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Success And Sustainability Of The Tricollege University Consortium, Candice Allar

Education

The purpose of this study was to document the history of the Tri-College University (TCU) consortium from 1969 to the present. The two research objectives are to: 1. Identify the factors which played an important role in the success and sustainability of the Tri-College University Consortium. 2. Conduct an evaluation of the needs, satisfaction, and concerns of current and past faculty and administration involved with the Tri-College University Consortium. Both research questions were addressed with the use of a structural equation model developed and tested by Schmidt (2000) to identify the conditions, common values, attitudes, themes, and patterns of behaviors …

Reinventing Fire: Making Energy Efficiency A Reality, Noah M. Sachs

Law Faculty Publications

Professor Sachs recounts his visit to Colorado's Rocky Mountain Institute, a model of energy efficiency and sustainable design, in a larger discussion about the benefits of these practices both in new and existing structures.

Spatial And Temporal Patterns In Nitrous Oxide Flux From Agricultural Soil In Southern Ontario, Michelle E. Zurbrigg

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This research examines spatial and temporal variations in N₂O flux from agricultural clay loam in corn-wheat and corn-oat rotations in southern Ontario. Gas samples are collected by the chamber method following significant precipitation events, thaw events, fertilization events, and otherwise every two weeks over a two-year period. Crop type appears to influence the magnitude of N₂O emisions, whereas N₂O fluxes do not otherwise seem to vary by landscape position. The seasonal pattern of in situ N₂O flux at Strawberry Creek (SC) indicates that the highest N₂O emissions are occuring during …

Identifying Potential Carbon Flux Responses To Shifting Hydroecological And Climactic Regimes In The Peace-Athabasca Delta, Caleb W. Light

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The CO2 flux response of organic carbon stored in lake sediments and littoral peat contained in sensitive, northern wetlands may contribute to accelerating atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Temperature and moisture conditions are important variables that affect the rate and quantity of CO2 released to the atmosphere from organic matter stored in lake sediments and peat. Antecedent hydroecological conditions also influence the direction and magnitude of CO2 fluxes to the atmosphere in a changing environment. To better understand and characterize the role of antecedent conditions on CO2 fluxes, this study combines paleolimnological reconstructions with laboratory incubations of littoral peat and lake sediment …

Forestry-Based Livelihoods In Central Vietnam: An Examination Of The Acacia Commodity Chain: A Case From Thua Thien Hue Province, Vietnam, Robert Pietrzak

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Forestry-based livelihoods in remote Vietnamese communities have been influenced in recent years by forest land allocation schemes, changes to property rights, and forest management devolution initiatives. Examples include the Five Million Hectare Reforestation Program, Project 327, and official “Red Books” that grant long-term land use rights and access rights to villagers. Major challenges to forestry-based livelihoods include disputes over land tenure, conflict between different levels of government, illegal logging practices and harvesting of NTFPs and competition over land for natural versus plantation forests. As a result, forest degradation and rural poverty continue to be debilitating obstacles to development in Central …

Controls On Terrestrial Evapotranspiration From A Forest-Wetland Complex In The Western Boreal Plain, Alberta, Canada, Scott M. Brown

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The Western Boreal Plain (WBP) of North Central Alberta consists of a mosaic wetlands and aspen (Populus tremuloides) dominated uplands. This region operates within a moisture deficit regime where precipitation (P) and evapotranspiration (ET) are the dominant hydrologic fluxes. As such these systems are extremely susceptible to the slightest to the slightest climatic variability that may upset the balance between P and ET. Vegetation composition is the dominant control on wetland ET, and itself is extremely dynamic within these wetland environments, which can be attributed to varying moisture regimes along with micrometeorological variations. To address this variability in …

An Apple A Day: Exploring Food And Agricultural Knowledge And Skill Among Children In Southern Ontario, Shannon Alberta Kornelsen

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

While the literature on food has somewhat addressed rudimentary food skills and their importance in the creation and maintenance of a healthy population, there remains a serious lack of research into the importance of food and agricultural skills and knowledge transference to children, especially given the rise in diet-related illnesses. This study focuses on the perceived importance of food and agricultural education initiatives, as well as the opportunities and barriers that exist within the elementary school classroom to incorporate food and agricultural topics, in the context of southern Ontario, specifically Wellington County. Drawing on Wilkin's concept of ‘food citizenship’ as …

Plant Isotopes As Indicators Of N Cycling Processes In Agricultural Fields, Eric Thuss

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

When nitrogen (N) availability exceeds biological demand, excess N, especially nitrate (NO₃), may subsequently pollute ground and surface water. Agricultural practices in Southern Ontario typically supplement soils with organic and inorganic nutrients to aid in crop development, and employ various management techniques to limit nutrient loss. Excess N has several potential fates, which are controlled by the net effects of numerous N cycling reactions in the soil that are often difficult to measure directly. N cycling in soils is controlled in large part by soil moisture, as it affects microbial activity and soil redox conditions. Stable isotope geochemistry …

Carbon Dioxide Exchange In A Permafrost-Dominated Boreal Wetland In The Northwest Territories, Canada, Andrea J. Kenward

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Northern boreal wetland complexes are substantial reservoirs for carbon and play a crucial role in both regional and global carbon budgets but they are showing significant signs of impact by climate change. This study examined the carbon dioxide flux of a high boreal wetland during the snowmelt and growing season of 2008 in Scotty Creek Basin, located near Fort Simpson (61°18'N, 121°18'W), Northwest Territories. This basin is not only responding to shifts in atmospheric temperatures, but it is also under additional pressure from increasing permafrost degradation. A dynamic closed-system chamber was used to monitor and quantify mid-day total respiration (R …

Paleolimnological Reconstruction Of Hydrologic Change In The Slave River And Great Slave Lake During The Past Millennium, Matthew Ennis

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The Slave River Delta (SRD), NWT, represents a pivotal node in the upper Mackenzie Basin watershed and is a productive northern wetland landscape with a rich natural and cultural heritage. Concerns over environmental consequences of natural and anthropogenic-driven decline in river discharge as well as climate variability have prompted hydroecological sstudies to improve understanding of how this ecosystem functions over time and space. However, long-term natural hydrological variability of the Slave River system is not well documented and needs to be further developed. In order to provide a temperal context for understanding and evaluating the impacts of climate variability and …

A Time Series Analysis: Exploring The Link Between Human Activity And Blood Glucose Fluctuation, Eric A. Sadowski

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In this thesis, time series models are developed to explore the correlates of blood glucose (BG) fluctuation of diabetic patients. In particular, it is investigated whether certain human activities and lifestyle events (e.g. food and medication consumption, physical activity, travel and social interaction) influence BG, and if so, how. A unique dataset is utilized consisting of 40 diabetic patients who participated in a 3-day study involving continuous monitoring of blood glucose (BG) at five minute intervals, combined with measures for sugar; carbohydrate; calorie and insulin intake; physical activity; distance from home; time spent traveling via public transit and private automobile; …

Spatial And Spatial-Temporal Analysis Of Grizzly Bear Movement Patterns As Related To Underlying Landscapes Across Multiple Scales, Barbara Lynn Carra

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Studying the movements of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in Alberta is imperative for scientifically informed management practices. To properly balance industry requirements with conservation imperatives, it is necessary to understand the spatial and spatial-temporal movement patterns of grizzly bears as they relate to underlying landscape properties. As part of the Foothills Research Institute Grizzly Bear Research Program, this dissertation explored both fine and largescale movement patterns generated from global positioning system (GPS) radiotelemetry data.

Between 1999 and 2005, grizzly bears were captured and radio-collared across western Alberta. The temporal resolution of GPS data collection had a large impact …

An Exploration Of American And Canadian Tourist Destination Images Of Cuba, Culum Richard Canally

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Tourism in Cuba is thriving. Since 1991 the island has quickly become one of the top Caribbean tourist destinations. As a result tourism researchers have recently turned their attention towards investigating many facets of tourism on the island. However one omission in this growing corpus of research is the effect that politics has had on Cuba’s tourist destination image (TDI). In this study I explore how politics influences the evolution of tourist destination image. I also demonstrate that a critical constructivist paradigm can be used as an alternative to traditional positivist/postpositivist ways of researching tourist destination image. Finally I utilize …

Rethinking Biodiversity Conservation Effectiveness And Evaluation In The National Protected Areas Systems Of Tropical Islands: The Case Of Jamaica And The Dominican Republic, Suzanne Mae Camille Davis

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Island conservation theory and practice with regard to conservation of tropical terrestrial biodiversity in protected areas systems has yet to be adequately addressed in conservation literature. This knowledge gap is identified as a key contributor to the adoption of scientific principles for in situ biodiversity conservation, and “universal” conservation and protected area management paradigms that are unsuitable for island contexts and geographical scale. The underlying assumption is that “universal” concepts of biodiversity conservation, protected areas management, and evaluation of their effectiveness are transferable to the ecological and socio-economic contexts of tropical islands. The expected outcome of this knowledge transfer is …

Grounding Diaspora In Experience: Niagara Mennonite Identity, Cynthia Anne Jones

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This qualitative case study grounds theoretical notions of diaspora in personal accounts of Russian Mennonites living on the Niagara peninsula of Canada. The focus is on successive, complex interrelationships with ‘place’ (in a fixed sense, and a globally connected sense), with attention to gender, generation, and life-stage. How have these individuals experienced diaspora, and how has this influenced their culture and identity? Interrelationships with place are examined within an analytical framework composed of three key elements as identified in diaspora literature: cultural hybridity, social heterogeneity (internal divisions), and responsibility flows. The results are both descriptive and theoretical, featuring first person …

Human Values And Corporate Actions Propensity: Examining The Behavioural Roots Of Societal Sustainability, Joel Marcus

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Global society is currently facing a series of interrelated challenges that cross the economic, social, and environmental domains. Widespread market instability, corporate fraud, social unrest, failing states, environmental degradation, and climate change represent just a few of the most salient issues with which we are having to contend, and which could long affect future generations. Corporations, as the dominant institutions of our time, will necessarily play an important role in our ability to address these challenges. At a very basic level, corporate actions that degrade economic, social, or environmental value make the prospect of long-term sustainability increasingly uncertain. In contrast, …

Tundra Snow Cover Properties From In-Situ Observation And Multi-Scale Passive Microwave Remote Sensing, Andrew Rees

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Tundra snow cover is important to monitor as it influences local, regional, and global scale surface water balance, energy fluxes, and ecosystem and permafrost dynamics. Moreover, recent global circulation models (GCM) predict a pronounced shift in high latitude winter precipitation and mean annual air temperature due to the feedback between air temperature and snow extent. At regional and hemispheric scales, the estimation of snow extent, snow depth and, snow water equivalent (SWE) is important because high latitude snow cover both forces and reacts to atmospheric circulation patterns. Moreover, snow cover has implications on soil moisture dynamics, the depth, formation and …

Young, Working And Black: A Study Of Empowerment, Oppression, Race And Gender In Community Settings, Julian Hasford

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between race, gender, and power in community settings. Taking the experiences of young Black Canadians within the workplace as an exemplar, the study sought to answer three main research questions: (a) How does oppression influence the psychological empowerment of Black youth and young adults in the workplace? (b) How do workplace characteristics promote Black youths’ and young adults’ psychological empowerment?, and (c) How does gender influence Black youths’ and young adults’ experiences of oppression and empowerment in the workplace? To answer these questions I conducted narrative interviews with 24 Black …

Littoral Cells, Longshore Transport And Wave Climate: An Examination Of Littoral Transport Along The Western Shore Of Prince Edward County, Ontario, Jayson A. Childs

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study discusses the wave climate and potential littoral transport along the western shore of Prince Edward County approximately two hours east of Toronto along the northern shoreline of Lake Ontario. The limestone headlands and barrier bars of the western coast are exposed toward a southwesterly fetch of approximately 200 km that can produce large offshore wave heights of 2–5 m. The wave model STWAVE was used to transform a standard set of wave conditions developed from recent hindcast data to examine fair weather, storm and extreme conditions for five directions between south and west-northwest along the shore. The resulting …

Place And Food: A Relational Analysis Of Personal Food Environments, Meanings Of Place And Diet Quality, Ellen Desjardins

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study investigates the relational layers of meanings that people experience at places in their food environment, and how individuals express a sense of place through their collective interactions with, and understandings of, food places. It also explores the patterns of difference among these meanings of place and sense of place in terms of their potential association with dietary quality. The context of this inquiry was two-fold: first, the need identified by several population health researchers and to re-imagine place as relational and include it in the study of behavioural responses to the changing food environment; and secondly, my interest …

What The Body Stories Of Girls Tell Us About Autonomy And Connection During Adolescence, Colleen Mcmillan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This qualitative study aimed to understand what the body stories of girls who exhibit signs of disordered eating reveal about the concepts of autonomy and connection during early adolescence. The study was guided by the research question “Are the symptoms of disordered eating one of the ways the female body “talks” about the experience of disconnection during adolescence?” Informed by Relational Cultural Theory, data was collected from two focus groups of 16 adolescent girls aged 11 to 14 years. Each group met six times over a four month period. Because many aspects of lived experience cannot be expressed verbally, the …

In Memory William B. Jackson 1926-2010, Michael W. Fall

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

DR. WILLIAM B. JACKSON of Chicago, Illinois, passed away July 15, 2010. He was a scientist, teacher, husband, father, grandfather, and friend. Over the years, he served as an advisor and mentor to many people who found their way to his classes or offices at Bowling Green State University (BGSU).

He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, September 10, 1926, and spent many hours collecting insects and watching birds, becoming president of his high school nature club and an Eagle Scout. He earned B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Wisconsin, and his Sc.D. in vertebrate ecology from Johns Hopkins …

Model Analysis Of The Hydrologic Response To Climate Change In The Upper Deschutes Basin, Oregon, Michael Scott Waibel

Dissertations and Theses

Considerable interest lies in understanding the hydrologic response to climate change in the upper Deschutes Basin, particularly as it relates to groundwater fed streams. Much of the precipitation occurring in the recharge zone falls as snow. Consequently, the timing of runoff and recharge depend on accumulation and melting of the snowpack. Numerical modeling can provide insights into evolving hydrologic system response for resource management consideration. A daily mass and energy balance model known as the Deep Percolation Model (DPM) was developed for the basin in the 1990s. This model uses spatially distributed data and is driven with daily climate data …