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Access status: Open Access ,
Undoing Science Journalism: Facing Public Distrust of Expertise in the ‘Post-Truth’ Era
(2026-06) Katic, Gordon; Boler, Megan; Social Justice Education
In the so-called post-truth era, significant portions of the public challenge the epistemic authority of scientists, experts, and the journalists who cover them. In repairing these divides, I believe we must critically re-examine the norms, values, and practices of journalism. To that end, this research investigates how science, health, and environmental reporters understand expertise, define their own professional roles, and respond to the challenge of public distrust. I employ a mixed-methods approach, including a critical discourse analysis of journalistic works, interviews with 32 journalists, and reflections from my own 15+ years in the industry. I find that many journalists explain distrust of expertise through technocratic narratives that emphasize the public’s supposed defects and deficiencies, i.e., their scientific illiteracy, cognitive shortcomings, or their susceptibility to disinformation, etc. In the post-2016 era, the distrustful public appears to be an uneducable one. Then, many journalists seem to be undoing science journalism as it has been traditionally understood, since they no longer share a modernist optimism in their profession’s ability to educate and inform. However, interviews with journalists also reveal disagreements about such narratives. First, although some have triumphant views of science, many see it as an imperfect tool that too often serves capitalist interests. Second, journalists are split between reporting styles that merely disseminate science and those that highlight the social and political factors that influence knowledge production. Third, many are surprisingly sympathetic to distrustful publics, acknowledging that legitimate grievances may underlie their distrust. Still, few offer a positive vision for how journalism might contribute to developing a more trusted and trustworthy science. Drawing from professional insights and from professional omissions, I argue that distrust often stems from the public’s correct perception that expertise is often wielded in ways that reinforce social inequities. In response, journalists should emphasize work that encourages the democratization and diversification of science. Therefore, I also advocate that journalists undo science journalism as it is traditionally understood—but in a different sort of way. I call for a critical science journalism that moves beyond disseminating scientific facts and moves towards debating the underlying values animating competing scientific futures.
Access status: Open Access ,
Embedded EEG Acquisition and Accelerated Adaptive Chirplet Transform for Scalable Signal Analysis
(2026-06) Kumar, Nishant; Mann, Steve; Electrical and Computer Engineering
In practical EEG studies using consumer-grade equipment, two major challenges have been consistently observed: data acquisition and analysis. This paper addresses both of these challenges using two innovations. The first is MuseCroc, a data acquisition system that establishes a direct Bluetooth Low Energy connection between popular consumer-grade EEG headsets (Muse S and Muse 2) and an ESP32 module. This eliminates the need for complex software pipelines associated with commercial-grade EEG equipment. The system can stream EEG data at 256 Hz fidelity by reconstructing BLE packets and storing data locally on an SD card, with optional multi-device syncing via ESP-NOW. The system was successfully tested in outdoor scenarios with multiple users and a jaw-clenching protocol for validation.The second innovation is a fast framework for the Adaptive Chirplet Transform (ACT), a residual- based method for reconstructing signals. The method is reframed to minimize reconstruction error by ensuring L2 normalization of the residual with projection onto the evolving residual. The method is successfully implemented on a hybrid CPU-GPU setup, which accelerates dictionary projection onto the data. This accelerates reconstruction by a factor of 6 compared to a CPU-only setup, while maintaining numerical accuracy to 10−11. The coarse-to-fine search method reduces GPU memory peaks from 4.9 GB to 13.7 MB, with a small degradation in accuracy. A preliminary study employing ACT-derived features for seizure prediction with a CNN-BiLSTM architecture achieved an AUC of 0.9043 on a single-patient dataset. These innovations demonstrate that both challenges to high-resolution EEG studies using affordable equipment are now surmountable.
Access status: Open Access ,
Model Characterization and Therapeutic Strategies in a Novel Mouse Model of HNRNPH2-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder
(2026-06) Szarics, Dora; Eubanks, James H; Pharmacology
HNRNPH2-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder (HND) was first identified in 2016, arising from mutations in the eponymous heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein H2 (HNRNPH2) gene. The protein encoded by the HNRNPH2 gene, hnRNP H2, is a regulator of alternative splicing although its specific targets in vivo have not yet been determined. The majority of HNRNPH2 mutations reside in the nuclear localization signal (NLS) and lead to impaired hnRNP H2 trafficking to the nucleus. A novel mouse model was generated based on a Toronto-area patient harbouring the R206Q mutation within the NLS. Therefore, this study commenced with a behavioural, biochemical, and neurophysiological characterization of Hnrnph2 mutations, both in the personalized Hnrnph2R206Q mouse model, and the concurrently generated Hnrnph2R206H mouse line—a variant that has not been identified in humans but retains the positive charge at this locus. Hnrnph2R206Q mice presented with a more severe condition than Hnrnph2R206H mice, presenting with a behavioural and neurophysiological profile that mirrors aspects of the clinical condition. Taken together with biochemical assessments, these results implicated two underlying dysfunctional or dysregulated receptor systems: excess activation of the BDNF/TrkB pathway and impaired GABAAR-mediated inhibition. These receptor systems were subjected to pharmacological modulation to ameliorate the behavioural and/or neurophysiological phenotypes in the Hnrnph2R206Q model in an endeavour to develop translational strategies for the clinical management of HND. While the success of these approaches varied, they provided important candidates for future research. In short, this thesis expands greatly on the current state of knowledge pertaining to the consequences of Hnrnph2 mutations, providing additional mechanistic insight, and identifying targetable pathways for therapeutic interventions.
Access status: Open Access ,
Reclaiming Spaces and Sharing Stories in the Neoliberal Era: The Experiences of International Students in Ontario Colleges
(2026-06) Thavaratnam, Emilda; Magnusson, Jamie; Leadership, Higher and Adult Education
Abstract This study examines the experiences of international students enrolled in Ontario’s Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAATs) within a global knowledge economy that is increasingly shaped by neoliberal educational restructuring. Using a phenomenological qualitative approach, the study draws on a political economy framework. It incorporates in-depth, semi-structured interviews with international students and frontline support staff from a College in the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario. The approach emphasizes understanding participants’ firsthand experiences while also considering staff's interpretive insights to contextualize them. The study critically examines how systemic funding cuts, market-driven imperatives, and commodified institutional practices contribute to material hardship and structural vulnerability, particularly for international students. The main research question is: What are the experiences of international students studying in Ontario's Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAATs) in the current era of neoliberal post-secondary educational policies and practices? The sub-questions are: What barriers do international students face in accessing, persisting in, and completing their diplomas in Ontario’s CAATs? What role do their personal backgrounds and journeys to Canada play in their experiences in Ontario’s CAATs? What are student attitudes and aspirations in the attainment and participation of a post-secondary education in Ontario’s CAATs, given the material conditions and challenges they face on campus and living in Ontario, and the Greater Toronto Area, in particular? Five themes emerged from the data: Pre-arrival Experiences, Housing Crisis, Surviving the Pandemic, Working in Canada, and Persisting for the Future. These themes trace a continuum of challenges international students confront, including exploitative recruitment practices from third-party agents, housing and food insecurity, precarious labour conditions, and limited institutional support. While institutions attempt to address student needs, the findings reveal significant gaps between policy intentions and the realities students face. Yet, this study is not solely a narrative of hardship. It is about resilience, adaptability, and agency of international students who, despite systemic barriers, actively resist the conditions that seek to commodify and displace them. By building community and pursuing stability and a sense of belonging, these students actively navigate and challenge the very structures meant to constrain them. Their pursuit of permanent residency and the effort to maintain their educational and personal goals represent dynamic acts of resistance against neoliberal ideological forces. This research honours their strength and highlights the need for policy reforms that go beyond economic logic. It calls for reimagining international education, which values students as co-creators of a more equitable post-secondary landscape.
Access status: Open Access ,
On Breuil's Lattice Conjecture for GL2
(2026-06) Chan, Hymn; Herzig, Florian; Mathematics
We prove Breuil’s lattice conjecture for higher Hodge–Tate weights in the case of GL2(K) where K is an unramified extension of Qp. More precisely, under some genericity conditions, we show that the lattice inside a locally algebraic type induced by the completed cohomology of a U(2)-arithmetic manifold depends only on the Galois representation at the fixed place above p for arbitrary Hodge–Tate weights, which are small relative to p. We further prove that the patched modules of all lattices inside the locally algebraic types with irreducible cosocle are cyclic.One key input of the paper is a structure theorem for mod p representations of GL2(OK), which are residually multiplicity free and of finite length. Another input is an explicit computation of universal framed Galois deformation rings, which parameterize potentially crystalline lifts with fixed tame inertial types and higher Hodge–Tate weights.