The transition from conventional to sustainable farming has been limited in Quebec by the absence of a comprehensive strategy, applicable at the farm level, to facilitate the transition process. This study summarizes the popular discussion pertaining to planning the farm transition, and the following six concepts that are useful to take into account when designing sustainable systems: vision, creativity, values, the efficiency - substitution - redesign spectrum, an holistic, systems perspective of the farm, and popular participation in the development process. Case studies of six farms in the early phase of transition are presented. Farm and farmer characteristics are detailed as well as the potential of each to influence the evolution of the farm. The outcomes of farm-level planning and activities in the first two transitional years are described. Particular attention is paid to the implications of creative visioning and approaches to problem solving, value adjustments, decision-making criteria, and the farmers' perceived restraining forces. A comprehensive, practical strategy designed to facilitate the farm transition process is constructed. This combines the current popular template for appropriate planning and the theoretical constructs of sustainable development, with insights gathered from the six case study farms. Finally, procedures for using the strategy are outlined, together with some requirements for its further development.

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A description and analysis of the outcomes of an experiment with Kohlberg's Just Community Approach in the development of moral judgements of francophone delinquents is examined. Data were collected from 12 adolescents ranging in age from 17 to 18 years and from 8 adult educators involved in the Just Community Program at Boscoville Center (Montreal, Qc.) which was implemented between October 1987-October 1988. / Kohlberg's Structural Issue Moral Judgement Interview and several questionnaires were administered and journals kept by the educators and the researcher. Analysis of these data allowed us to describe how the program was implemented and showed that the intervention appreciably increased the stage of moral judgement of participants and improved the "moral atmosphere" of the program. In comparison to previous evaluations of the Just Community Approach, this program had more impact on these outcomes. It is suggested that the effects of the program could be strengthened by more intensive training of educators.

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Nineteenth-century Montreal convents are complex, multi-functional buildings. As a form of collective housing, convents provided an alternative urban "space" for women, one in which they were able to realize themselves individually and collectively. This thesis explores the Mother House of the Grey Nuns, typical of Montreal's convents, as a purpose-built environment for women. / The research involves the extensive use of a unique documentary legacy preserved in the archives of the Grey Nuns: the architectural drawings and written accounts of Soeur Saint-Jean-de-la-Croix (1854-1921), in addition to the religious community's annals and period photographs. These documents recorded how the nuns organized their own built environment and permit a reconstruction of the convent's spatial arrangements, one hundred years after the fact. Although this building is monumental and designed by prominent Montreal architect Victor Bourgeau, it is only from exploring the perspectives of the users that we can truly see how large institutions operated. The division of the plans, the massing of the convent and its siting, among other aspects, communicate the nuns' distinct way of life, one that questioned the traditional boundaries of public and private imposed by society in turn-of-the-century Montreal, albeit from a limited position. / The convent is situated within the larger context of nineteenth-century Montreal, especially its hospitals, schools, asylums, and homes. While it shared many of the distinctive architectural features that characterized these building types, the convent also differed from them significantly in its organization. This thesis is intended to enrich our understanding of convents, the place in history of religious communities and the development of women in Quebec.

The storing of food is a common behaviour in the American kestrel ( Falco sparverius), a small, cavity-nesting falcon whose prey is comprised mainly of insects and small mammals. It may be a mechanism by which breeding birds ensure a sufficient food supply crucial to reproductive success. / In 1996, caching behaviour of 10 single females, 10 single males and 20 paired captive American kestrels was recorded over the breeding season at the Avian Science and Conservation Centre of McGill University. / Cache site preference and seasonal influence on caching frequencies were studied in 8 hand-raised, male kestrels in summer, fall and winter from 1996--1997. Caching frequency during the three seasons was significantly different with most occurring in fall, fewer in winter, and still fewer in summer. / Memory for locations of cached prey was tested in 7 hand-raised males, three days after a caching event, from July to September 1997. The birds located their own caches significantly better than those caches placed by the experimenter. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Filter-feeding black fly larvae in lake outlet streams convert suspended bacteria and algae into benthic biomass, available to fish. Positive correlations between larval abundance and both bacterioplankton and phytoplankton were significant at the p < 0.10 level among 5 outlet streams of varying trophic status in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, and either food type alone explained &sim;28% of the variance in larval abundance among streams (Chapter 1), suggesting bacterioplankton and phytoplankton to play similar roles in larval distribution. However, when larvae were removed from 3 of 6 oligotrophic outlet streams examined in the Mauricie region of Quebec, calculated ingestion rates revealed larvae to ingest roughly 20 times more phytoplankton carbon than bacterial carbon (Chapter 2). Phytoplankton ingestion rates were high enough to satisfy daily carbon requirements, but bacterivory was low (Chapter 2), indicating that bacterial biomass contributes little to black fly diets in most systems, and will be less useful than phytoplankton biomass when using food to predict larval distribution. The majority of bacteria in streams form a carbon link to fish through sediment food webs, rather than through black fly larvae.

Educational institutions in Quebec face a wide variety of challenges as major restructuring efforts take place. Schools must develop strategies to manage these increasing demands in an effective manner. / The purpose of the study was to contribute to the understanding of school administrative teams and to shed some light on the nature and function of these teams through a study of their administrative team meetings. / As a qualitative descriptive study, this research involved 24 secondary school administrators. Data collection techniques included postal surveys to gather initial descriptive data, followed by telephone interviews that allowed for more in-depth discussion of issues faced by the principals and their administrative team. / The findings provide strong evidence of the complexity of the nature of secondary school principals, work and the importance of working collaboratively with their administrative colleagues. / The study has implications for the preparation of aspiring educational administrators, as well as those who currently hold these roles in today's schools.

This descriptive case study was an investigation of the transition to university, with a focus on academic experiences in the first semester of the 1992--93 academic year at a Canadian research university. To guide the study, a conceptual framework of the transition to university was created by combining elements of relevant theoretical models in the counseling and higher education literature. A purposive sample of eight first year students was selected, equally distributed in terms of gender, entry status (high school vs. college), and actual or contemplated program of study (English vs. Physics). Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews conducted at four points in the academic year. These were supplemented by class schedules, university documents, and classroom visits. Analysis of the interview data was conducted using the NUD&middot;IST software package. / The results of the study suggest that students are strangers, in a strange land during their first semester at university. As they encounter successive sets of academic challenges throughout the semester, they are "learning the ropes" of functioning in this unfamiliar territory. In so doing, students are acquiring the experiential knowledge base that will allow them to survive in university. The results support the study's conceptualization of the transition to university, but also suggest that figure research in this area requires a more fine-grained and comprehensive model of the academic environment as experienced by students. Towards this end, the basic elements of an ecological perspective on the academic world of university students are presented. Areas of needed research related to the academic transition experiences of first year students are identified, and recommendations are made for improving orientation and academic advising, as well as course design and instructional practices.