A probabilistic spatial exposure simulation model (SESM) was designed to investigate the effect of time spent at work and commuting on estimates of chronic exposure to traffic-related air pollution in large populations. The model produces distributions of exposure estimates in six microenvironments (home indoor, work indoor, other indoor, outdoor, transit to work and transit other) for workers and non-workers, using randomly sampled time-activity patterns from the Canadian Human Activity Pattern Survey and work flow data from Statistics Canada. The SESM incorporates geographic detail through the use of property assessment data, shortest route analysis, and the use of a geographic information system (GIS) to develop pollution concentration distributions. The SESM was implemented and tested using data for 382 census tracts in the Greater Vancouver Regional District of British Columbia. Simulation results were found to be relatively insensitive to the choice of distance used to represent the typical range of non-work related trips; the use of a simple annual average pollution estimate versus a time-stratified annual average; and the use of different indoor/outdoor ratios representing the infiltration of ambient pollution into indoor locations. Substantial sensitivity was observed based on the use of different methods for producing spatial estimates of ambient air pollution. The SESM was used to explore variability in annual total exposure of workers to traffic-related nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Total exposure ranged from 8 μg/m3 to 35 μg/m3 of iv annual average hourly NO2 and was highest where ambient pollution levels are highest, reflecting the regional gradient of pollution in the study area and the relatively high percentage of time spent at home locations. Within census tract variation was observed in the partial exposure estimates associated with time spent at work locations, particularly in suburban areas where longer commuting distances are more prevalent. In these areas, some workers may have exposures 1.3 times higher than other workers residing in the same census tract. Exposures to NO2 associated with the activity of commuting to work were negligible. No statistically significant difference in total exposure estimates was found between female and male commuters, although there were small but observable differences at the upper end of the exposure distributions associated specifically with the work indoor microenvironment. These differences were highest in suburban areas (up to 3 μg/m3 of annual hourly average NO2 higher for female commuters, in relation to 99th percentile total exposures levels of approximately 37 μg/m3), illustrating the impact of systematically different work locations for female compared to male commuters in these same census tracts. Simulated exposures for workers, non-workers, and a base scenario where all time is spent at the residence only were compared. Statistically significant differences were found in the exposure distributions for workers versus non-workers, workers versus residence only, and non-workers versus residence only. Differences in exposure within census tracts were highest at the 10th and 90th percentiles, on the order of -5.4 to +6.5 μg/m3 of annual average hourly NO2 respectively for workers compared to non-workers, in relation to exposure estimates between 10 and 40 μg/m3 of annual average hourly NO2 on average.

In the academic literature resource dependent communities have been characterized as principally economic spaces that evolved relative to their socio-economic dependence on a single resource-based industry. Subsequently, as industry restructuring and closure has effected community transition, research emphasis has shifted to the emergence of alternative economic futures for these places. Currently, economic and social renewal in resource dependent communities is typified by sets of locally based strategies that rely on the participation of all community members. However, as recent research positions local actors as catalysts for socio-economic development, very little research has been dedicated to exploring the multiple roles and contributions women make to their households and broader community. By extension, the organization of women's economic lives, particularly in terms of self-employment, has been absent from the discourses surrounding community transition and resilience. In response, my research is rooted in place-based change as a means of highlighting how self-employed women have made use of place-based resources to structure their livelihood strategies. Using personal observation and semi-structured, open-ended interviews with 13 women in Gold River, BC, the purpose of my research was to demonstrate how self-employed women simultaneously shape and are shaped by place. In turn, I demonstrate that women pursue self-employment as a means of fulfilling their requirements for paid work, personal fulfillment, and the flexibility to maintain household and community responsibilities. In the process, self-employed women have made unique contributions to community well-being and to the evolution of place-based identity.

Cette thèse est une lecture des objets techniques de la société du tourisme en Vendée, sous l'angle de la métamorphologie. Partant des objets concrets, nous construisons une méthode d'appréhension, puis de compréhension en systèmes des mécanismes de production des formes de communication de la société du tourisme vendéen. Au-delà de l'aspect matériel des formes visibles de la communication, des récits de l'invisible des pratiques communicationnelles trament des indices de l'agir des acteurs. L'analyse du corpus, constitué de formes visibles, fait apparaître ces traces sous la forme de tensions. Les tensions sont constitutives de l'agir communicationnel. Elles structurent les espaces normatifs et institués de la représentation et des identités. Elles assurent de plus l'équilibre de la société de " la communication touristique ". La métamorphologie est une méthode de catalyse. Elle rend visible l'émergence des formes à travers leur contexte de production énonciatif. Elle invite à repenser la vie ordinaire des objets techniques pour distinguer le caractère de la médiation des objets, et les mutations de la médiation elle-même. La métamorphologie de " la communication touristique " est technique et symbolique. Technique, car elle décrit les cycle de la vie des formes : généalogie,naissance, dissémination et hybridation. Symbolique, puisqu'elle situe les identités représentées à travers les interactions médiatisées, en ce sens elle est altérité. La métamorphologie appliquée à " la communication touristique " rend compte de la matérialité technique et symbolique des formes. Elle reconfigure un nouvel espace systémique de l'agir communicationnel touristique vendéen

Relationships between the terms culture and education are often taken for granted in educational research. This study challenges some of the taken for granted assumptions around the term culture in educational contexts, particularly in secondary language arts education. It examines these assumptions through an analysis of three debates from the contemporary culture wars in education. The implications of these debates on uses of the term culture in secondary language arts education are examined through Othello as a secondary school text. I am arguing that these debates, namely, on the literary canon, multicultural education, and cultural literacy, represent intractable conflicts over definitions of the term culture. In light of these conflicts, the aim of this study is to provide language arts educators with analytical tools for developing greater theoretical rigour when defining the term culture in language arts education. Drawing on recent theoretical writings on culture, concepts of cultural capital, cultural rights, and cultural reproduction are proposed as analytical tools. I then apply these to develop a methodological approach by which to structure my analysis of Othello as a school text. The study makes a theoretical contribution by bringing into sharper focus ways in which the ideological opposition between expressions of cultural right versus cultural left perspectives is articulated in language arts education, as well as illustrating that claims about culture in the canon debate reflect competing normative assumptions; in the multicultural education debate they reflect competing essentialist constructions; and in the cultural literacy debate they reflect competing empowerment goals. Such cultural debates have a long history and thus the study also situates the contemporary culture wars in education within a wider historical context by tracing related conflicts in the history of literary criticism on and performances of Othello over the past four centuries.

Gender has developed as an important ‘public and political’ category throughout the Twentieth Century in BC and Canada as the basis of feminist demands on society and governments. In 2007, gender has become ‘privatized’ and increasingly erased from government institutions. The de-politicization of gender in Canada is an example of a shifting social consciousness and political discourse that avoids a critical perspective on the social context and places an increasing emphasis on the individual. A new critical discourse must grapple with these challenges, emerge at some distance from government and coincide with a political activism that has resonance in women’s lives.

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami created a catastrophic disturbance at several scales along the entire Andaman Sea coast. As the first large-scale tsunami occurring in recent history, this event provided a unique opportunity to use modern instrumentation and in situ observation to study tsunami dynamics and effects on coastal systems. Along Thailand’s coast, consequences of this disturbance were highly variable in space and time, with pronounced changes to certain coral reefs and human communities. This thesis outlines two case study-based research projects designed to gain some understanding of the ecological and social dynamics of the tsunami in Thailand. From a Geographical perspective, responses to this massive disturbance may support an incentive-based direction for marine conservation in Thailand. The first project occurred within Mu Koh Surin Marine National Park, Thailand. Variability in the physical response of fringing hard coral reefs to the tsunami was examined using SCUBA surveys. Patterns in variability were distinct from typical hard coral responses during tropical storms suggesting differences in the nature of these hydrodynamic disturbances. Coral colony morphologies and reef shape mainly did not influence variability in tsunami response; however, unique effects were observed on reef slopes over 45°. There was no detected influence of reef depth. Variability in effects based on the spatial location of reefs was observed: proximity to bathymetrical constrictions accounted for substantial variability, while reef aspect did not. Overall, just over 10% of sampled reef area was affected, with evidence of rapid coral recovery in the form of tissue re-growth and apical skeletal growth within four months of the event at most sites. The second project explored the effects of the tsunami on Phuket’s diving industry. The response of industry members and recreational divers to tsunami effects was examined using interviews and questionnaires as well as observational dives with dive guides and clients on chartered trips during the 2004-5 post-tsunami diving season. A short-term reduction in the number of diving companies and diving tourism in Phuket was observed immediately following the tsunami; this can be attributed to terrestrial damage and trip cancellations. Although there were expectations for high levels of dive site damage, most recreational divers did not perceive any damage on dive sites in 2005 – even while diving on surveyed sites with as much as 76-100% of reef area reportedly affected. This low rate of perception may be partially explained by diving ability, but was more likely due to site variability and variability in tsunami response within dive sites allowing guides to preferentially avoid acutely damaged areas. During the post-tsunami low tourism period, industry members contributed substantial resources to rescue, relief and restoration efforts along Thailand’s Andaman Sea Coast. Industry members also participated in several government and university-led tsunami monitoring and rehabilitation efforts. While measurable changes to Phuket’s diving industry seem to have been short-term, this response of industry members to the event may have increased potential for long-term collaboration with government and universities. Enhanced communication among these parties could facilitate future incentive-driven industry contributions toward marine conservation in Thailand.

Gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus Lilljeborg) forage predominantly on hyper-benthic mysids (Mysidae) along the southwest coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The role of mysids in the abundance and distribution of foraging gray whales prompted interest in this study. I relate the inter- and intra-annual foraging behaviour of gray whales to the number of mysid patches and biomass through boat based surveys of foraging whales, and the application of acoustic techniques for estimating mysid prey. I examine the spatial pattern of foraging gray whales and the 10 m isobath. The abundance and distribution of mysid patches are more common at a water depth of 10 m, and the likely mechanism driving the spatial pattern between foraging gray whales and the 10 m isobath. I examine whale abundance and distribution patterns during three consecutive foraging seasons. More whales forage in years when mysid prey are more abundant, and mysid patches are of larger size and higher in biomass. Whales have a considerable top-down effect on mysid populations. Years of heavy whale predation depletes mysid stocks. Mysid populations tend to increase in years of low whale activity. I examine whale abundance and distribution patterns of habitat use during a foraging season along the southwest coast of Flores Island and Nootka Sound. The abundance of mysid patches and biomass in Nootka Sound does not influence the whales’ use of Flores Island; rather the whales exploited both areas concurrently. This study expands the understanding of gray whale habitat use along the southwest coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

A 616-year Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) chronology was developed to examine the history of drought and moisture variability in the Sooke Watershed, near Victoria, British Columbia. Ring-width chronologies were compared to historical precipitation, air temperature and drought variables (Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) and Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI)) to determine the climate/radial-growth response to moisture stress on the sampled stands. Correlations between the ring-width chronologies and climate variables revealed that May to July precipitation, May-June SPI and July PDSI were significant limiting factors to radial-width growth. A transfer function was established for each of these variables to create a proxy climate reconstruction of drought in the watershed. The summer precipitation model provided the most accurate representation of past moisture variability (R2 = 0.20) and reveals substantial variation in precipitation over the past six centuries. Evidence from the periodicity of the tree-ring record to suggest that some modes of atmospheric circulation are influencing precipitation supply to the watershed.

This dissertation contributes to the fields of Canadian literature and black cultural studies in Canada a new regional archive of literature, the black prairie archive. It unearths and brings critical attention, for the first time, to the unknown history and cultural production of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century black pioneer writers on the Canadian prairies, and connects this historical literature to the work of contemporary black prairie authors. The black prairie archive thus brings together one hundred and thirty five years of black writing on the prairies, from 1873-2008. Theorized in terms of what Pierre Nora calls a lieu de mémoire, or a site of memory, the black prairie archive operates as a site of collective black-inflected memory on the prairies. It retrieves memory of a repressed but important black history and culture and brings it into consciousness of the present historical moment. In its ability to remember what has been repressed and forgotten, the archive functions as a literary counterhistory, calling attention to the aggressive exclusions and erasures involved in the historical, social, critical, and legal construction of the prairies as an ideological—not a geographic—space in relation to race. In addition to bringing a new regional black literature to light, this study offers the black prairie archive as a discursive formation that points to a new methodology, a methodology capable of addressing the limits of certain critical debates in Canada. Specifically, it offers a strategy for theorizing black belonging and territoriality in terms other than the problematic metaphors of black indigeneity; for reading the regional particularities of black prairie literature and subjectivity; and for overcoming the impasse at the centre of black Canadian cultural studies, represented by the debate between Rinaldo Walcott and George Elliott Clarke, regarding which model, the archival or diasporic, best articulates the space of black Canada. The black prairie archive demonstrates how the archive can become a critical, activist, anti-national strategy for recovering repressed black histories, literatures, and presences.

Abstract Objectives: To establish the prevalence of lower serum selenium status (<106 ng/ml) among the adult white American male population, to determine whether certain social, economic, geographic, physical, and dietary characteristics are risk factors for lower selenium status, and to identify a selenium augmentation strategy for white adult men deficient in this trace element. Design: An exploratory cross-sectional study using nationally representative data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III, 1988-1994 (NHANES III). Methods: 2989 white men, aged 20 or greater in the NHANES III dataset had recorded serum selenium values. These men were divided in two groups based on selenium status, those with values of less than 106 ng/ml (n=288) and those with a status greater than or equal to 106 ng/ml (n=2701). Various demographic, physical, and dietary variables were then compared between the two selenium status groups in a bivariate analysis. Multiple logistic regression was then performed to assess possible risk factors for lower selenium status. Results: This study estimated that 7.7% of white American adult men aged 20 years and older, a total of 4,751,618 individuals, had a selenium status less than 106 ng/ml. Several, of the more than forty, social, economic, geographic, physical and dietary characteristics examined were shown to be significantly associated with a lower selenium status. Risk factors for lower selenium status (<106 ng/ml) were, smoking, living in the Southern census region, being in either the 20-39 or the 60 years or older age groups, exercising less than their peers, having a lower income, and not consuming dark bread. Conclusion: It would appear that certain physical, geographic, dietary and demographic characteristics are significantly associated with lower selenium status. While, this work was unable to identify a suitable selenium fortification vehicle to reduce the prevalence of lower selenium status, it did identify risk factors that may contribute to this condition.