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Development of a high-resolution paper-spray mass spectrometry method using street drugs for the early detection of emerging drugs in the unregulated supply
No full textThis article was originally published as: Miskulin, A., Wallace, B., Hore, D.K., & Gill, C. (2025). Development of a high-resolution paper-spray mass spectrometry method using street drugs for the early detection of emerging drugs in the unregulated supply. Analyst, 150(9), 1872-1883. https://doi.org/10.1039/d5an00086fAdulteration of the unregulated opioid supply has contributed to increasing numbers of overdose deaths in North America. Harm-reduction drug checking has emerged as a strategy to address increasing adulteration rates by providing information about sample composition to people who use drugs. While paper-spray mass spectrometry is capable of trace detection for drug checking, the presence of newly emerging substances often goes undetected if not included in the targeted analysis method. High-resolution mass spectrometry has not been widely used in drug-checking efforts to date, but it has advanced capabilities to facilitate the detection of newly emerging substances. We present a high-resolution paper-spray mass spectrometry method developed for the detection of newly emerging compounds in the street-drug supply. The method was used to analyze a selection of opioid samples received at a drug-checking service in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Using this approach, newly emerging adulterants, precursors and byproducts were identified in the local street-drug supply.This project was supported by a New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRFE-2022-00886), NSERC Discovery Grant (RGPIN-2021-02981), and a Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) John R. Evans Leaders Fund (40274). Additional support and contributions were made by the Vancouver Foundation (F0120-5607), BC Ministry of Health, and the Island Health Authority
Unveiling sex-specific biomechanical responses to footwear stiffness: Integrating EMG and tendon stiffness
No full textThis article was originally published as: Nguyen, V., Al-Shimari, B., Perizzolo, M., Fletcher, J.R., & Asmussen, M.J. (2025). Unveiling sex-specific biomechanical responses to footwear stiffness: Integrating EMG and tendon stiffness. Footwear Science, 17(S1), S34-S35. https://doi.org/10.1080/19424280.2025.2489693This study aimed to examine how sex-specific differences in tendon properties influences how runners adapt to footwear with varying longitudinal bending stiffness using dynamic optimization.Proceedings of the 17th Footwear Biomechanics Symposium (Oslo, Norway, 2025)
Zoning in on change: A framework for reforms of local land use regulations in British Columbia
No full textThe institution of zoning regulations in North America and abroad has come under fire in recent years as its historical, exclusionary aims have been revealed and it is increasingly implicated in inadequate housing supply and worsening housing affordability. Senior governments, whether state, provincial, or national, are also increasingly involving themselves in local land use and zoning matters to address those issues. This research then examines potential changes to local zoning practices in British Columbia, Canada to address those historical shortcomings and present impacts, focusing on the perspectives of planning professionals and topic experts. It explores their views on the impacts of North American zoning practices to date and gauges their support for senior government involvement in local land use regulations. While most participants were in favor of increased senior government involvement, they also emphasized the importance of local expertise and context-sensitive implementation. It highlights tensions between regulatory flexibility and simplification, and offers recommendations for policy and decision-makers.Thesis/major project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Community Planning in the Department of Community Planning, Faculty of Social Sciences, Vancouver Island University
From Burnout to Resilience: Executive Coaching as a Strategic Intervention in Cybersecurity Workforces
Full text link2025The pace of technology adoption and the growing demands on cybersecurity professionals have been steady in the past 25 years. Though this workforce has generally advanced through a multitude of opportunities in education, training (on-the-job and institutional), and certifications, there is a critical area requiring more exploration: the myriad psychological, cognitive, and emotional challenges that, if neglected, has the potential to create far-reaching risks to individuals and the organizations they serve. Burnout is on the rise in this profession. Although there are well-documented theoretical models of burnout and the risks associated with high-stress professions, cybersecurity professionals (our corporate defenders) often remain under-served in support of their well-being. Burned out workforces put organizations at risk.
This research investigates the role executive coaching can play as an intervention to help mitigate burnout in the cybersecurity profession. The study examines the cybersecurity work environment, organizational cultures, self-perceptions, and workplace relationships, and explores how executive coaching impacts emotional intelligence and adaptability among this critical group of organizational defenders.
The research highlights the role of executive coaching can play as a potential intervention to address the rise in reported burnout in the cybersecurity profession. Executive coaching has the potential to increase mindfulness, promote equanimity and resilience, and arm individuals with strategies to navigate highly stressful and complex work environments. Thus, by extension, executive coaching may help to reduce errored and faulty thinking that can result from a burned out workforce. In addition, organizations prioritizing executive coaching as a component of a talent management strategy for cybersecurity professionals may benefit from a more stable, resilient, and high-performing workforce, who are better prepared to adapt to evolving threats.
The future of this research opens the opportunity for longitudinal studies examining the long-term benefits of coaching, as well as group and team coaching for cybersecurity professionals, and the broader implications for organizational risk management and leadership development.
Keywords: cybersecurity, executive coaching, resilience, emotional intelligence, burnout
Through the Eyes of the Guardians: A Photovoice Journey of Philippine Forest Rangers
No full text2025This study explored the lived experiences of forest rangers in Leyte, Philippines, amidst the ongoing deforestation crisis. Employing photovoice and narrative inquiry, seven rangers documented their realities through photographs and personal narratives. This participatory, arts-based research amplified their voices – which have been historically marginalized – by offering perspectives on their motivations, challenges, and connections to the forests they protect. Findings revealed their deep connection to the environment, dedication to conservation, and the challenges they confront, including illegal logging, resource limitations, and community conflicts. The photographs served as visual testimonies of environmental degradation as well as the forest rangers' tireless protection efforts. Additionally, the research uncovered the emotional toll of conservation work, highlighting the complex interplay of joy, frustration, and resilience experienced by the rangers, influencing their morale. This study underscores the importance of local knowledge, community engagement, and emotional well-being in environmental conservation, showcasing photovoice and narrative inquiry as empowering tools for understanding complex environmental issues and informing effective solutions
Rising Like a Phoenix: Punjabi-Canadian Women Resisting Sharam, Reclaiming Izzat, and Redefining Pehchan through Resilience Approaches in the Aftermath of Intimate Partner Violence
Full text link2024Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a global pandemic impacting women across diverse cultures, religions, ages, geographies and diasporas. A great deal of literature exists on the causes, impacts, and resilience strategies for diverse women across diasporas, however the research is silent on the lived experiences of resilience cultivation in Punjabi-Canadian women post-IPV in the Canadian diaspora. Through a feminist lens and a phenomenological research approach, this study aims to fill this gap by investigating the resilience approaches used by Punjabi-Canadian women in the Canadian diaspora in the aftermath of IPV. This research study aims to answer “what supports resilience in the aftermath of IPV for Punjabi-Canadian women in Canada? Sub-research questions include: How do Punjabi-Canadian women define IPV? How do they define resilience? How do they define a “good life,” in the aftermath of IPV? These questions allow participants to describe the qualities and characteristics that make up the kind of life they wished to lead, and the resilience approaches they relied upon from both cultural contexts – their Euro-dominant Canadian context and their minority Punjabi context, to achieve that good life. Twelve participants ranging in age from 25-62 from across Canada participated in semi-structured interviews and two-rating scales to describe their definitions of resilience, the good life they envisioned for themselves post-IPV, and the resilience approaches they used to move towards this self-identified good life.
A summary of the research findings includes: (1) Regardless of how participants defined resilience, bicultural resilience approaches in the aftermath of IPV are critical. Having one foot strongly planted in their Euro-dominant Canadian culture and one foot in their Punjabi cultural context demands bicultural resilience approaches that allowed them to find stability in the Canadian diaspora. (2) Key Euro-dominant Canadian resilience approaches used by the participants include attending to exercise, sleep and nutrition, taking medication, therapy, journalling, gratitude, and relocation. (3) Euro-dominant Canadian resilience approaches are not enough for these Punjabi-Canadian women to move towards their good life. Ingrained in each participant’s pehchan (identity) is the imprint of her cultural Punjabi legacy, its values, traditions, practices, and ways of being. The majority of the participants relied upon culturally contextual resilience approaches that allowed them to resist sharam (shame), reclaim izzat (honour), and re-define pehchan so they could move towards their envisioned good life. (4) Culturally, contextual resilience approaches including expanding the boundaries of izzat, engaging in Sikhi practices from visits to a Gurdwara to engaging in seva, shifting internal beliefs and values related to collectivism, filial piety, patriarchy, and traditional gender roles, and creating culturally inclusive spaces with family members and/or friends who supported access to the Punjabi culture. (5) Not all of the participants experienced sharam or izzat loss. This was not the experience of those participants who had a supportive immediate family that rejected sharam creation and izzat loss. This highlights not only the changing Punjabi community, but also the benefits to women post-IPV who do not face the burdens of sharam and izzat loss.
Through the lived experiences of Punjabi-Canadian women, this research study reveals critical insights into resistance and reclamation in the face of adversity through the use of bicultural resilience approaches, with an emphasis on the unique cultural and contextual factors that shape the journeys of Punjabi-Canadian women toward their envisioned good life post-IPV
The Capacity to Aspire: Perceptions of Unattainable Success and Processes of Identity Formation among Marginalized Black Youth in the Greater Toronto Area
Full text link2025This thesis examines how the inequities and inequality that low-income, marginalized Black youth experience affect their success. There may be a correlation between trauma and the limitations experienced, presenting as low self-esteem and unwillingness to succeed. My research is based on first- and second-generation Black youth living in the Greater Toronto Area. Through semi-structured critical ethnography interviews and a review of literature based on crime, education of racialized and marginalized people from low-income neighbourhoods and theoretical perspectives that explain the nuance of Black experiences, this study demonstrates that Black youth, regardless of their varying social identities, all experience some socioeconomic factor or adverse childhood experience that drastically influences their futures
Outdoor spaces for everyone: Improving access to backcountry hiking trails for people with physical disabilities in the Sea to Sky corridor
No full textPeople with physical disabilities (PwPD) face accessibility challenges on backcountry hiking trails in the Sea to Sky (S2S) corridor. Through an analysis of existing infrastructure, current collaboration efforts, and existing supporting documents, the research identifies key barriers such as inconsistent accessibility information, fragmented jurisdictional management, and limited access to adaptive equipment and transportation. Planning practices should work towards improving inclusion through consistent trail information systems, strengthened partnerships between parks and adaptive sports organizations, and sustainable funding to support long-term accessibility improvements. A shift in perspectives and behaviours from other users is necessary to reduce the stigma of PwPD in backcountry hiking spaces and the dismissive perspectives of adaptive and mobilityassisted equipment. Balancing accessibility with environmental and experiential considerations will ensure that PwPD needs are met without diminishing the value and essence of backcountry hiking spaces. By addressing these gaps through planning and collaboration, this research provides strategies to enhance access while preserving the integrity of natural spaces, ensuring that PwPD can navigate and enjoy backcountry environments with greater independence and confidence.Thesis/major project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Community Planning in the Department of Community Planning, Faculty of Social Sciences, Vancouver Island University
Disturbance in Small, Fragmented Peat Bogs and its Contribution to Iris pseudacorus Colonisation
No full text2025Peat bogs are of global importance as carbon sinks and hotspots of biodiversity. In British Columbia, some peat bogs such as the Galiano Island Ecological Reserve are fragmented by the construction of roadways (Cook Road). This construction impacts the dynamic of the bog, which is also affected by an invasion by Iris pseudacorus. It is therefore necessary to determine how the disturbance from Cook Road affects the spread of this invasive species. I. pseudacorus individuals in disturbed and undisturbed sections of the bog’s periphery were counted and compared, and buffer zone widths between Cook Road and the bog were measured. I. pseudacorus numbers were significantly higher in disturbed areas. Areas of the bog beside wider buffer zones were found to have lower I. pseudacorus numbers due to them being areas free from disturbance. Predictions were made for future I. pseudacorus spread at the bog, and management strategies to prevent this spread and attempt its removal were proposed
Optimal set of strategies for Montessori educators to include Indigenous ways of knowing in their teachings
No full textThe primary objective of this study was to develop a handbook designed to support non-Indigenous Montessori educators who feel unprepared to integrate Indigenous Ways of Knowing into their Cosmic Education (Montessori, 2003) settings. Many of these educators find it challenging to address the topic of residential schools in a manner that promotes reconciliation while avoiding the (re)pathologization of Indigenous peoples. The handbook presented in Chapter Four offers practical ideas and eight empowering strategies designed to help non-Indigenous educators craft personalized plans for incorporating Indigenous teachings into their classrooms. This resource aims to foster personal growth and encourages education training centers to adopt these strategies in order to provide strong support for teachers. Ultimately, the goal of the handbook is to instill confidence in Montessori Elementary guides as they embrace Indigenous Ways of Knowing within their Cosmic Education environment