MacEwan Open Journals (MacEwan University)
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Comparing the Role of the Outsider in Beowulf and Marie de France’s Lanval
No full textThe character of the outsider can be identified in a diverse range of medieval works, including the Old English heroic epic and the Middle English lai. Indeed, both Beowulf and Marie de France’s Lanval prominently feature characters who are outsiders, although these characters are presented quite differently within each work. In Beowulf, the characters of Grendel and his mother are outsiders with respect to the heroic society of Beowulf and his kingdom, and in Lanval, Marie de France’s titular character begins his lai in a melancholic state as he struggles to understand why his king neglects him and favours the other retainers. While both of these works feature outsiders, though, the reasons why they are outcast from their respective societies are quite different. Grendel and his mother are outcast because they are descendants of Cain, whose bloodline God condemned after Cain killed his brother Abel. As a method of taking vengeance for his exclusion, Grendel attacks the court of King Hrothgar every night for many years, killing as many of Hrothgar’s loyal retainers as he possibly can. Conversely, Marie de France does not suggest that Lanval bears any similar condemnation; instead, she indicates that he is unjustly cut from society because his king forgets him and the other retainers are jealous of him. Despite these differences between Grendel and Lanval, both characters function to comment upon the nature of their respective civilizations; however, where Grendel effectively reaffirms the importance of the hall and the king’s relationship with his retainers, Lanval does the opposite, and instead serves to question whether life in King Arthur’s court actually benefits those who live within it
Cults: To Be or Not to Be : Exploring the Topic of Cults Within Anthropology
No full textDespite the significance of cults as a social group in other disciplines, anthropologists have paid little attention to these sub-cultures as a viable area of research. Social scientists in other disciplines, such as sociology and psychology, have explored cults as a social and mental phenomenon; yet, anthropological investigations tend to be limited to studying cargo cults outside North America. Sociologists have defined and categorized cults in numerous ways: as a social movement or a religious movement. In this presentation, I hypothesize that anthropologists do not study cults due to their methodological practices and theoretical approach to working with communities.
Presented in absentia on April 27, 2020 at "Student Research Day" at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta. (Conference cancelled)
Faculty Mentor: Jennifer Long
Department: Anthroplogy
NOTE: This work is available to MacEwan users only at https://roam.macewan.ca/islandora/object/gm:206
"Down in the Weeds" LP
No full text"Down in the Weeds" is a 12 song cycle that uses Western Canadian identity and geography to talk about relationships, isolation, and how we connect with the past. Within it lies stories about depression era farmhouses, prairie revolutionaries, and hollowed out towns, scored with lush, and often noisy arrangements. The record plays with a combination of contemporary and more anachronistic recording techniques, and features recordings made on two-track tape, cassette tape, iPhone, and in a conventional studio setting. I wrote, produced, and performed on the whole record, with Riley Chernoff on drums (as well as a couple writing credits), and a vast number of my fellow MacEwan students contributing to every track (including a cover designed by MacEwan Fine Arts alumni Kyra Heneghan-Smith). It was recorded almost entirely in Studio A & B at Allard Hall, with sessions taking place as part of regular coursework, as well as a full week spent in the Summer of 2019 finishing them up (thanks to funding from the USRI grant).
Presented in absentia on April 27, 2020 at "Student Research Day" at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta. (Conference cancelled.)
Faculty Mentor: Paul Johnston
Department: Music
NOTE: This work is available as an abstract only. 
Comparing Species Assemblages of Deposited Epiphytic and Benthic Foraminifera in North Sound, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
No full textTropical islands that are in the paths of tropical storms need large sandy shores to protect inland settlements and habitats. The balance between gains and losses of sediment along shorelines (sediment budget) is, especially in areas like the Cayman Islands without major rivers or other inflows of new sediment, often made up almost entirely of the shells and tests of marine organisms. In North Sound, most of the sediment is generated from the shells of bivalves, gastropods and foraminifera, the latter of which can be found crusting on sea grasses or on the sea floor.
In this project, samples from two sediment cores taken from different locations in North Sound were examined, and the species assemblages compared. Core B15 is closer to the coral reef fringing North Sound, and so was expected to have more reef-dwelling foraminifera than core B9, which is farther from the reef and closer to the inland shore. The locations are also affected by different water circulation patterns, varying inputs of fresh seawater from the ocean and different current speeds.
The results were not as expected, with core B9 actually containing more reef-dwelling species than core B15. Potential explanations for this include B9 being in an area with a slower current, allowing more of the foraminifera to settle, and inversely the same foraminifera being swept away from the B15 position. B15 also had far more shells from other invertebrates such as bivalves, which suggests it may be more nutrient rich.
Presented in absentia on April 27, 2020 at "Student Research Day" at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta. (Conference cancelled.)
Faculty Mentor: Hilary Corlett
Department: Earth and Planetary Sciences
NOTE: This work is available as an abstract onl
Blasé Attitude, Hyperreality, and Social Media
No full textThough there is much to gain through technological development, it is also necessary to critique the ubiquitous presence of devices in social life and the overstimulation they bring. The increasing mediation of reality through applications such as Instagram could blur the division between the ‘real’ world of everyday life and a ‘hyperreality’ fostered by such applications. Using concepts from theorists Jean Baudrillard and Georg Simmel, this paper presents a critique of the overstimulation of information through social media. With continuous and repetitive material being recycled online, it is discussed how a blasé attitude is used to protect oneself from being informationally overwhelmed.  
Thematic Patterns on the Novel Coronavirus Epidemic in Canadian News
No full textA content analysis of Canadian news articles was conducted to examine thematic patterns of coronavirus (COVID-19). Fifty articles were selected on Facebook from five Canadian national news channels, CBC News, CTV, Global News, Huffington Post, and The Globe and Mail. These were selected based on two keywords: coronavirus and COVID-19. Eight thematic categories were established based on keywords. The eight categories were: (1) support, (2) control, (3) health, (4) economy, (5) other countries, (6) government, (7) explanation, (8) industry. The most prevalent themes were government (23%) and health (23%). These results indicate Canadian News presents COVID-19 as a serious health-risk and discusses how the Canadian government is responding to the epidemic. 
The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Content Analysis of the Most Prominent Subject Matter Discussed in CBC News Articles
No full textThe present study examined the most prominent subject matter in CBC news articles during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The sample was collected through a google web search that read “COVID-19 AND Coronavirus AND CBC news articles AND Alberta.” The 50 most recent news articles that appeared in this search and contained “COVID-19” or “Coronavirus” in relation to Alberta in the article headline were sampled. The article headlines were individually analyzed in a first-phase coding process and then re-examined for common themes. A qualitative content analysis determined that the most prominent subject matter in CBC news articles was statistics (50%) followed by general updates (22%), COVID-19 information (14%), current events (6%), and regulations (4%). An additional category titled ‘other’ (4%) was created for articles with subject matter that was unrelated to these themes. The analysis found that the most prominent news content in CBC news articles was related to fear inducing information which replicates the results from earlier studies on the H1N1 pandemic in 2009.  
Does chondroitin sulphate act as an ‘alarm cue’ in zebrafish?
No full textZebrafish are aquatic organisms that are capable of detecting the injury of others in their species via an olfactory ‘alarm cue’ that is released by injured fish. Chondroitin sulphate, a chemical compound extracted from shark cartilage, has recently been identified as a possible ‘alarm cue’. The aim of this study was to determine whether, and at which concentration, chondroitin sulphate could induce a behavioural response. This was assessed via a dose-response curve in which fish were dosed with varying concentrations of chondroitin sulphate (1, 10, and 100 mg/L), and tested in an open field test followed by a novel object approach test. We assessed the time fish spent in certain zones within the testing arena, the distance each fish moved, and the amount of time fish was immobile. There was a significant increase in the time fish in the 1 mg/L and 100 mg/L groups spent in the thigmotaxis zone during the novel object approach test in comparison to the control condition. This suggests an increase in anxiety-like behaviour with certain doses of chondroitin sulphate.
Faculty Mentors: Trevor Hamilton and Michele Moscicki
Department: Psychology
 
DMSO Treatment of K562 Cells to Induce Erythrocytic Differentiation Increases γ-Globin Expression and Inhibits Apoptosis
No full textThe overall objective of this study was to test if a 210mM concentration of DMSO can induce erythrocytic differentiation in K562 leukemia cells. Verification of erythrocytic differentiation was attempted using multiple experiments that compare characteristic differences found in induced versus uninduced K562 cells, including a growth curve measuring cell growth, benzidine staining to measure hemoglobin expression, an agarose gel electrophoresis to detect levels of gamma-globin RNA expression, a western blot to detect levels of Hbγ and Hbα protein expression, and a caspase-3 colorimetric apoptosis assay to detect levels of apoptosis. The growth curve and agarose gel did not indicate significant differences in DMSO-treated or untreated K562 cells in terms of growth or γ-globin RNA expression. However, the western blot and benzidine staining experiments did indicate greater expression of Hbγ + Hbα and hemoglobin, respectively, in the DMSO-treated K562 cells versus the untreated K562 cells. Unexpectedly though, the capase-3 assay showed a greater colorimetric response from untreated K562 cells versus DMSO-treated K562 cells. The results from these experiments provided evidence at the protein level that a 210 mM DMSO treatment of K562 cells was effective in inducing erythrocytic differentiation, while also inhibiting apoptosis of those treated cells.
Faculty Mentors: Nina Bernstein and Kimberley Harcombe
Department: Biological Scienc
Women Who Feed the World
No full textThe Women Who Feed the World doll collection was inspired by Trina Moyles’ Women Who Dig: Farming, Feminism, and the Fight to Feed the World. Each doll and their respective box is an embodiment of the hardships, oppression, and injustices that women working in agriculture face around the world. This project was designed to demonstrate how racial hierarchies within social research can be diminished through the power of a simple story. Each doll is dressed in traditional clothing and accompanied by a staple crop produced by their country. The quotes and pictures covering the boxes aim to humanize the women whose stories are being told. This collection, at the very least, has the ability to spark the conversation about globalization and its harmful effects on the food industry.
Faculty Mentor: Kathryn Holland
Department: Psycholog