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Nursing Activism in the Era of Social Media
Full text linkABSTRACT
Background: Nurses' imperative to address social injustices must compel the profession to identify new ways to facilitate nurses' activism. Social media engages and connects users and increasingly shapes political landscapes, giving rise to global socio-political movements. This study explores social media's role in aiding nurses in social justice activism. The study objectives are (1) to explore how Canadian registered nurses use social media in their activism and (2) to illustrate the impact social media has on their activism.
Methods: A qualitative, interpretive descriptive (ID) approach guided this study. I conducted eleven virtual semi-structured interviews to gather in-depth accounts of nurses’ experiences with social media activism. Ten of the interview transcripts were analyzed using an inductive ID approach to identify practical applications of the findings in nursing.
Findings: Three significant themes were identified, illuminating how social media featured in the participants' nursing activism. The first theme, Information, Networks and Relationships, include participant accounts of how social media helps them connect with others, access relevant information, and feel empowered. Getting the Nursing Voice Out There pertains to participants' use of social media to advance the nursing voice into the public sphere and make their nursing activism and work known to a broader audience. The third theme, Opportunities for Nurse Leadership, describes the impact nurse leadership's social media presence had on participants’ activism.
Conclusion: The findings of this study highlight how nurses can strategically use social media to maximize the impact of their activism and the challenges they may encounter. The results provide insight into how informed, professional, and appropriate social media activism may increase the nursing profession’s capacity to be a force for positive social change
Maximum Clique in Geometric Intersection Graphs
Full text linkAn intersection graph is a graph that represents some geometric objects as vertices, and joins edges
between the nodes corresponding to the items that intersect. The maximum clique in a geometric intersec-
tion graph is the largest mutually intersecting set of objects. In this thesis, the primary focus is to study
the maximum clique in various geometric intersection graphs. We develop three results motivated by the
maximum clique problem in the intersection graph of disks in the Euclidean plane. First, we improve the
time complexity of calculating the maximum clique in unit disk graphs from O(n3 log n) to O(n2.5 log n).
Second, we introduce a new technique called pair-oriented labelling. This method is used to show the NP-
hardness of finding a maximum clique in various geometric intersection graphs, acting as a way to augment
the commonly used co-2-subdivision approach. Finally, finding maximum clique in two classes of geometric
intersection graphs are proven to be NP-hard. These are the intersection graph of disks and axis-aligned
rectangles, and the outer triangle graph. The former is previously known to be NP-hard, and so this proof
represents the use of pair-oriented labelling in a problem that was otherwise considered difficult to prove
NP-hard using a co-2-subdivision approach. The outer triangle graph is a novel intersection graph, which
therefore provides new NP-hardness results for finding a maximum clique in geometric intersection graphs
The Effects of noise of Zebrafish (Danio rerio) memory
Full text linkAbstract
Ever since the start of the industrial revolution anthropogenic disturbances have increased in severity. Anthropogenic noise is one such example, which has deleterious effects on organisms in both terrestrial and aquatic habitats. The range of effects may vary from interruptions in behavioural functions such as communication, feeding, breeding, and prey-predator interactions to physiological alterations in hormones levels or even severe damages to internal organs. In this study, I investigated the effects of white noise on the cognitive performance of zebrafish (Danio rerio) and its possible mechanism of action, focusing on GABA neurotransmitter levels in the brain. To this end, adult zebrafish were exposed to four sound treatments: a medium intensity sound presented in either a regular and irregular pattern, or a high intensity sound presented with either a regular or irregular pattern for 30 min. Subsequently, alterations in cognitive performance were evaluated using a plus maze associative learning paradigm and novel object recognition paradigm. The first experiment results showed a significant drop in the total travelling distance in noise-exposed treatments compared to controls without supplementary noise. Moreover, in the noise treatments, there was a trend towards fewer visits to the target arm of the maze in comparison to the control group. Although the total time spent in the target arm among noise-exposed treatments was significantly different compared to control, only the High-Irregular treatment was significantly different from the Medium-Regular and High-Regular treatments. In the second test, no significant difference was observed in the total travelling distance except for Medium-Irregular and High-Irregular groups that showed reduced movement. Fish in the High-Irregular treatment had the lowest visiting frequency and accumulated time around the novel object, and the highest latency to visit the novel object, which can be an indicator of developing neophobia in this group. Furthermore, the High-Irregular treatment had a significant difference compared to other noise-exposed treatments. The noise intensity and predictability did not reveal a significant difference between treatments. However, slight changes were noticeable in some of the behavioural variables. Our results indicated that noise exposure can affect zebrafish performance, and different patterns of noise may result in different outcomes. However, whether these changes are the results of a direct effect of noise on memory requires more studies
A Fixed-Bed Column with an Agro-Waste Biomass Composite for Controlled Separation of Sulfate from Aqueous Media
Full text link© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).Ministry of Agriculture and the Canadian Agriculture Partnership, through the Agriculture Development Fund (Project #20170247). B.G.K.S. acknowledges the partial scholarship support provided by the University of Saskatchewan for this research. The APC was funded by the Separations Editorial Office of MDPI.Peer ReviewedAn agro-waste composite with a pelletized form was prepared and characterized via IR and 13C solids NMR spectroscopy. Thermal gravimetry analysis (TGA) was used to study the weight loss profiles, while SEM images provided insight on the biocomposite morphology, along with characterization of the sulfate adsorption properties under equilibrium and dynamic conditions. The sulfate monolayer adsorption capacity (qe = 23 mg/g) of the prepared agro-waste pellets was estimated from the adsorption isotherm results by employing the Langmuir model, and comparable fitting results were obtained by the Freundlich model. The dynamic adsorption properties were investigated via adsorption studies with a fixed bed column at pH 5.2. The effects of various parameters, including flow rate, bed height and initial concentrations of sulfate, were evaluated to estimate the optimal conditions for the separation of sulfate. The experimental data of the breakthrough curves were analyzed using the Thomas and Yoon–Nelson models, which provided satisfactory best-fits for the fixed bed kinetic adsorption results. The predicted adsorption capacities for all samples according to the Thomas model concur with the experimental values. The optimum conditions reported herein afford the highest dynamic adsorption capacity (30 mg/g) as follows: 1100 mg/L initial sulfate concentration, 30 cm bed height and 5 mL/min flow rate. The breakthrough time was measured to be 550 min. This study contributes to a strategy for controlled separation of sulfate using a sustainable biocomposite material that is suitable for fixed-bed column point-of-use water treatment systems
Water Quality and Flow Management Scenarios in the Qu’Appelle River–Reservoir System Using Loosely Coupled WASP and CE-QUAL-W2 Models
No full text© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).University of Saskatchewan’s Global Water Futures ProgramPeer ReviewedThe water bodies of the Saskatchewan Prairies suffer multiple stressors, and demand for water is expected to increase. Water quality models can help evaluate water management strategies and risks such as climate change. This study assesses the impact of interbasin water transfers on the water quality of a strategic, eutrophic prairie reservoir that receives poor-quality watershed run-off. A one-dimensional WASP model was used to estimate nutrient transformations in the transfers along a 97 km river channel. The WASP model was then loosely coupled to a two-dimensional CE-QUAL-W2 model of the downstream receiving reservoir. Output from the WASP model was manually transformed into boundary conditions for the CE-QUAL-W2 reservoir model. This method improves on an earlier attempt to estimate nutrient transformations in the transfers using linear regression. Results from the loosely coupled models suggest Buffalo Pound Lake would respond well to the interbasin transfers. The number of threshold exceedances decreased for all modeled water quality variables. Nutrient concentrations were most influenced in the open water season following spring freshet. Any additional reduction of threshold exceedances during winter was minimal in comparison. These results are interesting from a management perspective as increased transfers under winter operations risk ice damage to the river channel
Piloting a Library-Led Online Academic Skills Orientation Program
No full textOpen Access Policy: "This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge." (https://journal.lib.uoguelph.ca/index.php/perj/about#oapolicy)Peer ReviewedIn August 2021, we piloted an online academic skills orientation program for incoming undergraduate and graduate students. The program featured a range of synchronous online sessions that provided students an opportunity to learn from librarians, learning specialists, peer mentors, professors, academic advisors and other campus partners during presentations, panels and Q&As. The program was attended by 548 unique students with overall workshop attendance totaling 1310 over a four-day period. Due to the success of the 2021 pilot, we ran another iteration of the program in August 2022, which included both online and in-person elements. The three-day online program was attended by 309 unique students with overall workshop attendance totaling 1084 while the one day in-person program was attended by 37 students. Approximately 8% and 20% of program attendees completed program surveys in 2021 and 2022 respectively. While the low response rates make it difficult to generalize about the data, feedback overall was positive, with most respondents indicating that they found the experience to be valuable. We conclude by encouraging other libraries to consider the role that they play in familiarizing students with university supports and services and to take a leading role if such programming is not currently in place at their institution
NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF FLUIDIZED BED DRYING OF PHARMACEUTICAL POWDERS USING A TWO-PHASE MODEL
No full textTablet production in the pharmaceutical industry is a common process for oral ingestion products. Before tablet production, mixtures of active pharmaceutical ingredients and other excipients are granulated, generally through the process of wet granulation. The wet granulation process agglomerates mixtures of powder components to create homogeneous granules, typically using water as a liquid binder. Before the wet granules can be made into tablets, they have to be dried to an acceptable level. Fluidized beds have been extensively used for the drying of these granules. To better understand the fluidized bed process, mathematical models have been created to emulate the drying phenomena. Simplified models, such as phenomenological models, aim to capture the drying characteristics without defing the more complex kinetics and thermodynamics of the system. A recent approach based on a two-phase model is further verified in this work using experimental data from a lab scale fluidized bed. The model was examined against the pharmaceutical powder moisture content and temperature profiles from previous experimental work.
The model is comprised of the mass and energy balances of five distinct sections of the fluidized bed. Powder moisture and heat transfer are governed by a stagnant gas film in equilibrium with the surrounding gas. The model shows good correlation with the experimental data. It also displays the general characteristics of pharmaceutical powder drying, with distinct constant drying rate and falling drying rate periods.
Upon model validation, optimization of the inlet gas parameters is explored. Optimization of the model is imple- mented, controlling the inlet gas parameters and incorporating a stepwise change during the drying process. It was found that a single stepwise change has a negligible effect on optimizing the process but is still useful around the end point of the batch. In addition, optimization results and behaviours are discussed
The Impact of the Paycheck Protection Program on the liquidity and financial stability of U.S. Banks
Full text linkUnder the COVID-19 circumstances, the United States government established the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) which aimed at assisting small businesses to survive during the pandemic. Banks played a vital role in distributing the available PPP funding to small companies. The study examines the impact of the PPP on banks’ liquidity and financial stability. First, the paper investigates the difference in the financial performance between PPP-participating banks and banks who didn’t engage in the PPP by using the CAMEL rating system. Compared to non-PPP banks, PPP lenders exhibit superior capital adequacy, earning ability and liquidity but inferior asset quality and management efficiency. However, PPP lenders’ capitalization, asset quality, operating efficiency and liquidity became worse during the pandemic. Second, we explore the extent to which the banks used loan sales and securitization to issue PPP loans. According to the probit models, we find that PPP banks are more likely to sell and securitize loans, compared with non-PPP banks. Third, the research examines whether participating in the PPP increases bank lending. The result from the dynamic panel model shows real estate loans and consumer loans decrease, while the supply of commercial and industrial (C&I) loans significantly rises with the growth of PPP lending
Quantifying variability in plant soil interactions across Saskatchewan grasslands
Full text linkMITACS and Araucária Foundatio