YorkSpace

YorkSpace is York University's Institutional Repository. It supports York University's Senate Policy on Open Access by providing York community members with a place to preserve their research online in an institutional context.

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Recent Submissions

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    Liberal/Individualized Versus Materialist/Structuralist Approaches to Addressing Social and Health Inequalities: Education and Income as Social Determinants of Health
    (SAGE Publications, 2025-01-26) Ervin, Avery; Raphael, Dennis
    Background: While consensus exists that the sources of health inequalities are social inequalities brought on by the experience of qualitatively different living and working conditions, means of addressing these conditions continue to be the subject of dispute. Whether to emphasis education or income as a social determinant of health is one such example of differing views on the sources of these inequalities and the means of addressing them. These different emphases are often justified through the narrow examination of the magnitude of statistical relationships between educational attainment and income with health outcomes.Purpose: We offer a broader view, seeing these differing emphases as indicative of contrasting views of the nature of society and means of responding to these inequalities with emphasis on education representing a liberal reformist view of the issue while an emphasis on income representing a materialist structuralist view.Research design and study sample: We examine, the validity of this hypothesis through an analysis of content of five representative publications that consider educational attainment as a social determinant of health and five that do so for income.Analysis and results: We find that the emphasis on education as a social determinant of health focuses on the attributes of the individual and is generally accepting of the structures and processes of the existing economic and political order. In contrast, an emphasis on income - when placed within a materialist analysis - views existing systems as inequitably distributing income and other resources thereby requiring their reform or transformation.Conclusion: Considering evidence of deteriorating living and working conditions for many in Canada and elsewhere, we see the latter emphasis as more useful for understanding and addressing these disturbing developments.
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    Vertebral compression Fracture Risk in Spinal Metastases Patients Following Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy Using Quantitative Imaging Data and Machine Learning
    (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2025-08-22) Gulta, Dawit; Chen, Stephen; Klein, Geoff; Ross, Tayler D; Rezkalla, Matthew; Palhares, Daniel M; Burgess, Laura; Detsky, Jay; Sahgal, Arjun; Whyne, Cari M; Hardisty, Michael
    Vertebral compression fractures (VCFs) occur in approximately 14% of patients with spinal metastases following treatment with Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT). The Spinal Instability Neoplastic Score (SINS) is the current clinical standard for assessing potential mechanical instability in these patients; however, it has several limitations such as it is manually assessed, has an inconsistent relationship with fracture risk and is only semi-quantitative. This study used quantitative CT imaging biomarkers derived from SBRT treatment planning imaging and machine learning models (Logistic Regression, Random Forest, XGBoost, SVM, Gradient Boosting, AdaBoost, Neural Network) to predict vertebral compression fractures (VCF) following SBRT in spinal metastases patients (in 300 thoraco-lumbar vertebrae from 179 patients). The Random Forest model achieved the best performance (sensitivity: 0.64, specificity: 0.76, F1-score: 0.47), showing a 36% improvement in balanced accuracy over SINS. Feature importance analysis identified the quantitative imaging biomarkers, spinal alignment and bone lesion composition (lytic or blastic disease) as the strongest predictors. ML models demonstrated meaningful improvements over existing SINS assessment.
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    The Politics of Space: Refugees, Displaced and Stranded
    (Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group, 2023-12) Mohsin, Amena
    This write-up is an attempt to traverse a personal journey at different phases of my life as an individual and a researcher. Though the three scenarios are different, but a common thread weaves them together, and this is the modern state. The situation of being “stranded,” “displaced,” and “refugee” or “forcibly displaced” are the consequences and creations of a state’s oppressive policies. However, land/territory and borders too are integral to these creations. Here I would juxtapose the concept of “space” to “territory,” which is otherwise a space as well; however, I would contend that space acquires a different and larger connotation in situations like this. While having a physical realm, it extends beyond the spatial and penetrates the cognitive. The latter becomes a site of defiance, empowerment, and identity formation at the individual and community levels. To take the cue from Nandy, I would argue the politics of territoriality and bordered spaces gives birth to the politics of cognitive spaces which are borderless, and have a timelessness about them, which makes it a much more powerful tool of resistance.
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    Aggregation of Climate-Related Risk Exposure in Employer-Sponsored 401(k) Plans
    (2025-12-15) Weber, Olaf
    This report evaluates the climate-related financial risks embedded within the investment options of a large employer-sponsored 401(k) plan. Using Morningstar/Sustainalytics, Bloomberg, PACTA, Reuters, and fund-level financial data, the analysis identifies significant exposure to high-emitting sectors, limited sustainability alignment, and substantial transparency gaps. While the portfolio is diversified, its concentration in carbon-intensive industries exposes plan participants to elevated transition, regulatory, and stranded-asset risks. Importantly, scenario testing shows that reducing these exposures can be achieved without compromising long-term returns.
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    Advancing Equity in the Nonprofit Sector, Funding and Policymaking
    (York University, 2026) Christoffersen, Ashlee; Natial, Angela; Cootauco, Alyssa
    This briefing for nonprofit leaders and practitioners, funders and policymakers reports on results of research with experts in equity, namely equity-seeking nonprofit practitioners. The research was about the different equity frameworks (e.g. intersectionality, Indigenization, antiracism) that they use in their work, and how they understand and use them. Policy actors have much to learn from those with specialist knowledge working in equity-seeking nonprofits about the operationalization of intersectionality, among other equity-related frames. Based on the findings, the briefing provides recommendations for other nonprofits, funders and policymakers to advance equity and intersectionality.