Deo, Balbinder

Turfgrass is an important component of urban and rural lawns and landscapes. However, broadleaf weeds such as dandelions (Taraxacum officinale Weber ex. F.H. Wigg) and white clovers (Trifolium repens L.) pose major challenges to the health and aesthetics of turfgrass fields. Traditional chemical weed control methods, such as 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) herbicides, are commonly used, but their safety and environmental impacts are contentious. Seeking environmentally friendly alternatives, this research investigated the effectiveness of nitrogen and iron compounds as nutrient management methods for weed control. In a two-phase experiment; the first was conducted on a mix of cool season turfgrasses (included perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) and creeping red fescue (Festuca rubra L.)) grown in plastic containers under controlled conditions in the greenhouse. The treatment application included individual nitrogen (1 = urea and 2 = ammonium sulphate) and iron (3 = chelated iron and 4 = iron sulphate) compounds and their combinations (5 = urea × chelated iron, 6 = urea × iron sulphate, 7 = ammonium sulphate × chelated iron, 8 = ammonium sulphate × iron sulphate) contrasted with 9 = a conventional synthetic herbicide (Killex) and a 10 = control (no application) treatment. Weekly assessments over a 12-week period revealed that the combination of ammonium sulphate × iron sulphate had overall best results for weed control and turfgrass quality indicators, and thus was the most effective in inhibiting the growth of dandelions and white clovers while improving the health of turfgrass. The second part, following the greenhouse studies, tested the efficacy of the ammonium sulphate × iron sulphate treatment versus Killex and a control (no application) treatment under natural open environmental conditions at two sites (site 1: no shade vs. site 2: partial shade) with existing broadleaf weeds. The ammonium sulphate × iron sulphate treatment combination resulted in significant reduction in weed cover (66% and 33% in sites 1 and 2, respectively) as well as yielded superior turfgrass quality (based on visual quality ratings and photosynthetic capacity recorded) as compared to both Killex and the control treatments. Overall, the results of this research demonstrate that the combination of ammonium sulphate × iron sulphate is a promising nutrient management solution capable of achieving both aesthetic goals of weed control and turfgrass quality.

Archaeological Predictive modelling is a tool that predicts the location of archaeological sites and materials in a region, based on the observed pattern in a sample data or on assumptions about human behavior. This project examines the combination of variables to produce a model with high predictability and the application of inductive predictive modelling method in locating areas of high archaeological potential in Prince George using Binary Logistic Regression. Results from the analysis have shown that terrain variables: slope, ruggedness, elevation, solar incidence and proximity to water, jointly explains the predictive model and that the model successfully predicts areas of high and low potentials in Prince George municipal. The results from the Kvamme’s gain statistic shows that the predictive model is moderately efficient. The study recommends that by incorporating more terrain variables, the model performance will be higher and probably be more efficient.

Southwest Garden Supplies is a garden centre which is undergoing growth in its sales in both of its departments: nursery and bulk garden/landscape materials. With the increasing quantity, and sales of plants, the company requires strategic analysis and recommendations to improve its nursery operations. Some factors which require improvement are: a lack of enough employees, and two, a lack of systematic processes required in the maintenance, and sale of plants. Because only family members work at the nursery, and maintain the rest of the enterprise, there are more tasks which need to be accomplished than there are hands. Southwest Garden Supplies is in the process of hiring new employees, and approximately three new employees shall commence work in the foreseeable future. As of now, tasks like fertilizing, efficient watering, weeding, and pruning are not being executed in a systematic manner. Therefore, a lot of the plants are not optimally maintained. Due to a lack of organization, and time, pricing is a complex matter of hardship. As of now, there are minimal price tags placed on plants. Only the administrator in charge of the nursery knows the prices. Therefore, if she is not around for whatever reason, the remaining staff do not know how to price the plants. During the summer, watering by hand takes a minimum of three hours per day, that too after office hours; meaning the family leaves work close to 9:00pm, only to start again at 7:00am the next morning. This watering process leaves the other tasks of plant maintenance incomplete. As discussed, the nursery division of the garden centre needs to be run optimally. The purpose of this paper is to undertake research on how the nursery can be maintained efficiently, including how plant inventory can be best managed, and how the administration staff can maintain healthy relationships with the new employees. Human resource management will be discussed due to the importance of increased employee loyalty and decreased employee attrition. Results/Recommendations shall be made as to what steps need to be taken in order to streamline the nursery maintenance processes for the staff, and make shopping at Southwest Garden Supplies more fluid, and straightforward.

Punjabi Sikhs migrating to Canada form a disproportionately large population of the migrants from South Asia. There has been limited research or current literature on the schooling experiences of the second-generation children of these migrants despite the large numbers of this group migrating to Canada. The effects of minority status within the K-12 British Columbia school system regarding school experiences of second-generation students of Punjabi Sikh descent are presented throughout this research process. The investigation focused on the research participants’ perceived school experiences and whether there were differences based on the school type’s demographic composition of responders. I categorized these school types into three: small minority population, large minority population, and large majority population. I hypothesized that schools with large majority populations would have greater perceived satisfaction with school experiences. I found that I could further analyze by subscale and total scale groupings, based on my original correlational analysis. I found differences on school experiences (SE) and home experiences (HE) subscales based on school type, school type being differentiated by schools with a minority population, a large minority population, or a large majority population of the responder demographic of second-generation students of Punjabi Sikh descent. I found that responders from small minority population schools and large minority population schools showed a statistically significant difference in responses than responders from large majority population schools.

Recent literature published by some practitioners, consultants, and researchers in the area of Business Process Management (BPM) identified that BPM is a new and emerging field of research and practice. The objective of this paper is to identify the conceptual framework of BPM, identify if connections exist with prior process improvement concepts such as Business Process Re-engineering (BPR), Total Quality Management (TQM) and Business Process Improvement (BPI), and apply BPM in a case study to determine the effectiveness of the current methodology. An extensive literature review was conducted, identifying multiple similarities between BPM and prior process improvement concepts, suggesting an evolving nature of the concept. The BPM methodology was then applied in a controlled case study, identifying a major inefficiency in the methodology. The findings of this paper are useful to researchers, educators, students, and managers to understand the evolution of BPM, and determine how it can be applied.