Photograph - Ethelwyn Wetherald, Dorothy Wetherald Rungeling and others in Treehouse, (c. 1916)

The photograph is of the "house in the trees" which was built on the Wetherald property by Ethelwyn's brother Sam sometime around 1911. The treehouse known as "Camp Shelbi" was a place of inspiration for Ethelwyn's poetry. A storm in 1921 caused the tree branch to break and the treehouse was destroyed.

Dynamic Performance Evaluation of Canadian Fixed-Income Funds using Markov Regime Switching Models

This thesis examines the performance of Canadian fixed-income mutual funds in the context of an unobservable market factor that affects mutual fund returns. We use various selection and timing models augmented with univariate and multivariate regime-switching structures. These models assume a joint distribution of an unobservable latent variable and fund returns. The fund sample comprises six Canadian value-weighted portfolios with different investing objectives from 1980 to 2011. These are the Canadian fixed-income funds, the Canadian inflation protected fixed-income funds, the Canadian long-term fixed-income funds, the Canadian money market funds, the Canadian short-term fixed-income funds and the high yield fixed-income funds. We find strong evidence that more than one state variable is necessary to explain the dynamics of the returns on Canadian fixed-income funds. For instance, Canadian fixed-income funds clearly show that there are two regimes that can be identified with a turning point during the mid-eighties. This structural break corresponds to an increase in the Canadian bond index from its low values in the early 1980s to its current high values. Other fixed-income funds results show latent state variables that mimic the behaviour of the general economic activity. Generally, we report that Canadian bond fund alphas are negative. In other words, fund managers do not add value through their selection abilities. We find evidence that Canadian fixed-income fund portfolio managers are successful market timers who shift portfolio weights between risky and riskless financial assets according to expected market conditions. Conversely, Canadian inflation protected funds, Canadian long-term fixed-income funds and Canadian money market funds have no market timing ability. We conclude that these managers generally do not have positive performance by actively managing their portfolios. We also report that the Canadian fixed-income fund portfolios perform asymmetrically under different economic regimes. In particular, these portfolio managers demonstrate poorer selection skills during recessions. Finally, we demonstrate that the multivariate regime-switching model is superior to univariate models given the dynamic market conditions and the correlation between fund portfolios.

Animals without Borders: Farmed Animal Resistance in New York

While billions of farmed animals are immobilized within agribusiness, every year some of these animals manage to break free. This thesis examines the stories of those who flee slaughterhouses and the public response to these individuals. My objective is to understand how animals resist and the role that their stories play in disrupting the ways that humans, particularly as consumers, are distanced from the violence of animal enterprises. Included are six vignettes that allow for an in-depth case study of those who have escaped within New York State. Located in the interdisciplinary field of critical animal studies, my inquiry draws upon new animal geographies, transnational feminisms, and critical discourse analysis. This contribution provides discussion of farmed animal resistance in particular and compares experiences and representations of their resistance from both the “view from below,” which is learned through the animals’ caretakers, and a “view from above,” which is gleaned from their representations in corporate-driven mainstream media.

John Edminster letter, July 19, 1850

John Edminster was a Baptist missionary born in Cato, New York, in 1820. He was ordained a Pastor in Birmingham, PA, in 1842. He served as Pastor in White Deer, Clinton, Muncy, Derry, Moreland, and Madison, PA. In 1850, he moved to Oregon, Illinois, and established two churches there. He later served at several churches in Iowa, eventually becoming Pastor at Stillman Valley Church and residing at Hale, Ogle Co., Illinois.

Horseshoe Falls from Above, U.S.A.

The description reads "(39) Tireless Niagara - Horseshoe Falls from above - U.S.A.". The reverse states "We are standing on the Canadian side of the river, looking S.E. across the enormous curve of the Horseshoe toward the Dufferin Islands on the Canadian side. 'This is close enough. The time will come undoubtedly when no man can reach this point, when the rocks on which we stand will break and crash into the gulf above which they hang. Table Rock one of the best known points about Niagara in the past, used to extend out over the river from the bank just behind us. It was originally very large but great masses, sometimes a hundred feet in length by fifty in width, have broken off at different periods, the last in 1883, until the whole rock is gone. Off to our left is the centre of the Horseshoe. It is easy to see that in that direction the water is going over in a solid mass, thousands of tons each second, to the river 150 feet below. While the amount of water passing over these rocks varies somewhat according to the height of the river. It has been estimated that the average amount is 12,000,000 cubic feet per minute, that is, about 375,000 tons...Since 1842 the whole contour of these falls has been worn away at the rate of about 2 1/10 ft. per year. In the centre of the Horseshoe where the bulk of the water passes, nearly five feet of rock are worn away each year. The falls have receded 100 feet within the memory of the men now living.' From Niagara Through the Stereoscope, with special 'keyed' maps, published by Underwood & Underwood"

Contract signed by Robert Duffin of Grantham Township

Contract signed by Robert Duffin of the Township of Grantham Labourers to break stone for the proposed road from Queenston to St. Davids, 1838.

Pelham Cares Inc. fonds, 1980-2015

The beginnings of Pelham Cares occurred in 1982 when the Mayor of Pelham, Eric Bergenstein, received a letter from Janet Hassall, a social worker with Niagara Regional Home Care. Hassall requested that a Social Service Committee be established in Pelham to address gaps in community services, a practice that several other communities in the Region had adopted. Such committees were commonly composed of church parishioners, so Bergenstein contacted Canon J. Nowe of the Holy Trinity Anglican Church, who expressed an interest in participating in such a committee. Bergenstein arranged a meeting in June, 1982 at the United Church Hall in Fonthill, for any interested parties to learn more about the existing Social Service Committees in the Region. The meeting was not part of a Town Council project, but rather an initiative undertaken by Mayor Bergenstein in a personal capacity. Subsequent meetings chaired by Eric Bergenstein were held throughout the remainder of that year, during which the name of Pelham Cares was decided, a steering committee established, and services to be offered were determined. These initially included “visits with the lonely, the shut-ins, at home, hospital or on an outing ; run errands for those who are “stuck”; step in, in emergencies, or regularly, to free a parent or spouse who can’t otherwise get a “break”; in emergencies, provide food, clothing, furniture, medicine and other necessities”. The first official meeting of Pelham Cares occurred in January 1983. Currently, the main services offered by Pelham Cares are a food bank; transportation services to medical appointments; and sponsorship programs to allow youth with limited financial means to participate in sports, recreational and educational activities. The organization also provides emergency food, supplies or short term accommodation due to fire or other catastrophic loss, as well as providing referrals to appropriate organizations or agencies. Pelham Cares is dependent on the funding from community partners such as service clubs, citizens, local businesses, financial institutions and churches. These services are provided by volunteers and one part-time employee. A permanent location for Pelham Cares was established in 2014 with the purchase of a property on Highway 20 East in Fonthill, after a 30 years search for a permanent facility.

Computation and Analysis of Multiple Structural-Change Models

In a recent paper, Bai and Perron (1998) considered theoretical issues related to the limiting distribution of estimators and test statistics in the linear model with multiple structural changes. In this companion paper, we consider practical issues for the empirical applications of the procedures. We first address the problem of estimation of the break dates and present an efficient algorithm to obtain global minimizers of the sum of squared residuals. This algorithm is based on the principle of dynamic programming and requires at most least-squares operations of order O(T 2) for any number of breaks. Our method can be applied to both pure and partial structural-change models. Secondly, we consider the problem of forming confidence intervals for the break dates under various hypotheses about the structure of the data and the errors across segments. Third, we address the issue of testing for structural changes under very general conditions on the data and the errors. Fourth, we address the issue of estimating the number of breaks. We present simulation results pertaining to the behavior of the estimators and tests in finite samples. Finally, a few empirical applications are presented to illustrate the usefulness of the procedures. All methods discussed are implemented in a GAUSS program available upon request for non-profit academic use.