• Advancing a Youth-Centered Pedagogy that Fosters Physical Literacy by Working with Youth and YMCA Recreation Providers

  Petersen, Jennie; Applied Health Sciences Program

  Participation in sport and physical activity declines in children at approximately 11-14 years of age. Efforts to support long-term participation in physical activity have focused on the promotion of physical literacy, which offers a holistic view of the factors affecting youth participation. Limited research has explored pedagogical approaches that can support youth physical literacy and engagement in recreational sport and physical activity contexts. This dissertation investigates pedagogical approaches aimed at supporting youth physical literacy in a YMCA recreation context using action research. An important objective was to support change in YMCA organizational pedagogical practices. Practical implications for the implementation of physical literacy are discussed throughout. Interviews with 10 youth and eight coaches involved in YMCA recreational sport and physical activity programs were conducted in the first study of this dissertation. Factors that supported youth engagement included sense of enjoyment, learning and accomplishment, and comfort with peers in the program. Youth described feeling disengaged when they felt a low sense of autonomy, excluded, or if there was potential for embarrassment. Gender stereotypes were identified as a contributing factor leading to lower levels of participation and engagement in girls. Coaches who had previously taken physical literacy related training perceived improvements in their instructional ability to engage youth. In the second study, 31 youth participated in a series of focus group meetings exploring what approaches to physical literacy resonate amongst youth. During a wrap-up meeting with YMCA stakeholders, youth participants shared their ideas and courses of action. Findings demonstrated that the presence of a caring adult, interacting with peers of a similar age, opportunities to have input and co-create their programs, games-based approaches, and the flexibility of their program structures were important factors for enhancing youth involvement in sport and physical activity. In the last study, a youth-informed recreation instructors training was designed, developed, and co-created with six YMCA stakeholders over the course of seven focus group meetings. A key outcome was the development of a recreation instructor training, called Working ‘with’ Youth in Sport and Physical Activity. Findings provide insight on the challenges that recreation organizations face with implementing physical literacy concepts.
• The Influence of Occupational Footwear on Slip Responses

  Yuan, Vanessa; Applied Health Sciences Program

  Falls in the workplace most often occur due to slips and unsuitable footwear. While industry standardized occupational footwear (OF) is required for the safety of occupational activities, little is known about how OF influences how individuals respond to an unexpected slip. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate how OF affects balance recovery strategies and slip outcome in response to an unexpected slip during walking. Twenty-five individuals (13 males, 12 females) completed a total of 12 walking trials at a self-selected pace in either barefoot (BF) or while wearing OF. The first five trials consisted of the no-slip condition, where individuals walked over a sheet of high friction aluminum foil. On the sixth trial and without the participant’s knowledge, the aluminum foil was replaced with a low friction hard plastic surface to induce an unexpected slip. The remaining six trials were conducted over the low friction surface while participants were aware of the low friction surface. For each walking trial, ground reaction forces, lower limb electromyography and kinematics were recorded. It was found that when individuals in both groups first experienced the unexpected slip, both groups responded with a macro-slip. However, the slip was less severe in the OF group, with a 13 cm shorter heel slip distance and a 0.6 m/s slower heel slip velocity, compared to the BF group. A less severe slip may have been due to differences found in normal walking, since the OF group applied 23% less shear force and had a 16% smaller co-efficient of friction utilized. Differences in slip severity may have also contributed to the ensuing slip response. The OF group, who experienced a less severe slip, demonstrated 35-49% less muscle activity in the left (slip limb) medial hamstrings and left tibialis anterior as well as 2˚ less plantar-flexion after encountering the slip. The OF group also activated their right (non-slip) tibialis anterior, medial gastrocnemius, and vastus lateralis to a lesser extent, by 66-78%, after the slip onset. Although walking in OF appears to lead to a decreased slip risk and a less severe slip outcome, more research is required to evaluate the effectiveness of these slip recovery responses in reducing workplace falls.
• The Logo “Visual Thickness Effect”: When and Why It Boosts Brand Evaluation. Does It Relax the Logo Visual Asymmetry Side-effect?

  Eyni, Ardalan; Faculty of Business Programs

  Logos are one of the first elements of brands with which new consumers interact. Thus, the symbolic meanings that a logo implies by its visual characteristics, e.g., circularity vs angularity, symmetry vs asymmetry, etc., can form consumers’ early perception of personality of the associated brand. A considerable body of research studies the key visual elements of logos that influence consumers’ perceptions about the associated brands. The primary aim of this research is to contribute to this body of literature by documenting the logo “Visual Thickness Effect” (VTE) as an understudied but influential visual phenomenon. Using 4685 MTurk participants and 34 fictitious logos, across two pre-studies and five main studies, we find support for the logo Visual Thickness Effect, in that thick logo boosts perception of brand personality, as a result of boosting perception of brand power. Also, the perception of brand power induced by logo thickness is moderated by consumer’s level of perceived power of the self, in that consumers with higher sense of power are less influenced by thickness of logo, as a sign of brand power, when evaluating a brand. Further, the perception of brand power induced by logo thickness is moderated by consumer’s level of visuospatial capacity, meaning that people with higher visuospatial sketchpad are less influenced by thickness of logo, as an extraneous visual stimulus, while evaluating a brand. Also, results suggest that the logo Visual Thickness Effect is at play as long as consumers do not already possess complementary information about the associated brand. Furthermore, we try to contribute to the findings of prior research by suggesting perception of logo familiarity as the underlying mechanism why asymmetric logo attenuates the perception of brands sincerity, competence, and ruggedness. Results show that symmetrical logos can be perceived as more familiar than asymmetrical logos. Findings of this research imply that brands, especially new-to-market brands, might exploit thick logos. This research contributes to the literature for perception of visual elements, logo design, brand evaluation, perception of power, and sensory marketing.
• More Than a Green Roof: An Analysis of Low Impact Development Policies and Practices

  Anyan, Edward; Environmental Sustainability Research Centre

  While the concept of green infrastructure is becoming increasingly popular, practitioners and institutions that implement it have varying perspectives on its meaning. This case study aimed to understand how a medium-sized municipality defines green infrastructure as a concept and incorporates it into official policies and related development plans to encourage green stormwater management strategies. It further sought to understand how the analyzed policies and related plans stimulate low impact development implementation in response to climate change adaptation efforts. A content analysis of eight official documents was conducted to determine how the City of St. Catharines, Ontario defines green infrastructure and includes it in its policies and plans. NVivo 12 was used to gather the meaning of green infrastructure and related terms qualitatively. The findings discuss how green infrastructure was defined and incorporated, as well as the consistency of its usage and meaning across the sampled official documents.
• Emerging Market Indexes During the Pandemic Period

  Khan, Md Nafeesur Rahman; Faculty of Business Programs

  The thesis empirically examines and analyzes an unusual episode in the behavior of emerging indexes. Specifically, it investigates the sensitivity of high-frequency five-minute interval index price movements to COVID-19-related news announcements and macroeconomic news announcements during the pandemic. The author hypothesized that COVID-19 infection cases, deaths, vaccination counts, major vaccine development announcements, and government response measures related to COVID significantly impact the emerging equity markets’ returns and volatility, namely Argentine, Brazilian, Chilean, and Mexican equity indexes. They also hypothesized an asymmetric effect of macroeconomic news before and during the pandemic. Findings reveal that pandemic cases, vaccination, and death-related news announcements exhibit a statistically significant effect on intraday volatility but not so much on returns. At the same time, government response measures have a more pronounced and significant effect on return and volatility. Additionally, vaccine research & development and approval news increase intraday volatility. Findings also suggest that very few macroeconomic news indicators exhibit statistically significant asymmetric interaction before and during the pandemic, and fewer US macroeconomic news indicators are significant during the pandemic than before. The results support previous findings that US macroeconomic news announcements significantly impact Canadian and Mexican equity indexes, suggesting a linkage between them with US financial markets.

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