Welcome to the upgraded MacSphere! We're putting the finishing touches on it; if you notice anything amiss, email macsphere@mcmaster.ca

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.

To contribute to McMaster's Institutional Repository, please sign on to MacSphere with your MAC ID.

If you have any questions, please contact the MacSphere Support Team.

Students wishing to deposit their PhD or Masters thesis, please follow the instructions outlined by the School of Graduate Studies.

Discover

Communities in MacSphere

Select a community to browse its collections.

Recent Submissions

  • Thumbnail Image
    Item type: Item ,
    "A lot more than painting!": [Re]Membering, [Re]Storying, and [Re]Claiming First Nations Women's Healing, Health, and Well-Being Post-Incarceration by Connecting the Mind, Body, and Heart through Body Mapping
    (2026) Clifford, Alicia Gayle; Gabel, Chelsea; Health and Aging
    Despite Canada's ongoing commitment to truth-telling and reconciliation, Indigenous women represent the fastest-growing demographic in Canadian prisons, even as overall incarceration rates decline. This dissertation, guided by an Indigenous research paradigm rooted in relational accountability, explored the impact of Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge (OOHL), a state-run cultural prison in southern Saskatchewan, on the healing, health, and well-being of First Nations women from the Prairies. Conducted in partnership with the Elizabeth Fry Society of Saskatchewan, a non-profit organization serving women and gender-diverse adults who are criminalized or at risk of criminalization, the study employed a community arts-based method called body mapping. Through two 4-day workshops, eight First Nations women created life-sized body maps to communicate and process their experiences of colonialism, incarceration, and healing. Using inductive thematic analysis, these visual maps illuminated how Correctional Service Canada's cultural healing lodge influences healing, health, and well-being. The findings highlight collective themes of severed connections, somatic impacts, culture as healing, and the importance of relationships. Participants also offered recommendations that exposed gaps in programming, post-release supports, and tensions between OOHL's healing mission and its continued carceral regime. These insights reveal how correctional policy can either be an enabler or a barrier to First Nations women's healing. This dissertation contributes to critical criminology and Indigenous studies by demonstrating the value of body mapping as a research method and an evaluative tool to inform distinctions-based, culturally responsive approaches to carceral policy.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item type: Item ,
    Supporting Survivors of Digital Harm: Findings from Hamilton, Ontario's Gender-Based Violence Sector
    (2026-02-23) Cochrane, Alexis-Carlota; Brockbank, Maddie; Fox, Jasmine; Jansen, Grace; Jurilj, Miranda; Maureen
    Technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) is an increasingly urgent concern in Canada, as digital tools have become central infrastructures through which abuse, coercion, and surveillance are enacted. Despite being at the forefront of responding to these rapidly evolving harms, frontline gender-based violence (GBV) service providers are rarely recognized as experts in shaping policy, prevention strategies, or systemic responses. This project examines the perspectives of service providers across the Greater Hamilton Area who support survivors experiencing TFGBV. Drawing on in-depth video consultations with frontline staff, crisis workers, public educators, organizational leaders, and survivor advocacy groups at four local GBV organizations, the study investigates how TFGBV manifests in service provision, identifies gaps in resources and institutional supports, and gathers recommendations grounded in practitioner expertise. The findings demonstrate that technology functions as a core infrastructure of contemporary gender-based violence; institutional responses frequently minimize digital abuse; frontline providers lack structured digital safety training and resources; TFGBV is increasingly shaping youth peer relationships and digital cultures; artificial intelligence–enabled harms are intensifying; and survivor-informed knowledge remains insufficiently integrated into policy and prevention frameworks. Recommendations include developing practice-oriented TFGBV training; adopting trauma-informed, survivor-centered approaches; recognizing the intersecting dimensions of digital violence; ensuring ongoing, accessible professional learning; targeting education toward key stakeholders; fostering collaborative capacity-building; formally recognizing GBV organizations as experts in digital violence; providing sustained institutional support and funding; establishing cross-sector coordination mechanisms; and meaningfully engaging GBV expertise in platform governance.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item type: Item ,
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item type: Item ,
    Reimagining Senior Housing: Developing the Community-Integrated Shared Equity Model for Ontario Through Comparative Policy Analysis
    (2026) Zoe el Helou; Dunn, Jim; Clinical Health Sciences (Health Research Methodology)
    Canada is facing an imminent housing crisis, as one in four Canadians will reach 65 by the mid-2030s, and 75% of Ontario's seniors reside in car-dependent suburban areas. Current housing systems trap home equity, while fragmented governance and restrictive regulations prevent the integration of housing with care services. This thesis examines how integrated financing and policy mechanisms can enable older adults' transition from suburban homes to age-friendly housing while maintaining community connections and ensuring long-term affordability. This thesis applies comparative documentary policy analysis on 120 sources across four OECD countries: Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden. Through the policy triangle framework, the analysis examines policy context, content, processes, and actors shaping housing transformation from 1987 to 2024. Maximum variation sampling enabled identification of convergent principles while maintaining sensitivity to contextual factors, with analysis progressing through structured country-specific examination, cross-national patterns, and transferability to Ontario. Cross-national findings demonstrate hospitalization reductions of 15-28%, fall prevention improvements of 24-31%, and institutional care delays of 2.3-3.1 years alongside substantial social capital formation. Synthesizing these findings within Ontario's regulatory context, the thesis proposes the Community-Integrated Shared Equity (CISE) model, a theoretically grounded framework integrating social capital theory, social support theory and behavioural economics principles. The CISE model operates through three interdependent pillars addressing financial barriers, community preservation, and operational coordination while accounting for Canadian specificities. Policy recommendations span federal, provincial, and municipal jurisdictions, proposing National Housing Strategy reallocation, Planning Act amendments, and municipal zoning reforms to enable implementation pathways from pilot demonstrations to systemic transformation.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item type: Item ,
    Challenges in the Practical Application of Data-Driven Fault Detection and Diagnosis
    (2026) Wheat, Daphne Lesley; Mohrenschildt, Martin von; Habibi, Saeid; Computing and Software
    Machine health and condition monitoring have become a billion-dollar industry, an area where fault detection and diagnosis is no longer just a subject of academic research, but are now increasingly embedded into commercial tools and products. This thesis addresses several practical challenges in the implementation of machine learning data-driven fault detection and diagnosis systems, from hardware design to testing methodology. This research introduces novel methods in the areas of vibration based ball bearing damage detection and optimal classification accuracy estimation. It also reveals how individual ball bearing parts contain their own unique signatures and recommendations on proper testing procedures to mitigate the impact of this effect. Lastly, it covers how advances in micro-electromechanical technology may be leveraged in order to reduce the cost of hardware while maintaining high sampling rates.