CBU Scholar

CBU Scholar provides access to the publications and contributions of CBU faculty and students.

The database consists of books, book chapters, articles, essays, and other research outputs.
Publications are accepted from all departments and across all languages and subjects as determined by the research activities of CBU Faculty.
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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Graduate Research 21
Graduate works from CBU students
Research 272
Open Access research publications
Research Chairs, Institutes & Centres 66
Undergraduate Research 67
Undergraduate works from CBU students

Recent Submissions

Access status: Open Access ,
A Media Analysis of Medical Assistance in Dying and its use in Canada: March 2024-May 2025
(Cape Breton University, 2025-10) Bernasky, Tammy; Hubbert, Jennifer; Ramji, Ruby; Varkeyachankunnamkumarath, Edwin
Canada legalized Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) in 2016 through amendments to the criminal code allowing for medical practitioners to assist someone with their death if they met a number of criteria. These criteria included that the patient’s medical condition must be grievous and irremediable and their natural death had to be reasonably foreseeable. In 2021, Bill C-7, an Act to amend the criminal code (medical assistance in dying) came into force thereby removing the foreseeable death requirement. Between 2016 and 2023, 60,301 have died through MAiD. The number of MAiD deaths in 2023 was 15, 343 which is up 15.8% from 2022. With the increasing number of cases of MAiD, there is growing concern about who is applying for and receiving MAiD in Canada. This report is based on our project which sought to build on our previous research by identifying emerging trends in public discourse about MAiD through ongoing media coverage. We continued our documentation of people reportedly applying for MAiD due to social determinants of health including poverty, inadequate housing, social and government supports, and inadequate health care. The scope of the project expanded to include an analysis of legislative compliance regarding MAiD in Canada. We uncovered stories where legal action has been pursued or where medical or legal repercussions were absent despite clear violations of regulatory procedures. Our research also included a scan of euthanasia laws in other countries. This report highlights the findings from our media scan and jurisdictional research related to MAiD. We conclude with recommendations to address concerns about MAiD utilization in Canada
Access status: Open Access ,
CULTURAL ORIENTATION AND EMOTION REGULATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL ANXIETY AND NEURAL RESPONSES TO EMOTIONAL FACES
(2025) Ariel Coish; Dr. Michelle Jetha
The current study examined relations among cultural orientation, emotion regulation (ER), and social anxiety in 175 undergraduate students (81.1% female; Mage = 19.7, SD = 1.7). Independent and Interdependent orientation was measured using the Self-Construal Scale (SCS), ER with the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and the Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (IERQ), and Social Anxiety using the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS). Findings revealed distinct ER patterns for each orientation, such that Interdependent orientation was associated with use of Interpersonal ER strategies. Interdependent self-construal and social modeling interacted to predict against social anxiety (β = –.24, t = –2.85, p = .005). A subsample of 21 participants completed Emotion Go/NoGo tasks while electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded. Event-related potential (ERP) components (P100, N170) to fearful, angry, and calm expressions for "Go" trials were measured over occipital and parietal regions. Independent Orientation was associated with reduced N170 amplitude to fearful (r(21) = –.474, p = .03) and angry (r(20) = –.546, p = .013) face expressions. Expressive suppression correlated with greater P100 amplitude to fearful (r(21) = .456, p = .038) and angry faces (r(20) = .453, p = .045), while Cognitive Reappraisal was related to reduced P100 (r(20) = –.447, p = .048) and N170 (r(20) = – .509, p = .022) amplitudes to angry faces. Social Anxiety was associated with greater N170 amplitude to fearful faces (r(21) = .467, p = .033). The results highlight the role of cultural orientation in ER tendencies and Social Anxiety, and demonstrate extensions to automatic neural responses to emotional faces.
Access status: Open Access ,
Degenerate Elliptic Partial Differential Equations in Rough Geometries
(Cape Breton University, 2025-04-15) Bigley, Nicholas; Rodney, Scott
In this thesis, we investigate the existence of weak solutions to degenerate, linear, elliptic second-order partial differential equations in divergence form with rough coefficients whose regularity is controlled by the optimal gain found in several types of Sobolev inequalities: power gain, logarithmic gain, and no gain. This gain is determined by the roughness of the geometry associated to the vector fields defined by the coefficient matrix Q of the principal part of the equation. In the case of power gain, low order coefficients must minimally belong to certain classical weighted Lebesgue spaces. In the case of logarithmic gain, they must be exponentially integrable. In the case of no gain, low order coefficients must be bounded. This investigation is conducted using the techniques of Lebesgue spaces, Orlicz spaces, and general functional analysis.
Access status: Open Access ,
Reimagining Holistic Well-Being Through a Narrative Self-Study: I Am Nature
(Cape Breton University, 2025-07-24) Goriak, Lenea R.; Campbell, Elizabeth
I thought I was doing everything right: practising gratitude, choosing happiness, and considering how my actions affected the broader community. Even with all the right tools, I was exhausted, disconnected, and living in a body that did not feel like home. This narrative inquiry is an arts- based self-study that became a call to explore a deeper question: How have my personal and professional experiences contributed—or not—to my happiness and well-being? Guided by the wisdom of nature reflected in the Medicine Wheel, the work unfolds as a circle of becoming. It mirrors the seasons of transformation: burnout, release, rest, and renewal. Through a thematic analysis of personal writing and other creative expressions, I discovered that sustainable happiness cannot take root through strategies alone; it only flourishes when built on unconditional self-love and a sense of belonging. Unlearning old paradigms became the first step in breaking away from internalized beliefs about self-worth and sacrifice. These insights invite a reimagining of education through the lens of teacher well-being, not as a systems fix but as an invitation to feel alive again. What transpires ahead is not simply a new way of teaching but rather a new way of being watered in self-compassion, seasonal wisdom, and the kind of living that transform everything it touches.
Access status: Open Access ,
An Examination of Non-Destructive Methods for Differentiating Between Yellow Lampmussel (Lampsilis cariosa) and Tidewater Mucket (Atlanticoncha ochracea)
(Cape Breton University, 2024-05-01) Butler-Doucette, Sophia; Rawlings, Tim; White, Kellie
Conservation and management of imperilled freshwater mussel populations (Order Unionida) rely on the ability to distinguish between species occupying the same habitat. Standard methods of mussel identification have relied on external and internal shell characteristics. However, distinguishing species based on shell form can be challenging due overlapping traits across species and phenotypic plasticity. Furthermore, examination of internal shell features requires destructive sampling, which is not ideal for imperilled taxa. In Canada, Yellow Lampmussel (Lampsilis cariosa) is a species listed as “Special Concern” and is limited in distribution to isolated populations in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. This mussel appears strikingly similar to another species, Tidewater Mucket (Atlanticoncha ochracea), and both species can reside within similar habitats. In a survey given to 29 people, participants were only able to correctly differentiate between Yellow Lampmussel and Tidewater Mucket 61.7% of the time using external shell characteristics. The objective of my honours thesis research was to explore alternative, non-destructive identification methods to differentiate between live Yellow Lampmussel and Tidewater Mucket, including morphometric analyses, comparisons of soft-tissue morphology, and molecular tools. A custom-designed multiplex PCR method was employed to validate the identification of the 36 Yellow Lampmussel and 20 Tidewater Mucket specimens used in this study. Ratios of linear shell measurements were 83.9% accurate in differentiating between species, while ratios of soft-tissue measurements showed greater success (90.6%), and size-corrected soft-tissue measurements (i.e., divided by shell length) had the highest reliability among all non-molecular methods (92.5%). Furthermore, notable differences in soft-tissue colour and colour pattern were observed between these species. Finding a reliable method of species identification that can be implemented in the field will be of enormous value to freshwater mussel ecologists. The results of this study provide a framework for this, but future studies employing larger sample sizes, wider geographic sampling, and standardized methods for assessing qualitative soft-tissue features will be required to validate a robust identification tool.