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Climate and Environmental Justice in Media Coverage of International Oil Companies’ Exit from Nigeria’s Niger Delta Region
No full textAfter having operated in the oil-rich region for about seven decades, international oil companies (IOCs) are exiting Nigeria’s Niger Delta in droves, leaving behind a highly polluted region. Although civil society organisations (CSOs) and international media have described the exit as an act of climate and environmental injustice, the extent to which the Nigerian media centred climate and environmental justice in their coverage of the exit is unknown. As digital media are known to report climate change related issues better than traditional media, the study examined the centring or decentring of climate and environmental justice in selected Nigerian mainstream digital and digital-born media’s coverage of the exit of international oil companies from the Niger Delta between 2021 and 2024. Framed by the framing theory, the political economy of media, and the hierarchy of influences model, the study adopted a sequential mixed methods design comprising quantitative content analysis and key informant interviews. The findings show that the selected mainstream digital and digital-born media decentred both climate justice and environmental justice in the coverage, with climate justice receiving the lesser attention. In the absence of a clear-cut climate journalism at the selected digital media outlets, reporters and editors contended with crippling socio-institutional, organisational, routine, and personal factors to give some salience to the environmental justice issues raised by the divestments of international oil companies from the Niger Delta region
Effective Use of Fractal EEG Features in Complex Creativity and Design Tasks
No full textIn this thesis, we examined whether the recursive structure of a design task is mirrored by phase-locked changes in the fractal dynamics of cortical activity and evaluated which preprocessing pipeline best preserves those dynamics under realistic noise. Twenty participants completed an open-ended environmental-design exercise while a 64-channel EEG was recorded. Idea-generation and evaluation intervals were identified retrospectively. After preprocessing with PREP, HAPPE, or
artifact-subspace reconstruction (ASR)—pipelines previously benchmarked against graded EMG, eye-blink, and ECG artifacts—Higuchi fractal dimension (HFD) and detrended fluctuation analysis
(DFA) were extracted, and t-tests assessed whether these metrics differed significantly between the idea-generation and evaluation phases.
The observations confirm a phase-specific modulation of neural complexity. During evaluation, HFD increased reliably at frontocentral sites (FC3, FC1, C1, FC4, FC2, FCz; partial η2 ≈ 0.20–0.38), consistent with heightened executive control. Conversely, DFA rose in C1 during generation, indicating stronger long-range correlations that accompany spontaneous associative thought.
Pipeline choice, rather than noise amplitude, proved the principal determinant of metric fidelity: PREP preserved waveform morphology; ASR maximised signal-to-noise at the cost of fine detail under severe artifacts, and HAPPE offered a balanced compromise.
Taken together, the findings strengthen the claim that fractal logic operates across brain and behavior and provide practical guidance for researchers seeking to measure it. An open-source,
stand-alone GUI toolbox offering validated HFD and DFA routines accompanies the thesis
Accounting for Genderqueer Performativity
No full textThis paper challenges Judith Butler’s gender performativity framework from a genderqueer standpoint. It does not seek to discredit Butler’s thought since its scope is limited to a standpoint disentangled from binary gender categories. The thesis contends that, if gender performativity is conceived solely in Butler’s terms, it fails to account for gender performances that seek to drag themselves out of the binary bind. The thesis roots its claim in Butler’s reliance on an iterative understanding of language performativity that they inherited from Derrida. Once the theoretical limitations of the canonical account of gender performativity have been ascertained, the text broadens the boundaries of the theory by incorporating divergent readings of Austin’s theory of language performativity. Specifically, Medina’s ‘’New Austinian’’ framework serves as the groundwork from which an adequate understanding of genderqueer performativity emerges
The Impact of Structured Practice on Fifth Grader’s Fraction Knowledge
No full textThe present study investigated whether Grade 5 students, who are learning a procedure for a whole number by a fraction using repeated addition, would develop conceptual knowledge of fractions. The study aimed to answer three questions: 1 – Does practicing a procedure to multiply a whole number by a fraction through repeated addition result in acquiring greater procedural accuracy in fraction multiplication? 2 - Does practicing a procedure to multiply a whole number by a fraction through repeated addition result in greater conceptual knowledge? and 3 - Does self-explaining contribute to developing conceptual knowledge when practicing a procedure to multiply a whole number by a fraction through repeated addition?
For this pretest-intervention-posttest study, 56 Grade 5 students were selected from two schools located in the greater Montreal area (two classes from each school) Three randomly-selected groups were created within each class. Two groups received instruction on how to use the procedure: one was prompted while the other was not. The third group explored geometry notions without receiving any instruction on fractions.
As expected, the results demonstrate that after the 4-week intervention period, practicing exercises involving the multiplication of whole numbers by fractions enhanced procedural accuracy, whereas those who did not receive such instruction did not. In contrast to expectations, students' conceptual understanding of fraction magnitude was not enhanced by practicing a procedure for multiplying whole number by fractions. To clearly identify the mechanisms that would facilitate this transfer, more research is necessary
Remote, Hybrid or In-Person? How Work Location Affects Loneliness and Employee Engagement
No full textAs remote and hybrid work models become increasingly common, understanding their effects on employee well-being has become essential. While previous research has linked workplace loneliness to decreased engagement and performance, the role of work location and interpersonal closeness in this relationship remains underexplored. This thesis investigates how different work settings—remote, hybrid, and in-person—affect feelings of closeness, loneliness, and engagement. Drawing on theories of social exchange and employee engagement, this study uses in-depth interviews with 26 participants. Qualitative analysis uncovered rich, context-dependent insights. In-person work supported spontaneous communication and emotional closeness, while hybrid work allowed flexibility but presented challenges in maintaining strong social bonds. Remote workers reported high autonomy but also greater difficulty in forming close relationships, which contributed to feelings of isolation. Across all work locations, structured, meaningful communication and interpersonal support emerged as key contributors to reducing loneliness and enhancing engagement. This study contributes to the evolving literature on modern work environments by highlighting the complex interplay between physical presence, technology-mediated interaction, and workplace relationships. The findings offer practical implications for organizations aiming to design inclusive and engaging work experiences in a post-pandemic world
Journalism and Libraries: Collaborating to Build a More Equitable, Accessible, and Engaged Information Space
No full textAs Canadian journalism continues to encounter underfunding, shuttering outlets, and low public trust, now is perhaps the best time for the field to explore more collaborative channels with other institutions. This research explores collaborations between journalism and libraries and the impacts they have on labour, civic engagement, and power. The CBC/Radio-Canada’s Collab initiative, and specifically the partnership undertaken by CBC and the Notre-Dame-De-Grâce Benny library in Montreal, Gem of an Idea, are used as a case study upon which the rest of this research is built. Using event observations, qualitative interviews and thematic analysis, this thesis aims to examine the ways in which collaborations can contribute to information spaces that are accessible and engaging for their community members. Further, this research uses the theoretical framework of critical pedagogy. Critical pedagogy is rooted in praxis and upholds the notion that all theorizing must eventually lead to action, which is best done through human interaction and reflexivity. As some critical pedagogists have pointed out, work that blends theory and practice create proactive spaces in which we might imagine new approaches to scholarship. The results of my study seek to broaden this discussion. The findings of this research paint an initial picture of the possibilities that can arise through collaboration as well as what it means for journalists, library staff, and, most importantly, the public
Optimising Downstream Carbon Pricing Mechanisms to Mitigate Environmental Externalities in the Fuel‑intensive Mobility Sectors
No full textThis thesis investigates the optimization of downstream carbon pricing mechanisms to mitigate environmental externalities in fuel-intensive mobility sectors—namely, ground transportation, maritime shipping, and industrial fisheries. Despite the pivotal role of carbon pricing in climate policy, current schemes remain predominantly upstream and often fail to directly influence fuel consumers or capture sector-specific risks and incentives. Addressing this gap, the thesis develops an integrated “pricing–incentive–risk-control” framework that systematically aligns policy stringency, economic signals, and leakage mitigation across heterogeneous transport systems.
The research commences with a comprehensive review of carbon emissions trading in fuel-intensive mobility sectors, revealing that existing upstream-focused systems lack sufficient stringency and leave significant decarbonisation potential untapped at the end-user level. Building on this foundation, a life-cycle assessment of municipal waste transport under Quebec’s cap-and-trade system demonstrates that integrating full-chain carbon accounting into regional downstream trading can achieve significant emission reductions (up to 94%) and substantial cost savings (63%) when revenues are strategically recycled. These findings establish a methodological basis for extending downstream carbon pricing beyond ground transport.
Recognizing the interconnectedness of global mobility networks, this thesis next examines cross-regional integration of maritime emission management through a Euro-American carbon market linkage model. The results show that coordinated allowance allocation not only curbs carbon leakage but also stabilizes market prices, highlighting the benefits of synchronized policy design across borders. However, real-world disruptions—such as the Red Sea crisis—underscore the vulnerability of carbon pricing effectiveness to geopolitical shocks, as rerouted maritime traffic temporarily elevates emissions by up to 75% and undermines policy goals.
To address such risks, the thesis advances a dynamic system model illustrating how widespread adoption of shore power in ports, incentivized by market-based measures, can mitigate maritime carbon leakage by reducing auxiliary-engine emissions over a decade. Then, a geo-economic network analysis of trans-shipment routes uncovers how uneven port charge structures induce passive carbon leakage. This analysis unifies environmental externality through road, rail, port, and maritime, points to the importance of spatially differentiated transship strategies in downstream climate policy design. Extending this downstream approach to industrial fisheries, the study reveals that most major fishing nations face significant fiscal and administrative barriers to using carbon revenues as a substitute for harmful subsidies, further emphasizing the need for context-sensitive design.
By connecting these sequential studies, this thesis not only develops a robust interdisciplinary framework for optimising downstream carbon pricing but also delivers actionable policy recommendations—such as unified management of market participants and leakage-responsive stakeholder charges—capable of transforming carbon pricing into a nuanced, effective tool for deep decarbonisation across diverse, fuel-intensive mobility sectors
Antimythological Myth: Auden's Critique of Stevens's Mythopoetics
No full textBetween Wallace Stevens’s “Notes Towards a Supreme Fiction” and W. H. Auden’s two intertextual poems that allude to Stevens’s poetics, “In Praise of Limestone” and “Miss God on Mr. Stevens,” a critique of mythopoesis emerges. For Auden, Stevens has unknowingly created a myth of the mind in “Notes,” which he playfully calls the “antimythological myth.” Auden’s critique of Stevens’s mythmaking diagnoses a problem similar to Adorno and Horkheimer’s Dialectic of Enlightenment and the tendency to project oneself onto myth. For Auden, in asserting poetry as the “Supreme Fiction,” Stevens has wrongfully imposed the poet onto his new mythology. I argue that Auden’s critique of Stevens’s antimythological myth pervades throughout “In Praise of Limestone,” and allows Auden to consider whether poets can or should be mythopoetic
Le monde visuel vu autrement : ethnographie auprès de personnes en situation de handicap visuel
No full textIn an oculocentric society, vision prevails and structures actions, interactions, and often patterns of thought to a significant extent. It is within this context that this research explores, through interviews, the experience of people with visual impairments. Inspired by the method of sensory ethnography (Laplantine, The Life of the Senses, 2015), the study draws on the narratives of my collaborators to reveal the particularities of vision.
Sight has characteristics that distinguish it from the other senses. To these are added social norms and habits that privilege sight, thereby reducing accessibility for those who cannot see. The analysis addresses three main themes. First, the sensation of moving with visual impairment, on a spatial, sensory and emotional level. Second, the deconstruction of the notion of “appearance,” which is not composed solely of visual cues, and an analysis of what the visual contributes to self-perception and the perception of others. Finally, the exploration of the possibility of a world without vision and without ableism, in order to question the logics that shape ways of thinking and acting.
Through resonance, individuals with reduced or absent vision remain influenced by the prevailing culture centered on visual perception. They live in constant awareness of the norms imposed by sight due to their different perception style (discussed by Siegfried Saerberg, professor of disability studies and participatory research, artist and blind person, in his text “Just go straight ahead”, 2010). I draw on Dokumaci’s concept of Activist Affordances (2023) to expose how people with visual handicaps develop new ways of functioning and interacting in society by adapting to visual norms.
Aiming to recognize and valorize the multisensory aspects of life, this research contributes to a better understanding of the diversity of experiences and obstacles these individuals face, without reducing them to mere concepts
Hybridized Biomass-driven Combined Heat and Power Systems Optimization Considering Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability Criteria
No full textDespite the increasing use of renewables for energy supply and considering the history of using them for energy generation purposes, new challenges associated with their utilization emerge.
For biomass-powered energy systems, issues such as seasonality, supply chain problems, heat content of resources, weather pollution, environmental contamination, and energy conversion
limitations put the availability and affordability of such systems into question. The optimization of energy systems considering their reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) parameters and constraints could considerably affect system design and operation.
This research proposes and develops an integrated RAM-optimization methodology for hybrid biomass-powered energy systems. The methodology handles nonlinear single or multi-objective functions that minimize costs and emissions while satisfying RAM constraints. The methodology empowers designers to account for fuel and pollution chemical compositions, feedstock logistics and modular system configurations. Multiple Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) techniques, such as TOPSIS, are used to help in the identification of optimal values based on system performance criteria.
Three progressive models were proposed and developed as part of the methodology.
The first model integrates biomass and geothermal modules for heat-only applications at a single-building scale. The second extends to biomass-based combined heat and power (BCHP)
systems at the district level based on the building model of the first case, explicitly integrating RAM function as constraints. The third model adds hydrogen production to heat and electricity generation, illustrating the framework's ability to be a trigeneration system for district-level deployment. Case studies, defined for Kuujjuaq in Northern Québec, Canada, help to validate the methodology9s application under real conditions.
Sensitivity analysis of such methodology and model is performed by scenarioizing and via scenarios considering biomass chemical compositions, distance from consumption areas, and RAM parameters for a single building or a complex of buildings. Validation of the results was performed by several activities such as expert feedback, optimization method features, and their results' comparative analysis