Okanagan College

This research paper focuses on developing an automated data collection and transformation framework for Algorithmic Trading (AT) forecasting using machine learning (ML). The implementation of the computational resources is supported by a grant from the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (DRAC), Alliance Cloud Connect Pilot [1]. This enables large-scale data processing, storage, and model training. Historical market data and real-time data streams are collected at 5-minute intervals, stored in staging tables of a PostgreSQL DBMS, and aggregated into 15minute intervals in a custom-built Data Warehouse. It is essential to ensure that data from multiple sources remains consistent, accurate, and reliably reproducible throughout the data pipeline.

As guiding author of this paper, I am a syilx (Okanagan) artist and storyteller. iskwist mahúya (I am mahúya). I am a syilx suknaʔqín educator with kinship ties and responsibilities to Interior Salish relatives and tmixʷ (all of the interconnected life-forces). I consider myself a kinship connector, a web maker, connecting students to Storyways pedagogy and praxis that have worked effectively for millennia to ensure regeneration of life. I utilize frameworks such as First Peoples’ Principles of Learning, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Calls to Action, Professional Standards for BC Educators Standard 9 that pertains to respect and values of the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis in Canada, and UNDRIP, as pathways to respective Indigenous People’s diversity. I embody inclusion, and appreciation for diversity in my own practice with a collective pedagogy and praxis of well-being and food security being the goal. I consider myself a mentor and guide for learners on their learning journeys, to help develop and apply their understandings of syilx and Indigenous Storyways as pedagogy for responsible relationships with and between humans and the natural world. Together with four my co-authors—a Cree-Ojibwe scholar-educator, a Métis and mixed European educator, a White prairie settler descendent educator, and a scholar-educator-mother of European descent—our work takes up the challenges of decolonizing and Indigenizing learning environments (Association of Canadian Deans of Education, 2017; Donald, 2021; Hare, 2022) and navigating the challenges and embracing the opportunities of Reconciliation. This paper foregrounds local syilx knowledge and wisdom and uplifts the voices of syilx people. We will share insights from year one of a five-year SSHRC Partnership Grant with the Okanagan Nation Alliance, IndigenEYEZ, Kelowna Museums, the Kelowna Art Gallery, Central Okanagan Public Schools and UBC Okanagan. The researchers, authors of this paper, sought reflections from over 100 participants in the study and found that research participants were impacted by the land and historical/cultural/language learning experiences in ways that set them on transformative inner decolonizing journeys, and that resulted in participant requests to further deepen learning and community connections. The feedback collected emerges from reflective writing that took place following each of four land-based experiences and two online reflection circles. It opens a view into the learning and unlearning experiences of educators, researchers, and community partners. The experiences, guided by local syilx community members, reveal the inner journey of navigating complex reconciling conversations. The reflections provide understanding of the ideas which spoke most resoundingly to the research participants. It demonstrates how participants are beginning to understand their role in reconciliation. Many participants shared that their takeaway—pʔax̌, or spark—was the new way that they see, view, and experience this place as a source of medicine and life that must be treated with reverence and respect and that needs to be protected for future generations. The inner educator transformations led to shifts in teaching practice in their classrooms and this is part of the ongoing story.

Objective:Since legalization in 2018, older Canadians’ use of cannabis has increased steadily, yet little is known about their perceptions of cannabis. We aimed to determine cannabis usage, and characterize perceptions of safety, effectiveness and stigma in community dwelling older Canadians.Method:Canadians aged 50 years and older were invited to participate in an electronic survey of their experience with cannabis and perceptions of cannabis safety, effectiveness, and stigma. Data were categorized as participants reporting current use, non-use, prior use, and considering use. Perceptions were assessed with a 5-point Likert scale and open text box questions. Logistic regression models were used to assess how age, sex, cannabis usage, and education influenced perceptions.Results:One thousand six hundred fifteen participants completed the survey. Current cannabis use was reported by 44% of respondents, followed by non-use (33.2%), prior use (16.5%) and considering use (6.1%). Almost half (49.2%) perceived the risks of using cannabis to be low or very low. The greatest concerns regarding cannabis use were effects on cognition/mental health (40.8%), physical health (19.1%), and available product information (18.0%). Participants somewhat or strongly agreed that there is not enough information on cannabis safety (60.4%) and effectiveness (63.8%), and 34.7% perceived there to be a negative stigma amongst family and friends. Cannabis perceptions were influenced by age, sex, cannabis usage, and education.Conclusions:Generational and sex-based differences exist in cannabis usage and perceptions amongst older Canadians. These differences require consideration by health practitioners and public health workers to meet the educational needs of older adults.

Abstract This study examines the use of participatory mapping as a method to represent the values of non‐human entities (more‐than‐humans) in socio‐ecological landscapes. This research seeks to bridge the gap between theoretical developments in more‐than‐human geographies and their practical landscape‐level applications. Through a combination of literature review, as well as participatory mapping interviews and focus groups conducted with 28 participants along Mission Creek in British Columbia, this research explores if and how human proxies can represent the interests of non‐human beings through space. The findings reveal several difficulties in translating more‐than‐human values into mappable spatial data, as well as ethical tensions in balancing human and more‐than‐human priorities for landscapes. We find that there is value in integrating diverse perspectives, such as Indigenous knowledge, citizen science, and children's observations, which contribute nuanced insights into species’ needs, habitat relationships, and ecological processes. Lastly, we also find that participatory mapping may encourage reflexive and relational socio‐ecological thinking, which may promote more inclusive and sustainable environmental decision making. This research contributes to the development of more‐than‐human geography by providing practical insights into the methodological and ethical complexities of representing more‐than‐humans and may also advance efforts toward identifying methods to encourage sustainable and equitable landscape management.

Despite the improvements in accessibility for visually impaired people in higher education, non-text material from books still poses a challenge. This paper discusses the purpose of creating an accessible system for understanding diagram features and using machine learning models that can classify and extract the topology of those diagrams. We will introduce the steps required for diagram processing and the development of tools to help generate data sets for training machine learning models.

Despite the improvements in accessibility for visually impaired people in higher education, non-text material from books still poses a challenge. This paper discusses the purpose of creating an accessible system for understanding diagram features and

A DW is needed to efficiently and continuously prepare data for practical real-time data analysis and forecasting with machine learning (ML) algorithms. This paper discusses extraction, transformation, and loading process (ETL) automation and the critical subsystems integration for algorithmic trading ML modelling and stock market forecasting. Additionally, we discuss a new API designed for direct access to the DW. It opens vast opportunities for performance and data processing time to become critical nonfunctional requirements.

The Fish Water Management Tool (FWMT) is a water management decision support tool designed in part to protect sq̓awsitkʷ|Okanagan River sockeye salmon (sćwin|Oncorhynchus nerka). The FWMT includes a sockeye salmon sub-model to predict emergence timing, a life history stage where sockeye salmon are particularly vulnerable to high (scour) or low (desiccation) flows. Field observations of fry emergence timing were used to evaluate the accuracy of the FWMT sub-model, as well as flow data, spawner data and acoustic trawl data to evaluate the effectiveness of the FWMT. The FWMT predicted the date of peak emergence within an average of 12.6 days and improved compliance with flow targets by reducing desiccation and scour flows during incubation and fry migration life stages. Overall, the FWMT provides a flexible framework that allows water managers to evaluate and react to sq̓awsitkʷ|Okanagan River sockeye salmon responses to environmental conditions, rather than being constrained to a rigid calendar. These efforts have increased compliance with key flow targets, resulting in improved fry recruitment and a rare success story for fishery recovery.

Theories have posited that psychopathy is caused by dysfunction in the medial frontal cortex, including ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC). Recent reviews have questioned the reproducibility of neuroimaging findings within this field. We conducted a systematic review to describe the consistency of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings according to anatomical subregion (vmPFC, ACC, dmPFC), experimental task, psychopathy assessment, study power, and peak coordinates of significant effects. Searches of PsycInfo and MEDLINE databases produced 77 functional and 24 structural MRI studies that analyzed the medial frontal cortex in relation to psychopathy in adult samples. Findings were predominantly null (85.4 % of 1573 tests across the three medial frontal regions). Studies with higher power observed null effects at marginally lower rates. Finally, peak coordinates of significant effects were widely dispersed. The evidence failed to support theories positing the medial frontal cortex as a consistent neural correlate of psychopathy. Theory and methods in the field should be revised to account for predominantly null neuroimaging findings.