MAST CELL STING ACTIVATION IN INFECTION AND CANCER IMMUNITY

Mast cells (MCs) are long-lived, tissue-resident immune cells essential for host defense. The STING pathway, a key innate immune response to infection and cellular stress, promotes strong type I interferon (IFN) and pro-inflammatory responses. While the STING pathway holds therapeutic potential in cancer and infection, its role in MCs remains underexplored. Our study demonstrates that MCs trigger type I IFN and NF-κB responses upon STING activation. We show that MCs are susceptible to Shigella flexneri infection, leading to an upregulation of type I IFN and interferon-stimulated gene expression, partially dependent on STING. In a murine ovarian cancer model, MC deficiency led to longer survival, whereas reconstituted MC-deficient mice surprisingly showed improved survival. Treatment with a STING agonist increased survival, but overexpressing STING in MCs within tumors provided no additional benefit. These findings offer valuable insights into STING-mediated immunity in MCs and highlight potential avenues for future therapeutic exploration

Advancing Air Pollution Monitoring Assessment in Eastern Canada with Emerging Methods

Surface air pollution monitoring networks in eastern Canada, including Ontario, Quebec, and the Atlantic provinces, have limited coverage and high deployment and maintenance costs. The Quebec City-Windsor corridor is Canada’s most densely populated region with the highest traffic and industrial activities, while the Atlantic provinces have high population proportions of vulnerable people. Without adequate monitoring, the exposure and population health risk assessment of air pollution lacks precision. New measurement technologies and methods enable high-resolution monitoring in under-monitored communities. Low-cost air quality sensors enhance the density of surface monitoring. This study assessed the spatial distributions of low-cost sensors and regulatory monitoring stations for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in eastern Canada with locally adaptive kernel density estimation (KDE), and found persistent monitoring gaps and disparities in monitoring coverage in communities with social deprivation. A new remote sensing satellite instrument, Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO), provides raster observations of tropospheric column nitrogen dioxide (NO2) on a daytime hourly basis. Examining its high spatiotemporal resolution data, this study identified previously unrecognized NO2 hotspots, monitoring gaps in eight highly polluted and densely populated municipalities, and variations in temporal NO2 patterns. Linking the remote sensing to in-situ surface-level observations, with ancillary data of meteorology, land use, land cover, and urban environment, this study applied land use regression and hotspot mapping for air pollution monitoring gap assessment in a hyperlocal context. Saint John, New Brunswick, an industrial city with sulphur dioxide (SO2) pollution, was selected as a case study for intra-urban pollutant modelling. In summary, this thesis highlights current air pollution monitoring gaps in eastern Canada and informs future policy planning in monitoring expansion, resource management, and health surveillance in under-monitored communities. It also demonstrates the use of novel geospatial data and methods in studying air pollution and motivates future research

Digitally Facilitated Sex Work: A Scoping Review Articulating Men's Labor Experiences

A multitude of factors shape the labor conditions of men engaged in digitally facilitated sex work. To examine these labor conditions, we conducted a scoping review of research conducted with men about their use of internet technologies to facilitate in-person sex work and/or provide sexual services online through digital platforms. We retrieved 72 papers and book chapters published between 1990 and 2024. We summarize some descriptive characteristics and organize the findings according to six working conditions: entry into sex work, advertising and marketing, screening and communications, pay, occupational health and safety, and resources and support. We found primarily qualitative studies examining a variety of sex work sectors and contexts, including a growing body of work about webcamming and porn production. Articles focused on motivations, the role of internet platforms in shaping sex worker practice and identities, marketing and safety strategies, and sexual and community health. Literature increasingly frames sex work in terms of labor and addresses the social, legal, technological, and structural forces that shape sex work conditions. By organizing the findings of existing studies according to labor outcomes and implications, this review aims to further support and facilitate the adoption of a workers’ rights perspective within sex work research.Canadian Institutes of Health Research Catalyst Grant [#CDE-184600]

Through The Kaleidoscope: Slow Violence and Binary Categorization in Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts

This thesis will consider the categorization of intersectional identities and concepts as a form of, what Rob Nixon has named, “slow violence.” This form of violence is experienced over extended periods of time which eventually creates conditions which are not sufficient for sustaining life. Slow violence looks different than physical or extreme forms of violence as it is a not spectacular or instantaneous, it builds gradually to destroy. To categorize is to restrict or limit intersectionality by separating an identity or concept into individual categories. In The Argonauts, a work of auto-theory, author Maggie Nelson expresses the disdain she has for categorization as it is imposed on her by those who question her sexuality and her partner’s gender identity. Nelson’s experiences with categorization function as prime examples of how categorization can become a form of slow violence and what effects that this form of violence can have on an individual. With additional support from bell hooks’s theory of love, All About Love: New Visions and Julia Kristeva's Powers of Horror in Abjection, this paper will address hooks’s question of “how much easier it would be for us to learn how to love if we began with a shared definition” (hooks 4) and how abjection from a normative state of being functions as resistance to the slow violence of binary categorization. By applying Rob Nixon’s theory of slow violence to Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts, I will argue that the learned practice of categorization which is imposed upon intersectional queer identities and queer love is a form of slow violence that reinforces a hierarchical structure which places certain categorical frames above others

CANADIAN FEMINIST FOREIGN POLICY: WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY IN COLOMBIA

My Master’s research considers the implications of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda in Canada’s international development efforts. I use Global Affairs Canada (GAC) projects operating in Colombia as case studies. These projects focus on operationalizing and implementing elements of the WPS agenda. Notably, Canada was one of the first countries to take up the WPS agenda in its Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP). Further, while Canada is understood to be a leader in gender equality on the world stage, there have been mixed reactions to its FFP. Some state it is too radical while others claim feminism has been co-opted by neoliberalism and political institutions and is no longer sufficiently transformational. The use of the WPS agenda to inform gender equal international assistance in conjunction with collaborative efforts between governments and civil society institutions is an avenue for development work. This is especially relevant in the context of the longevity of the WPS agenda and, by association, Canada’s FFP. This thesis argues that Canada has an important role to play in international assistance through its FFP and as it is informed by the WPS agenda. The opportunity to engage seriously with concrete policy efforts for gender equality is critical as sustainable international development must use a feminist approach to achieve a world order which is more equitable for all

Using Variable Chlorophyll-a Fluorescence to Assess the Impact of Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement on the Photochemical Efficiency of Phytoplankton

Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE) is a potential carbon dioxide removal strategy to mitigate climate change by enhancing oceanic carbon uptake. This thesis contributes to the biological risk assessment of OAE by examining its effects on phytoplankton photophysiology through laboratory and field experiments. In vitro studies (Chapter 3) revealed species-specific responses to elevated pH (~8.7), with varying resilience among phytoplankton. Mesocosm experiments (Chapter 4) showed changes in beam attenuation, particle size distribution, and pH following magnesium hydroxide additions, but no clear biological responses. Similarly, field trials with brucite altered optical properties but did not impair photosynthetic function. However, scattering artifacts in bio-optical sensors affected chlorophyll-a fluorescence readings, emphasizing the need for careful methodological consideration. Instrument design influenced sensitivity to scattering, affecting data reliability. Overall, findings support existing evidence that OAE, when applied at appropriate scales, is unlikely to pose significant risks to marine phytoplankton but highlight challenges in measurement accuracy

Women on the Water: Perceptions of Human-Nature Relationships from Female Kelp Farmers in Maine and Atlantic Canada

Kelp farming has gained traction over the last few years in North America due to its environmental benefits and its unique gender-inclusivity within the world of aquaculture. This study uses a phenomenological and feminist framework to inductively explore how women in the kelp farming industry of Atlantic Canada and Maine perceive and experience their role in the industry, climate change, adaptation, and how these factors may influence their relationship with the natural world. It builds on previous research demonstrating how women tend to adapt to the effects of climate change differently than men. For the study I recruited seven female-identifying participants using news articles and social media platforms who then engaged in semi-structured interviews and a photovoice activity. The results suggest that participants prefer to approach climate change adaptation by looking to reach a new harmony with nature, rather than joining the ranks to ‘fight’ against climate change. This involves decentering modern human needs and instead balancing them against the needs of our natural environment. The data also explores how place-attachment affected participants’ psychology regarding their relationship with the natural world and climate change, as well as some of the challenges that the participants foresee for the kelp farming industry and their involvement in it

Tracking Voice Changes During Testosterone Hormone Replacement Therapy

This thesis aims to describe the acoustic speech changes occurring during the first year of testosterone hormone replacement therapy (T). Using data extracted from sixty YouTube videos posted by transmasculine people documenting voice changes, this study employed a novel recruitment strategy to supplement the concern of low participant numbers in the existing literature. Measures included mean fundamental frequency (MF0) and formant frequencies, used to estimate changes in vocal tract length (VTL). Results: The MF0 of the transmasculine group reduced by 44%, from an average of 217.47 to 122.81 Hz, in one year. Their resulting MF0 fell within a standard deviation of the mean MF0 of cisgender men. Their VTL increased from an average of 14.14 to 14.90 cm, falling within two standard deviations of the mean of the cisgender men. This study, containing the largest subject pool to date, adds to the literature on voice changes during T by using publicly available recordings and including estimates of changes to vocal tract length

Anticipatory Locomotor Adjustments During Walking Over Unilateral Obstacles In Able-Bodied Participants

Walking control was assessed by investigating the changes in net joint power while going over unilateral obstacles placed in the plane of progression. Participants performed obstructed walking trials across seven different obstacle heights (0 to 60 cm) while kinematic and kinetic data were collected. Anticipatory locomotor adjustments (ALA) were observed in both crossing and supporting legs. Notably, there were significant adjustments in the supporting leg with the emergence of a plantar flexor energy generation phase, accompanied by an increase in hip extensors energy generation at the onset of the stance phase for higher obstacles. Furthermore, a complementarity in the power bursts of the crossing leg muscles was noted. Specifically, the left leg exhibited a greater pulling motion at the knee due to an enhanced knee flexor energy generation. This thesis contributes to a greater characterization of ALA to unilateral obstacles and provides some evidence about the complementarity of these adjustments