MacEwan Open Journals (MacEwan University)
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A Course-based Qualitative Inquiry into CYC Students Mental Health Reflections
No full textOur course-based qualitative research project explores how Child and Youth Care (CYC) students have benefited from being in the program regarding their mental health. The CYC program can be personally exhausting and stressful. This is the case because a primary goal of the CYC program is to engage students in a process of self-awareness and self-discovery. The classroom atmosphere pushed you to be open a vulnerable. All this can cause mental health to become present in students lives. As 4th year students that have benefitted from the program regarding our own mental health we thought it would be a great opportunity as part of this course-based research project to explore how other students have also benefitted from being in the program regarding their mental health. We chose to do a semi-structured focus group with past and present CYC students where we discussed how the CYC program has helped them with their mental health. The themes we pulled from our thematic analysis consisted of; having strong relationships with the professors, the ability to be creative and play in class activities and projects, the opportunities for networking and building on their education, and so on. The discussion resulted in some potential growth for the CYC program as a whole. Although there were some limitations with time and participants we were still able to carry out meaningful and impactful research.
Faculty Mentor: Gerard Bellefeuille
Department: Child and Youth Care
 
Believing Pseudoscience: What does message framing have to do with it?
No full textRegulatory focus theory (RFT) explores goal-directed behaviour by analyzing consumer preference for potential gains or losses. In this study, we explored the relationship between RFT and belief in pseudoscience. Measures include the Regulatory Focus Questionnaire, the Inventory of Epistemically Unwarranted Beliefs, and the Revised Paranormal Belief Scale (N=204). Our findings revealed no relationship between RFT and pseudoscience beliefs. General belief in pseudoscience will be discussed, as well as future directions.
Faculty Mentor: Rodney Schmaltz
Department: Psychology (Honours
Political Consumerism in Canada: A Critical Analysis of the Demographic and Lifestyle Predictors for Boycotting and Buycotting
No full textWhat are the main demographic and lifestyle predictors that influence motivation behind political consumerism? Do lifestyle predictors such as social networking site usage change in relation to demographic factors such as age, income, or educational attainment status? Using data from the 2013 Statistics Canada General Social Survey on Social Identity, a multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate the relationships between age, educational attainment, the frequency of usage of social networking sites, and political consumerist activities. Specifically, the political consumerist acts of boycotting and buycotting are analyzed. Findings suggest that political consumerism is most common amongst highly educated citizens and non-visible minorities. Additionally, across all age categories individuals with higher levels of annual income are more likely to participate in political consumerism. These findings are important because they contribute to the literature around demographic characteristics of political consumerists in Canadian society. Further, this study reinforces academia that suggests boycotting and buycotting are emerging practices of political activism in the form of consumerism. These acts challenge traditional notions of activism by influencing corporate practices and increasing ease and accessibility for citizens to express political opinions.
Faculty Mentor: Shelley Boulianne
Department: Sociology (Honours)
 
Low-Cost and Mobile Ultraviolet Radiation Sensor using Electrochemical and Electrochromic Detection
No full textMy project involved the development of a low-cost and mobile ultraviolet radiation (UVR) sensor. UVR overexposure is associated with health issues such as an increased risk of skin cancer development. Current technology primarily involves the use of chromophores that change color with UVR exposure. Colorimetric sensors are however less sensitive and worsen as the chromophores degrade over time. The use of spectrometers as the transduction element for colorimetric sensors make them less useful as wearable sensors due to bulkiness and cost. My work focuses on a wearable sensor based on electrochemical and electrochromic detection. The sensor was fabricated using layer-by-layer assembly. The sensor was comprised of: i) flexible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) base; ii) conductive silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) with cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) ink; iii) carbon nanotubes (CNTs)/CNC/titanium dioxide (TiO2); iv) Prussian Blue redox poly(isopropylacrylamide) polymer microgel. To ensure the four layers were permanently glued to the PDMS base, (3-glycidyloxypropyl)trimethoxy-silane (GOPS) was used as an adhesive. The sensor mechanism involves TiO2 reacting with UVR to create electron/hole pairs, which—in presence of moisture—results in the formation of H2O2. The H2O2 oxidizes the redox microgel from Fe2+ to Fe3+, which induces polymer shrinkage. The shrunk polymer compacts the CNC/CNT conductive layer reducing its conductivity. The change in conductivity of the sensor was quantified by cyclic voltammetry to determine the effect of UVR and H2O2 on the sensor. Both the CNC/CNT control sensor cathodic and anodic capacitance displayed greater reactivity than the UV sensor cathodic and anodic capacitance in response to increasing H2O2 concentrations. The time studies provided inconsistent results which emphasize the need for more tests to be performed and stricter laboratory conditions applied. The oxidation of the redox microgel produced a successful colorimetric change which was used for verification of the electrochromic detection mechanism. The sensor was found to need optimization to enable better sensitivity to ensure its viability in application, however, the confirmation of the electrochromic color detection mechanism indicates the sensors current ability to provide naked eye detection of UVR exposure.
Faculty Mentor: Samuel Mugo
Department: Chemistr
Social Media and Beauty Standards
No full textThis presentation explores how today’s perceptions of what is beautiful have narrowed amidst the critical lens of social media.
Faculty Mentor: Alissa Overend
Department: Gender Studies
 
Consent 102: Integrating Knowledge with Experience
No full textThere have been growing efforts on college and university campuses to increase awareness about sexual violence. Often those initiatives focus on defining affirmative consent within the broader context of socio-cultural power dynamics. Cognitive psychology can add a complementary perspective through understanding biases that might affect perception of consent and the processes by which individuals reason about consent. Research in medical education has demonstrated that reliance on both explicit rules and as well as similar prior experiences produces the best diagnostic judgement (Eva, 2004). Like medical diagnosis, consent requires one to make decisions about individual experiences or cases that are multidimensional, contextually diverse and interpretive in nature. Consequently, practices designed for building expert diagnosticians may have value in teaching students about consent. Our program includes an analytical training component that focuses on the explicit dimensions of Affirmative Consent and the cognitive biases likely to influence perceptions of consent, as illustrated through case examples. The program includes a second component where some students have received the training needed for non-analytic reasoning, through a considerable exposure to a range of test cases with feedback on their decisions. After their respective training, all participants will be asked to provide judgments of consent for a series of test cases. We expect both groups that received either analytical or non-analytical training will be more accurate in their judgments of consent and will demonstrate more sophisticated reasoning for their decisions, than those in our control group.
Faculty Mentor: Aimee Skye
Department: Psychology (Honours
Zero Order vs (Semi) Partial Correlation Test and Confidence Interval
No full textA bootstrap test was created to measure the significance of a partial or semi-partial correlation equaling its zero order correlation. This was implemented in R and accepted by CRAN as an open source package named zeroEQpart, which can be accessed by external researchers. In addition to a hypothesis test, the functionality of the R package was extended to include confidence intervals for the parameter (zero order minus partial). The test was administered retrospectively on an honours psychology thesis to analyze the effect of metacognitions on chronic pain and health anxiety.
Faculty Mentor: Karen Buro and Wanhua Su
Department: Mathematics and Statistics
 
Indigenous Bodies and Experimentation: The Nutrition Experiments Conducted within the Residential Schools
No full textThe Digital Story embraces a subjective approach to display the conditions that led to, occurred during, and were produced in the nutrition experiments conducted in various residential schools. Both the immediate and ongoing (intergenerational) damages are discussed to display the horrific nature of the residential schools. Further, the contemporary action taken by both Indigenous peoples and non-Indigenous peoples, as a result of the nutrition studies becoming public, is shown.
Faculty Mentor: Leslie Dawson
Department: Anthropolog
Youth Homelessness: A Review of Social Programs
No full textYouth homelessness is a complex problem in Canada. While social programs do exist to help homeless youth, there appears to be some confusion as to which program is best suited for helping homeless youth be successful in their lives. This paper examines how social programs help youth leave the streets. The paper analyzes three levels of social programs starting with informal programs, middle-mode programs and formal programs in an attempt to determine the best way to reintegrate homeless youth back into mainstream society. A close examination of social programs suggests that more funding is needed to provide more spaces for youth participation as well as emotional supports to provide stability in their lives. Currently, there are gaps between the social programs. Each program has its own individual rules for operation and does not adequately support transitioning youth. Youth homelessness occurs due to the breakdown of the micro, meso and macro level institutions leaving youth to attempt to take control of their own lives by living homeless
Development and Characterization of Calcium Sensors for In vivo Neuronal Activity Imaging
No full textGenetically-Encoded Fluorescent Calcium Indicators for Optical Imaging (GECOs), that modulate their fluorescence intensity in response to changes in calcium ion concentration, are powerful tools for the investigation of cell biology. These fluorescent indicators are vital when it comes to cellular imaging because they allow the non-invasive study of cells, tissues, and sub-cellular structures at a detail that was previously not possible. The focus of this project is engineering a new GECO that exhibits favourable characteristics, such as increased brightness and a higher fold change. To develop this new GECO, we started from mNeonGreen, the brightest monomeric fluorescent protein currently available. An initial prototype construct was made using rational design, following the precedent of the GCaMP series of indicators. This construct was further improved using directed protein evolution with colony-based screening of libraries of randomly generated variants. We observe the brightness of promising new variants and perform tests to see how new mutations have affected the brightness and the fold change of the variant. After many rounds of screening, our latest variant of mNeonGreen-GECO exhibits a Ca2+-dependent change of eight. When compared to the original construct, this indicator appears significantly brighter with higher contrast between Ca2+-bound and Ca2+-free states. Directed evolution is ongoing and we expect to produce a fluorescent indicator that will be used for in vivo imaging of intracellular Ca2+ dynamics. We will further image its calcium dynamics directly in Zebrafish and compare our variants with mNeonGreen fluorescent protein and the GCaMP series. Using mNeonGreen, we hope to create a calcium indicator that researchers can use to investigate the physiological activity of organs, understand the signaling patterns within tissues, and use to study the various disease states which may lead to the development of new therapies