MacEwan Open Journals (MacEwan University)
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COVID-19 and the Rise of the Conspiracy: Examination of COVID Related Conspiracies Using Durkheimian Concepts
No full textThis paper examines the rise of COVID-19 related conspiracy theories through a Durkheimian lens. Specifically, Durkheim’s concepts of anomie, collective consciousness, and religion can be useful in interpreting the increased participation in conspiracy theory groups. It examines how social distancing measures and government restrictions have led to increased anomie, and how conspiracy theory groups have been used to mitigate this anomic state by introducing shared beliefs and norms. These groups have also created opportunities for people to come together physically and virtually, sharing common beliefs and goals creating a distinct collective consciousness. This paper also focuses on social media’s role in perpetuating conspiracy theories and how online communities create an environment where it becomes difficult to decipher fact from fiction. It also focuses on how online communities foster group cohesion in a virtual environment. In addition, the paper also likens conspiracy groups to religious ones using Émile Durkheim’s definition
The Wolf in the Woods: Ontological Concerns in Empire of Wild
No full textA close reading of the cause and treatment of lycanthropy in Cherie Dimaline\u27s Empire of Wild is used to discuss differences between Indigenous and Western views on justice, community, monstrosity, and human nature. Utilizing Rupert Ross\u27s Returning to the Teaching: Exploring Aboriginal Justice to provide first-hand understanding of Indigenous justice concepts, Empire of Wild uses myth to provide a moral impetus for community-driven justice models. This paper looks at how myth is integrated into the story, how it differs from other lycanthrope myths, and what the ramifications of that difference means for both the plot and message of Empire of Wild
Gender, Death and Dying in Medieval Europe
No full textThis presentation will examine three medieval mystics; Hadewijch, Marguerite Porete, and Meister Eckhart; Christian mystics who wrote about death during the high and late Middle Ages, specifically the idea of self-annihilation. And how this idea was influenced and influenced gender in Medieval Europe. These three mystics share many similarities as they all dealt with the idea of self-annihilation, albeit in different way, and they all wrote and or preached in the vernacular of the area in which they lived. Despite the similarities between these figures they each came to a very different fate. This presentation will explore why that was the case, the difference in their ideas and how these ideas were influenced by gender.
Department: History
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Sean Hanna
Development of a Problem-Solving Model from a Multi-Disciplinary PerspectiveDevelopment of a Problem-Solving Model from a Multi-Disciplinary PerspectiveDevelopment of a Problem-Solving Model from a Multi-Disciplinary Perspective
No full textProblem-solving is used every day, in almost every aspect of our normal lives. It’s not really thought about much, it is just done naturally. In the fields of engineering, education, medicine, philosophy, psychology, and business, experts will spend months, years, even lifetimes attempting to solve large and complex problems. This research looks not into solving these problems, but instead takes a step back and peers deeper into the process with which these problems are solved. Nvivo qualitative text analysis software was used to compare and contrast previous research that has been done into problem-solving across each of the disciplines mentioned above. Papers were separated manually into their various disciplines based on titles, journals, and keywords found in abstracts, in addition to being separated by decade. The papers were then analyzed using this software in order to find information such as word frequency in order to compare common themes and wording found within previous research done on ‘problem-solving\u27 for each discipline. These results were analyzed in order to make qualitative conclusions, such as noting key similarities and differences between the disciplines of interest. It is hoped that this research may be used in the future to further compare how various disciplines go about the process of problem-solving, in order to ultimately optimize how problem-solving is done across all disciplines.
Department: Engineering
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jeffrey Davi
Comparing Multiclass AUC ROC Methods
No full textStatistical models are commonly used to predict the outcome of events in a wide variety of fields such as health, finance, and business. Evaluation metrics are used to assess the effectiveness of these predictive models. One classification evaluation metric, called the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve has several useful properties, such as being threshold agnostic and can manage class imbalance where the outcomes are not equally represented. Despite the usefulness of the ROC curve, there is not a standard approach to extend to curve to multiclass problems. The purpose of this project was to evaluate multivariate ROC curve implementations with various underlying class proportions and degrees of separation. The methods we evaluated include the Macro, Micro, and Weighted average for one versus rest comparisons as well as the Hand and Till (HT) method. We compared the methods on simulated data with balanced, unbalanced and strongly unbalanced class proportions in combination with no separation, small separation, and large separation between classes. We found the methods were significantly different when class proportions were either unbalanced or severely unbalanced and the distributions were either separated or strongly separated (n=100, p<0.01). Pairwise comparisons found that HT and Macro were significantly different than Micro and Weighted (n=100, p<0.01). This study demonstrates that some of the AUC ROC methods differ depending on the class proportions and underlying distributions. The findings from this project may help practitioners select the most appropriate method according to their goals.
Department: Computer Science
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Wanhua S
Undergraduate Student Experience of COVID-19 Anxiety: : Opinions, Dysfunctional Beliefs, and Anxiety Symptoms
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic is an international health crisis that has changed the experience of undergraduate students across Canada. As of February 23rd, 2021, Canadian officials have reported over 800 thousand cases and 21 thousand deaths due to COVID-19.
Department: Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Alexander Penne
Individual Identification in American Pika
No full textOur research will focus on mammal communication by exploring the specific use of vocalizations in the American pika (Ochotona princeps). Past research indicates that pika produce squeak calls containing cues to individual identity that aid in territory protection. We will be recording pika vocals from a population of individuals in the Highwood region of Kananaskis, AB. Calls will be recorded and detailed playbacks conducted to understand how call structure affects response in listeners. In other words do pika recognize different individuals by sound alone. Because pika live in high alpine scree locations they are key indicators of the effects of climate change. Therefore, any exploration into their behaviour may aid in understanding the potential effects of climate change on this species and perhaps alpine species more generally.
Department: Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Shannon Digwee
Can Stalking Be Used as a Risk Factor in Predicting Rates, Severity, and Frequency of Intimate Partner Violence Recidivism?
No full textResearch has indicated that stalking is a prevalent crime in North America. Despite this concern, the current laws do not adequately protect victims from stalking recidivism. This contributes to victims often being revictimized. Moreover, victims may experience many detrimental concerns, particularly prolonged psychological and social problems. Stalking-related behaviours have also been associated with intimate partner violence (IPV). Specifically, stalking victims are at risk of experiencing more severe physical violence from a former partner. Although there are many validated IPV risk assessment tools such as the Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment (ODARA), stalking risk tools have been found to be moderate, at best, in terms of their psychometric properties. The aim of this study is to examine whether IPV perpetrators who have stalked their victims differ from those who do not stalk in terms of recidivism risk, rates, frequency, and severity. Additionally, we examine whether stalking can be used as a risk factor to better predict the time until recidivism occurs. This study initially included 249 IPV cases that were reported to police in 2017. One hundred of these cases were selected for follow-up and were coded for recidivism outcomes. Results indicate that those who stalk differ on some recidivism variables from those who do not stalk. Moreover, the addition of stalking as a risk factor to the validated risk tool, ODARA, did not incrementally improve prediction of the time until recidivism occurred. The implications of these findings will be discussed.
Department: Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Sandy Jun
Can singing help me relax? The effect of music on perceived stress
No full textListening to music can induce relaxation, especially when participants select their own preferred music. However, the role of singing in relaxation is less clear. Some studies have examined group singing, or used singing to induce stress, but it remains unclear if singing in the absence of social stressors can decrease perceived stress. The current study examined this question. Participants (N = 392) rated their current mood before and after a stress inducing reflection task, then were randomly assigned to one of four music interventions: singing vs. listening to a self-selected vs. experimenter-selected song. Following this, participants completed another mood rating, along with questionnaires assessing musical sophistication, personality, demographics, and experience during the intervention. Results revealed a larger decrease in stress after singing compared to listening, although stress decreased significantly in both cases (both ps < .001). Our findings suggest that under certain conditions, singing may be slightly more effective than music listening for stress relief, and that the greatest decreases in stress occur for liked songs. This research is not only beneficial to students managing stress, but has implications for the wider population handling stress during the pandemic. An additional exploratory study examined arts-engagement during COVID-19 and its relationship to stress, anxiety, and coping strategies. Most participants (95.7%) engaged with the arts; relaxation being the most commonly reported feeling (82%). Increases in stress and anxiety correlated with the use of avoidant coping (both ps < .01), but not approach or arts coping. Future directions of these findings will be discussed.
Department: Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kathleen Corrigal
Exploring How Agentic and Antagonistic Narcissism Affects Scene Recognition
No full textPeople have the ability to rapidly recognize visual scenes, even when they cannot recognize individual objects within the scene itself. This is supported by global properties of the scene (e.g., scene background) rather than the objects within the scene (e.g., fine grained details). However, the information an individual remembers and attends to within a scene (e.g., people vs. objects) may differ based on their narcissistic tendencies. Previous research has shown that grandiose narcissists have an analytic perceptual style, such that they are better at disembedding visual information from its context than non-narcissists. Here, we focused on agentic narcissists (i.e., those who use self-promoting strategies to obtain social admiration) and antagonistic narcissists (i.e., those who use self-protection strategies to prevent social failure) ability to remember information in scenes. In Study 1, we examined whether agentic and antagonistic narcissists have a better memory for indoor scenes (with or without people) compared to their non-narcissistic counterparts. In Study 2, we investigated narcissists\u27 ability to remember details from scenes (i.e., background objects vs. foreground objects; people vs. objects). Participants completed a basic recognition memory paradigm for the scenes itself (Study 1) or specific details within the scene (Study 2). Individuals high in narcissistic admiration better remembered scenes containing people and exhibited a preference for objects located in the foreground compared to those low in narcissistic admiration. These findings were unrelated to narcissists’ analytic perceptual style, however. This research helps identify how narcissists perceive and organize information in their environment and how it differs from their less narcissistic counterparts.
Department: Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Miranda Giacomi