About MacSphere

MacSphere is McMaster University's Institutional Repository. MacSphere brings together the institution's scholarly works under one umbrella to preserve and provide ongoing open access to them. MacSphere works have been selected and deposited by members of the McMaster community as part of our collective committment to sharing our knowledge with the world.

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

Communities in MacSphere

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Recent Submissions

Nursing Roles in Diabetic Foot Care: An Interpretive Description Study
(2026) Juneau, Maxine Veronique Liao; Northwood, Melissa; Nursing
Aim: Despite low rates of diabetic foot screening, increasing acute care costs for diabetic foot ulcers (DFU), and higher rates of diabetes-related amputation in equity-denied communities in Canada, there is a limited understanding of nursing involvement in diabetic foot care in the current literature. The purpose of this qualitative interpretive descriptive study is to explore the roles that nurses experience while providing care to prevent DFU or support adults with DFU in Ontario. Procedure/Method: A purposeful sample of 15 experienced nurses, specializing in diabetes care, wound care, and foot care from across Ontario, participated in semi-structured interviews. Using Thorne’s interpretive description methodology, a conceptual description and narrative of nursing DFU care in Ontario was created from the interview transcripts and field notes. Results: Five themes were identified: 1) requiring specialized skills and education, 2) noticing inequities in nursing care, 3) navigating a scattered and siloed system, 4) responding to the moment, and 5) evaluating through stories. Nurses described care as variable between regions and practice settings due to differences in nursing education, training, and practice support. Participants noted multiple challenges to providing DFU care in Ontario, including complex referral processes, lack of affordable preventive care, limited monitoring of patient outcomes, and variable access to offloading devices, footwear, and vascular surgery. Implications/Applications: This study offers insight into current nursing roles and underscores the need for standardized and integrated care for people living with DFU across various sectors (i.e., home and primary care). Timely assessment and treatment of DFUs would be facilitated by standardization of access to nurses specialized in DFU care, in addition to intersectoral monitoring and measurement of patient outcomes.
Creative Process Trajectories: Complementary Mechanisms Across Individual, Collaborative, and Neural Analyses
(2026) Lazar-Kurz, Zoe; Brown, Steven; Psychology
Optimizing patient-important outcomes in full-thickness macular hole repair
(2026) Nanji, Keean; Ma, Jinhui; Chaudhary, Varun; Braga, Luis; Clinical Health Sciences (Health Research Methodology)
Background: Full-thickness macular holes (FTMHs) are complete defects in the fovea affecting all retinal layers. They greatly impact patients’ visual acuity (VA) and reduce their quality of life. Repair involves pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) with peeling of the internal limiting membrane (ILM), intraocular gas tamponade, and post-operative face-down positioning (FDP). This sandwich thesis presents four published articles with the focus on optimizing patient-important outcomes in the management of idiopathic FTMHs. Chapter 1 provides the relevant background information, rationale, and framework for the thesis. Chapter 2 presents the results of a systematic review and individual participant data meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the impact of modifying intraoperative ILM peel size. Specifically, the review compares “small”, defined as 1 disc diameter (DD) in radius or less, compared to “large”, defined as greater than 1 DD in radius. Chapter 3 presents the results of a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs evaluating the impact of post-operative FDP versus no FDP. Chapter 4 presents a published editorial outlining the types, the utility, and common pitfalls to feasibility studies. Chapter 5 describes a detailed protocol for a pilot RCT. This study will assess the feasibility of a larger scale trial comparing three versus seven days of post-operative FDP following PPV for FTMH. Chapter 6 summarizes the results of the studies and presents future directions to facilitate further improvements in the management of FTMHs.
Psychological Contract Fulfillment: A Theorized Model and Meta-Analysis
(2026) Harry, Karlene; Hackett, Rick; Schat, Aaron; Business Administration
Despite decades of research on employment relationships, organizations continue to struggle with understanding how unmet or fulfilled promises shape employee commitment and performance. This dissertation addresses this persistent gap by examining the construct of psychological contract fulfillment (PCF) — the extent to which employees perceive that employers have delivered on their obligations — and by quantifying its impact across studies. Drawing from Social Exchange Theory, this thesis undertakes a meta-analysis to validate a theorized model of psychological contract fulfillment (PCF). Specifically, this dissertation is grounded in Social Exchange Theory, which explains how reciprocal obligations form the basis of enduring employee–employer relationships. Psychological contract fulfillment (PCF) represents the degree to which employees perceive that these obligations have been honored. Understanding PCF is therefore critical to clarifying how perceptions of fairness and reciprocity influence workplace behavior. Guided by this theoretical lens, the present study employs a meta-analytic approach to synthesize findings across the PCF literature and to test a comprehensive model linking antecedents, mediators, and outcomes Through meta-analysis, my aim is to bring coherence to the disparate studies on PCF, thereby advancing knowledge that directly informs applied organizational interventions such as employee engagement strategies, leadership communication practices, and HR systems designed to strengthen mutual trust and reciprocity. A key aspect of this is to review, and meta-analytically test, a PCF model proposed and assessed by researchers of primary studies. This research allows for identification of the most common variables and associations, including antecedents, consequences, mediators, and moderators. Also from this process, I develop and test (using meta-analytically derived parameter estimates and structural equation modeling -- SEM) an integrative and theoretically informed model of the antecedents, outcomes, mediators, and moderators of PCF, and propose a research agenda.
Interpretable and Risk‑Aware Decision‑Making in Rail-Truck Intermodal Dangerous Goods Transportation and Flow Estimation
(2026) Bhavsar, Nishit Shaileshkumar; Verma, Manish; Hassini, Elkafi; Computational Engineering and Science
This dissertation investigates rail–truck intermodal transportation of dangerous goods, with particular emphasis on modeling and estimating their flows within highway networks. The dissertation is structured into five chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the research context, motivation, and main contributions of the study. Chapter 2 presents the first study, which develops an alternative tactical-level approach for configuring existing rail–truck intermodal networks for dangerous goods shipments from the perspective of intermodal carriers. Transportation of dangerous goods involves inherently conflicting considerations of cost efficiency and public risk, representing the differing priorities of carriers and regulators. Rather than treating these priorities as competing objectives, the study formulates the problem as a bi-level optimization model that embeds stakeholder preferences within a unified decision-making framework. Extending the classical hub-and-spoke paradigm, the upper-level model represents carrier cost considerations through a single-allocation hub selection problem, while the lower-level model captures regulatory risk concerns. The proposed formulation contributes by (i) explicitly reconciling stakeholder objectives within a single model and (ii) simultaneously determining terminal selection and shipment routing. The model is evaluated using a real-world Canadian rail–truck intermodal network and benchmarked against a conventional bi-objective formulation. Case study results demonstrate improved solution quality and enhanced stakeholder alignment. Chapter 3 extends this work by addressing two major challenges associated with large-scale combinatorial optimization models: computational tractability under parameter variability and interpretability of solutions as operating conditions change. The second study proposes a learning-to-optimize framework that extracts structural insights from historical optimization outcomes, thereby reducing reliance on repeated computationally intensive solver-based solutions. Developed for the configuration of rail–truck intermodal networks carrying dangerous goods, the methodology is demonstrated through a case study on a realistic U.S. intermodal network. Results show that the approach facilitates decision-making under uncertainty by translating complex optimization outputs into intuitive and interpretable decision rules. Chapter 4 focuses on risk assessment in dangerous goods transportation by introducing a comprehensive data-driven, optimization-based framework to estimate dangerous goods flows on road networks. By integrating multiple data sources, the framework estimates and spatially distributes hazardous material flows using an optimization model, providing detailed exposure and vulnerability information for risk analysis and mitigation planning. A case study on gasoline transportation in Ontario, Canada, highlights spatial flow patterns and yields insights into accident dynamics involving hazardous materials, supporting more informed and proactive risk management strategies. Finally, Chapter 5 summarizes the main findings of the dissertation and outlines directions for future research.

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