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<p>Research statement:</p> <p>To investigate the age specific blood pressure change in South Asian children from childhood to adolescence over a six year period and to determine whether this change of blood pressure varies by baseline characteristics.</p> <p>Rationale:</p> <p>Children exhibit age related incremental changes in blood pressure from birth onwards which reach adult levels during late adolescence. The best way to measure age-related changes in blood pressure from childhood to adolescence is through prospective longitudinal studies.</p> <p>Objectives:</p> <p>to investigate the changes in blood pressure among South Asian children aged 6 to 11 years who were followed for a period of six years.</p> <p>Methods:</p> <p>Blood pressure and anthropometric data were collected from 703 children who were 5 to 11 years of age in 2005 and were re-examined after six years (age range of 11 to 17 years in 2011). Average difference between baseline and follow-up blood pressure measurements was evaluated using the paired t-test. A linear regression model with follow up blood pressure and blood pressure change as outcomes and sex, weight, and height as regressors were fitted to assess whether these predictor variables were associated with the dependent variables.</p> <p>Summary of results:</p> <p>Systolic and diastolic blood pressure increases from childhood to adolescence. Baseline blood pressure appears to be the strongest predictor of follow up blood pressure. Change in body mass index influences blood pressure more than baseline body mass index. Boys showed higher levels of change in systolic blood pressure compared to girls. Age showed an interaction with sex for change in systolic blood pressure. Boys exhibited higher change in systolic blood pressure than girls in older age groups compared to younger age groups.</p> <p>Potential implications:</p> <p>The study findings will increase awareness about high blood pressure in children and lead to preventive strategies to contain the burden of hypertension in future.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

This project is concerned with examining the impact of colonial administrations on post-independence state behavior in Southeast Asia. Despite a similar historical context, the region exhibits broad variation in terms of policy preferences after independence. Past literature has focused, largely, upon pre-colonial or independence era factors. This project, however, proposes that state behavior is heavily determined by a combination of three colonial variables: indigenous elite mobility, colonial income diversity, and institutional-infrastructure levels. It also constructs a four-category typology for the purposes of ordering the broad variation we see across post-colonial Southeast Asia. Utilizing heavy archival research and historical analysis, I examine three case studies in the region, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, that share a common colonial heritage yet exhibit markedly different post-independence preferences. Vietnam's colonial legacy is characterized by high indigenous elite mobility, medium colonial income diversity, and medium-high levels of institutional-infrastructure. This creates a state where the local elites are capable and socially mobile, but lack the fully developed skill sets, institutions and infrastructure we see in a Developmental state such as South Korea or Taiwan. As a result, Vietnam is a Power-Projection state, where elites pursue security oriented projects as a means of compensating for inequalities between their own social mobility and acquired skills, institutions and infrastructure. In Cambodia, indigenous elite mobility and colonial income diversity are both low, creating an entrenched, less experienced elite. Medium levels of institutional-infrastructure enables the elite to extract wealth for class benefit. As a result, the state becomes an instrument for elite enrichment and is thus classified as Self-Enrichment state. Laos' colonial history is characterized by low levels of indigenous elite mobility, colonial income diversity, and institutional-infrastructure levels. Laos' elite are deeply entrenched, like their counterparts in Cambodia. However, unlike Cambodia, Laos lacks sufficient institutional-infrastructure levels to make wealth extraction worthwhile for an elite class. Laos' inability to execute an internal policy course, or even enrich narrow social class, categorize it as a Null state. The theory and typology presented in this project have broad applications to Southeast Asia and the post-colonial world more generally. It suggests that the colonial period, counter to more recent literature, has a much greater impact on states after independence. As most of the world is a post-colonial state, understanding the mechanisms for preferences in these states is very important. / Political Science

Limited research has been done on adult immigrants with disabilities in Canada. Adopting a mixed-methodology, the thesis explores the intersection of immigrant status and disability from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective. Previous research on immigrants with disabilities has primarily focused on parents with disabled children. Little is therefore known about the lived experiences of adult immigrant with disabilities and how these experiences are negotiated and can change across time and place. The quantitative section of the thesis utilized the Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) from 2006 to examine the receipt of and need for services based on gender, immigrant status, income, education, and age. Quantitative results identified that immigrant women as receiving the least amount of services compared to any group, potentially resulting in them being more vulnerable compared to any other group. The qualitative part of the research consisted of two studies. First, community leaders and disability activists from Middle Eastern and South Asian communities were interviewed to examine the understandings of disability within their communities. Building on key informant findings, the second part explored the lived experiences of physically disabled adult immigrants from the Middle East and South Asia through in-depth interviews. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative results it was identified that place, gender, culture, and policy significantly influence the lived experiences of immigrants with disabilities. Overall, the research highlighted the need for further research on larger service organizations and their provision of services to immigrants. The findings also identified the need for a greater understanding and provision of culturally appropriate services. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Limited research has been done on adult immigrants with disabilities in Canada. Adopting a mixed-methodology, the thesis explores the intersection of immigrant status and disability from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective. Quantitative methods examine and compare the receipt and need of support services between immigrants and the Canadian born population with disabilities. Building on the quantitative findings, the qualitative research adopts a feminist disability theory and an intersectional framework to explore the lived experience of immigrants with physical disabilities from the Middle East and South Asia, living in Canada. The qualitative chapter examines how different categories, for example disability, gender culture, religion, and immigrant status can intersect to create unique lived experiences that changes over time and place. The quantitative and qualitative findings were evaluated to further the knowledge of immigrants with disabilities and future research directions are suggested.

Intimate partner violence impacts women around the world and therefore does not present itself congruently across cultures or regions (Devries et al., 2013; Sarkar, 2010; World Health Organization, 2012). Many contemporary researchers strive to name, classify and understand experiences of intimate partner violence that are distinct to the South Asian subcontinent and members of the South Asian diaspora (Ahmed-Ghosh, 2004; Bloch & Rao, 2002; Chatterji & Chaudhry, 2014; Jeyaseelan et al., 2007; Mani, 1987; Panchanadeswaran, & Koverola, 2005). Their works contribute to a dominant discourse about violence against South Asian women that often frames cultural understandings and practices to be the cause of harm within this community. A dominant discourse which predominantly utilizes Western feminist understandings of “patriarchy” and oppression primarily serves to further homogenize, Other, and essentialize the experiences of South Asian women which cannot and should not be discussed in contrast to violence in a Western context. The impact of applying a Western lens to violence against South Asian women is that Western scholars take on the responsibility of identifying and prioritizing the needs of South Asian peoples and offer solutions to these issues without considering the systems of support that already exist or asking those impacted how they imagine change. This project engages a postcolonial discourse analysis to examine dominant discourses on violence against South Asian women as they are deployed within the context, literature, and research on intimate partner violence. Through analyzing 75 highly cited articles using a postcolonial lens, this project unearths commonalities across the dominant discourse such as the use of positivistic colonial research methods, the construction of a monolithic South Asia, the technologies of neoliberalism and colonial capitalism, and the archetype of the Third World Woman via white feminism. These reoccurring themes throughout the dominant discourse indicate the existence of an inferiorizing and oversimplified understanding of South Asian people and their experiences which is frequently framed using colonial technologies and the white gaze. Deconstructing these mechanisms can create an intentional space for anti-colonial ways of being and knowing as a South Asian person and discussions of violence in the South Asian subcontinent and diaspora without essentializing, homogenizing, or erasing aspects of these experiences. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

Yes / This paper uses a large firm-level survey to assess differences in performance across regions. A panel data analysis is conducted to explain both productivity and profitability across firms in terms of firm and industry characteristics. Regional dummies are included to pick up additional location-specific impacts and the size of these dummies is used to rank provinces. Province performance is then examined in terms of geography, infrastructure, the policy environment and aspects of the investment climate with the conclusion that the latter plays a major part in explaining provincial differences in performance.