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How number of errors and location of errors in spelling impede reading performance in undergraduate students
Get PDFThe Lexical Quality Hypothesis (LQH) suggests that words are stored in memory as orthographic representations which consist of their meaning, spelling, and phonology, and errors in any of these areas lowers the quality of these representations, resulting in slower, more effortful retrieval from memory. Consequently, spelling accuracy has been shown to directly relate to reading speed, as spelling accuracy reflects lexical quality. Here, 75 undergraduate students spelled 25 words over three attempts to determine spelling accuracy, and then read these same words aloud, and their reading times were recorded. In support of the LQH, words with low and intermediate spelling accuracy were read significantly slower than words with high spelling accuracy. The location of first spelling errors and the number of spelling errors within misspelled words were also evaluated in relation to reading speed. Words with errors located in the first half were read significantly slower than words with errors located in the second half of the word. This supports scanning theory and the cohort model- which suggest that we store and retrieve words from left to right, and process them in real-time. Furthermore, the number of errors in the spelling of a word was positively correlated with reading speed. In conclusion, spelling accuracy as well as location and number of spelling errors within a word significantly hamper reading speed for these same words. These findings have significant implications for theory and educational settings
Sounding the alarm: Scholarly information and global information companies in 2021
Get PDFVendors and publishers collaborate and work to protect their bottom line—which is threatened by open access (OA)—by expanding into research lifecycle and data analytics, and by continuing to merge and acquire each other, reducing choice in the library market. The implementation of Seamless Access and other systems force library staff into the position of gatekeeper for systems and platforms that we have no control or input over. Vendors and publishers control the online content that libraries can access: they add and remove content at will, and classify titles according to their greatest possible sales margins, making valuable resources unavailable to libraries to license for campus-wide access. These vendor actions—which impact the research lifecycle as a whole, disrupt traditional publishing, and seek to monetize user data—are extremely concerning. Collective action is the only way to make significant inroads against these developments. We suggest some proactive ways that we can initiate these collective actions and resist these industry-wide developments imposed by vendors and publishers.publication status: final article publishe
A place to start: Understanding disability identity and community at Mount Allison University
Get PDFThis thesis is a phenomenological exploration of disability, identity and community at Mount Allison University. I conducted 10 semi-structured interviews with students who self-identified as having disabilities. Participants' accounts reflected embodied perspectives of disabled identity which recognize both disability and identity as contextual and multifaceted. Findings demonstrated how disabled students' identities were informed by the neoliberal expectations and limitations placed on them by the university, and also revealed the ways in which participants were working to decenter and resist these norms. Though institutional policies and practices often separated disabled issues from the rest of the university environment, participants found community by resisting the expectation of remaining quiet about disability. A sense of community with other disabled students was discussed as a factor that positively influenced participant identities. By building community, participants resisted the isolation imposed upon them by the institution. The findings of this study also revealed ways in which participants were prioritizing interdependent communities in a university environment that privileges individualism, and critiquing neoliberal notions of self-care that neglect community
Prochlorococcus growth responses to light and oxygen regimes
Get PDFProchlorococcus is a genus of very small marine picocyanobacteria characterized by an unusual green pigmentation, because they lack the phycobilisomes characteristic of most cyanobacteria. Prochlorococcus belongs to the phylogenetically diverse functional group of photosynthetic picophytoplankton and is the most abundant photosynthetic organism on earth. In aquatic environments, phytoplankton, and specifically Prochlorococcus, metabolism represents a major source of extracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). If left un-scavenged ROS can have detrimental effects on marine phytoplankton growth and survival. Different Prochlorococcus strains grow stratified in marine aquatic environments from the surface to the bottom of the illuminated euphotic zone. Strains of Prochlorococcus at different depths exhibit diverse responses to light, however, they are slow growing and difficult to culture, with limited analyses of their growth responses. During this project I monitored growth trajectories of diverse Prochlorococcus strains across a matrix of light levels, light colors and oxygen levels. I found that each strain shows a distinct pattern of growth rates across the environmental matrices, with Prochlorococcus MED4 thriving under a high light, fully oxygenated niche; Prochlorococcus SS120 preferring a low light, oxygenated niche and Prochlorococcus MIT9313 preferring a low oxygen, high light niche. The combination of blue light and oxygenation is particularly stressful to Prochlorococcus MIT9313. We hypothesize that the oxygen intolerance of Prochlorococcus MIT9313 relates to strong sensitivity to ROS. Therefore, we took samples for subsequent analyses of cross linking of the major RbcL protein, a proxy for cumulative effects of ROS exposure. The results presented in this project can be applied to climate change research because it highlights the environmental responses of the foundational organism in marine food webs and bottom-up factors in ecosystem change within marine environments
The institutional integration and persistence of first-year university students during the Covid19 Pandemic with a focus on first-generation students
Get PDFThe relationship between institutional integration and persistence was investigated in 218 first-year undergraduate students (87 first-generation students and 131 continued generation students in their first semester of study). Participants responded to two online surveys (early fall 2020 and late fall 2020) about their institutional integration and dropout intentions. It was found that participants with higher levels of institutional integration were more likely to persist at university. It was also found that first-generation
students had lower persistence than continued generation student, highlighting the need to provide more support to first-generation students. This study also explored the possible effects of Covid19 on first-year university students
Investigation of GPCR activation by healthy and insulin-resistant adipocytes
Get PDFIn obesity, chronic caloric excess results in maladaptive secretion of adipokine hormones from over-expanded adipose tissues. These secretions are critical in the development of insulin-resistance and type II diabetes. Many adipokines are endogenous ligands to G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR). Thus, it is possible that these disease-modulating hormones are connected to GPCRs with currently unidentified endogenous ligands, orphan GPCRs. The aim of this study was to identify if orphan GPCRs are adipokine sensing receptors and can detect the difference between healthy and insulin-resistant adipocytes. This was achieved through the screening of healthy and insulin-resistant adipocyte-conditioned media against 71 orphan GPCRs. Receptor activation was quantified using the PRESTO-Tango β-arrestin recruitment assay. Adipocyte-conditioned media significantly altered the activation of 19 receptor candidates. Further, insulin-resistant adipocyte conditioned media significantly altered the activation of GPR17, GPR45 and GPR54 relative to healthy adipocyte-conditioned media. This led to a recommendation of 12 receptor candidates for further investigation. The activation of these twelve receptors was summarized into three categories: 1) receptors significantly activated by both adipocyte-conditioned media 2) receptors with significantly decreased activation by both adipocyte-conditioned media and 3) receptors that were differentially activated between the two adipocyte-conditioned media. These findings demonstrate the diverse connections between adipocytes and the receptor candidates. Further investigation into the 12 receptor candidates will lead to greater knowledge about the function of these elusive receptors. This will aid in identifying endogenous ligands for these receptor candidates, and in the application of these findings to the development of therapeutic treatments for type II diabetes
Analyzing the spatial and temporal trends of blacklegged ticks in New Brunswick
Get PDFThe blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) is undergoing range expansion in the Central and Eastern parts of Canada. The blacklegged tick is also the primary vector of Lyme Disease, the most common vector borne disease in North America. Climate is believed to have co‐driven this expansion as temperature has been found to be a strong predictor of tick occurrence. Previous research within the literature has shown that that the known geographic range of the I. scapularis is less than what its habitat requirements allow, especially temperature, and thus it is thought that it will expand its geographic range. This study used data from the Lloyd Tick Lab, a passive surveillance program, over an eight‐year period to assess if any spatial or temporal trends of the tick in New Brunswick, Canada could be identified. Comparison was completed to assess the closeness to predictions found in the literature. Results indicated the development of two areas of high tick recoveries per capita, upriver of the Saint John River as well as a spread laterally (southwest to northeast) between the counties of Saint John and Westmoreland. These results closely followed recent predictions in the literature and yield important information as to the spread of the blacklegged tick in New Brunswick. This study indicates that model predictions for the near future (2020’s) are supported by the most recent tick recovery trends and provide important confirmation of the trajectory of species range expansion. This knowledge is essential and should be used to inform future monitoring, public health risk communication and policy making
Examining the relationship between testosterone and cortisol on levels of rumination
Get PDFRumination is a thought process experienced by most people. It involves repetitive
thought over a past, present, or future event, emotion, or outcome. Although it is a
common thought pattern, some types of rumination are implicated in both anxiety and
depression disorders. The hormonal mechanisms of rumination are relatively unknown,
especially concerning testosterone. The purpose of my thesis is to see if there is a
relationship between rumination and the hormones cortisol and testosterone.
Additionally, I proposed, based on the dual-hormone hypothesis, that cortisol would
moderate the relationship between testosterone and rumination. Participants were 43
undergraduate students (women n = 30, men n = 13) who came into the lab on three
separate occasions. Visit 1 was 45 minutes and participants completed questionnaires on rumination, anxiety and depression, and provided a saliva sample. Their second and third visits involved providing additional saliva samples to establish average levels of hormones. There were no significant bivariate correlations between the hormonal measures and the rumination measures. Anxiety and depression were significantly positively correlated with the rumination measures. Regression analyses with hormones, depression, and anxiety predicting rumination showed no significant effects for men. The same analyses for women showed that cortisol and the cortisol X testosterone interaction were significant predictors of rumination for women, demonstrating possible evidence in support of the dual-hormone hypothesis
The effect of diel thermal cycles on growth and performance of wild Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)
Get PDFAs Atlantic salmon populations throughout Atlantic Canada continue to decline, it is important to evaluate the role temperature plays on their survival. Part of this decrease in abundance can be attributed to climate change as streams experience an increase in average summer temperatures and large daily thermal fluctuations. Prior studies have focused on evaluating the physiological response of Atlantic salmon by using stable laboratory-based settings. However, understanding the role of thermal variability on their physiology becomes increasingly important to properly predict their growth and performance in the wild. The objectives of my research were to understand how the growth and performance of parr from the Restigouche River are affected by two different thermal profiles (16-21˚C vs. 19-24˚C) and to compare these responses to parr from the Miramichi River acclimated to the same conditions. After 4 weeks of acclimation to the two distinct thermal profiles, I began measuring length and weight of the fish every month to calculate the growth rate and condition factor. I also conducted a critical thermal maximum (CTmax) test to evaluate thermal tolerance, and an exhaustive swim test to measure swimming performance. I collected blood and tissue samples from control and exercised fish from each treatment to evaluate metabolite profiles. My results suggest that the growth rate was not different between thermal profiles within the Restigouche River, but was lower than the salmon from the Miramichi River. The CTmax was not affected by river origin, but increased in the warmer thermal profile. Moreover, time to exhaustion was not affected by thermal profiles, but it was higher in the Restigouche River. The results show that differences in growth and performance of parr from different river systems exist and this should be taken into account when developing new conservation strategies to maintain healthy populations