Background: The mean power frequency (MPF) of an electromyographic (EMG) signal is affected by contraction intensity and muscular fatigue but is also a potential indicator of motor unit (MU) recruitment. Methods: This study is a secondary analysis (Woods et al. 2019) in which participants (17 boys, 20 men) completed a progressive isometric contraction protocol while EMG was recorded from the vastus lateralis (VL), using tripolar surface electrodes. MPF and EMG threshold (EMGTh) were calculated for each completed intensity. The latter reflects the onset of accelerated increased in higher-threshold MU recruitment. Independent t-tests were used to assess differences between groups in demographic variables, mean MPF (MPFmn), peak MPF (MPFPK), force (%1RM) at MPFPK, and MPF range. An ANOVA for repeated measures was used to assess differences between groups in MPF pattern, interpolated over ten stages. A correlation analysis was used to assess the relationship between %1RM at MPFPK and %1RM at EMGTh. Results: Both, MPFmn and MPFPK were higher in the men, but only reached statistical significance when %body fat was used as a covariate in the statistical analysis. 65% of participants displayed an expected (inverted-U shape) MPF pattern. Within this subset, the %1RM at which MPFPK occurred was significantly higher (i.e., occurred later) in the boys compared with the men. Additionally, a moderate correlation was observed between the %1RM at MPFPK and the %1RM at EMGTh (r = 0.51). Discussion: Overall, the findings of the current analysis provide support for the hypothesis of lower type-II MU activation in children. The high variability in MPF patterns may be a result of the interaction between confounding factors that affect MPF (intensity and fatigue). Future research should use an exercise protocol that examines MPF under the influence of each factor separately.

Fonds mostly consists of correspondence written by, or to, Nathan Ford. Much of the correspondence concerns the War of 1812, especially the events around Ogdensburg. A significant part of the fonds concerns Ford’s claim for damages and losses incurred during the war. Reference is sometimes made to claims for damages in Niagara. Several letters to the editor are included which comment on the war and on some of the events that occurred in Niagara, such as the burning of Newark. Isaac Brock is mentioned in another of Ford’s letters. Also includes some information on the Jones family history. There are also several letters to the editor concerning tensions between France and the United States around 1797.

Over the past three to four decades in Ontario, neoliberalization and new public management have restructured the non-profit social services (NPSS) sector by reducing core funding and introducing a competitive proposal system with increased managerial accountability. These changes have generated immense workplace pressures for frontline staff. Frontline staff in the NPSS have seen an increase in standardization accompanied by the degradation of their skills. Through in-depth interviews with five frontline staff at two similar non-profit agencies serving people experiencing poverty in the Niagara Region, this paper explores the question: How do frontline staff in the non-profit social services sector describe their working conditions? And how resonant are the narratives of compassion fatigue and burnout. In contrast to the narrative of "compassion fatigue" that often describes the experiences of professional frontline workers, I found that burnout among frontline poverty-reduction staff stems primarily from encountering structural barriers, such as a lack of affordable housing, that limit what they can do to help their service users. Furthermore, I found a general lack of organizational supports for frontline staff as workers, including supports to prevent or lessen burnout. This research brings to light new perspectives regarding poverty-reduction work and ultimately points to needed supports for frontline staff that may improve their work lives, well-being and poverty-reduction effectiveness.

Considering the global Black Lives Matter protests and the relatively limited academic research on environmental racism in Canada, this major research paper (MRP) explores the distribution of environmental racism in Ontario, Canada. Specifically, the research examines how environmental hazards (air pollution and landfills), and environmental benefits (parks and recreation) are distributed across visible minority and white communities in Hamilton and Niagara using ArcGIS Pro. The findings reaffirm that environmental racism exists in Ontario, Canada. For example, in communities with high percentages of visible minorities, parks tended to be less common and small, while particulate air pollution tended to be high. This research highlights the presence of environmental racism in Canada. Documenting and communicating the prevalence of environmental racism, and developing effective legislation for addressing environmental rights, are essential to funding lasting solutions for environmental racism in Canada.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is an X-linked disorder caused by an absence of dystrophin that compromises membrane integrity, ultimately resulting in muscle weakness, wasting and premature death. There is currently no cure for DMD, however, promoting the slow oxidative fibre type and reducing inflammation in muscle has become a viable therapeutic strategy. In this thesis, the role of glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) in DMD pathology, as it relates to inflammation and muscle fibre type composition, was examined. Specifically, the purpose of this thesis was to first characterize GSK3 signalling in two mdx mouse models of DMD, the traditional C57BL/10 (BL10) mdx mouse and the more severe DBA/2J (D2) mdx mouse model. Next, it was examined whether inhibiting GSK3 with a clinically relevant drug called tideglusib would promote the slow oxidative fibre type, reduce inflammation and ultimately enhance muscle structure and function in the D2 mdx mouse. In the first objective of this thesis, it was found that total GSK3 was significantly higher in extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles from D2 mice compared with BL10 mice. Inhibitory serine9 phosphorylation of GSK3 was also significantly lower in D2 mice compared with BL10 mice, suggestive of a strain effect whereby D2 mice had more active GSK3. In the second objective of this thesis, it was found short-term (2-4 weeks) tideglusib treatment (10 mg/kg/day) increased EDL:body mass ratio and reduced serum creatine kinase levels compared with vehicle control. Tideglusib treatment also enhanced muscle function with a significant improvement in hangwire impulse, and EDL specific force production and fatigue resistance. In the EDL muscles, tideglusib treatment reduced total GSK3, a result that was associated with an increase in the proportion of oxidative type I and IIa fibres and elevated utrophin mRNA expression. However, tideglusib treatment did not alter inflammatory cytokine expression of IL-1 and TNF-. Collectively, these results show that GSK3 activation may contribute to dystrophic pathology in the D2 mdx mouse and that short-term tideglusib treatment can inhibit GSK3 in these mice leading to a promotion of the oxidative fibres and an improvement in muscle form and function.

This study used appreciative inquiry (AI) as a methodological and theoretical framework and positive psychology theory to investigate international master’s students’ positive experiences, dreams, and expectations in their programs and institution to inform policies, programs, and practices. Although the literature describes international students’ mixed experiences in Canada, including developing critical thinking skills, making friends with other nationals, culture shock, and financial challenges, previous studies seldom focus on life-affirming conditions that enrich and improve such students’ schooling experiences. The first three stages of AI’s 4-D cycle—discovery, dream, and design—informed the study’s data collection methods (14 semi-structured individual interviews and three focus group discussions) to generate strength-based data for analysis, resulting in five key themes: (a) personal well-being and sense of belonging, (b) instructors’ pedagogical practices, (c) financial constraints and employment opportunities, (d) career development, and (e) policies. Based on its findings, the study makes six recommendations to inform international graduate student policy and practice: (a) allow international master’s students to study with their domestic counterparts, (b) increase international student diversity, (c) regularize socializing events for students and community members, (d) bridge the gap between theory and practice (hands-on experience), (e) work with all stakeholders to make international master’s students’ tuition fees more affordable, and (f) create on- and off-campus employment opportunities. Participants’ first-person accounts emphasize the need to include student voices in their own education and also shift the conversation from a deficit lens to a more positive discourse to balance the narratives around international students’ experiences.

Although English articles (the/a(n)) are two of the most frequently occurring words in the language, second language (L2) learners of English tend to exhibit extraordinary difficulty acquiring them. Uniquely resistant to instruction and often overlooked due to a lack of inherent meaning, articles are a suitable linguistic target for form-focused instruction (FFI), an approach that has demonstrated its efficacy over decades of research, across multiple domains of instructed L2 acquisition. With the aim of integrating attention to form into communicative L2 instruction, FFI encompasses numerous instructional techniques that promote various types of linguistic processing that contribute to L2 learning. The current study in particular focuses on three proactive FFI techniques—input enhancement, metalinguistic explanations, and practice—that sequentially facilitate noticing, awareness, and practice, respectively (Lyster, 2007, 2017; Ranta & Lyster, 2018). Targeting English articles, an experimental study was conducted to measure the differential effects of various combinations of the three FFI techniques, in order to examine the benefits attributable to each technique and its corresponding linguistic processing. Forty-six L2 learners of English were randomly assigned to four conditions: input enhancement only (n = 12); input enhancement and metalinguistic explanations (n = 11); input enhancement, metalinguistic explanations, and practice (n = 11); and a control condition (n = 12). The L2 learners each completed six hours of online English lessons. The three treatment groups received instruction on English articles according to their respective condition, while the control group received general instruction with no focus on articles. The participants’ knowledge of English articles was measured by four tasks (i.e., grammaticality judgment task, metalinguistic knowledge task, elicited imitation task, and picture-description task) in a pretest, an immediate posttest, and a delayed posttest. Results showed that the group that received input enhancement and metalinguistic explanations exhibited clear and durable gains in the metalinguistic knowledge task after the lessons. Furthermore, a subset of participants who benefitted the most from the instructional treatment revealed two factors in common, which were their article-less native languages and a high level of participation during the lessons. Based on these results, the present study contributes meaningfully to the current understanding of FFI and the L2 acquisition of English articles. In addition, it seeks to bring L2 research and L2 pedagogy one step closer together by offering evidence-based insights that further inform instructed L2 acquisition.

The collection contains American and British newspapers published around the time of the Upper and Lower Canada rebellions in 1837-1838. Many of the issues report on the events of the rebellions. Relevant news items from each issue have been described, with special attention to events that occurred in Niagara. Other articles of local interest concerning the War of 1812 or Welland Canal have also been noted.

A broadside advertising the Good Templars Strawberry Festival and Social Entertainment at Colt’s Hall, Suspension Bridge, N.Y. on July 2, 1869. The social is hosted by Frontier Lodge no. 740 of the Independent Order of Good Templars. The broadside reads “this festival will probably be the last and is pledged to be the best of the season! A number of very beautiful tableaux will be put upon the stage during the evening. Select music will be provided and everything done to make the entertainment one of social enjoyment. A committee of reception will be waiting to introduce strangers and to make all who attend this Festival feel themselves at home. The members of the Lodge extend a cordial invitation to all their friends to ‘Come, Taste and See’, that their strawberries are the sweetest and their ice cream the coldest that have been placed before them the present season”. Admission is 15 cents and the broadside is dated at Suspension Bridge, June 28, 1869. A note at the bottom of the broadside reads “In fulfilling the mission of Good Templars, Frontier Lodge has since its organization offered to the citizens of Suspension Bridge, Niagara Falls, Clifton, and the surrounding country frequent FREE entertainments, and the opportunity—which they are rejoiced to know has been freely availed of—of listening to some of the most talented speakers in the country. This has not been without expense to the Lodge, and having fitted up a hall at great cost it has now a small debt which it is desirable to liquidate, and solicits the patronage of the public to the accomplishment of this end”.

An issue of the York Gazette, dated October 17, 1812. This issue contains a statement on the victory at the Battle of Queenston Heights on the back page. The article notes the death of Issac Brock, his aide-de-camp John Macdonell, and the leadership of Major General Sheaffe. It is noted that “On the 13th of this month a most glorious victory took place at Queenston over the enemy…Our forces, though a handful, compared with those of the enemy, were not intimidated by numbers, but bravely resisted…” Isaac Brock’s role in the battle is mentioned. It is stated that “General Brock watchful, as he was brave, soon appeared in the midst of his faithful troops, ever obedient to his call, and whom he loved with the affection of a Father, but alas! whilst collecting, arranging, forming, and cheering his brave followers, that great commander gloriously fell when preparing for victory. ‘Push on brave York Volunteers’, being then near them, they were the last words of the dying Hero—Inhabitants of Upper Canada, in the Day of Battle remember BROCK.” John Macdonell, Brock’s aide-de-camp, was also killed in the battle. He is acknowledged in the article: “Not let us forget to lament the untimely fate of the young, the affectionate, and the brave Lieut. Col. John Macdonnel, who received a mortal wound about the same time with his beloved General—attached to him from affection, his constant follower in every danger, this amiable youth is now buried with him in the same grave”. After the deaths of Brock and Macdonell, Major General Sheaffe took command, and “proved himself worthy to fill that important, tho difficult and dangerous situation in which he was placed. Being reinforced by troops (including a body of Indians) from Fort George, General Sheaffe succeeded by a most judicious movement, in gaining the flank and rear of the enemy…unable to resist or escape from the British arms, about 900 Americans surrendered prisoners of war…” The article is followed by tributes to General Brock.