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The Impacts of Climate Change on Microbial Community Structure and Function in Antarctic Ecosystems
Full text linkAntarctica, widely known for its extreme harsh environment, is currently undergoing changes caused by global warming. Rising temperatures are causing glaciers to retreat, precipitations to increase and ice shelves to collapse, drastically impacting Antarctic ecosystems. The purpose of this study is to review the available literature about the microbial communities inhabiting soils of Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys, and better understand the potential impact of climate change on these ecosystems. Understanding contemporary drivers of the structure and function of these microbial communities will help predict how they might respond to climate change in the future. Warming processes are likely to lead to increased soil microbial diversity across the region. Escalations in temperature increases the availability of liquid water, the key driver of microbial communities in soil ecosystems. Increases in moisture also allow for salts and nutrient mobilization, abiotic factors that limit many microbial species. The reviewed literature suggests that communities are shifting and are expected to shift towards more productive soil communities and more generalist species. Longer and warming growing seasons are expected to heighten microbial activity and biogeochemical cycling. Photosynthetic organisms are being found in regions where water was not previously available suggesting that relatively small changes can lead to community responses that may increase the propensity of the McMurdo Dry Valleys to become greener, putting at risk the unique and protected hyper-arid environment
Viewing A Local Flora Digitally
Full text linkIn a world of increasing ‘plant blindness,’ many people, including university students, lack the background to recognize the native flora of a region. However, the availability of digital teaching and learning resources such as Moodle’s H5P activities increases the usefulness of online learning for even such experiential topics as field botany. Viewing local flora digitally is a project to create an online resource that will outline the recognition characters of the most species-rich families found in the Interior of BC, as well as many of the most common flowering plant species. The objective of this project was threefold: (1) to build a digital resource, available to both future TRU students and the greater community, (2) foster our own knowledge and appreciation of the Kamloops flora, and (3) develop the skills to build digital education resources. By working collaboratively, we were able to cover 21 of the most species-rich flowering plant families. For each flowering plant family included, this resource has outlined the recognition characters, unique features, and provided local examples of the family. Information was incorporated into interactive H5P activities and summative quizzes that serve to engage the student and reinforce the content. The activities and quizzes built in Moodle have the potential to be transferred to a more public domain, through platforms such as WordPress. The events of the last year have shown the importance of online teaching and learning resources. Not only has this project allowed us to develop the necessary vocabulary and skills to recognize our local flora but has allowed us to contribute to a resource that can be used by future students and the public. The development of accessible science helps not only the university but the community in which TRU resides
Women Helping Women: Analyzing the Incorporation of Lived Experience in Peer Support for Women Experiencing Criminalization
Full text linkThere is little research centering on the experiences of women who have been criminalized and utilize their experience in their work or volunteer roles with women currently experiencing criminalization. This research applies an intersectional feminist and anti-oppressive/anti- privilege framework to explore how these women support other women, especially during times of COVID-19 affected services. Research demonstrates that women living with criminalization experience oppressive social relations and structural violence. The weakened social safety net and lack of community-based support force women into cycles of incarceration and homelessness. Peer support of women with shared lived experience is known to effectively support women to escape the incarceration cycle. Using purposeful sampling, approximately 35 women-serving agencies will be invited to circulate an online survey regarding the use and impact of peer mentorship. The agencies are also being asked to forward a recruitment poster to their employees, volunteers, and potential contacts for interviews. Potential peer mentor participants will be invited to participate in a 30 - 45 minute semi-structured interview via Zoom (maximum of six participants). The results of this research will provide valuable new knowledge detailing the experiences of women who transition from prison to a social service role. The results can inform social work practice in supporting women experiencing criminalization and identify areas needing further research
Leachability Determination of Elements in Fly Ash as a Potential Fertilizer
Full text linkWhen burning coal, the ash that is leftover is known as fly ash. For this research, the fly ash was supplied by a biomass company. Fly ash contains a range of elements that can be toxic or beneficial to the environment and soil—essentially having the potential to act as a fertilizer. Furthermore, leaching is a procedure that is used to extract elements from environmental samples. Leachability was simulated in this research by adding water to certain types of fly ash, and analyzing the samples after 1 to 4 weeks, to see if the concentrations of elements, or leachable recoveries, decreases with time or stays the same. In this study, the content and leachability of 11 elements will be determined—zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) using flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The importance of this research is demonstrated by the potential of fly ash to be used as a fertilizer. To uncover the leaching ability of the toxic elements and the beneficial elements in fly ash would determine the environmental impacts that this potential fertilizer has, and whether it is suitable for crops. In addition, fly ash being used as a fertilizer would increase the utilization of ash and can pose as a solution to the thousands of tons of ash being wasted yearly
Utilization of Chemically Treated Fly Ash as an Adsorbent for the Removal of Bisphenol S from the Environment
Full text linkThe utilization of fly ash as a potential adsorbent for the removal of environmental contaminant, bisphenol S, was demonstrated. In this study, the fly ash used is the wood residuals from biomass-fired power plants. The fly ash was obtained from the burning of wood chips, bark and wood fiber in biomass-fired power plants to generate electricity and process steam. These wood ash residuals that are produced are traditionally stored in onsite landfills or transported to permanent landfills at a significant cost to the biomass industry. In addition, the disposal of fly ash from biomass power plants absorbs considerable amounts of water from fly ash ponds in the environment and cause numerous environmental problems. As a result, the continued storage of fly ash in the environment is not favorable and ways to find useful applications for it is gaining a lot of interest as it reduces the environmental and economic impacts of their disposal. Bisphenols such as bisphenol A and bisphenol S are found in plastics which are commonly used in our everyday lives and are therefore ubiquitous in the environment. These compounds have been found to be endocrine-disrupting chemicals and, in some cases, are carcinogenic. They are therefore acutely toxic to humans and other living organisms. In view of their adverse health effects, their removal in the environment is warranted. In this study we particularly investigated the potential of fly ash for adsorptive removal of bisphenol S (BPS) in the environment. To study the adsorption capability and characteristics of the fly ash for bisphenol S, the analytical technique of UV-visible spectrophotometry was utilized
The Need for Multifaceted and Sustainable Management Strategies: Fire, Forestry and Range
Full text linkAs ninety-four percent of British Columbia is Crown land owned by the Provincial Government, there are considerable overlapping resource needs within the natural resource sector. As much of British Columbia’s Crown land management is multifaceted, understanding the dynamic landscape is integral to sustainable ecosystem management. Additionally, British Columbia has historically received significant large-scale wildfire activity. Climate change is predicted to increase the frequency of these disturbance events moving forwards, making fire management even more vital. This study aims to understand how methods of fire fuel management influence range management activities on Crown land, such as forage production, in addition to creating a better understanding of the variables influenced by fire fuel management. As many cattle tenures within British Columbia directly overlap with forestry tenures, understanding the influences that the forest industry has on the cattle industry, and vice-versa, is important for proper inclusive ecosystem management. Forage availability is the main factor that influences the number of animals that can be put out on range, and this directly affects ranching profits. This study specifically considers cattle; however, the importance of forage can be applied to any domesticated animal or wildlife. The results of this study will benefit the overall scientific development of multifaceted approaches towards resource management of our Crown land
Sensitive Detection of Parts-Per-Billion Levels of Nisin in Dairy Products by Capillary Electrophoresis
No full textNisin is a polycyclic antimicrobial peptide produced by the gram-positive bacteria, Lactococcus lactis. Due to its antimicrobial properties and low toxicity, nisin is commonly used in the food industry as a preservative in alcoholic beverages and foods such as meat and dairy. Nisin is currently the only lantibiotic that is FDA-approved for use as a biopreservative, however, changes in temperature, pH or interactions with other ingredients can cause nisin’s activity to degrade overtime. For this reason, it is crucial to be able to quantify and monitor the stability of nisin throughout a product’s shelf life. In this project, a technique called micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) will be employed to separate and quantify nisin in dairy products. An additional technique called large volume sample stacking technique (LVSS) will be investigated in order to improve the sensitivity of the method. The method will be optimized by testing parameters such as sample solvent composition, buffer pH, injection pressure, switch-polarity time and voltage. The results of this research will be compared to previous work using MEKC to detect nisin in dairy products. The successful development of this method will be useful to both food and beverage industries as it provides a simple and cost-effective way to monitor nisin levels in a wide variety of products including canned vegetables, fish, milk, cheese and wine
Breaking the Cycle: The Implications of a Recovery House and Resource Hub for Women Experiencing Criminalization.
Full text linkThis research project was conducted in affiliation with Thompson Rivers University (TRU) and the Kamloops and District Elizabeth Fry Society, as a part of the TRU community development research grant. The goal was to gain more in-depth insight into how recovery houses and resource hubs could help women who have been criminalized.
To begin, a literature review was conducted on women experiencing criminalization and their needs and concerns. Through this review, five main themes emerged. These were the overrepresentation of Indigenous women, the fragmentation of their healthcare experiences, the need to renegotiate their relationships, the challenges of community reintegration, and additional barriers such as employment and housing. Consideration is given to two subsets of this population, older women and transgender women. Consideration is also given to the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has on women who have been criminalized.
Second, a literature review was conducted regarding recovery houses and the benefits and challenges associated with them.
Third, a literature review was conducted on the existence of resource hubs. Due to their limited nature, this review was expanded internationally.
The information acquired in these three sections was then compiled into a list of recommendations that mirror the five main themes of concern for women experiencing criminalization. The vision of the recovery house and the resource hub is to work collaboratively to address these five areas of a woman’s life, to provide holistic care, and to ensure no woman falls through the gap.
The full Community Report summarized in this poster can be viewed at https://tru.arcabc.ca/islandora/object/tru%3A540
Ethics, EdTech, and the Rise of Contract Cheating
No full textEthics, EdTech, and the Rise of Contract Cheating by Brenna Clarke Gray This talk traces the connections between the unethical use of algorithms, inattention to issues of equity and access, and failures of data privacy to the rise of contract cheating. The reported experiences of instructors and students tell us that contract cheating firms mine student data and exploit existing relationships between students and their educational technologies in order to find new clients and to extort the ones they already have. These companies use algorithmic searches of social media to track down vulnerable students, and once granted access to a closed educational context like Moodle, approach more students in the course or institution, which is how the use of these services seems to multiply by orders of magnitude within an institution. Once these companies have student ID and credit card information, they often engage in financial exploitation of students. Research demonstrates that many of the educational conditions that drive students to seek out contract cheating firms — lack of guidance on assignments; high-stakes assessments without appropriate scaffolding; personal or financial crises — are also conditions that do not promote learning. This chapter argues that the epidemic of contract cheating can be insulated against by a renewed attention to ethical pedagogical strategies in the deployment of educational technologies. Given the explosive growth of the contract cheating problem and the huge money it makes for unethical players, it is imperative that post-secondary institutions protect students by all possible means. Limiting for-profit vendor access to student data, avoiding course-in-a-box homework system approaches to education, and using open pedagogical strategies to design persistent, non-disposable assignments are critical strategies in the fight against contract cheating, as is educating students and faculty about the importance of data security and privacy. References: Clarke, R., & Lancaster, T. (2006). Eliminating the successor to plagiarism: Identifying the usage of contract cheating sites. Paper presented at the Second International Plagiarism Conference. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.120.5440&rep=rep1&type=pdf Ellis, C., Zucker I.M., & Randall D. (2018). The infernal business of contract cheating: understanding the business processes and models of academic custom writing sites. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 14. https://edintegrity.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1007/s40979-017-0024-3 Medway, D., Roper, S., & Gillooly, L. (2018). Contract cheating in UK higher education: A covert investigation of essay mills. British Educational Research Journal, 44(3), 393-418. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/berj.3335 Newton, P.M. (2018). How common is commercial contract cheating in higher education and is it increasing? A review. Frontiers in Education. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2018.00067/full Orosz, G. et al. (2015). Teacher enthusiasm: a potential cure of academic cheating. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 318. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4379758/ Peters, M., Boies, T., & Morin, S. (2019) Teaching academic integrity in Queen universities: roles professors adopt. Frontiers in Education. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2019.00099/full Ramberg, J. & Modin, B. (2019). School effectiveness and student cheating: Do students’ grades and moral standards matter for this relationship? Social Psychology of Education, 22, 517-538. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11218-019-09486-6 Rigby, D. et al. (2014). Contract cheating & the market in essays. Journal of Economic Behaviour & Organization, 111, 23-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2014.12.019 Rundle, K., Curtis, G.J., & Clare, J. (2019). Why students do not engage in contract cheating. Frontiers in Psychology. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02229/full Rowland S., et al. (2017) Just turn to us: the persuasive features of contract cheating websites. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(4) 652-665. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2017.139194
Learning beyond the walls of the classroom: The key to student engagement
No full textMost instructors spend a lot of time thinking about how to increase learner motivation and engagement. Teachers have an intuitive sense of what engagement is, and they recognize it as a crucial ingredient for learning and quality instruction. In fact, there has been growing consensus among researchers that engagement represents “the holy grail of learning” (Sinatra et al., 2015, p. 1). This session reports on research recently conducted at TRU as part of a doctoral dissertation study. The investigation revealed that learning that takes place beyond the walls of the classroom can have a transformational impact on learners’ levels of engagement, and subsequent rates of participation, willingness to engage, and levels of confidence. Learners spent time both in the classroom and in the community, where they took on volunteer roles at local charities and other organizations. Returning from their regular volunteering experiences in the community, students reflected in the classroom on their community experiences during small group activities and through journaling. Data was collected on learners behavioural, emotional, cognitive and social engagement using complex dynamics systems theory as a research framework. Findings showed that once community volunteering began, transformational increases in learner engagement took place. In some cases, engagement was so powerful that students entered an intense period of long-term motivation known as a directed motivational current. Engagement levels were found to be inseparably connected to certain factors in the learning environment This session will share the secret to unleashing powerful motivational forces that lead to student engagement