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Causes of post-consumer food waste in Dalhousie Studley Campus dining halls based on dining habitats and food waste opinions of students living in on-campus residences
No full textEnvironmental Problem Solving II: The Campus as a Living Laboratory Student PapersFood waste in university dining halls is a significant sustainability concern, that must be addressed to decrease environmental impacts and increase institution sustainability (Turker, 2025). We investigated the extent and causes of food waste in Dalhousie University’s Studley Campus dining halls and explored potential solutions to reduce waste. Data were collected via survey between March 11th-17th, 2025. The survey received 70 valid responses from students living in Studley Campus residences, providing insight into their food waste habits, reasons for discarding food, and overall satisfaction with the dining hall experience. The findings reveal that 80% of respondents reported throwing away consumable food at least half the time they ate in the dining halls, with mixed dishes (such as casseroles and rice bowls) and meats being the most discarded. The most frequently cited reason for food waste was poor food quality, with 87% of respondents identifying it as a key factor. Additional contributors included the inability to take leftovers outside the dining hall (46%) and simply feeling too full (36%). Statistical analysis using Fisher’s Exact tests showed a significant relationship between students’ satisfaction with their dining experience and both the frequency and proportion of food waste, with dissatisfied students discarding more food overall. Based on these findings, two primary recommendations emerge: improving the quality and appeal of dining hall food and allowing students to take leftovers outside. With 96% of respondents supporting the latter change, implementing these measures could substantially reduce post-consumer food waste while also enhancing the overall student dining experience. Addressing these concerns is crucial for Dalhousie’s sustainability efforts and for fostering a more positive and efficient food service system on campus.
Keywords: Post-Consumer, Food Waste, Poor Quality, Waste Reduction, University, Dining Hal
Overcoming Barriers to Access to Public Domain Heritage: A Global Dialogue Toward Solutions
No full textThis session will first examine the challenges that limit access to cultural heritage in the public domain and the impact that has on people’s enjoyment of and participation in cultural life.
Next, the session will introduce the global advocacy efforts of the TAROCH (Toward a Recommendation on Open Cultural Heritage) Coalition, a Creative Commons-led initiative. TAROCH brings together organizations and institutions in international dialogue to address barriers to public domain heritage access. Ultimately, the coalition aims to advance a UNESCO global policy standard that will help guide and empower cultural heritage institutions to open their collections, benefiting society, fostering inclusion, and enriching cultural participation.
Finally, the session will demonstrate actionable steps cultural heritage institutions can take now to leverage open licenses, tools, and practices – supported by education, training and other initiatives – to implement open-access practices and share their collections more openly and sustainably.
Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of the challenges surrounding public domain access, the role of global advocacy in shaping policy solutions, and practical opportunities to support or participate in collective efforts that advance open-access practices
Making Fun: Leisure, Culture, and Belonging in Urban Colonial Ghana, 1900-1950s
No full textThis thesis explores urban African leisure in colonial Ghana to uncover a nuanced and subjective understanding of African urban and colonial experiences. Each chapter explores a distinct aspect of leisure, encompassing voluntary associations, sports, and nightlife. Although the colonial regime and other authorities attempted to use their power over space to direct Africans’ leisure time, Africans fought to spend it as they saw fit. Africans were in pursuit of their own social spaces, where they could become urban, forge new identities, form friendships, and pursue romantic relationships. Leisure was crucial for the construction and maintenance of paracolonial networks and multifaceted identities that determined belonging and exclusion. Groups competed over control of leisure clubs and the resources to maintain them. Young urbanites drew from international influences in creating urban youth culture. Leisure reveals how Africans took control of their leisure time and animated their daily lives
The effects of stimulant medication on loss of control eating in youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
No full textIn youth, binge eating is characterized by loss of control eating (LOC-E). LOC-E affects 23% of children worldwide and predicts binge-eating disorder in adulthood. Given the shared features of LOC-E and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), stimulant medications used for ADHD could potentially treat symptoms of LOC-E. This thesis examined the relationship between stimulant medication initiation and change in LOC-E frequency, eating disorder cognitions, ADHD symptoms, reward sensitivity and impulsivity, and mood/anxiety symptoms in youth diagnosed with ADHD and LOC-E over a 3-month period. Within our sample (n = 10), a mean difference of 8.2 episodes was observed in LOC-E frequency at follow-up. In addition, associated symptoms saw reductions while receiving stimulant treatment for ADHD. These findings provide preliminary support for a relationship between stimulant medications and LOC-E. This thesis could support adequately powered randomized controlled trials to better delineate the relationships between LOC-E, ADHD, and stimulant medications in youth
Space and Power: Designing for Healthcare Equity
No full textThis thesis examines the relationship between space and power, investigating how architecture can challenge systemic barriers to sexual, reproductive, and gender-affirming healthcare. Adopting a feminist perspective, the project analyzes how built environments have historically excluded or harmed those at the margins of care, and how spatial design can instead cultivate agency. Set in the medical block of Halifax, Nova Scotia, the proposal envisions a healthcare facility that provides clinical and community-based support. Building on zine culture as a design methodology, the thesis goes beyond traditional architectural approaches to explore community-focused care strategies. It incorporates non-institutional forms of representation and uses architectural methods that emphasize ease of navigation, sensory involvement, and advocacy. Rather than isolating care, this thesis proposes a model that embeds it within the public realm, transforming the healthcare facility into a site of empowerment
The Hydroponic Garden: Facilitating Urban Agriculture in Northern Cities using 3D Printed Ceramics
No full textThis thesis explores *3D-printed ceramic facades* as a sustainable strategy to
integrate food production into urban architecture. Responding to critiques of superficial
“greenwashing,” the research leverages ceramics’ material properties—water retention,
thermal regulation, and adaptability—to create modular biofacades that actively support
edible plant growth. Combining biomimimetic design with digital fabrication, the project
develops a prototype ceramic panel system designed for passive irrigation and climatic
resilience. Methodologically, it bridges environmental analysis, digital modeling (Rhino3D),
and physical prototyping (clay 3D printing) to align ecological needs with architectural
assembly. Contextualized within Edmonton’s post-industrial Rossdale Power Plant, the
proposal demonstrates how such facades can transform underutilized infrastructure
into productive urban ecosystems. By merging ceramic materiality with agro-ecological
principles, this work redefines facades as living interfaces—mediating urban resilience,
biodiversity, and human-nature engagement through built form
Physical Activity & Mother-Daughter Dynamics: A Feminist Phenomenological Study in Eastern Nova Scotia
No full textA feminist hermeneutic phenomenological investigation into early adolescent girls' and their mothers' physical activity engagement in rural Nova Scotia, exploring individual as well as relational impacts on supports and barriers to physical activity engagement.Physical activity (PA) levels for girls and mothers are significantly below recommended levels, and rural girls and mothers appear to be at even greater risk for low PA than their urban counterparts. A significant cause for these disparities is due to sociocultural expectations to conform to a ‘feminine ideal’ as well as engagement in motherhood ideologies. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of adolescent girls and their mothers in rural eastern Nova Scotia, while situating their experience in the gendered sociocultural, historical, and geographical context in which they live. Using Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenology with a lens of feminist post-structuralism, six mother (ages 36-46 years)-daughter (ages 11-13 years) pairs participated in individual interviews. Analysis was done in three phases, resulting in three manuscripts. Manuscript one (adolescent girls results) identified three major themes: (1) what physical activity looks like depends on your definition; (2) “What do you do when the boys take over the gym?”; and (3) “It’s really nice to have space…but there’s a lot less options out here”. Manuscript two (mothers results) found the following themes: 1) What PA looks like for rural Nova Scotian mothers, 2) Not all rural is the same, 3) Squeezing it in at home, 4) Performing motherhood both motivates and limits PA, and 5) PA needs to be a priority, or it doesn’t happen. Manuscript three (dyadic analysis of mother-daughter pairs), resulted in five themes 1) Mothers and daughters share the value and definitions of PA, 2) Highly active daughters do not always have highly active mothers, 3) Mothers Find Motivation to Engage in PA During the ‘Waiting Time’, Co-Activity, and ‘Being The Example’ 4) Daughters experience mothers encouragement and not pressure to engage in PA and 5) We're making strides in PA gender equality, but it’s not truly equal opportunity yet. Findings address several gaps in the literature, particularly the PA experience during the unique adolescent period for both rural girls and their mothers. Results suggest recommendations in policy, programming and research to address barriers to PA for rural adolescent girls and mothers, and to help girls and mothers overcome gendered sociocultural discourses that limit their engagement
What They Do in the Shadows: Understanding How and Why States Engage in Proxy Wars
No full textProxy wars have been an ever-present part of conflict in history. Supporting a group with a common enemy is an effective and generally low-cost endeavour that allows a backer to conduct a wide range of operations. The contemporary understanding of this topic through the lens of principal-agent theory offers a good basis for understanding how these operations unfold. However, this theory fundamentally undersells the role of deniability in shaping how much control a backer can have over their proxy. The goal of this thesis is to fill the existing gap in the research by proposing a new theoretical approach that considers how deniability impacts control. In order to fill this gap, this thesis will conduct a series of congruence analyses to provide in-depth micro-level research on the ins and outs of these types of conflicts. Beyond this, I will use a large-N study to provide a macro view of the trends in the data. This thesis has found that deniability has a negative correlation with control, as deniability increases, control goes down. This offers a new direction for proxy war literature to examine as an expansion of research on this topic can help us uncover more about the correlation between control and deniability
Policing the Prostitute: The Impact of the Contagious Diseases Acts on Sex Worker’s Agency
No full textTracing Erasure: Fostering Care and Engagement in Heritage Conservation
No full textCurrent heritage conservation practices tend to privilege material preservation, often at the expense of intangible, everyday, and erased histories, particularly those of marginalized communities. This thesis reframes conservation through an ethic of care, shifting from a mindset of “protecting from” to one of “caring about.” Guided by core themes of openness, curiosity, and choice, the project positions architecture as a tool to foster engagement, care, and shared authorship of place. Using Halifax as a testing ground, a series of fragmentary, interactive installations are proposed at sites marked by erasure. These architectural interventions function as social prompts, inviting participation, intergenerational dialogue, and storytelling. In this effort of heritage-making, walking is used as both method and metaphor: a slow, attentive practice of experiencing and reflecting. Ultimately, the work proposes a conservation approach that is not static or top-down, but participatory, inclusive, and responsive to the plurality and emergent nature of collective history