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Knowing the Flowers: A Floristic Analysis of the Diversity and Distribution of Flowering Plants on the Sunshine Coast, BC
Get PDFFlowering plants are a dominant biological force on this planet; they include an almost unimaginable number of species. British Columbia (BC) is no exception to this, housing a high number of angiosperm species. To help develop a clearer view of this diversity, this study focused on a small region of BC, the Sunshine Coast. I document the floral diversity of the area, and test whether a uniform level of species richness is supported across the area. The region lies across the boundary of two Biogeoclimatic (BEC) zones, the Coastal Western Hemlock (CWH) and Coastal Douglas-fir (CDF) zones, potentially giving it a combination of characteristics from both zones. I did floristic surveys in multiple sites in the CDF (n = 4) and the CWH (n=5) zones, and asked if there was any difference in species richness between the two. Variability in richness between wetland and non-wetland habitats was also examined. Two-sample t-tests failed to find a difference in species richness between BEC zones or habitat types. I identified a total of 129 species of angiosperms from 44 floral families. The angiosperm Species/Genus ratio for the area was 1.29 and both the Species/Genus and Genus/Family distributions displayed hollow curves. These results indicate that angiosperms have a relatively consistent species richness throughout the study area and show that the group follows a stereotypical hollow curve distribution pattern
SESSION 2.2: Digitized Okanagan History: A Regional Approach to Archival Digitization in B.C.’s Southern Interior
No full textThis practice-focused paper outlines the genesis and development of a digitization project coordinated by UBC Okanagan Library in partnership with memory institutions located throughout British Columbia’s Okanagan region. This project is represented in the Digitized Okanagan History web portal (http://doh.arcabc.ca\u3e). The increasing ubiquity and sophistication of the web environment has changed research by making information more available, both in terms of volume and in the breakdown of obstacles to its access. This change has also led to shifting expectations among researchers for an immediate electronic connection to resources and a proportionally lowered tolerance for time investment into the research process. This, along with a lack of public familiarity with nature, goals, and charactertistics of archives leads to a situation of chronic underuse and understudy of primary source documentation of British Columbia’s past at the local level. Compounding this, many repositories lack the tools to bring a project to completion alone, even when they do recognize the inherent value of digization for access. Digitized Okanagan History lowers barriers to research interactions with community-held archival resources by providing a centralized model of resource allocation. Resources in this context include funding, conduits to technological infrastructure, dissemination of training and best practices, professional support, and increased stability over extended time horizons, as afforded by the University structure. Primary among guiding principles to this project is a strengths-based methodology which contributes to the constructive rupture and redefinition of archival space, and depends on a radically regional, human-oriented strategy for building and sustaining a functional, collective digital repository
SESSION 1.3: A Thai Forest Buddhist Monastery in a British Columbian Forest: Religion and Diversity in the Birkenhead Valley
No full textIn June 1994, the Venerable Sona (ne Tom West), a Coquitlam, BC-born-and-bred Buddhist monk from the orthodox Thai Forest Tradition of Theravada Buddhism, traveled from the Sri Lankan Buddhist temple in Surrey to a complex of rundown shacks on the road between Mount Currie and D’Arcy in the Birkenhead River valley near Pemberton, BC. There, he succeeded in establishing the first North American foothold of the Thai Forest tradition, which has spread globally to become the most successful Theravada monastic order outside Asia. In order for this strict form of Buddhist monasticism to take root a group of people with widely divergent backgrounds, religious and otherwise, had to intersect to serve the mendicant monks. Those who fed and otherwise sustained them included regular visitors from Vancouver – Thai Buddhist graduate students and domestic workers, as well as Sri Lankan and “convert” Buddhist professionals and academics – along with local people – non-Buddhist foresters, entrepreneurs, self-described hippies and dropouts, and a Baptist school secretary. These interactions didn’t happen in the cosmopolitan environs of a global city, like Vancouver, but rather in a rural and reputedly “redneck” place, where the Thai and Sri Lankan Buddhists who visited encountered an intensely foreign cultural and physical environment surrounding the familiar robes and rituals of a Buddhist monastery. By examining this understudied periphery we can challenge literatures that bind diversity to the urban and keep convert and ethnic Buddhists apart; we hope to use this case study to contribute to a conversation about religion, identity, and the intersections that have allowed Buddhism to become a potent cultural force in North America, and particularly in BC
Planning for Final Grades
No full textHave you ever turned down a social engagement due to your marking load? This workshop will lead you in strategic planning for evaluating students in your courses that will help you to maintain a manageable marking load, keep focused on big ideas in your course, and distinguish between practice work and work you will evaluate. A bit of front-end loading at the beginning may help reduce stress at mid-term and end-of-term
Improving Methods to Predict Cardiovascular Disease in Asymptomatic People
No full textIn this study, hyperemic velocity and change in arterial diameter after varying periods of occlusion of the brachial and popliteal arteries will be measured with ultrasound in both active and non-active populations. Custom-designed software will then be used to generate a numeric index that will be clinically useful in assessing vascular health and predicting cardiac events such as heart attack. As the most suitable parameter for predicting cardiovascular risk is yet to be determined, this study will focus specifically on hyperemic velocity. This aspect is directly dependent on endothelial function, a key indicator of vascular health. This will be the first study to systematically use different durations of occlusion to determine a relationship with hyperemic responses across populations. In doing so, clinical techniques of analyzing endothelial function as a means of assessing vascular health will be optimized, ensuring a more comfortable process for patients
The European Union: The Transfer of Trust and Loyalty in a Meritocracy via the Five Waves of Enlargement
Get PDFThe European Union (EU) faces a new wave of populism that opposes the traditional meritocratic system and highlights the breach of trust between citizens and civil servants. The breakdown in the citizens’ trust for national and supranational institutions occurred at the same time as the loyalty of the civil servants diminished. This paper examines whether the rising populist movement can explicate the decline of trust and loyalty. Further, it highlights the five waves of EU enlargement to discern where and why the breach in trust is occurring. Utilizing information collected by the Eurobarometer, this paper uses new data that break down the statistics into the five key waves of EU enlargement and examines the notion of enlargement fatigue. The data explore the financial and societal influences that alter one\u27s perspective of national and supranational institutions. Further, each Member State’s position within the EU is evaluated in the context of assumed two-tiered membership, which is emphasized via the different waves of enlargement. The theoretical lens employed is neo-functionalism, as it provides an opportunity to examine the relationships between trust, loyalty, and enlargement through a new perspective. This paper concludes that populist movements are exploiting anxieties to promote their agenda, that citizens’ trust in institutions is actually increasing, and that there is a correlation between low trust and new, unstable Member States. Overall, in the face of populist movements, local conflicts and media frenzies, European citizens most fervently desire a reliable governmental system for future generations
Emergent Tools for Teaching and Learning: MatterMost, Hypothes.Is, and Appear.In
No full textThis session will provide an overview of 3 open web tools for teaching and learning: MatterMost, Hypothes.Is, and Appear.In, and explore how these tools can be used for teaching and learning in a wide range of contexts. Resources (including websites, readings, and others) will be provided to help inform participants’ use of these applications in their specific situations. Participants will be encouraged to create and share lesson plans or other documents which incorporate use of some or all of these applications
Icebreakers and motivation activities
No full textWhat activities do you do to motivate and engage your students? What activities make your classroom a positive social environment? Icebreakers and energizers can bring energy and make the classroom a positive and social learning experience. They can also enable introvert and extroverts to share the air time and for students to get to know each other. In this interactive session let\u27s talk about what we do to achieve engagement and create an exciting learning experience