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The future of Nova Scotia's dykelands : understanding the landowners’ perspective
Get PDF1 online resource (119 pages) : colour illustrations, maps, colour chartIncludes abstract and appendices.Includes bibliographical references (pages 97-110).In the 1600s, French Acadian settlers built dykes to drain tidal wetlands
for agriculture. Much of these dyked lands or dykelands exist today but are
vulnerable to sea level rise and flooding. Managed dyke realignment is one
approach that supports a new tidal marsh buffer. Little is known about how
landowners view managed realignment as an adaptation strategy in Nova Scotia.
Communicating with groups of landowners known as marsh bodies about
managed realignment has shown promise in implementing it on dykelands.
Property owners (n=12) within a marsh body were randomly selected and
interviewed over the phone. Positive views of managed realignment were
supported by knowledge of its implementation and an inevitable view of climate
impacts. Support for managed realignment conflicted with aesthetic,
environmental, and agricultural values. Future work should incorporate the views
of stakeholders and Mi’kmaq communities to capture the full range of trade-offs
inherent with managed realignment on dykelands
2021-05-14 Senate Minutes and Agendas
No full textMinutes and agenda for the May 14th, 2021 meeting of Saint Mary's University Senate
Politics, power and unfair market concentration in the cocoa global value chain (GVC): analysing the prospects of the living income differential (LID) for achieving a just and sustainable livelihood for cocoa farmers in Ghana
Get PDF1 online resource (viii, 116 pages) : colour map.Includes abstract and appendices.Includes bibliographical references (pages 98-107).Ghanaian cocoa farmers confront many social and economic challenges and are
unable to pursue needed farm improvements because of insufficient and dwindling income. The income of farmers is too low for them to generate enough capital to invest in
improvements in productivity or even more sustainable ecological practices. While various
initiatives exist aimed at eradicating the problem of child labour, promoting better farming
methods and ensuring access to agricultural inputs like fertilizer, sustainable credit and
financing, often overlooked is the centrality of guaranteeing a viable minimum price for
cocoa farmers, their families and workers, upon which other sustainable achievements in the
cocoa industry ultimately hinge. A guaranteed minimum price can play a key role in
combating the vicious cycle of poverty and social injustice by providing farmers with a living
income. Having a guaranteed minimum price can create a more stable social and economic
environment in which cocoa farmers can have the confidence to invest in their farms,
including the necessary and costly replanting of cocoa trees. Cocoa farming cannot be
considered fair, ethical or sustainable if it cannot provide a living income to the millions of
hardworking farmers and workers in Ghana. I will argue that the decision by the Government of Ghana to initiate a guaranteed minimum price of $400 premium per tonne for cocoa is the
most efficient and simplest way to address insufficient income among cocoa farmers in the
long term
A further decolonization of the Indigenous research paradigm : a 7-direction medicine wheel Indigenous research model
Get PDF1 online resource (90 pages) : illustrations (chiefly colour)Includes abstract and appendices.Includes bibliographical references (pages 84-88).This document details the research that I conducted in partial fulfillment of the Master of Arts in Women and Gender Studies program, provided by Saint Mary's University and Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I used a Two-Eyed Seeing approach to further decolonize the existing Indigenous Research Paradigm, being inclusive of intersectional Indigenous communities' unique identities by engaging in story-acts with Indigenous storytellers from Mi'kma'ki, and using meaning making as a method of analysis through my own intersectional Mi'kmaw cultural identity. I developed two grand-tour questions to help focus the story-acts in response to this project: What kind of research projects have you participated in previously and what do you wish the researchers knew before they approached you? And how do you identify yourself? I developed a new research model, and a tool for Mi'kmaw community use, for future research projects
Differential effects of cannabis use on event-related potential (ERP)-indexes of cortical inhibition in cannabis users and non-users
Get PDF1 online resource (164 pages) : graphsIncludes abstract and appendices.Includes bibliographical references (pages 79-112).Cannabis has psychoactive properties and is thought to be associated
with potential structural and functional changes with early and heavy use. Previous
research suggests cannabis users (CU) vs. non-users (NU) have deficits on EEG-derived event-related potentials elicited by paired click and visual Go/NoGo paradigms.
We used these paradigms to examine inhibitory functioning in CUs (n = 14; 9
male) vs. NUs (n = 16, 4 male). Effect sizes suggest CUs had impaired N100 measures of
sensory gating compared to NUs. Additionally, a trend level interaction and latency
findings for the P200 suggested CUs had smaller amplitudes and quicker latencies to
S1 compared to NUs. Go/NoGo findings revealed enhanced P100 amplitudes in CUs (vs.
NUs). No other between-group differences or sex differences were observed. This study
provides further support for cannabis-induced deficits on early-attentional processing as
indexed by the N100 and novel findings regarding enhanced P100 amplitudes to the
Go/NoGo paradigm
An investigation of spectral broadening by nonlinear optical effects in photonic crystal fibers
Get PDF1 online resource (65 pages) : colour illustrationsIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (pages 63-65).When a pulse of light with sufficient power moves through optical fiber its spectrum broadens as a result of nonlinear optical effects such as self-phase modulation, self-steepening, and stimulated Raman scattering. This spectral broadening is of great interest because it can be used to construct a simple wavelength tunable laser source for nonlinear optical microscopy. Nonlinear optical microscopy is a form of microscopy which utilizes nonlinear optical effects within a sample as a contrast mechanism. This includes effects such as second-harmonic generation, third-harmonic generation, and coherent anti-Stokes Raman Scattering. These forms of microscopy have been shown to have applications in medical imaging, including as possible tools for accurately diagnosing certain cancers. This thesis explores the use of nonlinear optical effects to broaden the spectrum of ultrashort pulses of light. This is done through experimental work in which the effects of pulse energy, pulse duration, and fiber length on spectral broadening are explored. Numerical simulations of the equations of optical pulse propagation are also used in order to evaluate which effects dominate the spectrum of an ultrashort optical pulse, and to investigate the effect of pulse shape on the resulting spectrum. These results will be helpful in evaluating the usefulness of spectral broadening in optical fiber in the construction of a wavelength tunable laser source for nonlinear optical microscopy
Systemic fibrosis : an intersectional feminist analysis of cystic fibrosis
Get PDF1 online resource (v, 105 pages)Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (pages 102-105).Systemic Fibrosis is about the social construction of cystic fibrosis (CF) and how the representation of this illness often excludes marginalized voices. To explore this, I draw on
intersectional feminist theory to demonstrate the lack of diversity in literature, media, and
medical representations of CF, particularly with regards to race, gender, sexuality,
disability/illness and class. It begins with an introduction to cystic fibrosis and the prevailing
images of this illness. Chapter Two provides a literature review that explores how race is
represented in medical research on CF, the sociological depiction of illness, and some examples
of feminist interventions around illness and disability. In Chapter Three, I discuss intersectional
feminist theory, disability studies, queer theory, critical race theory and disability justice as key
frameworks for my study. In Chapters Four and Five, I examine some significant representations
of CF and illness through an intersectional feminist lens
Sustainable agriculture : plant growth promoting bacteria and biochar as biofertilizer and biocontrol
No full text1 online resource (122 pages) : colour illustrations, colour charts, graphsIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (pages 112-122).Global food production must double by 2050 to feed the rapidly increasing world population, requiring adjustments to the agricultural industry, such as reducing the use of soil-damaging agrochemicals. To achieve this, there is a push to explore the mutualistic interactions between plants, soil and microbes. It has been hypothesized that supplementing the soil using specific microbes may augment plant growth, plant productivity, and plant defence. This project evaluates a formulation using beneficial bacteria and biochar. To date, our formulation has significantly increased the fruit shoot ratio of barley, broccoli, and collards compared with the control and biochar control treatments. The formulation has also exhibited favorable growth results for carrots. Additionally, it has demonstrated promising biocontrol properties by significantly decreasing herbivore attack on strawberry leaves. The LC-DAD profiles show differences between the controls and the plants inoculated with bacteria that could explain the biocontrol activity of the bacterial strains
Understanding patterns of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning of forested wetlands in Atlantic Canada: implications for conservation
Get PDFPublished versionHerein we present a selection of papers highlighting the importance of forested wetlands in Atlantic Canada. This special issue is a product of a research program on forested wetlands conducted from 2016 to 2019 and funded in part by the Atlantic Ecosystems Initiative of Environment and Climate Change Canada, Government of Canada. Although forested wetlands in Atlantic Canada have been relatively understudied, the little research available suggests these are bio-diverse ecosystems supporting rare species
Salinity preference in killifish (Fundulus spp.)
Get PDF1 online resource (IV, 24 pages) : illustrations (some colour), colour mapsIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (pages 20-24).Fish normally live in salinities ranging from 0 ppt (freshwater) to ~35 ppt (seawater) but most fish can only inhabit fresh or saltwater making salinity a main factor in determining their distribution. While euryhaline fish can tolerate the osmoregulatory challenges that occur with changes in environmental salinity, they exhibit preference for particular salinities. The Common Killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) is a small estuarine fish that normally prefers brackish water (~20 ppt). In brackish water where they overlap, F. heteroclitus can co-occur and hybridize with Banded Killifish (Fundulus diaphanus), a fish that prefers freshwater. The first goal of this thesis was to set-up and optimize the Loligo® ShuttleBox system to measure salinity preference of the two species to compare this new, more accurate system to previously published data. The second goal was to determine the salinity preference of wild juvenile F1 F. diaphanus x F. heteroclitus hybrids. The system consists of two connected choice tanks and a video-tracking system that allows salinity to be automatically increased or decreased depending on fish location. I predicted that the salinity preference of F. heteroclitus would be 20 ppt, F. diaphanus would be 1 ppt, and wild juvenile hybrids would be ~9.5 ppt, consistent with an additive genetic basis for salinity preference. Future work should include completing additional trials using wild F. heteroclitus, F. diaphanus, and hybrids as well as lab bred pure and reciprocal F1 hybrid crosses to gain a better understanding of the role of parental effects on salinity preference