MacEwan Open Journals (MacEwan University)
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The Effects of Polarization on Endorsing Non-Normative Political Action
No full textWhy do some groups act more extreme than others in political situations? Some research has suggested that when people perceive their opponents as more extreme, they prefer conflict escalating actions over cooperation. Engaging in non-normative action can increase conflict and refers to purposeful socially disruptive actions, such as civil disobedience. Normative actions, such as voting, conform to social norms like laws or policy regulations. Past research has found that individuals are more likely to prefer non-normative action when they perceive their group as being at an unchangeable and unjust disadvantage versus their opponents. In addition to these findings, we hypothesize that those who perceive greater polarization will be more likely to endorse non-normative political action for their own group. In this correlational study, 200 undergraduate university student participants will be asked to complete an online self-report survey. The survey will measure their degree of polarization, as well as their level of support for various normative and nonnormative political actions. If our results are consistent, polarization can be considered a predictive power regarding normative and nonnormative political mobilization and can provide insight to the psychological processes involving political action and perception.
Faculty Mentor: Craig Blatz
Department: Psychology (Honours
Norm Expansion - UNDRIP
No full textNo abstract available.
Faculty Mentor: Jean-Christophe Boucher
Department: Political Science (Honours)
 
Preliminary Computational Study on the Docking of an Oligo DNA Substrate to the Enzyme PNKP
No full textPolynucleotide kinase/phosphatase (PNKP) is an enzyme involved in DNA base excision repair pathways. PNKP is currently investigated because of its role in some neurological disorders and its potential to be used as a drug target for cancer treatment. Both the human (hPNKP) and C. elegans (CePNKP) forms of the enzyme have a marked preference for a DNA substrate with an overhang rather than for DNA with blunt ends. In this work, we present a preliminary atomistic model of the complex of CePNKP docked with an oligo DNA that has experimentally shown high binding affinity for the kinase domain of the enzyme.
Faculty Mentor: Jorge Llano
Department: Chemistr
Genetic Diversity of Perca flavescens in Lac la Biche
No full textLow genetic diversity in a population reduces the viability of that population. Ecological, environmental, and anthropogenic events can reduce the genetic diversity in a population, usually through reductions in population size. A collapse of the fishery industry in Lac la Biche, Alberta due to over-predation of Sander vitreus (walleye) by Phalacrocorax auritis (double-crested cormorants) coaxed Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development to institute a lake management plan to reduce the double-crested cormorant population and increase the walleye population within the lake. The Perca flavescens (yellow perch) population in Lac la Biche has also been affected by over-predation in that lake. Since yellow perch have generally low levels of genetic diversity across North America, it is important to gauge their genetic diversity in Lac la Biche. This will be performed by extracting DNA from yellow perch samples netted from Lac la Biche in 2011, amplifying six microsatellite loci using PCR, and then electrophoretically determining each individual yellow perch’s alleles for those six microsatellite loci. This allele data will then undergo a population metric analysis to determine yellow perch genetic diversity in Lac la Biche. Results from this study can then inform similar lake management strategies on a global scale.
Faculty Mentor: David MacFadyen and Mrinal Das
Department: Biological Scienc
Quasi-crystalline Diffraction and an Introduction to Aperiodic Order
No full textThe atomic structure of inhomogeneous substances is extremely complex, and consequently for these complex structures there is little concrete knowledge of how or if they may be induced to display superconductive behavior under appropriate conditions. As atomic diffraction and superconductivity are both intrinsically quantum mechanical phenomena which are explicitly dependent upon the composition and geometry of materials, any insight into the one must surely shed light upon the other. In this way, beyond the immediate benefit to our understanding of the structure and electronic behavior of the materials which we will be investigating would confer, developing better models of these structures and of how diffraction manifests will provide us with new and invaluable tools for investigating and predicting superconductive behavior in materials. Quasi-crystals have already seen use in the creation of new non-stick coatings, and in strengthening treatments of steel and other materials. And of course, the incidental benefits of gaining general insights into the underlying mathematics which we use to model and investigate these phenomena are difficult to overstate.
Faculty Mentor: Nicolae Strungaru
Department: Mathematic
Red, Black, and Blue: Television Scenes of Aggression Between Police and Black Citizens
No full textthat will facilitate the intended framing of any given episode. When considering the continuing growth of the television sector of media, the portrayals that are shown to audiences must be analyzed to understand not only who is being shown on television, but the context in which they are being displayed. This independent study analyzes scenes of aggression between police officers and Black citizens as portrayed by television shows. The television shows selected were based in Los Angeles and were randomly chosen from the Crime TV category from the streaming service Netflix. These television shows will be analyzed for scenes of aggression that include characters that are police officers or Black citizens, paying particular attention to the characteristics, intention, and overall aggression that each character displays. This study found three themes that emerged after studying the television shows selected. The first theme displayed police officers as mature, older, white men who contrasted against young and aggressive Black males. The second theme was the discrepancy in the amount of dialogue afforded to each character with police officers dominating the primary conversations. The final theme showed that although Black characters had less dialogue, when they did speak they were much more likely to be verbally aggressive.
Faculty Mentor: Kalyani Thurairajah
Department: Sociology (Criminology)
 
Effects of increased heat on fluorescence and dinoflagellate density in the captive coral, Anthelia sp.
No full textThe obligate mutualistic relationship between corals and dinoflagellates is a classic example of symbiosis. Coral reefs have been devastated by warm water temperatures at a rapid pace and currently, there is no effective method to predict a mass bleaching event. Fluorescence is a potential indicator of coral health but very few studies have attempted to utilize it as a proxy for dinoflagellate density, which was the scope of the present research. Here, we determined the effects of elevated water temperatures on fluorescence, dinoflagellate density, and mitotic index in the captive coral, Anthelia sp. Over a six-week period, tanks filled with Anthelia sp. underwent gradual increases in water temperature beginning at 28ºC and ending at 34ºC. Coral samples were quantified for fluorescence, dinoflagellate density, and mitotic index by fluorescence microscopy of whole specimens and a maceration method to examine dinoflagellates. As a result of the gradual increase in water temperature, corrected fluorescence decreased over time. In contrast, dinoflagellate density first increased until reaching a thermal limit that was then followed by a decrease. This was driven by an increase in the rate of cell division before the limit and a decrease afterwards. These results suggest that symbionts may be increasing their mitotic rate in response to elevated water temperatures to compensate for the shortage of photosynthate supply for their host. Because fluorescence dropped simultaneously with the increase in dinoflagellate density and mitotic index, coral fluorescence may be utilized as a prognostic tool for coral bleaching in Anthelia sp.
Faculty Mentor: Ross Shaw
Department: Biological Science
 
Read Receipts in Romantic Relationships: Personality, Attachment, and Trust
No full textTrust is essential for fostering human interactions and allows us to build and maintain meaningful relationships. Research shows that high levels of neuroticism and preoccupied-anxious attachment are significantly linked to lower levels of trust. With the emergence of texting, as well as social media sites and the instant messaging that they afford, relationships are subject to new and unique challenges. One such challenge is the read receipt, which enables users to see if, and in some cases when, their instant messages have been read by the intended recipient. Text messaging is currently the preformed form of communication due to its convenience, yet research looking specifically at read receipts is hard to come by, if at all. First, we propose a mediation model in which higher levels of neuroticism will result in paying more attention to read receipts in everyday text conversation with trust as a mediation variable. Second, we propose the same mediation model, only replacing neuroticism with preoccupied-anxious attachment. Using data collected from 352 undergraduate students, we show that the proposed model involving neuroticism is significant while the model involving preoccupied-anxious attachment is not.
Faculty Mentor: Sean Rogers
Department: Psychology (Honours
Using Stratigraphy and Microfossil Proxies to Discern De-Glaciation Processes that Occurred in Nares Strait Over the Holocene
No full textThis project represents a timely opportunity, with the objective of: Studying the re-connection of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans via Nares Strait; deciphering the ancient ocean environment (bottom and surface water temperatures, sea-ice, ecosystem productivity) during and after the reconnection of the two oceans. This objective is achieved by analyzing microfossils, a standard and proven tool for tracing ancient environment and ocean conditions. Results from this project will inform our current understanding of how polar regions respond to natural climate change and will be of interest to scientists working on arctic climate, oceanography, and environment both past and present. Over the past decades, polar regions such as the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA) have experienced pronounced changes associated with recent climate warming, such as sea ice decline. This project will lead to better understanding of past climate variability and how polar marine environments respond to changing conditions, such as glacial to interglacial transitions. This in turn may better allow predictions surrounding the future of CAA environments. Microfossils (Foraminifera) are used as a proxy for reconstructing past environmental conditions via assemblage and geochemical (δ13C and δ18O) analyses, including water temperatures, sea ice conditions, and ecosystem productivity. Assessing species distributions in seabed sediments and linking these distributions to measured environmental parameters (e.g., sea ice duration); gather biogeochemical data (isotopes of O & C tracing temperature, ecosystem productivity) from selected species. These analyses will provide vital data (species-environment relationships; isotopic values) directly informing interpretation of past environments in sediment cores.
Faculty Mentors: Hilary Corlett and Roy Coulthard
Department: Earth and Planetary Science
The Role of Christian Theology and Ritual in UFO Religions
No full textThis project examines the importance of Christian theology and ritual in UFO religions, specifically in the Raëlians and Heaven\u27s Gate. The Raëlians are an active UFO group who believe human life was artificially created by extraterrestrials. Heaven\u27s Gate was a group that died by suicide in 1997 to gain access to a space craft that would take them to the afterlife. Areas of investigation covered in this study include analyzing the use of biblical narratives in these groups, the incorporation of Jesus, and ascetic practices among others. The blending of ideas from an established religion with ideas relating to extraterrestrials and UFOs increases the legitimacy of their claims. Research on social identity theory and the importance of ritual is applied to explain how the Christian tradition may help members embrace their new faith in a UFO religion.
Faculty Mentor: Susan Raine
Department: Sociology