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Recruitment of Social Media Influencers to Promote Self-Compassion Practices to Combat the Negative Effects of Social Media on Adolescents.
Get PDFSocial media is a strong mode of influence over adolescents that commonly evokes feelings of being less than those they follow. Social media influencers that promote self-compassion practices create a buffering effect to the self-comparison and insecurity that is encouraged through social media for adolescents. Self-compassion works in opposition to the harmful effects of social media by encouraging acceptance of oneself instead of comparing oneself to idealized versions of others. Due to the high regard of influencers by adolescents, using their influence for practical application of self-compassion will combat the negative feelings often elicited by social media use. On a greater scope, implementation of self-compassion ambassadors on various social media platforms holds implications to help lower rates of youth mental illness, as self-compassion is empirically supported to be greatly beneficial for mental health
The Internationalisation of Far-Right Terror? History and Examples of International Far-Right Networks
Get PDFOn November 24, Dr. Daniel Koehler presented The Internationalisation of Far-Right Terror? History and Examples of International Far-Right Networks at the 2021 CASIS West Coast Security Conference. The overarching discussion of Dr. Koehler’s presentation centered on ways that right-wing terrorism is developing, as well as the transnational aspects of far-right extremism. The presentation was followed by a question and answer period directed at a panel of presenters allowing an opportunity for audience members and CASIS Vancouver executives to engage with the content of each speaker’s presentation
Re-Envisioning Canada as a Peninsula State
Get PDFOn November 22, 2021, Dr. Tsuyoshi Kawasaki, Political Science Professor at Simon Fraser University, presented Re-Envisioning Canada as a Peninsula State at the 2021 CASIS West Coast Security Conference. The presentation was followed by a question and answer period with questions from the audience and CASIS Vancouver executives. The key points discussed included reimagining Canada’s geopolitical position in the world of politics, future implications for Canada as the Arctic ice continues to melt, and long-term implications that call for immediate attention
A Solution-Based Approach to Civil Discourse
Get PDFOn November 24, 2021, Ms. Elise Labott, leading foreign policy journalist, presented A Solution-Based Approach to Civil Discourse at the 2021 CASIS West Coast Security Conference. Primary discussion topics included the definition of ‘broken’ media, a brief overview of racism throughout history, the consequences of echo chambers and online trolling, and a potential solution to improve and encourage civil discourse online. The presentation was followed by a question and answer period with questions from the audience and CASIS Vancouver executives
Far-right populism in Canada: From M103 to the Ottawa occupation
Get PDFOn March 17, 2022, Mr. Evan Balgord, Executive Director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, presented Far-Right Populism in Canada: From M103 to the Ottawa Occupation at the March Digital Roundtable event, hosted by the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies (CASIS)-Vancouver. The key points of discussion included the connections between different far-right movements in Canada and how grievances and beliefs on conspiracy theories can serve as the groundwork for radicalization and participation in far-right movements. Mr. Balgord’s presentation was followed by a question-and-answer period with questions from the audience and CASIS-Vancouver executives
Canada's Energy Security in the Context of Global Instability
Get PDFOn August 18, 2022, the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies (CASIS)-Vancouver hosted a Digital Roundtable titled Canada's Energy Security in the Context of Global Instability. This event was conducted by Peter Tertzakian, Deputy Director of the ARC Energy Research Institute. Mr. Tertzakian’s presentation was followed by a moderated question-and-answer period in which the audience was able to deepen their understanding of the topic. The discussion centred around the dependency that societies have on energy, how countries have managed to cover their energy demands, and its effects on the geopolitical landscape.
Catalytic Converter Theft: The Solution Requires Regulation
No full textCatalytic converter theft carries immense costs, both monetary and non-monetary, to the vehicle owner, local law enforcement, and greater society. With little sign in catalytic converter theft rates slowing, British Columbians are left wondering what solutions are available to reduce or prevent this theft?
Other targeted metals for theft such as aluminum or copper are regulated in the BC Metal Dealers and Recyclers Act (MDRA, 2011), where the purchase, sale, and transaction of these metals are logged and reported to local law enforcement. However, the BC MDRA (2011) does not include the metals found in catalytic converters such as platinum, palladium, and rhodium. Therefore, a high-demand international market for platinum, palladium, and rhodium has caused the prices - and subsequently theft – of these metals to soar.
This project presents an argument for increased regulation of platinum, palladium, and rhodium in the BC MDRA (2011) as a solution to catalytic converter theft. Using a comparative policy analysis, the effectiveness of copper regulations will be assessed, evaluating incident report, arrest, and conviction rates before and after regulations were introduced in the BC MDRA (2011). Conducting this policy analysis will yield results in support of platinum, palladium, and rhodium regulations including the recording of seller identification, transaction information, and reports to local law enforcement. Introducing province-wide regulations on these metals will deter opportunistic thieves as the risk being caught selling a stolen converter will likely outweigh the monetary gain of the theft.
Faculty Supervisor:Dr. Bryan Kinney, School of Criminology, Simon Fraser Universit
“Love Isn’t Brains, Children, It’s Blood”: : The Discourse of Lacanian Desire Surrounding Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Get PDFAlthough Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS) scholarship continues almost twenty years after the show finished airing, the effects of its infamous fan culture on the series itself remain underexamined. Scholars often analyze the vampire Spike, played by James Marsters on BtVS, as a character, but it may be advantageous to read his character as illustrating a behind-the-scenes cycle of Lacanian desire. Desire, according to psychoanalyst Lacan, is an unconscious want stemming from an emptiness in oneself for which one strives to compensate. BtVS’ writers, actors, and viewers, all expressed desires for Spike’s character development. In television today, entire seasons are often dropped on streaming services, so viewers can only express their opinions between seasons; yet, BtVS aired in the late 1990s and early 2000s, after the invention of the internet but before the advent of streaming services. Using online forums, viewers expressed their desires to the writers, who changed the series week-to-week. Tracing Spike’s character arc from his introduction in season two, through his awakening desire for Buffy in seasons four and five, through the violent nature of their desire for each other, and to the reality of what their relationship entailed, reveals that Spike exemplifies a cycle of desires between the writers’ intentions, the actor’s portrayal, and the viewers’ reactions. This collaborative cycle of Lacanian desire behind BtVS’ production revealed to fans, through their desires for the show and how the show portrayed these desires, the hidden darkness, l’objet petit a, of what they imagined their desires to be.
Faculty Supervisor:Dr. Jon Smith, Department of English, Simon Fraser Universit
The Deception of #motherhoodunplugged: One More Instagram Filter on Motherhood
Get PDFSocial media works as a space where the role of motherhood is (re)constructed (Orton-Johnson, 2017). Research suggests that even though mothers know Instagram is not realistic, it still has negative impacts on mental health (Sharme etal., 2020). This research paper argues that the Instagram hashtag #motherhoodunplugged is a wolf in sheep’s clothing as it perpetuates the false depiction of motherhood that it seems to counteract.Therefore, it is vital to explore the normalization of motherhood under such hashtag to understand what new mothers are consuming online and how it affects the social context of maternity. A visual exploration of the hashtag #motherhoodunplugged suggests a public interest in the non-curated version of motherhood. I performed a visual analysis of 100 posts with the hashtag #motherhoodunplugged to answer the following questions: 1. How is motherhood portrayed in the images? 2. How do the caption and the images presented relate to each other and the hashtag? 3. What is missing out from the images?The analysis shows that the hashtag #motherhoodunplugged displays a staged representation of motherhood that reveals the inherent dichotomy between reallife motherhood and its portrayal online. Hardship, frustration, anger and challenging times seldom reflect media, normalizing a false reality that may perpetuate the notion that women belong to their children and homes Doing socontributes to the normalization of intensive mothering (Hayes, 1996) and a non realistic polished version of maternity that perpetuates false notions about motherhood that can be harmful to women.
Faculty Supervisor:Dr. Amanda Watson, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Simon Fraser Universit
Prevalence and Characteristics of Compensatory Stepping Responses During Real-Life Falls in Older Adults
Get PDFIn laboratory studies, older adults commonly rely on stepping to prevent falling when their balance is perturbed. We extended prior literature by characterizing the stepping responses of older adults during real-life falls, captured on video in long-term care. We included 1516 falls by 515 residents, and used Generalized Estimated Equations to test whether step characteristics (prevalence, direction, and length) associated with initial fall direction, activity at the time of the fall, cause of imbalance, attempts to recover balance by grasping, sex and age.
Attempts to recover balance by stepping were observed in 76% of falls. For these cases, 64% involved small steps (less than one-half foot length), 80% involved multiple steps, and 81% involved steps that aligned with the initial fall direction.
Forward falls elicited larger steps that were more aligned with the fall direction. Older residents took smaller steps, but their steps were more aligned with the fall direction. Walking at the time of imbalance was associated with larger and more frequent steps. Holding a weight-bearing object was associated with smaller and less frequent steps. Attempts to recover balance by reaching to grasp a nearby object elicited more steps that misaligned with the fall direction.
In summary, older adults in long-term care often responded to falls with attempts to recover balance by stepping. Steps were usually functionally aligned to the fall direction but small in length. Our results support the need for further research on approaches to enhance the effectiveness of compensatory stepping responses through exercise or perturbation training.
Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Stephen Robinovitch, Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, Simon Fraser Universit