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Assessing perceptions of warming, cooling, and clean air spaces within the broader network of community supports in Waterloo Region: A qualitative study
(University of Waterloo, 2026-08-28) Noor, Hateem
Background: As extreme heat, cold, and poor air quality events increase in frequency, the need for appropriate climate change adaptation strategies continues to grow. One strategy is the Waterloo Region, Heat, Cold, and Air Quality network (WRHCAN), which is coordinated by Region of Waterloo Public Health (ROWPH) and includes a network of organizations that offer warming, cooling, and clean air spaces. Waterloo Region also grapples with intersecting issues such as, the housing crisis, unregulated substance use, and demographic shifts that impact the delivery of warming, cooling, and clean air spaces. As such, this study explored the following research question: How do intersecting social and structural issues influence the operations of warming, cooling, and clean air spaces and other community supports in Waterloo Region? Specifically, the study examined: 1) network members’ perceptions surrounding the structural factors that influence the operations of warming, cooling, and clean air spaces in Waterloo Region; and 2) network members perceptions on the relationship between warming, cooling, and clean air spaces and other community supports available in Waterloo Region. Methods: This research was guided by an existing partnership with ROWPH and follows a case study design. Semi-structured interviews (n=13) were conducted with WRHCAN members, with two additional follow up interviews. To triangulate data, focus groups with ROWPH staff members were conducted and fieldnotes were taken at an in-person WRHCAN meeting to gain a contextual understanding on how the network operates. Interview data was transcribed using a naturalized transcription approach and thematically analyzed using a deductive approach. Results: The WRHCAN provides valuable coordination of warming, cooling, and clean air spaces in Waterloo Region, and resource sharing between various organizations. However, operations of warming, cooling, and clean air spaces is impacted by structural issues such as the housing crisis, unregulated substance use, and rapid demographic shifts in Waterloo Region. Furthermore, the study identified warming, cooling, and clean air spaces as entities in Waterloo Region that exist among a broader system of existing supports tailored to different populations such as people experiencing homelessness, people with substance use and mental health concerns, older adults, and newcomers. Warming, cooling, and clean air spaces provide temporary relief from extreme temperature and poor air quality events. These spaces may contribute to, but are not a solution for, broader systems-level challenges in Waterloo Region. Contributions: This study was completed at a time where Southern Ontario is facing record high temperatures and frequent poor air quality days, underscoring the need for suitable extreme temperature and poor air quality related adaptation strategies. Findings will contribute to scholarly knowledge in strengthening local and regional health and social service systems and current climate change adaptation strategies. Importantly, examining operations of warming, cooling, and clean air spaces uncovers localized structural issues. Analyzing these issues makes it possible to better meet the needs of individuals disproportionately impacted by extreme temperature and poor air quality events.
Development of an Analytical Method for Sulfolane Determination in Plant Tissue
(University of Waterloo, 2026-08-28) Sweett, Alexander
Sulfolane (tetrahydrothiophene-1,1-dioxide) is a highly water-soluble industrial solvent used in sour gas processing and oil refining, posing significant risks of environmental contamination and subsequent uptake by vegetation in nearby ecosystems(1). Although its environmental mobility is well documented, far less is known about its behavior in plant tissues. There also remains a lack of analytical methods for the detection of sulfolane in plant tissue that are simple, scalable, and consistent with green chemistry practices. This thesis addresses that gap by developing and validating an analytical method for the extraction and quantification of sulfolane in plant tissue, and by applying advanced chromatographic techniques to characterize sulfolane in environmental samples. Plant uptake theory predicts that highly hydrophilic compounds such as sulfolane are transported primarily with the transpiration stream through plant tissue(2). Consistent with this framework, published studies demonstrate that vegetation exposed to sulfolane contaminated groundwater contains measurable sulfolane in both root and shoot tissues, confirming that plants can absorb and translocate the compound with concentration in the tips of the plant(3,4). To meet this need, a microwave assisted extraction method was developed using water as a microwave absorbing solvent to extract sulfolane from plant tissue samples. This contribution provides a preliminary approach for quantifying sulfolane in plant tissues.
Characterizing Evolving Dynamics of Belcher Glacier, Nunavut, Canada
(University of Waterloo, 2026-08-28) Marchant, Tamara
The Canadian Arctic is currently a major contributor to sea level rise and under a warming climate, is projected to continue losing significant mass to the oceans. Within this region lies Belcher Glacier, the largest tidewater terminating glacier of Devon Ice Cap (DIC) and its greatest source of mass loss via dynamic discharge. In 2015, Belcher Glacier began to experience a significant acceleration of its flow velocities, particularly in the near terminus region, and reminiscent of the recent speed-up observed at Trinity and Wykeham Glaciers, the fastest flowing glaciers in the Canadian Arctic. Previous studies have identified this acceleration, however, no investigation into the drivers of this recent speed-up or its impact on intra-annual dynamics had been conducted. Therefore, this study undertook an in-depth exploration of the acceleration of Belcher Glacier, accomplishing two major goals: (1) determine why Belcher Glacier began to accelerate in 2015 and characterize this dynamic change; and (2) investigate how the seasonality of Belcher Glacier’s flow velocities have evolved over more than a decade given its recent acceleration. A combination of remote sensing imagery, in situ observations, and ERA5 2 m surface temperature climate reanalysis data were used in this study to achieve these goals. Two distinct dynamic periods are identified on Belcher Glacier: a period of general stability prior to 2015, and a period of accelerated velocities from 2015 onwards, which in this study is described as a brief tidewater glacier cycle. Investigation into the geometry of Belcher Glacier identifies a period of dynamic thinning in the near terminus between 2011-2014. Thinning of the terminus driving extensive flotation allowed Belcher Glacier to detach from a basal pinning point, initiating a period of instability that manifested as an acceleration of flow velocities. Further acceleration and thinning of Belcher Glacier’s terminus promoted a major calving event between 2015-2016, resulting in retreat of the northern edge of the glacier front to a probable new pinning point. This has since resulted in a slight deceleration of velocities and a slowed rate of retreat. This multi-annual period of acceleration has also influenced intra-annual speed-up and a change in the glacier’s seasonality behaviour. Since 2022, the intra-annual velocities of Belcher Glacier have increased along the length of the glacier trunk, with acceleration identified as far as ~20 km from the terminus when compared to the seasonality in 2009. Despite a greater variability in surface temperature between the Day of Year (DOY) 170-243 in 2022 and 2023 compared to 2009, Belcher Glacier has evolved to experience larger seasonal acceleration events that now extend to higher elevations and occur later into the melt season. It is likely that these changes are driven by an expansion of the surface hydrology network to higher elevations, alongside a reduced firn storage capacity, allowing meltwater to penetrate to the bed later into the season and further up-glacier than has previously been observed. Collectively, these findings provide valuable insight into how a large tidewater glacier is evolving under a warming climate, which in turn can improve the understanding of glacier dynamics in the Canadian High Arctic.
Context-Responsive Strategy Selection in Life Decision Making
(University of Waterloo, 2026-08-28) Fisher-Skau, Odin
Background: Although decision making varies across situations, trait-based and single-framework models both explain the variation by assuming that processes function as alternatives rather than as components. The present research tested whether people instead anticipate blending processes drawn from different theoretical traditions within real-life decisions, and which perceived decision features predict that variation. Methods: In three studies, U.S. adults recruited from MTurk rated consequential real-life decisions on five contextual attributes (uncertainty, commitment, social embeddedness, fuzzy evaluation, importance) and on eight anticipated decision processes spanning four frameworks (multi-attribute decision making, attribute substitution heuristics, fast and frugal heuristics, conviction narrative theory). Study 3 combined both measures in a within-subjects design. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, framework fit models, and mixed models tested whether anticipated processes blend across frameworks and whether context attributes predict strategy. Results: The five attributes loaded on a single decision-seriousness factor in each study, accounting for 54.8 to 60.3% of variance. Anticipated processes did not organize into the four frameworks or a single elaboration continuum; they formed two oblique factors, a structured-reflective factor (maximizing, systematic, deliberative) and an experiential factor (emotional, imaginative), and no framework profile matched the observed pattern in full. Decision-level variance exceeded person-level variance for six of eight approaches, and within individuals, higher-importance decisions drew more deliberate, systematic, and emotional processing, while socially embedded decisions drew more intuitive, satisficing, and less quantitative processing. The measures capture anticipated rather than actual behaviour, and stimulus-level models rest on 20 decisions. Conclusion: People anticipate blending strategies from multiple theoretical traditions rather than applying one framework at a time; both the structure and the decision-to-decision shifts of these blended processes partly track perceived decision features. Whether anticipated flexibility becomes enacted flexibility remains to be tested.
Exploration of Time-dependent Coupled Cluster theory for the extraction of eigenvalues and eigenstate properties
(University of Waterloo, 2026-08-28) Mohammed, Azharuddin
Eigenstate properties of time-independent Hamiltonians using Coupled Cluster (CC) theory are typically retrieved using Equations of Motion (EOM-CC) or equivalent response formalisms. Obtaining spectral information (such as energy eigenvalues) from time autocorrelation functions has long been explored in the vibrational spectral literature. The extraction of additional eigenstate properties (e.g., reduced density matrices) via time propagation has received less attention. We explore extracting eigenstate properties via Fourier analysis of time-propagated cluster amplitudes in model 1-body Hamiltonian systems. Demonstrating a particle statistic invariant approach to produce eigenstate reduced density matrices from the extracted t-amplitudes. We expand on the use of the thermofield-coupled cluster (TFCC), employing real-time propagation of TFCC states to parameterize t-amplitudes with explicit mappings onto reduced density matrices. We find that extracting eigenstate t-amplitudes for model fermionic, distinguishable, and bosonic systems is successful, with accuracy increasing as propagation length increased. Continuing this exploration of quantum dynamics to recover eigenstate features, we further explore the use of a wall-clock time-efficient mixed (CC/configuration interaction (CI)) ansatz, previously used for vibronic systems, to probe single-surface vibrational Hamiltonians. We extend the ansatz and computational methods for quartic Hamiltonians to include quadruply excited CI operators. We determine that the ansatz cannot currently describe highly anharmonic systems via the investigation of a 1D double well potential. We further investigate the use of the ansatz's time efficiency to extract an accurate dense eigenspectrum from long-time propagated autocorrelation functions for 2 molecular systems. We demonstrate that a dense eigenspectrum can be recovered via single-mode specific initial displacements. Comparing autocorrelation spectra produced with the Mixed CC/CI ansatz against those from the state of the art Multiconfigurational Time-dependent Hartree (MCTDH), we find that the ansatz can reproduce near MCTDH-quality spectra for the CH$_3$CN system but demonstrates small pathologies CH$_2$NH.