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Judicial Selection: Why Canada Should Not Elect Its Judges
Get PDFThis paper argues against the election of judges in Canada using a review of literature on the subject. It compares the judicial selection process at provincial and federal courts, as well as with judicial elections in the United States of America. The conclusions from this paper are that judicial elections violate the principles of the Canadian justice system, and the current nominating process is superior to judicial elections
AI Translators and the International K-Pop Fandom on Twitter
Get PDFArtificial Intelligence Translators on Twitter opened many doors for International K-Pop fans. It allowed them to connect with their favourite artists without needing a middleperson of a translator. However, through this, the fear of “robots taking over” started to blossom. Can AI translators truly replace “real person” translators and therefore will “real person” translators, who receive celebrity treatment in the fandom “lose their jobs”? This paper explores how AI is not able to recreate the culture that “real-person” translators have created on the K-Pop fandom Twitter, and for fearing that “robots will take over” ignores the idea of ghost work. Furthermore, AI seems to miss some cultural nuances, although they can be programmed to pick up some context. AI Translators provide a “fast food” culture of translation – it satisfies the hunger of meaning for a short time, without understanding the full cultural context of the tweet. It is the “real person” translators that can provide full cultural context of the tweets. Therefore, although the fear of AI translators taking over seems valid, AI and humans must work together in order to provide the fullest translations for the International K-Pop fandom. This essay uses content analysis of tweets created by the International K-Pop fandom and K-Pop artists, as well as taking from various pieces of literature on AI and the translation within the International K-Pop fandom
Operationalising Human Security in the Contemporary Operating Environment: Proposing Population Intelligence (POPINT)
Get PDFDrawing upon primary research funded by the UK Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA), this article is about using data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) for operationalising human security in the contemporary operating environment. The idea of human security has gained much traction in the international community since its introduction in a 1994 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report and has more recently become a military concern. Yet, the core tenets of this idea remain contested, and the military role in support of human security remains an open question. Nonetheless, the concurrent increase in Open Data and AI does give rise to new opportunities to understand the various human security concerns. In response, DASA funded Projects SOLEBAY and HAMOC to research these concerns and the possibilities of data analytics for human security. Drawing on the research findings, we propose the idea of Population Intelligence (POPINT) as a new intelligence discipline to operationalise human security.
Received: 2021-12-05Revised: 2022-01-1
The Tradecraft of Warning: Warning Intelligence in the 21st Century
Get PDFOn November 23, 2021, Mr. Randolph Pherson, Chief Executive Officer of Globalytica and President of Pherson Associates, presented on The Tradecraft of Warning: Warning Intelligence in the 21st Century at the 2021 CASIS West Coast Security Conference. The presentation was followed by a moderated question and answer period with questions from the audience and CASIS Vancouver executives. The key points discussed were who is responsible for the role of strategic warning, the causes of warning failures and how to mitigate them, as well as ways to deliver a warning message when dealing with senior policy makers
Predicting the Escalation to Violence of Online Hate Groups
Get PDFOn November 24, 2021, Natalie Archutowski presented on the topic of Predicting the Escalation to Violence of Online Hate Groups at the 2021 CASIS West Coast Security Conference. Primary topics of discussion included influencers on right wing websites, the effects of algorithms using traditional hate speech terms, the correlation between softly violent culturally nuanced hate speech and kinetic violence, and models used to help determine the presence of soft violence and the likelihood of escalation. The presentation was followed by a question and answer period and a breakout room session with questions from the audience and CASIS Vancouver executives
Touchscreen cognitive testing in rodents
Get PDFSleep quality and quantity affect cognitive functions. To help progress our understanding of the connection between sleep and cognition, we will be using a touchscreen-based testing system. Touchscreen-based systems are designed to reduce the ‘translational gap’ between preclinical research and clinical application, because the tests for rodents and humans are designed to be as similar as possible.
Touchscreen-based systems have many benefits to traditional behavioural testing in rodents such as the expedited testing using automation. They are less stressful for animals, increase standardization and precision, allow for a blend of different methodologies (e., optogenetics), and minimize contact between animals and researcher. They also use only positive rewards, such as strawberry milkshake when mice make correct responses.
Our study aims to test the effect of acute sleep deprivation on performance of mice on the Trial-Unique Nonmatching-to-Location (TUNL) task. TUNL is designed to assess pattern separation, which is a hippocampal neurogenesis-dependent process and is hypothesized to be uniquely vulnerable to sleep deprivation. To induce sleep deprivation, mice will be poked gently with a paintbrush when sleep-like behavioural signs are noticed.
This study will inform future research on how specific aspects of sleep are important for cognition, as well as inform research focused on the complex relationship between sleep and Alzheimer’s disease.
Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Brianne Kent, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser Universit
Exploring the Impact of Engaging in Prosociality on Collegiate Athletes’ Well-Being During the Transition to Retirement
No full textMost collegiate athletes will retire from their sport. Whether retirement is prompted by injury, graduation, or another cause, collegiate sport retirement is a major life transition that can involve feelings of loss, sadness, and anxiety. Most retirement interventions designed to assist athletes during transition focus attention inwards to oneself (e.g., pre-retirement planning) with mixed efficacy. Given this, we wondered whether focusing attention outward and on others could protect or promote well-being during retirement? This possibility is grounded in past research showing that prosocial action is causally linked to happiness. To investigate this question, we recruited 261 retired athletes from Canada and the United States to complete an online survey containing questions about their collegiate sport retirement. Specifically, participants described their retirement story, completed several validated measures of psychological well-being (happiness, life satisfaction, depression), and indicated whether they engaged in range of prosocial or control behaviours during their transition. Consistent with our pre-registered hypotheses, retired athletes who reported engaging in more prosocial behaviour in the year post-retirement also reported greater happiness and lower depression. Contrary to predictions, life satisfaction was not associated with prosocial behaviour. These findings suggest that prosociality may support well-being during challenging life transitions. I plan to present an in-depth analysis of the results and discuss limitations, implications, and next steps for this research.
Faculty Supervisor:Dr. Lara Aknin, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University
Research Team Members:Tiara A. Cash, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser Universit
Klebsiella pneumoniae’s role in the “silent pandemic” of antimicrobial resistance
No full textFor decades, antibiotics have saved millions of lives, yet antimicrobial resistance is a steadily growing “silent pandemic” contributing to over 700,000 deaths per year. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when microbes develop resistance over time so that antibiotics are no longer effective treatments.
One key player in AMR is Klebsiella pneumoniae - a highly antibiotic-resistant bacterium that is prevalent in diverse settings like hospitals and the outdoor environment. It is an especially important pathogen of newborns in developing countries. Due to its multi-drug resistance, K. pneumoniae has been classified by the World Health Organization as “critical priority” for urgent development of new antibiotics. Previous studies have analyzed the genetic makeup of K. pneumoniae strains; however, there is limited understanding of K. pneumoniae’s functional characteristics.
In my research, I will study a collection of K. pneumoniae clinical samples to look for traits important in colonization, resistance, and survival. Specifically, I will assess motility – bacteria’s ability to move independently to colonize new areas– and biofilm formation– multicellular aggregates of bacteria that are highly resistant to antibiotics and can easily cling to medical equipment surfaces. Both motility and biofilm formation are virulence mechanisms that allow bacteria to infect and survive in their host. By identifying trends in these characteristics between different clinical samples, I will establish phenotypic profiles of K. pneumoniae strains that can be used for further clinical and genomic analyses. Overall, my research will increase our understanding of K. pneumoniae’s functions and contribute towards stopping the “silent pandemic” of antimicrobial resistance.
Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Amy Lee, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry,, Simon Fraser Universit
Characterizing phenotypes of zombified mesenchymal stromal cells
Get PDFThe consequences of physiological aging are an unfortunate but necessary part of life, but why do some people develop aging-related diseases prematurely? Recent studies have shown that there is a population of cells, which are defined as zombie cells, that fail to be cleared naturally from the body and enter a non-proliferative state that is highly inflammatory. This state is called a senescence associated secretory phenotype (SASP) and may be a driver of auto-immune and aging-related degenerative disease. Our lab works with mesenchymal stromal cells, which are a specialized, heterogenous multipotent cell type found in perivascular and stem cell niches throughout the body.
My research has shown that MSCs, naturally and through the exposure to oxidative stressors, can enter a state of zombification, which has been characterized as a non-proliferative state with altered physical intercellular interactions, while remaining metabolically active. The goals of this project are to show that this unique phenotype has SASP characteristics, which means it has qualities that may cause inflammation and a dysregulated metabolism, as well, can be induced prematurely through chronic exposure to known oxidative stressors such as the pesticide Round-Up, and high glucose diets. From these treatments, I will characterize the resultant phenotypes by measuring the expression of a set of SASP-related genes via RT-qPCR to determine whether the treated cells take on a dysregulated gene profile. Using live cell-imaging and fluorescent dyes, I will also document any unique intercellular dynamics that occur with this phenotype.
Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Lorena Braid, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Simon Fraser Universit
COVID-19 vs. Smallpox: The role of media on the responses to pandemics
Get PDFHistorically, pandemics garner four responses: (1) denial and delayed response, (2) rumours of disease origin (usually foreign), (3) the wealthy escape, and (4) outbursts of violence and rebellion (Lanphear, 2021). Mass media has the power to catalyze these responses to pandemics, both negatively and positively