University of Northern British Columbia

This research is for the researcher’s graduate thesis, as a requirement to obtain a Master of Social Work degree. The thesis research was conducted via distance (using telephone and password-protected audio conferencing) with four immigrant women. Using a case study approach and framed by socialist feminist intersectional theories and transformative framework, this thesis examines the intersections of immigration and violence against women in relationships (VAWIR) on multiple axis including gender, race, class, immigrant, and economic status to better understand factors that shape the experiences of visible minority immigrant women dealing with domestic violence and abuse. The findings of this thesis would contribute to different viewpoints on the experiences of VAWIR among immigrant women and bring more understanding to a variety of ways immigrant women respond to and cope with violence in their relationships as well as shape future policies and practices to more effectively service immigrant women of African descent.

International students pursuing higher education experience diverse challenges during their stay in their host culture. This project design relies on research findings of the pervasive challenges faced by international students in creating a guidebook for international students pursuing higher education at the University of Northern British Columbia. The stress that students encounter around the psychological and social-cultural domains is often difficult to mitigate when familiar support systems are not available and/or accessible. The dominant stress areas identified during the cross-cultural transition are in the areas of language, academic, social, financial, and labor market. The availability of support systems that provide international students with awareness about cross-cultural challenges, support resources, and their functions in the academic setting as well as community environment can assist them in better integration and successful outcomes.

Armillaria root disease, caused by the fungus Armillaria ostoyae (Romagn.) Herink, is an important agent of diversity in the forests of British Columbia. Forest operations can disrupt co-evolved host-pathogen balances, leaving behind a supply of carbohydrate-rich defenceless stumps, allowing for a post-harvest inoculum flush and disease spread. One management option is pre-harvest ringbarking, requiring the removal of a strip of bark, phloem, and cambium around a tree, in an attempt to limit carbohydrate transportation to the roots. In theory, ringbarking should deplete starch levels in roots prior to harvest, restricting A. ostoyae's energy base, directly limiting the pathogen, and indirectly increasing saprophytic competition and exclusion. I set out to determine if ringbarking Armillaria root disease centres in the forests of central BC prior to harvest would have a short-term influence on A. ostoyae's characteristic post-disturbance inoculum flush. My objectives were to quantify A. ostoyae colonization and starch content within the roots of ringbarked and untreated Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (Mirb.) Franco (Beissn.) Franco). Thirty-six plots were established across three sites, with ringbarking randomly applied to eighteen plots. Sites were clearcut and sample stumps excavated. Armillaria ostoyae colonization was quantified by scoring disease severity of roots and by measuring percent colonized root lengths. Root samples were quantitatively analyzed for starch content. Logistic mixed models were used to assess incidence data, and linear mixed models to assess categorical measures of colonization severity, as well as intensive measures of colonization and starch content. No statistically significant differences were observed in post-harvest A. ostoyae colonization or starch content on roots from ringbarked trees versus untreated plots at any site or overall. My study was unable to confirm that ringbarking trees in Armillaria root disease centres prior to their felling influences starch content or colonization within root systems following harvest. My results combined with reviewed literature instead suggest that ringbarking may provide control through a host stress response mechanism. Additional long-term research is required to clarify the mechanisms of control and the effectiveness of treatment. Future work should address challenges surrounding initial disease assessment, treatment methods and timing, sampling, and the quantification of colonization and starch.

In this work, we study two different models that appear in population dynamics. The first problem is concerned with an integral equation that models discrete time dynamics of a population in a patchy landscape. The patches in the domain are reflected through the discontinuity of the kernel of the integral operator at a finite number of points in the whole domain. We prove the existence and uniqueness of a stationary state under certain assumptions on the principal eigenvalue of the linearized integral operator and the growth term as well. We also derive criteria under which the population undergoes extinction (in which case the stationary solution is 0 everywhere). In the second problem we consider a reaction-diffusion model with a drift term in a bounded domain. Given a time T, we prove the existence and uniqueness of an initial datum that maximizes the total mass [equation] in the presence of an advection term. In a population dynamics context, this optimal initial datum can be understood as the best distribution of the initial population that leads to a maximal the total population at a prefixed time T. We also compare the total masses at a time T in two cases: depending on whether an advection term is present in the medium or not. We prove that the presence of a large enough advection enhances the total mass.

Numerous studies have provided insight into the challenges that investors may confront when making investments, such as allocating resources across a variety of stocks and securities. In response to these challenges, various portfolio theories have been developed. Among them, Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT), developed by Harry Markowitz, is one of the most famous. The purpose of this project is to investigate if MPT can be optimized in a way to achieve a higher return by constructing a fewer number of portfolios. We propose a two-step approach, and we compare the results with the existing theory. Rather than trying to find the optimal portfolio in one step, our two-step approach breaks the optimization process down into two steps, each of which involves a group of randomized portfolios. We find an initial optimal portfolio from the first group and then, in the second step, the final optimal portfolio will be determined from the second group of randomized portfolios which are generated based on the initial optimal portfolio from the first step. Our simulation proves that our two-step approach is more efficient and gives a higher rate of return comparing to the existing approach.

Background: Some Indigenous people suffer from a disproportionate prevalence of life limiting conditions, with increased mortality and decreased life-expectancy compared to non-Indigenous populations. Reduced uptake of palliative care services by Indigenous populations is concerning and further cultural understanding is needed to improve delivery of palliative care services. This review explores Indigenous user experiences with palliative care in Canada through the research question: How does a worldview affect the delivery of palliative care services to Indigenous people living with life limiting conditions? Method: Seven primary source articles are analyzed concerned Inuit and First Nation and Métis perspectives on palliative care. Summative themes identified including traditional and contemporary experiences, EOL beliefs, EOL preferences, EOL communication, EOL capacity, EOL resource and policy limitations, and recommendations for palliative care improvements. Dialogue examples accompanying the themes are analysed with Hiebert's Worldview Model concerning nine worldview features including time, self-concept, space, feeling, preference, sensation, food, beliefs, emotion and ethics, values, and judgement. Results: some Canadian Indigenous people's self-concept and spiritual beliefs may conflict with western individualistic delivery of care, and serious illness conversations. Conclusion: Culturally sensitive and competent approaches to palliative care marginally improve care delivery for Indigenous populations, but the do not improve health equity. A cultural safe approach to palliative care can help address health equity for Indigenous people and lead to increased culturally accessible, accommodating, and acceptable EOL care.

Obesity is a disease that occurs when energy intake exceeds energy expenditure, concomitantly increasing risk of chronic diseases, including metabolic diseases such as diabetes. Research into therapeutics to correct dysregulations in energy balance is on the rise, and one notable neuropeptide being studied is pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP). PACAP has been shown to regulate thermogenesis, an energy burning process regulated by the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) in response to cold stress and overfeeding, but its role within the sympathetic nerves innervating and regulating energy metabolism in adipose tissues is not well understood. We hypothesize that PACAP is acting on PACAP receptors (PAC1, VPAC1, VPAC2) expressed in stellate ganglia innervating brown adipose tissue, the main thermogenic organ in mammals. We have established a reliable protocol for the isolation of two ganglia of the SNS (stellate and superior cervical) and provided recommendations of reference genes to use as internal controls for gene expression studies. For the first time, we confirmed PACAP receptor gene expression in the stellate ganglia, and saw sex-specific, differential gene expression based on housing temperature. We subsequently analyzed the expression of PAC1 splice variants in the stellate ganglia and our positive control tissues (adrenal gland and superior cervical ganglia), identifying at least two variants in these SNS tissues. This work adds to current literature on the study of thermogenesis and energy balance, and encourages future work characterizing G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) for their therapeutic application, enhancing our fundamental understanding of autonomic physiology in mammals.

Remote sensing techniques have been demonstrated to be efficient tools for producing reliable and accurate information regarding forest inventory. Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) can be used to develop Predictive Ecosystem Mapping (PEM) models based on Digital Elevation Model (DEM) derived layers. These PEM models, and the variables that they are based on may be used to generate reliable information to predict forest growth potential using an age-independent approach. This study evaluated the efficacy of using ALS-derived attributes to infer Site Index (SI) in plantation areas up to 30 years old, and compares the results with the current Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification (BEC) estimates. I used a machine learning approach and Random Forest techniques to develop an age-independent SI model (SI_pem) incorporating DEM-derived topographic layers. The resulting SI_pem model produces accurate SI estimates at a fine grain across different forest ecosystems. The model performed significantly better when compared to Site Index by Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification site series (SIBEC) lookup tables. Microclimate variables associated with water process, such as Topographic Positioning Index, Diurnal Anisotropic Heating, Topographic Openness Dominance and Overland Flow Horizontal Distance had significant importance to predict SI across the three areas studied in this work.

Bipolar disorder (BD) has significant individual and family consequences and is consistently managed in the family practice setting when there is a lack of specialty services. Family appears to be an underutilized resource and yet is consistently mentioned in current guidelines. This literature review was conducted to determine how family can be incorporated into the family practice setting to improve patient outcomes. A list of recommendations was developed to provide evidence-based rationale to primary care providers to integrate family into the psychosocial management. In doing so, this provides additional resources that are consistent with current recommendations and can support patients with BD.

Canada implemented Bill C-127 to eliminate sexual assault against wives in 1983, while Ghana criminalized marital rape in 2007. Although Ghana was late in establishing the Domestic Violence Act, which eliminated the idea that husbands can rape wives, there has been little to no legal report of marital rape in Ghana. This study explored the experiences and perceptions on the factors that lead to the justification of marital rape among Ghanaian-Canadian women. The study adopted a qualitative research approach and a descriptive case study design. The general research question was: What factors influence the justification of marital rape as perceived and experienced by Ghanaian-Canadian married women? A purposeful sampling procedure targeted Ghanaian-Canadian women living in Canada. A total of twenty (20) highly educated women participants within the ages of 28-63 were identified. A case study was pursued using semi-structured interviews. Telephone interviews were conducted with all the participants. The methods of data analysis of the interview data involved transcription, categorization, and coding for major themes. Major themes identified as factors that influence the justification of marital rape include the following: lack of confidence in the Ghanaian judicial system, exaggerated ideas of the effectiveness and ruthlessness of the Canadian judicial system in dealing with marital rape, economic instability, and women's immigration status. Hence, one major factor that helped achieve these findings was the comparative approach the participants identified by relating the Ghanaian society to their host country, which helped to examine differing influences of the identified themes. Ethical consideration to confidentiality and anonymity are demonstrated in this thesis with pseudonyms used for the participants in the discussion of the findings. The thesis concludes with vital recommendations such as the need for further research to uncover the factors leading to the justification of rape from diverse religious and non-religious groups and tribes of diverse nationalities living in Canada, and further research to investigate the support services available within Canada’s provinces and their response to domestic violence, especially with women of colour.

Increasingly, artificial neural networks are explored to learn relationships among temporal sequence data for purposes of classification, prediction, and anomaly detection with the hope of exceeding the performance of more traditional machine learning algorithms. While the underlying Long Short-Term Memory or Gated Recurrent Unit networks are still the preferred choices by many researchers, such recurrent networks are sub-optimal to learn relationships within and across longer sequences. Transformer neural networks, originally designed to improve the performance of natural language processing tasks, pose an interesting alternative as their attention mechanisms are more capable of capturing context and meaning within longer sequences. Such features present opportunities to apply transformer networks also to temporal sequence data of financial asset prices. This thesis introduces an extension of the original transformer neural network which is capable of multivariate time series representation learning in a supervised learning context and attempts to train temporal sequences of financial asset prices. The prediction accuracy of the transformer extension exceeds two of the most popular recurrent neural networks used for temporal sequence data prediction. The experiments are conducted in the context of a trading algorithm that showcases the practical potential and its implications. As the model is not input data specific, opportunities to transfer enhancements to other domains exist.

Relationships between the identity styles (informational, normative, and diffuse-avoidant), compassionate love for humanity, self-compassion, and quiet ego were explored. To date, no research has examined relationships between these constructs. Three hundred four individuals (84 men and 220 women) completed self-report measures of identity style, compassionate love for humanity, self-compassion, and quiet ego. Participants were members of an age range referred to as emerging adults (ages 18 to 29). Seven hypotheses were investigated, including whether: (1) there will be a significant positive relationship between the informational identity style and quiet ego; (2) there will be a significant negative relationship between the normative identity style and quiet ego; (3) there will be a significant negative relationship between the diffuse-avoidant identity style and quiet ego; (4) the informational identity style positively predicts quiet ego, with high self-compassion being a mediating factor; (5) the informational identity style positively predicts quiet ego, with high compassionate love for humanity being a mediating factor; (6) the normative identity style negatively predicts quiet ego, with low compassionate love for humanity being a mediating factor; and (7) the diffuse-avoidant identity style negatively predicts quiet ego, with low self-compassion being a mediating factor. Data analyses were carried out using the statistical software SPSS to conduct correlations and hierarchical multiple regressions, in order to examine the hypotheses. Results indicated that quiet ego was significantly positively correlated with the informational identity style, and significantly negatively correlated with the normative and diffuse-avoidant identity styles. Furthermore, the positive relationship between the informational identity style and quiet ego was partially mediated by compassionate love for humanity. The negative relationship between the normative identity style and quiet ego was linearly impacted, but not mediated, by compassionate love for humanity. The negative relationship between the diffuse-avoidant identity style and quiet ego was linearly impacted, but not mediated, by self-compassion. Potential reasons for why the observed results were obtained are provided. Future studies may explore potential gender differences in these relationships, in addition to analyzing the different components of self-compassion, and their relationship to the identity styles and quiet ego. Limitations for this study included the use of a survey design, which reduces the ability to infer directionality from the findings. The implications of the results are discussed.

In recent years, computer-animated characters have been designed more and more vivid and lifelike, and many of them are extremely similar to real people. Due to the high degree of similarity, some classical face recognition models are mixed up in the face identification process. For example, FaceNet model matches cartoon facial images with their similar real faces. In this case, some people may try to cheat by using virtual faces when they are identified by face recognition systems. To address this problem, this paper proposes an integrated approach that utilizes Multi-task Cascaded Convolutional Networks (MTCNN) and Resnet-50 models for the classification of real and cartoon faces (or virtual faces) of an input image before the face identification task. Our experiments show that the proposed integrated approach achieves better results on face identification tasks compared to some classical face recognition models that accomplish the tasks directly.

Mushrooms, the fruiting bodies of fungi, are known to be powerful sources of nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals but there are limited studies focusing on exploring the medicinal value of mushrooms native to North America. Here, I describe the isolation of two novel bioactive polysaccharides from the aqueous extracts of the fungus Echinodontium tinctorium: an immunostimulatory complex polysaccharide (EtISPFa) of 1354 kDa, and a growth-inhibitory β-glucan of 275 kDa. In addition, six small molecules including a phenol derivative, a new diphenylmethane derivative and three lanostane-type triterpenes were isolated from the organic extracts of E. tinctorium. The molar mass of these isolated small molecules (labelled 1-6) was determined to be 124, 260, 506, 498, 496, and 440 g/mol respectively. Phase separation, Sephadex LH-20 size exclusion, Sephadex DEAE ion exchange chromatography, Sephacryl S-500 HR size exclusion, silica column chromatography, and HPLC were used for bioactivity-guided purification. Chemical structures and linkages of EtISPFa and EtGIPL1a polysaccharides were determined by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Final structures of small molecules were determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), NMR, and X-ray crystallography. Immuno-stimulatory activity of EtISPFa was assessed by immunoassay in Raw 264.7 murine macrophage cells and growth-inhibitory activity of EtGIPL1a and small molecules were assessed by MTT growth-inhibitory assay in cancer cell lines. The mechanism of growth inhibition was assessed via apoptosis and cell cycle assays. EtISPFa stimulated the immune response by inducing TNF-α and other inflammatory cytokines in murine macrophage cells. In contrast, EtGIPL1a showed promising anti-proliferative activity against U251 glioblastoma cells and on ten other cancer cell lines. EtGIPL1a induced apoptosis in U251 cells with an increased cleaved caspase-3 apoptotic marker and significant DNA fragmentation in cell cycle analysis. Amongst the small molecules, compounds (2), (4) and (5) caused growth-inhibition in U251 cells; compound (4) also showed promising effects on multiple other cancer cell lines; all its bioactivities are reported here for the first time. The crystal structures of compounds (2), (4) and (5) have also been reported for the first time. Molecular targets of (1), (2), (4) and (5) by MolTarPred were predicted and warrants further experimental investigation.

Equine assisted therapies are growing in popularity as a modality for treating various mental health and developmental challenges. Many of these challenges require focused work on the development of empathy, perspective taking, and attunement to self and others. This study examines the participants’ experiences and understanding of empathy as it relates to self, humans, and equine partners via structured qualitative interviews with four therapy participants. The interviews conducted for this study demonstrated a distinct common understanding of empathy as the ability to take perspective based on the human’s or animal’s own orientation in the world; an understanding that developing empathy within the context of equine therapy was emotionally laborious and required significant work and emotional engagement on the participant’s behalf. The interviews indicated that the participants’ perceived the horse as emotionally neutral in therapeutic interactions. Furthermore, the study indicated that a central component to the perceived success of this modality of therapy was a parallel process in relationship between the facilitator/client dyad and the client/equine dyad.

Stock forecasting is a very complicated task due to its noise and volatile characteristics. How to effectively eliminate the noise has attracted attention from both investors and researchers. This report presents a novel de-noise technique named Line Segment Algorithm (LSA). Compared to those signal processing methods, LSA is based on the characteristic of financial time series. First, the algorithm identified the shape patterns of the historical stock price series and labeled them as turning points and false alarms. Then, a stock trend prediction framework was built and trained with the shape patterns extracted by the algorithm. Eventually, the model could predict whether a shape pattern is turning point or not. To evaluate its performance, experiments on the real stock data were carried out in LSTM and Random Forest, respectively. The results show that LSA demonstrates its effectiveness by better accuracy on prediction. It provides a new perspective for stock trend analysis and can be applied in the actual stock investment trading as well.

Ancient Forest/Chun T’Oh Whudujut Provincial Park (AFP) is part of British Columbia’s (BC) inland temperate rainforest that receives high total annual precipitation amounts (>1000 mm) from orographic enhancement. AFP hosts a ~4 km2 complex of valley bottom wetlands which is supported by this precipitation, a good portion of which falls as snow. This study examines the hydrology of the wetland complex to determine the primary water sources and their influence on flow paths and recharge. Water levels and meteorological conditions were monitored for 2019 and 2020, and water samples were collected for isotopic data during the 2020 snow free period. Kriging of water level data revealed a northeastward nearly flat hydraulic gradient that shifted orientation during wet and dry periods through the summertime. Rainfall amounts were above average at 700.2 mm and 676.4 mm while snow water equivalent varied at 762.8 mm (below average) and 1082.8 mm (above average) for 2019 and 2020, respectively. The reduced snowpack of 2019 yielded lower water levels through the summertime when compared to those of 2020. End Member Mixing Analysis (EMMA) of stable water isotope data indicates that rainfall is not a significant enough recharge source to alter the wetland groundwater composition, while snowmelt is likely the dominant source of input for the groundwater. Cross correlation between rainfall and water level data indicates however that water levels do respond to rainfall events with lag times ranging from 13 – 30 hrs. This observation leads to the conclusion that rainfall serves to flush stored snowmelt generated water from the soils into the wetland complex, though not in a significant enough volume to replace snowmelt as the dominant soil water source. Since previous research has concluded that by 2050 as much as 50 % of the current snow contribution to total annual precipitation will be replaced by rainfall, this study indicates that this shift in precipitation regime may result in lower water levels in the wetland complex. Numerical modelling of the relationship between wetland water levels and precipitation phases and amounts would improve the understanding of the climate resiliency of valley bottom wetlands in the Robson Valley.

This thesis examines the enthusiasm and motivations for home canning in the twenty-first century within the context of the DIY movement of the 1990s and the current urban homesteading movement. Using interdisciplinary methodological approaches, including feminist history, feminist auto/biography, and autoethnography, the author provides historical background on home canning and homesteading in Canada and the United States; she also uses her own lived experiences of canning and gardening while pursing an MA in Gender Studies to analyze choice feminism. This thesis examines criticisms of the current interest in home canning by journalists, and the reactions of canning/urban homesteading bloggers to those articles. Ultimately this thesis argues that canning is a valuable skill and that feminism and foodwork are not incompatible; furthermore, blogging about canning and urban homesteading is breaking down the divide between the public and private spheres by providing an income for some bloggers through advertising and book deals.

This thesis reviews multiple forms of terahertz spectroscopy and imaging, and exploits a combination of aspects from the techniques involved to undertake a novel method. With the use of this method, subsurface interfaces within a practical, insulated system are spatially imaged and identified. Initially, transmission spectroscopy is used to select the insulating material of the system based on favourable dielectric properties, followed by the use of dove prism reflection spectroscopy to understand and qualitatively contrast the responses of the interfaces to reflecting terahertz pulses. After constructing a reflection imaging system, multiple interface materials concealed by insulation are successfully located and identified by coloured overlays in a 100 by 100 image. Further exploration of applications involving the proposed method is also discussed.

Due to the popularity of the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), a need has arisen for the creation of schema documents for the purpose of validating the content of other JSON documents. Existing automatic schema generation tools, however, have not adequately considered the scenario of an array of JSON objects with different types of structures. These tools work off the assumption that all objects have the same structure, and thus, only generate a single schema combining them together. To address this problem, this thesis looks to improve upon schema generation for heterogeneous JSON arrays. We develop an algorithm to determine a set of keys that identifies what type of structure each element has. These keys are then used as the basis for a schema decision tree. The objective of this tree is to help in the validation process by allowing each element to be compared against a single, more tailored, schema.

It is well known that the density of plankton populations always increases and decreases or keeps invariant for a long time, and the variation of plankton density is an important factor influencing the real aquatic environments, why do these situations occur? It is an interesting topic which has become the common interest for many researchers. As the basis of the food webs in oceans, lakes, and reservoirs, plankton plays a significant role in the material circulation and energy flow for real aquatic ecosystems that have a great effect on the economic and social values. Planktonic blooms can occur in some environments, however, and the direct or indirect adverse effects of planktonic blooms on real aquatic ecosystems, such as water quality, water landscape, aquaculture development, are sometimes catastrophic, and thus planktonic blooms have become a challenging and intractable problem worldwide in recent years. Therefore, to understand these effects so that some necessary measures can be taken, it is important and meaningful to investigate the dynamic growth mechanism of plankton and reveal the dynamics mechanisms of formation and disappearance of planktonic blooms. To this end, based on the background of the ecological environments in the subtropical lakes and reservoirs, this dissertation research takes mainly the planktonic algae as the research objective to model the mechanisms of plankton growth and evolution. In this dissertation, some theories related to population dynamics, impulsive control dynamics, stochastic dynamics, as well as the methods of dynamic modeling, dynamic analysis and experimental simulation, are applied to reveal the effects of some key biological factors on the dynamics mechanisms of the spatial-temporal distribution of plankton and the termination of planktonic blooms, and to predict the dynamics evolutionary processes of plankton growth. The main results are as follows: Firstly, to discuss the prevention and control strategies on planktonic blooms, an impulsive reaction-diffusion hybrid system was developed. On the one hand, the dynamic analysis showed that impulsive control can significantly influence the dynamics of the system, including the ultimate boundedness, extinction, permanence, and the existence and uniqueness of positive periodic solution of the system. On the other hand, some experimental simulations were preformed to reveal that impulsive control can lead to the extinction and permanence of population directly. More precisely, the prey and intermediate predator populations can coexist at any time and location of their inhabited domain, while the top predator population undergoes extinction when the impulsive control parameter exceeds some a critical value, which can provide some key arguments to control population survival by means of some reaction-diffusion impulsive hybrid systems in the real life. Additionally, a heterogeneous environment can affect the spatial distribution of plankton and change the temporal-spatial oscillation of plankton distribution. All results are expected to be helpful in the study of dynamic complex of ecosystems. Secondly, a stochastic phytoplankton-zooplankton system with toxic phytoplankton was proposed and the effects of environmental stochasticity and toxin-producing phytoplankton (TPP) on the dynamics mechanisms of the termination of planktonic blooms were discussed. The research illustrated that white noise can aggravate the stochastic oscillation of plankton density and a high-level intensity of white noise can accelerate the extinction of plankton and may be advantageous for the disappearance of harmful phytoplankton, which imply that the white noise can help control the biomass of plankton and provide a guide for the termination of planktonic blooms. Additionally, some experimental simulations were carried out to reveal that the increasing toxin liberation rate released by TPP can increase the survival chance of phytoplankton population and reduce the biomass of zooplankton population, but the combined effects of those two toxin liberation rates on the changes in plankton are stronger than that of controlling any one of the two TPP. All results suggest that both white noise and TPP can play an important role in controlling planktonic blooms. Thirdly, we established a stochastic phytoplankton-toxic producing phytoplankton-zooplankton system under regime switching and investigated how the white noise, regime switching and TPP affect the dynamics mechanisms of planktonic blooms. The dynamical analysis indicated that both white noise and toxins released by TPP are disadvantageous to the development of plankton and may increase the risk of plankton extinction. Also, a series of experimental simulations were carried out to verify the correctness of the dynamical analysis and further reveal the effects of the white noise, regime switching and TPP on the dynamics mechanisms of the termination of planktonic blooms. On the one hand, the numerical study revealed that the system can switch from one state to another due to regime shift, and further indicated that the regime switching can balance the different survival states of plankton density and decrease the risk of plankton extinction when the density of white noise are particularly weak. On the other hand, an increase in the toxin liberation rate can increase the survival chance of phytoplankton but reduce the biomass of zooplankton, which implies that the presence of toxic phytoplankton may have a positive effect on the termination of planktonic blooms. These results may provide some insightful understanding on the dynamics of phytoplankton-zooplankton systems in randomly disturbed aquatic environments. Finally, a stochastic non-autonomous phytoplankton-zooplankton system involving TPP and impulsive perturbations was studied, where the white noise, impulsive perturbations and TPP are incorporated into the system to simulate the natural aquatic ecological phenomena. The dynamical analysis revealed some key threshold conditions that ensure the existence and uniqueness of a global positive solution, plankton extinction and persistence in the mean. In particular, we determined if there is a positive periodic solution for the system when the toxin liberation rate reaches a critical value. Some experimental simulations also revealed that both white noise and impulsive control parameter can directly influence the plankton extinction and persistence in the mean. Significantly, enhancing the toxin liberation rate released by TPP increases the possibility of phytoplankton survival but reduces the zooplankton biomass. All these results can improve our understanding of the dynamics of complex of aquatic ecosystems in a fluctuating environment.

In this study, an effective and low-cost water treatment system is developed. At first, an investigation combining published literature, available information through different health regions and raw water sample data from participating communities was done. Through that investigation, a critical water contamination problem, experienced by the rural, remote, First Nation communities was identified, which is Manganese. Then a treatment system was developed to effectively remove Manganese from the source water. Greensand plus was used as a filtration media and the prototype was designed to best suit the need of the community residents to remove Manganese in raw water. The lab scale and prototype experiments were designed using design expert software; adsorption isotherm and kinetics study were also conducted. The prototype was able to reach a removal efficiency 96.50% which can effectively treat source water levels found in the raw water sample. Therefore, a fit-for-purpose solution is developed to remove Manganese from raw water, which is cost effective, easy to use and maintain. Cost effectiveness is demonstrated through comparison of the developed system with available typical clean water supply strategies.

In this report I discuss my practicum experience at Carrier Sekani Family Services and my work with the Child and Youth Mental Health Team during the summer of 2021. I review the agency I worked with, including an overview of the services they offer and its mission. My personal positioning and theoretical orientation are outlined, with a specific focus on how social location impacts my work, social constructivism, and strength-based framework. A literature review is provided in which four topics related to my practicum are reviewed: child and youth mental health, Indigenous child and youth mental health, the importance of providing services to children and youth, and practice considerations. I discuss my practicum learning experience and focus on the theme of holistic practice. Finally, I review how my practicum experience will impact my future practice and how my learning will benefit me and my future clients.

Research on jurors and juror symptomatology has been conducted for many years; however, existing research has primarily been completed in the United States. What little research was conducted in Canada is now several years ago. Further, there is sufficient anecdotal evidence to suggest PTSD can and does occur as a result of serving jury duty. As such, this research sought to explore the relationship between jury duty participation and PTSD symptomology, as described by participants. This research is qualitative and involved two stages. First, participants (n=14) were asked to complete an online demographic survey that included a self-report measure for PTSD, the PCL-5. Second, participants (n=12) were invited to complete a one-two hour interview. Findings from the interviews were analyzed via thematic analysis. This research found three participants who met the criteria for probable PTSD (when using a cut-off score of 32). Overall, jurors in Canada echo previous research that states sources of symptoms relate to viewing disturbing images, deliberations, sequestering, and fear of making a mistake. New insight indicates fear associated with retaliation may be a major contributing factor for symptomology. Further, jurors whose life experiences relate to the trial type may be a contributing factor for symptomology. Policy and practice recommendations include improving information for jurors before they begin their service and providing more consistent follow-up support for jurors. Research should continue to explore the relationship between jurors and symptomology.

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are an increasing public health problem that affects all populations regardless of race or gender. Despite general increased prevalence, specifically young men who have sex with men (YMSM), between the ages of 15-26, are a high risk group accounting for 53% of all new cases. National and provincial guidelines recommend increased STI testing in YMSM in comparison to their female and non-MSM counterparts to reduce overall STI rates and prevent potential negative health outcomes. Although these guidelines exist, testing in this population remains low. This integrative literature review explores the barriers experienced by YMSM when accessing STI testing and informs strategies whereby Nurse Practitioners could optimize sexual health care in this population. A systematic search of the literature identified 11 key articles. These were analyzed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tools, the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool, and Scale for the Assessment of Narrative Review Articles. Three key themes emerged from the literature and are explored in detail: personal barriers, system-level barriers, and healthcare provider barriers. Recommendations based on the above themes with respect to facilitating sexual health education in YMSM and related practice improvement in NPs are identified. Normalization of sexual health through a life course approach and areas for further research are also highlighted.