Open Theses and Dissertations
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This collection is the result of a joint project between the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Libraries and Cultural Resources which provides Graduate students with the opportunity to archive their thesis with University Archives in our digital repository.
If you are a Graduate student submitting your final thesis to PRISM, please ensure you have read and submitted all required documents: http://grad.ucalgary.ca/current/thesis
If you require assistance submitting your thesis please contact thesis@ucalgary.ca
The electronic theses and dissertations on this site are for the personal use of students, scholars and the public. Any commercial use, publication or lending of them in libraries is strictly prohibited.
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- ItemOpen AccessMedia Hegemony: The Portrayal of Rohingya Refugees in the Canadian Print Media(2024-06-28) Chowdhury, Tanjima; Peric, Sabrina; Yessenova, Saulesh; Apentiik, RowlandThe Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group in Myanmar's Rakhine state, gained global attention in 2017 due to the Myanmar military's genocide. This study focuses on how the Canadian media portrays the Rohingya minority after their displacement from Myanmar and resettlement in Canada. The primary objective is to analyze how different news outlets depict the Rohingya community, with a secondary goal of contrasting media narratives with the actual experiences of Rohingya migrants in Canada. My research emphasizes prioritizing refugee perspectives both theoretically and methodologically, aiming to engage these voices in dialogue with prevalent stereotypes and misrepresentations. My goal is to understand how our perceptions of these migrants are produced and how they influence refugee settlement. Based on their age, gender, and family background, the fieldwork with the Rohingya people revealed differences of opinion amongst the community about their portrayal in the media. Further, the data shows how different the resettlement journey is for each of these people in a foreign land. The media analysis demonstrated that the Rohingya were often portrayed as helpless victims, rarely discussed Rohingya history, and prioritized refugee camp stories with a significant absence of the Rohingya women's voices in the news. Ultimately the study displays the implication and significance of bringing refugee narratives into the mainstream media as people still fail to understand the crisis on a deeper level.
- ItemOpen AccessEducational Achievement and Adaptive Functioning in Survivors of Childhood Cancer(2024-06-27) Stokoe, Mehak; Wilcox, Gabrielle; Nordstokke, David; Schulte, Fiona; Schroeder, Meadow; Shanahan, Marie-ClaireMany more survivors of childhood cancer are surviving and thriving today. In Canada, there are approximately 30,000 survivors, and treatment advances have helped to improve survival rates. However, survivors still face challenges that arise after treatment completion. Examples of challenges include difficulties with behavioral or emotional regulation as well as impaired attention and cognitive functioning. These challenges affect broader functional outcomes such as lower adaptive functioning and lower rates of completing higher education. Thus, in this thesis I aimed to summarize the current literature in adaptive functioning and educational outcomes (i.e., reading, writing, and math) and to examine these factors in survivors of childhood cancer (SCC). Chapter 1 of my thesis is a brief introduction about childhood cancer, education achievement, and the factors that affect educational achievement in SCC. Chapter 2 provides a literature review on pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and non-central nervous system solid tumors (non-CNS ST), late effects of cancer treatment, educational outcomes and adaptive functioning in ALL, non-CNS ST, and brain tumors (BT). Chapters 3 and 4 of my thesis have been prepared for publication and address four primary aims across these manuscripts. Chapter 3 aimed to examine group differences in adaptive functioning among pediatric survivors of ALL, non-CNS ST, BT, and healthy controls (HC). The second aim of this manuscript was to explore whether age at diagnosis, male sex, and lower socioeconomic status predicted lower adaptive functioning. Chapter 4 aimed to examine group differences on the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT-5) between survivors of ALL and non-CNS ST and to examine the association between conceptual skills and WRAT-5 outcomes.
- ItemOpen AccessExploring Comfortable Coexistence with Autonomous Pods in Pedestrian Spaces(2024-06-26) Luchak, Iryna; Sharlin, Ehud; Zhao, Richard; Finn, PatrickThe rapid advancement of autonomous vehicles (AVs) marks a significant milestone in transportation technology, revolutionizing mobility and urban planning. AVs promise to improve road safety, reduce traffic congestion, and contribute to environmental sustainability. As AVs become increasingly adept at navigating complex environments, challenges arise in integrating them into existing infrastructures, making it crucial to study their coexistence with people and how they are perceived. Pods, also known as low-speed autonomous transport systems (L-SATS), are emerging in pedestrian areas like airports and malls to help solve the last-mile problem. Nonetheless, their introduction into pedestrian-centred spaces presents new challenges for researchers in ensuring the comfortable sharing of these spaces with people. This thesis explores and investigates factors contributing to comfortable coexistence between pods and incidentally copresent persons (InCoPs) in pedestrian spaces. Through our exploration, we make several contributions. We begin by examining autonomous vehicles in urban spaces, including a preliminary exploration of situated visualizations, proxemics, and technology acceptance, which leads us to the notion of pods in pedestrian spaces. We then propose a design space for pods in pedestrian spaces, reflecting on various aspects of coexistence between InCoPs and pods. Our dimensions describe the pedestrian space, pod interactions, and the physical design of pods. Using the initial design space dimensions as a foundation and inspiration in design, we build a virtual reality (VR) testbed to facilitate research on the coexistence between pods and InCoPs. We design ten scenarios in the pedestrian space testbed. We conduct a user study, analyzing the significance of different variables, including pod quantity, pod group formation, passenger presence, and InCoP position. We provide insights on factors enhancing InCoPs' comfort, emphasizing the importance of an improved sense of control, space and freedom to move, passenger awareness, and the social behaviours of other pedestrians. By examining key factors that contribute to InCoP coexistence alongside pods, this thesis aims to offer initial research insights into the future integration of pods in pedestrian spaces to improve the comfort of InCoPs.
- ItemOpen AccessThe Effect of COVID-19 on Natural Killer Cell Function(2024-06-26) Dagar, Arushi; Mody, Christopher Hugh; Corcoran, Jennifer A.; Jenne, CraigCOVID-19 has caused more than 7 million deaths, and according to the World Health Organization, it continues to result in more than 1000 reported deaths per week at the time of this writing. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the immune response to COVID-19 since the virus has the potential to become endemic, like influenza A. Natural killer (NK) cells are essential for immune defence against viral infections and play a critical role in COVID-19. While it is well documented that infected patients have a reduction in lymphocytes and NK cells, gaps in knowledge exist regarding the function of NK cells. To study the function of NK cells in COVID-19 patients, peripheral blood was obtained from patients admitted to the medical (non-ICU) wards at the Foothills Medical Centre with a positive COVID-19 test. I demonstrated a decrease in the mature cytotoxic subset of NK cells within the peripheral blood of patients hospitalized with COVID-19. I also observed a notable decrease in the cytotoxic function of NK cells against tumour targets. I examined the sequence of events within NK cells that lead to killing in a stepwise manner. I found reductions in the intracellular levels of effector molecules, the degranulation of cytotoxic granules, and the extracellular concentrations of released effector molecules. I identified alterations in intracellular granule trafficking required to position the granules for release. I found alterations in the expression of multiple NK cell receptors, suggesting inhibitory signalling. Additionally, males with COVID-19 showed more pronounced NK cell defects than healthy males, which may partly be due to receptor expressions. My findings highlight defects in cytolytic effector molecules, granule trafficking and release, and increased expression of inhibitory receptors in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, in addition to a sex difference in cytolytic function, which contributes to defective NK cell function in COVID-19.
- ItemOpen AccessRadha is Crowned King(2024-06-19) Kolotan, Niladri Nirzorini; Leier, Heather; Anderson, Judy; Sutherland, ErinThis thesis project celebrates 2SLGBTQIA+ Bangladeshi people. I am a Bangladeshi person and a Canadian citizen who is part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. This thesis consists of three painted portraits titled Radha is Crowned King that portray Bharatnatyam dance positions which convey the love described by famous Bengali poet Kazi Nazrul Islam about the deity partners Radha and Krishna. Through culturally recognizable and significant gestures, the figures swap genders. Through this gender swap, the paintings represent diversity in gender that one can embody. South Asian artists who utilize storytelling to share 2SLGBTQIA+ experiences, have informed the way in which my work resists dehumanization of Bangladeshi LGBTQIA+ people. Artists Vivek Shraya, Salman Toor, Ruhul Abdin, and Tara Asgar are telling queer stories through their visual art and writing. Kazi Nazrul Islam wrote the poem Shoke She Hari Kemon Bol that is about being passionately in love, and that inspired this thesis. Radha is Crowned King confronts the audience with fluidity of gender adding to this collective depth of 2SLGBTQIA+ storytelling, through my queer truth and narrative. This work consists of painting which allows for the creation and illustration of a world where gender hybridity and fluidity exists and is celebrated despite discrimination in the real world. This work is informed by cultural understanding and familial knowledge. This work is also informed by the book Queering Autoethnography by Stacy Holman Jones and Anne M. Harris, and is invigorated by the historical existence of LGBTQIA+ Bangladeshi people. Within cis-heteronormative cultures there is dehumanization and discrimination of LGBTQIA+ Bangladeshi people. The significance of this work is to rejoice with and for 2SLGBTQIA+ people and honor our existence and beauty. My work functions to share a narrative of 2SLGBTQIA+ acceptance. It mediates between 2SLGBTQIA+ people and the Bangladeshi masses, contributing to fostering a stronger community that is peaceful and accepting.