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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Communities in MacSphere

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CHILD DEVELOPMENTAL HEALTH OUTCOMES IN CANADA
(2026) Jezrawi, Rita
Educational and developmental trajectories can be modified with early identification of needs and early interventions to support children in meeting developmental milestones. The goal of the dissertation was to explore the health and social outcomes of children with parent-reported, diagnosed, or teacher-identified neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) in Canada. This was done through three studies: 1) a quantitative regression study on developmental and academic outcomes from kindergarten to Grade 6 in Ontario, 2) a realist review of literature from the last decade on child development programs in Ontario and Manitoba; 3) a quantitative multilevel model approach to examine changes in prevalence rates of developmental outcomes over time in neighbourhoods in Ontario and Manitoba. The identification of developmentally vulnerable subgroups in these studies could help stakeholders decide on where and how universal and targeted policy solutions could be implemented. These studies provide more empirical support for early intervention programs and early entry to special education to ensure students develop the skills they need. Meaningful participation in school, community, and home is important for child and family development, and these studies show that meaningful participation can be facilitated by healthcare and community providers, educators, policymakers, and parents themselves. Including two provinces in two of the three studies allowed us to compare provincial health and educational policies and describe possible ways interprovincial variance exists in services and childhood outcomes. The results also showed socioeconomic and geographic inequities experienced by families and neurodiverse children between and within provinces. Additionally, the dissertation shows that a diagnosis of either autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or other NDD is associated with varied developmental and educational outcomes. Fundamentally, this dissertation showcases the necessity for collaboration in child developmental health and education sectors to provide more seamless communication and support services across schools, clinics, and community agencies.
EFFICIENT COMPUTATION OF CLOSED SUBSTRINGS
(2026) Samkith K Jain
A \df{closed string} $ u $ is either of length one or contains a border that occurs only as a prefix and as a suffix of $ u $, without appearing elsewhere within $ u $. This thesis presents a fast and practical $ \mathcal{O}(n \log n) $ time algorithm to compute all $ \mathcal{O}(n^2) $ closed substrings of a string $ w[1..n] $. This is achieved by introducing a compact representation of all closed substrings using only $ \mathcal{O}(n \log n) $ space. Additionally, a simple and space-efficient approach is proposed to compute all maximal closed substrings (MCSs) using the suffix array ($\mathsf{SA}$) and the longest common prefix ($\mathsf{LCP}$) array of $ w[1..n] $. Given a Fibonacci word $f_n$, where $n>5$, the thesis shows that the exact number of MCSs is $ M(f_n) \approx \left(1 + \frac{1}{\phi^2}\right) F_n \approx 1.382 F_n $, where $ \phi $ is the golden ratio, and $ F_n $ is the $ n $-th Fibonacci number. These results highlight novel combinatorial properties of closed substrings in structured sequences. To complement the theoretical findings, an efficient implementation of the algorithms for computing closed strings and MCSs is provided. The implementation has been thoroughly tested and is designed to support practical applications, facilitating further exploration of closed substrings in various contexts.
If it ain't Broke, Why Rehabilitate it? Canadian Occupational Therapy in the Rehabilitation Era, 1950-1985
(2026) Lewis, Kathryn
An increase in healthcare funding as well as the rehabilitation needs of Canadians enabled an expansion of practicing occupational therapists over the Rehabilitation Era, spanning the 1950s-1980s. Canada saw changes to hospital system funding through the transition to public healthcare, advances in medicine allowing more individuals to live with disabilities, and population growth, among many compounding factors resulting in more Canadians wanting or needing occupational therapy. Coined the “Rehabilitation Era” due to the growth of rehabilitation and a remedial focus in care through the use of the medical model, occupational therapists employed a multi-pronged approach to help meet the demand for their services. The context of the Rehabilitation Era highlighted and contributed to occupational therapists’ challenges in defining what skills lay within, and outside of, their professional boundaries. Occupational therapists’ fragile professional identity entering a period of rapid growth led to a variety of new areas of practice. When Canada transitioned to a publicly funded healthcare system, it created a system disturbance for healthcare professionals to redefine their areas of expertise. Due to a combination of occupational therapy’s relatively small size, a predominantly female composition, and entering this transition as a role subjugated under physicians, occupational therapy had difficulty fully realizing the opportunities available. Further, due to other professions and the healthcare system more broadly shifting in focus to remediation, occupational therapists found themselves frequently uncomfortable and poorly aligned with predominant models of practice. Over the course of the Rehabilitation Era, occupational therapy diversified drastically. Factors including gender, power structures, perceived and legitimate control over a knowledge base, and the external understanding of the role, each influenced the trajectory of the profession’s evolution. Occupational therapy’s absence of societal understanding of the scope of practice, value to the healthcare system, and professional expertise has consistently limited its ability to meet all criteria of professionalism. These challenges were highlighted particularly strongly during the Rehabilitation Era with the rapid changes to the healthcare and education systems. Given occupational therapy’s challenges in philosophical alignment with the medical model and the expanding areas of practice facilitated through the Rehabilitation Era, if it wasn’t broken, why did occupational therapy choose rehabilitation?
Bayesian Nonparametric Estimation of Simpson's Index
(2026) McTaggart, Mark Andrew
Simpson’s index is one of the oldest and most popular diversity indices. Traditionally, Simpson’s index has been estimated using frequentist methods, although Bayesian nonparametric estimation has been explored in recent years. Bayesian nonparametric estimation is an attractive alternative to frequentist estimation because it provides a theoretical framework for incorporating prior information while overcoming some of the limitations of parametric Bayesian approaches. Specifically, nonparametric priors do not require that we make an assumption about the true number of types in the population, something that is often unknown. This thesis introduces expressions for the bias, variance, and mean squared error for some existing Bayesian nonparametric estimators of Simpson’s index. These estimators of Simpson’s index require the specification of a concentration parameter and/or a discount parameter, and so we discuss various strategies for selecting these parameters. We also illustrate how these Bayesian nonparametric estimators compare to the standard frequentist estimators in an empirical study. The findings of this study indicate that the Bayesian nonparametric estimators with well-specified parameters outperform the frequentist estimators in terms of mean squared error.
Speaking for the Nation: Representation through Indigenous and Minority Language Recognition in Taiwan, New Zealand and Southeast Asia
(2026) Cassandra Preece
This “sandwich” dissertation argues that Indigenous and minority language recognition offers a novel way to examine how political representation unfolds in practice. I trace how group claims are articulated and institutionalized by diverse actors working within multiple settings, and how the outcomes of representational work shape perceptions of inclusion and legitimacy. The first chapter finds that Taiwan’s Council of Indigenous Peoples drives Indigenous language policy, demonstrating how representation occurs through executive rather than legislative institutions. The second chapter finds that Māori leaders and policy actors in New Zealand advanced and articulated Māori language priorities across multiple institutions. The third chapter analyzes survey data from Southeast Asia and finds that official language recognition is associated with higher perceptions of democracy and feelings of national pride among minority speakers. Together, the chapters demonstrate that language recognition is negotiated across multiple actors and sites, and can enhance legitimacy and belonging for minority communities.

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