MacEwan Open Journals (MacEwan University)
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Design of A Monitoring System to Track Dragon Boat Performance
No full textDragon boat racing is a sport which has originated in ancient China, and is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. A typical team consists of 20 paddlers working in unison to propel a boat forward in a race against other teams. The main aim of this project is to develop a sensor apparatus that can be mounted onto a paddle to collect data for each paddler\u27s contribution to the overall movement of the boat - assessing the paddler\u27s applied force in the water and their paddle\u27s position through the stroke profile. The collected data can then be analyzed and compared against other paddlers to determine the most efficient course of action.
Discipline: Physics
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Orla Aaquis
Analysis of New Zealand\u27s Electoral System Change
No full textIn 1993 New Zealand held a binding referendum to change the voting system from first past the post (FPP) to mixed member proportional representation (MMP). The referendum was passed in favour of MMP, with 53.9% support. Based on results from the New Zealand Election Study, social, political and ideological factors which influenced voter’s decisions, were identified. Support for the incumbent center-right National Party, opinions on the outcome of an election and how Parliament should be structured, were among the most important factors. Follow up studies should examine the long term impacts on government and voter satisfaction in New Zealand in the 21 years since the first MMP voting system election was held. Based on these results there should also be further studies examining other nations that have changed their voting systems as a result of referendums should be studied
Discipline: Statistics
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Karen Bur
Fragmenting Dominant Coalitions Causing Political Violence: Rwanda and Ethiopia as Limited Access Orders
No full textMainstream political and economic approaches can fall short when applied to unrest in developing countries. Political theories focus on formal arrangements while neglecting informal networks. These networks often are more important in determining political realities in developing societies. They also lack precise criteria of state strength or weakness Fearon and Laitin, 2003. In economic frameworks, a lack of economic opportunity, by state interference, leads to conflict Collier and Hoeffler, 2002. Theories of corruption, rent seeking, and clientelism predict breakdown of social institutions as a direct result of politics hindering market forces Krueger 1974, Hutchcroft 1997, Manzetti and Wilson 2007, Kaufmann 1997. What is missing is a mechanism linking arrangements of political and economic power to the risk of violence. North’s theory of limited access orders (LAO) can provide this framework North et al 2013. This paper will apply North’s LAO theory to two Sub-Saharan African countries, Ethiopia and Rwanda. Both countries exhibit extreme horizontal economic and political inequality due to ethnic domination by a minority. Yet, only in Ethiopia has horizontal inequality led to political instability. This paper finds that the LAO framework useful for identifying institutional factors causing violence. After applying the framework to Ethiopia and Rwanda, the paper concludes that recent political instability in Ethiopia was caused by contradictions between formal political institutions and informal arrangements of power. This contradiction creates opportunities for internal rent seeking. Rwanda has escaped this through formalizing its method of rent seeking and distribution.
Discipline: Political Science
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Andrea Wagne
The effects of cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on sustained attention: Preliminary findings
No full textAlthough the cerebellum is primarily known for its role in motor coordination and motor learning, recent research indicates that it is also involved in cognitive functions such as attention. The current study used a mild brain stimulation technique – transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to further investigate the involvement of the cerebellum in sustained attention using two different sustained attention tasks. Specifically, we were interested in the effects of stimulation to the left lateral cerebellum on the sustained attention to response task (SART), in which participants (currently n=12) must respond (via button press) to the digits 1-9, but not 3, presented in a random continuous sequence on a computer screen. In addition, participants also completed the attentional blink task in which they must detect the presence of either one or two targets within a rapid serial visual presentation. For each task participants completed 3 sessions: sham (no stimulation), cathodal (-), and anodal (+) stimulation. Preliminary results for each task will be presented for this ongoing study.
Discipline: Psychology Honours
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Chris Strieme
Islamophobia
No full textOur group digital story focuses on where the idea of islamophobia comes from. We examine Islamophobia within a North American view. We bring forth the history, and what being muslim really looks like / means and how the refugees are portrayed in the media.
Discipline: Anthropology
Faculty mentor: Leslie Dawso
Utzi the Iceman meets the New Periodic Table!
No full textThe research team at the King’s Centre for Visualization in Science (KCVS) is partnering with an international team of isotope scientists and educators on an International Union of Pure & Applied chemistry (IUPAC) project to create an interactive, electronic version of the newly released IUPAC Periodic Table of the Isotopes and Elements. The purposes of the project are twofold: (a) To disseminate to the science education community an understanding of why thenew IUPAC periodic table (since 2013) no longer has single values for many common elements (such as 1.0079 for Hydrogen), but rather intervals of atomic weights (hydrogen’s atomic weight is now given as an interval [1.007 , 1.009]); and (b) to provide resources for students and educators to explore the importance of isotopic variability, with applications in medicine, forensics, and proxy measurements for climate.
The new interval IUPAC atomic weights complicate life for plug-and-chug calculations for students, but they also present intriguing opportunities for rich and deep education about fundamental ideas related to atoms, isotopes, and atomic weights. In our KCVS electronic resource package, we introduce the electronic periodic table of the elements and isotopesthrough the forensic detective work used on the mummified body of Ötzi the 5300-year old
iceman that was discovered in the Austrian-Italian Alps. Ratios of isotopes of Pb, Sr and O all played a crucial role in providing evidence to forensic scientists about where Ötzi most likely spent his childhood and adult life. Following additional peer review by scientists and educators, the official electronic periodic table will be released in August, 2016, at the International Conference on Chemistry Education in Malaysia.
*Indicates faculty mento
Cost or Benefit? Using Pond Levellers to Mitigate Human-Beaver Conflicts
No full textHuman-wildlife conflicts can create social, economic and environmental issues within protected areas and rural municipalities. Increasingly, parks and rural municipalities are tasked with managing these conflicts, despite sometimes unclear jurisdictional and political boundaries. Wildlife, as a public good, is also highly valued by Albertans for recreational and aesthetic reasons. For this study, we developed a cost-benefit analysis to assess the management of human-beaver conflicts within the Cooking Lake/Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area and Beaver County. Through the installation of pond-levellers and an assessment of their efficacy over several years we were able compare traditional and alternative management approaches. This research provides greater insight into how wildlife are managed at a local park or municipal level and how well these management actions perform relative to economic and ecological metrics.
*Indicates faculty mento
The Effect of a Buyer Agent’s Emotions on a Human Seller
No full textThis talk describes an experiment that develops an understanding of the interactions between humans and computer agents. Prior research on humans interactions with simulated computer emotions indicate a bias by humans on how they engage the computer in a negotiation when they know it’s a computer. When presented with the possibility that they are buying from a human, they exhibit different behaviours. This experiment examines reactions of people selling a product to a computer agent. The participants in this study are part of a selling and negotiation simulation where they are selling a car to the agent. Previous studies indicate that humans respond to the emotions of the computer agent as they would to an average human. That is, the seller concedes faster to an angry agent, and the results of this experiment agree with prior work.
*Indicates faculty mento
Effects of natural soil substrate on greenhouse germination of Pinus flexilis
No full textLimber pine (Pinus flexilis) is an endangered species in Alberta that is affected by an introduced fungus, white pine blister rust. The purpose of this study is to contrast germination on various substrates from two locations that have shown varying field seed regeneration results in past studies. Our study germinated limber pine on natural substrate in the greenhouse after use of a 60-day cold stratification period. Three different natural substrates were used in this study: mineral soil, mineral/scree mixtures and humus, all which originated from sites at the northern and southern Albertan ranges of limber pine habitat. Viability of seeds pre and post planting was determined using cut tests, contrasting stratified and planted seeds with unstratified seeds. Two-way ANOVA analysis was used to determine the effects of the two locations and the differing substrates in the greenhouse. Our ANOVA test determined that soil substrate was the main difference in germination success, with humus as the most successful substrate from northern soils and scree as the most successful from southern soils, and both sites having equally low germination from mineral soils. In conclusion, this study has served to isolate substrate and seedbed effects from two natural habitats of limber pine through greenhouse germination.
*Indicates faculty mentor
Environmental Fate of Popular Anti-Depressant/Anxiety Medication Escitalopram (Lexapro)
No full textSince the official launch of the Mental Health Commission of Canada in 2012, Canada’s first mental health strategy was created. The increase in awareness for mental health has shown that depression/anxiety ranks among the top three illnesses reported; of which 21% of Edmontonians experience in a year. The most common treatment is prescription medication where SSRI antidepressants such as escitalopram (Lexapro) are the bulk of the prescriptions filled. SSRI’s, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, affect the process of returning serotonin to the end of the neuron it comes from by slowing it down. The goal is to build up enough serotonin to set off the impulse in the next neuron, allowing the body to adjust to the reduced amounts of serotonin. Akin to many other prescription drugs which are excreted from the body, the environmental fate of escitalopram becomes a concern to the water ecosystem around Edmonton. Evaluation on the antidepressant escitalopram identifies a potential emission of 0.147 kg per day being released by the depression/anxiety population of Edmonton. A multimedia fugacity model assessed the dispersal and consequence of Escitalopram emissions going through the wastewater treatment facility into the North Saskatchewan River and surrounding environments. The model illustrated that the majority of the antidepressant are deposited in the sediment. The soil and suspended particles receive the next highest percentages. The antidepressant has demonstrated that it has little impact on the non-aqueous phase liquids, and minimal affect on the river bed.
*Indicates faculty mentor