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This paper focuses on the contradictory nature and sometimes unintended consequences of workers' efforts to defend particular communities against the ravages of capital restructuring. In the past decade, pattern collective bargaining in the highly unionized British Columbia pulp and paper industry has faced enormous strains due to intense industry restructuring. Our analysis focuses on the repercussions of actions taken by union locals in two British Columbia towns-Port Alice and Port Alberni-to try to secure the survival of their pulp and paper mills and, even in the case of Port Alice, the continued existence of the community. Our analysis resonates with recent debates surrounding worker agency as well as writing in the 1980s which addressed the often contradictory and problematic nature of workers' struggles to 'defend place'; writing largely neglected in more recent work in labour geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the impact of performing in `Marks on Paper' on 22 learner/actors from British Columbia, Canada between 1989-1992. Effect of the play on student's literacy; Background on the play; Literacy in British Columbia and Canada; Strategies for addressing illiteracy; Implications of the play on literacy.

An unprecedented heat wave occurred over the Pacific Northwest and southwest Canada on 25–30 June 2021, resulting in all-time temperature records that greatly exceeded previous record maximum temperatures. The impacts were substantial, including several hundred deaths, thousands of hospitalizations, a major wildfire in Lytton, British Columbia, Canada, and severe damage to regional vegetation. Several factors came together to produce this extreme event: a record-breaking midtropospheric ridge over British Columbia in the optimal location, record-breaking midtropospheric temperatures, strong subsidence in the lower atmosphere, low-level easterly flow that produced downslope warming on regional terrain and the removal of cooler marine air, an approaching low-level trough that enhanced downslope flow, the occurrence at a time of maximum insolation, and drier-than-normal soil moisture. It is shown that all-time-record temperatures have not become more frequent and that annual high temperatures only increased at the rate of baseline global warming. Although anthropogenic warming may have contributed as much as 1°C to the event, there is little evidence of further amplification from increasing greenhouse gases. Weather forecasts were excellent for this event, with highly accurate predictions of the extreme temperatures. Significance Statement: This paper describes the atmospheric evolution that produced an extreme heat wave over the Pacific Northwest during June 2021 and puts this event into historical perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Due to ongoing inequities in the social determinants of health and systemic barriers, homelessness continues to be a significant concern that disproportionately impacts racialized communities. Despite constituting a small proportion of the population, Black individuals are over-represented among people experiencing homelessness in many Canadian cities. However, although Black homelessness in Canada is a pressing issue, it has received limited attention in the academic literature. The purpose of this paper is to examine the reported prevalence of Black homelessness across Canada. Design/methodology/approach: By consulting enumerations from 61 designated communities that participated in the 2018 Nationally Coordinated Point-in-Time Count and two regional repositories – one for homeless counts supported by the government of British Columbia and another from the Rural Development Network – this paper reports on the scale and scope of Black homelessness across Canada. Findings: Significantly, these reports demonstrate that Black people are over-represented among those experiencing homelessness compared to local and national populations. These enumerations also demonstrate significant gaps in the reporting of Black homelessness and inadequate nuance in data collection methods, which limit the ability of respondents to describe their identity beyond "Black." Originality/value: This research provides an unprecedented examination of Black homelessness across Canada and concludes with recommendations to expand knowledge on this important and under-researched issue, provide suggestions for future iterations of homeless enumerations and facilitate the development of inclusive housing policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between forest stand composition in southern interior British Columbia and fluorescent pseudomonad bacteria populations was investigated using seedling bioassays. The objectives of this study were to (i) compare the relative population sizes of fluorescent pseudomonads baited from soils in pure paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.), pure Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco), and mixed stands of the two species and (ii) determine if fluorescent pseudomonads from these soils have inhibitory effects against the root pathogen Armillaria ostoyae (Romagn.) Herink in vitro. Soil from birch stands supported four times more pseudomonads on seedling baits than soil from Douglas-fir stands, with the mixed stands intermediate. Soil from young stands yielded twice as many rhizosphere pseudomonads as soil from mature stands. Pseudomonad population size was positively correlated with percent cover and density of birch, and negatively correlated with basal area of Douglas-fir, percent cover of Douglas-fir, and carbon/nitrogen ratio of the soil. Greater than 50% of the fluorescent isolates reduced radial growth of A. ostoyae by more than 20% and greater than 90% reduced biomass of the fungus in dual culture tests. Cell-free bacterial culture filtrates added to the growth medium also reduced growth of A. ostoyae. This study provides evidence that paper birch provides a more favorable environment for fluorescent pseudomonads than Douglas-fir and suggests a mechanism by which paper birch can positively influence the susceptibility of managed forest stands to Armillaria root disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In light of North America's persisting drug toxicity crisis, alternative drug policy approaches such as decriminalization, legalization, regulation, and safer supply have increasingly come to the forefront of drug policy discourse. The views of people who use drugs toward drug policy and drug law reform in the Canadian context are essential, yet largely missing from the conversation. The aim of this study was to capture the opinions, ideas, and attitudes of people who use drugs toward Canadian drug laws and potential future alternatives. Methods: This paper was developed as part of the Canadian Drug Laws Project, a cross-jurisdictional qualitative study conducted in British Columbia, Canada between July and September 2020. The qualitative data are from 24 semi-structured interviews with a diverse sample of people who use illegal drugs. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed thematically by the research team. Results: Two main themes and corresponding sub-themes are presented: (1) The experience of stigma as a consequence of criminalization; (2) The perceived benefits of drug law reform. Participants spoke in-depth about their experiences living within a criminalized drug policy context and offered suggestions for new pathways forward. Their perspectives illuminate how Canada's drug laws may shape public attitudes toward people who use drugs and the consequent manifestations of structural, social, and self-stigma experienced by people who use drugs. Conclusion: Participants openly and profoundly believed that current drug laws produced and propagated the public attitudes and structural inequities experienced by people who use drugs in Canada. This matters, not only because our findings highlight the fact that people who use drugs experience stigma in tangible and clearly impactful ways, but it also suggests that the criminlilization of drugs shapes the experience of structural, social, and self stigma. Finally, participants believed that efforts to destigmatize people who use drugs would be ineffectual without the enactment of more robust forms of drug law reform such as the decriminalization of illegal drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Rural Surgical Obstetrical Networks (RSON) project was developed in response to the persistent attrition of rural maternity services across Canada over the past two decades. While other research has demonstrated the adverse health and psychosocial consequences of losing local maternity services, this paper explores the impact of a program designed to increase the sustainability of rural services themselves, through the funding of four "pillars": increased scope and volume, clinical coaching, continuous quality improvement (CQI) and remote presence technology. Methods: We conducted in-depth, qualitative research interviews with rural health care providers and administrators in eight rural communities across British Columbia to understand the impact of the RSON program on maternity services. Researchers used thematic analysis to generate common themes across the dataset and interpret findings. Findings: Participants articulated six themes regarding the sustainability of maternity care as actualized through the RSON project: safety and quality through quality improvement opportunities, improved access to care through increased surgical volume and OR backup, optimized team function through innovative models of care, improved infrastructure, local innovation surrounding workforce shortages, and locally tailored funding models. Conclusion: Rural maternity sites benefited from the funding offered through the RSON pillars, as demonstrated by larger volumes of local deliveries, nearly unanimous positive accounts of the interventions by health care providers, and evidence of staffing stability during the study time frame. As such, the interventions provided through the Rural Surgical Obstetrical Networks project as well as study findings on the common themes of sustainable maternity care should be considered when planning core rural health services funding schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the growing body of work on precarious labor, immigration, and social gerontology by examining the racialization of precarious employment across the life course. In particular, the authors examine the impact of precarious employment and discrimination among racialized older immigrants in Canada. Racialized older immigrants are more likely to be disadvantaged by the effects of lifelong intersections of economic and social discrimination rooted in racialization, gender, ageism, and socio-economic status. Drawing from a narrative-photovoice project that focused on the life stories of older immigrants living in Quebec and British Columbia, this paper presents the in-depth stories and photographs of four participants to highlight how intersections of race, gender, age, immigration status, and ability shape and structure experiences of aging, labor market participation and caregiving relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The federal Environmental Effects Monitoring (EEM) program, a requirement of the Fisheries Act Pulp and Paper Effluent Regulations, requires sensory evaluation at Canadian pulp and paper mills where there have been historical complaints of fish tainting or reduced fishing efforts and there have been historical complaints of fish tainting or reduced fishing efforts and there is no potential health hazard. Sensory evaluation tests were conducted at three mills in British Columbia. Each test component yielded considerable variability. Nevertheless, there were similarities in the results as defined by difference test methods, while the results of preference and acceptance test were less clear. Tainting, or taste impairment, occurred at one of three mills. Significant tainting of two fish species occurred within three hours and at exposure concentrations less than 0.08% (v/v) unbleached kraft effluent. Adult and juvenile fish appear to be attracted to and reside in effluent plumes immediately downstream of the outfall at some mills. Sensory evaluation may be the most sensitive monitoring tool available to assess and integrate effluent exposure with the usability of valuable sports, recreation, commercial and native fisheries resources. A proposal to focus EEM cycle 2 programs to evaluate the use of these fisheries resources is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the guidelines for writing papers in Vancouver, British Columbia. Instructions to authors; Importance of checklists to statisticians; Suitability of the paper for publication.

Groundwater sustainability is challenged by the difference between legal and scientific understanding of groundwater, as well as the lack of focused attention to regulatory design in the literature on groundwater institutions, governance and management. The purpose of this paper is to use the scientific characteristics of groundwater to direct the necessary elements of regulatory design for this unique element. Developing interdisciplinary language that could be applied in any jurisdiction or region, the article describes seven groundwater characteristics as processes, functions, qualities, physical sustainability, scale, information and data, and physical state. Using these characteristics of groundwater embeds the scientific understanding of groundwater into regulatory design and enables the expression of new values such as Indigenous rights to water. Applying these scientific characteristics to a case study of new groundwater regulation in a subnational jurisdiction in the Global North—British Columbia (BC), Canada—highlights the failure of regulatory design even in a well-resourced jurisdiction where environmental regulation is the norm. Groundwater in BC is extremely heterogeneous in process and function, with low observation density and undefined sustainability goals where regulations are applied uniformly. Looking forward, three recommendations can be drawn using the scientific characteristics of groundwater to improve regulatory design in BC: defining sustainability goals and ecological thresholds; regionalizing and prioritizing; and long-term planning. This science-forward and interdisciplinary approach has implications for states with customary water entitlements and multiple legal orders. It also provides practitioners with an interdisciplinary language that can be useful for assessing current and future regulatory design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Longwave radiation (LR) is one of the energy balance components responsible for warming and cooling water during hot summers. Both downward incoming LR, emitted by the atmosphere, and outgoing LR emitted by the land surface are not widely measured. The influence of clouds on the LR heat budget makes it even harder to establish reliable formulations for all-sky conditions. This paper uses air temperature and cloud cover from the ERA5 reanalysis database to compare 20 models for the downward longwave irradiance (DLI) at Earth's surface and compare them with ERA5's DLI product. Our work uses long-time continuous DLI measured data at three stations over Canada, and ERA5 reanalysis, a reliable source for data-scarce regions, such as central British Columbia (Canada). The results show the feasibility of the local calibration of different formulations using ERA5 reanalysis data for all-sky conditions with RMSE metrics ranging from 37.1 to 267.3 W m−2, which is comparable with ERA5 reanalysis data and can easily be applied at broader scales by implementing it into hydrological models. Moreover, it is shown that ERA5 gridded data for DLI shows the best results with RMSE = 31.7 W m−2. This higher performance suggests using ERA5 data directly as input data for hydrological and ecological models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada's Trans Mountain Expansion Pipeline project is one of the country's most controversial in recent history. At the heart of the controversy lie questions about how to conduct impact assessments (IAs) of oil spills in marine and coastal ecosystems. This paper offers an analysis of two such IAs: one carried out by Canada through its National Energy Board and the other by Tsleil-Waututh Nation, whose unceded ancestral territory encompasses the last twenty-eight kilometers of the project's terminus in the Burrard Inlet, British Columbia. The comparison is informed by a science and technology studies approach to coproduction, displaying the close relationship between IA law and applied scientific practice on both sides of the dispute. By attending to differing perspectives on concepts central to IA such as significance and mitigation, this case study illustrates how coproduction supports legal pluralism's attention to diverse forms of world making inherent in IA. We close by reflecting on how such attention is relevant to Canada's ongoing commitments, including those under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents abstracts of papers to be presented at the 36th Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research to be held October 16-20, 1996 in Vancouver, British Columbia. A paper presented recently at a meeting of the American Lung Association reported that women who quit smoking and remained "smoke free" regained significant breathing capacity, supporting the clinical observations that some tobacco-related damage to lung tissue is reversible. There is growing body of literature identifying racism as a stressor eliciting acute changes in cardiovascular functioning in the laboratory.

As the present Covid – 19 pandemic moves through Indigenous communities in Canada, it has been argued that continued mineral extraction or pipeline construction will potentially exacerbate the virus' spread among Indigenous people residing near work camps or construction areas. Listing these operations as essential puts an onus on local Indigenous people to take part in consultation with extractive industries. British Columbia is one province that listed extractive operations as essential during the pandemic. It also recently enacted consultation protocols meant to guide concerned Indigenous communities and extractive industries on proper consultation procedure to limit Covid - 19's spread while ensuring these projects continue. Nonetheless, the paper argues that British Columbia's consultative guidelines adhere to a necropolitical dynamic through which Indigenous people are required to take part in government policy meant to limit their own independence. The Crown holds license to decide when Indigenous communities are given a reprieve from taking part in consultation and when they are obligated to participate once again. This is done without "consulting" with Indigenous peoples themselves and how they view a process that limits their logistical and regulatory strength. This paper argues that Self Determined independence is being diminished through multilayered repression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents the abstracts of scientific paper presented at the 30th Annual Meeting of the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Food insecurity is widely documented among people living with HIV (PLWH) worldwide, and it presents significant challenges across the spectrum of HIV care and support. In North America, the prevalence of food insecurity among PLWH exceeds 50%. In the province of British Columbia (BC), it exceeds 65%. It comes as no surprise that food has become an essential tool in supporting and engaging with PLWH. Over the past decade, however, a shift has taken place, and food has become an incentive to boost uptake and outcomes of prevention, testing, treatment, and support. To explore this practice, we drew on a qualitative case study of incentives in the care and support of PLWH. This paper presents the findings of a targeted analysis of interviews (N = 25) that discuss food incentives and explores two main themes that shed light on this practice: (1) Using food to engage versus to incentivize and (2) Food is more beneficial and more ethical. Providers perceived food more positively than other incentives, despite the goal remaining somewhat the same. Incentives, such as cash or gift cards, were considered ethically problematic and less helpful (and potentially harmful), whereas food addressed a basic need and felt more ethical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information related to several abstracts of papers presented at the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research which was held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia on October 1980. Members of the Program Committee were Walton T. Roth who was the chairman, Michael G. H. Coles, Michael E. Dawson, Connie C. Duncan-Johnson, Judith M. Ford, and Theodore P. Zahn. As in recent years, the majority of the research reports were given and discussed informally.

Background: Providing access to pediatric healthcare services in British Columbia, Canada, presents unique challenges given low population densities spread across large geographic distances combined with a lack of availability of specialist providers in remote areas, leading to quality of care shortcomings and inequalities in care delivery. The study objective was to develop a framework that provides a common language and methodology for defining and planning child and youth healthcare services across the province.Methods: The framework was developed in two phases. In Phase 1, a literature and jurisdictional review was completed using the following inclusion criteria: (i) description of a framework focusing on organizing service delivery systems (ii) that supports health service planning, (iii) includes specialty or subspecialty services and (iv) has been published since 2008. In Phase 2, a series of meetings with key provincial stakeholders were held to receive feedback on the developed Tiers of Service framework versions that were based on the literature and jurisdictional review and adjusted to the British Columbian health care context. The final version was endorsed by the Child Health BC Steering Committee.Results: Ten medical articles and thirteen jurisdictional papers met the established selection criteria and were included in this study. Most frameworks were developed by the Australian national or state jurisdictions and published in jurisdictional papers (n = 8). Frameworks identified in the medical literature were mainly developed in Canada (n = 3) and the US (n = 3) and focused on maternity, neonatal, critical care and oncology services. Based on feedback received from the expert group, the framework was expanded to include community-based services, prevention and health determinants. The final version of the Tiers of Service framework describes the specific services to be delivered at each tier, which are categorized as Tier 1 (community services) through Tier 6 (sub-specialized services). Two consecutive steps were identified to effectively use the framework for operational and system planning: (i) development of a 'module' outlining the responsibilities and requirements to be delivered at each tier; and (ii) assessment of services provided at the health care facility against those described in the module, alignment to a specific tier, identification of gaps at the local, regional and provincial level, and implementation of quality improvement initiatives to effectively address the gaps.Conclusions: The benefits of the Tiers of Service framework and accompanying modules for health service planning are being increasingly recognized. Planning and coordinating pediatric health services across the province will help to optimize flow and improve access to high-quality services for children living in British Columbia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the consideration of climate change in environmental assessment (EA) in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector, British Columbia, Canada. Based on an analysis of recent EA applications, results show that climate change is considered, to some extent, in all phases of EA for most LNG projects. However, stakeholders indicate a dissatisfaction with practice – often based on expectations about EA that exceed what it can deliver as a project-based tool, and sometimes based on an incomplete understanding of existing climate change legislation and targets. Results also indicate inconsistent application of existing climate change requirements across project EAs. Notwithstanding proponents often addressing climate change in their EA applications, climate change tends to receive little attention in project decision and approval conditions. The paper concludes with recommendations for better practice climate change consideration in EA that is commensurate with the scope and scale of project-level issues, complemented by more strategic EA and economic instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of childcare to national economies in general and women's economic participation in particular, spurring renewed interest in childcare policy in many countries that have implemented lockdowns. This paper adopts a circle of care framework to analyzes how COVID‐19 has affected paid childcare, unpaid childcare and other paid work, and the relationship between these sectors. Analysis is grounded in the lived experiences of parents and childcare educators, documented through 16 semi‐structured interviews during the initial lockdown (March–June 2020) in British Columbia, Canada. Experiences from educators suggest their safety was not prioritized, and that their contributions were undervalued and went unrecognized. Mothers, who provided the majority of unpaid care, not only lost income due to care demands, but struggled to access necessities, with some reporting increased personal insecurity. Those attempting to work from home also experienced feelings of guilt and distress as they tried to manage the triple burden. Similarities of experiences across the circle of care suggest the COVID‐19 childcare policy response in BC Canada downloaded care responsibilities on to women without corresponding recognition or support, causing women to absorb the costs of care work, with potential long‐term negative effects on women's careers and well‐being, as well as on the resilience of the circle of care. Pandemic recovery and preparedness policies that aim to promote gender equality must consider all sectors of the circle of care and the relationships between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the preliminary results of a one and a half-year ethnographic study conducted in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The research focused on participants' experiences of their bodies in the context of yoga as a health practice—specifically how they conceptualised their musculoskeletal bodies in this practice through ideas of systems, fragments, and materiality. It argues that participants' larger narratives about health and healthy bodies inform how yoga as a health practice is embedded in discourses of body work where yoga, health, and particular notions of bodily-ness become a project for the transformation of the self into a particular idea of what a body is or should be. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The concept of biographical disruption has now enjoyed nearly 40 years of use in medical sociology. This paper argues that taking an embodied approach to biographical disruption helps to explain the concept's enduring efficacy. Drawing on the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and contemporary theories of embodiment inspired by his phenomenology, this paper advances that biographical disruption involves, in the first instance, a disruption to the ability to enact an embodied orientation towards the world. Biographical disruption does not, from this perspective, result from illness as such, but from the ways that illness impinges on one's physical ability to engage with daily life. This paper examines the experiences of solid organ transplant recipients for the purpose of shedding light on the conditions under which biographical disruption arises in experience. The analysis includes interviews with 36 post-operative solid organ transplant recipients (heart, liver, lung, and kidney) living in British Columbia or Ontario, Canada. These participants exhibit a wide range of illness experiences, some of which manifest as biographical disruption and others that do not. Tracing the contours of these experiences, this paper argues that the efficacy of biographical disruption for describing the illness experience depends not only on the illness experience but also, fundamentally, on the content of embodiment prior to the onset of that experience. Highlights • The embodiment perspective improves the efficacy of biographical disruption. • The embodied context of an experience structures the illness experience. • Organ transplant recipients present variable experiences of biographical disruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada has committed to establishing a well-connected system of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that protect at least 10% of coastal and marine areas by 2020. To advance that goal in the Pacific region, the Government of Canada, Government of British Columbia (BC), and 16 member First Nations are collaborating on marine planning in the Northern Shelf Bioregion (NSB). A set of goals, objectives, principles, and design guidelines informed the development of conservation priorities, which are the ecological and cultural features to be prioritized for protection within the MPA network, and design strategies, which describe how to spatially incorporate ecological conservation priorities into the network. This paper focuses exclusively on Goal 1 of the Canada - BC MPA Network Strategy (2014), which specifies the protection and maintenance of marine biodiversity, ecological representation and special natural features. We developed ecological design strategies for the MPA network in the NSB. These include spatial ecological conservation targets specifying how much of each ecological conservation priority (or feature) an MPA network aims to protect, and approaches for determining the size, shape, and protection levels of MPAs, as well as the connectivity, representation, and replication of ecological conservation priorities. Specifically we: (1) set the context for developing ecological design strategies for the MPA network in the NSB by reviewing the components of MPA network planning processes in BC, best practices from these and other planning processes, and guidance from the scientific literature; (2) developed a method for setting coarse-filter and finefilter ecological conservation targets and a flow diagram to determine which ecological conservation priority features and associated ecological conservation targets are appropriate for inclusion in site-selection analyses in the next phase of planning; (3) provided recommendations on design strategies for size, spacing, and replication by adapting best practices and guidance from the literature to the NSB; and (4) developed an iterative approach for adjusting ecological conservation targets in site-selection analyses based on protection levels that are linked to MPA effectiveness research. Together with the conservation priorities, the design strategies will inform site selection analyses conducted during the design scenarios phase of MPA network planning to identify priority areas for conservation and options for possible MPA network configurations in the NSB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With an increasingly political environment developing in western, industrialized resource sectors, the purpose of this paper is to explore Indigenous governments' ability to assert sovereignty over their territory as it pertains to resource development. Utilizing a relational self-determination framework, we present a case study of the Stk'emlupsemc te Secwépemc Nation and their role in governance over mineral development in their unceded traditional territory located in the interior of British Columbia, Canada. This article adds to the growing case examples that suggest that First Nations governments in Canada are exerting their selfdetermination strategically, transitioning the role of negotiated agreements from an Impact-Benefit transaction to gain greater participation in resource extraction decision-making. Utilizing tools such as cultural heritage studies, legal action, and developing community-based processes of consent, First Nations governments are gaining more negotiating leverage and influence over decision-making processes for resource development projects. These insights are particularly relevant for Indigenous communities that are considering their options regarding resource development as a path to autonomy and self-governance over their territory, resources, and economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A surgical readiness assessment is a major step in the medical journey of trans people seeking gender-affirming surgery. Much of the peer-reviewed literature surrounding surgical readiness assessments emphasizes the perspectives of academics and clinicians, leaving the voices of trans and gender diverse patients largely unheard. Aims: This paper foregrounds patient experiences with surgery readiness assessments to discuss the tensions, challenges and opportunities they generate. Methods: We conducted a thematic analysis of 35 in-depth interviews with trans people who accessed or were seeking to access gender-affirming surgery in British Columbia. Results: We developed three main themes to capture participants' narratives of their surgical assessment experiences. The first, assessments as gatekeeping, explores the stories of people who described their assessments as outdated and even discriminatory processes. The second, assessments as a barrier to care, discusses the informational missteps, bureaucratic regulations, economic issues, and geographic concerns that made assessments difficult to access. The third, assessments as useful, includes positive stories about assessments that often involved feeling supported by an assessor and feeling prepared for the next steps. Discussion: These narratives demonstrate how much variation exists among people's experiences of readiness assessments for gender-affirming surgery. No matter how their actual assessment turned out, many participants approached their appointments with a great deal of anxiety and trepidation. We attributed this stress was to challenges ranging from lengthy wait times, arbitrary medical gatekeeping, a lack of access to knowledgeable and supportive providers, unclear or changing administrative processes, and insufficient communication. To address these challenges, it is crucial for the medical system to create more accessible pathways with centralized, up-to-date information for people trying to access assessments. Patients are best served by multi-disciplinary gender-affirming teams that provide individualized care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the various tools and data sources in British Columbia (Canada) that can be used by environmental consultants to assess the potential of cross-contamination between shale gas formation fluids and shallow aquifers from hydraulic fracturing and related oil and gas activities. A systematic approach for evaluating the potential of cross-contamination using these data sources is applied to a specific case study at an undisclosed location in the northeastern part of the province. This approach includes defining and then evaluating the basic criteria for assessing the potential of cross-contamination. These criteria are: a leak source; a driving force such as buoyancy or head differential and a leakage pathway. This study has revealed that there is a potential of cross-contamination due to hydraulic fracturing activities and wellbore integrity issues. Wellbore integrity can be compromised by induced seismic events or by unintentional communication with offset hydraulic fractured wells. Induced seismicity is linked to the activity of hydraulic fracturing as well as to the deep disposal of wastewater. • A shale gas database in Canada is investigated for wellbore integrity. • Wellbore leakage and cross-contamination can occur with shale gas extracting wells. • Induced seismicity from hydraulic fracturing and disposal wells can damage wellbores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes the results from a comprehensive laboratory experimental research program conducted at the University of British Columbia, Canada to study the mechanical behavior of natural fine-grained soils. Constant-volume direct simple shear tests were performed on natural silt samples collected from various locations in British Columbia to investigate the monotonic and cyclic shear loading response of these materials. Influencing factors such as effective confining stress, over-consolidation ratio, initial static shear bias, soil plasticity, and soil fabric/micro-structure on the mechanical behavior of silts were systematically investigated using a series of controlled laboratory tests. The key observations arising from these examinations are presented and discussed to serve as input for the development and/or refinement of design practice approaches for seismic geotechnical design. New directions to be considered to advance the current state of understanding and knowledge on the mechanical behavior of natural fine-grained soils are identified. • Seismic response of natural fine-grained soil was experimentally investigated. • Effect of wide range of physical parameters on the soil behavior was investigated. • Behavioral patterns were explored for a number of different natural soils. • Outcomes were interpreted and translated for potential practice usage. • Findings will contribute to advancement of earthquake engineering design practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1999, BC Hydro installed optical fibers in the fluid channel of 525 kV self-contained fluid-filled submarine cables originally installed in the 1980s that connect substations in the Vancouver area of British Columbia, Canada, for the purposes of monitoring temperatures. In combination with this work, a real-time monitoring was used to collect load data and measured temperatures in an effort to optimize the ratings of the cables. The dynamic thermal circuit rating system developed by the Electric Power Research Institute was applied to the 525 kV cables as part of a project to modify the system for support of the unique characteristics of the cable system installation. Specifically, the submarine cables utilize a parallel pipe water cooling system for the shore zones. This paper describes the software modifications that were implemented to enhance the dynamic rating system to model the unique characteristics of the 525 kV cable system and discusses how recorded data collected over several seasons were used to verify and refine the cable rating model. The resulting evaluation showed good agreement of the dynamic rating system calculations with measured results and helped the utility better understand the ratings on these circuits and permitted the utility to perform simulations to evaluate various loading conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. To study the effects of several survey features on response rates in a general population health survey. Methods. In 2012 and 2013, 8000 households in British Columbia, Canada, were randomly allocated to 1 of 7 survey variants, each containing a different combination of survey features. Features compared included administration modes (paper vs online), prepaid incentive ($2 coin vs none), lottery incentive (instant vs end-of-study), questionnaire length (10minutes vs 30minutes), and sampling frame (InfoCanada vs Canada Post). Results. The overall response rate across the 7 groups was 27.9% (range = 17.1-43.4). All survey features except the sampling frame were associated with statistically significant differences in response rates. The survey mode elicited the largest effect on the odds of response (odds ratio [OR] = 2.04; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.61, 2.59), whereas the sampling frame showed the least effect (OR = 1.14; 95% CI = 0.98, 1.34).The highest response was achieved by mailing a short paper survey with a prepaid incentive. Conclusions. In a mailed general population health survey in Canada, a 40% to 50% response rate can be expected. Questionnaire administration mode, survey length, and type of incentive affect response rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seedlings of Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco were grown for six-16 months in untrenched and trenched treatments in three 90-120-yr-old mixed forests dominated by Betula papyrifera Marsh. and P. menziesii in the southern interior of British Columbia. Each forest was characterized by mesic conditions and low light intensity (PAR ≤ 200 μmol m-2 s-1) in the understorey. The objective of the study was to evaluate the influence of overstorey tree roots on (i) ectomycorrhizal fungal composition, richness and diversity, and (ii) photosynthesis and growth of understorey P. menziesii seedlings. Seventeen ectomycorrhizal morphotypes were recognized on seedlings in the untrenched treatment, and nine in the trenched treatment over the three sites. Six types occurred in both treatments, of which on average Rhizopogon vinicolor Smith type was 20 times more abundant and Thelephora type six times less abundant in the untrenched as in the trenched treatment. Of types that formed strands or rhizomorphs, eight occurred in the untrenched treatment, where they occupied on average 23% of root tips, and only four occurred in the trenched treatment over 4% of the root tips. Mean richness, diversity, and evenness of ectomycorrhizal associates per seedling were approx. twice as great in the untrenched as in the trenched treatment. Net photosynthetic rate of P. menziesii seedlings was greater in the untrenched than in the trenched treatment in July and August, but not in September 1994. Height, diameter and biomass of seedlings did not differ between treatments, but height: diameter ratio was greater in the untrenched treatment at time of harvest. The effect of trenching on seedling performance was attributed mainly to differences in ectomycorrhizal colonization patterns because trenching had no significant effect on soil nutrient concentrations (total C, total N, NH4-N, available N, exchangeable Ca, exchangeable Mg, exchangeable K) C:N ratio, soil pH or light availability. Nor was there a significant difference in soil water in August, when seedlings in untrenched plots had higher net photosynthetic rates than those in trenched plots. Results suggest that influence of overstorey trees and pattern of ectomycorrhizal formation are important to P. menziesii seedling performance in deeply shaded forest environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precarious employment is a labour practice characterized for employers by flexibility and economic efficiencies and for workers by vulnerability and uncertainty as to job duration, scheduling, benefits, and pay. It is increasingly common in Canada and can result in physical, mental, financial, and social strain for people who experience it. In libraries, it can have negative effects on individual workers, organizational health, and service quality. However, literature on precarious library work is scarce, and it is unclear how it affects the library field or how its effects compare to those described in the broader literature. The purpose of this study was to gather information about library workers' perceptions and experiences of precarious employment and to see how it played out in library settings. Thirteen library workers both with and without experiences of precarious employment in British Columbia participated in semi-structured interviews, which were synthesized into a narrative summarizing their thoughts and experiences. Results indicated that precarious work mainly benefited library organizations from scheduling and financial standpoints, while negative outcomes were more numerous, more salient, and affected both individuals and organizations. Participants also identified opportunities and challenges for future changes to precarious employment situations. Awareness of such perceptions and experiences may help to spark conversations and increase support for those experiencing negative effects from precarious work, and it can serve to reduce or eliminate factors leading to those effects. However, failure to address them can result in negative outcomes for library workers and organizations, such as stress, marginalization, burnout, turnover, leaving the field, reduced service quality, and more. Accordingly, this paper provides some of the first qualitative information on precarious employment in libraries and can be used to support broader discussions about the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Just-in-time fuel inventories reduce resilience against fuel shortages. • Subduction earthquakes can cause widespread fuel shortages. • Localized fuel shortages after earthquakes are likely in the next 50 years. • A new object-oriented network model was developed to explore resilience scenarios. • Local emergency planners helped improve simulations and build realistic solutions. Abstract An agent-based object-oriented model for the fuel distribution network in coastal British Columbia in Canada is presented. Objects representing infrastructure components with varied attributes and behaviors are described together with objects representing transportation modes on land and on water. A novel feature of the modeling approach is its capacity to represent the diverse nature of the objects in a network. Another novelty of the approach is its capacity to simulate discrete deliveries based on requests, which is a requirement in the modeling of the considered fuel distribution network. This paper presents the software architecture and applies it to assess the probability of fuel shortages following an earthquake for six storage facilities in coastal British Columbia. The results of this assessment can be used to inform emergency response plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To understand how the Take Home Naloxone (THN) program is implemented in two pilot correctional facilities in British Columbia (BC), Canada, in order to identify areas for program improvement and inform the expansion of the program to other Canadian correctional facilities The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach: Two focus groups and one interview were conducted with healthcare staff at two pilot correctional facilities. Sessions were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and divergent and convergent experiences within and between the facilities were explored in an iterative process. Key themes and lessons learned were identified and later validated by focus group participants.Findings: Key themes that emerged included: challenges and importance of the train-the-trainer program for healthcare staff conducting participant training sessions; potential for improved prison population engagement and awareness of the program; tailoring program resources to the unique needs of an incarcerated population; challenges connecting participants to community harm reduction resources following release; and clarifying and enhancing the role of correctional officers to support the program.Research Limitations/implications: The correctional setting presents unique challenges and opportunities for the THN program that must be considered for program effectiveness.Originality/value: This evaluation was conducted to inform program expansion amidst a historic opioid overdose epidemic in BC, and adds to the limited yet growing body of literature on the implementation and evaluation of this program in correctional settings globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Canadian government recently sanctioned a supervised consumption site (SCS) that is currently in Vancouver, British Columbia. The government is open to sanctioning more sites across the country; however, by law the federal health minister must consider whether such facilities are supported by local governments representing the cities where the sites are proposed to be located. Until 2016, the government of Canada's largest city, Toronto, did not support SCSs. Drawing on Lenton cannabis policy research, this study analyses government documents, policy papers, scientific reports, and newspaper articles and secondary literature to identify some of the significant barriers that minimised the likelihood that Toronto's council would support SCSs between 2003 and 2016. The report compares conditions in Toronto to those of Vancouver where SCSs have enjoyed council support since 2001. This study find that three conditions play an important role in explaining why SCSs were supported in Vancouver 14 years before they were endorsed in Toronto: (1) Strong public support; (2) Favourable electoral conditions; and (3) Law enforcement support. Changes in Toronto surrounding these conditions help explain why its council endorsed SCSs in 2016. This study concludes that Lenton's research holds utility as a socio-legal theory of municipal drug policy change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Substantial historical research indicates that during World War II Canadian schools were considered optimal sites for fostering nationalistic sentiments in teachers and learners. Policymakers directed educators and students to collect scrap metals, purchase war savings certificates, salute the flag, and undertake marching drills. These wide-reaching directives give the impression that schools were considerably reshaped during the war. Nevertheless, since much of the literature has used official information sources, such as curriculum documents and government missives, it is unclear to what extent teachers implemented such directives. No Canadian scholarship has tapped the memories of former teachers to determine their compliance in promoting nationalistic sentiments and activities. Nor have existing histories categorised activities by geographic area (such as rural versus urban; coastal versus inland) or school level (elementary versus secondary). Thus, the “unity of purpose and experience” implied by some of the literature may be overemphasised. This paper challenges the suggestion that throughout Canada all children and teachers in schools fervently engaged in nationalistic behaviour during World War II. To supplement government perspectives found in newspapers, magazines, curricular documents, and other Department of Education sources, I interviewed two dozen teachers who taught in 40 schools throughout British Columbia between 1939 and 1945. Despite policymakers’ intentions, there were many factors influencing schools’ abilities to support the war effort. These included a community’s geographic proximity or access to centres of larger war-related activity, such as munitions factories or collection stations; the values and social circumstances of families and communities; and teachers’ individual preferences, often reflecting their career stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysing sexual harassment law in British Columbia, this paper argues that in highly sexualised work environments, in which practices including sexual 'jokes' or innuendo may be common, law embodies and (re)creates the gendered subtext of the workplace. When a complaint of sexual harassment from a sexualised workplace is raised in a legal forum, a complainant has an obligation to clearly object to the sexual remarks, 'jokes,' banter, etc.-which may be the 'norm'-to show the conduct in question was unwelcome. At the same time, however, a workplace may be structured, in part by law, in a way that restricts employee resistance to uncomfortable sexual experiences. This is the case, I argue, for women working in full-service restaurants when it comes to sexual interactions with customers. This paper explores how restaurant work, in the Canadian context with a focus on the province of British Columbia, is organised in a manner that makes women vulnerable to enduring sexually harassing practices as a routine part of their jobs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the biography of a wagon road located in the First Nations (indigenous) territory of the Stl'atl'imx of the lower Lillooet River Valley in southern British Columbia, Canada. While the road is best known as a route to the Fraser Canyon during the Fraser River Gold Rush of 1858, here I investigate its multiple lives. Adopting themes from symmetrical archaeology, I show that the wagon road was not a passive outcome of colonial action but instead shifted in form and meaning as it interacted with the human and non-human world. I draw on archival documents from the Royal Engineers and oral accounts from the Stl'atl'imx of the lower Lillooet River Valley to illustrate how people, places and things were woven into the landscape through bodily engagement with the road. This paper thus highlights the complexity of the colonial encounter and the importance of movement and the materiality of movement (roads) in understanding the diversity of interaction in tensioned landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Requisition storage and retrieval are an integral part of the outpatient laboratory testing process. It is frequently necessary to review an original requisition to confirm the ordering physician, patient demographics, diagnostic information, and requested tests. Manual retrieval of a paper requisition is time-consuming and tedious. Although commercial solutions exist for the scanning and archiving of barcoded paper requisitions, the tools to accomplish this are freely available from the open source software community. We present a simple dedicated piece of software, Reqscan, for scanning patient laboratory requisitions, finding all barcode information, and saving the requisition as a portable document format named according the barcode(s) found. This Python application offers a simple solution to patient requisition digitization. Reqscan has been successfully tested and implemented into routine practice for storage and retrieval of outpatient requisitions at St. Paul's Hospital, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent, renewed interest in the study of ancient indigenous NWC architecture has done much to augment our understanding of social, political, and economic relations in this region in the past. These studies have, by an d large, emphasized architectural form over the practice or process of construction. Yet in other regions of the world, scholars are increasingly examining construction techniques in order comprehend the kinds of decisions that individuals and groups made with respect to building. This paper examines architectural remains from a small Middle Period (ca. 3500-1500 BP) village site in Prince Rupert Harbour, British Columbia, with the explicit intent of shedding light on the kinds of structures that the Tsimshian built in the past and, in particular, the way in which small households constructed domestic dwellings. Results suggest that, in this case, walls were not mortised as they had been in the recent past. Rather, walls appear to have been constructed using a tying and sewing technique. I suggest that this household might have used tying and sewing for a variety of reasons that include household and community size, technology, mobility, and skill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A widespread rule of sex work is that payment occurs before service provision. Drawing on a subset of data collected as part of an ethnographic study conducted in metro Vancouver, Canada, this paper explores the temporal and gendered connections between payment and financial violence in a semi-criminalised indoor sex industry. A detailed examination of the timing of payment with 51 independent indoor sex workers reveals the gendered nature of the violence and its direct connection to anti-violence strategies indoor sex workers employ. We found that women (including transgender women) (n= 26) and men (n= 25) use payment schedules to minimise potential violence, but in divergent ways. Sex workers adhere to, negotiate and reject the golden rule of payment in advance based on different experiences of gendered violence. Through a gendered relational analysis, we show the contextual relationship between men and women as they negotiate payment schedules in their sex work interactions. These findings offer insight into the significance that the timing of payment has in sex workers’ anti-violence practices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Highway geometric design in mountainous areas has been a typical challenge. The combination of short horizontal curves and restricted right-of-way is a common ground for contemplating design exception in British Columbia, Canada. In practice, collision modification factors (CMFs) are advocated as quantitative measures of changes in road features on safety. However, in many situations, there are no CMFs in the literature to predict the safety impact of changing particular road features. An important example of these road features is sight distance restriction on horizontal curves. A mechanism for risk measurement has been proposed in earlier work to assist designers in comparing the safety impact of different deviations from sight distance requirements. This paper attempts to answer the questions as to whether it is possible to reduce overall risk and achieve consistency in such reduction without demanding wider right-of-way. This problem was formulated in a multi-objective optimization framework. Following this methodology, it was possible to achieve an average reduction in risk of 25% on the nine critical cross-sections. This reduction in risk was achieved without demanding wider right-of-way and without creating measurable increase in expected collision frequency due to independent re-dimensioning of different geometric elements. On theoretical grounds, this paper represents another step into the direction of developing fully probabilistic geometric design standards. On practical grounds, this paper provides an important decision mechanism that enables the efficient use of available right-of-way for new highway construction. Case studies in this paper have been applied on a major highway development in British Columba, Canada. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]