MacEwan Open Journals (MacEwan University)
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Toxic Heavy Metal Removal (of Arsenic, Cadmium, Lead, and Mercury) by Marine Phytoplankton
No full textTwo species of marine phytoplankton, Tetraselmis sp. and Nannochloropsis sp., were grown for six days in 1 ppm solutions of As, Cd, Hg, and Pb, as four individual metal samples and as a four-metal mixture. Tetraselmis sp. cell density was lowest in the four-metal mixture, at 2.385 x 106 cells/mL, indicating growth was partially inhibited by these metals. Nannochloropsis sp. showed a higher overall growth rate, and exhibited the cell density in this combined metal sample at 9.03 x 106 cells/mL. Heavy metal concentrations were analyzed via ICP-OES. Nannochloropsis sp. exhibited the highest biosorption of As, followed by Pb, at concentrations of 18.555 mg/kg and 12.165 mg/kg, respectively. In the four-metal mixture, Nannochloropsis sp. had decreased levels of As and Pb sequestered by cells, implying there was preferential uptake. Levels of Cd were low in the cells of each species. Tetraselmis sp. showed most effective biosorption of Pb, at a concentration of 10.825 mg/kg, and 11.36 mg/kg in the mixed metal samples, but showed unreliable results for other metals samples. Concentrations for Hg were not determined due to machine error. The data suggested that Nannochloropsis sp. is a better phycoremediation candidate for these metals; however, a more comprehensive follow-up study is needed to confirm this assertion.
Discipline: Biology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ross Sha
Interpreting The First and Second Sailings In Plato’s Pheado
No full textIn this essay I will be investigating the first and second sailings in Plato’s Phaedo In order to discover how they function in the text and in relation to one another. I will refer to articles by Julia Annas and James G. Lennox to problematize this issue. These “sailings” are part of Socrates’ attempt at addressing an objection which his interlocutor, Cebes, brings forward against his argument for the immortality of the soul. Socrates does not respond to Cebes’ objection with an argument but with an autobiographical account of his longing as a young man to know “why each thing comes to be, passes away and exists” and his disappointment at the mechanistic 1 methodology that surrounded this inquiry. Socrates appears to make two attempts at addressing his ontological curiosities. He refers to the latter attempt as the second sailing, wherein he proceeds by testing out a hypothesis that “forms” exist and from this Annas and Lennox, infer a first sailing. Julia Annas and James G. Lennox suggest it is not clear why Socrates moves on to this “formal” method to answer his initial question because it is not clear how hypothesizing about forms coheres with the teleological emphasis in the first sailing. I will argue that these two sailings are not presenting two altogether separate models of explaining the natural world, one teleological and the other formal. I will suggest that the second sailing is a second attempt at answering a fundamentally teleological question.
Discipline: Philosophy
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Susan Mill
The Search for Effective Sexual Violence Policies and Programming on Canadian Post-Secondary Campuses: A Student Perspective
No full textSexual violence is one of the few crimes in Canada that has not shown a decrease in numbers to this date. While sexual violence has always been present, and frankly, is endemic on Canadian post-secondary campuses, recently the issue has been receiving closer attention from media. The plethora of information sources forces post-secondary institutions to face the difficult discussion of whether or not their institution should implement a post-secondary level policy on sexual violence, as well as educational programs for students, faculty, and staff. These discussions have led numerous colleges and universities to revisit their sexual violence policies and educational programming or lack thereof partially due to the detrimental health effects that victims of sexual violence face due to a lack of support service(s).The writer seeks to add a student’s voice to the national conversation with respect to sexual violence on Canadian post-secondary campuses. This study examines and analyzes the policy framework that contests the emergence of rape culture within the post-secondary educational landscape through various sociological perspectives. The author also discusses the importance of not only the implementation of effective post-secondary institutional policies and educational programming but also the importance of the campus discussion and campus advertising of the policies and services themselves. This study addresses what needs to be done in order to better guarantee student safety. With proper policies in place, students can ensure that their safety and overall well-being are priorities to the educational governing bodies.
Discipline: Sociology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Korbla Puplamp
Personality and Cognitive Bias
No full textPeople are confident in their opinions, believing that they see events objectively. Because people believe they interpret the world logically and without bias, they conclude that more people agree with their views than actually do – an effect called false consensus. People also believe that those who disagree with them are biased by ideologically extreme beliefs – an effect called false polarization. Past research finds that demonstrating the effects of biased perception through visual illusions instills doubt that one’s perceptions match reality, thereby decreasing confidence in and closed-minded adherence to their views. We examined whether this procedure would reduce the tendency to engage in false consensus and false polarization, and if high scores in certain personality traits could reduce these tendencies. Four hundred and six participants were shown a number of visual illusions, which demonstrated that the brain engages in hidden work that can result in erroneous perception. We were unable to replicate the previous findings that this procedure reduces confidence in one’s beliefs, and as such, this procedure did not reduce the tendency to engage in false consensus or false polarization. The personality variables that were examined are Need for Cognitive Closure (NFCC), Personal Need for Structure (PNFS), and Need for Cognition (NFC). Overall, the effects of personality on the cognitive biases of interest were negligible.
Discipline: Psychology Honours
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Craig Blat
An Investigation Into Predictive Variables of Materialism, Greed, Envy for the Student Body.
No full textThe objective of science is to make sense of the world that surrounds us through fact and reason. When a study is conducted, results should undergo severe scrutiny before being published. A recent survey done at MacEwan University was conducted to determine if eating habits were influenced by envious or materialistic thoughts. Ultimately the study was unable to provide sufficient evidence for the hypothesis. The main conclusion was that priming questions administered in the study were unsuccessful at accomplishing their objective. More careful analysis of the data through categorical means shows that this may not be the only downfall of the study. This paper provides a further in-depth analysis that provides confirmation of the aforementioned statement as well as suggestions to improve the study design. A larger sample is recommended. One study showed promise for demographics that appear to be affected by priming questions. Suggestions are also made for different methods of priming. It is recommended that the original study be repeated to see if changes to the design still fail to provide sufficient evidence of an association between eating habits and materialistic/envious thoughts.
Discipline: Statistics
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Karen Bur
Presidential Foreign Policy Networks: A Social Network Analysis of American Foreign Policy
No full textThis paper applies practice theory to assess the evolution of American foreign policy. It does so by examining the daily schedules of President Truman. Data has been collected from the Truman Presidential Library’s daily appointments calendar. The author has reviewed the daily presidential appointments of President Truman from April 12th, 1945, the day in which President Truman assumed the role of President, to January 20th, 1953, President Truman’s final day in office. The assumption derived from practice theory is that the President will be more willing to talk to dignitaries from states they have strong relationships with, and thus the quantity of interactions will be indicative of an administration’s relationships with other states. This paper uses social network analysis to assess whether the theoretical assumptions of practice theory can effectively capture the expansion of American diplomatic relations in the post-war period described by G John Ikenberry in Liberal Leviathan and Liberal Order and Imperial Ambition.
Discipline: Political Science Honours
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jean-Christophe Bouche
Treatment of perseveration speech in a young adult with Autism Spectrum Disorder
No full textThis study was implemented to evaluate a treatment approach to reduce perseverative speech in a 21 year old adult with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This study is a brief replication of previous literature that shows differential reinforcement (DR) and extinction can be used to increase appropriate speech and decrease perseverative speech. This also intends to extend the previous literature that shows DR and extinction can be used to increase appropriate speech selected by the listener, and decrease perseverative speech. To promote appropriate speech, a turn-taking format was used during sessions while DR of non-perseverative speech and DR of on-topic speech was implemented. The turn taking sessions were presented in a multiple schedule with a discriminative stimulus that signaled the contingencies, and who was to choose the topic. Both treatments reduced perseverative speech, but only DR of on-topic speech increased appropriate turn taking during conversations. There was a rapid increasing trend of appropriate speech contingent on reinforcement, and a rapidly decreasing trend of perseverative speech. The results show that perseverative speech is sensitive to contingent attention as reinforcement, and DR and extinction can markedly reduce this speech.
Discipline: Psychology Honours
Faculty Mentor: Miranda Macaule
Evaluation of XML Instance Generator for Testing of Web Services
No full textXML is one of the standard language for the exchange of data between web applications. As a result of XMLs prominence it is important to test web applications that rely on XML, reducing security threats and bug occurrences during the data exchange process. Existing tools such as ToXgene (Tox XML instance Generator), TAXI (Testing by Automatically generated XML Instances) and AGOXI (Automated Generation Of XML Instances) can be used to automatically generate XML instances from an XML schema, and therefore lower the costs associated with software testing and maintenance. Each of the three XML instance generators were studied and evaluated for efficacy by applying the generators to over 12,000 unique XSDs extracted from external real-world WSDL documents. The XML generators were examined to determine the coverage of the grammatical space and their adequacy to produce valid XML instances. A summary of the capabilities of each XML instance generator is presented.
*Indicates faculty mento
Mere Exposure Effects: Presence of parasitic mites induce a change in the metabolic rate of flies independent of infection
No full textParasites affect host physiology and populations in numerous ways including: increased mortality, decreased fecundity, and changes to host behavior. Many documented effects depend on infection to explain changes, for example: parasite blood feeding, tissue damage, and costs of immune responses. However, the effects that the mere presence of parasites have on their hosts is relatively unexplored. We study a fruit fly - mite model system. Macrocheles Domesticae is an ectoparasite that reversibly attaches to Drosophila Hydei as a means of transportation as well as feeding on host hemolymph. Since flies must move between resource patches, the effects of parasite infection on flight are significant. This system is can be used to illustrate host-parasite dynamics. We take an ecological physiology perspective and link physical changes in organisms to the larger scale processes of ecology; we deploy respirometry to compare energy consumption of flies under various conditions. Carbon Dioxide produced is measured as a flow, and linked to energy consumption by the cellular respiration equation. We hypothesize that host flight will be impaired by infection. Bioenergetic costs of infection imply this effect will be present even if mites are removed prior to flight. Results show that both flies carrying mites, and flies infected prior to flight, both hover for reduced lengths of time. Additionally, both actively resisting mites, as well as mere exposure to them, increases the Carbon Dioxide output of the host. These results have implications for host fitness and energy budgets in both the evolution and ecology of host-parasite interactions.
*Indicates faculty mento
MacEwan University Wi-Fi Analysis
No full textMacEwan Unversity has recently upgraded its wireless infrastructure on campus. The goal was to determine whether or not wireless bandwidth speeds were consistent across an area of the school, and if they were not, which areas had the strongest and weakest connections. The results could be taken as a reflection of the new system’s effectiveness and coverage. To assess wireless bandwidth speeds, both the upload and download speeds were measured across regions of the campus library using the mobile app Speedtest.net by Ookla which downloads chunks of data to a mobile device to measure connection speed. To ensure that the samples were representative, speeds were measured through various times of the day and different days of the week. These temporal dimensions were used as blocks in the experimental design. Preliminary data collection also indicated a significant difference in mobile device used, and so the use of either Apple’s iPhone 6 or Samsung’s Galaxy S3 was also selected as a block in order to prevent the age of the device becoming a nuisance factor in the experiment. In the end, the results indicated that wireless speeds were inconsistent across the library. The results provided a heat map which showed that some areas had a significantly higher bandwidth speed than other areas. The results of this study could be used to plan future changes to wireless router layout and influence new infrastructure decisions. In addition, the research methodology could be further developed and extended to any Wi-Fi or cellular service.
*Indicates faculty mento