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The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic Demands on By-law Officer Wellness and Work
Get PDFThis research sheds light on how the rapid demand to enforce transitioning pandemic-related (and reopening) mandates impacts the wellness of bylaw officers in the context of resource strain. Ontario bylaw officers are at the forefront of the province’s response, enforcing lockdown rules to ensure community safety. This research is imperative in understanding how bylaw officers maintain their roles in municipal enforcement, while enforcing rapidly shifting COVID-19 regulations and moving forward into a post-lockdown climate. The research focuses on identifying and understanding the demands and resources that currently typify bylaw officers working in Southern Ontario. It further examines how the COVID-19 pandemic influences the level of work commitment and engagement bylaw officers have towards their jobs. Guided by Bakker and Demerouti’s (2007) Job Demands and Resource Model (JD-R Model), which suggests that an imbalance between high demands and limited resources can lead to stress and strain, this study explores the specific job demands and resources available to Ontario bylaw officers. In using a qualitative approach to data collection and analysis, semi-structured interviews with consenting bylaw officer participants (N=8) have been conducted. The data explores the lived experiences of bylaw officers during the announcement of the Emergency Act, understanding how work demands and resources impact their mental well-being, job engagement, and commitment. This study addresses a gap in the literature by investigating bylaw officers, and it clarifies the unique demands, stressors, resources, coping well-being, and occupational performance factors that have influenced their work during the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic. Moreover, the study highlights the challenges they face, such as increased job demands, insufficient resources and the emotional toll of enforcing public health measures. Additionally, it identifies coping strategies used by bylaw officers, including peer support, mental health resources, and personal coping mechanisms
Contrasting Trajectories in Adolescent Pro-Environmentalism: Qualitative Differences Between “Engagers” and “Disengagers”
Get PDFThis qualitative study extends Krettenauer and colleagues\u27 (2024) longitudinal research by examining how different developmental contexts shape divergent trajectories in adolescents\u27 environmental engagement. We conducted semi-structured interviews with nineteen adolescents, focusing on two distinct groups: Engagers who showed remarkable increases in pro-environmental behavior from ages 13 to 17, and Disengagers who exhibited substantial decreases inengagement during the same period. While all participants reported meaningful childhood nature experiences, supportive family sustainability practices and access to environmental information through media, their developmental paths diverged significantly. Disengagers gradually deprioritized environmental concerns as other life goals took precedence, while Engagers actively expanded their environmental commitment beyond family, peer, and school influences. Our findings highlight that adolescents are not merely passive recipients of contextual influences but active creators of their environmental engagement trajectories. The study demonstrates that developmental contexts cannot be understood as independent factors; rather, they operate through dynamic, reciprocal relationships where teenagers both shape and are shaped by their environmental experiences
Controls of Wetland Hydrology in the Zone of Discontinuous Permafrost, Northwest Territories, Canada
Get PDFMean annual air temperatures are increasing rapidly in northwestern Canada, which is among the most rapidly warming regions on Earth (Box et al., 2019). Consequently, permafrost thaw within northwestern Canada is proceeding at a rate not found in the historical record (Pelletier et al., 2017), with areal thaw rates especially high in the peatland-dominated southern margin of discontinuous permafrost (Quinton et al., 2019). Permafrost thaw has caused vast land cover changes and transformed the permafrost underlain forest into permafrost free wetlands over much of Taiga Plains (Carpino et al., 2018; Jorgenson & Osterkamp, 2005). This land cover change has altered how water is stored and cycled on the landscape (Haynes et al., 2018). These changes were driven by the expansion of runoff contributing areas, as permafrost “barriers” are removed with thaw (Connon et al., 2014). This process effectively taps water stored in the interior of plateau-wetland complexes. Considering the changes that occurred within these wetland complexes, an updated wetland basin area found that not only had the contributing area has expanded but the wetland basin had grown with the inclusion of additional wetlands to the wetland cascade. However, proportionally the forest to wetland ratio has remained the same at almost equal proportions. This study examined the inter-annual variability of water balance components for each year from 2013 to 2022 for a 11.2 hectare plateau-wetland complex. Further narrowing into a detailed wetland-based water balance for 2022, examining the intra- annual variation of water storage within the collapse scar wetland W-3. The summer of 2022 (April 1 – September 30) was characterized with an extremely low rainfall (103 mm) and deep late winter snowpack (240 mm). Subsurface hillslope runoff from the surrounding forest was the greatest flux of water into the wetland (249 mm). Although subsurface runoff varies over time, a conceptual model is presented with the inclusion of the capillary fringe as an area of intermediary water storage and transport. Overland flow between wetland was the greatest water loss mechanism for the wetland (487 mm) and was greatest during the spring freshet with 81% of the total overland flow occurring during this period, although discharge was greatly reduced post-freshet. Evapotranspiration was the second largest source of water loss within the wetland (294 mm), by June 1 evapotranspiration was the predominant source of water loss. This led to a large wetland water deficit by the end of September (-177 mm). The extreme hydrological events of 2022 are used to identify the critical thresholds of the water balance components. This study furthered our understanding on how water movement and storage within wetlands will change with continued permafrost loss. When the critical thresholds of water balance components are exceeded, the integrity of wetlands within the region is threatened
Examining Gender Differences In Heritage Language Maintenance And Loss Among South Asian First-Generation Canadians, And The Effect On Well-Being
Get PDFLanguage is prevalent in various aspects of life. Not only is it often essential for communication, but it also has deep roots within cultural contexts. Specifically, within South Asian culture knowing one’s heritage language is considered to be necessary when it comes to connecting with one\u27s cultural group and identity. Heritage language maintenance can be seen differently within different individuals and have different implications for them. This study was designed to explore gender differences in heritage language loss as well as the role language may play in one’s well-being. Canadian-born South Asian children and young adults aged 10-25 completed an online survey which looked at demographics, acculturation/enculturation, bilingual dominance, well-being, as well as language skills. Following the survey participants met the researcher over zoom to complete a vocabulary test. The study aimed to answer the questions of whether there are gender differences in heritage language loss/maintenance in second generation South Asian immigrants, as well as whether being proficient in one\u27s heritage language affects their well-being. There was no significant relationship found between gender and language skill, except when looking at the association between gender and English vocabulary scores. However, gender was found to be a predictor of English vocabulary test scores. In addition, there was no relationship found between well-being and language skill, nor did well-being predict language skill. This research aids in providing important insight into the impact language has on individuals within certain communities both at a group and individual level
Learning in Virtual Environments with Varying Levels of Sensory Information
No full textThe sensory environment plays a critical role in shaping learners’ attention, engagement, and retention. This thesis investigates how varying levels of sensory input in virtual reality (VR) classrooms influence learning for two age groups—children and young adults—and explores how individual differences in sensory processing moderate these effects. Using immersive VR technology to simulate classroom settings, two experimental studies were conducted. Study One involved 60 children aged 6–15 years, recruited primarily through a university-run summer camp. Study Two included 57 undergraduate students aged 18–36 years, recruited through a research participation pool. In both studies, participants were randomly assigned to either a high-sensory (with visual and auditory distractions) or low-sensory (minimal distractions) VR condition and viewed a novel, age-appropriate science lesson. Post-lesson assessments measured knowledge retention, and participants also completed measures of sensory processing (Short Sensory Profile; Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile) and cognitive ability (Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence-II). Findings from Study One indicated no significant group-level differences in learning outcomes across sensory conditions; however, age was a strong positive predictor of performance. In Study Two, adult participants in the low-sensory condition significantly outperformed those in the high-sensory group on total scores, particularly on fill-in-the-blank tasks that required active recall of lesson content. Although individual differences in sensory profiles were examined, they did not significantly influence learning outcomes in this sample. Together, these results provide some support for the importance of sensory context in learning and suggest that immersive technologies like VR could be relevant tools for studying environmental influences on cognitive tasks such as learning
“Border Line Pilots”: RCAF Aircrew, Crash Investigations and No. 22 OTU
Get PDFAbstract : In 1941, RAF Bomber Command Operational Training Units (OTU) in the United Kingdom were created to produce crews for the bomber offensive from graduates of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Of the 4,000 RCAF deaths attributed to non-operational accidents, 1,498 occurred in this OTU phase. A study of No. 22 OTU accident reports, where the largest number of RCAF training fatalities occurred, provides insight into the stated official causes and underlying issues of the high accident rate. Of more recent interest is how one No. 22 OTU 1944 aircraft crash site decades later became a center of commemoration in Wales
Beach Finds
Get PDFThis photo series, Beach Finds, is all from the beach of my hometown in Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland, from walks I took in the early spring of 2021. Particularly after storms, there would be an abundance of garbage washed ashore. I found a stick from a Buried Treasure ice cream treat that I had not seen since the 1980s; fabric flowers that had blown from the town’s seaside cemeteries into the water and back to land; hand-woven fishing nets that were now grounded; a tampon applicator that reminded me of the first one I ever saw as a child, on that same beach; and various litter from the town’s Main Street, right where the tourist lookout is, snarled in bare rose bushes. Rocky Harbour is centrally located in Gros Morne National Park, which is known for its epic and pristine beauty. My photos are about more intimate moments of discovery and seeing beauty in, or despite, garbage
Two Poems: Detour and Galway Famine Ship Memorial
Get PDFKelly Norah Drukker offers two poems: Detour and “Galway Famine Ship Memorial.
The Afternoon of Christianity: The Courage to Change
Get PDFReview of The Afternoon of Christianity: The Courage to Change by Tomáš Halík (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2024