to address potential sources of bias in electronic fish tagging studies in order to advance the methods used by future studies. I first provided a review and meta-analysis of intracoelomic tagging effects in fishes, summarizing the existing literature and assessing the extent to which previously identified research gaps have been filled. I also included the first large-scale meta-analysis on tagging effects, examining the 2% rule using empirical evidence from a broad representation of all published studies. I then assessed the performance of a newly miniaturized predation-sensing acoustic transmitter (Innovasea V3D), demonstrating that V3D transmitters can mitigate predation biases by correctly identifying most predation events without false positives. I finally examined if immobilization via MS-222 or TENS alters the behaviours of fishes in the wild following tagging, and identified the time required for fish to re-establish normal behaviour following transmitter implantation.

Author Keywords: Acoustic telemetry, Electronic tagging, Fish ecology, Predation, Systematic review, Tagging effects

AbstractOral Language and the Approximate Number System – A Preliminary Study Janice Shewen The approximate number system (ANS) involves the processing of rudimentary quantity and is thought to be an innate developmental building block for mathematics and its sister construct, the symbolic system. The conventional belief is that the ANS is language independent; however, this notion is questioned and explored in the current study, which represents a preliminary investigation into the concurrent and longitudinal relations between different aspects of oral language and the ANS in 4-year-old children and one year later when they were 5. A sample of 26 children (13 boys;13 girls) with average intelligence completed standardized measures of oral language and verbal memory, and a computerized quantity discrimination task that required children to accurately discern between two visually presented quantities. Correlational analysis showed concurrent and longitudinal relations between different aspects of language and quantity discrimination. This suggests that different aspects of language predict quantity discrimination over a one-year period and challenge the current and accepted theory that the ANS is a language independent system. The findings also have implications for early childhood education – avenues to strengthen a child's ANS via targeted oral language instruction, curricula, and subsequent provision of experiences. The findings also support early oral language screening to monitor or provide opportunities for improving quantity approximation skills. This early intervention could impact later symbolic processing and mathematic success. Keywords: Non-symbolic system, approximate number system, quantity discrimination, symbolic system, oral language, morphology, syntax, semantics, relational concepts.

Author Keywords: Approximate Number System, Non-symbolic system, oral language, quantity discrimination, symbolic system

This dissertation, titled "Echoes of Injustice: Regulating Indigenous Masculinity through Canadian Legal and Colonial Systems, "examines how the Canadian criminal justice system—through its denial of colonial violence and its regulation of Indigenous masculinity—has contributed to the ongoing criminalization and marginalization of Indigenous men. By critically engaging with both historical and contemporary legal frameworks, including the Indian Act, restorative justice practices, and landmark cases such as R. v. Gladue and Blackwater v. Plint, this research traces how colonial narratives remain embedded in Canadian jurisprudence. These narratives often portray Indigenous men as inherently violent, deviant, and in need of regulation. The central research question guiding this work is: How has the Canadian criminal justice system, through its denial of colonial violence and its regulation of Indigenous masculinity, contributed to the continued criminalization and marginalization of Indigenous men? Grounded in the theoretical frameworks of Frantz Fanon and Michel Foucault, this dissertation argues that the legal system not only fails to address the structural impacts of settler colonialism but also actively reproduces colonial violence by projecting it back onto Indigenous male bodies. In doing so, it reinforces pathologizing narratives and obstructs opportunities for meaningful healing and justice. Each chapter applies this theoretical lens to specific legal cases and state policies, demonstrating how Indigenous men are constructed as threats to colonial order and denied recognition as victims of systemic trauma. Using a counter-narrative methodology, this dissertation challenges dominant legal and academic discourses, revealing how they obscure the lived realities of Indigenous men and sustain one-dimensional portrayals that rationalize state control. The counter-narrative approach is not merely a tool for alternative interpretation; it is a necessary act of decolonial resistance—one that disrupts colonial knowledge production and reclaims interpretive authority. By centring Indigenous voices and rejecting pathologizing settler narratives, this methodology contributes to the broader project of Indigenous resurgence: the revitalization of Indigenous masculinities, sovereignties, and justice systems on Indigenous terms. Ultimately, this work calls for a fundamental reimagining of justice—one that dismantles colonial legal foundations and embraces decolonial frameworks rooted in healing, accountability, and the resurgence of Indigenous masculinities.

Author Keywords: Colonial Violence, Colonialism Criminalization, Gladue Principles, Indian Act, Indigenous Masculinity, Restorative Justice

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy is a label-free chemical imaging modality that uses CARS as a contrast mechanism to spatially resolve materials based on their molecular vibrational spectra. Due to the presence of a non resonant background that obfuscates the chemical information contained in CARS spectra, CARS images suffer from poor contrast and cannot be readily used for quantitative chemical analysis. Over the past two decades, spectral retrieval methods have been developed to obtain Raman-like spectra from CARS spectra. These methods promise to improve image contrast and enable reliable quantitative analysis. In this work I systematically evaluate a selection of the forefront spectral retrieval methods, including both analytical and machine learning approaches, to determine how well they perform at the task of non resonant background removal. The more recent machine learning methods demonstrate remarkable performance on spectra resembling the training dataset but are not as suitable as the analytical methods in general. The analytical methods based on the discrete Hilbert transform thus remain preferable due to their ease-of-use and general applicability.

Author Keywords: chemical imaging, coherent anti-stokes raman scattering, kramers-kronig analysis, machine learning, non-resonant background, spectral phase retrieval

Crop losses due to pathogens, pests, and weeds account for 20–40% of global production, with fungal pathogens responsible for the most significant yield reductions and economic impact. The diseases caused by fungi spread through dormant spores, which protect its genetic material under adverse conditions. Dormancy is maintained until favorable germination conditions are met. Despite their importance in the fungal lifecycle, the molecular transitions from dormancy to germination remain poorly understood. The research presented uses the basidiomycete Ustilago maydis, the causal agent of Common Smut of Corn, to investigate fungal spore dormancy and germination. It aims to 1) identify the molecular transitions and stages of teliospore germination and 2) the roles of RNA helicases during teliospore germination. RNA-seq and respiration analyses were used to propose teliospore germination stages and a microdissection technique was developed for studying these stages. Transcriptomic analysis identified patterns of gene transcript level changes during germination, with GO term enrichment identifying genes involved in cell morphogenesis, metabolism, and RNA metabolism. Several RNA helicases were identified with potential roles during dormancy and germination. Previous work in the Saville Laboratory proposed that mRNAs are stored as dsRNA in dormant teliospores. I hypothesized that RNA helicases function to make these mRNAs available for translation upon germination. Forty-six RNA helicases were identified in U. maydis, and 28 RNA helicases were proposed to have roles in growth, pathogenesis, stress response, and teliospore dormancy and germination. The RNA helicases udbp3 and uded1 were selected for functional analysis by creating mutant strains. The results suggest that udbp3 negatively regulates osmotic stress response, potentially modulating stress-responsive genes during dormancy. The altered uded1 expression in mutant strains leads to slow and polarized growth and dsRNA formation. This suggests uded1 represses translation by stabilizing sense/antisense transcripts in dormant spores and then reactivates translation during germination. These findings increase our understanding of the molecular events during teliospore germination and offer insights into factors contributing to disease progression in fungal plant pathogens.

Author Keywords: gene expression, genome annotation, RNA helicases, RNA-seq, teliospore germination, Ustilago maydis