PURE Research Report
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Program in Undergraduate Research Experience (PURE) undergraduate award holders work with University of Calgary researchers to pursue an area of inquiry over the course of a summer term. In doing so, they learn how research projects are developed and conducted, and how research results can contribute to new knowledge and solve problems in a field of research and in society. PURE Research Reports demonstrate the power of inquiry and innovation in undergraduate student work, and provide insight into the exciting work of the next generation of emerging researchers from every program of study on campus.
https://taylorinstitute.ucalgary.ca/students/undergraduate/pure-awards
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Item Open Access 2018 Pure report: Interactions of AbiK and Sak3 in vivo(University of Calgary, 2018-09-18) Sundby, AdamItem Open Access A Review of the Literature on Online Collaborative Learning in K- 12 and Post-Secondary Education During COVID 19(2022) Tay, Sharmaine; Friesen, SharonThe COVID-19 pandemic posed challenges to familiar instructional practices as the national and international response to a global pandemic precipitated a shift to online teaching and learning. This en masse transition offered a novel opportunity to examine the benefits and challenges of the now more widespread context of technologically mediated education and its impact on collaborative group learning. This conceptual review of the literature reports the findings on the impact of COVID-19 on collaborative learning in Education between the years 2020-2022. Twenty-nine of the 54 published articles from K-12 to post-secondary education contexts met the criteria established for this review and were included in the review. Three themes emerged from the review: 1) impacts of online learning on collaboration; 2) student responsibility; and 3) collaborative knowledge building. The literature on online learning and student responsibility described widely varied results with collaborative learning while the literature on online Knowledge Building learning environments indicated many of the issues had been anticipated and reported learning gains were maintained in the shift to online learning. Our review of the studies conducted during COVID-19 indicates a need for increased proactive intentional design to support learners in online learning environments.Item Open Access Adaptive Radiation Therapy in Head and Neck Cancer(2019-09-23) Harjai, NabhyaHead and neck cancer is the sixth most common malignancy worldwide with 350 000 deaths reported annually (1). Radiotherapy is one of the most common treatment modalities for head and neck cancer patients. Although head and neck cancer (HNC) survival is steadily increasing, the close proximity of tumor volumes to organs at risk (OARs) makes radiotherapy planning and delivery challenging for these patients. We hypothesize it will not only further reduce the incidence of treatment-related toxicities and improve post-treatment quality of life of patients with cancer but also improve the allocation of essential clinical resources.Item Open Access An Analysis of the Barriers Encountered in the Teaching and Learning of Refugee Youth Through Trauma Informed Practices(University of Calgary, 2018-09-24) Pelletier, JanineThis report presents the results of a qualitative study that explored the multiple facets of the teaching and learning of youth from refugee backgrounds, many of whom are participating in specialized programming within the Calgary, Alberta area. In particular, this article presents data and discussion regarding some of the interwoven challenges encountered by youth, families, teachers, and administration when working with refugee youth. This study confirms that improvements are needed in areas such as teaching strategies, teacher training, school inclusive practices, and systematic utilization of community services. Teachers also expressed the need to combat ongoing prejudice at the peer, teacher, and administrative level. Further, implications for policy and practice are discussed.Item Open Access Anatomical Tracing of the Efferent and Afferent Projections of the Red Nuclues(University of Calgary, 2018-09-24) Ngan, Sara; Sharma, Sandeep; Whelan, Patrick J.Motor behaviors are essential for survival, such as walking, foraging for food or escaping predators. Still, little is known about the specific descending pathways to the spinal cord that control complex motor movements. From the brain, there are four main pathways that descend directly to the spinal cord which contribute to the wide array of movements used in our daily lives. One of these pathways is the rubrospinal tract, which originates at the red nucleus in the midbrain. Previous experiments revealed that the red nucleus is important in the fine motor control, response rate and smoothening of limb movements. Despite the importance of the rubrospinal tract and the red nucleus, this pathway has not been studied extensively in mice. This project aims to determine the afferent and efferent connectivity of the red nucleus. This was achieved using viral tracing techniques. The retrograde tracer cholera toxin B (CTB) and the anterograde tracer biotin dextran amine (BDA) were injected into the red nucleus and their resulting expression throughout the brain was identified. Based on preliminary data, the major areas that project to the red nucleus are the primary and secondary motor cortices, the preoptic area, the posterior lateral hypothalamus, zona incerta, periaqueductal grey and the gigantoreticular nucleus. The results of this study provide the fundamentals for future studies of the rubrospinal tract. Moving forward, the cell types and role of these identified pathways can be studied to further build on our understanding of motor pathways.Item Open Access Auroral X-Ray Imager(University of Calgary, 2018-09-21) Pitzel, JaredItem Open Access A BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS INVESTIGATION OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE USE AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING(Program for Undergraduate Research Experience, 2019-09-23) Pavelka, ChloeItem Open Access Changing Attitudes to Arctic Security: Arctic Defence and Foreign Policy, 1989-2018(University of Calgary, 2018-09-23) Longman, MischaItem Open Access A collection of cognitively demanding acute trigonometry tasks for grade eleven Albertan teachers.(2019-09-20) McConnell, SeanThis report looks at the levels of cognitive demand that were used in an Albertan mathematics 20-2 classroom to teach a unit on acute triangle trigonometry during a student teacher's practicum as part of a PURE summer research award.Item Open Access CONSTRAINING FLOW PROPERTIES OF SANDSTONES AND DOLOSTONES THROUGH X -RAY COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY(2019-09-21) Mitchell, NolanWater-rock interactions in porous underground formations can impact the effectiveness of energy technologies ranging from natural gas extraction to geologic CO2 storage and geothermal energy production. Numerical simulators known as Reactive Transport Models (RTMs) have been developed to predict the effects of these interactions on the flow and transport properties of subsurface energy reservoirs, but these models have been historically plagued by the inability to quantify the pore scale properties, such as porosity, mineral surface area, and permeability, that impact the evolution of reservoir-scale flow and transport properties during energy extraction operations. In this PURE summer research project, I will use previously-acquired, three-dimensional, high-resolution X–ray Computed Tomography (XRCT) images from the Advanced Photon Source (Chicago, USA) to constrain the pore-scale flow properties of a suite of sedimentary rock samples, including sandstones and dolostones. The 3D image data will be analyzed using the recently-acquired Pergeos software package and accompanying high-performance Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)-outfitted workstation in the RTG laboratory to determine and constrain porosity, permeability, and mineral surface areas in the sedimentary rock samples. This novel, important data set will provide inputs to pore-scale RTMs of the samples, which will, in turn, permit the effective prediction of the evolution of pore-scale flow properties of these important rock types.Item Open Access Contested Commemoration: Alberta Educators' Experiences Teaching Controversial Monuments in Social Studies Classrooms(2019-09-23) Gobran, JessicaHistorical monuments currently occupy a controversial place in countries across the world. However, despite the important role of social studies educators in this debate, at this time there is a limited number of studies that explore the teaching methods these educators use in their classrooms to make sense of and engage with controversies surrounding memorialization. To address these gaps, this project sought insights into the following research questions: 1) How (if at all) do social studies teachers in Alberta address contentious debates around the memorialization of controversial historical figures in their classrooms? 2) To what extent have they experienced emotional reactions when engaging these topics with their students, and how have they addressed this in their practice?Item Open Access Coping With a "Near-Arctic" China(2019-09-22) Longman, MischaAn analysis of Chinese economic interests, the Sino-Russian relationship and the American reaction in the Arctic.Item Open Access Data-Driven Modelling of Stratified Environmental Flows(2019-08-31) Tang, CynthiaThe research project studied is an integral part of the supervisor's Discovery Grant (DG) entitled "Process-based modelling of turbulent mixing in stratified natural waters.'' The purpose of the DG is to develop a new generation of models for turbulent mixing in natural waters, e.g. lakes, estuaries, and oceans, where the density of fluid typically increases with depth (i.e. stratified). Understanding stratified mixing is crucial for a range of important environmental problems, from modelling the ecological health of the Great Lakes to predicting oceanic heat uptake in a changing climate. Within the research project, a recent turbulent flow dataset is used to explore data-driven modelling strategies for stratified environmental flows. Although the governing equations for fluid flows have long been well known, solving them directly is prohibitively expensive for a majority of practical applications. As such, instead of solving the equations, the main purpose of the project is to obtain an optimal dynamical system model of complex flows based on a fully nonlinear data set, which will develop physical insights contributing towards the following questions [1]: 1. How does Re modify the dimensions and structures of the pancake vortices as they evolve in time? 2. How does Re affect the duration within which internal waves are emitted by the wake turbulence and the characteristics of wake-emitted waves? 3. How does the susceptibility to secondary shear instability within the pancake vortices vary with Re? Quantitatively, how much of the flow volume remains ‘turbulent’ at a given point in time? How much of the ‘turbulent’ region is susceptible to shear instabilities?Item Open Access Drew Thomas Pure Report(University of Calgary, 2018-09-23) Thomas, AndrewItem Open Access Effect of Carbon Nanotube Aspect Ratio on Properties of Carbon Nanotube-Polyethylene Nanocomposites(University of Calgary, 2018-09-21) Williams, DamianItem Open Access Effects of oxidative stress on long-term memory(University of Calgary, 2018-09-24) Darvishi, MehrsaAging is a natural and inevitable process which results in many disadvantages such as reduction in long-term memory and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’ disease. There have been many attempts at explaining the process of aging. However, the heterogeneity and multifactorial characteristics of aging makes it a difficult to task to analyze.Item Open Access Elucidation of 3' exon requirements of a novel group II intron(University of Calgary, 2018-09-23) Fung, BeatriceGroup II introns are a type of mobile genetic element. They are composed of a catalytic RNA called a ribozyme, and a protein encoded within the intron called the intron-encoded protein (IEP). Group II introns have the ability to self-splice. Self-splicing is the result of ribozyme activity and produces an excised lariat intron and ligated exons. Mobility of group II introns occurs when the excised intron inserts into DNA target sites using the IEP. In 1994, four group II introns were identified in Escherichia coli. They were named E.c.I1, E.c.I2, E.c.I3 and E.c.I4. Recent research has identified a non-standard mechanism for 5' exon recognition in E.c.I4. Exon recognition is essential during self-splicing. In contrast to the 5' mechanism for exon recognition, the mechanism for 3' exon recognition in E.c.I4 has yet to be elucidated. Two possibilities have been suggested: nucleotide one of the 3' exon may pair with either the delta nucleotide adjacent to exon binding site 1 (EBS1), or with the EBS3 nucleotide. The purpose of this research project was to identify the 3' exon recognition mechanism used by E.c.I4.Item Open Access Estimating Earth structure from seismograms with unknown earthquakes source characteristics(University of Calgary, 2018-09-24) Zhang, Haoze; Dettmer, JanItem Open Access Evaluation of Neural Connectivity in Stroke Survivors(University of Calgary, 2018-09-24) Campeau, LaurenItem Open Access Every Word I Write is History: Memory and Literary Analysis of Italian Postwar Literature(University of Calgary, 2018-09-15) Pennetta, SabrinaThis report will analyze postwar Italian literature from 1945 to 1990. It will look at how Italian society dealt with the events of the war and how the idea of national unity and the nation were compromised during and after the Second World War and the internal Civil War (1943-1945). I will analyze various Italian authors who contributed to different perspectives on postwar Italy, such as Cesare Pavese, Italo Calvino, Alberta Moravia, Elsa Morante, Ada Gobetti, Natalia Ginzburg, and Maria Occhipinti. An analysis of nationalism, gender, and memory will form the backbone of this report. Literature holds the key to understanding Italian society in the postwar world because of the freedom and vastness that writing provided Italians who had previously sought refuge from the persecution of their faith, gender, or political standing. Various questions emerge when studying this period; questions that are worthy of analysis. How did partisans attempt to understand their role in a larger struggle for their nation? Could women push through the paternalistic hierarchies established by fascism and emerge stronger? To what extent do these authors challenge the landscape of Italian memory studies? The answers to these questions lie in the words of postwar Italian literature.
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