OPUS: Open Ulethbridge Scholarship

Open ULeth Scholarship (OPUS) is the University of Lethbridge's open access research repository. It contains a collection of materials related to research and teaching produced by the academic community.

Self-archiving your research in OPUS is one way to meet Open Access policies of granting agencies. It is important to retain your final, post-peer-reviewed drafts for submission to OPUS, as this is often the only version publishers will allow to be archived. Click here for information on the U of L Open Access Policy.

Check here for more information about OPUS.

Deposit your Research

 

Recent Submissions

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The life skills mental health connection in sport
(Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Education, 2024-11-12) Gross, Landon; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Education; Rathwell, Scott
Life skills are important outcomes for positive youth development (PYD). Sport participation offers unique opportunities for youth to develop life skills, potentially impacting mental health outcomes. This study examined the relationship between life skills development through sport and mental health functioning, investigating the potential mediating role of life skills transfer. Four research questions guided this study: (a) what are the relationships between life skills and mental health? (b) what are the relationships between life skills and life skills transfer? (c) what are the relationships between life skills transfer and mental health? and (d) does life skills transfer mediate the relationships between life skills and mental health? Given Portugal’s strong youth sport culture and recent initiatives to focus on mental health, a sample youth athletes aged 12-18 from Portugal completed measures of life skills, life skills transfer, and mental health functioning. Results indicated associations between life skills, life skills transfer, and mental health as well as which life skills were most associated with mental health and subsets of mental health (i.e., subjective, social, psychological). Mediation analysis revealed which life skills depend on the ability to transfer the skill to other areas of life to impact mental health outcomes in sport. Findings offer actionable guidance for working professionals and extend previous theoretical perspectives. Implications for counselling/sport psychologists and sport clubs are discussed.
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Toil: creating a research based board game about Southern Alberta farm families during the Great Depression (1929-1940)
(Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of History, 2024) Smith, LaRae; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science; Alexander, Kristine
During the Great Depression, 1929-1940, farming families in southern Alberta contended with what are now recognized as the three defining features of that decade: economic downturn, drought, and drifting soil. Drawing on oral history interviews and archival research, this thesis examines (1) the challenges that southern Alberta family farms faced during the Great Depression, and how the men, women and children of these families contribute to their family’s economic survival, and (2) how creating a boardgame on the topic of southern Alberta family farms during the Great Depression can help us to understand the time, the challenges that it presented, and how farming families responded. This thesis provides a look at the research done, the process of creating “Toil”, and the rationale behind turning the extensive historical research done into a board game format.
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Incompleteness in digital public services: A case study of Lethbridge's construction permitting process
(Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dhillon School of Business, 2024) McLeod, Bradley I.; University of Lethbridge. Dhillon School of Business; Bao, Yongjian
This thesis examined the digitization of the permit application process at the City of Lethbridge. The findings focused on service delivery and the tension between operational efficiency and human-centric values by employing a grounded exploratory case study approach, interviewing eleven members of the public and nine staff members. The research identified significant time savings and efficiencies while highlighting challenges, such as accessibility issues, personal interaction loss, and trust degradation. The concept of incompleteness is introduced in complex and non-transactional public services, highlighting how digitization can negatively impact human-centric values such as connectedness, satisfaction, and trust. This research integrated design thinking with public value management theory to emphasize the need to balance operational efficiency and human-centric values. The case study revealed that while digitizing the permit application process increased accessibility for many users, it created new inequities. This thesis advocates for a hybrid model that combines digital service platforms with additional support to address the issue of incompleteness. This ensures that the digitized services remain accessible and legitimate. This research provides insights into the lived experiences of digitizing public services and emphasizes the need to balance technological efficiencies with human-centric values and proficiencies. It contributes to the theoretical discourse on public value management and offers practical recommendations for policymakers, service designers, and practitioners looking to implement inclusive digital public services.
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Framing the feminist protests in Mexico: an analysis of the polarized discursive dynamics and gender power relations on social media
(Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Sociology, 2024) Tejeda Torres, Arturo; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science; Mair, Kimberly
This portfolio-style thesis presents central components in the development and consolidation of my doctoral research project. Through four different pieces—a teaching dossier, two academic articles, and an Op-Ed— this portfolio aims to contribute to contemporary debates in the fields of social theory, poststructuralist studies and digital communication by engaging with themes around polarization, discourse, ideology and power dynamics in the context of social media. The research presented in this portfolio examines the polarized discursive dynamics surrounding the feminist protests in Mexico on March 8th and 9th, 2020, which emerged in response to increasing femicides in the country. Through an analysis of social media interactions, it explores how dominant narratives—those aligned with the Mexican government's "Fourth Transformation" and its conservative opposition—shape public discourse and reproduce gender-based power relations. This portfolio format intends to bridge theoretical insights and analyses on a concrete scenario while facilitating communication with both academic and non-academic audiences, demonstrating the broader relevance and applicability of the research.
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Monitoring vegetation regeneration using multiple remotely piloted aircraft system sensors and methodologies
(Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Geography and Environment, 2024) Pearse, Ben; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science; Hopkinson, Christopher; Chasmer, Laura
Effective restoration of vegetation following mining or other anthropogenic disturbances requires the ability to accurately measure indicators of progress towards benchmarks and the desired restoration end points. In this thesis, remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) were used to collect data for estimating ecosystem proxies for productivity and measures of vegetation diversity at reference and reclamation sites in the Yukon and Alberta, with a focus on developing or confirming existing methods and testing their use on an operational level. In the first case study, the ability to estimate Leaf Area Index (LAI) and classify plant functional type using Object-Based Image Analysis in mixed species communities was evaluated. It was found that both conceptual and regression models were robust enough after two years of data collection to estimate LAI across the range of sites sampled (r2 ranging from 0.73 - 0.86 and RMSE from 0.29 - 0.38 m2/m2), showing spatiotemporal transferability of the models. Plant functional types (shrub, herbaceous, grass, and moss) were classified with high accuracy (F-scores ranging from 0.95 - 1.0). The second case study assessed the potential for lidar to be used as a stand-alone sensor to monitor vegetation regeneration of a post-wildfire study site by estimating biomass and LAI and classifying woody and herbaceous vegetation. Furthermore, the ability to classify vegetation species was evaluated using object-based image analysis, multi-temporal data, and a fusion of multiple sensor types. The results show that average height was best for estimating biomass (R2 = 0.76, RMSE = 254 g/m2) at 1m2 plots. Woody and herbaceous vegetation were poorly classified using the lidar point clouds, however, the addition of spectral (NDVI) and moisture information (distance to a stream) improved the classifications. Object-based image analysis using a single data acquisition during a period of maximum foliage was unable to comprehensively classify species. However, the addition of a second data acquisition during the fall capitalized on spectral diversity of different species during different phenophases and improved the classification. This research demonstrates the unique potential of RPAS to be used in restoration monitoring with its ability to utilize different sensors and collect datasets dependent on user needs. The methods developed here for estimating productivity and species diversity can potentially be incorporated into long-term industry-based monitoring programs and can help decision-makers learn from current restoration efforts and apply successes to new areas.