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Renfrew County Virtual Triage and Assessment Centre (VTAC) Report
(2026-05-21) Fitzsimon, Jonathan; St-Amant, Antoine
The Renfrew County Virtual Triage and Assessment Centre (VTAC), established in March 2020, provides a hybrid approach to urgent care. VTAC offers three visit modalities: in-person (with a family physician or community paramedic), virtual (with a family physician or community paramedic), and hybrid (real-time collaboration between an in-person paramedic and a family physician working remotely). Operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, VTAC ensures rapid access to care. Data from VTAC’s electronic medical record (Telus PSS) is extracted monthly and integrated into Power BI for visualization. This report presents key metrics for VTAC encounters during 2025 (January 1 - December 31), offering an overview of clinical activity over the year.
The Role of Social Media on Body Image and Self-Perception Among Young Sri Lankan Women
(Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2026-05-27) Serasinghe, Chamathi; Peker, Efe
This study examines the role of social media, particularly Instagram, in shaping body image and self-perception among Sri Lankan young women. Drawing on an intersectional feminist lens, the research explores how gender, race, class and cultural context interact to influence women's experiences of beauty standards and gender norms in digital spaces. A qualitative research design was employed, using in-depth interviews and social media content analysis to capture both personal experiences and the broader digital environment. Thematic analysis was used to identify key patterns and themes in the data. The findings reveal that Instagram functions as a complex and contested space. First, it acts as a platform for social comparison, where participants frequently evaluate their appearance against idealized images. Second, the study highlights the persistence of racialized beauty ideals, particularly the privileging of lighter skin tones and Eurocentric features. Third, some participants reported developing greater acceptance of their natural bodies, although it was often shaped by economic and practical constraints. Finally, the study demonstrates the dual role of social media in both reinforcing traditional gender norms and promoting more empowering and egalitarian representations. Contributing to the limited literature on the impact of social media on body image and self-perception in the Sri Lankan context, this study highlights the importance of considering intersecting social factors. Overall, the findings emphasize that social media is not a neutral space but one where body image and self-perception are continuously shaped and negotiated.
Ecotoxicological and Metabolism-Disrupting Actions of Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis and Deltamethrin Insecticides in Anuran Tadpoles
(Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2026-05-27) Empey, Madelaine; Trudeau, Vance L.
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals are an increasing environmental concern due to their capacity to disrupt physiological processes, including growth, development, and metabolism. The insecticides VectoBac® 200G (a Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) product) and deltamethrin (a pyrethroid) are widely used for mosquito control, but little research has examined their effects on amphibians. Here, we tested the hypothesis that VectoBac® 200G and deltamethrin adversely affect tadpole health and development via metabolic disruption. First, we assessed the toxicity of these insecticides on three North American species: the chorus frog (Pseudacris maculata), the leopard frog (Lithobates pipiens), and the wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus). The 96 h median lethal concentration (LC50) values were estimated to be 513,000 ± 1.15, 78,860 ± 1.10, and 525,363.4 ± 1.13 international toxic units (ITU)/L for chorus, leopard, and wood frog tadpoles exposed to VectoBac® 200G. The LC50 values for deltamethrin were estimated to be 2.69 ± 1.06, 7.30 ± 1.05, and 1.15 ± 1.06 μg active ingredient (a.i.)/L for chorus, leopard, and wood frog tadpoles, respectively. VectoBac® 200G and deltamethrin had varying effects on total length, and investigations on metabolic endpoints were pursued in the wood frog tadpole. Metabolic studies on tadpoles are sparse, and the biggest challenge was measuring blood glucose, as wood frog tadpoles are too small to collect blood from. We therefore designed and validated a novel assay that enables measurement of whole-body glucose in individual tadpoles. Following 30-day exposures, VectoBac® 200G significantly increased glucose uptake, whereas exposure to deltamethrin did not. Chronic exposure from the early larval stage through metamorphosis delayed time to complete metamorphosis in VectoBac® 200G-exposed tadpoles, and tadpoles exposed to both insecticides displayed altered hepatic lipid accumulation. These results further suggested that metabolic endpoints were altered from exposure, especially to VectoBac® 200G. To investigate pancreatic effects, a novel custom antibody targeting the frog insulin B-chain was generated and validated. Both insecticides increased the proportion and nuclear radius of pancreatic beta-cells in exposed wood frogs. Only VectoBac® 200G increased total insulin-positive staining per pancreas; however, insulin staining per beta-cell decreased. Increased beta-cell proliferation combined with reduced insulin staining per cell suggests altered insulin dynamics in VectoBac® 200G-exposed frogs. Collectively, these results address data gaps for both Bti and deltamethrin insecticides and provide insight into potential mechanisms by which these products may disrupt amphibian metabolism.
Women's Subjective Orgasm Experience over Adulthood, with a Focus on Later Life
(Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2026-05-27) Webb, Amy; Reissing, Elke D.
Rather than fading with age, women's sexuality in later life is now being acknowledged as an important and rewarding dimension of health and well-being. Orgasm is central to sexual pleasure, but its subjective experience (SOE) remains poorly understood. Most research has emphasized frequency, dysfunction, or physiology, with limited attention to the psychological, sensory, physical, and relational dimensions of orgasm. Although many older women remain sexually active, the influence of menopause and sexual context (solitary vs. partnered) on SOE has not been examined, and validated measures for older women are lacking. This dissertation addresses these gaps through two complementary studies. Study 1 evaluated the psychometric properties of the Orgasm Rating Scale (ORS) and the Bodily Sensations of Orgasm Scale (BSOS) among pre-, peri-, and post-menopausal women. Factor analyses supported a 10-factor structure for the ORS and a 3-factor structure for the BSOS across solitary and partnered contexts. Measurement invariance testing confirmed that both measures are interpreted consistently across menopausal status groups, supporting their validity for use throughout adulthood. Study 2 applied these measures to compare SOE across adulthood and sexual context, supplemented with qualitative reflections from post-menopausal women. Results showed that post-menopausal women reported fewer physical sensations, yet intensity remained stable across groups. Pre-menopausal women reported greater effort to reach orgasm, and across all groups, partnered orgasms were rated higher than solitary orgasms. Qualitative findings underscored diversity in later-life experiences, challenging assumptions of decline and emphasizing relational and situational influences. Together, these studies validate comprehensive measures of SOE across adulthood and provide new insights into women's orgasm over the lifespan. Clinically, findings highlight the need to distinguish age-related changes from dysfunction and to consider partner-related factors in assessment. Theoretically, they refine the Multidimensional Model of the SOE and demonstrate the utility of validated measures across adulthood. Societally, they challenge deficit-based narratives of sexual decline and call for strengths-focused perspectives that reflect the diversity of women's sexual realities in later life.
Essays on Empirical Corporate Finance
(Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2026-05-27) Shabani, Sahar; Akyol, Ali C.; Racicot, François-Eric
In this dissertation, I examine important questions in empirical corporate finance. The research topics include "Words before exit": CEO linguistic patterns and forced turnover outcomes in the first chapter, "Interlocks in the shadow": how big firms lead information flow in the second chapter, and "What do all these vice presidents do?": the costs and benefits of senior executive employment in the third chapter. All chapters are co-authored with Professor Ali Akyol. The first chapter examines CEO language style during the final earnings conference calls before forced turnovers to identify speech patterns that precede dismissal and assess whether linguistic attributes can serve as predictive signals of forced turnover. Our findings reveal that CEOs nearing dismissal display distinct verbal communication patterns compared to their peers who retain their positions. Specifically, increased use of first-person pronouns, analytical language, power-related words, and a present-focused orientation is associated with a higher likelihood of forced turnover. In contrast, greater use of third-person pronouns, authentic language, affective words, and tentative language correlates with a lower likelihood of dismissal. These results remain robust when comparing fired CEOs to similarly situated retained CEOs using propensity score matching, entropy balancing, and difference-in-difference analyses. Furthermore, our analysis shows that these linguistic shifts are specific to CEOs, as CFOs do not display similar patterns. Additionally, we find that new CEOs following forced turnovers exhibit distinct communication styles compared to their ousted predecessors. The second chapter investigates how information flows through board interlocks in corporate networks, focusing on the asymmetric influence of larger firms on smaller connected firms. We use the COVID-19 pandemic as a natural experiment, as the rare event of earnings guidance withdrawals surged due to heightened uncertainty and economic volatility, creating a unique setting to study disclosure behavior. Analyzing a sample of U.S. public firms, we find that smaller firms are significantly more likely to withdraw earnings guidance after larger, connected peers do especially when connected through experienced audit committee members. These findings reveal that information transmission via interlocks is asymmetric, driven by firm size and director expertise, and that such effects become more visible during periods of crisis. In the third chapter, we examine when senior executive employment creates or destroys shareholder value by studying vice president (VP) in U.S. public firms. Using comprehensive data from 2005-2024, we construct industry-adjusted measures of excess VP employment relative to economically comparable peers. We find that excess VP employment is associated with lower firm value on average, but this relation varies systematically with firm characteristic, market conditions and considering governance measures. In particular, excess VP employment is positively associated with firm value in large firms and during periods of heightened economic stress. These findings are robust to a range of identification and robustness tests, including matching-based approaches, instrumental variables, and alternative peer benchmarks.