Digital Commons Network^™

Understanding Physician Engagement With Ontario Health Teams, Atharv Joshi

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This summer, I worked on gathering existing literature on physician engagement in primary care. This literature was further developed into a research brief which is intended to be used with the Ontario Health Teams to explore ways to engage physicians in their roles especially with patients to improve patient outcomes, patient safety and provider satisfaction. Physician engagement evaluation is still limited which is why the research brief was able to provide a starting point for existing gaps that need to be further analyzed.

Development Of The Hafie Questionnaire - A Focus Group Based Study, Selina Liao

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This research poster describes the development of a hearing aid questionnaire that is designed to facilitate pre-fitting hearing aid selection. Through the use of focus groups, feedback and suggestions were given to improve the hearing aid.

The Effects Of Estrogen In The Glucoregulatory Response To Exercise In Type 1 Diabetes, Mitchell James Sammut

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Regular exercise has shown to benefit the health of individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). However, a barrier to regular exercise for this population is the fear of low blood glucose (BG) levels, also known as hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia can result in short and long-term side-effects, such as recurring loss of consciousness or in severe cases death.

In non-diabetics, sex-related differences in fuel selection during exercise are well established. Women shift towards using fats as fuel whereas men rely mostly on sugars (i.e., carbohydrates) for energy production. Exercise during the luteal phase of the female menstrual cycle, where estrogen levels …

Maker Education In Mathematics, Jade Roy, Frank Oliveira, Celina Murray

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Over the past 4 months, undergraduate students participated in a variety of research-based activities under the supervision of several researchers. Activities included a literature review, professional development, thematic analysis, and so much more. All of these research-based activities were in the area of Education, particularly Maker Education in Mathematics.

Using Social Media As A Recruitment Tool In Qualitative Research, Erica Lo

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Social media is an overlooked tool in qualitative health research due to limited methodological guidance in literature. While internet methods have been proven useful throughout many disciplines, using social media in research without literature support can lead to unforeseen practical and ethical problems. But, as researchers develop guidelines and publish their findings on the effectiveness of social media, these barriers can be overcome. This poster summarizes the process of using social media as a recruitment tool and the applications of this procedure through the results of Project Echo.

Development Of A Low Field Mri-Based Approach For Observation Of Water Penetration Into Clay: Preliminary Results, Shivam Gupta

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are considered one of the most efficient and non-invasive methods of observing water content in permeable substances. MRI can visualize and quantify the movement of water in real time. In this study, MRI was used to observe the water penetration through clay. Furthermore, MRI can acquire three-dimensional data due to its radio-frequency signals from any orientation. The contrast of the images produced by MRI is a display of the fluid concentration. As such, any change in the contrast intensity is interpreted as a regional change in the concentration of fluid. This report summarizes the preliminary results …

Speech And Song Classification Themes Across Childhood And Adulthood, Sarah Sequeira

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Using data collected through a previously administered music and language survey, we conducted a mixed model analysis of open-ended survey responses to questions regarding differences between music and language, and (more specifically) differences between the sound features of speech and song. We found that adult participants tended to provide responses related to the higher-level themes of function and realization, whilst children uniquely gave concrete answers. This exploratory study will guide future research in the field of speech and song classification, as well as music and language more generally.

Exploring Leisure, Social Participation In Older Adults, Zahra Fatina

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Older adults often face challenges in meaningful occupations in their neighbourhoods, often tied to place-based barriers and changes including neighbourhood decline or gentrification. The objectives of this study are to draw on findings from an ethnographic study exploring older adults’ lives in their neighbourhoods, in order to contextually situate the diverse experiences of older adults as they engage in community occupations, focusing on social participation and leisure. We employed an ethnographic methodology with 38 older adults living in two neighbourhoods in a mid-sized Canadian city. Participants engaged in narrative interviews, photo elicitation interviews, go-along interviews, and activity-space mapping with follow-up …

The Impacts Of Mid-Holocene Warming On Water Quality In A Southwestern Ontario Kettle Pond, Morgan E. Peicheff

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

No abstract provided.

Simulating 129-Xe Hyperpolarization, Jacob F. Abiad

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Hyperpolarized 129-Xe is an important resource in many fields of medical physics and MRI research. The physics of the efficient production of hyperpolarized 129-Xe is therefore equally worth investigation. The main process of hyperpolarizing 129-Xe is Spin Exchange Optical Pumping (SEOP) and is dependent on several physical factors that can be difficult to constantly change in a lab setting. Physical modelling of 129-Xe hyperpolarization allows for the more efficient testing of hyperpolarization physics in a wide array of experimental setups to better determine the optimal values for hyperpolarization. This research project attempted to create a working model for 129-Xe hyperpolarization …

General Transit Feed Specification (Gtfs) Data In Transportation Research: A Review Of Applications And Methods, Stanley Ho

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This research falls under the discipline of Urban Geography/ Geographic Information Science (GIS). The objective of this research is to sharing knowledge of a public transportation dataset named General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS). Transportation research using GTFS and other open source data can be easily reproduced in many cities and to answer many urban geography questions that involves public transportation. Readers can find that GTFS and related research are conducted globally through the selected collection of journal articles. The demonstration aims to showcase that research using GTFS is feasible and easy to learn by public with little amount of open …

Listening To Children In Health Matters, Neha Gulati

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Environmental Factors That Shape The Experiences Of Risk For Older Adults, Bernice Chung

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

When a young adult wants to go mountain climbing, rarely do people think it is “too dangerous”. The same cannot be said for older adults. Although life frequently involves risk-taking, older adults are too often positioned as ‘at risk’ and therefore, in need of protection. The problem lies in the way risk is conceptualized as an individually located phenomenon. This narrow view negates the environmental factors that exist outside the control of older adults and that shape risk in older adulthood. I wanted to address this gap, so my research explored the environmental factors that shape experiences of risk for …

Falls In Mid-Life: A Scoping Literature Review, Nicole Struthers

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

As the global aging population continues to grow, falls and fall-related injuries (FRIs) exert growing pressure on healthcare systems. Falls have been well studied regarding children (0-19 years) and older adults (65+ years). However, falls in mid-life (40-64 years) have not been studied as extensively. This scoping literature review on mid-life falls was conducted with the goal of answering two questions: what is known from the literature about the characteristics of falls occurring in mid-life, and how do falls in mid-life relate to experiences of falling over the lifespan, particularly falls later in life. A six-stage framework for conducting a …

African Immigrants' Mental Health In Canada, Jessica O. Omorodion

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

African immigrants are the fastest growing immigrant population in Canada. However, they are still extremely under-researched especially in regards to their understandings and experiences with mental health. This is important to look at due to the stark differences between Canadian African views on mental health. Current literature shows that while African immigrants are self-reporting as having above average mental health, there are still taboos and discriminatory concerns that exist as a barrier to transparency with it. This research will utilize the Stata software to analyze the Canadian Community Health Survey (2017) to further look at African mental health in order …

Global Impact Of Social Determinants On Access To Childhood Hearing Healthcare: A Scoping Review, Bahar Rafinejad-Farahani

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Levodopa On Speech Intensity And Rate In Parkinson's Disease, Isabelle Choon-Kon-Yune

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Reduced speech intensity (hypophonia) and abnormal speech rate (both fast and slow) are common speech symptoms in individuals with Parkinson’s disease (IWPD). Dopamine replacement medication, levodopa, is the standard treatment for PD; however previous studies of its effects on speech intensity and rate have been inconsistent. It is suggested that this may be related to inconsistencies in the severity of these speech symptoms in previous PD groups. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of levodopa medication on speech intensity and speech rate and to explore the potential association between levodopa responsiveness and the severity of these …

Task-Based And Resting-State Functional Connectivity In Children With Dyscalculia, Ira Gupta

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) is a unique method in neuroimaging that measures the spontaneous neural activity as the brain is at rest, not actively undergoing any task. It is important in investigating brain patterns that result from brain regions working together throughout an individual’s development. The application of this technique has been limited in the mathematical cognition field, and thus, should be explored further. This preregistration poster focuses on the depth of the literature and studies available in regards to RSFC and math cognition through a scoping review, and then proposes a study in which task-based and resting-state functional connectivity …

Ccn1 Levels In Duchenne Modelled Mice, Sami Berihun

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

No abstract provided.

A Transformer-Based Classification System For Volcanic Seismic Signals, Cristian Bravo Roman, Cindy Mora Stock, Alexander James Hemming

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Volcanic seismic signals are a key element in volcano monitoring to assess the state of unrest and a possible eruption style and timing. Different sources such as brittle fracture (volcano-tectonic - VT) or fluid movement (long period - LP) generate signals with distinct characteristics in frequency content and shape, but site effects such as attenuation or background noise make their determination difficult to the untrained eye. In cases of unrest or an eminent eruption, the amount of data would require a fast and reliable source of pre-classification to classify and catalogue to aid in the job usually done by a …

Food Safety In Canada, Brianne Powell

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

No abstract provided.

Reaction Attacks Against Various Public-Key Cryptosystems, James D. Mitchell

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

No abstract provided.

Racial Inequalities In Canadian Academia: The Case For Examining Within Discipline Variation, Sydney O. Joao Ms, Kate Choi, Patrick Denice

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

My research used data available in the public domain to establish racial/ethnic inequality in pay and rank in the Social Science faculty and the Medical School in a university in Southwestern Ontario. I specifically focused on the faculty of Social Science and Medicine and Dentistry School as they are among the biggest faculties on campus. I retrieved faculty information from information available to the public and used this to determine salary, race, gender, rank, and tenure status (if applicable). Visible minorities were paid lower in the faculty of Social Science compared to their white counterparts. However, in the Medical School, …

Using Qualitative Methods To Examine Influences On Active School Travel And Children’S Health, Sheena Ye

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Over the last year, three major tools were developed to examine key influences on AST and children’s health and well-being. These tools included two pilot surveys - one for parents and one for children from grades four to eight located in South Western Ontario. The third tool was a comprehensive travel diary for the child survey takers to fill out after completing their initial children’s pilot survey. Over the last four months, these tools were tested in order to collect feedback from volunteers recruited in South Western Ontario. The goal of the pilot testing of these tools was to determine …

Evaluating Effect Of Tree Canopy Cover On Human Thermal Comfort, Arthur Dolinar

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

No abstract provided.

Managing Parkinson's: Resources And Support, Emily Brinovec

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

No abstract provided.

Ventilatory And Gas Exchange Kinetics In Response To Progressively Increasing Work Rate Transitions In Humans., Alexandra Ward

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

No abstract provided.

Changes In Children's And Parents' Physical Activity Levels During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Literature Review, Kshitija Mundle

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Objectives: The purpose of this literature review was to gain an understanding of the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic and associated closures have had on the physical activity levels of children (ages 0-12) and their parents/guardians.

Methods: To identify relevant literature, a comprehensive database search was conducted. Specifically, studies including keywords: parents, children, physical activity, and COVID-19 and their related terms published between March 2020 and August 2021 were screened for inclusion.

Results: A number of articles have been published which suggest that structured/organized physical activities and team play opportunities have decreased during COVID-19 restrictions, while home-based unstructured play and …

The Influence Of The Social Determinants Of Health On Para-Sports Involvement Throughout The Caribbean And Americas, Laura Misener

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

As the number of individuals with a disability grows worldwide, the Paralympic Games and para-sports have seen a growth in participation (WHO, 2011). However, international sporting competitions including the Paralympic Games remain dominated by developed countries (Andreff, 2001). In the last Paralympic Games, the USA, Canada, and Brazil made up nearly 70% of participants from the North and South American region with 17 of the 28 committees sending five or less participants (Maleske & Sant, 2020). The present study investigates the social and cultural determinants in the Caribbean and Americas of para-sport participation in the region and their relation to …

Cultivating A Definitive Volunteer Training Program For Large Disability Sport Events, Avery M. O'Neil

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Disabled sport is significantly less funded than able-bodied sport. Because of this discrepancy, volunteers are heavily relied on for the functioning of large-scale disability sport events. Volunteers are critical to any disability sport event, and it is of utmost importance that they are trained correctly so that these events are successful celebrations of sport. The purpose of this study is to attain current disability sport volunteer training programs and integrate these findings with new qualitative data collected through interviews with athletes with disabilities, event organizers, and previous volunteers. The collection of information will be multi-phased and include data analysis using …