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A pair formation model with vaccination and varying risk for mpox
Full text linkMpox is a disease related to smallpox and cowpox which is endemic in central and west Africa and has been spreading globally since a novel outbreak began in May of 2022. This outbreak is mainly concentrated in men who have sex with men and is transmitted through close prolonged contact. We consider distinct high risk and low risk groups which can interact with one another and extend a pair formation model with recovery designed for mpox in order to incorporate these different risk levels, as well as the possibility of vaccination. We show that most infections in an outbreak are within the high risk group and the maximum infected individuals can be best minimized by focusing on vaccinating the high risk group
The Impact of Cognitive Style on Visuo-Haptic Object Identification
Full text linkHaptic and visual object representations in memory rely on similar processes, equating to a
multisensory memory trace that is accessible to both modalities. Past research examining the
composition of this overlapping memory trace have found evidence for a visual as well as a
verbal component. Lacey and Campbell (2006) reported that non-verbal visual distractors
impacted the identification of known objects, suggesting a visual component to this shared
representation. Contrarily, Desmarais et al. (2021) found that only verbal distractors
negatively impact the identification of novel objects, suggesting that this shared memory
trace is therefore verbal in composition. Therefore, the question remains: what is this shared
memory trace between sight and touch composed of, and does this memory trace depend on
the type of object encoded? The current study also examined whether this depends on
individual differences in cognitive style, as one’s preferred method for obtaining and
applying information could explain the conflicting findings of past research. Participants
first completed a self-report measure of cognitive style, followed by an object identification
task that required them to learn to identify either simple or complex objects, either by sight
or by touch. Two-thirds of participants simultaneously completed either a verbal or
visuospatial distractor task. Participants learning to recognize complex objects produced
more errors and required more blocks to reach criterion compared to those learning simple
objects. Participants who completed the task without distraction displayed superior
identification performance compared to those who experienced a visuospatial distractor,
especially when identifying complex objects. Finally, we demonstrated that the information
that composes this overlapping memory representation can be associated with one’s
cognitive style. However, the degree to which this occurs may depend on the types of
objects being learned, as well as the modality in which encoding occurs
Scottish Heritage Commemoration in ‘The Birthplace of New Scotland’: Continuity and Change in Museum Myth-Making
Full text linkSexual Health Education and Attitudes Toward Gender and Sexual Minorities in New Brunswick
Full text linkGender and sexual minorities experience an increased risk for stigma and poor sexual
health outcomes compared to their cisgender heterosexual peers. Despite national and
international recommendations for comprehensive and inclusive school-based sexual
health education, research has shown inconsistencies and lack of gender and sexual
minority content in New Brunswick’s curricula. The current study examined if adult
participants’ experiences of New Brunswick’s sexual health education within the last 10
years included gender and sexual minority specific content and how perceptions of their
sexual health education correlated with attitudes toward gender and sexual minorities. A
total of 623 participants who attended sexual health education in New Brunswick
between grades 6 to 12 completed an online survey. The survey measured sources of
sexual health education, perceived quality of sexual health education, and homophobia,
biphobia, and transphobia. Participants of all identities and orientations reported low
scores for the quality of their school-based sexual health education. Gender and sexual
minority participants reported their education was not inclusive of their identities, which
differed significantly from cisgender heterosexual participants’ experiences.
Unexpectedly, higher perceived quality and inclusivity of school-based sexual health
education significantly correlated with higher scores of homophobia, biphobia, and
transphobia. However, since most people reported low quality, the education itself was
inadequate, but those who perceived it as higher quality were more likely to endorse
stigma against sexual and gender minorities. Overall, this study highlights opportunities
to improve the explicit and comprehensive inclusion of gender and sexual minority
content in New Brunswick’s sexual health education curricul
Historic Preservation, Deindustrialization and Heritage Tourism in Twentieth Century Louisbourg
Full text linkExamining Managerial Support Through Self-Determination Theory: A Mixed Method Study on Engagement and Affective Well-Being of Remote Workers
Full text linkThe pandemic-forced shift to remote work resulted in adverse outcomes for employee well-being
and organizational functioning. Despite the increasing prevalence of remote employment
in Canada, only some studies have investigated how to support this population. Extending upon
Hunt and Irak (2022), employee self-determined motivation was proposed to increase
engagement, affective well-being, and optimal organizational functioning. The aims of this
mixed method study were twofold: (a) establish whether self-determined motivation facilitated
the relationship between managerial need support and affective well-being and (b) determine
managerial behaviours that support the basic psychological needs of remote employees. In the
first study, 133 remote employees from the Canadian labour force participated online through
LimeSurvey, in which the participants’ mean age was 35.15 (SD = 12.37). The results indicated
managerial need support as a central correlate and predictor of engagement and affective well-being.
Furthermore, self-determined motivation mediated the relationship between managerial
need support and affective well-being. Ten employees who participated in the first study were
interviewed in the second study. Participants were mostly female (70%) and varied broadly in
age. Thematic analysis of interviews revealed managerial support fell into three themes (sub-themes):
(a) autonomy, (flexibility, trust, self-direction, explanatory rationale) (b) competence,
(feedback, encouragement, optimal challenge) and (c) relatedness (social bonding). The first
study’s results supported a multidimensional understanding of the remote manager-subordinate
context, that may cultivate self-determined motivation to improve and sustain employee
engagement and affective well-being. The second study’s results illustrated examples of need
supportive managerial behaviour, both novel and consistent with past literature, suggesting
generalizability to the remote work contex
Website usability across age groups: Examining the effect of adaptive website design for changes in cognition associated with aging
Full text linkWebsites, and the internet as a whole, are an ever-growing presence in modern life, from research to banking to online shopping and more. Despite their relevance to people of ages, many website designs do not consider the cognitive changes that occur as we age, making them difficult for many older adults to use. While website design principles and elements that support older adults have been developed through prior research, the impact of these designs
on other people who use websites – i.e., younger adults – has not been explored. As such, the current study examined the impact adaptive design principles have on usability for older and younger adults. Using two websites about COVID-19 – one designed to be adaptive for older adults, and the other conventional – we had participants complete a series of questions about the content of the website, measuring their accuracy and response time. After completing the questions, participants completed a usability scale to measure how usable they found the website to be. Unfortunately, a low number of older adult participants meant that we could not draw meaningful conclusions about the impact of website design on older adults. Overall, as we hypothesized, we found that website design had a limited impact on younger adults, although
we also found some interesting trends in usability for younger adults that may indicate towards interactions of website design, age, and usability measures that needs to be explored further
Leviathans and Language: An Analysis of How Rhetorical Strategies in Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick Can Influence Readers’ Perceptions of Dominant Sociopolitical Ideas
Full text linkExploring multimode pulsation in classical cepheid stars
Full text linkThe objective of this research project is to put forth a mechanism for why certain Cepheids
develop multimode pulsation. This was accomplished using computer simulations to model
a classical Cepheid star which exhibits these pulsation patterns. The majority of classical
Cepheids, important distance candles in astronomy, pulsate in either the fundamental or
first overtone. However, a small but significant minority appear to display a frequency
modulated with a higher overtone. There is no currently accepted hypothesis as to why.
This research project used a combination of software suites to simulate stellar evolution,
and energy, density, and material flow within the star. A 7 solar mass model began
displaying clear pulsation, and Fourier analysis of the luminosity data also suggests higher
overtones are present. This model also displays gravity waves and spherical harmonics
within the star which may provide clues as to why this behaviour develops. Still, several
discrepancies exist between predicted behaviour and modeled behaviou