MacEwan Open Journals (MacEwan University)
Not a member yet
2252 research outputs found
Sort by
Queer Characters Impact on Video Games: Comparing Warzone and Apex Legends
No full textThe inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters in video games remains a topic of debate among game developers and their audiences. This study will investigate how a video game with queer characters affects players\u27 experiences, particularly the experiences of LGBTQ+ players. Through survey and content analysis methods, this research study will compare two video games: Call of Duty: Warzone, a game with zero LGBTQ+ characters, and Apex Legends, a game with seven LGBTQ+ characters, to determine if there is a visible difference in players’ experiences.
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Lucille Mazo 
Exploring Music Generation with Magenta
No full textMagenta is a research project developed by Google that explores the role of machine learning in creating art and music. Primarily this involves developing new deep learning and reinforcement learning algorithms (Magenta 2020a). In addition, Magenta provides tools for managing and manipulating music/image data. This project will focus on using various Magenta models, specifically RNNs and autoencoders, which take symbolic music data as input to generate new samples. The goal is to give musicians another outlet for creativity, allowing them to create variations on existing MIDI data or generate new data.
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Dana Cobzas 
Multicommodity Flow Reliability for Energy Harvesting Wireless Sensor Networks
No full textIn this paper, we consider energy harvesting wireless sensor networks (EH-WSN) with multiple sinks that supports multiple concurrent applications. Each application is associated with a number of sensor nodes that generate and send traffic to the application associated sink. Each node can relay any application traffic towards the application sink. In addition, each node uses an energy management unit to control the amount of traffic that the node can relay based on its available energy. To model the fluctuations of the nodes’ energy levels, we formalize a multicommodity flow reliability problem (denoted MultiFlowRel) that calls for estimating the likelihood that at least certain amount of each application traffic is delivered to the associated application sink. We show that our proposed problem is #P-hard and propose a bounding framework for deriving lower bounds for the exact reliability solutions. Numerical results show the performance of our proposed framework and its use in solving some interesting network design problems (e.g. optimal sink locations and appropriate transmission parameters).
Index Terms—Energy harvesting wireless sensor network, network reliability, energy management, multipurpose wireless sensor networks, iterative methods, probabilistic graphical mod- els
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Mohammed Elmorsy 
Affective Adaptations: Stephen King from the page to the Screen
No full textIn an effort to highlight how and why so many adaptations seem to fail utterly, I\u27ve been focusing on exploring three adaptations of Stephen King that, I believe, typify three different relationships of affect as pertains to cinematic adaptations of horror novels. King is my case study as one of, if not the most, adapted author in living memory, as well as one of the most widely read.
Faculty Mentors: Dr. Joshua Toth & Dr. Mike Perscho
Children\u27s Rights: Focusing on How Consent and Inclusion Affect Participation
No full textInspired by Alberta’s focus on children’s right to participate for National Child Day 2022, this research examines children’s participation, narrowing in on the interplay between participation, consent, and inclusion. This research started as a group assignment for ECCS 260: Family and Community Issues and was later presented at a province-wide professional conference for early childhood educators. Components of this research have been further celebrated through winning a national essay contest which will lead to publication. The findings highlight the importance of empowering children through the education of their rights and promoting their active participation in society. This research confirms the importance of consent, body autonomy, and boundaries regarding children’s right to participate fully in society, while also examining how we can be inclusive with all children, regardless of exceptionalities. When children are consent educated and empowered to recognize that they are genuinely valued, they are better equipped to actively engage in society.
Faculty Mentor: Carolyn Parkes 
Round table with Empeños/Trials artists
No full textIn this round table, Mexican theatre practitioners will discuss their performance and the student members will discuss the process of translation. Note that this is attached to the presentation of the theatre piece that Dr. Cowling is hosting. Dr. Cowling has been in touch with the research office about the possible timing of this event.
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Erin Cowling 
The Heroic Love of Socrates
No full textThis reflective essay draws upon mythical heroes in Plato\u27s dialogues to distinguish the role of love in Socrates\u27 philosophical approach to death. By comparing the mythic "labours" of heroes who also risked death, the essay emphasizes that while Socrates shares some interesting parallels, his philosophizing is unique because it arises out of love. In examining Socrates\u27 love, his calmness in facing death springs from his humility in not presuming ultimate proofs or wisdom. In the dialogues, Socrates approaches death with calmness and hope. Like the heroes, the gods bid him to risk death in performing a "labour." Distinct from heroes, however, Socrates sees this labour as philosophy. The essay argues that Socrates\u27 love interplays with the ignorance of ultimate truths. Socrates ignorance and lack of absolute proof of death, truth, and moral goodness allow him to seek wisdom lovingly by caring for everyone. By examining Socrates\u27 uniqueness within the context of mythic themes, the role of love in caring for everyone\u27s moral well-being is exemplified by Socrates\u27 labour and is central to philosophy. The essay finds that Socrates\u27 example of loving wisdom by caring for others and discussing virtue, yet lacking proof, allows him to embody a calm hope even towards death. In short, Socrates can love wisdom, care for everyone\u27s well-being, and seek moral goodness, as humans lack ultimate goodness. In not assuming proof or wisdom, Socrates can pursue this love by caring for others, rousing them to care for their moral well-being and love truth.
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Cyrus Panjvani 
The influence of social media on the alcohol consumption of mothers of children less than or equal to 18 years of age: a scoping review of the literature
No full textProblematic alcohol consumption is common in many countries, where alcohol consumption is commonly interpreted as a fun and leisurely activity for mothers to engage in to cope with with challenges associated with motherhood. However, a significant amount of social media content promotes maternal drinking habits, which is speculated to increase maternal alcohol consumption worldwide. This scoping review investigated social media content aimed towards mothers of children and teenagers younger than eighteen. The databases PsycINFO, CINAHL, SocINDEX, Medline, and Academic Search Complete were analyzed for evidence of social media influencers on motherhood alcohol consumption. Results show that factors related to alcohol consumption in motherhood include community and social support, coping and mental health, motherhood expectations and identity, alcohol consumption, marketing strategies, everyday issues, and social media influence. Thus, the current literature reveals the shared social media content that normalizes maternal drinking behaviors. Future studies should investigate long-term impacts of alcohol consumption during motherhood and sociocultural and health implications related to women\u27s alcohol consumption.
Faculty Mentors: Dr. Emilene Reisdorfer, Dr. Maryam Nesari, Dr. Kari Krell, Sharon Johnston, Randi Ziorio Dunlop, Andrea Chute, & Dr. Fernanda dos Santos Nogueira de Goe
Investigating Black Women’s Work Experiences in Canada: An Undergraduate Student’s Perspective
No full textInterpersonal mistreatment at the workplace is an issue that is talked about a lot and has caught the attention of many researchers over time. But another issue that often goes unnoticed is the mistreatment of visible minorities, especially Black Women, in the work-place. Even fewer studies explore the connection between mistreatment and its effects on mental health. This project investigates black women’s work experiences in Canada with a particular focus on their experiences of interpersonal mistreatment at work. Interpersonal mistreatment at the workplace is an ongoing research area where scholars continue to explore the antecedents and outcomes of mistreatment at work. In this study, I share my experience on conducting research to explore if Black women experience interpersonal mistreatment in Canada. I present my experience in a narrative form, from conducting interviews, literature reviews, contacting participants, to transcribing interviews. I will express my views on the matter as a black woman and an undergraduate student in Canada.
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Theresa Chika-James 
Microplastic Ingestion in Arctic Zooplankton Species
No full textPlastic pollution serves a threat to marine ecosystems as it poses a risk for entanglement, causes destruction of natural habitats, and can cause adverse effects when ingested by organisms. Recently the focus has been on microplastic pollutants, which are pieces of plastic debris ranging from 1 μm to 5 mm and not visible to the naked eye. Microplastics are ingested by zooplankton, which represent the base of the arctic food web and therefore serve an important species to monitor microplastic uptake. This project investigates microplastic levels in several species of marine zooplankton collected from various locations within the Canadian Arctic. We predict microplastics such as polyethylene and other synthetic polymers will be present within bulk and five individual species of Arctic zooplankton. The samples were rinsed with filtered water to ensure microplastics on the surface of the specimens were removed in order to accurately examine ingested material. After rinsing, the zooplankton samples were digested using 20% KOH on a heating block with magnetic stirrers for 24- 48 hours to break down tissue and the exoskeleton. Samples were filtered using a vacuum filtration setup and rinsed with ethanol to remove remaining KOH and breakdown lipids. Microplastics will be characterized based on their color, size, and morphology, and will undergo Raman Spectroscopy, which is used for microplastic identification. The importance of identifying ingested microplastics within zooplankton is to determine how prevalent microplastics are within marine habitats and this work will also serve to establish baseline data for further monitoring in the region.
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Matthew Ross