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.

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Recent Submissions

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Mental health and well-being of African immigrant women in southern Alberta, Canada
(Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Health Sciences, 2024-05-01) Odekina, Hannah I.; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Health Sciences; Lokanc-Diluzio, Wendi
The aim of this study was to delve into the experiences of African immigrant women in Southern Alberta and the ensuing impact on mental health. Employing an exploratory descriptive qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven (11) African immigrant women. Thematic analysis revealed that these women encountered intersecting challenges in Canada stemming from factors such as race, gender, social class, and immigration status, leading to negative effects on their mental health. Nevertheless, the participants employed various coping strategies to alleviate these challenges, with culture playing a significant role in shaping perceptions and coping mechanisms. The study underscores the importance of implementing culturally safe programs by stakeholders, policy makers, and mental health practitioners to facilitate the successful transition and integration of African Immigrant women into their new environment.
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Kinematic and gaze behaviour differs between hyper and hypo-affordants completing manual materials handling tasks
(Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge. Dept. of Kinesiology and Physical Education, 2024) Walker, Kayla D.; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science; Doan, Jon B.
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are a significant global health challenge, representing a substantial portion of lost work hours, reduced productivity, disability, injury, and pain across industries worldwide. Low back discomfort and disease is the most prevalent work-related musculoskeletal disorder. Low back disorders often result from the cumulative loading from repetitive bending, grasping, lifting, and carrying present in manual materials handling tasks. while much research has focused on safe and injurious manual materials handling behaviour, it may be useful to identify the perceptual strategies and outcomes that both couple with and precede manual materials handling actions, enabling the development of targeted interventions to modify those behaviours and reduce the risk of injury. This study investigates the differential impact of affordance perceptotype (hyper or hypo-affordant) and gaze behaviours on handling kinematics within ecologically relevant manual materials handling tasks. Specifically, this research aims to identify if differences exist in kinematic measures and visual attention strategies between affordance perceptotype sub-groups. The study used motion capture technology and vision tracking to quantify kinematics and gaze behaviour and examined two manual material handling tasks, with a static and dynamic target respectively. We predicted the hyper-affordant participants would identify with higher risk-taking behaviour plus demonstrate a limited visual attention strategy and injury-risk handling kinematics, with those behaviours connecting to an increased prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort. This research revealed that hyper-affordants did exhibit larger values for relevant handling kinematics plus different gaze behaviours, potentially increasing their risk of injury. The role of state and trait characteristics and gaze behaviour in occupational behaviour were not significantly associated to kinematic measures, task condition, or perceived affordance distance. This research contributes to the understanding that individual differences in perception then action may affect occupational behaviour and risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, thus emphasizing the value of considering perception when developing and delivering ergonomic interventions.
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Thermokarst distribution and susceptibility in Yukon: lakes, landslides and pingos
(Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Geography and Environment, 2024) Kienzle, Oliver K.; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science; Jiskoot, Hester
The most tangible consequence of permafrost thaw is thermokarst, which is landscape destabilization resulting from ground ice melt. The main objective of this thesis was to model and map thermokarst susceptibility across Yukon, Canada. An inventory of 3376 historically mapped thermokarst landform point locations was extracted from the Yukon Geological Survey’s Digital Surficial Geology dataset. Of these, 25 lakes, 27 landslides and 93 pingos in the Dawson City study area were manually delineated on the World Imagery baselayer in order to assess their morphology and distribution relative to similar landforms in other regions. Subsequently, generalized linear models of thermokarst susceptibility in Yukon were constructed using a range of topographic, geologic, environmental and climatic predictor variables from existing regional or global datasets. A novel potential surface radiation adjustment was developed to correct for seasonal snow cover. Using the mapped thermokarst landforms in the Dawson City study area as a training dataset set, the resulting optimal lake and landslide susceptibility models use slope as the sole predictor variable, while the pingo susceptibility model uses profile curvature. Overall, 3, 34 and 0.1 % of Yukon is modelled as being highly susceptible to thermokarst lake, landslide and pingo development, respectively. The models were evaluated using the Yukon thermokarst point location dataset, randomly distributed points, and select multivariate logistic models. The thermokarst lake susceptibility model performed best overall. This study shows that relatively simple modelling techniques can be effective in mapping thermokarst susceptibility, and highlights the importance of rigorous, up-to-date thermokarst landform inventories to aid in future modelling efforts.
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Insights into how the structural features of DNA adducts dictate local helical conformation and repairability: a computational study
(Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, 2024) Kung, Ryan W.; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science; Wetmore, Stacey D.
DNA damage occurs regularly and results in various biological consequences, including cancer. One specific type of DNA damage is the formation of adducts, which arise from various sources, including cigarette smoke and pesticides. The local helical structure of adducted DNA is dictated by the chemical composition of the lesion. Furthermore, various known conformations of adducted DNA have been shown to differentially impact DNA repair and replication. Although this underscores how the lesion dictates biological outcomes, structure–function relationships have yet to be fully explored. Thus, this thesis uses computational modelling to examine the complex interplay between the adduct chemical composition (e.g., bulky moiety shape, adduct linker type, and lesion number) and the resulting damaged DNA structure and lesion mutagenicity. Overall, novel trends in the helical conformation and lesion repairability as a function of the chemical structure of the DNA adduct are uncovered, which have implications in the severity of the long-term biological consequences.
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A feminist approach to a theory of dehumanization: evaluating dehumanization of women in contemporary digital social environments
(Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Philosophy, 2024) Newman, Jodi N.; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science; Stingl, Michael
Dehumanization has facilitated the worst atrocities in humanity’s historical record and continues to facilitate some of the gravest cruelties in the world today. While there is substantial work on dehumanization within philosophical and scientific disciplines, there remains an incongruence within the theoretical conceptualizations of dehumanization leading to the neglect or denial of the dehumanization of women. Some contend that dehumanization most characteristically occurs between racial or ethnic groups, but dehumanization may be a more general and deeply embedded aspect of human nature, more robust and perilous in its potential to victimize any member of a distinct group, even where group memberships might otherwise overlap with one another in more affiliative ways. As our social environments are evolving in lockstep with our communication technologies, the recognition of and response to the dehumanization of women remains inadequate and morally inexcusable.