MacEwan Open Journals (MacEwan University)
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Students\u27 Attitudes Toward Reading Break
No full textThere is ongoing discussion in universities about the purpose of Reading Break. Students have advocated for a week-long break in the Fall semester across the country as a way to alleviate stress and increase mental well-being; however, very little research has been done to examine these issues. The current study assessed student opinions regarding the Winter 2018 Reading Break at MacEwan University, with students responding to numerous qualitative and quantitative questionnaire items regarding academic and mental health issues surrounding Reading Break. They also reported their own level of well-being. Data will be analyzed to document students’ opinions regarding various potential advantages and disadvantages of conceptualizing Reading Break as a reprieve from academic activities in the service of mental health, and will also examine whether current level of student well-being is predictive of their opinions toward Reading Break. This research serves as an empirical starting-point for better understanding students’ perspectives of the purpose of Reading Break and, potentially, for initiatives to be taken within universities regarding how Reading Break is conceptualized.
Discipline: Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Andrew Howel
Person-First Language: Does it Matter when Describing Persons Who Sexually Offended?
No full textNegative community attitudes towards persons who have sexually offended may be detrimental to community reintegration. Poor community reintegration is a problem as it is linked to various factors that increase the likelihood that a released person convicted of a sexual offense will commit another crime in the future. Past literature has found that the ‘sex offender’ label serves to exacerbate negative perceptions through perpetuating stereotypes that include ‘all persons who sexually offend are dangerous and incurable.’ Person-first language has begun to replace labels as a means to put the person before the behaviour and lessen the immediate negative response. The aim of this study was to test whether person-first language could result in less negative perceptions made about a fictitious person being released into the community following a conviction for sexual offending. Two hundred and ninety one Canadian participants read one of eight randomly assigned public announcement vignettes and then proceeded to answer questions regarding their perceptions of persons who sexually offend. The results indicate that the Canadian participants continued to endorse negative perceptions of the population irrespective of the label used, suggesting that the labels were not perceived differently. However, when a person-first label was compared to ‘rapist,’ and ‘pedophile,’ participants reported less negative perceptions pertaining to treatment amenability. Implications for how information is disseminated by the media to the public will be discussed.
Discipline: Psychology (Honours)
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Sandy Jun
The Madagascar Hissing Cockroach and Blabericola Migrator Host-Parasite Relationship
No full textHost-parasite relationships are ubiquitous and complex. Parasites have been documented to have multiple effects on host behaviour as well as metabolism. Insects are the most diverse group of animals extant and are known to be parasitized by eugregarines. Eugregarines are single-celled organisms that specialize to the intestinal tracts of different insect species. This study investigates the effects that parasites have on their host\u27s behaviour and metabolism, as well as the general host-parasite relationship. To elucidate the host-parasite relationship, 41 juvenile, male Madagascar hissing cockroaches were observed during individual foraging trials over a 10-minute period, in which they were allowed to traverse an arena with food in the centre. Cockroaches were given the apple for 3 hours in a consumption trial to determine hunger levels, then each cockroach was dissected, and intestinal tracts were examined for the eugregarine parasite Blabericola migrator. Parasite populations were assessed, and each cockroach carcass was subjected to a 1:1 hexane: methanol treatment, to determine the proportion of fat in each carcass. Larger cockroaches consumed more apple and stored more fat, but there was no association between cockroach size and B. migrator population size. Cockroaches with greater infections consumed more apple and stored more fat.
Discipline: Biological Sciences
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Mike Stock & Dr. Kevin Judg
After Supports for Cancer-Bereaved Children: An Analysis of Resources for Children in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
No full textThis study identified 34 psychological resources (26 in Edmonton and 8 in Calgary) of benefit to children and family members who have lost a parent to cancer. Of these resources, 18 were specifically designed for cancer-bereaved children and families while 16 of the resources were more general in scope, targeting bereaved children and families, irrespective of the parent\u27s cause of death. Only 10 resources for cancer-bereaved children were located in Edmonton, stemming from 2 major organizations. These findings indicate that not many organizations, particularly in Edmonton, have resources specifically designed to help bereaving children undergoing the intense manifestation of psychological distresses that may develop from the loss of a parent to cancer.
Discipline: Sociology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Diane Symbaluk
 
Female Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Violence
No full textThe literature on intimate partner violence (IPV) has primarily focused on male perpetrators. Crime statistics and empirical research have shown that females also perpetrate violence against their partners. This presentation investigates the offence, perpetrator, and victim characteristics, as well as the prevalence of risk factors observed in a sample of 45 females who have perpetrated IPV and a matched sample of 45 males (based on age and prior criminal history). Data were obtained from a local police-reported domestic violence sample. The matched group did not differ in risk scores on two measures of IPV risk for recidivism, but had notable differences regarding the use of threats, weapons, and confinement at the index occurrence. Also, demographic differences emerged between the groups regarding their employment status, nature of their criminal histories, and their victims. Implications of these findings will be discussed with regards to identifying gender-specific differences when applying the RNR principles to female IPV perpetrators.
Discipline: Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Sandy Jun
Female Nightmare Protection as a Function of Sex Role Identity and Sex of Experimenter
No full textPrevious research has shown that video-gamer\u27s dreams are associated with less threatening content but also that they often do not consider such dreams to be nightmares, or find them to be scary. It is likely that gamers who play combat-centric action-type video games practice quick reactions that allow them to develop defensive maneuvers, so that when the gamer experiences a chase-type threat in a dream, it is empowering instead of intimidating. The nightmare protection effect has been demonstrated in several correlational and experimental studies, using military-personal and university-age males as participants. With female gamers, the effect is more likely to be present in those that play combat games with high frequency and who identify as more masculine in their sex-role identity. Addressing the limitations of a previous experiment with male-gamers, current and ongoing research is experimentally investigating the nightmare protection effect in university women, as a replication and extension. The current study has two independent variables (computer use and sex of experimenter). The computer use conditions are combat video game play and computer scholarly search task, which serves as a control condition. All research participants are exposed to a frightening film clip and are randomly assigned to play a first-person shooter combat-centric action video game or perform an online computer search task. They are randomly assigned to either a male or female experimenter. We hypothesized that participants playing an action first-person perspective video game, and who identify as more masculine in their sex-role identity, will experience the nightmare protection effect.
Discipline: Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jayne Gackenbac
Mindful Materialists: The Influence of Mindfulness on Materialism
No full textThis study will examine the relationship between mindfulness and materialism, the endorsement of values and goals that focus on gaining possessions. A brief mindfulness induction will be compared to an unfocused attention induction with individuals high and low in materialistic desires. Materialism will be assessed using the Belk Materialism Scale and Material Values Scale. The Mindful Attention Awareness Scale will be administered after the induction as a manipulation check. It is hypothesized that mindfulness induction will have a significant reduction impact on individuals with higher scores of materialism. The mindfulness induction will have little influence on individuals with low scores of materialism. Further, individuals exposed to the unfocused attention will show little change.
Discipline: Psychology (Honours)
Faculty Mentor: Dr. David Watso
Diet of Female and Nesting Saw- whet Owls While In The Nest In Central Alberta
No full textNo abstract available
Discipline: Biological Sciences
Faculty Mentor: Mark Degner & Gordon Youzwyshy
Experimental Typography in a Collaborative Publication. Ophira: Invisible Cities Abridged
No full textIn this experimental typography project, we translated the novel Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino (1972), into layouts that aimed at pushing the boundaries of how we read literature. Each student was assigned to one of the fifty-five cities described in the novel, and to one dialogue between the two protagonists, Marco Polo and Kublai Khan. As we worked with the content of this piece — including a wide range of concepts such as urbanism, linguistics, and human nature — we were encouraged to challenge convention by exploring: alternative ways to organize the page; linear and non-linear representations of the text; the integration of text and image; and the nuisances of written and spoken language through linguistic deconstruction, pace, rhythm, and other techniques.
Discipline: Design Studies
Faculty Mentor: Constanza Pache
Development of Microplastic Identification using Raman Microspectrophotometry
No full textMicroplastics are microscopic particles that range from 0.1µm - 5mm that originate from a variety of sources such as larger plastics that degrade into smaller pieces, microbeads from beauty products, and the fibers from clothes that come off when washing them. Most microplastics end up in the oceans and freshwaters and has the possibility of persisting and affecting the aquatic ecosystem globally. Due to their minute size and unknown or altered composition, microplastics have been difficult to study and there is still no general method to determine their chemical identity. The most common technique involves the visual identification of the microplastics by microscopy. This technique can sometimes lead to misidentification due to the altered composition of the microplastic or the difficulty in differentiating plastics from natural particles. In this study, further verification of the microplastic composition is done using Raman Microspectrophotometry, which allows a direct measurement on the microplastic particles, to further identify their chemical composition and differentiate them from other organic or natural particles. Different variables on the Raman Microspectrophotometry such as laser power, laser wavelength, spectral integration time, and the number of co-additions are optimized to provide the best spectra for microplastic identification. This approach can help identify and quantify the microplastics present in the environment and will be applied to the samples from the North Saskatchewan River and the Arctic.
Discipline: Chemistry
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Matthew Ros