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Item Chronic states of iron deficiency and excess in combination with erastin: An in-vitro study of acute monocytic leukemia (THP-1 cells)(2025) Fenniri, Zachariah A. H.Iron is essential for numerous biological processes, due to its inherent capacity to transfer electrons. This chemical feature is a double-edged sword, as excess iron catalyzes the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that have potential to cause cellular damage and induce ferroptosis – an iron-dependent form of cell death. Dysregulated iron homeostasis, in favour of accumulation, is a central feature of highly proliferative leukemias, as it enables the required energy metabolism and biosynthesis for unrestrained proliferation. Iron deprivation through the use of iron chelators and the induction of ferroptosis are two potential avenues of clinical antileukemic treatment. The present study aimed to examine the effects of chronic states of iron deficiency and excess in THP-1 cells, an in-vitro model of acute monocytic leukemia (AMoL). Moreover, this study sought to examine the effects of these chronic iron states on THP-1 cell resistance to erastin, a compound that induces ferroptosis in many cells, but is largely ineffective in leukemic cell lines. THP-1 cells were cultured in various concentrations of ferric citrate or deferoxamine (DFO), a clinical iron chelator, for 96 hours to simulate chronic states of iron excess and deficiency, respectively. Following 72 hours of treatment, cells were administered erastin for the final 24 hours of treatment. Cell death, metabolic activity, and intracellular glutathione (GSH), a pivotal antioxidant, were quantified. Moderate to high doses of DFO induced marked cell death, as well as a notable reduction in metabolic activity and intracellular GSH. THP-1 cell resistance to erastin was partially attenuated by ferric citrate treatment, evidenced by a small but consistent iron-dose dependent increase in cell death. Similarly, intracellular GSH showed a subtle, insignificant iron-dose dependent reduction in erastin-treated cells. Metabolic activity in the surviving cells was unaffected. DFO is shown to act synergistically with erastin in THP-1 cells, inducing a significant increase in cell death, and in the surviving cells, a reduction in metabolic activity. Likewise, intracellular GSH increases in the surviving cells of this cotreatment. Taken together, the present study demonstrates the robustness of THP-1 cells in states of iron excess and their sensitivity to iron deficiency. It also provides novel evidence of a synergy between DFO and erastin, and of ferric citrate attenuating THP-1 cell resistance to erastin. Supervisors: Patrick B. Walter and Jürgen EhltingItem Fluid and mineral carbonate biogeochemistry and microbial mats of Caribou Plateau alkaline lakes(2024) Thompson, MayaAlkaliphilic microbial mats are the biological foundation in Interior British Columbia alkaline lakes. They are also associated with rare and hard-to-form carbonates that precipitate within the mat laminae. When analyzed with SEM, rounded mineral nodules and crystals were found growing along the length of fibrous microbial mat algaes. Mg-Ca minerals were also found on encrusted soil samples taken along the lacustrine shore. The storage of microbial mats in 90% EtOH shined a light on the importance of organic solvents in the precipitation of hard-to-form carbonates, as these samples were found to precipitate out Mg-Ca and Mg-Na minerals more readily than samples stored in other solutions. The changes in water samples combined with microenvironments created near cell walls suggest that a combination of high alkalinity and biological activities control the precipitation of hard-to-form carbonates. We seek to investigate the functions of microbial mats from a geologist’s perspective and to couple it with in-lab experimentation and analysis, and computational modeling. Supervisor: Anne-Sofie AhmItem Mitigating anthropogenic climate change with aqueous green energy: Direct air carbon dioxide capture and storage powered by ocean thermal energy conversion(University of Victoria, 2023) Olim, SophiaIn the 2015 Paris Accords, 196 nations agreed to keep global warming below 2°C and to pursue efforts to limit it to below 1.5°C. The Earth has already warmed by around 1.1°C since preindustrial times ( Masson-Delmotte et al., 2022; Shukla et al., 2022). If worldwide fossil fuel combustion was immediately eliminated, the direct and indirect net cooling effect of atmospheric aerosol loading would rapidly dissipate. The aerosol cooling realised since the preindustrial era would be eliminated, resulting in an additional warming of around 0.6°C and taking the Earth rapidly to an around 1.7°C warming. In 2018 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change noted the requirement of widespread negative emissions technology in order to meet this 1.5°C target (Masson-Delmotte et al., 2022; Rumjaun et al., 2018). In direct air CO2 capture and storage (DACCS), CO2 is scrubbed from the atmosphere and injected into underground geological formations (Keith et al., 2018). Carbon dioxide is a potent greenhouse gas and is the focus of many negative emissions technologies. Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is a form of electricity production that exploits the temperature difference between deep and shallow ocean waters, analogous to land-based heat pumps. OTEC requires a temperature gradient of at least 18°C and is most efficient in the tropics, due to the high temperature gradient between shallow warm water (around 25 metres deep) and deep cold waters (around 1000 metres deep) (Nihous, 2005). The UVic Earth System Climate Model (UVic ESCM) is used to explore the feasibility of using OTEC to power DACCS as a negative emissions technology in order to help mitigate anthropogenic climate change. Once this CO2 has been removed from the atmosphere, it needs to be injected where it can remain safely stored. In marine environments, sedimentary basins along continental shelves, such as depleted oil and gas fields, are the most geologically sound choice for this (Celia et al., 2015; Strutt et al., 2003). In order to maximise OTEC power production while limiting the need to transport this energy away from the source, offshore OTEC plants are used to power DACCS in two selected oil and gas basins of suitable size in the tropics. OTEC power production of 3 TW of electricity powering DACCS can result in a global relative decrease of 277 parts per million CO2 by 2100 and a relative temperature decrease of 1.18°C, compared to diagnosed emissions from the IPCC 2018 “business as usual” RCP 8.5 scenario. There are potential negative impacts to implementing OTEC on a large scale including changes in ocean temperatures, biological productivity, precipitation patterns, and atmosphere-ocean variability (Rau and Baird, 2018; Devault and Péné-Annette, 2017; Rajagopalan and Nihous, 2013; Nihous, 2005). While these must be considered, this combination of green energy and negative emission technology offers an exciting new approach to help mitigate anthropogenic climate change. Supervisors: Andrew Weaver and Michael EbyItem CO2 degassing and metal enrichments during magma-carbonate interactions in the Jurassic Bonanza Arc(University of Victoria, 2024) Arndt, GrahamThe long term (>1 Myr) atmospheric carbon budget is dominated by the carbon cycle and has great implications on habitability. One potential source of degassed carbon can be derived from the overlying continental plate where CO2 is produced from magma-carbonate interactions. Limestone assimilation is a local process that is relegated to the vicinity of the sidewall around a magma chamber (Iacono Marziano et al., 2008). As such, the network of dykes and sills offer more surface area to interact with carbonate rock opposed to voluminous plutons. Meter-scale dyke and sill samples from the Jurassic Bonanza Arc were collected from the Merry Widow Mountain region to quantify the degree of limestone assimilation. Two types of samples were investigated: (1) bulk rock samples and (2) milli-slices sampled from a single 25 cm cross-section of dyke 79B. Major and trace element chemistry was gathered by LA-ICP-MS. We discovered that the dykes show anomalous elemental abundances for Sr, U, MnO2, and Na2O. In particular, the dykes appear super-enriched in Sr opposed to their parent basalt and limestone endmembers. The enriched Sr concentrations can be explained using a binary mixing model which indicates that the dykes assimilated up to 80 wt% limestone from a primitive carbonate source. This magnitude of limestone assimilation could generate up to 35 wt% CO2 during the decarbonization of limestone into basaltic dykes. Furthermore, limestone assimilation causes desilication and calcium enrichment of the basaltic melt adjacent to the contact region (Barnes et al., 2005; Iacono Marziano et al., 2008,). Consequently, this change in melt chemistry enhances the dyke’s sulfur saturation limit and therefore its capacity to transport sulfur species. SCSS calculations indicate that the dyke contact may hold up to three times more sulfur than the dyke interior as the result of partial assimilation by limestone. An increase in sulfur saturation has important implications because it can assist in the partitioning of chalcophile elements out of a silica-rich melt, and the dissolved sulfur species can later be degassed at volcanic arcs which impacts global climate (McLinden et al. 2016; D’Souza & Canil, 2018). Overall, sulfur saturation can help model the process by which sulfide immiscibility melts form in a magma body which is a critical step in the development of ore deposits (Haldar, 2018). Supervisors: Dante Canil and Rebecca MorrisItem Ocean optics: Development of glider-based productivity analysis in BC waters using backscatter(2025) Koopmans, EmilyThe ocean plays a crucial role in regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide yet quantifying the processes that govern its carbon storage remains a challenge. The biological pump, which converts dissolved carbon into organic particles through biological processes, is a key component of this cycle. While some particles remain suspended in the upper ocean, others sink, either individually or as larger aggregates, contributing to long-term carbon sequestration. Understanding the distribution and size of these particles is essential, but measurements are difficult to obtain since particle dynamics fluctuate with biological activity, ocean currents, and seasonal changes. Optical backscatter offers a valuable tool to address this challenge. We developed a method to process backscatter sensor data from autonomous ocean gliders, adapting a technique originally designed for Argo floats. Our approach partitions raw backscatter into three components: scattering from large aggregates, smaller particles, and instrument noise. A two-filter method was used to isolate scattering from small particles, while the deepest backscatter measurements provided an estimate of background noise. The remaining signal was attributed to large aggregates. We applied this method to data from a Canadian-Pacific Robotic Ocean Observing Facility (C-PROOF) glider mission in offshore British Columbia waters. By comparing size-resolved backscatter and chlorophyll fluorescence, we observed distinct differences in particle dynamics, with small-particle backscatter strongly correlated with chlorophyll and large-particle backscatter showing weaker associations. We identified contrasting high-productivity regions: one dominated by smaller particles, and another dominated by large aggregates. These patterns suggest that areas with similar chlorophyll concentrations can differ significantly in their potential for carbon export, depending on particle composition and sinking behavior. This approach also revealed important oceanographic features, including a subsurface chlorophyll maximum, sediment resuspension layers, and a small but persistent zone of elevated productivity likely influenced by large-scale ocean circulation. These features highlight how regional carbon export can be enhanced by subtle physical changes such as fronts or circulation boundaries—emphasizing the need to consider both biological and physical drivers when studying oceanic carbon cycling. By enabling size-resolved analysis of particulate matter, our method enhances the utility of gliders for carbon cycle research. Its application across other missions could help identify export hotspots, track seasonal variability, and improve estimates of oceanic carbon sequestration in a changing climate. Supervisor: Roberta HammeItem Recovery on the rocks: Can we use carbon isotope variability to constrain the Early-Middle Triassic Boundary?(2025) Lovett, KasciaFollowing Earth’s largest mass extinction, the Early Triassic represents a time of continued environmental disruption that has been recorded in the rock record. Specifically, marine carbonate rocks of this time indicate large perturbations to the global carbon cycle. These perturbations can be utilized as a proxy to help identify the Early Triassic Stage in the sedimentary rock record. As the boundary between the Early and Middle Triassic has had issues with its biostratigraphy, this study aims to use chemostratigraphy to further constrain its dating as the North American fossil record is limited. The Union Wash Formation in the Inyo Mountains of eastern California is composed of marine sedimentary rocks of Early Triassic age deposited along the eastern Panthalassa Ocean coastline. It consists of deep water, low energy mixed carbonate and siliciclastic lithologies with three major lithologic units based on carbonate or siliciclastic dominance. The stratigraphically lowest unit features an initially high organic matter content with no fossils while the two upper units are each host to ammonoids from the Neopopanoceras haugi Zone indicating a late Spathian age. Stable isotope geochemistry indicates high variability in the δ¹³C values of carbonate sediments throughout the formation. This trend is like that found globally throughout the late Early Triassic but shows evidence of diagenetic overprinting of δ¹³Ccarb and δ18Ocarb. There is also a possible facies dependence resulting from local variations in the carbon cycle, with low δ¹³Ccarb values within siliciclastic-dominant lithologies and higher δ¹³Ccarb values within carbonate-dominant lithologies. The similarities between global isotopic data and the Union Wash Formation are compelling but the evidence of local control on δ¹³Ccarb values (e.g. facies dependence) and possible diagenetic overprinting needs further investigation. Supervisor: Jon HussonItem The Zooarchaeological Study of Sculpin (Cottidae) at an Ancient W̱SÁNEĆ Village Site(University of Victoria, 2025) Bartel-Ens, SkyeZooarchaeology, the study of animal remains within an archaeological context, allows us to uncover the human-animal relationships that existed in the past. This zooarchaeological study uses a sample of 2,099 fish bones recovered from the later occupation (15th to 18th centuries) of ȾEL¸IȽĆE, an ancient W̱SÁNEĆ village site, to investigate how the people at this site engaged with the lands and waters around them. Analysis of this pre-contact study sample revealed an anomaly in the abundance of sculpin (Cottidae) at ȾEL¸IȽĆE, when compared with other sites in the Salish Sea. Investigations into why we see so many sculpin at ȾEL¸IȽĆE, and how they were harvested and processed, revealed remnants of an ancient Indigenous sculpin fishery that had been left out of history. Sculpin, making up 64% of the fish at ȾEL¸IȽĆE, were highly abundant in waters along Cordova Bay Beach, leading to their use as a primary and/or supplementary subsistence source for the W̱SÁNEĆ peoples living at this site. Additionally, the abundant presence of sculpin in a prominent hearth feature suggests that the people at ȾEL¸IȽĆE were processing sculpin directly at the site, potentially using pit cook cooking techniques. The ancient sculpin fishery at ȾEL¸IȽĆE was an intentional, well-established subsistence practice, and needs to be incorporated into W̱SÁNEĆ marine use claims and boundaries.Item Reframing food sovereignty in Eastern Cuba: Informal economies and the pursuit of adequacy among small-scale farming communities(2025) Frederick, DanaIn response to the current economic and humanitarian crisis in Cuba, causing widespread food scarcity, this study explores how small-scale farmers in Eastern Cuba respond to food inadequacy through alternative and informal food systems. Drawing on 6 weeks of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2023 and 2024, the study examines how participants employ strategies such as unsanctioned production, black market engagement, and grassroots mutual aid networks to reclaim control over their food systems, working towards a culturally and nutritionally adequate diet. While Cuba has been celebrated for its agroecological practices and state-led food sovereignty programming, this research reveals a lived reality of scarcity and economic hardship among small-scale farming communities in the Eastern provinces. The study therefore argues that the prevailing food sovereignty discourse does not accurately reflect the agency of farmers working outside of formally recognized economies. Participants’ stories reveal engagement with a diversity of informal economies to resolve food inadequacy, embodying a form of food sovereignty that is not reflected in policy-oriented discourse. In response, this analysis calls for a reframing of the current discourse to more accurately reflect the moral contradictions and agency of small-scale farmers as they actively seek to improve food access and posits that a framework of adequacy is fundamental in bridging food sovereignty discourse with lived practices in the context of Eastern Cuba. Thus, the experiences of the small-scale farmers in this study are presented as a critical lens through which the limitations and contradictions of current food sovereignty narratives may be assessed.Item Coming of age post B'nai Mitzvah: Community seeking, identity development, and diasporic translocal space among Jewish youth in Victoria, British Columbia(2025) McIntosh, BeatriceAs an ethno-religious minority at the intersection of Euro-Canadian young adulthood and deep legacies of heritage and history, young Jewish adults in Victoria, BC are uniquely oriented within a complex set of transnational, transgenerational, and multiethnic dynamics. Particularly in a region which is highly secular, and in a broader cultural context with strong narratives related to multicultural nationalism, the experiences of young Jewish adults in this city are distinctive. In this study, I strive to address the questions of how, exactly, are young adults engaging with hybridized Jewish-Canadian identities, building communities which reflect this engagement, and envisioning themselves within the continuum of Jewish pasts, presents, and futures. Through qualitative methods including participant observation and semi-structured interview research within this community, I am proposing a triad model of youth Jewish engagement with heritage, culture, and identity. The model is premised on the following three pillars: Jewishness as fostered and expressed through seeking affirming Jewish community among peers, Jewish identity as consistently evolving during early adulthood, and Jewish identity and belonging as expressed through the creation of unique translocal community space. Through qualitative inquiry and interpretation, I present a viewpoint on this community which embraces internal diversity, complex and pluralized Jewish identities, and collective cultural experience.Item Childhood growth: Comparing long bone cortical thickness and length in four hunter gatherer societies(2025) Cobby, AveryThis study investigates childhood skeletal growth patterns in four hunter-gatherer groups: Late Stone Age (LSA), Sadlermuit (SAD), Indian Knoll (IK), and Point Hope (PH), by analyzing the cortical thickness and diaphyseal length of the femur and humerus. These measurements provide insights into adaptation to environmental stressors during early-life growth. The research examines how cortical thickness and diaphyseal length vary across these groups, the environmental and dietary factors influencing these variations, and how these growth patterns compare to modern trajectories from the Maresh dataset. Statistical analyses identified significant differences in humeral and femoral measurements. Contrary to expectations, IK exhibited the greatest cortical thickness in both the humerus and femur, suggesting that factors beyond mechanical loading, such as diet and ecological conditions, influenced skeletal growth. This study contributes to understanding how past populations adapted to their environments and provides new insights into childhood skeletal development.Item Application of the derivative and van der Kamp methods: Enhancing the interpretation of pumping tests for fractured bedrock aquifers on Vancouver Island, BC(2025) Abel, MalakyeInterpreting pumping test responses for fractured bedrock aquifers is challenging, particularly when estimating the transmissivity of an aquifer and the long-term sustainable yield of a well. This study applies the derivative method (e.g., Renard et al., 2009) on the pumping and recovery phase of six pumping tests from bedrock wells on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, sourced from local consultants, to characterize flow regimes to determine how transmissivity calculations can be improved. The van der Kamp method (van der Kamp, 1989) was also tested for its effectiveness in the extrapolation of pumping responses and its potential for improving the ability to estimate a sustainable pumping rate for a 100-day dry season (Q100) that is often prescribed when licencing a well. Two pumping tests studied were for fractured sedimentary bedrock aquifers while four were for fractured crystalline bedrock aquifers. The tests lasted 12-72 hours and were followed by recovery monitoring of a similar duration. The results showed that for the fractured sedimentary bedrock aquifers, linear flow may precede infinite-acting radial flow for several hundred minutes. For the tests that exhibited infinite-acting radial flow as the final derivative response, the duration was approximately 0.3 log cycles of time, cut off when pumping ended. Infinite-acting radial flow identified using the recovery phase derivative often matched the pumping phase derivative in symmetry, though was sometimes different in magnitude. Identifying periods of radial flow from the pumping and recovery phases facilitated the calculation of transmissivity using various analytical solutions. Transmissivity values calculated using the Theis curve-matching (Theis, 1935) and Cooper-Jacob (Cooper & Jacob, 1946) methods, from the same radial drawdown data, were similar (within 0.5 log transmissivity values). For three pumping tests, transmissivity values calculated from the symmetrical recovery phase using the Theis recovery method (Theis, 1935) were noticeably different (over 0.19 orders of magnitude smaller or larger) than those calculated from the pumping phase. The van der Kamp method did not work for all pumping tests analyzed. The extended drawdown calculated using the van der Kamp method for the same three tests exhibited various non-ideal responses. Two tests exhibited a rising static water level, where the water level in the well at the start of the pumping test was erroneously assumed to be not changing. An unaccounted-for rising static water level induces a drift in the drawdown and subsequent recovery data, causing a discrepancy in the transmissivity calculated from the pumping and recovery phase, evident by a difference in the magnitude of the pumping and recovery derivative plots. The third test may have been subject to dewatering or a falling static water level late in the recovery phase which caused a steepening of the extended drawdown. When the “static” water level is not static, the extended drawdown does not improve the extrapolation of the drawdown to 100 days, which is required when estimating Q100. When the static water level was stable, as for the three other pumping tests, it lent confidence to the extrapolation of drawdown to 100 days to calculate Q100, reducing the reliance on an empirical straight-line extrapolation of drawdown to 100 days. A rising static water level, if not identified before pumping, negatively affects Q100 estimates; especially for high-yield wells where the drawdown rate is slower and may be more sensitive to static water level shifts. The drawdown rate drifts do not as negatively alter transmissivity calculations because transmissivity values are log-normally distributed. Minor drifts in drawdown rate have less impact on the relative accuracy. To enhance test reliability and facilitate the application of the van der Kamp method, future tests should confirm a “static” water level before proceeding with testing. Additionally, to extract maximal utilization of the van der Kamp method and recovery derivative, the recovery phase should last at least as long as the pumping phase, rather than ending at 90% recovery as is currently recommended by the B.C. Ministry of Environment (MoE, n.d.). Supervisors: Mike Wei and Lucinda LeonardItem Variations in earthquake detection across Ocean Networks Canada’s early warning system(2025) McMartin, KatieOcean Networks Canada’s Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) system has been in operation since 2023. This system uses P wave parameters measured at onshore and offshore stations to predict strong ground shaking and provide advance warning to operators of infrastructure (e.g., trains, planes) and other subscribers. Since its launch the system has detected hundreds of earthquakes. However, when compared to other organizations, the system is missing events. To investigate, Ocean Networks Canada’s earthquake catalog was first compared to those of Natural Resources Canada and the United States Geological Survey. It was found that events are primarily being missed in the northwest and southwest portions of the EEW grid (i.e., in the Explorer plate region south of Haida Gwaii and along the Explorer-Pacific divergent margin) with the system doing a good job of detecting events near Vancouver Island and the Nootka fault zone. In order to determine if events are going undetected because of station geometry (i.e., not enough stations are close enough to the epicentre for P waves to be detected), modelling using ground motion prediction equations was carried out to estimate the minimum detectable magnitude across the grid. In addition, a case study was investigated on a significant undetected event to assess the role of other aspects of the EEW detection algorithm (e.g., epicentre determination). The results showed that the likely reason events are going undetected across the EEW grid is a combination of the geometry of the stations and other aspects of the detection algorithm. The addition of stations from nearby networks (e.g., in Haida Gwaii) and improvements to the epicentre determination algorithm would increase the detection of events across the Ocean Networks Canada Earthquake Early Warning system. Supervisors: Lucinda Leonard and Alireza MahaniItem Is Cannabis Changing Our Relations? An Evaluation of British Columbia's Attempts at Economic Reconciliation(2024) Ghazarian, MichaelPrior to Canadian cannabis legalization, Indigenous nations had started to participate within the unregulated cannabis industry, turning it into a vehicle for cultural assertion. With the enactment of a federally regulated market, Indigenous cannabis businesses began to be displaced by regulated storefronts. With the increasing grievances from First Nation voices it was apparent that federal cannabis legalization actively excluded them from participating in a regulated economy (Crosby, 2019). In response to the increasing call for change, British Columbia enacted a unique amendment that aimed to create new government-to-government agreements between Indigenous communities involved in cannabis economies and the provincial government (BC Government News, 2022). Due to the recency of this amendment a large gap in evaluating its efficacy was apparent. Through the application of a historiographical analysis this research aims to establish the effectiveness of these newly formed agreements in the context of rebuilding Indigenous-Crown relations. This paper suggests that there is a growing amount of self-determination for those who participate within this new cannabis framework. However, based on the response by Indigenous voices and perspectives there is still a high degree of rigidity that excludes many from participating (Clarke, 2023). The overarching message is that this policy moves in the right direction but still lacks the ability to allow nations to assert an adequate degree of sovereignty.Item “I’m just asking questions.” An analysis of White supremacist pseudo-archaeology(2024) Vandersluis, RylanPseudo-archaeology is the rejection of academic archaeological explanations of the past, for the explicit purpose of inserting one's own speculative analysis. This research explores how white supremacists use pseudo-archaeology to propagate their ideology into the present, and how their ideas have adapted from their initial creation. It attempts to solve this question by a comparative synthetic analysis of the two case studies. The first is the ideologically dictated Archaeology that was carried out by nazi academics under the Third Reich, which was analyzed through a meta-analysis of secondary sources on the given subject matter. The second is the conspiratorial rhetoric propagated by Grahm Hancock’s media, using his first book Finger Prints of the Gods, and his docutainment series Ancient Apocalypse as an analytical framework. This research reveals the continued legacy of white supremacist ideas into modern pseudo-archaeology with the use of prehistory as a medium, the concept of a white precursor civilization, and the use of pseudo-intellectual echo chambers to bolster their ideas. The results of this study also reveal the changes in their methodologies and how Nazi rhetoric has been adapted to modernity through the modification of the concept of “Aryaness” to just “Whiteness,” The change from a war of races to a war against culture, and the effective modernization of propaganda. The results of this research attempt to unveil how Hancock has modified white supremacist history, in order to make it more palatable to the modern white audience.Item “Am I Japanese? Am I Nikkei?” An exploration of the identities of Yonsei and Gosei Japanese Canadians(2024) Nagasaki, DjunaIn February 2024, I received a conspicuous text message from my grandmother asking me to call her as soon as possible. “You will not believe what I found,” she exclaimed as I picked up the phone. It was a postcard from my great-grandfather, John Nobuo Nagasaki, sent to my grandparents in 1974, almost 50 years prior. My great-grandfather was born in Vancouver on the 22nd of April, 1922. He was Canadian-born. However, he was also of Japanese descent and, despite never setting foot in Japan, was still considered ‘alien’ on so-called ‘Canadian’ soil. In 1942, when John Nobuo was 20 years old, he and his family were forcibly uprooted from the West Coast along with thousands of other Japanese Canadians and incarcerated in internment camps. Their family home in Vancouver was dispossessed and lost to them forever. In 1974, John Nobuo visited Vancouver for the first time since his uprooting, a trip during which he wrote this postcard. As my grandma read it out loud over the phone, I felt my heart beat erratically in my chest. This postcard is the only piece of writing I have ever found from my great-grandfather, a figure in my ancestry who is somewhat of a mystery while simultaneously holding so much influence over my life and identity. The postcard read: “Hi, It sure has changed a lot here. I am getting lost every time I go out, But it sure is beautiful, and has it ever grown. Our old home is still here, and it’s the nicest on the block (remodeled). See you all soon, Dad.” I felt chills. “It’s practically a family artifact,” my grandmother went on, “look at how he calls it a home and not a house…really shows how they lost so much more than just a house, so much more than just things.” I felt tears well up in my eyes. This postcard offered a rare connection to the past, a short missive which briefly outlined the emotion behind what my great-grandfather went through in the 1940s. Today, my family is mixed, assimilated, and disconnected, a broad tapestry of trauma trickling down through the generations. In reading this short postcard, I form a relationship with my heritage and the intergenerational trauma within my family, coming closer to understanding what it means for me to be Japanese Canadian, what it means to be a descendant of internment.Item A Time for Recollection: Exploring the Temporality of Victoria’s Sea-To-Sea Green Blue Belt Campaign(2024) Lefort, AudreyThe rapid growth of our Earth's population has increased the demand for development and urban sprawl, consequently endangering the protection of the natural world. To ensure the future of functioning ecosystems, recreational spaces, and agricultural land, many have turned to green belts as planning strategies. Specific to Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, the collaboration between different organizations, community members, and levels of government successfully protected the lands connecting Tod Inlet, Sooke Basin and Sooke River. This Sea-to-Sea Green Blue Belt is the subject of this research, and semi-structured interviews, modified photovoice activities, and secondary data were used to understand the timeline and temporal experiences of nine participants who were actively involved from 1988 to the early 2000s. The article explains that the campaign was catalyzed by an algae bloom in the drinking water which led to a court case against the Greater Victoria Water District’s (GVWD) illegal logging activities in 1994, and the eventual creation of the Sooke Hills Wilderness Regional Park in 1997. This was followed by a 2000 Regional Park Acquisition Fund used to secure private lands for the green belt, which has resulted in the acquisition of over 4,900 hectares of parkland as of 2024. In addition, the anthropological theoretical frameworks of future orientation and social ecology revealed that participants’ identity influenced how their expectations, anticipation, and hope propelled the Sea-to-Sea Green Blue Belt campaign towards success, but that they now rely on speculation to envision the future of global environmental protection. This research contributes to current green belt academic literature by providing a deeper look into the human experience of advocating for this green infrastructure.Item Establishing a new protocol to investigate sensory adaptation in a mouse model of Rett Syndrome(2022) Kaban, TaylorThis project is a continuation of Farhoomand (2021). Dr. Farhoomand studied sensory adaptation in the hindlimb to primary somatosensory cortical pathway in a mouse model of Rett syndrome to better understand the loss of MeCP2 function in neuronal circuit and sensory processing. Cortical evoked responses (CERs) to vibratory tactile stimulation of the hind limb were assessed via intrinsic optical imaging (IOS) and intracortical local field potential recordings (LFPs) before, during, and after 1 hour of repetitive vibratory stimulation at 100hz. After 1 hour, the CER was reduced by approximately 40% in both Rett mice (RTT) and wild-type mice (WT). Reduced responses persisted for at least 60 minutes in wild-type mice but recovered to 90-100% of baseline within 15 – 30 minutes in Rett mice. Analysis of this phenomenon via LFP within the test train indicated that the reduced CER was due to an increase in short term adaptation during the 7-stimulus train that was retained in the WT mice but reversed rapidly in the RTT mice. We therefore propose that the persistent sensory adaptation differences between WT and RTT that are mediated by increased short-term adaptation may reflect enhanced feedback by inhibitory elements of circuits within the sensory pathway. The lack of the adaptation to persist after continuous stimulation in the RTT mice may therefore reflect a deficit in the capacity for activity dependent plasticity to consolidate. To determine if this is the case, this project sought to establish a new protocol to further probe this phenomenon of sensory adaptation with a larger cranial window that allows for the simultaneous recording of the CER from both hemispheres. We also seek to replace the piezo device with a new vibratory device that does not leave an artifact in the LFP data. To establish this new protocol this project sought to answer three main questions: (1) Can we reliably replace the piezo vibratory device with a motor device that is cheaper and doesn’t leave an artifact in the data. We found that while there was a significant difference in the timing of the CER after stimulus offset with the motor device, there was no significant difference in the variability of that timing, suggesting consistency with the motor device. We also found no significant difference in the sum of the peaks (mV) between the piezo device and one of the motor settings tested, and finally, we found no significant difference in the paired pulse ratio. In summary, the motor device can reliably replace the piezo device. (2) Do we see evidence for adaptation with the motor device? We found that there was evidence for adaptation, though there may be differences in the persistence of that adaptation. (3) Is there evidence for cross adaptation? We found that while there was a reduction in the CER after the adaptation phase, it wasn’t statistically significant (likely due to the small sample size of N=2). In summary, this project has established many successful aspects of a new protocol to further probe sensory adaptation. It has also paved a clear direction for the next steps in further progress towards our goal of providing a platform to understand some of the circuit level substrates of the sensory, learning, and cognitive deficits in RTT patients.Item Source of the Stone: Lithic Procurement and Provisioning at a Desert Refugium in the Azraq Basin, Jordan(2023-07-04) Skead, Colton D.Changes in mobility patterns by hunter-gatherers in water-stressed regions of the world has long been viewed as a risk mitigation strategy. Tied into these decisions are the ways in which they provision themselves and procure resources. Foragers of the distant past are no exception, but the nature of their survival is not fully understood. The Middle Pleistocene site of C-Spring in the Azraq Basin, Jordan, is an appropriate case study at which to investigate such issues. C-Spring, excavated by Dr. Andrew Garrard, is located directly adjacent to the only stable water source in the region, the Azraq wetlands, and has yielded an impressive cache of Acheulean remains. In order to reconstruct the mobility patterns, a provenance analysis is conducted to reveal the catchment areas most frequently utilized by the hominins. This was performed with data collected by Individual Attribute Analysis (IAA) and Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) of both the known sources in the region and the lithic artifacts. The results show that the majority of raw material was procured locally (5-10 km). This suggests hominins tethered themselves to water in the region for resource security, yet still ventured among the surrounding landscape, remaining within a day’s range to the secure resources offered by the Azraq wetlands. As such, C-Spring offers unique insight into how hominins of the Middle Pleistocene survived in marginalized desert environments.Item “Not Just a Forum, but a Community”: Incel Forums as Sites of Validation, Belonging, and Empowerment(2023-07-04) Leslie, PaigeThere are few places where the forces of misogyny, violence, and the patriarchy are so shamelessly endorsed than in online incel communities. Made up of men who claim to be involuntarily celibate (hence the name “incel”), incel forums are hubs of hateful and violent rhetorics about women and society. To understand why some celibate men find solace in such a disturbing community, I studied one incel forum using non-participant observation and thematic analysis. My research suggests that incel forums constitute a community of practice (CoP) (Neufeld, Fang, and Wan 2013), participation in which structures incels’ lives in validating and empowering ways. Incels may choose to join the community because it provides them with a meaningful source of identity, gives them a sense of power within the community that they do not believe they possess in the broader society, and offers self-affirming mindsets which blame a misandrist society for their problems. Overall, the incel community is a double-edged sword, providing its members with individual benefits but ultimately further isolating them from the rest of the world. Understanding how to meet incels’ needs for belonging and validation is crucial if we aim to counter their hateful narratives and provide celibate men with healthier alternatives to incel forums that reconnect them to mainstream society.Item Coastal Collaboration: Exploring Emerging Frameworks to Equitably Tackle Marine Debris on the BC Coast(2023-07-04) Smy, OrianaAnthropogenic marine debris is plaguing the British Columbia (BC) Coast and it will take a collaborative approach to equitably tackle this issue. Outdated top-down conservation efforts do not historically provide equitable solutions to communities that are most impacted by environmental issues. A community-based lens can better reflect the disproportionate socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental burdens of marine debris. My research examines the BC Government's Clean Coast, Clean Waters initiative and the Coastal Marine Strategy as case studies to represent current and future State funding streams that support marine protection and Indigenous-led conservation. My qualitative methodology is based on participant observation, literature review, and interviews with important actors from the Province and the Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation. The declared Indigenous-led Marine Protected Area of Gitdisdzu Lukyeks/Kitasu Bay provides an example of asserting inherent stewardship rights in accordance with Kitasoo/Xai’xais Indigenous laws and protocols. My research questions the impacts of marine debris on biodiversity and food security, and how State policy can better support Indigenous stewardship priorities beyond recognition and remediation efforts. Co-design and co-governance strategies for Marine Protected Areas may be an indication of a shifting tide of intergovernmental relations in Canada. But only time will tell if this pivot in policy creation can provide the long-term mechanisms to equitably address the issue of marine debris on the BC Coast.