Pedagogical Approaches to Enhance Q2S Conversion Teaching and Learning: Application of the ACUE Effective Practice Framework to Upper Division Biochemistry

The Effective Practice Framework course by the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE), and offered through the CSUSB Teaching Resource Center (TRC), was applied to the upper division biochemistry course series (CHEM 436A and 437A) in preparation for the Q2S conversion. This essay includes five reflections on the application of enhanced pedagogical approaches curated from a total of twenty-five. The enhanced pedagogies covered in the course are: designing and effective course and class; establishing a productive learning environment; using active learning techniques; promoting higher-order thinking; and assessing to inform instruction and promote learning. The reflections that follow have been selected to represent a broad sampling, illustrating the application of diverse objectives for enhancing teaching and learning at the Q2S conversion

Conflict in Cities and the Struggle for Modernity. Toward an Understanding of the Spatiality of the October Crisis

À partir des années 1960, le Québec était prêt pour le changement. Au cours de cette décennie, deux visions pour un Québec moderne prirent forme et s’affrontèrent, culminant par ce qui est connu comme la rencontre la plus significative du Canada avec le terrorisme, la Crise d’octobre. Pendant que le gouvernement libéral nouvellement élu poussait en avant des réformes sociales et économiques, le Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) émergeait avec une vision différente pour le Québec caractérisé par l’indépendance et le socialisme. Cet article soutient que la modernisation est presque toujours accompagnée de transformations géographiques et de violence. Il examine les implications spatiales de la violence du FLQ pendant les années 1960 et les réponses gouvernementales à la Crise d’octobre afin de fournir une nouvelle compréhension de cette crise.By the 1960s, Quebec was poised for change. Two visions of a modern Quebec began to emerge that clashed throughout the decade, culminating in what has become known as Canada’s most significant encounter with terrorism: the October Crisis. While the newly elected Liberal government pushed forward with social and economic reforms, the Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) emerged with a different vision for Quebec characterized by independence and socialism. This article argues that with modernization comes geographical transformation and violence. It looks at the spatial implications of FLQ violence during the 1960s and the government’s response to the October Crisis as an attempt to provide a new understanding of the crisis

Effects of silvicultural techniques and landscape management on habitat quality and relative abundance for northern bobwhites in a pine plantation forest

Pine plantation forests are increasing in scope across the southeastern United States, particularly Louisiana. These areas provide poor quality bobwhite brood-rearing habitats, and become increasingly degraded without periodic disturbance. Poor quality habitat conditions at a landscape-level scale usually results in reduced fall bobwhite body weights, creating low survival rates. We researched 4 understory vegetation management techniques (ie. mowing, no treatment, burn only, and imazapyr with burning) within pine plantations to evaluate their effects on vegetation composition and structure and on arthropod abundance and availability relative to bobwhite brooding habitat in 2002-2005. We used 1,155 human-imprinted bobwhite chicks to estimate foraging efficiency relative to the various treatments. We assumed that human-imprinted chicks foraged similarly to that of wild chicks, and that they provided a better indicator as to habitat quality in comparison to conventional entomological collection methods (ie. sweepnets and pitfalls). Foraging efficiency of human-imprinted bobwhite chicks was greatest in imazapyr/ burn (RCW) treatments relative to the other treatments. RCW treatments produced vegetation characteristics similar to what could be considered fair brooding habitat relative to the other treatments. Important vegetation characteristics found in RCW treatments were different from the other treatments. Our results suggest that the RCW treatment is more effective at enhancing quality of brooding habitats in degraded pine plantation stands relative to the other treatments. We also used bobwhite whistle counts collected from 2002-2005 to develop a GIS model that assessed landscape features associated with breeding males within a 200m spatial scale. Landscape and class-level habitat variables associated with calling bobwhites were then extrapolated to predict occurrence based on specific habitat features. Our landscape-level analysis determined that the probability of occurrence of bobwhites in an area was related positively to increasing patch diversity, but negatively to the homogeneity of patch types. At the class-level, bobwhite occurrence was positively influenced by increasing amounts of early successional habitat and edge complexity associated with two types of mature pine stands (unburned and RCW treatment). Negative bobwhite abundance was influenced by increasing amounts of 16-25 year old thinned pine plantations, and the amount of variation in patch size of unburned mature pine stands

Shielding the Public Interest: What Canada Can Learn from the United States in the Wake of \u3cem\u3eNational Post and Globe & Mail\u3c/em\u3e

In Canada and the United States, freedom of the press is among the most fundamental rights of citizens; yet, the exact contours of this freedom are still hotly debated. One contested question concerns the right of a journalist to protect the identity of his or her confidential sources. In Canada, two recent Supreme Court decisions established that a journalist may have a privilege to protect the identity of his or her confidential sources. This Note argues that the case-by-case determination with a presumption in favor of disclosure that these two cases establish is insufficient to protect the strong interest in a free press, which is bolstered by the ability to use confidential sources. Rather, Canada should legislatively enact a shield law based on those of many U.S. states in which the privilege is extended broadly and is nearly absolute, with only limited circumstances in which the state can compel disclosure

Valuing Access to U.S. Public Lands: A Unique Pricing Experiment

We report the findings of a unique nation-wide experiment to price access to U.S. public lands. In 2004, the U.S. Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act mandated the creation of a new annual pass to cover all federal recreation sites that charge an entrance or access fee. Our task was to assist federal policymakers in determining an appropriate price for this new pass. Toward that end, we administered a national telephone survey to over 3,700 households and used contingent valuation to estimate households’ willingness to pay (WTP) for the new pass at different prices. Our innovative experimental design allows us to estimate three distinct components of hypothetical bias in order to calibrate our WTP estimates against actual purchasing decisions. In a sample of the general U.S. population – most of whom have little experience with similar federal passes – respondents tend to greatly exaggerate their WTP for the pass when contrasted with previous pass sales. A sample of recent pass purchasers, however, exhibits little bias, confirming other recent research showing that market experience can mitigate hypothetical bias. Calibrated for bias, our results indicate that the $80 pass price ultimately adopted by policymakers implies an increase of nearly 2.5$65, but a 4.5% loss in potential revenue absent any such pass.

Valuing Access to our Public Lands: A Unique Public Good Pricing Experiment

We report the findings of a unique nation-wide experiment to price access to our public lands. In 2004, the U.S. Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act mandated the creation of a new annual pass to cover all federal recreation sites that charge an entrance or access fee. Our task was to assist federal policymakers in determining an appropriate price for this new pass. Toward that end, we administered a contingent valuation phone survey to over 3700 households to estimate households willingness to pay (WTP) for the new pass at a variety of different prices. Our innovative experimental design allows us to estimate the degree of hypothetical bias in the sample and calibrate our WTP estimates to reflect actual purchasing decisions. In a sample of the general U.S. population most of whom have little experience with similar federal passes respondents tend to greatly exaggerate their WTP for the pass when contrasted with previous pass sales. A sample of recent pass purchasers, however, exhibits little bias. This confirms recent research showing that market experience can be an effective means to mitigate hypothetical bias.Land Economics/Use,

Methods And Sources For Underpinning Airport Ground Movement Decision Support Systems

The airport Ground Movement problem is concerned with the allo- cation of routes to aircraft for their travel along taxiways between the runway and the stands. It is important to find high quality solutions to this problem because it has a strong influence on the capacity of an airport and upon the environmental impact. The problem is particularly challenging. It has multiple objectives (such as minimising taxi time and fuel consumption). It also has considerable uncertainty, which arises from the complex operations of an airport. It is an active and topical area of research. A barrier to scientific research in this area is the lack of publicly available realistic data and benchmark problems. The reason for this is often concerned with commercial sensitivities. We have worked with airports and service providers to address this issue, by exploring several sources of freely-available data and developing algorithms for cleaning and processing the data into a more suitable form. The result is a system to generate datasets that are realistic, and that facilitate research with the potential to improve on real-world problems, without the confidentiality and commercial licensing issues usually associated with real airport data. Case studies with several international airports demonstrate the usefulness of the datasets. The algorithms have been implemented within three tools and made freely-available for researchers. A benchmark Ground Movement problem has also been made available, with results for an existing Ground Movement algorithm. It is intended that these contributions will underpin the advance of research in this difficult application area