MacEwan Open Journals (MacEwan University)
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Dental anxiety reduction: physical touch and weighted lead vest
No full textDental anxiety is considered the negative emotional state produced by the psychological response to uncomfortable or unpleasant stimuli. Individuals who suffer from dental anxiety tend to avoid seeking dental treatment. This often results in dental issues that lead to symptom-driven treatment which in turn increase the patients’ level of dental anxiety. A shoulder touch from a registered dental assistant (RDA) during the administration of local anesthetic for erupted third molar extractions is predicted to decrease anxiety more than a lead vest worn during administration. Participants will be randomly assigned into one of three conditions. The control group will have no intervention applied, the dentist (DDS) and RDA will proceed through administration of local anesthetic as they normally do within their practice. Participants in experiment group 1 will receive a moderate pressure shoulder touch by the RDA while the DDS is administering the anesthetic. Experimental group 2 will wear a lead vest during the administration of local anesthetic. All groups will be assessed pre and post-op using the modified dental anxiety scale (MDAS) to determine if the experimental groups have lower dental anxiety compared to the control group. It is predicted that physical touch will reduce anxiety in dental patients more than those in the control and lead vest groups. If the results demonstrate there is a greater reduction in anxiety with physical touch, an inexpensive and simple way to help decrease dental anxiety in patients will be identified.
Faculty Mentor: Sean Rogers
Department: Psychology (Honours
Reactions to the Opioid Crisis: Content Analysis of Public Responses
No full textA content analysis was conducted on comments from a Facebook post made by CBC Calgary addressing the wrapping of the Calgary LRT for an opioid crisis campaign at a cost of $700,000. The fifty most popular comments were examined and three overall themes surfaced: positive, negative and undetermined standpoints. Most comments were negative suggesting a lack of understanding of the opioid crisis within the general public. Findings support the need for further awareness within the public, and additional research on prescription and non-prescription opioids and their uses.
Faculty Mentor: Diane Symbaluk
Department: Sociolog
Adding Value to Waste Agricultural Plastics in Alberta
No full textThis project revolves around microwave pyrolysis of plastic waste to generate valuable products such as fuels and char.
Faculty Mentor: Samuel Mugo
Department: Economic
Exploring Social Media Sharing: The Nature of Private Information Shared by Instagram Users
No full textThis research explores the nature of social media sharing of personally identifiable information on Instagram by conducting a content analysis on a total of ten profiles and five posts per profile, selected randomly. Data was categorized by three methods of information sharing: profile, captions, and posts containing images or videos. Fourteen themes were discovered for sharing in profiles and captions, while fifteen were found for images and videos. Results showed users were most likely to share information in their profile (64.1%) and most commonly shared their gender presentation, face, and location. This supports previous research concerning privacy and security risks from social media sharing, indicating that these concepts need to be re-evaluated in order to maintain cyber security.
Faculty Mentor: Diane Symbaluk
Department: Sociology
 
Comparison of Travellers Experiences through Anthropological Theory
No full textThis is an exploration of the Chinese-Taiwanese experience of migration through the use of the data set, Far Travelers, when compared against the theories of Postmodernism and Culture and Personality found in anthropology.
Faculty Mentor: Jennifer Long
Department: Anthropology
 
Baby It’s Cold Outside: Use and Interpretation of Sexual Coercion in Relation to Psychopathic Traits
No full textResearch has demonstrated that psychopathic traits are associated with risk taking spread across a variety of domains. One domain concerns sexual risk-taking, usually conceptualized as unsafe sex and promiscuity. However, psychopaths also may engage in sexual violence, including the use of coercive tactics in order to obtain sex. The present study was designed in two parts (counterbalanced) to further our understanding of the relation between psychopathic traits and sexual coercion. Part 1 will investigate the association between psychopathic traits, sexual risk, and use of both overt (e.g., using physical force, use of drugs or alcohol) and covert (e.g., massaging, sweet talking, guilt-tripping) sexual coercion strategies. Part 2 will examine whether psychopathic traits alter perceptions of sexual coercion. In particular, participants will be presented with a vignette that varies according to the level of sexual coercion (low/high), type of sexual coercion (verbal/physical/both), and whether sexual consent was granted following the use of these strategies or not. Following the vignette, participants will be asked to complete a judgment questionnaire concerning perceptions of consent, level of violence/coercion, criminal culpability, guilt, and sentencing severity. We predict that psychopathic traits will be associated with greater endorsement of use of sexual coercion, and a response pattern that indicates minimization of violence and blame for the vignettes.
Faculty Mentor: Kristine Peace
Department: Psychology (Honours
Investigating Critical Thinking, Pseudoscientific Beliefs, and Scientific Literacy in Elementary School Students
No full textThe importance of critical thinking and the ability to differentiate falsehood from fact is difficult to discount. By having these skills, individuals are less susceptible to circumstances like malicious interests, scams, and exaggerated claims. Previous research studying pseudoscientific beliefs and scientific literacy in adults indicates that despite receiving an education in science and the social sciences in elementary, junior high, and high school, pseudoscientific thinking persists and is common amongst post-secondary students. Furthermore, research shows that participation in an intervention where pseudoscientific principles are presented and debunked is effective in reducing pseudoscientific thinking. This study aims to understand the current level of scientific competency in elementary school children and create an intervention to increase scientific literacy and skepticism within that grade group. One of the goals of this research is to create an educator resource so that pseudoscientific principles can be better incorporated into elementary science education.
Faculty Mentor: Rodney Schmaltz
Department: Psychology (Honours
Using Dick Jokes to Parody Masculinity
No full textA brief glimpse into the influence of The Lonely Island, gender and race politics, and the use of yacht culture in their music video for "I\u27m on a Boat."
Faculty Mentor: Michael B. Macdonald
Department: Music
 
Trump Grand Strategy
No full textWithin the last decade, international leaders have become increasingly skeptical of the United States’ capacity to maintain hegemony. This skepticism has become especially apparent with the recent election of Donald Trump. This paper will ask what grand strategy Trump has chosen?
Faculty Mentor: Jean-Christophe Boucher
Department: Political Science (Honours
Investigating Synthetics Routes to the Medicinal Components of Ginger
No full textThe goal of this research project was to investigate a time and cost-efficient way to synthesize gingerol, a medicinally relevant chemical component found in ginger, from commercially available vanillin. This research will aid in finding methods to produce analogues of gingerol, which are known to exhibit anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory activity, as well as many other preventative benefits for human health. One prominent reason why this project was undertaken was to create a laboratory experiment that can be carried out by chemistry students at MacEwan to investigate the drug discovery process. The synthesis involved multiple transformations and required the evaluation of different reaction conditions for each step to optimize the protocol. The pathway to finding the best synthetic route, which included an aldol condensation between vanillin and acetone to generate dehydrozingerone, a reduction of dehydrozingerone into zingerol, an oxidation of zingerol to zingerone, and a second aldol condensation to obtain gingerol, will be discussed.
Faculty Mentor: Tina Bott
Department: Chemistr