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The Perceived Frequency and Effects of Multilingual Communication in Youth and Adolescent Soccer
Get PDFIn professional soccer, the topic of multilingual communication has been widely researched; however, there appears to be a gap in the literature concerning how multilingual use is perceived by athletes and coaches at the youth and adolescent level of the sport. In the present study, male soccer athletes ages 10 to 18 years old and their coaches completed a questionnaire in which they rated both perceived frequency of use and perceived effects of using multilingual communication in youth and adolescent soccer. Specifically, these questionnaires elicited quantitative information regarding categories such as tactical advantages, words of encouragement, general expressions, and group cohesion. Multiple paired-sample t-tests revealed that coaches did not frequently use multilingual communication across all relevant categories, regardless of who they spoke with. Though statistical significance was found in athletes regarding their frequency of use of multilingual communication for words of encouragement, results indicated that it was relatively infrequent when interacting with other coaches and even less so when interacting with teammates. Regarding the perceived effects of using multilingual communication in soccer, coaches and athletes did not find it to be effective across all relevant categories, regardless of who they spoke with. Though statistical significance was found in the group cohesion category for both coaches and athletes, results indicated that multilingual communication was relatively ineffective for coaches when interacting with other coaches as well as athletes when interacting with other athletes, and even less so when coaches interacted with athletes and athletes interacted with coaches. These findings suggest that while multilingualism can provide numerous benefits to professional soccer teams, it may not be as useful for youth and adolescent soccer athletes
Affective Forecasting with a Chance of Collective Action: Women’s Anticipated Affect After Acting Against Sexism and its Relationship to Collective Action Intentions
Get PDFConfronting sexism elicits social costs like name-calling (Mendes et al., 2018) and anticipating these costs inhibits confrontation (Good et al., 2012). But taking collective action can also improve women’s wellbeing and reduce negative emotion (Foster, 2015). How women anticipate their own emotions in response to social cost may be a predictor of action. However, it is not yet known how women anticipate taking action will make them feel, and how perceived costs relate to these predictions and action intentions. The present thesis integrates two previously distinct literatures, affective forecasting (Gilbert et al., 1998) and collective action motivation to assess the potential link.
In Studies 1 and 2, participants imagined engaging in collective action against sexism, and then answered open and closed-ended questions about how taking action would make them feel, and about perceived social costs of taking action. A content analysis of open-text comments provided insight into women’s beliefs about how collective action will make them feel. Parallel mediation models showed that in Study 1 (but not Study 2), higher perceived social cost was associated with more negative affective forecasts, and in turn, lower intentions to engage in collective action.
To address questions of causality in Studies 1 and 2, in Studies 3 and 4, participants were asked to create a Tweet about sexism, and then received one of three (fabricated) responses to their Tweet, ostensibly generated by an algorithm that searched Twitter for common responses to Tweets against sexism. The response was either supportive (social benefit), neutral (control), or disparaging (social cost). Participants rated how they thought they would feel if they received that response, both about the fact that they took action, and about the reply they received. Results suggest that the social cost condition, compared to the social benefit condition, increased negative affective forecasts and decreased positive affective forecasts about taking action, and decreased positive affective forecasts about the reply, which in turn, reduced social media action intentions.
Future research should consider how to modify affective forecasts to increase women’s confrontation of sexism, and how to maintain its wellbeing benefits in the face of social costs
Coupling Remote Sensing and Modelling to Monitor the Spatial Distribution and Trends of Surface Temperature and Ice Thickness on Sub-Arctic Lakes
No full textLake surface temperature (LST), lake ice thickness (LIT), and lake ice phenology (LIP) play significant roles in the diverse regional processes of freshwater in cold regions. They offer direct indications of regional weather and climate conditions, and their interactions with the atmosphere impact climate processes. Furthermore, lake ice is valuable to northern communities, such as those in the Northwest Territories (NWT). Ice roads, including the longest ice road in the NWT, spanning over 80 lakes, are constructed during winter to haul goods to and from industrial establishments (e.g., mines) and for travel within and between communities. A significant challenge to lakes and the ongoing use of ice roads are the changes in LST, LIT and LIP due to climate warming. Knowledge of LST, LIT, and LIP is crucial to understanding how lakes respond to climate change and determining how much weight an ice cover can safely sustain for winter travel on frozen lakes. This knowledge, however, is minimal due to the logistical difficulties in traditionally collecting measurements directly. In recent years, satellite-based observations have gained significant traction for studying lakes. However, multispectral sensors are not equipped to measure ice thickness directly, as it is a subsurface feature, which poses a limitation. Furthermore, other methods, such as one-dimensional thermodynamic lake ice models, which rely on weather station input data, are limited by the sparse availability of weather station and in-situ data, especially at high latitudes. This research adopts a multimodal monitoring approach to address these limitations by combining remote sensing data with spatially distributed modelling to study and monitor the trends and spatial distribution of LST, LIT and LIP.
In this study, a retrieval algorithm was applied to the thermal bands of Landsat archives to generate a lake-specific surface temperature dataset (North Slave LST dataset) for 535 lakes in the North Slave Region (NSR), NWT, Canada, from 1984 to 2021. Cloud masks were applied to Landsat images to eliminate cloud cover. In addition, a 100 m inward buffer was used on lakes to prevent pixel mixing with shorelines. A good agreement was observed between in-situ observations and North Slave LST, with a mean bias of 0.12 °C and a root mean squared deviation (RMSD) of 1.7 °C. The North Slave LST dataset contains more available data for warmer months (May to September; 57.3 %) than colder months (October to April). The North Slave LST dataset is available at https://doi.org/10.5683/SP3/J4GMC2 (Attiah et al., 2022).
Based on the North Slave LST data, LST trends and spatial distribution across the 535 predominantly small to medium lakes across NSR were studied. LST was analyzed in four distinct periods: open water season (OW), ice cover season (IC), and the transitional months of May (TM) and October (TO). The trend and relationships of LST were analyzed using the Mann-Kendall test and a multilinear regression model. The analysis revealed an overall increase in LST, with average rates (max) of 0.03 °C/year (0.05 °C/year), 0.03 °C/year (0.06 °C/year), and 0.13 °C/year (0.27 °C/year) for OW, TM, and TO, respectively across study lakes. A faster rate of change was observed in October compared to other periods.
Using the North Slave LST data generated as input, a comprehensive approach was adopted to simulate the spatial variability of ice thickness on lakes at a high resolution by spatially distributing a one-dimensional thermodynamic lake ice model. The spatial distribution of LIT was modelled for study lakes from 1984 to 2022. The generated LST data, in combination with the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Reanalysis v5 (ERA5) data, were used as inputs for the model. The model simulates the spatial distribution of daily lake ice thickness on a 50-meter spatial grid as well as the annual freeze-up and break-up dates. Results showed a root mean square deviation of LIT from 2.7 cm to 7 cm compared to in-situ data. Further analysis of ice cover on study lakes from 1984 to 2022 revealed decreasing trends in LIT (-0.26 cm/year to -0.10 cm/year) and ice cover duration (ICD) (-0.40 day/year to -0.15 day/year). Simulated LIT and freeze-up proved sensitive to morphometry (depth), while location properties (latitude/longitude) primarily drove the break-up process.
This dissertation provides comprehensive approaches to deriving LST, LIT, and LIP information from small and medium lakes in data-sparse regions. A multimodal approach combining remote sensing and spatially distributed modelling is adopted to address the insufficiency of in-situ data and the sparse distribution of weather station data. The methods utilized can be replicated in other regions, providing a broader understanding of the trends and spatial distribution of LST, LIT, and LIP on sub-arctic lakes with varying physical, geographical, and morphometrical properties
The Metabolic Cost of Digestion in Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus
No full textThe stomach is a key vertebrate innovation that has been lost in numerous fish lineages. To understand the driving factors of this phenotypic stomach loss, the cost of maintaining the low-pH environment in the gut was explored using Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) as a model. As Nile tilapia maintain strong acidity in the stomach, omeprazole, a proton pump inhibitor, was used to pharmacologically knock-down acid production by irreversibly blocking the pumping action of the gastric proton pump, H+/K+-ATPase (HKA). Omeprazole treatment showed a 90% drop in acid production indicating an effective knock-down of gastric acid secretion. Respirometry trials indicated a significant decrease in magnitude and duration of post-prandial response in the knock-down group, indicating that acid production prolongs the digestion process. This decrease in duration of the post-prandial response is supported by gastric evacuation data showing reduced latency time in the stomach in the knock-down group.
Furthermore, the knock-down animals had significantly lower specific and absolute growth rates, indicating a reduction in the ability of these animals to utilize nutrients from their feed. Further investigation into the impact of gastric acid on nutrient digestibility was undertaken, with digestibility trials indicating decreased digestibility of calcium and magnesium in the knock-down group. Additionally, carcass composition was significantly impacted, with the knock-down group having higher moisture content, as well as higher magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus levels. Most digestive enzyme activity levels remained unchanged with omeprazole treatment, except alkaline phosphatase which was significantly decreased.
Finally, omeprazole treatment effects on the expression of the HKA subunits Atp4a and Atp4b were determined using Western Blotting, with knock-down animals showing lower expression levels of Atp4b. The in vitro measurement of HKA activities in stomach tissues were significantly lower in the knock-downs, indicating the effectiveness of the omeprazole knock-down once again.
Overall, this thesis lays the groundwork for future research into stomach loss, establishing a method for further investigations into gastric acid and its purpose in the gut
HEAVEN IS QUIET AND TECHNOLOGIES ARE EVERYWHERE: CHINESE COSMOTECHNICS AND DYADIC APPROACHES TO INTERNATIONAL STRUCTURE
No full textWhat constitutes the “practical” nowadays and how is it to be assessed? Can the concept of cosmotechnics, how technologies align with broader cosmic goals, be refined by recourse to Chinese traditions? In responding to these questions, I argue for a relational approach that considers technology and practical thinking, or techno-praxis, as a lens for interpreting political affairs. Drawing from philosopher Yuk Hui’s concept of cosmotechnics and the Neo-Confucian ti-yong (essence – function) dyad, a framework is proposed that synthesizes the technological and practical (qi-yong) in a dyad of its own. This dyad aims to provide a diagnostic cosmopolitics by focusing on notions of practicality and power, which are also reshaped by changes in dominant cosmotechnics. While qi-yong and techno-praxis form the primary dyadic center of this framework, how and in what fashion they relate are the other major theoretical foci of the dissertation. This involves making explicit the patterning of technical activities as an analytical space, and as part of general theorizations of patterning and their significance. Drawing on Gregory Bateson’s theory of cultural contact and schismogenesis, I conceptualize “dyadic patterning” as to how dyads are shaped through polarities of activity. Whereas common-sense understandings of politics primarily center the relational sensibilities of political groupings or state actors, techno-praxis as a dyad shifts towards the relation between technics/technicians/administrators and practices of power negotiation, with dyadic patterns between them at times reciprocally generative, symmetrically competitive, openly complementary, highly distanced, lopsidedly consuming, etc.
This theoretical and genealogical construction of qi-yong/technopraxis culminates in two case studies, studying: (1) the patterned relations of technics and practices via readings of Chinese IR theorists, and (2) CCP approaches to technology under Deng Xiaoping and Xi Jinping. These cases also attempt to bring Yuk Hui’s cosmotechnics into conversation with IR and the political practicalities of elite power. Following Yuk Hui’s contention that the ti-yong dyad of “Western science, Chinese culture” forwarded after the Opium Wars remains dominant, there remains a desperate need for responding to how technics and technologies are integrated with human activities and practices, with practices of power being the focus of this project. In so doing, I hope to not transcend (or discard) binaries like East/West, mind-body, or techno-praxis, but to seek the variety of possible relations and how their changing patterns can be constructively engaged from within
From the Intimate, Regional to the Global: Examining the Indian International Student Migration to Canada
Get PDFThis dissertation examines Indian international student migration to Canada focusing on students from the north Indian state of Punjab, a region with extensive history of migration and transnational social ties to Canada. Punjab has historically been the predominant sending region within India to Canada, and which continues to dominate in the present phase of international student migration to Canada. The pursuit of higher education has become particularly popular in Punjab. Furthermore, Canada has recently emerged as a significant international study destination following its international education strategy aimed to attract and increase the number of international students. The study employs qualitative and quantitative methods with field work in Canada and India to investigate the ways in which socio-economic aspirations of families are closely tied to the pursuit of a higher education migration pathway to Canada. Guided by the intimate geopolitics perspective and aspirations-capabilities framework the research aims to understand migrant agency and how emerging global opportunities, such as international education opportunities in Canada might interact, shape and transform the very intimate scale dimensions involved in migration from source regions such as Punjab. The research contributes to an understanding of migrant aspirations and decision making processes, including various changes within social and gender dimensions of migration. The agency of migrants from Punjab is highlighted by examining their capabilities, including how migrants employ strategies to pursue global opportunities such as those presented by Canada’s international education strategy. The research finds significant changes in gendered dimensions within migration from Punjab with increasing participation of women as independent migrants in various temporary and economic classes of immigration to Canada. Such transformations also indicate women’s enhanced capabilities and improved status socially and support within their families to pursue international education opportunities to Canada
Letter to the Church
Get PDFWhat is pastoral leadership? How is, and can, pastoral leadership be embodied in the Church today? Who can and should participate in reflections on these questions? While engaging in a course on pastoral leadership, with the support of the professor, an idea arose to write a letter to the Church following the patterns of the Epistles in the Bible. The goal was to create something that could be read and studied by anyone, while ensuring that the academic rigour behind the contents was made available via the footnotes. The letter is intentionally written in the style of the Epistles, and references Biblical texts with quotations from the NRSV. It is hoped that those who read this letter might engage in further reflection on what it means to be Church today and how people of faith can be leaders in embodying our faith and transforming the world
Tenacious Resins and Residues: Oil Propaganda in Architectural Digest During the Energy Crises of the 1970s
Get PDFArchitectural Digest was first published in 1920 by John C. Brasfield, a California-based publisher. In 1933, the magazine was purchased by Condé Nast and has since become a popular design magazine, particularly in North America, known for its visually vibrant and abundant advertisements. Car advertisements are among the most recurring ads featured in the magazine. Through an archival investigation of Architectural Digest magazines from 1973 to 1983, I investigate how, if at all, car advertisements in the magazine reflected the 1973 and 1979 oil crises.
The 1979 global energy crisis was a period of high energy prices and supply shortages that occurred in the wake of the Iranian Revolution and lasted until about 1983. The crisis was triggered by a number of factors that went all the way back to October of 1973 and the Arab-Israeli war which itself triggered the energy crisis of that year, lasting until at least 1976. I situate this study in Saskatchewan and Alberta, which is where the magazines I investigate physically originated. Thinking with and through these magazines, I read them and their car advertisements to unlearn the way in which they maintain false good life fantasies, and socially and environmentally unjust narratives
My Art is Garbage
Get PDFIn “My Art is Garbage,” I describe three recent art projects where garbage is both a theme and an artistic medium used to critique the overuse of and inability to reuse or safely dispose of plastics we use every day. The first work, Untitled (Plastic Film Balls), uses non-recyclable single-use household plastic made to form an installation of shimmering balls and alludes to the environmental footprint of the artworld. Plastic Shores, a series of monotype prints, reminds us that plastics in the environment are deleterious to species that we see every day. Finally Plastic Pests, a series of mini-sculptures constructed from plastic found in agricultural soil warns that plastic is everywhere in the food production system
Overture: DJ Methodology: Resounding the Past
Get PDFOverture: DJ Methodology: Resounding the Past is the introductory chapter to Soundin\u27 Canaan: Black Canadian Poetry, Music, and Citizenship by Paul db Watkins.
Part exploration of a key group of Black Canadian poets, part literary, cultural, and musical history, Soundin’ Canaan demonstrates how music in Black Canadian poetry is not solely aesthetic, but a form of social, ethical, and political expression.
Soundin\u27 Canaan refers to the code name often used for Canada during the Black migration to Canada. The book analyzes the contributions of key Black Canadian poets, including their poetic styles and their performances. The book has several key objectives, including recuperating the collision of the historical and the Biblically derived figure of Canaan, the promised land of freedom and security for an African American population seeking to leave the shackles of slavery behind and the northern terminus of the underground railroad. Centering around the poetry of George Elliott Clarke, Dionne Brand, M. NourbeSe Philip, Wayde Compton, and rapper K’naan, it delves into how these poets draw inspiration from African American and Afro-diasporic musical genres, such as blues, jazz, reggae and dub, hip-hop, and remix, to reshape the notions of identity and citizenship. Soundin\u27 Canaan asks: what does Canadian citizenship sound like, especially when voiced by Black Canadian poets who embrace a fluid and multicultural form of citizenship that moves between local and global spaces, much like music does?
Using a DJ Methodology, the author mixes in close readings of poetry, music, cultural and literary history, as well as various interviews with the poets. The book includes an accompanying soundtrack to further enhance the reading experience. Listening to the poets in this book—that is in listening closely to the poems, sounds, and musical samples they bring into the mix—constitutes “sonic citizenship.” This co-performative act of reading, listening, and sounding serves as a reminder of how citizens inhabit and negotiate life in Canada beyond the formal legal framework of the nation-state.https://scholars.wlu.ca/books/1005/thumbnail.jp