This thesis explores the ways in which the ‘at-risk’ designation of marginalized and disadvantaged youth within youth-serving agencies contributes to a program of governance within a neoliberalized welfare state. I argue that while there is considerable resistance to the risk designation within youth-serving agencies, officially accepting funding for programming designed to target at-risk youth continues to individualize the troubles youth face and responsibilizes youth to become their own risk managers. Through these structural funding constraints, youth-serving agency staff inadvertently disseminates expert knowledges that validate the notion of ‘at-risk’ youth as a growing problem while legitimating the perspective that social problems can and should be addressed through individual treatment rather than social policy. This both disciplines youth to become better liberal subjects while leaving structural constraints unaddressed. I conclude with some examples of resistance that show promise of working outside of these technologies of governance.

Drawing on studies of strategic dynamics and organizational change, this thesis proposes four approaches to balancing exploration and exploitation over time: Specialist, Cyclical, Irregular, and Regular. Various approaches to ambidexterity may be more effective under different environment conditions, and performance may vary along with: 1) varying types of rule change environments, 2) varying levels of competitive intensity among firms, 3) reactive versus proactive timing heuristics, and 4) varying levels of product diversification. Several hypotheses are developed and confirmed using qualitative field research and agent-based modeling. Results indicated that strategic leaders should balance their exploration and exploitation with Regular ambidexterity as their environments become dominated by competence enhancing innovation. Conversely, firms should temporally shift their balance of exploration and exploitation when competence-destroying changes dominate. In a balanced environment, Irregular ambidexterity performs best. These finding are especially relevant in highly competitive contexts. Also, proactive switching increases performance more than reactive switching, whereas diversification reduces the performance of sequential heuristics.

This study provides a new reading of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Prioress’s Tale and considers its purpose within the context of the Canterbury Tales. I argue that the Tale, as an exemplum, demonstrates the dangers of tale-telling, and exposes the moral discrepancies of the Canterbury tale-telling competition and the pilgrims’ use of stories as verbal assaults against one another. I argue that the Tale condemns the unchristian-like “actions” of the Christians within its frame as they respond to the clergeon’s murder; the Tale’s ending presents a cathartic response from this congregation, which indicates their understanding of the clergeon’s martyrdom. It also provokes a similar response from the Canterbury pilgrims, which serves to silence them, and to create a paradox that disrupts possible responses to the Tale. Further, Chaucer’s Retraction at the end of the Tales is intended to silence the poet’s critics through the creation of a similar paradox.

Bacterial isolates from animals, foods and clinical samples with resistances to one or more antibiotics are being found frequently each year. Selective pressure exerted by antibiotic growth promoters in food animals has been considered a main cause for the development of antibiotic resistance and antibiotic use has been strongly criticized as a serious public health threat. The gastrointestinal tract of animals not only serves as a reservoir of zoonotic agents but also as a spot for exchange of genetic information between pathogenic and commensal bacteria. Humans get infections from resistant bacteria either through the food chain, contaminated water or by direct contact with animals. In this situation much of the concern has been directed against the use of antibiotic growth promoters in animals. The removal of synthetic antibiotics from animal diets created other problems such as a decline in animal welfare and an increase in the use of therapeutic antibiotics. So there is a need for new alternatives to antimicrobial drugs to overcome resistance development and related problems. Plants and plant-derived compounds have long been considered to posess antimicrobial activity since they were frequently used in ancient medicine as natural remedies to treat human infections. Identifying new sources of natural antimicrobials and inhibitors of resistance development will yield novel therapeutic drugs and extend the useful life of existing antibiotics. In the present work, individual and combined effects of five essential oils (eugenol, thymol, carvacrol, cinnamaldehyde, allyl isothiocyanate (AIT)) and a formaldehyde-based feed additive, Termin 8, with antibiotics against 4 antibiotic resistant bacteria with known determinants for resistance were tested using broth microdilution and the checker board assay. The bacteria showed considerable susceptibility towards these antimicrobials and a significant reduction in the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of antibiotics was noted when paired combinations of antibiotic and antimicrobial were used. The synergistic interaction was further confirmed by the extent of decrease in logarithmic count or viable population (Log DP). Although most of the combinations were synergistic by fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) values, fewer combinations showed synergistic interaction when Log DP was considered. Gram-positive bacteria were more sensitive to the antimicrobials than Gram-negative bacteria. In combination studies, carvacrol was more effective and showed synergistic interaction with at least three antibiotics. When used alone, AIT was more effective and the concentration needed to exhibit antimicrobial action was much lower when compared to other compounds. An in vitro study was conducted to assess the antibacterial effects of Termin 8 and thymol in chicken caecal digesta and poultry feed samples by using a thin agar layer (TAL) method. Concentrations greater than the MIC of both the compounds was required to exert antimicrobial activity in the feed and digesta samples. The natural antimicrobials and Termin 8 had significant inhibitory effects on the drug resistant bacteria and synergistically enhanced the efficacy of antibiotics when used in combination. Further studies are needed to test their effectiveness in animal models.

This thesis explores the implications of anti-harassment policies at Canadian medical-doctoral universities. The problem of generalized harassment as a phenomenon of academic bullying is identified and defined. This thesis explores how anti-harassment policies and practices of Canadian medical-doctoral universities have come to be, as well as their implications for academics. Chapter one identifies the methodology of the thesis, a comparative policy analysis of the policies and practices of Canada's medical-doctoral universities. Chapter two describes the theoretical foundations used in the thesis: theories of academic organizational control, policy formation, problem representation, and manifest and latent functions. Chapter three reviews contemporary literature on the role of universities in society and the phenomenon of generalized harassment in academia. Chapter four reports the results of a comparative analysis of the anti-harassment policies and practices of Canada's medical-doctoral universities, which reveal three approaches to anti-harassment policy. Chapter five links the theoretical to the empirical in order to better understand the phenomenon of generalized harassment in Canadian medical-doctoral universities, and the implications policies and practices have for the future of collegiality.

This study looked at the efficacy of using woodland caribou fecal pellets as a source of DNA to identify sampled animals and estimate population demographics. Fecal pellet samples were collected using systematic surveys of woodland caribou ranges in Jasper National Park, Alberta and the North Interlake region, Manitoba. Collection of pellet samples took place when snow was present to allow for tracking and location of caribou cratering areas and to obtain good quality DNA. DNA was amplified at ten polymorphic loci and one sex-specific primer. To estimate population size (N ̂) and population growth rate (λ), mark-recapture models were used. Model assumptions were evaluated and tested by stratifying available samples based on herd and gender information. In using the Mh (jackknife) model, the population sizes for south Jasper National Park were estimated at 125 animals in 2006-2007 (95% CI: 114, 143), 91 animals in 2007-2008 (95% CI: 83, 105) and 134 animals in 2008-2009 (95% CI: 123, 152); comparable to the mark-resight population estimates calculated over the same sampling periods. Genetic diversity indices for the different herds in Jasper National Park presented a lower genetic diversity for the smaller Maligne and Brazeau herds when compared to the larger Tonquin and A La Peche herds. Use of population assignment tests on samples collected in Jasper National Park indicated considerable admixture between the different herds despite earlier telemetry work demonstrating strong herd fidelity. The North Interlake population was estimated at 134 animals (95% CI: 122,151) in 2006-2007 and 106 animals (95% CI: 97, 121) in 2007-2008. Using data collected between 2005 and 2008, population growth rate for North Interlake was estimated at 0.83 (90% confidence interval: 0.65, 1.02). As a λ below 1 indicates a declining population, continue monitoring of the North Interlake herd is highly recommended. This studied clearly showed that the sampling of fecal DNA is a reliable and noninvasive alternative to monitoring woodland caribou population sizes and trends in the boreal and mountain regions.

This dissertation contributes to our understanding of the ‘class’ and gender dimensions of educational inequality. In doing this, it uses a “structure-disposition-practice” model that is rooted in Bourdieu’s theory of cultural and social reproduction but also draws from the theoretical formulations of subsequent sociologists to elaborate on the core concept, habitus, and make it more amenable to quantitative analyses. Habitus is a socialized set of dispositions that shapes how individuals orient to the social world, including their perception of their life chances and corresponding styles of thought and behaviour. The model posits that students’ habitus is a formative influence on how they react to their educational environments and affects their academic achievement. Furthermore, students’ habitus is affected by both their social ‘class’ and their gender, and these ‘class’ and gender differences help explain ‘class’ and gender disparities in educational achievement. Working with multilevel Canadian data from the linked PISA-YITS surveys, this study uses structural modeling to examine the relationships between family socioeconomic status, sex, habitus, academic practices, and academic achievement. As well, school contextual effects are included. A number of the findings were consistent with hypotheses. Most notably, the results provide some evidence that students’ family SES significantly affects their habitus and that their habitus significantly affects their academic achievement. For the most part gender differences in the model were modest, but a few differences were evident: the boys outscore the girls in math and science while the girls excel in reading, students’ SES has a relatively stronger effect on the girls’ academic achievement than on the boys’ achievement, while students’ habitus affects the boys’ academic achievement more strongly than the girls’ achievement. Finally, the average SES of the schools students attend affects both the boys’ and the girls’ academic achievement, but this effect is stronger for the boys, and the effect of the boys’ habitus on their academic achievement diminishes slightly as the average SES of the schools they attend increases; no such contextual interaction was evident for the girls. Overall, the results of this study give qualified support to Bourdieu’s framework and the potential of habitus and the “structure-disposition-practice” model to help us understand ‘class’ and gender differences in academic achievement.

This study is an exploratory examination of how different forms of child abuse affect adolescent victims. The study examines whether victims of physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, emotional abuse, or witnessing domestic violence exhibit negative functioning behaviours such as depression, drug use, or involvement in the Youth Criminal Justice Act. It also measures how abuse chronicity and poly-victimization moderate the relationship between the form of abuse and negative functioning. These relationships were quantitatively tested through three logistic regression models. It was found that there was a relationship between abuse type and negative functioning, and that chronicity and poly-victimization played important roles in determining functioning behaviours. This study contributes to the growing body of child abuse research that is attempting to build a comprehensive understanding of why and how abuse affects victims, and will inform service providers who could use such connections to identify and treat potential functioning problems in victims.

The brain responds to injury during early development with alterations in behaviour and dendritic morphology of motor cortex neurons. Rats were exposed to damage either prenatally or after the first postnatal week, using different models of damage and motor cortex was examined. Prenatal injury resulted in a decrease in length, complexity and volume in layer II neurons, but no differences in layer V neurons or behavioural tasks. Postnatal damage produced increases in length of basilar dendrites, but no differences in spine density at 2 months of age, whereas at 6 months of age, an overall decrease in apical and basilar spine density was observed. Findings demonstrate the maturational status of the brain at the time of injury play a crucial role in response to injury.

In Canada, no group has a more complex, negative history of involvement with the justice system than Aboriginals. The study investigated differences between the control and satisfaction perceived by Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals through the use of original questionnaires administered both during and after participant contact with the Canadian justice system. As predicted, there was a positive correlation between primary and secondary control ratings. However, Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals failed to differ in level of control and satisfaction. Participants reported higher levels of perceived secondary control than primary control for the treatment they received by staff but not the usefulness of legal services. Women reported higher levels of total perceived control than men, but only for Aboriginal women. Women reported significantly higher levels of expected than obtained outcome satisfaction. Findings suggest that people‟s experiences and misgivings about the Canadian justice system are not significantly different, regardless of ethnicity. Although people are not particularly happy with the current system, no group feels clearly more helpless than any other with regards to addressing their legal needs.