About MacSphere

MacSphere is McMaster University's Institutional Repository (IR). The purpose of an IR is to bring together all of a University's research under one umbrella, with an aim to preserve and provide access to that research. The research and scholarly output included in MacSphere has been selected and deposited by the individual university departments and centres on campus.

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State Dependency and Long-Term Potentiation
(1991) Douglas Flint; Racine, R.J; Psychology
State-dependent learning (SDL) is the acquisition of behavioral outputs within specific environmental contexts. It is a robust phenomenon that has been demonstrated under a variety of conditions using both animal and human subjects. A number of environmental contexts or drug states have been shown to induce this effect. In the present study alcohol was used as the dissociating agent. The SDL effect was examined at the level of a monosynaptic neural circuit in the hippocampus of the rat. Long-term potentiation (LTP) was employed as a measure of SDL. LTP is the long-lasting enhancement of response strength following brief, high frequency activation, and has been used as a memory model. It has been well documented in monosynaptic systems particularly within the hippocampal circuitry as tested in this study. Although strong potentiation effects were not seen in all of the animals tested even those animals showing such effects showed no evidence for an SDL effect within the circuitry examined. The implications of this finding for future research is discussed
PUNISHMENT, LAW, AND PROPERTY IM THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF WILLIAM GODWIN
(1964-05) Edmon Feldman; Novak, D; Political Economy
The purpose of this study is to elucidate three aspects of Godwin's political thought against the background of his general philosophical position. The three aspects — punishment, law, and property — have been selected because of their continuing significance to contemporary discussions in political theory. These three aspects are all related and associated with political government; indeed, they represent the triumvirate of political power in modern society. Godwin's philosophical anarchism, which is based upon the ideal of bringing an egalitarian morality to bear upon political affairs, is a challenge to institutionalized political power. To Godwin, devotion to morality in the sense of genuinely disinterested behaviour was the sufficient condition for a just social order. The quest for justice or perfect society is not new. Godwin's quest, however, arising when the flames of the French Revolution had kindled in the minds of both its opponents and defenders a flurry of arguments, is, in its tone and pres entation, unique. The society which he proposes, based upon the individ ual's disposition to act according to what is just and proper (assuming that what is just and proper can be ascertained in every case), involves serious implications for the traditional concepts of punishment, law, and property. If devotion to morality is the only criterion for action, then the State, which is not an individual and which acts according to tradi tional rules and practices, is exposed to a fundamental criticism, and punishment, law, and property may then be recorded as purely incidental to the execution of political justice. Further, for Godwin it is not enough, in his search for justice, to ask whether a particular law, punishment, or property right, is just, but whether law, punish ment, and property are proper instruments for determining the relations between men in society. His posing of this latter question indicates that he presupposes a different set of criteria for ascertaining justice. Godwin’s political thought is widely dispersed throughout many of his writings, including essays and novels, but the most complete ex pression of his political philosophy is contained in the Enquiry Concern ing Political Justice and Its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness, referred to in the following pages as either the Enquiry or Political Justice, The first publication of Politica l .Jugtige appeared in 1795 but Godwin revised it twice, publishing the second edition in 1796 and the third in 179S. The text cited in this study is F. E. L. Priestley’s edition of 19^6. This is a photographic facsimile of the third edition, but it also records Godwin’s revisions in such a way that the passages of the first two editions can be reconstructed for comparison. For pur poses of this study, the writer accepts the opinion of F. E. L. Priestley that the changes made in the later editions are of relatively minor importance•
THE SUBJECT REALITY OF VIOLENT WOMEN
(1996-08) Erin Adams; York, Lorraine; English
The aim of this thesis is to examine the means by which the media present feminine violence in such a way as to re-enforce the patriarchal structures most threatened by violent women's assumptions of subjectivity. By publicly stereotyping violent women, the media consistently displace the meaning of feminine violence by continuing "to perceive and portray the act of murder by women as an unnatural and isolated event." Aggression in women is, with few exceptions, always spoken of either in relation to domestic abuse, or women's sexuality, or both. Stereotyping women who kill as doing so only within one or the other of these contexts corresponds neatly to the rigidly formulaic nineteenth-century categorization of women writers that Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar outline in their book, The Madwoman in the Atticz those of the "angel" and the "monster.
Exploring Psychological and Cultural Safety: IBPOC Midwifery Students’ Experiences in Ontario
(2026) Langley Frempong, Patricia
Introduction: This study explores how Indigenous, Black and Persons of Colour (IBPOC) midwifery students experience psychological and cultural safety in Ontario’s Midwifery Education Program (OMEP). Using Critical Race Theory and Critical Theory, the research examines how institutional structures shape students’ experiences with safety, belonging, and learning. Methods: Qualitative study using focus groups and semi-structured interviews. Trauma- informed and decolonial approaches were incorporated to ensure care, respect, and psychological safety throughout the research process. Data was analyzed using the Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Critical Race Theory and Critical Theory provided the frameworks for analyzing both the individual experiences and the structural mechanisms that produce and reproduce inequities. Participants: Fourteen participants between three focus groups and five semi-structured interviews who self-identified as Indigenous, Black, or a Person of Colour (IBPOC) Results: The Thematic Analysis revealed four overarching themes: 1- Surviving Institutionalized Spaces, 2 – Systems of Power and Surveillance, 3 – Becoming While Surviving Clinical Learning, 4 – The Duality of Institutions – A Site of Both Support and Harm, 5 – Community and Collectivist Action. Conclusion: This study contributes to ongoing conversations and research about equity and accountability in clinical education. By centring the lived experiences of IBPOC students, this research calls attention to how safety, learning, and belongi
Approved Minutes: January 2026 Graduate Council
(2026) School of Graduate Studies

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