“ηὔδα… πυγιστί”: Ambivalence in Archaic Iambic Invective

This thesis offers a new approach to the debate surrounding the relationship between Archaic iambic invective poets and the conventional morality of their communities, through close readings of invective fragments from canonical iambic poets from the perspective of Bakhtinian and post-Bakhtinian theories of literary transgression and ambivalence. After a brief introduction (Chapter 1), Chapter 2 examines Archilochus’ Cologne epode and establishes that his poetic persona assumes a morally questionable position in service of a more effective invective narrative. Investigating fragments from Hipponax’s corpus through the lens of the literary grotesque, Chapter 3 argues for the centrality of the grotesque in the construction of Hipponax’s ambivalent poetic persona. Chapter 4 examines Semonides fr. 7 W, arguing that Semonides’ conventional iambic poetics situate his persona in an ambivalent position in relation to community morality. These investigations suggest that ambivalence is a fundamental characteristic of iambic invective, recontextualising the iambographer’s role in community negotiations of morality and justice.Nigel Burns, 202

Trustworthy AI Under Distribution Shifts: Enhancing Generalization and Fairness in Deep Learning

Recent advances in machine learning and deep learning have achieved remarkable success across a wide range of applications, yet they largely rely on data-driven paradigms that assume the training and test data share similar distributions. In real-world scenarios, however, this assumption often fails. Distribution shifts between training and deployment environments or among population subgroups can significantly compromise the performance and reliability of AI systems. Moreover, privacy constraints frequently prevent direct access to source data, and ethical concerns surrounding fairness raise additional challenges for the trustworthy use of AI in sensitive domains such as healthcare and finance. These factors together highlight the urgent need for a deeper and more principled understanding of trustworthy AI under distribution shifts. This thesis examines the influence of distribution shifts along two complementary dimensions of trustworthy AI: generalizability and fairness. On one hand, we focus on the noisy and unreliable signals caused by distribution shift, which place learning in a weak-supervision regime and thereby limit AI systems’ generalizability. On the other hand, we focus on the distribution shifts that arise from structural data imbalance or scarcity rooted in historical and societal factors, which give rise to socially unfavorable model behaviors and, in turn, exacerbate fairness issues in the decision-making process. From the generalizability perspective, the thesis studies the domain adaptation problem under data privacy constraints, formulated as the Source-Free Domain Adaptation (SFDA) problem. SFDA is examined in both classification and regression tasks, with a focus on pseudo-label noise mitigation and uncertainty modeling, respectively. For the classification problem, a noise-robust loss–based noise-and-variance control method (NVC-LLN) is proposed to mitigate the unbounded label noise inherent in SFDA. For the regression task, a histogram-based uncertainty reconstruction framework, MERCI, is proposed to refine continuous supervision signals and align feature presentations under distribution shift. For the fairness problem, this thesis focuses on the multiple-subgroup situation, ranging from a single sensitive attribute with multiple subgroups to multiple sensitive attributes with intersectional bias, covering both unfairness discovery and mitigation. For subgroup discovery, a Bias-Guided Generative Network (BGGN) is proposed to identify underrepresented subgroups instead of relying on traditional search methods. For mitigation, a generalization error bound is derived under the PAC-Bayes framework, motivating a probabilistic-predictor-based bilevel optimization algorithm, FAMS, which achieves both fairness and accuracy across multiple subgroups under limited-data conditions. Collectively, these studies advance the development of responsible, adaptive, and human-centric AI systems. These systems are capable of performing reliably across diverse and dynamic environments.Gezheng Xu, 202

Caregiver-Implemented Interventions in Pediatric Speech-Language Pathology: Lessons Learned from Practice-Based Research

Caregiver-implemented interventions are often used by speech-language pathologists to support children’s early language development by empowering caregivers to facilitate children’s language learning in everyday contexts. The Hanen Centre is a globally recognized organization that trains speech-language pathologists to deliver caregiver- implemented interventions. Two Hanen programs focus on supporting the language development of children with more general communication needs – Target Word and Learning Language and Loving It. The Target Word program aims to improve the language and communicative participation skills of children who are late-to-talk. The Learning Language and Loving It program engages early childhood educators in supporting children’s language learning in childcare contexts. This dissertation explored the effectiveness, feasibility, and cultural appropriateness of these programs in applied contexts. Study 1 evaluated the effectiveness of the virtual Target Word program. A constrained longitudinal data analysis approach was used to examine differences in vocabulary, morphology, phonology and communicative participation for children in immediate and waitlist control groups. Clinically meaningful gains in communicative participation and statistically significant gains in phonology were associated with families’ program involvement, however most other scores in expressive vocabulary, morphosyntax, and communicative participation were not statistically different between groups. Study 2 assessed parent-child interaction quality during video-recorded play-based interactions for the same families who participated in Study 1. Parent-child interactions were coded using the Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO) and data were analyzed using constrained longitudinal data analysis. No group differences were observed at any point. Study 3 aimed to understand Red River Métis Early Childhood Educators’ perceptions of the feasibility and the cultural appropriateness of the strategies recommended in the Learning Language and Loving It program. A think aloud interview approach was used to capture participants’ views. A thematic analysis revealed three themes related to the feasibility of program strategies, and two themes identified suggested cultural adaptations and considerations for Red River Métis childcare centres. This dissertation provides insight into the effectiveness of caregiver-implemented interventions and key cultural considerations for those working with Red River Métis children and their caregivers. Practical implications for research and practice in pediatric speech-language pathology are also identified.Kathryn Hatherly, 202

Challenges and facilitators for mental health care for operational stress injuries in the military: A qualitative study

Introduction: Military members and Veterans have an increased risk of mental health (MH) conditions compared with the general population. In light of the underutilization of MH services in this population, it is important to examine the factors that either obstruct or facilitate access to MH treatment, as well as ongoing participation. This knowledge is key to developing effective strategies that enhance accessibility to these services and encourage treatment-seeking behaviour. This study aimed to provide a nuanced understanding of personal and systemic factors that influence Canadian Veteran MH care. Methods: Thirteen Canadian Armed Forces Veterans were recruited via physician referral from the Operational Stress Injury Clinic in London, Ontario, and interviewed using a qualitative interpretive phenomenological approach (IPA). Interviews were coded and analyzed using standard IPA guidelines. Results: Analyses revealed six superordinate themes: perceived need for treatment, motivation to seek treatment, accessibility and adequacy of MH resources, experiences during treatment, influence of social support, and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their MH. Discussion: This study emphasizes the importance of understanding Canadian Veterans as a distinct cultural group with unique needs and challenges, including stigma, self-reliance, and difficulties navigating health care systems. This research examined the mixed impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Veteran participants. It had a small sample size and primarily included male participants. Future research should focus on under-represented Veterans groups (e.g., women) and those who have not sought treatment to inform interventions and improve overall MH outcomes for this population

Cross-Species and Clinical Insights into Brain Network Architecture: A Structural and Functional Connectivity Study

Understanding how brain networks are organized is essential for explaining species differences in cognition and for identifying early indicators of neurological disease. This thesis applies graph-theoretic approaches to study large-scale brain networks, focusing on the organization of structural connectivity in healthy primate brains (study 1) and functional network alterations following neurological insult (study 2). In study 1, we investigate the mesoscale organization of the structural connectome in humans, macaques, and marmosets using modularity-based community detection and graph centrality measures. Analysis of diffusion MRI–derived human connectomes from the Human Connectome Project revealed a robust and reproducible modular architecture, with eight dominant communities consistently identified across individuals and test–retest sessions. Eigenvector centrality highlighted a strongly integrative community localized to occipital cortex, encompassing primary and higher-order visual regions. To assess the dependence of these findings on edge-weight interpretation, we repeated community detection and centrality analyses using reciprocal edge weights, such that strong connections correspond to short paths. Under this transformation, modular structure was substantially weakened and spatial coherence reduced, indicating that the canonical modules observed in the human connectome are driven by concentrated anatomical connectivity rather than shortest-path topology. Additional comparisons of eigenvector, betweenness, and closeness centrality demonstrated that these metrics capture complementary but distinct aspects of network organization. Cross-species analyses showed that while modular organization is broadly conserved across primates, the dominance of an occipital hub community is specific to humans, suggesting species-dependent specialization in integrative network architecture. In study 2, we examine functional connectome organization using resting-state and movie-driven fMRI data from individuals following a first unprovoked seizure. Network analysis revealed altered centrality patterns in limbic, prefrontal, and insular regions relative to matched controls, even after a single seizure event. These results point to early and distributed changes in functional network organization that may relate to seizure vulnerability. Together, this thesis demonstrates that graph-theoretic measures provide a sensitive framework for characterizing both stable features of brain network architecture and early functional alterations associated with neurological disease. The findings highlight shared organizational principles across species, as well as uniquely human specializations in structural network integration.Esther Yartey, 202

P15. Family Status Discrimination: The Never-Ending Story

The idea of work-life balance has received increasing attention from media, government, unions, and academics in recent years. This is due to the significant changes in the nature of the family and of roles within family. An interdisciplinary approach can explain the societal context that has prompted a rise in family status accommodation claims. Most notably, women have entered the paid workforce in unprecedented numbers and demographic shifts have created a growing need for eldercare. Over the past two decades, divergent approaches to family status discrimination in the employment context have developed in Canada. The central dispute appears to be the issue of what circumstances are captured by the concept of family status discrimination. The majority of cases deal with families struggling to maintain caregiving responsibilities in an employment context. In Johnstone, the FCA handed down what many expected to be the final word on family status discrimination. The refined definition put forward confirms that a bona fide childcare problem caused by workplace rules or policies is protected by human rights legislation. However, just two years later, the HRTO chose to reconsider the logic of Johnstone as it applies to family status generally, and particularly in cases involving eldercare. Misetich will allow for employees to more easily establish family status discrimination, moving the needle again along the spectrum towards a broad approach. While human rights litigation is an important avenue for addressing employment discrimination, a more comprehensive response requires law reform and policy development. Working families need family-work policies and programs that reflect the current realities of the sandwich generation who may be juggling both child and eldercare

The effects of Lin28a and its phosphorylation at S200 on Imatinib resistance in chronic myeloid leukemia

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is characterized by the fusion kinase Bcr-Abl. Patients are primarily treated with Imatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) targeting Bcr-Abl, but often encounter resistance after treatment. Previously, our laboratory established an Imatinib-resistant cell line which abnormally upregulated Lin28a. To assess whether Lin28a and its phosphorylation at S200 cause Imatinib resistance in CML, I overexpressed Lin28a, its phosphomimetic mutant Lin28aS200E, and their respective controls, empty vector and non-phosphorylatable mutant Lin28aS200A, in K562, EM2, and MOLM1 cell lines. Upon Imatinib treatment, these cells demonstrated little difference in their response. They also had similar sensitivity to other TKIs. The knockdown of Lin28a in ImR cells, however, slightly decreased the cell viability. These findings suggest that Lin28a and its phosphorylation are not sufficient to confer Imatinib resistance in CML. This study encourages further investigation into the molecular functions of Lin28a in CML and the underlying causes of Imatinib resistance.Quan My Quach, 202

Does RCP predict cycling performance?

The thesis cover page in the PDF document includes references to Western University’s previous institutional repository platform, known as Scholarship@Western, and links to that platform (beginning with ir.lib.uwo.ca). In citing or referring to this thesis, use the DOI or handle from this page instead. Sample citation: Author name, "Thesis title." (Year). Western University Open Repository. https://doi.org/10.71858/123456. Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine whether RCP (respiratory compensation point) (W∙kg-1) and the magnitude of change of POpeak before versus after high-intensity exercise (i.e., “fatigue resistance”) predict time trial performance, as well as the relative importance of other variables, such as V̇O2peak and cycling economy. Methods. 28 healthy trained competitive male cyclists performed the step-ramp-step protocol twice, before and after, a 19.2 km time trial. All trials were performed on their own bike mounted on a smart trainer. Results. A significant decrease was observed between pre-trial (PRE) and post-trial (POST) measurements across all physiological variables except lactate threshold and V̇O2peak. A significant correlation was identified between time trial finishing time and V̇O2peak (ml∙kg∙min-1) (r2= 0.24; p < 0.05) and RCP (W∙kg-1) (r2= 0.58; p < 0.001). Fatigue resistance (as measured by ΔPOpeak) did not correlate with cycling performance. RCP (W∙kg-1) emerged to be the most robust predictor among other independent variables, including V̇O2peak (in mL∙kg⁻¹∙min), cycling economy (mL∙kg⁻¹∙W⁻¹∙min⁻¹) and ∆POpeak (W∙kg-1) (p < 0.001). Conclusions. RCP (W∙kg-1) independently correlated with time trial finishing time and was the strongest predictor of cycling performance out of all four variables

Maternal dietary DHA and EPA supplementation ameliorates adverse cardiac outcomes in THC-exposed rat offspring.

https://rdcu.be/ef9KNCannabis use in pregnancy is associated with low birthweight outcomes. Recent preclinical data suggests that maternal Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) exposure leads to decreases in birthweight followed by early cardiac deficits in offspring. Currently, no studies have explored an intervention for these maternal THC-induced deficits. Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to exhibit cardioprotective effects. In this present study, we demonstrated that maternal dietary supplementation of omega-3 fatty acids ameliorates both THC-induced fetal growth and postnatal cardiac deficits in offspring. Our data indicates this may be underpinned by alterations in cardiac and hepatic fatty acids and reduction in markers of cardiac collagen deposition. Interestingly, the cardioprotective effects of omega-3s may be further underscored by decreased signaling of the cardiac endocannabinoid system. With increasing rates of cannabis use in pregnancy and recent evidence of subsequent cardiometabolic aberrations in offspring, our data suggests a potential intervention for THC-induced fetal growth and cardiac disturbances in offspring

P34. The Effects of Standing Desks on Classroom Performance of University Students

Background: It is well established that there are many health risks associated with prolonged sedentary time.1 Unfortunately, research conducted on university students is limited but yet they experience excessive periods of sitting time during class and while studying. Methods: Recently, we investigated the effect of sitting, dynamic sitting, and standing desks on classroom performance of university students.2 Participants performed three 3-minute classroom simulations, one for each of the three desks. The order of the desks and simulations were randomized. Each of the simulations included a different typing and memory task. Results: Results showed no significant difference in the typing or memory tasks. Discussion & Conclusion: The null results provide evidence that short-term classroom performance does not suffer by changing students’ anatomical position from classic sitting. A limitation with this work is that the classroom performance tasks were performed for only 3 minutes under each desk condition. Hence, we are currently repeating the study over a longer ecologically valid university class period of 50 minutes. The null findings of these studies will aid in the recommendation and implementation of dynamic sitting and standing desks in university classrooms thus, allowing university students to obtain health benefits as they learn. Interdisciplinary Reflection: This research combines many disciplines including health science, ergonomics, psychology, and sociology to improve the health and schooling of university students