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Open Access
Indigenous Experiences of Reconnecting with Culture and Community
(2023-09-18) Friedland, Asher James; Fellner, Karlee; Fellner, Karlee; Domene, José; Simmons, Marlon
Indigenous culture and community is interconnected to Indigenous relationality and essential to understanding an Indigenous worldview. Nevertheless, a history of colonialism marked by enduring acts of cultural dislocation, such as the trauma of residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, the Millennium Scoop, and various acts of legislation and relocation, has led to many Indigenous individuals being raised without connection to their Indigenous cultures or communities. This thesis utilizes an Indigenous Storywork methodology in conjunction with Research as Ceremony, Desire-based research, and a conversational approach to address a central question: How do Indigenous individuals raised without integrated connection to their cultures and communities experience reconnecting with their Indigenous cultures and communities? In relational collaboration with three storytellers who were separated from their Indigenous cultures and communities during their upbringing, this thesis places their stories of reconnection into relationship with each other and three additional publicly shared stories of Indigenous reconnection journeys. This relational approach yields profound insights into the unique experience of reconnection with four overarching themes: Displacement, Confusion, Longing, and Reconnection. These themes intricately detail the multifaceted experiences, obstacles, and strengths encountered on Indigenous reconnection journeys, providing the opportunity to listen, learn, and understand. This research carries potential implications for future research and practice concerning journey-informed work with Indigenous Peoples who have experienced separation from their cultures and communities, deepening understanding of the intricate relationalities and dynamics they may be navigating along their journeys of reconnection.
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Open Access
Still in the Closet: LGBTQ People and the Lack of Protections in Conflict Zones
(2023-09-18) Arnold, Jordan Tyler; Hiebert, Maureen; Gibbs Van Brunschot, Erin; Voth, Daniel
LGBTQ people have been steadily gaining protections over the last several decades but there is still more progress to be made, especially in conflict zones. LGBTQ people are targeted specifically due to their sexual orientation or gender identity in peacetime, however, this targeting becomes more extreme and violent during times of conflict. One of the more egregious examples of violence targeted towards LGBTQ people was during the Syrian civil war by both the government regime forces as well as other groups like ISIS. The central question of this thesis is why do LGBTQ people face human rights violations in conflict zones despite there being legal protections for civilians? Using securitization theory, I will explore the relationship between securitization of protections for LGBTQ people and the securitization of LGBTQ people as threats. I will use the Syrian civil war as the case study for my analysis to demonstrate that the current protections are not sufficient to adequately protect LGBTQ individuals in states that do not recognize their rights.
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Experimental Evaluation of Dimethyl Ether as a Performance Enhancing Additive for Bitumen Recovery with Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), Using a Three-Dimensional Semi-Scaled Model
(2023-09-20) Amini, Zahra; Maini, Brij; Pereira Almao, Pedro R.; Moore, Robert Gordon; Sarma, Hemanta Kumar; Achari, Gopal; Kovscek, Anthony R.
Abstract Canada has the second largest heavy oil and bitumen resource in the world which is mostly located in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Different approaches have been implemented to access heavy oil and bitumen resources. The main goal of such methods is to find an economically acceptable solution to decrease bitumen viscosity and increase its mobility. Steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) and cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) have been the two commercially viable thermal recovery methods. Both methods’ large water consumption and high energy demand encouraged the researchers to find more efficient recovery processes with less GHG emission. To achieve this goal, solvent assisted, and solvent-based heavy oil recovery processes have been investigated in both laboratory experiments and field tests. Up until recently, all proposed solvents were non-polar single or multi-component hydrocarbons. Recently, a limited amount of research proposed DME as a potential solvent to be used in EOR methods. These studies are focused on numerical studies or PVT analysis. Only a very few studies focused on linear or two-dimensional physical experiments. DME can be synthesized by direct and indirect methods and is relatively inexpensive and accessible in comparison to most studied single component solvents. DME has not been conventionally used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the past but due to its polarity and unique ability to mix and partition in both aqueous and oleic phase, DME can be an alternative to the conventional non-polar solvent used and investigated in SA-SAGD operations. To the best of our knowledge this study is the only experimental study of its kind on the DME assisted SAGD operation using a large semi-scaled three-dimensional physical model. The result of the study provided unique insight on DME’s effect on oil recovery and vapor chamber development. The goal of this research is to investigate oil recovery, and steam oil ratio (SOR) improvement using dimethyl ether (DME), as a potential additive to steam in SA-SAGD methods by means of experimental and numerical investigation using a large semi scaled three-dimensional physical sand-pack. For the experimental part of the work, an improved three-dimensional semi-scaled physical model was designed and built to evaluate DME-steam performance in SA-SAGD process and accurately measure pressure, temperature and fluid flow rates. For the purpose of this study, a series of seven SAGD and SA-SAGD experiments were conducted at operating conditions similar to the Long Lake SAGD project, with actual reservoir and bitumen properties. Upon completion of each experiment, extensive emulsion and sand analysis were conducted to evaluate the performance of each SA-SAGD in comparison to SAGD. The results from these analyses demonstrate that DME-steam co-injection significantly increases the oil recovery factor, decreases SOR and reduces the overall production time. To optimize the experiment, a series of three tests were conducted to study the DME concentration effect on the recovery performance. In the next stage, the best performance of DME-steam co-injection concentration’s study was compared with same concentration of similar non-polar hydrocarbons (propane and butane). The result proved that DME has the best performance in comparison to steam and steam-propane-butane co-injection. In the last chapter of this research the results obtained from physical experiment were adopted to a simulation model. The numerical model was tuned by history matching to obtain a reliable, experimental based model that can be used to study the effect of other parameters that can’t be investigated in the lab studies.
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From Texts to Local Tradition: A Study of Sthalapurāṇas in Konkan
(2023-09-15) Kale, Durga; Framarin, Christopher; Adamek, Wendi; Banerjee, Pallavi; Grewal, Harjeet; Feldhaus, Anne
Purāṇa genre of South-Asian texts with regional narratives, often transcend the boundaries of religious and social commentary. On these lines, people in Western India consider the site-specific texts or the Sthalapurāṇas to be the manuals of socio-religious commentary. Some of the literary narratives extend into the social relations and performance of religious practices in public space. The current project aims at querying the agency of the texts in Konkan, the region along the western coast of India. The study examines the network of social and ritual action that gets explained through the medieval Sthalapurāṇa stories as its narrative core. Three texts examined for this thesis describe the region in the modern districts of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg as a part of the landmass created by a mythological character, Paraśurāma. While the narratives utilize literary strategies from the established templates of the Hindu and Jain texts, this study highlights the metanarratives in the texts that make for a dedicated discussion. An ethnographic study of the oral narratives in the region has been indispensable in mapping the shared religious meanings from the texts tied to the locale. Furthermore, the thesis follows Paraśurāma narrative to explore the relationship between the local landscape and various social groups. This project will highlight the trajectory of narrativization of the landscape from the premodern to modern times. With this inquiry, the project aims to lay bare the claim on the landscape extended through storytelling and oral narratives, which are often examples of curated narratives and selective memorialization. In that sense, the discussion segues into exploring the emotional geographies superimposed on the physical land. Paraśurāma’s role in creation of the land and populating the land with select individuals for the spread of religion, thus becomes the focus of storytelling in Konkan. The tripartite approach to examine the literary, oral, and archaeological data offers a lens to describe the landscape with rich, layered ascribed meanings through the years. This study will offer case-studies from a relatively understudied geographical area.
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The Influence of Lateral Wedged Insoles on the Performance of Basketball-Specific Movements
(2023-09-21) Crawford, Reyna Cyan; Stefanyshyn, Darren; Edwards, William Brent; Ferber, Reed; Pasanen, Kati; Jordan, Matthew
Basketball is a dynamic sport known for its fast-paced and multidirectional nature. The implementation of banking mechanisms has demonstrated performance enhancements and the potential to mitigate ankle and knee injury risks during non-linear movements. However, existing banking mechanisms used in a sport setting are often impractical for basketball. Lateral wedged insoles may be a promising alternative to address this challenge. The aims of this study were to assess the influence of lateral wedged insoles on the performance of basketball-specific movements and to observe any changes at the ankle or knee related to injury risk. Twenty-four collegiate basketball players (twelve females and twelve males) performed a shuffle, forward cutting, backward cutting, and sprinting drills, both with and without a 5° lateral wedged insole in their footwear. Performance times, subjective assessments, medial-lateral sway of the centre of mass, ground reaction forces (GRFs), as well as angles and moments of the left ankle and knee were compared using two tailed paired t-tests. Across all movements, completion time, ankle inversion angles, and knee frontal plane kinetics and kinematics remained unchanged. In the shuffle drill, the lateral wedge condition led to increased ankle plantarflexion moments, higher medial and vertical GRFs, and improved GRF vector alignment, resulting in reduced stance time. An increase in the average ankle eversion moment was observed, with no change in the peak value. While minor kinetic changes were observed in the forward and backward cutting drills with the lateral wedge condition, stance time remained unchanged. The lateral wedged insole had no impact on medial-lateral sway of the centre of mass, or the sagittal plane kinematics and kinetics during the sprint, suggesting that 5° lateral wedged insoles do not influence the performance of linear movements. In subjective assessments, participants expressed greater confidence in non- linear movements and improved stability with the lateral wedge condition, however, they rated the comfort of this condition significantly lower. The results indicate that lateral wedged insoles may induce modifications that could potentially enhance performance without changing the risk of ankle or knee joint injuries during lateral movements.