Thesis (M.A.)--Queen's University at Kingston, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references.

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Awareness and concern about the environment have been growing in recent years, and this fact has not been lost on churches. Though arguments have been made that Christianity is a cause of the world’s current ecological problems, many denominations have issued statements encouraging environmental responsibility, and a growing number of churches are teaching an ethic of care for what God has made. This thesis examines several churches who have been acting on environmental issues to understand what concern looks like in their faith communities. It was seen that the doctrine of stewardship is a primary reason for care, and there is a need for teaching on the theological basis of concern. Groups and activity within churches happen when there is a champion to move things forward, and environmental concern is just one part of a connected existence that links people with their faith, each other, and life outside the church.

From the British capture of Port Royal in 1710 to the end of the Seven Years’ War, imperial borders in northeastern North America were highly uncertain and vigorously contested. The British “conquest” of Acadia was not an event, but rather a disputed process that took over half a century and required a massive deportation. The rise and fall of French Acadia under de jure British rule demonstrated geography’s central role in the struggle for territorial control. Aboriginal land rights, especially those of the Mi’kmaq and their allies, challenged British and French claims to sovereignty. This dissertation is the first in-depth study of how eighteenth-century geographic knowledge influenced relations among the British, French, and Native peoples in Nova Scotia. Geographic debates – especially boundary negotiations, mapping projects, and settlement plans – underscored Nova Scotia’s strategic importance in the eighteenth century and complicate the concept of “salutary neglect”. Cartography was a powerful and multi-faceted tool, capable of illustrating past possessions and projecting future claims. It was also constrained by technologies of production and competing interpretations, as overtly biased maps were recognized as such and dismissed. Maps and geographic evidence cannot be properly understood outside of their historical context. British and French subjects were presented with maps and geographic reports in monthly magazines, allowing them to engage with the transatlantic imperial imagination. The growth of printed material, especially in Britain, allowed geographers to influence, and be influenced by, public opinion. This dissertation argues that eighteenth-century Nova Scotia/Acadia was neither British nor French, but rather a political and cultural battleground founded on negotiations over geography. The Mi’kmaq shaped these discussions, influencing and modifying European expansion into Aboriginal territory: their claims to sovereignty, represented on maps, surveys, and in treaty negotiations, challenged English pales in the northeast and circumscribed French territorial power. For most of the eighteenth century, contested sovereignty, negotiated alliances, and fragile peace depended on cultural understandings built on shared territory. Mi’kmaq influence continued after 1763, but the Acadian deportation and the arrival of New England planters marked an imperial and geographic watershed as the British successfully mapped Nova Scotia over Acadia.

Purpose: To describe patient & tumor characteristics among rectal cancer patients in Nova Scotia, to determine factors associated with permanent colostomy and oncologic outcomes and to determine the relationship between surgeon knowledge and oncologic outcomes.Methods:The Provincial cancer registry identified new rectal cancer patients from in Nova Scotia. A comprehensive review of inpatient, outpatient and cancer center medical records was used to assemble the cohort. Surgeon knowledge was assessed using a survey with questions pertaining to rectal cancer care.Results: Patient & tumor characteristics were similar between hospitals providing rectal cancer care. Patients treated by high volume cancer center surgeons are less likely to undergo a permanent colostomy or have a local recurrence compared to patients treated elsewhere. Patients treated by surgeons with a high survey score have improved clinical and oncologic outcomes.Conclusions: There is an opportunity to improve rectal cancer care in Nova Scotia.

This research examined changes in culture and agriculture in the rural community of Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, with a specific interest in understanding and contextualizing (re)localization initiatives. The study employed key-informant interviews with 23 members of the agricultural community to develop a narrative of socio-agricultural transition, which was used to launch discussion on the role of agriculture during a public forum in Tatamagouche. The creamery was found to have played a central role in the community’s history, and its gradual decline coincided with the growing disuse of farmland in the area. New communities of farmers moved onto available farmland in Tatamagouche. Today, current ‘civic’ agriculture initiatives include CSAs, a local currency system, a farmers market, and a community land trust. The challenges and opportunities in the revived local agriculture community are discussed, and policy recommendations to support community-scale sustainable food systems are offered based on findings in Tatamagouche.

With the perpetual advancements in technology and communication the focus and obsession of architectural critique has become surfi cially focused on building “image”. This focus on image of architecture has taken away from the true meaning and focus of what architecture is, space and experience. Although most talks today are focused on image, there are a handful of architects that push for a more phenomenological approach. In the design process, they think more of how a space will feel and stimulate the senses, enrich a viewer’s experience and strengthen the relationship of the space to the context beyond. This thesis attempts to develop methods and concepts that focus on the study of site based phenomena. This thesis attempts to fi nd design processes that will see buildings conceptually conceived from their sites rather than merely placed upon them. The development of these methods and processes is the primary concern of the thesis. It uses Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia as a laboratory for testing.

Japanese knotweed is an invasive plant that grows in disturbed sites across Nova Scotia. This study recorded an average spring growth rate of 6cm per day until reaching a canopy height exceeding 2m in June. Knotweed stands contained on average 17 stems and 8.0kg of fresh biomass per m2. Leaf cover was significantly greater in knotweed patches versus grass and shrub habitats in riparian ecosystems. Plant diversity in knotweed patches was nil, yet invertebrate diversity and abundances were similar across habitats. Small mammal tracks were more abundant in knotweed than shrub patches, but not as much as grass plots. Two herbicides were applied at four different dates in 2011. The following year, Aminopyralid was ineffective while Imazapyr treatments successfully reduced knotweed biomass, density, height, and leaf cover. Imazapyr application is recommended at full growth (June) or flowering (August). This project provides new information on an invasive weed in eastern Canada.

Hardpans, or cemented layers, form from precipitation and subsequent cementation of secondary minerals in mine tailings and can act as both physical and chemical barriers. During precipitation, metals in the tailings are sequestered, making hardpan a potentially viable method of natural attenuation. At Montague Gold Mines, Nova Scotia, tailings are partially cemented by the iron (Fe) arsenate mineral scorodite (FeAsO4•2H2O). Scorodite is known as a phase that can effectively limit aqueous arsenic (As) concentrations due to its relatively low solubility (<1 ppm, pH 5) and high As content (~30 wt.%). However, scorodite will not lower As concentrations from waters to below the Canadian drinking water guideline (0.010 ppm). To identify current field conditions influencing scorodite precipitation and dissolution and to better understand the mineralogical and chemical relationship between hardpan and tailings, coexisting waters and solids were sampled to provide information on tailings-water interactions. Hardpan cement compositions were found to include Fe arsenate and Fe oxyhydroxide in addition to scorodite. End-member pore water chemistry was identified based on pH and dissolved concentration extremes (e.g. pH 3.78, As(aq) 35.8 ppm) compared to most other samples (avg. pH 6.41, As(aq) 2.07 ppm). These end-member characteristics coincide with the most extensive and dispersed areas of hardpan. Nearly all hardpan is associated with historical arsenopyrite-bearing concentrate which provides a source of acidity and dissolved As+5 and Fe+3 for scorodite precipitation. A proposed model of progressive arsenopyrite oxidation suggests localized As cycling involving scorodite is occurring but is dependent on sulfide persistence. Therefore, permanent As sequestration is not expected. Remediation efforts would have to consider the possibility of scorodite dissolution after complete sulfide consumption or as a consequence of applying certain technologies, such as a cover. Conversely, if scorodite stability were maintained, the hardpan could be considered as a component in remediating the tailings at Montague. / Thesis (Master, Geological Sciences & Geological Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2008-12-22 09:36:08.157

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