MacEwan Open Journals (MacEwan University)
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Ethical Business in Game Design: Drawing the Line Between Player Retention and Addiction
No full textNo abstract available
Discipline: Accounting
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Leo Wong
 
The Tiputini Project: Science Reporting in the Amazon Rainforest
No full textIn May 2017, I travelled to Ecuador with a team of MacEwan University reporters to cover the Tiputini Biodiversity Station, a research facility located in the western Amazon rainforest. After spending a week at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito to liaise with academics, and a weekend in the Ecuadorian Amazon to visit the station and its staff, we collected enough material to produce The Tiputini Project, a magazine exploring the economic, political, environmental stakes of natural resource extraction in one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. Besides serving as the magazine\u27s copy chief, I produced photography and video, as well as a long-form professional profile of the station\u27s founding director, Dr. Kelly Swing.
Discipline: Communication Studies
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Brian Gorman
 
Visualizing Riemann Surfaces in 3D Using OpenGL
No full textUsing a hand-written C++ program, I will explore visualizations of Riemann surfaces in OpenGL. These surfaces will be plotted by visualizing discrete points in the complex plane. This will allow exploration of these surfaces in a first-person 3D environment.
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Cristina Anton
Discipline: Computer Science
Microplastic Pollution in the Urbanized North Saskatchewan River
No full textThere is growing interest in understanding sources and sinks of microplastics in freshwater environments. Microplastics are pieces of plastic that are <5 mm in size, where the main types are fibres, fragments, beads, and films. This project investigates microplastic occurrences and potential point sources within the urban North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton, Alberta. Water samples were collected with 53 μm plankton nets at 7 sites along this river in June 2017, upstream and downstream from Goldbar Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP), a likely point source. Following sampling, density flotation and wet peroxide oxidation were used to isolate any microplastics from co-collected material. After sieving the material into five size classes, visual microscopy revealed the presence of microplastics in the samples, consisting of a range of types and colours. The findings also suggest that Goldbar WWTP is likely not a point source for microplastic pollution in this urban river, contrasting similar studies that have generally found the opposite trend. Fragments appeared to be the primary plastic type recovered across all sites, yet differences in the proportions of microplastic types exist between larger and smaller size classes. For example, the 500 µm-1 mm size class contained more fibres upstream and more fragments downstream of Goldbar WWTP, and the 53-125 µm size class contained a higher proportion of beads compared to the 500 µm-1 mm size class. This study reveals that urban populations influence microplastic contamination in various ways, and the data will provide a valuable baseline for future monitoring studies.
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Matthew Ross
Discipline: Chemistr
Mind the Gap: Christian Faith in Decisions about Fertility Treatments
No full textInfertility is an increasingly common health concern that affects at least one in six couples trying to conceive. This interdisciplinary qualitative research and bioethics project at The King’s University explores the role that faith plays in the decision-making process for Christian couples experiencing infertility, especially in relation to using assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) such as in vitro fertilization. Our research shows that there is a “disconnect” (gap) between the academic bioethical discussions, denominational statements, and couples’ personal decision-making about ARTs. A thorough website search confirmed that online resources available are primarily fertility clinic websites, general support websites and alterative treatment websites, and that Christian resources are both sparse and difficult to access. A survey of nine clergy from different denominations in Edmonton also confirmed that couples do not seek their support and that clergy feel ill-equipped to address this issue. To make current resources more accessible for couples and to encourage dialogue between different areas of infertility support, a website has been launched to help address the gap many couples experience.
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Investigating Crosstalk Between DNA Repair and Ribosome Biogenesis
No full textAlthough typically perceived as separate pathways, DNA repair and ribosome biogenesis have surprisingly been associated with one another by the reported interaction between the human DNA repair enzyme SMUG1 and the pseudouridine synthase dyskerin (DCK1, Cbf5 in yeast). Specifically, this interaction has been shown to excise 5-hydeoxylmethyl deoxyuridine, but not uridine or pseudouridine from RNA molecules.
Uracil glycosylases, such as SMUG1, remove damaged bases from DNA, leaving an abasic site open for repair. In particular, uracil glycosylases serve a role in protecting the genome from mutation in the event of cytosine deamination to uracil. Unrepaired U:G mismatches can give rise to transition mutations in replication, resulting in altered gene expression.
Dyskerin, a ribosome biogenesis factor, is part of a ribonucleoprotein complex that modifies ribosomal RNA by catalyzing the isomerization of uridine to pseudouridine. The function of dyskerin offers an interesting link to cancer, in which large ribosome quantities are generated within an enlarged nucleolus for rapid protein synthesis. Additionally, RNA pseudouridine synthases have been found to be overexpressed in many cancers and linked to a poor prognosis. Following the overexpression and purification of SMUG1 and Cbf5 (dyskerin homologue), the study looks to establish an electrophoresis and fluorescence based uracil-DNA glycosylase assay utilizing fluorescently labelled DNA molecules and DNA endonucleases. In light of the unclear SMUG1-dyskerin interaction, this fluorescence based assay, will be used to characterize the effect of Cbf5 on SMUG1 activity and vice versa. The affinity of SMUG1 to RNA in the presence and absence of Cbf5 will also be investigated via binding studies, with the aim of testing the hypothesis that dyskerin acts as an RNA tether for SMUG1.
Studying these protein-protein and RNA-protein interactions will provide insight into the crosstalk between the two important, and previously thought to be unrelated, cellular pathways of DNA repair and ribosome biogenesis with potential implications for new cancer treatment strategies.
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Grasping numbers: How numerical magnitude affects kinematics of reach to grasp actions
No full textThe SNARC (spatial-numerical association of response codes) effect is a well-studied phenomenon showing a spatial organisation of the magnitude of numbers. Smaller numbers (0-4) are associated with the left side of an individuals perceived surroundings, while larger numbers (6-9) are associated with the right side of an individuals perceived surroundings. The goal of our study was to determine if a larger numerical value on an object will increase the maximum distance between the thumb and index finger when reaching for the object also known as the maximum grip aperture. Further, it was of interest if the effect would be seen when using a cluster of small shapes as an indicator of numeracy as opposed to an Arabic numeral.
Two sets of blocks were used: one with Arabic numerical values (1, 2, 8, 9) written on them and the other with heart-shaped stickers on them. For each set of blocks the values 1 and 9 were on the faces of the smaller block, while the values 2 and 8 were on faces of the larger block which served as a foil. A control block the same size as the smaller blocks with nothing on its face was also used. University students were recruited for the study, each participant was only tested using one set of blocks. Participants were tasked with grasping blocks after an audio cue. While reaching for the block, participants were instructed to say the number of hearts or Arabic numeral on the block. This was done for both the left and right hand of each participant. During each grasp of the block maximum grip aperture was recorded. Research is still undergoing with results to be finalized in the coming weeks.
Based on prior experiments we hypothesize that maximum grip aperture should be altered depending on the size of the numerical value on the object. A tendency to have a larger maximum grip aperture when reaching for the larger number should occur, even though the objects are the same size. Using a cluster of shapes as an indicator of numeracy should also result in a similar difference to the one seen with numerical values. Since numerical processing occurs in the right hemisphere of the brain, the effect should be more pronounced in the left hand than the right.
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Synthesis of Sunscreen Dendrimer
No full textLongevity and effectiveness of sunscreens and other UV-protectant lotions have been studied and researched for upwards of 90 years. Sunscreen lotions have been linked with prevention of a number of genetic mutations that may lead to skin cancers. The effectiveness of sunscreens is generally measured as Sun-protection Factor (SPF), which describes the minimal time that a sunscreen product can provide protection. Despite many advances in the field most sunscreens fail to deliver their claimed SPF protection. This is normally a result of human error; either in the amount applied, or the process of application. The focus of this research has been to investigate the use of second-generation dendrimers to increase the quantity of active sunscreen molecules present after application. Dendrimers, with their highly manipulatable physical and chemical properties, enable us to increase the “stickiness” of a sunscreen. This experiment focuses on finding optimal conditions to form a second-generation sunscreen dendrimer, and to test whether the sunscreen will retain its protective function in this context.
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Computer Modeling of the Hydrogen-bonded Dimers Between O2-alkylthymine and the Canonical DNA Bases
No full textAlkylation of the DNA bases is induced by a variety of exogenous sources, including tobacco smoke, atmospheric halocarbons, chemotherapeutic drugs, and contaminants within certain foods, as well as endogenous sources, such as S-adenosylmethionine (SAM). If not repaired before DNA replication takes place, this damage typically stalls a standard DNA polymerase and replication instead occurs through translesion synthesis (TLS). Although TLSpolymerases have more flexible active sites and can bypass the damaged site, the TLS process is error-prone, and can lead to changes in the selective Watson-Crick (WC) pairing observed in undamaged DNA. These mutations can lead to diseases, such as cancer. The present study investigates the effects of alkylation at the O2 site of thymine (T), including the effects of increasing the alkyl chain size (see below), on the structures of dimers formed with the canonical DNA bases. Alkylation alters the WC face of T, leading to a high frequency of mutations during DNA replication.
However, previously reported experimental data indicates that the types and frequencies of mutations depend on the size and degree of branching of the alkyl chain. Using density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, the structural properties of potential mispairs formed upon DNA alkylation are characterized. This work provides the first structural insight to rationalize the experimentally observed mutations, and provides the foundation for future modeling that will consider the interactions between damaged DNA and TLS polymerases.
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Synergistic Effects of Ancestral Stress and Aging on Anxiety-like Behaviours
No full textExposure to adverse environments such as prenatal stress early in life is associated with anxiety-like behaviours in adulthood, which is potentially further exacerbated by aging. Recent studies have indicated that ancestral prenatal stress can propagate across generations to alter emotional wellbeing of unexposed offspring. Here we investigated if exposure to prenatal stress in the great-grandmother (transgenerational stress), or exposure across four consecutive generations (multigenerational stress) can alter anxiety-like behaviours in male and female fourth (F4) generation offspring. Anxiety-like behaviours were evaluated by means of the elevated plus maze in both males and females across three different groups: transgenerational stress (SNNN), multigenerational stress (SSSS), and non-stressed controls (NNNN). Both sexes were evaluated at the age of 12 months (middle age) and 18 months (old age). Our results demonstrate that aging and ancestral stress synergistically heightened anxiety-like behaviour, especially in males. Interestingly, the highest levels of anxiety-like behaviours were observed in transgenerationally stressed offspring of both ages. Overall, these results indicate that males are more sensitive to ancestral stress and more likely to respond by developing anxiety-like behaviours. Thus, ancestral stress and aging may synergistically alter mental health outcomes particularly in males.
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