ETD SWORD Deposit

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ETDs in this collection are being checked for completeness and are in the process of being transferred to their respective collections under the FGS ETD collection umbrella.

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Open Access
Engaging Caregivers In The Service Of Their Child?s Mental Health: An Examination Of Emotion Focused Family Therapy In Relation To Parental Reflective Functioning
(2025-07-23) Radosavljevic, Dorde; Robert Tom Muller
This study examined parental reflective functioning (PRF - a genuine interest in understanding a child’s mental states and ability to recognize the inherent complexity, and separation of these states from that of the parents) withing the context of a brief, 2-day intensive Emotion- Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) intervention. We also examined how PRF impacts therapeutic outcomes for caregivers and their children. PRF has been noted to be a key factor in parent-child dyad functioning and subsequent child development, however, there have been no studies to date examining its role as a potential mechanism of therapeutic change in EFFT. Method: Symptom change was assessed among 243 participants undergoing a brief 2-day intensive EFFT caregiver workshop. The average age of participants was 44.93 years (SD = 7.59), approximately 68.8% identified as female, and 87.6% identified as Caucasian. Data were collected at six timepoints: registration, pre-treatment, post-treatment, 4 months, 8 months, and 12 months following treatment. Participants completed questionnaires about child psychological symptoms and emotion regulation, as well as parental self-efficacy, parental blocks, and parental reflective functioning. Results: Significant improvements in levels of parent mentalization (a component of PRF) were found, confirming that EFFT is effective in improving parental mentalizing capacity. Additionally, moderate interactions were found between various components of PRF (mentalizing capacity, and parents’ interest & curiosity) and level of fears surrounding parenting in reducing child symptomatology. However, the findings are variable and warrant further investigation.
Open Access
Negligible Effect (Equivalence) Testing Based Procedures For Assessing Distributional Normality
(2025-07-23) Linda Sawa Dorota Farmus; Robert A Cribbie
Researchers in psychology often assess whether a sample distribution is consistent with a normal (Gaussian) population distribution, typically to justify assumptions of statistical models. In Study 1, a novel negligible effect test (NET) for normality is proposed, which evaluates whether a sample distribution is similar enough to a normal distribution to be considered equivalent—i.e., the differences are negligible. The NET defines a negligible effect interval for shape coefficients, and any test statistic whose 100(1–2α)% confidence interval (CI) falls entirely within this interval supports the conclusion of approximate normality. Simulations compared the Type I error and power of traditional difference-based tests (Kolmogorov–Smirnov and Shapiro–Wilk) with the NET. In small samples, the NET had low power to detect normality, while traditional tests had low power to detect nonnormality. However, NET rarely falsely concludes normality in nonnormal distributions, even with small samples. In contrast, traditional methods often flag trivial deviations from normality in large samples, potentially leading to misleading conclusions. The NET avoids this issue by rarely rejecting approximate normality when deviations are minor and practically inconsequential. One limitation of the NET approach is reduced power when distributions are close to normal. Study 2 addressed this by improving CI estimation using bootstrap methods. Alternative CI approaches were tested, including stochastic bootstrap, parametric bootstrap, and Fisher’s r-to-z transformation. The stochastic bootstrap provided the best balance of Type I error and power, and is recommended for use with the NET-based test of normality.
Open Access
The Production Of Iran As National State Space: An Historical Geography
(2025-07-23) Torkameh, Aidin; Stefan Andreas Kipfer
In existing literature, ‘Iran’ is often represented as a pre-existing and unified (Persian) nation, enclosed in a perennial national territory and history. I argue that this conception of ‘Iran’ is rooted in dominant (internalist and ahistorical) conceptions of space as static, pregiven, and passive, and time as monorhythmic and linear. ‘Iran’ is thus largely understood – even in critical analyses of Iranian nationalism – as a pregiven entity external to its constituent elements including Farsi and the ‘spatiotemporal matrices’ of capitalist nation state. This dissertation examines scholarly and other forms of literature, as well as the social practices, that have contributed to the production of Iranian-ness in both popular and scholarly consciousness. I argue that ‘Iran’ did not exist prior and/or external to the historical formation of ‘Iranian nation’. Iran as a national state space has been made possible through a set of very recent political, scientific, infrastructural, and technological processes in the imperialist and colonial context of late development and formal subsumption of labour under capital. My core research question, therefore, is: how has Iran been produced as a national state space within this context? To address this, I critically examine the historiographic, Farsist, and cartographic practices of the state as fundamental mechanisms in the production of Iran. These tripartite practices of the state have resulted in an entrenched Irancentric philosophy of (geo)history translated into the commonsensical Farsist worldview of ‘Iranians’. This has negatively impacted the formation of a progressive political strategy of change. It is then strategically imperative to articulate a radical geohistory of Iran as a multiscalar and multitemporal entity rooted in the everyday lives of the subaltern subjects. My dissertation is an initial step in mapping such a geohistory that highlights the contingent, positively heterogeneous, and open-ended nature of geohistory and spacetime in general, and of the nation state and Iran in particular.
Open Access
Association Of Serum Carotenoids, Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, And Metabolic Dysfunctions With All-Cause And Cardiovascular Disease Mortality
(2025-07-23) Sadrmanesh, Omidreza; Jennifer L. Kuk
Carotenoids are antioxidants associated with a lower mortality risk in the general population. However, the association between mortality and carotenoids among individuals with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is still ambiguous. This study aimed to explore the relationship between serum carotenoids with all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in those with and without NAFLD and metabolic dysfunctions. Using data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to determine the association between serum carotenoids, NAFLD, and metabolic dysfunctions with all-cause and CVD mortality. The results showed that higher total and most individual serum carotenoid levels were associated with a lower risk of all-cause and CVD mortality in those with and without NAFLD and metabolic dysfunctions. NAFLD was independently associated with all-cause mortality, regardless of serum carotenoid levels. However, after adjustment for metabolic dysfunctions, NAFLD was not associated with all-cause mortality.
Open Access
A Multidimensional Perspective On Cognitive Functioning Across Sport Classifications In High-Performance Athletes
(2025-07-23) Camilleri, Carmel; Magdalena Wojtowicz
This thesis presents a comprehensive investigation into the domain-general cognitive functioning of high-performance athletes, addressing inconsistencies in current assessment methods. The sample consisted of 188 athletes from the Canadian Sport Institute of Ontario from Team (n=94), Precision/Skill-dependent (n=56), and Speed-strength (n=28) sports. Athletes completed a battery of computerized neuropsychological tests. Study 1 examined multidimensional cognitive profiles. Athletes exhibited superior performance, with associations found between episodic memory, visuospatial working memory, attention/concentration, and verbal reasoning. Two latent factors—attention/executive function and short-term (working) emerged. Study 2 examined cognitive performance across sport type. Team sport athletes outperformed those in other sports on visual short-term (working) memory, response inhibition, visuospatial working memory, and working memory tasks. They also secured the highest proportion of high scores across increasing thresholds. Collectively, the current thesis provides a foundation for future research to advance athlete cognitive profiling to inform talent identification and development strategies.
Open Access
Bridging The Digital Divide And Mitigating Cyber Security Risks In Canada
(2025-07-23) MacKenzie, Peter Alexander Chisholm; Joann Jasiak & Purevdorj Tuvaandorj
Canada's rapid digital transformation has created significant opportunities but also intensified existing inequalities and cyber security vulnerabilities. To better understand these challenges, an analysis is conducted at both individual and firm levels using recent Statistics Canada data and advanced econometric methods. At the individual level, data from the 2020 Canadian Internet Use Survey reveal how socioeconomic and demographic characteristics such as age, education, income, gender, and Indigenous identity influence digital engagement. A survey-weighted debiased Lasso logit model captures complex interactions among these factors, while cluster analysis assesses how provincial pandemic measures affected internet use and digital adoption during COVID-19. Firm-level analysis incorporates data from the 2021 Canadian Survey of Digital Technology and Internet Use and the 2021 Canadian Survey of Cyber Security and Cybercrime. A Business Digital Usage Score quantifies firms' adoption of advanced technologies such as cloud computing, data analytics tools, and artificial intelligence. Stochastic frontier analysis evaluates how close firms are to their technological frontier. A survey-weighted debiased Lasso logit model identifies factors associated with both digital adoption and cyber security vulnerabilities across industries and firm sizes. The Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives assumption in Multinomial Logit models is critically evaluated through simulation experiments examining the performance of the Hausman-McFadden (HM) specification test. The HM test is assessed under a number of data-generating scenarios used to mirror real-world applied research scenarios. To address challenges posed by high-dimensional data, the study introduces a Hausman test based on a debiased Lasso estimator.
Open Access
Politicizing Equity: Ghana’s Free Senior High School Policy and its Implications for Teachers Work
(2025-07-23) Kofinti, Hilarius Kofi; Rachel Silver
In 2017, the Government of Ghana adopted a Free Senior High School Policy (FSHSP) to universalize secondary education access across the country by removing cost barriers. The policy originated as a campaign promise by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and has since dominated political debates. While FSHSP increased enrollment significantly, little is known about how its politicization has shaped its implementation and its implications for equity and teachers’ work. This dissertation considers power through FSHSP policy, particularly how it operates at two scales/moments. In Part One of the dissertation, I focus on the broader context of influence in which FSHSP was justified and promoted. Drawing on a Critical Discourse Analysis of the pronouncements and documents circulated by political figures of Ghana's two major political parties—the NPP and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), I consider the political context and debates surrounding the FSHSP. This helped me understand the broader discursive terrain around FSHSP to set the stage for school-based research. In Part Two of my study, I draw on an Anthropology of Policy Frame, four months of school-based participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups to understand how teachers made sense of and experienced FSHSP, paying particular attention to their role in the policy process, and the implications of the policy for teachers’ work and equity. I argue that the government excluded teachers from the policy formulation process while increasing teachers’ workload significantly, adversely affecting teachers’ health and social life, and restricting opportunities to engage in secondary employment beyond for-profit tutoring. While the policy affected all teachers, it disproportionally impacted female teachers and teachers in less-resourced schools. At the same time, I argue that the government’s new student placement system and non-targeted approach to reform across differently resourced schools exacerbated previous inequities, including those born from the colonial era. For these reasons, a policy justified by its commitment to equity perpetuated existing forms and differences and created new ones along gender, region, and class. Together, I demonstrate how a multi-scalar analysis of education policy reveals how power operates in the education policy arena and the resultant effect on teachers and students.
Open Access
Sofia Gubaidulina's Cathedrals of Sound: Redefining the Boundaries of Instrumental Concertos
(2025-07-23) Lana Forman; Michael Coghlan
This dissertation explores Sofia Gubaidulina’s artistic vision of music as a spiritual and transformative sanctuary, akin to the creation of a grand architectural masterpiece. The composer’s metaphor of the “cathedral of sound” encapsulates Gubaidulina’s compositional philosophy, where each work serves as an effort to foster a harmonious and transcendental realm that invites listeners into a space of contemplation and spiritual elevation. We argue that this concept challenges the conventional pursuit of novelty that dominated much of twentieth-century music, positioning her compositions as a reimagining of traditional forms rooted in a personal, deeply spiritual vision. Our study examines Gubaidulina’s redefinition of the boundaries of concerto forms, revealing how the composer blends contemporary practices with the traditions of Western art music. Central to our discussion are her ecumenical understanding of Orthodox Christianity, her philosophically-infused musical concepts of transfiguration and shadow and light, and her use of various symbolic devices – literary, name-based, and those related to peculiar geometric shapes and numbers. These elements are argued to coexist with the reimagined traditional frameworks of sonata, variations, ritornello, ternary, and various sectional forms. Further, the dissertation explores Gubaidulina’s conception of form as a journey full of metaphors and symbols, particularly focusing on the symbol of the cross, which holds profound significance for the composer. This dissertation is the first scholarly work to apply Gubaidulina’s theory of the Rhythm of Form in a practical analysis of three of her concertos. By examining the scores, sketches, and drafts preserved at the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel, Switzerland, this study offers an intimate look into Gubaidulina’s creative process. The analysis of Revue Music/Concerto for Two Orchestras, Jazz and Symphony, Viola Concerto, and In the Shadow of the Tree reveals how Gubaidulina shapes her music using mathematical proportions derived from Fibonacci and Fibonacci-related sequences. These works exemplify her historically progressing architectural approach to form, where each piece embodies a blend of aesthetic beauty and precise, deliberate design. The study also demonstrates how “magic” numbers influence not only the formal structure but also thematic, timbral, and textural development, creating a complex and symbolic framework within each composition. Key words: Sofia Gubaidulina, Concertos, Music History and Analysis, Rhythm of Form
Open Access
Pre-emptive and Reactive Resource Allocation in Emergency Response
(2025-07-23) Khaksar, Ali; Mehdi Nourinejad
Emergency response departments face significant challenges due to resource scarcity and fluctuating incident demands. Traditional static resource allocation, assigning resources to fixed stations, often results in inefficiencies, leaving resources underutilized or insufficient in high-demand areas. To address these shortcomings, this research develops a dynamic resource allocation framework tailored specifically for fire departments. The framework integrates preemptive strategies based on historical data and predictive modeling with reactive strategies responding to real-time emergencies. Validated through a case study in Fredericton, Canada, using data from 2017 to 2021, results demonstrate that dynamic allocation significantly reduces response times and enhances resource efficiency compared to static methods. This study provides a data-driven, practical approach to optimizing resource management in fire departments, effectively addressing operational constraints such as geographic challenges, varying demands, and limited resource availability, thereby improving efficiency, readiness, and effectiveness in emergency response operations.
Open Access
Maternal Substance Use Treatment During A Time Of Crisis: The Effect Of COVID-19 Restrictions On Programming, Family Functioning, And Community Service Engagement
(2025-07-23) Janus, Monika Kamila; Debra Pepler
Substance use among pregnant and parenting women is a problem in Canada which was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Stressors that drive and sustain maternal substance use can be understood through a domain-specific conceptualization of risk and protection. Although integrated treatment promotes positive outcomes in substance-involved families, there is limited understanding of how the pandemic affected clients referred to treatment. Methods: This study used qualitative and quantitative data to evaluate the influence of the pandemic and its related health restrictions on families referred to Breaking the Cycle (BTC), an integrated treatment program for maternal substance use. In Study 1, interviews from three BTC staff members were analysed using thematic analysis to investigate changes to BTC programming, client engagement and psychosocial functioning, and access to partnering agencies, from pre-pandemic to during the pandemic. Subsequently, quantitative analyses were completed to compare clients referred to BTC pre-pandemic vs. during the pandemic using the profiles of 68 families (Study 2) and to evaluate cumulative risk and protection profiles of 30 families (Study 3). Results: Thematic analyses in Study 1 yielded 2 primary themes, 5 secondary themes, and 12 tertiary themes. Marginalized, substance-involved families referred during the pandemic, compared to pre-pandemic, were found to have increased rates of displacement, interpersonal violence, substance use, and reduced access to family supports, among others. In turn, protective intervention factors, including the relational and predictable nature of programming, emerged as critical to service engagement. Study 2 indicated that women referred during the pandemic, compared to pre-pandemic, reported less engagement with services, more depressive symptoms, lower self-efficacy around their substance use and a trend suggesting increased use during pregnancy. Study 3 revealed that 7% of pre-pandemic families vs. 50% of pandemic families were characterized by more domains of risk relative to protection. A mixed-methods investigation revealed specific factors of risk and protection that characterized moderate-to-high-risk vs. low-risk families. Conclusions: The findings revealed exacerbated levels of adversity experienced by these families during the pandemic. This research contributes to an evolving understanding of the interplay of cumulative risk and protective factors, with clinical and policy implications for early intervention work.
Open Access
Grasp - A Graph-Based Sla Breach Prediction Framework At The Service Level In Neural Inference
(2025-07-23) Fehresti, Sara; Marin Litoiu
Cloud computing, as the backbone of modern adaptive software architectures, has revolutionized data storage and processing, driven by the power and flexibility of microservices. Despite their advantages in fault isolation and flexible deployment, microservices often experience unpredictable latency spikes, leading to costly Service Level Agreement (SLA) violations. This thesis introduces a multiscale time-spectrum framework, called GRASP (Graph-based SLA Breach Prediction). It leverages time-series data, sequence processing, and graph-based modeling to proactively detect performance anomalies and predict SLA breaches in microservice-based systems within upcoming time windows. In our framework, raw data is transformed into graph representations and fed into deep learning models to capture both topological and temporal characteristics. By combining graph analysis with sequential modeling, our dual approach not only identifies critical service dependencies but also pinpoints potential end-to-end bottlenecks. Evaluations on microservice datasets demonstrate its superiority over baseline methods in early warnings, forecasting breaches, and localizing root causes at the service level, underscoring its potential to enhance the reliability and efficiency of microservice-based applications in cloud environments.
Open Access
Precision Measurement Of The 2^3P_1-to-2^3P_0 Fine Structure Of Atomic Helium Using Frequency-Offset Separated Oscillatory Fields
(2025-07-23) Heydarizadmotlagh, Farshad; Eric A Hessels & Matthew C. George
Increasing accuracy of the theory and experiment of the 2^3 P fine structure of helium has allowed for increasingly precise tests of quantum electrodynamics (QED), determinations of the fine-structure constant 𝛼, and limitations on possible beyond-the-Standard-Model physics. The work presented is a 2-part-per-billion (ppb) measurement of the 𝐽=1-to-𝐽=0 interval. The measurement is performed using the frequency-offset separated-oscillatory-fields (FOSOF) method. The result of 29 616 955 018(60) Hz represents a landmark for helium fine-structure measurements, and, for the first time, will allow for a 1-ppb determination of the fine-structure constant when QED theory for the interval is improved.
Open Access
Ulysses Rebound: Recommitting Constitutional Precommitment
(2025-07-23) Rothwell, Christina Marie; Michael Giudice
Standard arguments around constitutional precommitment – both in favour and against – presuppose a mistaken view about the concept of commitment itself. I will call this mistaken belief the agent-dependent condition. The agent-dependent condition is a feature of the operative understanding of commitment which requires that commitment, to be real or true or valid, be imposed on oneself by oneself. Real commitments, on this view, are necessarily self-imposed. To me, constitutionalism’s significant focus on democratic legitimacy arises because democracy serves as a conceptual shorthand for the agency which is thought necessary in the concept of commitment: a commitment which has not been chosen seems no commitment at all. This is the implication of the agent-dependent condition. Conflating the concept of commitment with the agent-dependent condition is a mistake, the pervasiveness of which is a result of a gross misrepresentation of the real core of commitment. I want to challenge the agent-dependent condition of commitment, arguing that whether and how one is committed is often a matter quite outside of an individual’s control. I put forward a novel conception of commitment that places less emphasis on the agent and more emphasis on the conceptual constraint of commitment. In doing so, I choose to present these ideas from within and alongside the constitutional precommitment debate for two reasons. First, the two most general objections to constitutional precommitment – the ‘non-bindingness problem’ and the ‘binding-others problem’ – rely on the very confusions that make up the core of the agent-dependent conception of commitment. As such, the constitutional precommitment debate provides a useful frame in which to situate and demonstrate my arguments. Second, my conceptual work on commitment may serve the constitutional debate by allowing for an alternate means of discussing the purpose and rules of the constitutional game, thereby offering some theoretical wiggle room. The tools I develop in my conceptual work on commitment can be used to develop a view of constitutional precommitment motivated by the concept of commitment itself. This is something far enough ‘outside the box’ to provide some novel questions and ideas for those working on constitutional precommitment, and constitutionalism more broadly.
Open Access
Long-Time Solutions For Blood Flow In A Pipe
(2025-07-23) Elahian, Azadeh; Michael C Haslam
This thesis presents an efficient Chebyshev-tau spectral solver solver to compute numerical solutions of the equations of motion of a viscous fluid in a circular pipe subject to the generalized Oldroyd-B stress model of Yeleswarapu [1] corresponding to the flow of a viscoelastic fluid with a shear rate dependent viscosity function. The code relies on an explicit fourth order Runge-Kutta time stepping procedure with O(N logN) operations per time step enabled by the use of fast cosine transforms. The resulting code is spectrally accurate in the number of spatial discetization points N. This solver is a significant improvement to what was previously available for this problem [1] and allows us to compare solutions corresponding to different shear rate dependent viscosity models by Powell-Eyring, Yeleswarapu and Carreau over long evolution times.
Open Access
Can Statistical Methods Reliably Detect Fraudulent Data? Examining The Utility Of P-Value Analyses, Extreme Effect Sizes, GRIM, And GRIMMER
(2025-07-23) Crone, Gabriel; Christopher Green
Data fraud occurs when one creates fake data (i.e., fabrication) or alters real data (i.e., falsification), often to support a desired research hypothesis. It is detrimental to science and occurs frequently, making it a pressing concern. Fortunately, there exist several statistical tools to detect it. Extant research, however, is largely inconsistent regarding which tools work well, and no research examines how well they differentiate fraudulent articles (containing fake data) from legitimate controls. The present thesis investigated how well four popular methods to detect data fraud differentiated retracted psychology articles from legitimate controls. I included the method of extreme effect sizes, p-value analysis, GRIM, and GRIMMER. Extreme effect sizes performed quite well: standardized effect sizes for retracted articles were noticeably larger than controls. The other methods performed at chance levels or worse. I contend that the method of extreme effect sizes could provide valuable information during investigations of potentially fraudulent studies.
Open Access
Probing The Activity Of Fmta, A Novel Esterase In Staphylococcus Aureus, In Vitro And In Vivo Through Mutagenesis.
(2025-07-23) Sengupta, Saptarshi; Dasantila Golemi-Kotra
The versatile bacterium Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) resides within the human microbiota, manifesting commensal and pathogenic characteristics. The emergence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) underscores the global challenge of antibiotic resistance. FmtA, a protein exhibiting structural similarities and distinct features relative to Penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) within the Penicillin penicillin-recognizing proteins (PRPs) umbrella, significantly contributes to the S. aureus antibiotic resistance mechanism. FmtA acts on Wall Teichoic Acid (WTA), an abundant poly-ribitol polymer in S. aureus peptidoglycan, where FmtA removes D-Alanine (D-Ala) from WTA, which is esterified post-synthesis where the D-alanylation level in WTA is an important contributor in S. aureus antibiotic resistance and physiology. Previous research addressed the structural intricacies of FmtA and based on the positioning of key amino acid residues, it was proposed that the enzyme's active site has evolved to specifically bind WTA. It was further hypothesized that FmtA has adapted to carry out D-amino esterase activity against WTA, highlighting its specialized functional evolution. In this study, I investigate the role of specific amino acid residues present in the active site of FmtA, focusing on their interactions with WTA using both in vitro and in vivo approaches. Given the overall negative charge of WTA, derived from its phosphodiester backbone, it is a target for cationic polymers like Branched Polyethyleneimine (BPEI). Previous research has shown that BPEI binding to WTA creates a steric hindrance, disrupting the function of penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) such as PBP4 in Staphylococcus aureus and PBP2a in Staphylococcus epidermidis. This disruption impacts key bacterial physiological processes, including cell division, virulence, and peptidoglycan biosynthesis. My findings reveal that BPEI can compete with FmtA for WTA binding, though less effectively, leading to partial inhibition of FmtA's enzymatic activity. Additionally, BPEI binding affects the physiological activities of S. aureus, including biofilm formation, which is typically mediated by FmtA. These results suggest that while BPEI hinders FmtA's interaction with WTA and its subsequent enzymatic function, it does not completely block FmtA activity.
Open Access
Far-Right Civilizationism: Limits and Contradictions
(2025-07-23) Stewart, Blakely Royal; Stephen Gill
This thesis critically explores the ideological aspects of political contestation within the states and societies of the so-called Liberal International Order (LIO) in recent years. Such divisions are associated with key capitalist social and political formations which are concerned with the LIO’s nature, its governance model, and the future of this political bloc within the twenty-first century world order. The focus of this thesis is concerned with the ideological aspects of political contestation and the rivalries and tensions such contestation has produced within the states and societies of the LIO and contemporary world order. Specifically, it will note how the elite-led transnational ‘hegemonic project’ of post-Cold War liberalism has been challenged in recent years by an emergent transnational far-right governance model, with supportive networks of far-right collective intellectuals who are ambitious to provide leadership within the post-war historic bloc of the LIO (or ‘Western civilization’) and greater world order. I will discuss the various discourse coalitions comprising of elite intellectuals for the two rivalling hegemonic projects for the LIO and world order: 1) “neoliberal cosmopolitanism” (Gowan 2001); and 2) “far-right civilizationism” (Stewart 2020, 2022). I will outline the core ideological aspects of each hegemonic project as well the transnational networks of politicians, institutions, and elite intellectuals attached to each project. To illustrate the far-right social forces associated with this ‘clash of hegemonic projects’, I will discuss the National Conservatism Conference (NatCon) a major node within in a burgeoning transnational far-right ‘collective intellectual’ network with hegemonic ambitions in the field of global governance knowledge production within the LIO. Founded by political scientist Yoram Hazony in 2019, NatCon has sought to shift the liberal consensus amongst elites and professional managerial class(es) on questions of culture, identity, and public policy in the West. Attracting academics, activists, military figures, politicians, and capitalists from across the LIO, NatCon has created a venue for far-right elites to organize/harmonize the social forces opposed to some of the proposals, core principles, and influence of ‘globalist’ liberal elites and their collective intellectual institutions such as the World Economic Forum and Open Society Foundations. This dissertation will then 1) examine the structural factors or contexts relevant to the rise of the contemporary far-right social forces within the LIO; 2) describe the ideological basis of the far-right’s opposition to the ideas, institutions, and material capabilities associated with the ‘left’ and/or elite liberal ‘establishment’; and 3) explore the case study of NatCon as an example of a transnational collective intellectual organization which represents a hegemonically ambitious far-right elite discourse coalition in the field of global governance. I will discuss how this emergent coalition, which I label as the Budapest Men, has designs for the transatlantic-bloc and world order. This bloc of social forces cannot be reduced to frequently used descriptors such as populist, nationalist, or illiberal.
Open Access
NIGERIAN PIDGIN: THE IDENTITY OF A NIGERIAN AWAY FROM HOME
(2025-07-23) Affia, Precious Isaac; Bruce Connell
In a rapidly globalizing world, language plays a vital role in shaping identity, especially within diasporic communities. This study explores how Nigerian-Canadian speakers engage with Nigerian Pidgin (NP) and how their linguistic behaviors reflect broader socio-cultural and educational trends. Despite being Nigeria’s most widely spoken language, NP has historically been marginalized and perceived as a ‘broken’ form of English (Agheyisi, 1971; Akande & Salami, 2010). While previous research has examined NP’s role in education (Akande, 2010) and its potential as a national language (Mann, 2009), its function in shaping diasporic identity remains underexplored. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study analyzes multilingual practices among 30 Nigerian-Canadians in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) across three age groups (younger: 18–29; middle-aged: 30–49; older: 50+). Findings reveal generational and educational differences in attitudes toward NP. Younger speakers prioritize English for socioeconomic mobility and integration into Canadian society, while middle-aged and older speakers use NP more frequently as a cultural marker. Contrary to expectations based on covert prestige (Trudgill, 1972), female speakers expressed more positive attitudes toward NP than men. Matched-guise results indicate that a female speaker was rated more favorably in English, whereas the male guise received higher ratings in NP, reflecting gendered linguistic perceptions (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 2003). Education also influenced attitudes, with postgraduates showing stronger support for NP as an identity marker compared to undergraduates. Additionally, longer residence in Canada correlated with a preference for English over NP, suggesting a linguistic shift over time (Fishman, 1991). These findings highlight NP’s complex role in identity construction, solidarity, and integration among Nigerian-Canadians in the GTA. While NP fosters transnational ties, its perception remains context-dependent, shaped by stereotypes and sociolinguistic hierarchies, and this reflects hierarchies about pidgins and creoles more generally (DeGraff 2003, 2005). Overall, this study contributes to broader discussions on language, migration, and diasporic identity, emphasizing the evolving status of NP within and beyond Nigeria. Future research should further examine NP’s role in pan-West African identity and intergenerational language transmission in diasporic contexts.
Open Access
VADViT:Vision Transformer-Driven Memory Forensics for Malicious Process Detection and Explainable Threat Attribution
(2025-07-23) Dehfouli, Yasin; Arash Habibi Lashkari
Modern malware's increasing complexity limits traditional signature and heuristic-based detection, necessitating advanced memory forensic techniques. Machine learning offers potential but struggles with outdated feature sets, large memory data handling, and forensic explainability. To address these challenges, we propose VADViT, a vision-based transformer model that detects malicious processes by analyzing Virtual Address Descriptor (VAD) memory regions. VADViT converts these structures into Markov, entropy, and intensity-based images, classifying them using a Vision Transformer (ViT) with self-attention to enhance detection accuracy. We also introduce BCCC-MalMem-SnapLog-2025, a dataset logging process identifier (PID) for precise VAD extraction without dynamic analysis. Experimental results show 99% accuracy in binary classification and a 93% macro-average F1 score in multi-class detection. Additionally, attention-based sorting improves forensic analysis by ranking the most relevant malicious VAD regions, narrowing down the search space for forensic investigators.
Open Access
Application and Optimization of Prompt Engineering Techniques for Code Generation in Large Language Models
(2025-07-23) Wang, Chung-Yu; Hung Viet Pham
Large Language Models have demonstrated remarkable capabilities across various domains, particularly in code generation and task-oriented reasoning. However, their accuracy and reliability in generating correct solutions remain a challenge due to the lack of task-specific prior knowledge and the limitations of existing prompt engineering techniques. Current state-of-the-art approaches, such as PAL, rely on manually crafted prompts and examples but often produce suboptimal results. Additionally, while numerous prompt engineering techniques have been developed to improve performance, selecting the most effective technique for a given task remains difficult since different queries exhibit varying levels of complexity. This work presents an integrated approach to enhance the application and optimization of prompt engineering for code generation. First, it introduces TITAN, a novel framework that refines language model reasoning and task execution through step-back and chain of thought prompting. TITAN eliminates the need for extensive manual task-specific instructions by leveraging analytical and code-generation capabilities, achieving state-of-the-art zero-shot performance in multiple tasks. Second, it proposes PET-Select, a prompt engineering agnostic model that classifies queries based on code complexity and dynamically selects the most suitable prompt engineering technique using contrastive learning. This approach enables Pet-Select to optimize prompt selection, leading to improved accuracy and significant reductions in token usage. Comprehensive evaluations across diverse benchmarks, including HumanEval, MBPP, and APPS, demonstrate the effectiveness of TITAN and Pet-Select. TITAN achieves up to 7.6 percent improvement over existing zero-shot methods, while Pet-Select enhances pass@1 accuracy by up to 1.9 percent and reduces token consumption by 49.9 percent. This work represents a significant advancement in optimizing prompt engineering for code generation in large language models, offering a robust and automated solution for improving performance in complex and diverse programming tasks.