"She's a dog at the end of the day": guide dog owners' perspectives on the behaviour of their guide dog

A guide dog is a domestic dog (Canis familiaris) that is specifically educated to provide mobility support to a blind or visually impaired owner. Current dog suitability assessments focus on behavioural traits, including: trainability, reactivity or attention to environmental stimuli, low aggressiveness, fearfulness and stress behaviour, energy levels, and attachment behaviour. The aim of this study was to find out which aspects of guide dog behaviour are of key importance to guide dog owners themselves. Sixty-three semi-structured interview surveys were carried out with guide dog owners. Topics included the behaviour of their guide dog both within and outside their working role, and also focused on examples of behaviour which might be considered outside a guide dog owner’s typical expectations. Both positive and negative examples and situations were covered. This allowed for the discovery of new perspectives and emerging themes on living and working with a guide dog. Thematic analysis of the results reveals that a dog’s safe behaviour in the face of traffic was the most important positive aspect of a guide dog’s behaviour and pulling or high tension on the lead and /or harness was the most discussed negative aspect. Other aspects of guide dog behaviour were highlighted as particularly pleasing or disappointing by owners including attentiveness to the task, work, environment and owner; confidence in work and decision making (with confident dogs resulting in confident owners) obedience and control; calmness and locating objectives. The results reveal important areas of behaviour that are not currently considered priorities in guide dog assessments; these key areas were consistency of behaviour, the dog’s maturity and the dog’s behaviour in relation to children. The survey revealed a large range in what owners considered problematic or pleasing behaviours and this highlights the heterogeneity in guide dog owners and the potential multifarious roles of the guide dog. This study contributes to the literature on which behaviour is considered appropriate or inappropriate in dogs and on the nature of human-animal interactions

Structural colour from helicoidal cell-wall architecture in fruits of Margaritaria nobilis

The bright and intense blue-green coloration of the fruits of Margaritaria nobilis (Phyllanthaceae) was investigated using polarization-resolved spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Optical measurements of freshly collected fruits revealed a strong circularly polarized reflection of the fruit that originates from a cellulose helicoidal cell wall structure in the pericarp cells. Hyperspectral microscopy was used to capture the iridescent effect at the single-cell level.This work was supported by the Leverhulme Trust (F/09- 741/G) and a BBSRC David Phillips fellowship (BB/K014617/1). P.V. acknowledges support from the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research under award number FA9550-10-1-0020. U.S. acknowledges support from the Adolphe Merkle foundation and the Swiss National Science Foundation through the National Centre of Competence in Research Bio-Inspired Materials

Theoretical & clinical perspectives on the etiology, diagnosis, & treatment of antisocial disorders in adolescence

Antisocial behaviour can be defined as a lack of consideration for others and can be seen as damaging to society. Pervasive antisocial behaviour can be categorized into approximately two psychiatric diagnoses; Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and Conduct Disorder (CD). ODD and CD are common concerns that adolescents are seen for clinical intervention. This study aimed to understand how theoretical and clinical perspectives of mental health clinicians influence the assessment and treatment of individuals with ODD and/or CD. This study incorporated a qualitative grounded theory research methodology to develop a theory based on the perspectives of clinicians on etiology, diagnosis and treatment. To do so, 6 professionals, from a range of orientations were interviewed using a semi-structured format. Results indicate that clinician’s appear to integrate a biopsychosocial perspective, and understand assessment and treatment to be multifactorial. Further, there existed relative consistency in terms of clinical decision making, despite differing theoretical orientations

Exploring the brain-behaviour interface : the role of juvenile play experiences

In laboratory rats, juvenile play behavior has been shown to influence the development of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the experience of interacting with multiple partners has been shown to influence the orbital frontal cortex (OFC). Several studies in this thesis further explored these relationships. Two main findings arose. 1).The play-induced changes to the mPFC and the partner-induced changes to the OFC differ in their longevity. The neural remodeling of the mPFC remains relatively unchanged into adulthood, whereas that of the OFC decreases over time, suggesting that these two areas of the prefrontal cortex serve different roles in social behavior. 2) Though wild rats play in a similar manner to domesticated rats, the play-induced changes to the mPFC are not present, suggesting that complex patterns of play fighting have evolved independently of their role in the development of the mPFC. These findings shed new light on play.Funding Agencies: Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Alberta Innovates-Health Solution

Design of a micro-machined cantilever apparatus suitable for testing Modified Newtonian Dynamics

Micro-cantilevers have been used for Atomic Force Microscopy to obtain topographic images of surfaces. The resolution of these images allows for individual atoms to be resolved. In this work micro-cantilevers were studied to determine their noise spectrum. A theoretical model was derived using the Euler-Bernoulli beam equation, hydrodynamics and thermodynamics to ascertain the expected power spectral density of a micro-cantilever in a fluid due to thermal energy. Experimental data was collected with a lock-in amplifier to measure noise vs frequency to compare with the theoretical model. The data was used to determine the expected uncertainty of measurements due to noise to determine if measurements can be made in the MOND regime. These results will be used to determine the viability of using a micro-cantilever for an Earth based experiment to test MOND

Hibernation biology of Richardson's ground squirrels : hibernaculum systems and energy utilization

xii, 139 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm.I studied free-living Richardson's ground squirrels (Spermophilus richardsonii) using telemetry and total body electrical conductivity (TOBEC) to evaluate overwinter energy utilization and the impact of seed caching on body composition of males. I excavated 51 hibernation systems and found that 66% of 35 males cached 1 to 4 species of seed in the hivernaculum. Pre-emergent euthermy was shorter for 3 non-caching (0.7 = 0.2 days) than for 13 caching males (4.0 = 2.8 days), and metabolic predictions of overwinter mass loss approximated actual loss for non-caching males, but over-estimated mass loss for caching males. I concluded that caching males recouped some of the mass lost during hibernation by eating the cache during the longer period of pre-emergence euthermy. Based on TOBEC, the recouped mass included both fat and lean tissue. I suggest that caching in one year is a cost of reproduction that offsets the energetic demands of mating the following year

Characterizing and classifying music genres and subgenres via association analysis

In this thesis, we investigate the problem of automatic music genre classification in the field of Music Information Retrieval (MIR). MIR seeks to apply convenient automated solutions to many music-related tasks that are too tedious to perform by hand. These tasks often deal with vast quantities of music data. An effective automatic music genre classification approach may be useful for other tasks in MIR as well. Association analysis is a technique used to explore the inherent relationships among data objects in a problem domain. We present two novel approaches which capture genre characteristics through the use of association analysis on large music datasets. The first approach extracts the characteristic features of genres and uses these features to perform classification. The second approach attempts to improve on the first one by utilizing a pairwise dichotomy-like strategy. We then consider applying the second approach to the problem of automatic subgenre classification

A delphi study using expert consensus to develop a well-defined vision for a centre of excellence for therapeutic recreation in continuing care settings

There is an increasing demand for evidence-based practice and for the demonstration of client outcome achievement in therapeutic recreation (TR). There is also an ongoing need to research TR service provision in continuing care settings. The TR profession is well-suited to improving the well-being and quality of life of individuals living in continuing care facilities, however, current TR services are not standardized and vary greatly between settings and practitioners. Centres of Excellence are organizations that endeavour to establish high standards of practice in a specific profession or area of research. A Centre of Excellence could be instrumental in improving the delivery of quality TR services in continuing care settings. In this study, a Delphi expert consensus method was used to obtain a well-defined vision for a CoE for TR in continuing care settings. Three rounds of online questionnaires were completed by an expert panel of 11 TR professionals working in continuing care settings over a period of nine weeks. Based on the findings of this study, the participants came to the consensus that the vision of the CoE should be to inspire and advocate for quality TR services in continuing care settings through increased research and evidence-based practice. The findings from this study contribute to the development of a CoE for TR in continuing care settings that will be housed at the University of Lethbridge. They could also contribute to the development of additional CoEs for TR with other client populations—a topic that has been largely unexplored in the research literature

The effect of playful experiences on the plasticity and metaplasticity of the brain

ix, 67 leaves ; 29 cmThe influence of play behavior on the brain was investigated through plasticity and metaplasticity methodology. Regions in both cortical and sub-cortical areas were investigated. Animals in both studies either experienced play with juvenile partners or did not experience play by being paired with an adult. Play experience alone was shown to affect the plasticity in the prefrontal cortex, although it did not show structural changes to sub-cortical regions. If animals were given nicotine after play experiences, the affects of play in the prefrontal cortex were abolished. In addition, playful behaviors appear to prime some sub-cortical regions of the brain for expression of later plasticity. Thus, play appears to alter the structure of multiple brain areas, but do so in different ways