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Cognitive influences of outdoor leisure trips on Vancouver Island University students
No full textPurpose: The purpose of this research is to examine and understand the psychological influence of outdoor leisure trips on VIU students. Rationale: Recruitment and retention of students is a challenge in Canadian postsecondary institutions such as VIU. Therefore, a challenge is to understand the factors that influence a student’s retention and dropout motivation. This study investigates the transformative effects of outdoor leisure trips on self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, across-cultural adaptability, and a sense of belongingness among Vancouver Island University students, proposing that engagement in such activities significantly enhances their psychological and social well-being. Methodology: A quantitative research design (post-positivist worldview) guides the framework of this study. A self-reported questionnaire served as the main tool for gathering information. Students from Vancouver Island University, including exchange students, were invited as participants. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the direct and indirect influence of psychological constructs (emotional intelligence- EI, self-efficacy-SE, cross-cultural adaptability-CCA, and a sense of belonging-SOB). Results: Statistical analysis confirmed that students participating in outdoor leisure trips have higher SE, EI, CCA, and SOB (M ≥ 3.5). Independent samples t-test confirmed statistically significant differences among students who have exposure to academic/nonacademic leisure trips than those who do not, along with Cohen’s d varying between 0.5 and 0.7 validating that results are not only statistically significant but practically significant. SEM results proved a direct and positive relationship between emotional intelligence (β =.456, t = 2.32, p= .02) and cross-cultural adaptability (β = .577, t = 5.10, p < .001) on the sense of belonging while self-efficacy (β = .87, t = 2.76, p = .006) indirectly influenced SOB by influencing cross-cultural adaptability. The squared multiple correlation was 85% (R2 = .85) for the sense of belonging. The model fit explained 85 percent of the variation in SOB through SE, EI, and CCA. The fit indices: CMIN/df= 2.84, GFI= .95, TLI= .94, CFI= .96, SRMR= 0.45, and RMSEA= .07 were within acceptable range for the model fit. Implications: The results of this study may guide in framing policies by an academic institution while budgeting recreation and leisure facilities for students as students’ academic and social performance was found statistically as well as practically (effect size) significant. Understanding ways to achieve a sense of belonging can help universities build a competitive advantage for recruiting prospective students as well. On a societal front, this research shows the social sustainability aspect among students of different cultures, as cross-cultural adaptability was found to be significantly different for students participating in OLTs. In a broader field, this study enriches educational psychology by scientifically testing cognitive development and the impact of experiential learning on post-secondary students
Exploring the Connection Between Digital Literacy and Data Privacy and Security Practices Among Early Childhood Professionals in British Columbia
No full text2024This thesis explores the connection between digital literacy and data privacy and security practices among Early Childhood Professionals (ECPs) in British Columbia. As society's digitization continues to expand, the protection of personal data, especially that of vulnerable populations such as children, has become a paramount concern. This research used a mixed-methods approach within a case study framework, combining qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys to examine how digital literacy influences the handling of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in Early Childhood Education. The research is grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), which provides a model for understanding the factors influencing an individual's intention to perform specific behaviours. By examining attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control, this study aims to uncover the motivations and barriers faced by ECPs in adopting safe data privacy and security practices. The findings reveal significant gaps in formal training and organizational support, highlighting the need for digital literacy programs to enhance the data privacy and security practices of ECPs. Additionally, as Obar (2019) suggests there is a need for systemic changes that go beyond individual efforts. The research contributes to the broader conversation on digital literacy, data privacy, and security, offering insights that can inform policy and practice within the early childhood and education field. The research’s recommendations include developing tailored digital literacy programs, improving organizational support, and implementing broader systemic changes to enhance data protection practices in early childhood settings
Trauma Informed Care: An Analysis of Narratives From Multiple Perspectives On Healing
Get PDF2024This paper includes an extensive review of the literature starting with an exploration of 17 areas or therapeutic approaches to trauma healing. Following this, 11 interviews were conducted, and reviewed, with several people from around the globe who have had extensive experience working with trauma healing. Finally, the 17 areas of literature review and 11 interviews are integrated, analyzed, and discussed. This work was conducted in an attempt to find a partial solution and present supportive insights and practical implications for clinicians to help with a problem that many are faced with today —trauma healing. Seven practical themes are presented as outcomes of this work in support of the hypothesis. The hypothesis: There are common elements in a person’s healing journey from trauma that can set them forth towards positive transformation. These seven outcomes of the analysis are proposed as a set of criteria that can be used to build a therapeutic foundation from which a therapeutic plan can be formed. This researcher believes that building a strong therapeutic foundation through using these seven outcomes will increase the likelihood of positive outcome to the 17 therapies presented in the literature review. This is presented as a practical contribution in the Conclusions chapter. The outcomes that the reader will hopefully obtain from this research paper will be to:
• Gain an understanding of prior art literature from the various fields regarding the approach to trauma healing.
• Learn from narrative feedback from the clinicians and trauma experts.
• Gain an opportunity to use the tools presented in the appendices to get started either on a self-healing journey, or for clinicians to work with helping people on their healing journey
Mass spectrometry imaging methods for visualizing tumor heterogeneity
Get PDFThis article was originally published in: Duncan, K.D., Pětrošová, H., Lum, J.J., & Goodlett, D.R. (2024). Mass spectrometry imaging methods for visualizing tumor heterogeneity. Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 86, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copbio.2024.103068Profiling spatial distributions of lipids, metabolites, and proteins in tumors can reveal unique cellular microenvironments and provide molecular evidence for cancer cell dysfunction and proliferation. Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a label-free technique that can be used to map biomolecules in tumors in situ. Here, we discuss current progress in applying MSI to uncover molecular heterogeneity in tumors. First, the analytical strategies to profile small molecules and proteins are outlined, and current methods for multimodal imaging to maximize biological information are highlighted. Second, we present and summarize biological insights obtained by MSI of tumor tissue. Finally, we discuss important considerations for designing MSI experiments and several current analytical challenges.K.D.D acknowledges support from Vancouver Island University and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) (RGPIN-2022-03696). D.R.G was supported by the Metabolomics Innovation Centre (TMIC) from Genome Canada and Genome British Columbia, through the Genomics Technology Platform (GTP) (265MET), the Canadian Foundation for Innovation Major Sciences Initiative (CFI- MSI) program (35456), PacifiCan (Project No: 22591), Canadian Foundation for Innovation John R. Evens Leaders Fund (Project No: 41124), the US National Institute of Health (NIH) and National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases (NIAID) award (1R01AI147314), and NSERC (RGPIN-2022-04433). J.J.L. thanks Canadian Institutes of Health Research (PJT-162279) for support. This work was also supported by the Terry Fox Research Institute New Frontiers Program Project and The Lotte and John Hecht Memorial Foundation (J.J.L, D.R.G, and K.D.D)
Firefighter Edge: Game-based resilience education for firefighters
No full textThe overall goal for this project was to develop and test a firefighter resilience education game (to give firefighters an ‘edge’ in making decisions about their mental health). The research questions were: Is game-based resilience education effective in increasing firefighter resilience scores? As well, the research team wanted to explore firefighter perceptions of what they learned and how they are applying learning, and whether their resilience thinking and actions changed as a result of GBL?This research is supported with funds from WorkSafeBC through the Innovation at Work program
Etuaptmumk: Two-Eyed Seeing, Indigenous Educator Lived Experience, and Speculative Futures for Education
No full text2024This study explores the experiences of Indigenous educators in Ontario, focusing on futures of education and providing recommendations for educational institutions and policy. This research is important for the field of education because it creates space for Indigenous educator voices in the literature and academia and highlights the need for transformative change in education. This qualitative study used Indigenous methodologies, the Conversational Method, and narrative inquiry. Thematic analysis revealed three central themes: (1) The impacts of settler colonialism and the complexities of reconciliation; (2) Etuaptmumk: Two-Eyed Seeing and embracing multiple worldviews; and (3) Imagining hopeful futures for education including the Haudenosaunee Seventh Generation Principle and the role of technology. Recommendations include reframing how education systems approach teaching and learning by examining how to prepare educators in preservice and professional development training; informing antiracist policy, pedagogy, and programming; and considering alternative spaces and ways of learning
A multi-sensor approach to classification of juvenile freshwater fish habitat inventory using UAVs
Get PDFFish habitat surveys are essential to understand, mitigate, and adapt to changing climates and other human-caused impacts to streams and fish populations. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and related technologies are being successfully used to improve traditional fisheries assessment methods and can provide rapid, high-resolution, and cost-effective data, allowing for more comprehensive and timely monitoring of aquatic ecosystems. There is a need to advance, optimize, and implement innovative workflows for processing UAV data to supplement traditional fisheries surveys.
This study focused on the development of UAV-based data product analysis techniques and workflows to identify channel width, wetted edge, stream gradient, temperature, and large woody debris presence and abundance. It explored multiple sensor payload data acquisition approaches, including LiDAR, RGB, long-wave infrared (thermal) and multispectral imaging. It compared the accuracy of the classified drone-based data products to field-verified fish habitat inventory metrics within three West Kootenay streams (Glade, Lemon and Norns Creek).
Through use of a hybrid analysis approach of multiple sensor data types, including object-based image analysis, supervised and unsupervised classification, and raster spatial analysis techniques, classified stream habitat target feature maps were generated and associated with survey metrics, including how they compare with traditional ground-based approaches
Simultaneous quantitation of urinary albumin and creatinine for rapid clinical albuminuria diagnostics using high-throughput paper spray mass spectrometry
Get PDFThis is an Accepted Manuscript of an article that was published as: Pereira, I., Robinson, J.L., & Gill, C.G. (2024). Simultaneous quantitation of urinary albumin and creatinine for rapid clinical albuminuria diagnostics using high-throughput paper spray mass spectrometry. Analyst, 149(4), 1102-1110. https://doi.org/10.1039/D3AN01855EAlbuminuria is a clinical condition associated with poor kidney function, diagnosed by determining the ratio of albumin to creatinine concentrations in patient urine samples. We present a high-throughput paper spray mass spectrometry (PS-MS) method for simultaneous quantitation of urinary albumin and creatinine for potential diagnosis of albuminuria. Minimal (urine dilution) or no sample preparation is required. The analytical performance of the method was evaluated, achieving linear calibration curves (R2 > 0.99) with little inter-day variability in the slope (N = 5 days), exhibiting coefficient of variation (CV) of 8% and 3% for albumin and creatinine, respectively. LOD and LOQ for albumin were 2.1 and 7.0 mg L−1, and for creatinine were 0.01 and 0.03 mmol L−1, respectively. Intra- and inter-day (N = 5) precisions (%CV) and accuracies (%bias) were <10% and ±11%, respectively, for both analytes. The method was applied to determine albumin-to-creatinine ratios in anonymous human patient urine samples (N = 56), and a correlation of R2 = 0.9744 was achieved between the PS-MS results and validated clinical method results. This work demonstrates the utility of PS-MS to simultaneously quantify a large (albumin) and a small (creatinine) molecule directly in patient urine samples, and its potential as a tool for clinical albuminuria diagnostics.This material is based upon work supported by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant Program funding (RGPIN-2021-02981).Accepted manuscript versio
Social work journals and the disciplinary production of alternative knowledge(s)
No full textThis is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Progressive Human Services on April 10, 2024, available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/10428232.2024.2338312Disciplinary knowledge is reflected, legitimated, and replicated in academic journals, social work knowledge reproducing mainly Western knowledge(s). Hence, there has been an increase in the calls for a stronger articulation and inclusion of critical alternatives. Using a critical social work lens, we explored whether and how social work journals reproduce alternative knowledges. We developed a novel global list of all 272 social work journals and invited journal editors to respond to a virtual, exploratory qualitative survey. Through our reflexive thematic analysis, we identified two core themes in the 31 responses – the journal editors’ attachment to dominant, white, western social work knowledge and values, and their rhetorical inclusion of alternative knowledges. Alternative knowledges were seldom constructed as subjugated voices, but rather as innovation, gaps, or international perspectives. Despite agreeing that social work journals should include of a variety of knowledges, few journals created intentional space for subordinated knowledges. A disciplining mechanism that excludes/minimizes the alternative voices, and invalidates their experience was used to avoid attention to marginalized and silenced perspectives. Such processes impoverish social work knowledge. To enrich social work knowledge, journal editors should act intentionally, collectively, and critically to identify critical alternative knowledges and facilitate their inclusion in the social work canon.Accepted Manuscript versio
The rise and future of environmental neuroscience in environmental psychology
No full textThis an Accepted Manuscript version of a book chapter that was published as: McCunn, L.J. (2024). The rise and future of environmental neuroscience in environmental psychology. In S. Kühn (Ed.), Environmental neuroscience (pp. 19-27). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-64699-7_2The rise and the future of environmental neuroscience and environmental psychology are happening now simultaneously. Both disciplines hold multivalent opportunities to understand the human condition in a variety of settings. In addition, both examine the mechanisms and extent to which humans interact with particular places—built, natural, or virtual. This chapter discusses the insights and methods native to environmental neuroscience that prompt environmental psychologists to ask questions about what the brain and the body can do with the places around us—and why and how. The answers to these questions buttress the continued merger between these fields so that we can make a positive impact on the design of our cities, our homes, our workplaces, and the natural environments around us. Some classical studies at this intersection are noted as are some of the emerging themes in today’s body of research concerning attention restoration, cognitive load, creativity, mood, and various neuropsychophysiological responses to nature and architecture. A few key scholarly journals, books, and organizations that support environmental neuroscience research are also described, as is the need to augment academic programs and curricula to incorporate and build upon both fields that, together, are becoming a modernizing force in social science.A correction to this chapter can be found at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-64699-7_23Accepted manuscrip