19614 research outputs found
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An instructive CO2 adsorption model for DAC: Wave solutions and optimal processes
No full textWe present and investigate a simple yet instructive model for the adsorption of CO2 from air in porous media as used in direct air capture (DAC) processes. Mathematical analysis and non-dimensionalization reveal that the sorbent is characterized by the sorption timescale and capacity, while the adsorption process is effectively wavelike. The systematic evaluation shows that the overall adsorption rate and the recommended charging duration depend only on the wave parameter that is found as the ratio of capacity and dimensionless air flow velocity. Specifically, smaller wave parameters yield a larger overall charging rate, while larger wave parameters reduce the work required to move air through the sorbent. Thus, optimal process conditions must compromise between a large overall adsorption rate and low work requirements.FacultyReviewe
Modeling the latent factor structure of gait in healthy older adults using Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling
Get PDFObjective. This thesis examined the relationship between gait dynamics and cognitive functioning in older adults, focusing on specific aspects such as pace/rhythm, variability, and asymmetry using Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The study aimed to replicate the latent factor model of gait by Arcolin et al. (2022), refine it using Exploratory SEM, and explore its criterion validity as a predictor of individual differences in executive functioning. The innovation in Arcolin et al.’s (2022) model lies in its multivariate approach, integrating multiple gait parameters to better capture the complexity of gait performance. The model indexes three latent factors (pace/rhythm, variability, and asymmetry) using eight gait indicators.
Methods. This study used archival baseline data from the Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds (HBHM) program, involving 115 low-active community-dwelling older adults aged 65-88 years (M = 72.82, SD = 5.25). Gait patterns were measured using the GAITRite system, which captures both spatial and temporal aspects of gait. Eight key gait indicators were analyzed: gait speed, step time, double support time, step length CV, swing time CV, step velocity CV, step time asymmetry, and step length asymmetry. SEM was employed to address three main questions: (1) replication of the Arcolin et al. (2022) latent factor model of gait using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), (2) identification of the optimal latent factor structure of gait in older adults using Exploratory SEM, and (3) development of a structural model to predict individual differences in executive functioning as measured by the Groton Maze Learning Task.
Results. The replication of the Arcolin et al. (2022) model using CFA showed a moderate fit, indicating some limitations in the original model. The Exploratory SEM approach led to a refined model with a significantly improved fit, suggesting a better representation of the underlying gait constructs. The new model, which included step length asymmetry as a spatial metric, demonstrated good model fit (CFI = 0.959, TLI = 0.933, RMSEA = 0.084), capturing both temporal and spatial aspects of gait asymmetry. The structural model revealed that the gait variability latent factor approached significance in predicting executive functioning (β = 0.26, p =.09), while pace/rhythm and asymmetry did not significantly predict cognitive performance (p > .05).
Conclusions. Evidence for the interdependence between gait performance and cognitive function in older adults was found, particularly highlighting the significance of pace/rhythm. The use of Exploratory SEM provided a detailed understanding of the complex relationships between various gait indicators, improving the accuracy of latent factor models of gait. These findings have important implications for early detection of cognitive decline and fall risk in older adults. Robust latent factor models of gait can enhance early identification of gait abnormalities, enabling timely interventions to prevent falls and improve cognitive health outcomes. This approach could lead to better clinical assessments and personalized interventions, ultimately helping older adults maintain their independence and quality of life.Graduat
Intergenerational Effects of a Western-Style Diet on Reproduction in C. elegans
No full textGlucose has been shown to impact many body systems, including reproduction. Most of the current research focuses on the impact of a high-glucose diet on an organism’s reproduction but fails to look at the intergenerational impacts. Using a nematode called Caenorhabditis elegans, I am investigating how these diets can affect reproductive health in the offspring generations. This organism is particularly helpful as it is small, has a short lifespan and is easy to maintain. To do this, I am assessing their ability to reproduce later in life and the quality of their oocytes. With this data, information can be revealed about how parental nutrition can affect offspring fitness.Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Awards (JCURA)UndergraduateReviewe
Surveying resistance to extractivism in so-called Canada
Get PDFMany communities across so-called Canada are on the front lines of opposing extractive industries. These industries worsen the ecological crises and create pollution harmful to communities. Research for the Frontlines (R4FL) supports communities at the front lines of these environmental and climate justice struggles across the country. R4FL is working to level the playing field by supporting communities and movements opposing extractivism in so-called Canada with research support that is community-led. R4FL staff are busy supporting community and movement-led research and don’t often have time to identify and contact communities and movements that could use support. But in 2024 R4FL would like to start doing targeted outreach to front line folks engaged in resisting specific key extractive projects, to increase the network’s impacts in keeping fossil fuels in the ground.
The purpose of this project will be to identify environmental justice struggles occurring across the country (with a focus on instances of communities resisting extractive industries), then conduct an analysis to recommend which struggles R4FL should prioritize. This executive summary provides some background information on the broad issue and the scope of the project, then provides some information on the process, as well as some reflections.Research for the FrontlinesGraduat
Non-recognition of unlawful situations as customary international law: A case-based approach
No full textNon-recognition, resembling the ancient legal principle ex injuria jus non oritur (Rights shall not derive from an illegal act), is supposedly an organic and inherent concept of public international law, if not the intuition of law in general. The objective of non-recognition is simple: it amounts to a refusal of recognition of any attempts to create a title of rights or consolidate a situation as a legal reality because what leads to it is contrary to international law. In the words of the late ICJ judge Hersch Lauterpacht, non-recognition is to “prevent the validation of what is a legal nullity”. In practice, non-recognition can include actions such as declarations, the exclusion from an organisation, and non-cooperation with the perpetrator in certain aspects of international life that might imply the acquiescence of such unlawful situations and even severance in other multilateral and bilateral ties with the perpetrator.
Non-recognition indeed has manifested its utilities and powers in some instances, including the non-recognition campaigns against South Africa’s apartheid regime and their attempts to internationalise the system and Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. However, many scholars and statespeople also argue against non-recognition, citing its empirical inconsistency and operational incoherence. Others insist that ex jactis jus oritur (effectiveness), a principle emphasising accepting the law-creating influence of facts, would overshadow non-recognition in a corporeal practice of international politics. The cases of Ethiopia, Tibet, Goa, Afghanistan and especially the infamous contemporary cases of Kosovo and Crimea, to name a few, are major talking points of this argument.
This dissertation is a systematic investigation of non-recognition. From exploring the possible theoretical roots of non-recognition in East-West international philosophicalisation to its historical development and then forming a tangible idea of non-recognition through the case studies database, I argue that not only is non-recognition already a custom in international law, but its behavioural foundation has been more relevant in the history of Confucious international order rather than the often-assumed Westphalian international order.Graduate2025-06-1
‘Mr. Speaker I don’t belong here’: The reality of institutional discrimination inside Canada’s Parliament
No full textBetween 2019 and 2021, three high profile women of colour MPs, Jody Wilson-Raybuld, Celina Caesar-Chavannes and Mumilaaq Qaqqaq left the House of Commons citing experiences of discrimination and toxicity. However, the current reality of discrimination within the House of Commons is still rarely discussed within Canadian Political Science literature. This study takes a critical intervention in this trend, by mapping the institutional discrimination faced by women of colour Members of Parliament (MPs) within Canada’s House of Commons from 2015-present. My approach focuses on listening and learning from lived experiences as authoritative knowledge. Thus, my methodology takes the form of qualitative data collection through interviews and discourse analysis. Ultimately, this research finds that the House of Commons is an exclusionary space aimed at keeping the voices of women of colour out. Further, despite their rhetoric, those in power are still unwilling to address this reality.Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Awards (JCURA)UndergraduateReviewe
Video games and intergroup relations: The scoping review
No full textDuring my time as a research assistant, I have been involved in conducting a scoping review, an experience that has been both challenging and insightful. My primary responsibility was to meticulously sift through a vast number of academic articles daily, ensuring each one was relevant to our research objectives. This process involved examining various aspects of each study, including the types of games used, the demographics and characteristics of participants, the group assignments, and whether any artificial participants were utilized. In addition to these key factors, I was also tasked with identifying numerous other exclusion criteria to maintain the integrity of our review. Over approximately 12 weeks, our team was able to thoroughly evaluate and classify all 322 articles.Valerie Kuehne Undergraduate Research Awards (VKURA)UndergraduateReviewe
Improving the Skill Development Framework of the Performance Audit and Related Assurance Portfolio for the Office of the Auditor General of BC
No full textGraduat
‘There is no justice in nursing school’: A qualitative analysis of nursing students' experiences of discrimination shared on Reddit
No full textAim: To explore nursing students' experiences of stigma and discrimination within nursing programmes as shared on Reddit, and how other Reddit users offer support and guidance.
Design: Qualitative interpretive description.
Methods: Through a critical social theory lens, this study draws on students' posts from three nursing subreddits: r/studentnurse, r/nursingstudent and r/nursing. Data were collected from March 2013 to March 2023. Reflexive thematic analysis was conducted to generate broad themes of nursing students' experiences of stigma and discrimination, and how other Reddit users offered support and guidance.
Results: A total of 43 posts with 1412 associated comments were included in this analysis, which generated three predominant themes of nursing students' experiences. Nursing students faced stigma and discrimination across contexts, including from peers, nurses and other healthcare providers working in clinical practicum sites, and patients. Nursing students' posts described navigating the impacts and consequences of such experiences, including on well-being, and programme and career success. In contexts where students were often alone in their experiences of stigma and discrimination within their programmes and with few identified supports, Reddit users sought support and community through Reddit. While many comments offered validation and support, challenges of this social media platform included conflicting advice and unhelpful, judgmental messages.
Conclusions: Despite widely articulated social justice commitments in the profession, nursing students continue to experience stigma and discrimination across contexts within their nursing programmes.
Implications for Profession: Nurses and nurse educators have a responsibility to acknowledge and make visible such experiences, and take direct action to prevent and remediate stigma and discrimination within nursing education.
Impact: This research contributes to the growing empirical evidence that nursing students' experience stigma and discrimination within nursing programmes and the healthcare system.
Reporting Method: Adherence to COREQ guidelines was maintained.
Patient or Public Contribution: No patient or public contribution.This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.FacultyReviewe
Dynamics of Galaxy Evolution: Insights from the Circumgalactic Medium and Supermassive Black Hole Mergers
Get PDFGalaxy groups, with their complex environments, provide a laboratory for studying a range of physical processes. These processes span from large-scale structure statistics, which constrain our theories of the evolution of the Universe, to physical processes associated with galaxy formation. The conditions and processes arising in these group environments play a crucial role in galaxy evolution. Notably, over half of the Universe’s galaxies reside within these groups, and some of the most massive galaxies known are formed within these systems. Therefore, understanding the interplay within galaxy groups is crucial for obtaining a comprehensive view of galaxy evolution. Understanding how galaxies grow and evolve in these systems requires a detailed understanding of the processes that affect the gaseous halo in which they are embedded and their interactions with other galaxies. This dissertation focuses on two main areas: (i) investigating the gas reservoir around galaxies and (ii) using dual and binary supermassive black holes (SMBHs) as tracers of galaxy mergers to study the evolution of their host galaxies in different stages of SMBHs mergers.
Using high-resolution, state-of-the-art cosmological simulations, the research presented in this dissertation examines the multiphase structure of the circumgalactic medium (CGM) surrounding the central group galaxy. My findings show that the CGM around these galaxies is multiphase with its structure heavily influenced by infalling or orbiting satellite galaxies. My investigation into the CGM’s origin and evolution identifies two primary cooling mechanisms: filamentary inflows and condensations from rapidly cooling density perturbations. While current high resolution simulations offer valuable insights into the CGM’s multiphase structure, they only begin to uncover its complexity. Achieving a deeper understanding requires simulations of even higher resolution, which poses a significant challenge due to the computational cost of increasing resolution across the entire simulation domain. To address this, I have employed the GIZMO N-body+hydrodynamics simulation code to develop a novel model that enhances resolution specifically in the CGM area, without affecting the resolution inside galaxies. This targeted approach allows for more precise and realistic modeling of the CGM’s spatial and dynamic structures while avoiding increasing the resolution in galaxies within the simulations.
In the second part of my dissertation, I delve into the dynamics of SMBH mergers, exploring the characteristics and evolution of their host galaxies during periods of active accretion and the SMBH-SMBH merger process. Leveraging the advanced SMBH model in the Romulus simulations – which accurately tracks SMBH dynamics – I compare the properties and occurrence rates of dual active galactic nuclei (AGNs) against those of single AGNs. This investigation includes examining the conditions that give rise to dual AGNs and comparing the properties of their host galaxies with those hosting single AGNs. Moreover, by creating catalogs of merging SMBHs that emit low-frequency gravitational waves, I connect studying galaxy evolution with the growing field of gravitational wave astronomy. My findings show that the binary SMBHs detectable by Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTA) predominantly reside in low-redshift, early-type galaxies, which are marked by their high stellar mass, low star formation rates, and significant halo masses. This evidence suggests that nano-Hertz gravitational wave sources are most commonly found in massive early-type galaxies situated at the centers of groups and clusters.Graduat