University of Lethbridge Theses
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- ItemThe experience of being a novice nursing preceptor in western rural Canada(Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Health Sciences, 2024) Hawke, Tyrel L.; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Health Sciences; Oosterbroek, TracyThis qualitative study explores the experiences of novice nursing preceptors in rural healthcare settings, aiming to highlight the unique challenges and opportunities they face. Drawing on an extensive literature review, the research identifies gaps in the current understanding of rural preceptorship, emphasizing the need for enhanced preparation, communication, and organizational support. Investigating the lived experiences of novice preceptors, the study employs semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of participants, providing in-depth insights into the realities of rural nursing preceptorship. The sample consists of nursing professionals who have recently undertaken preceptor roles in rural settings, offering an underexplored perspective on the challenges and needs of novice preceptors. Key findings reveal significant ambiguity in preceptors' roles and responsibilities, exacerbated by inadequate formal training and support. Communication barriers, heightened by geographical isolation, further complicate the preceptorship experience. The study also notes a pronounced lack of recognition and resources available to preceptors, underscoring the vital role of organizational support in enhancing the effectiveness of rural nursing preceptorship programs. The implications of this research are far-reaching, suggesting that targeted interventions are necessary to support novice preceptors, thereby enriching the preceptorship experience and strengthening the nursing workforce in rural communities. The findings contribute to the broader discourse on nursing education and preceptorship, offering practical recommendations for healthcare organizations, educational institutions, and policymakers to address the identified gaps.
- ItemEdward 'Ned' Hanlan: imagining Canadian masculinity and national identity from the success of an early rowing champion(Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Kinesiology, 2025) Mills, Adam; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science; Kossuth, RobertThis study explores Canadian professional rower Edward ‘Ned’ Hanlan who became nationally and internationally famous in the mid-to-late Victorian Era (1870s-90s). Applying a deconstructionist methodology to analyse illustrations and text of Hanlan’s numerous races, this project explores how nationalism and manliness were depicted and understood during this time. Images published in two Canadian magazines, Grip and the Canadian Illustrated News are examined to reveal how and why Hanlan was frequently exemplified as a role model for Canadians. The print media’s representation of Hanlan was informed by broader influences such as the Canada First movement and the appropriated sport of lacrosse to provide readers context to appreciate Hanlan as the standard for what it meant to be Canadian. Grip and the Canadian Illustrated News focused on connections between athletic prowess and manliness, and Hanlan’s physical composition in these images is examined through a consideration of hegemonic masculinity, the self-made man, reclaiming masculinity, muscular Christianity, and fatherhood. By equating Hanlan’s feats with the emergence of Canadian nationhood, the rowing world championships resonated with Canadians as well as serving the print media’s interests in promoting a Canadian masculine ideal.
- ItemThe examination of the gig economy in Canada from 1976 to 2021(Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Economics, 2024) Alekseev, Dmitry; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science; Mueller, Richard E.It is currently important to provide practical recommendations to the Government of Canada in response to COVID-19 shocks to the labour markets on a global level as well as at a local/regional level. The gig labour market has been affected by the pandemic, but to date, there are no studies about the gig economy and its implications on the labour market in Canada. This project is one of the newest assessments of Canada’s gig economy in the scientific literature. Considering the fact that conventional labour market statistics and economic indicators are poorly suited to measuring work that is transacted via online platforms, the entire digital transformation of labour markets remains largely unobservable to policy makers and labour market researchers. The purpose of this thesis is to therefore take a long-term perspective to compare the gig labour market opportunities of today’s young working populations with those of previous and future generations in Canada in the context of the rising gig economy. Consequently, the thesis aims to explore the main challenges, along with some opportunities, in applying the gig economy platforms in Canada. The gig-economy platforms portray themselves as intermediaries in the two-sided market of workers and jobs, rejecting the idea that such platforms are employers (Koonse & Waheed, 2020). Thus, detailed labour and employment data are necessary to conduct the research which will shed light on the gaps in this area. The information about the conditions of the gig economy in Canada is extremely limited, at times even absent. As mentioned by Jeon and Ostrovsky (2020:3): "Despite the significant share of gig workers (GWs) in the Canadian labour force, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on them is very difficult to assess because GWs cannot be identified in any of the main sources of employment data. Unlike traditional wage employees, GWs enter various non-standard work arrangements to complete specific tasks or work for a specific period of time and, therefore, their work loss is not captured by standard employment or wage indicators". In view of this lack of data, it is impossible to identify all the gig worker in the real labour market. Other scholars highlight that labour economic theory is no longer relevant (Ashford et al., 2018). Nevertheless, by using the linked Labour Force Survey master files at Research Data Center, this thesis offers as a means of filling the gap in knowledge in this topic. This thesis has five chapters. The first chapter introduces the topic of the gig economy and the theory behind this new phenomenon. In Chapter 2, we reviewed the relevant literature and definitions of the gig economy. Chapter 3 outlines the study design, the data source, and the variables and analytical procedures used for the logit model estimations and for the summary statistics. Chapter 4 interprets the empirical results from this research. The final chapter presents the conclusions, study limitations, and relevant recommendations for the future studies on this topic.
- ItemEnsemble methods for spatial data stream classification with application to emergency services(Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Mathematics and Computer Science, 2024) Bhattacharjee, Prasanta; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science; Osborn, WendyOur research investigates the application of ensemble methods for spatial data stream classification within emergency services, specifically severe weather events. Emergencies demand swift, accurate decisions to mitigate impacts and protect lives. Ensemble methods improve the accuracy of predictions by combining outputs from multiple neural networks, each trained on diverse aspects of the data, including geographic coordinates, weather data, spatial data, and logistical factors. These models collectively contribute to more precise decision-making, particularly in assessing evacuation priorities. We collected and generated relevant data for affected regions and evacuation centres pertinent to severe weather events. For class labeling data, we employed K-means and DBSCAN clustering techniques. Our findings show that the ensemble of neural networks significantly improves the classification accuracy of spatial data stream data, potentially leading to more effective emergency responses. Comprehensive experiments with streams containing both spatial and non-spatial data show the accuracy, precision, and recall of our proposed approach.
- ItemAn alternate approach to quantum chaos through Bohmian mechanics(Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, 2024) Nieuwenhuis, Sean M.; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science; Das, SauryaThe development of quantum mechanics has proven to be one of the most revolutionary and important descriptions of the universe at its most fundamental scale, but there remains much work to be done for a complete description of all physical phenomena. One notable area of research focuses in the realm of quantum chaos and the lack of a clear correspondence between a classical and quantum description of chaos. Taking a step back from the usual interpretation of quantum mechanics in terms of a wavefunction and its collapse, we study an alternate but correct description of quantum mechanics via the so-called Bohmian picture, with implications for quantum chaos. The resultant description is in terms of ‘Bohmian trajectories’, which are nothing but quantum counterparts of classical trajectories. We will demonstrate that this alternate interpretation can provide a new description of quantum chaos, with a much clearer correspondence to its classical counterpart.