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There is a growing recognition of the importance of the built environment in mediating people’s health related decisions, such as whether to walk rather than drive, or what types of food to purchase. The built environment has been identified as a significant determinant of health by the World Health Organization and many other organizations across the globe. This has spurred research on how and to what extent community design impacts health. Most research in Canada has been focused on major urban centres. Research in rural contexts on the connection between planning and health is limited. Despite much research on land-use and design to support healthy communities, how planners interpret the application of this research within the social, political, and jurisdictional confines of their planning practice is largely unexamined. Through an online survey and 10 semi-structured interviews with planners in Nova Scotia, the question of whether and how rural planners should address health issues is explored. The intention of this research is to better understand the connection rural planners see between their planning practice and health issues in their communities. This research found that planners indicated that health is important to address in planning practice, which confirms recent national level research. However, each respondent’s interpretation of health and how it related to planning practice was slightly different. Working with public health workers and agencies was supported as a way to improve community health, but most participants saw themselves as consultants to public health staff concerning projects and initiatives to support healthy communities rather than as collaborators. Provincial government “silos” were cited as the biggest barrier to implementation of planning practices to address health issues like physical inactivity. Results confirm what has been identified in the literature as barriers to rural planners addressing community health issues.

Transportation networks provide a means of physical access between places which is becoming increasingly more important. As places are brought relatively closer together, or more accessible to one another, greater localized specialization of economic activity is made possible. Cities are not isolated economic and social units. [...]

The most surprising outcome from the Victoria School of Art and Design's first half century is that it survived into its second. How it survived, and how it almost failed to, is the subject of this thesis. The main argument is that community support for the VSAD, or lack of it, was based more on pragmatic concerns, rather than on whether people liked the art being produced. Among those concerns, the most talked about was art training for employable skills. Led by Anna Leonowens, who later became the subject of the musical The King and I, well-to-do citizens in Halifax, Nova Scotia founded the VSAD in 1887. In 1925 the school changed its name to the Nova Scotia College of Art. Its current name, the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, came in 1969, the year that the College became what was then the only autonomous degree granting art institution in Canada. As part of an international movement, the VSAD shared its late nineteenth century origins with similar art schools throughout North America, Europe, Britain and its colonies. Many of these schools also shared common purposes: to sharpen the graphic skills of industrial designers, to provide instruction in the fine and decorative arts, and to train drawing teachers for public and private schools. Of the different groups supporting the Halifax school, women and their organizations were the most consistent and consequential, especially Halifax's Local Council of Women. A properly funded art school, they argued, could generate jobs, stimulate economic gains, and foster higher standards of civic culture within the community. This study looks at the VSAD's supporters, teachers, and administrators during its first half century. It describes how the school, with its inadequate enrolment, budget, and space, played a limited role in generating art-related employment before the Great War. It is only with the principalship of Elizabeth Styring Nutt from 1919 to 1943, with her strong community connections and decades-long commitment to training artist-workers, that the school finally gained relative security and success.

Human societies may be modeled as very large complex systems involving multiple flows of energy and materials between different sectors. Traditional exergy analysis methods are inadequate for the analysis of such systems because they do not take non-energetic flows into account. Extended exergy analysis (EEA) allows for the inclusion of exergetic equivalents of such non-energetic quantities as labor, capital and the costs of environmental remediation. The economy is divided into seven sectors reflecting the organization of economic data reported by Statistics Canada. A model of the structural connectivity of the economy in terms of exchanges between sectors is constructed using economic data generated by Statistic Canada. Energy, exergy, and extended exergy efficiencies are calculated for each sector of the economy of Nova Scotia and compared with those of Norway, China, Italy, and the UK to identify similarities and differences between the composition and performance of sectors around the world.

The term ‘bicultural’ has been gaining acknowledgment in sociological and psycho-social research and literature. It refers to identity construction which internalizes more than one cultural identity by an individual. This thesis uses qualitative methods and a grounded theory research design to explore how bicultural (biracial and bisexual) people navigate identity and community in Nova Scotia. While similar research has been conducted on racial and sexual identities elsewhere, this study looks to fill some of the gaps in bicultural research by specifically dealing with it in an Atlantic Canadian context. Living in a social environment steeped in historical discrimination and political struggle exerts significant influence on the identities and communities of bicultural people in Nova Scotia. The thesis research findings suggest that while social environment often creates divisions and dichotomy when interpreting bicultural identities, bicultural people manage to maintain an integrated sense of self within this environment.

The use of forest biomass (by thermal combustion to electricity processes), has been recognized by the Government of Nova Scotia (NS) as one option which could help meet short- and long term energy generation goals (aggressively set at 25% and 40% by 2015 and 2020 respectively). However, while approximately 77% of NS land area is forest covered, there is significant concern about the sustainability and stewardship of this natural resource. This controversy inspired a deeper investigation into the attitudes towards forest biomass held by one particular stakeholder group—small-woodland owners—and also the rural community members living in the same regions. 51% of the forested area in NS is owned by small-private woodland owners and as such, they will play an integral role in the future of NS’s forest economy and sustainability. How these stakeholders feel about the forests, the alternative uses for forest biomass and its use in large scale energy production could have a significant impact on the future of forest biomass use - particularly for energy - in NS. 489 small-woodland owners responded to mail-out surveys and 14 rural community members participated in three focus groups. Three major findings emerged. Firstly, it was found that the acceptability of using forest products varied depending on multiple factors— the source of biomass, harvesting methods, and [predicted] end-use. Secondly, forest sustainability and keeping resources local were the two most important concerns amongst respondents. Finally, respondents felt that better collaboration with other stakeholders and objective education around the issues would be the best strategies to overcoming these concerns.

Prevalence rates for adolescent depressive symptoms differ significantly between males and females. Explanatory models are unable to adequately clarify why this difference exists. To enhance understanding of gender differences, the role of intrapersonal risk factors body dissatisfaction (BD) and disordered eating behaviour (DEB) were investigated using secondary data from a sample of high school students from industrial Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Results showed that 32.4% of females and 20.6% of males experienced depressive symptoms over the past week. Both genders were at an increased risk for depressive symptoms if they had BD (OR male 1.71, OR female 1.39) or DEB (OR male 3.35, OR female 3.40). Findings indicated that males and females shared similar rather than differing risk behaviour profiles in relation to depressive symptoms with respect to DEB.

This population-based retrospective cohort study describes breastfeeding patterns and identifies the determinants of longer exclusive breastfeeding among 4,533 mother-infants pairs in two regions of Nova Scotia, Canada between 2006 and 2009. Multivariate logistic and proportional hazard regression analyses were used to model breastfeeding practices. While 64.1% (95% CI=62.7-65.5) of mothers initiated breastfeeding, only 10.4% (9.5-11.4) of mothers exclusively breastfed for the recommended six months; 21% (19.7-22.3) of mothers continued to breastfeed at six months, but not exclusively. Six risk factors are independently associated with poorer breastfeeding practices: lower maternal education, no partner, higher pre-pregnancy body mass index, smoking during pregnancy, no breast contact between dyads within one hour of birth, and no intention of breastfeeding. Rates of exclusive breastfeeding remain lower in these districts than elsewhere in Canada. Understanding determinants of longer exclusive breastfeeding is critical to assist policy makers and health care providers in better supporting mothers and newborns.

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