From the claims of punk rocker GG Allin aiming to shed his own blood for Rock ‘n’ Roll to the religiously tinted narratives of Bruce Springsteen we come to find artists using religious references to color their artistic medium. A question arises: Could these utterances and narratives show a deeper meaning behind Rock ‘n’ Roll such that it can give individuals a way to obtain religious experience? This thesis aims at arguing for the ability of Rock ‘n’ Roll as having a way to incite feelings of religious experience and communitas. Through the usage of auto-ethnography coupled with subsidiary sources from academic to pop culture writers this thesis will investigate if such a creative form helps to enable individuals to experience transcendence and feelings of community while immersed in Rock ‘n’ Roll.

This project presents regional velocity measurements for the eastern portion of the St. Elias Mountains, including the entire glaciated area of Kluane National Park, derived from speckle tracking of Radarsat-2 imagery acquired in winter 2011 and 2012. This technique uses a cross-correlation approach to determine the displacement of the ‘speckle’ pattern of radar phase returns between two repeat-pass images. Further reconstruction of past velocities is performed on a selection of key glaciers using feature tracking of Landsat-5 imagery, allowing for the investigation of variability in glacier motion on interannual and decadal time scales. The results of the analysis showed that there is a strong velocity gradient across the region reflecting high accumulation rates on the Pacific-facing slope of the mountain range. These glaciers may have velocities an order of magnitude greater than glaciers of a similar size on the landward slope. Interannual variability was high, both in relation to surge events, of which a number were identified, and variation of other unknown controls on glacier motion. A long-term trend of velocity decrease was observed on the Kaskawulsh Glacier when comparing the results of this analysis to work carried out in the 1960s, the pattern of which is broadly congruent to measurements of surface elevation change over a similar period.

Leaflet replacement in aortic valve repair (AVr) is associated with increased long-term repair failure. Hemodynamic performance and mechanical stress levels were investigated after porcine AVr with 5 types of clinically relevant replacement materials to ascertain which material(s) would be best suited for repair. Porcine aortic roots with intact aortic valves were placed in a left-heart simulator mounted with a high-speed camera for baseline valve assessment. Then, the non-coronary leaflet was excised and replaced with autologous porcine pericardium (APP), glutaraldehyde-fixed bovine pericardial patch (BPP; Synovis™), extracellular matrix scaffold (CorMatrix™), or collagen-impregnated Dacron (HEMASHIELD™). Hemodynamic parameters were measured over a range of cardiac outputs (2.5–6.5L/min) post-repair. Material properties of the above materials along with St. Jude Medical™ Pericardial Patch with EnCapTM Technology (SJM) were determined using pressurization experiments. Finite element models of the aortic valve and root complex were then constructed to verify the hemodynamic characteristics and determine leaflet stress levels. This study demonstrates that APP and SJM have the closest profiles to normal aortic valves; therefore, use of either replacement material may be best suited. Increased stresses found in BPP, HEMASHIELD™, and CorMatrix™ groups may be associated with late repair failure.

Research shows that there is a gap between interest and experience in the area of sexuality for individuals with autism. Also, although these individuals have unique learning requirements pertaining to their sexuality, there is no consensus on the provision and content of such education. Using a socially inclusive theoretical lens founded on existing models of disability and competence, this bilingual study (a) developed a conceptual framework of sexuality education, as understood by adolescents living in Ontario with a diagnosis of high-functioning autism and their caregivers; (b) used extant texts to support the conceptualization provided by youth and caregivers; and (c) identified personal strengths and barriers, as well as societal supports and barriers that impact sexuality education for these youth. Using a qualitative orientation, this study employed in-depth interviews, surveys, and a literature review to better understand the topic under investigation. Twenty participants from 8 families took part in these interviews, including 9 adolescents and 11 caregivers. Survey and extant textual-analysis data were used to support the findings. Sexuality education content was conceptualized as a combination of facts and sociosexual norms, with emphasis on outcomes. Additionally, safety and pleasure were identified as important content areas, including the historically absent aspect of shared enjoyment. Some content areas were part of a greater discourse of normalization. Sexuality education was seen as a combination of formal and informal activities that are developmentally appropriate, proactive, and take place across various settings and groupings. Caregivers were cited as the primary providers of informal education, whereas schools and other community partners were seen as formal providers of education. Various supports and barriers were identified, some of which were viewed as both. Themes related to media and technology pervaded all findings. This study provides further emic and etic understanding of the subject with implications for practice, policy, and theory.

Parenting is a primary role for many young breast cancer survivors and the combined effect of parenting while coping with this disease can be problematic for many of them. Despite this, little is known about the impact of parenting on the well-being of young breast cancer survivors. This thesis, comprising two studies in article format, explores this question. In the first study, we identified elements of well-being that are salient for all young women with breast cancer, and which also captured some of the unique challenges associated with parenting as a survivor. Using factor analysis techniques, we determined how these elements interrelated in separate groups of young survivors with children and without, and identified differences between the two groups based on the patterns observed. We found that the interrelationship among elements of well-being varied between these two groups: psychological distress (representing mental health and perceived stress), illness intrusiveness, and fear of cancer recurrence were found to co-occur more frequently in mothers than in young survivors without children, thus compromising their well-being. Our second study had two objectives. The first part examined differences in perceived stress, illness intrusiveness, and fear of cancer recurrence between young breast cancer survivors with and without children in two separate timeframes (0-5 and 5-15 years since diagnosis). The second part identified predictors for these elements of well-being in young mothers exclusively. Compared to survivors without children, young mothers reported higher levels of fear of cancer recurrence and illness intrusiveness in intimate life domains during both timeframes, suggesting that disruptions in these areas persist over time. Part two revealed that mothers with adolescent children and high levels of parenting stress were most likely to report perceived stress and illness intrusiveness. A mother’s age and the time since her diagnosis predicted fear of cancer recurrence and illness intrusiveness, respectively. Results from this thesis indicate that young mothers with breast cancer need screening and interventions to manage psychological distress, fear of cancer recurrence, and illness intrusiveness, particularly in intimate life domains. This thesis also identifies the most vulnerable groups of mothers and has important implications for future research.

This thesis is an intensive, multi-layered analysis of an unpublished, English language, handwritten, mid-20th century manuscript. Originally undated, untitled and unsigned, it has now been positively identified as “Text A”, a Wiccan proto-Book of Shadows compiled by Gerald Brosseau Gardner (1884-1964) in the last half of the 1940’s. Different methodologies were applied to the document: transcription using Leiden conventions, handwriting analysis to identify the author, archival research to uncover photographs of the manuscript in use, historical and bibliographical research to situate the manuscript and its author, and finally, an in-depth and exhaustive source analysis to uncover literary and documentary influences on the text. Subsequently, the manuscript was identified as handwritten by Gerald Gardner, from 1940 to 1949, and contains almost no original material other than a handful of pages for a speech or oral presentation. The rest of the document is comprised of extracts from published sources available to Gardner. These include books on Free Masonry, Templars, British Folklore, Kabbalah, Magic – ancient and ceremonial, and books by Aleister Crowley. The document also includes ritual passages and ceremonies, most of which also appear in Gardner’s published novel, High Magic’s Aid. Two theme-lines, “Magic – ancient and ceremonial” and “the writings of Aleiser Crowley”, comprising almost 40% of the total page count, were chosen for thorough analysis. Based on the information revealed by the various methodologies applied to this document, one can assert that Gardner’s claims to have been initiated into an ancient indigenous tradition, Wicca, and to be making available its long secret rituals are not supported by this document.

The Tibbitt-to-Contwoyto Winter Ice Road (TCWR) is the sole overland route servicing diamond mines north of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada. The road is 568 km long, 85% of which extends over frozen lakes. As such, its operational season is highly dependent upon the length of the winter season. This was exemplified in 2006, when an El Niño event caused an unusually short ice road season and resulted in a costly reduction of shipments to the mines. For future use and development of the TCWR, a comprehensive understanding of past regional climate variability is required. This study is an integral component of a larger-scale study designed to develop a comprehensive database of high-resolution paleoclimate data for the NWT, using a variety of proxies. As part of the larger study, freeze cores were taken from numerous lakes along the TCWR and sliced at 1-mm intervals using a custom-designed sledge microtome. Bulk 13C and 15N isotope analysis was completed at preliminary 1-cm intervals through the cores of two lakes on opposite sides of the tree line. Results from this analysis show clear trends with distinct transitions in both cores, whose closely-matched timing suggests regional-scale climate events. These results indicate that the Early Holocene was warm and dry, with a sudden shift to wetter conditions around 7200-6900 cal yr BP. Another shift to cooler conditions occurred at 4000 cal yr BP, and a final transition to even cooler temperatures occurred around 755-715 cal yr BP, coinciding with the Little Ice Age. Additionally, a modern lake survey was completed using surface sediments of numerous lakes throughout the Arctic and Subarctic. This survey verifies the strong influence of boreal forest vs. tundra conditions in affecting various environmental properties within lakes, including carbon and nitrogen isotopes. Lastly, time-series analysis was completed on two sections of Danny’s Lake core at high resolution (up to 2 mm), in order to determine short-term climate cycles. These results highlight specific climate frequencies which may be related to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. These results offer insight to short-term climate phenomena in the Northwest Territories which will allow future climate modellers to make more accurate predictions of future climate and its impact on the ice road.

Introduction: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a common hospital-acquired infection and a financial burden on the healthcare system. There is a need to reduce its impact on patients and the entire health system. More accurate estimates of the financial impact of CDI will assist hospitals in creating better CDI reduction strategies with limited resources. Previous research has not sufficiently accounted for the skewed nature of hospital cost data, baseline patient mortality risk, and the time-varying nature of CDI. Objective: We conducted a retrospective cohort study to estimate the cost impact of hospital-acquired CDI from the hospital perspective, using a number of analytical approaches. Method: We used clinical and administrative data for inpatients treated at The Ottawa Hospital to construct an analytical data set. Our primary outcome was direct costs and our primary exposure was hospital-acquired CDI. We performed the following analyses: Ordinary least square regression and generalized linear regression as time-fixed methods, and Kaplan-Meier survival curve and Cox regression models as time-varying methods. Results: A total of 49,888 admissions were included in this study (mean (SD) age of 64.6 ± 17.8 years, median (IQR) baseline mortality risk of 0.04 (0.01-0.14)). 360 (0.73%) patients developed CDI. Estimates of incremental cost due to CDI were substantially higher when using time-fixed methods than time-varying methods. Using methods that appropriately account for the time-varying nature of the exposure, the estimated incremental cost due to CDI was $8,997 per patient. In contrast, estimates from time-fixed methods ranged from $49,150 to $55,962: about a six fold difference. Conclusion: Estimates of hospital costs are strongly influenced by the time-varying nature of CDI as well as baseline mortality risk. If studies do not account for these factors, it is likely that the impact of hospital-acquired CDI will be overestimated.

Service Oriented Virtual Organizations (SOVOs) business processes and services are subject to change to meet the internal and external requirements of the competitive, complex and rapidly changing environment they operate in. More practical and efficient ways of change management are needed to allow different partners to initiate changes to their business process and services in a faster and user-transparent manner. This thesis proposes a Change Management Framework for service oriented virtual organizations including a structural and a procedural framework. The structural framework categorizes changes in the SOVO into three layers of change; which include the value network layer, the collaborative process layer and the service providers’ layer, and identifies the impact of change on each layer. Furthermore, the structural framework identifies various triggers of changes which eventually lead to actions taken at the three layers. The change management procedural framework is derived from the ITIL V3, ECM and ECOLEAD best practices and recommendations, customized to fit the SOVO change requirements. It provides different components including the six layers for change processes, change control, change actors and related management processes. The change management procedural framework provides a sequence of steps and methods that the SOVO and its participated organizations can follow in initiating changes to their business processes or services. We design an implementation architecture and a prototype for building the change management console which enables the SOVO change management participants to initiate, assess, collaborate, monitor and authorize changes. The prototype is developed to realize and validate the change management process of change in the SOVO environment. We employ the various capabilities of the IBM Business Process Management (BPM) (including its recent Web 2.0 capabilities) to increase the collaboration between partners in the process of change. We demonstrate that the proposed solutions facilitate and enhance the process of change by effectively engaging the SOVO partners in the process of change.

This research comprises three interconnected studies that, when considered together, attend to the dissertation’s purpose of presenting an integrated conceptual framework for ambush marketing in the Olympic Games. This has been accomplished in two ways: (1) the use of institutional theory, supported by network theory, as a lens to view and understand evolutionary processes in Olympic sponsorship and ambush marketing and (2) the use of grounded theory to build a conceptual framework of ambush marketing from the findings. Broadly, the model suggests the evolution of ambush marketing is partially impacted by, and an outcome of, institutional forces and considerations. Study I examines the process of institutionalization in the evolution of Olympic sponsorship during its most critical period of growth. It is argued that three key periods of change for sponsorship and two for ambush marketing exist during this time. Furthermore, these periods of change, most specifically concerning anti-ambush marketing practices, suggest the institutionalization of anti-ambush marketing legislation in the Olympic Games. Study II examines how Olympic ambush marketing stakeholder power and transfer of sponsorship and ambush marketing knowledge has influenced institutional processes toward the state of anti-ambush legislation as institutionalized brand protection. Centrality measures suggest the International Olympic Committee and Organizing Committees for the Olympic Games demonstrate the greatest stakeholder influence within the Olympic ambush marketing network. It is further argued the influence resulting from the structure of Olympic ambush marketing networks impacts the institutional processes of objectification and sedimentation. Study III examines the contemporary state of Olympic sponsorship evidenced by institutionalized legislated brand protection. While direct marketing implications of anti-ambush marketing legislation are minimal, it is argued the practice represents a portion of a regime of brand protection and that public relations outcomes of legislated brand protection must be carefully managed as part of a brand management strategy. Similarly, proportionality and managing expectations are arguably important in the understanding and application of such laws. Finally it is suggested that while the Olympic Movement may be viewed as an early adopter of anti-ambush legislation in the mega-event field, the individual character of each Olympic Games will interfere with complete isomorphism.