Aligning Practice with Vision: Leadership for Developing Character and Employability Attributes

Leadership to achieve the development of character and employability attributes depends highly on one significant principle—aligning practice with vision. The purpose of this study was to investigate the leadership necessary to design and implement an intervention process to develop character and employability attributes in secondary school students. The work habit mark was the means of assessing the degree of success to which a student demonstrated the attributes. The research questions under investigation were: (1) Is there a change in the demonstration of work habits marks after the intervention, and (2) Do any changes in the demonstration of work habits marks vary by gender or grade? A quasi-experimental one-group 3-year time series design was utilized to identify if the intervention resulted in a change in the demonstration of the attributes, and if the demonstration of the attributes varied by gender or grade. The researcher employed a combination of descriptive and inferential statistics. A maturation effect was also assessed and calculated into the data analysis. A paired two-tailed t-test of significance was used to determine if a difference existed between the mean scores of students with G work habit marks in all courses enrolled in prior to the intervention during year 2 and after the intervention during year 3 by gender and grade. A similar analysis was performed using the total number of G work habit marks before and after the intervention. The findings of this study indicate that relying on maturation alone for the development of these attributes is not enough. The majority of the results support the introduction of a formal process to teach, assess and recognize the development of character and employability attributes in secondary schools. Of particular interest was the finding that in every grade level of every year of the study, the percentage of females demonstrating the desired attributes was greater than males. Although some of the findings are mixed, they support the need for additional research regarding the implementation of character education at the secondary school level as well as research to address the current discrepancy between males and females

40Ar/39Ar age of the Jurassic North Mountain Basalt, southwestern Nova Scotia

Two whole-rock samples of the Jurassic North Mountain Basalt have been dated using the 40Ar/39Ar method. A single sample of fresh, medium-grained, holocrystalline basalt from the lower flow unit of this thick (i.e., 400 m) sequence gave coincident plateau and isochron correlation ages of 201 ± 2.5 Ma, in agreement with a zircon U-Pb age of 202 ± 1 Ma for this same flow unit. This 40Ar/39Ar age contrasts with earlier conventional K-Ar whole-rock ages of ca. 192 Ma for the North Mountain Basalt, which are similar to other K-Ar and Ar/Ar ages for correlative basalts of eastern North America. The second dated sample is a zeolite-bearing basalt from the middle flow unit of the North Mountain Basalt. This sample gave a discordant age spectrum with excess argon, but the isochron correlation age of 206 Ma, albeit with a large error (i.e., 56 Ma), is similar to that for the fresh sample. The data indicate that reliable whole-rock 40Ar/39Ar ages for the basalts are attainable, but that fresh samples must be used. In light of this, it is suggested that the younger 192 Ma ages may reflect a widespread thermal event related to zeolite formation. RÉSUMÉ Deux échantillons de roche totale de basalte jurassique du mont North ont été datés au moyen de la méthode 40Ar/39Ar. Un échantillon unitaire de basalte holocristallin à grain moyen frais de l'unité d'écoulement inférieure de cette séquence épaisse (c.-à-d. 400 m) a fourni des âges concordants par corrélation tabulaire et isochrone de 201 ± 2,5 Ma, ce qui correspond à la datation au U-Pb à partir de zircon situant la même unité d'écoulement à 202 ± 1 Ma. Cette datation 40Ar/39Ar fait contraste avec les datations de la roche totale conventionnelles antérieures au K-Ar situant à environ 192 Ma le basalte du mont North, soit des âges semblables à d'autres datations au K-Ar et Ar/Ar de basaltes corrélatifs de l'Est de l'Amérique du Nord. Le deuxième échantillon daté est un basalte renfermant de la zéolite et provenant du milieu de l'unité d'écoulement du basalte du mont North. Cet échantillon a fourni un spectre d'âges discordant présentant un excès d'argon, mais la datation par corrélation isochrone le situant à 206 Ma, en dépit d'une erreur importante (c.-à-d. 56 Ma), fournit un âge semblable à celui de l'échantillon frais. Les données révèlent qu'il est possible d'obtenir des dates de roche totale fiables au moyen de la méthode 40Ar/39Ar, mais qu'il faut utiliser des échantillons frais. Compte tenu de ce fait, on suppose que les âges plus récents de 192 Ma pourraient correspondre à un phénomène thermique répandu apparenté à la formation de zéolite

Le point de vue des résidents sur les programmes de compétences avancées en médecine familiale

Background: Third-year enhanced skills programs, also known as family medicine (FM) PGY3 programs, have always been an area of debate. Their exponential growth does not stem from a strong body of academic evidence or public health needs assessment. This qualitative descriptive study explores the current perspectives of second-year FM residents at the University of Ottawa on extended training programs through semi-structured interviews. Results: Of the fifteen participants, eight were applying to PGY3 FM programs, six were not and one was unsure. Themes generated included: developing generalist niches within primary care, increasing confidence of FM graduates, allowing generalists to fill in healthcare gaps to meet community needs, meeting the pressures of workplace competition and employability requirements, and creating alternate paths to five-year specialties. 80% would extend their core FM training, with self-design and options of shorter time frames as preconditions. Conclusion: FM residents are interested in furthering their training, whether through extending core residency period or via enhanced skills programs. The demand for these programs will continue rising. Capitalizing on residents’ interests to catapult the profession forward and optimize the quality of healthcare should be the priority for licensing bodies and medical educators.Contexte : Les programmes de compétences avancées de troisième année, également appelés programmes R3 en médecine familiale (MF), ont toujours fait l’objet de débats. Leur croissance exponentielle ne découle pas de preuves scientifiques solides ni d’une évaluation des besoins en santé publique. Cette étude qualitative descriptive explore par le biais d’entretiens semi-structurés les points de vue des résidents de deuxième année en médecine familiale de l’Université d’Ottawa sur les programmes de compétences avancées. Résultats : Des quinze participants, huit postulaient à des programmes  de troisième année MF, six ne le faisaient pas et un était indécis. Les thèmes suivants ont été abordés : développer des créneaux généralistes au sein des soins primaires, accroître la confiance des diplômés en médecine familiale, permettre aux généralistes de combler les lacunes en matière de soins de santé afin de répondre aux besoins de la communauté, répondre aux pressions de la concurrence en milieu de travail et aux exigences en matière d’employabilité, et créer des alternatives aux programmes d’autres spécialités d’une durée de 5 ans. Quatre-vingts pour cent des participants prolongeraient leur formation de base en MF, à condition de pouvoir la concevoir sur mesure et d’avoir la possibilité de formations de plus courte durée. Conclusion : Les résidents en MF sont motivés à poursuivre leur formation, que ce soit en prolongeant la période de résidence de base ou par le biais de programmes de compétences avancées. La demande de ces programmes va continuer à augmenter. Les organismes de certification et les enseignants en médecine devraient reconnaître comme une priorité la possibilité de tirer profit de l’ambition des résidents de faire progresser la profession et d’optimiser la qualité des soins de santé

Un programme d'enseignement clinique structuré pour aider les résidents en médecine familiale à diagnostiquer et à traiter le cancer de la peau

Implication Statement Melanoma is a potentially deadly type of skin cancer that has been increasing in incidence but is curable if found in the early stages. Family physicians are in an ideal situation to examine the skin during routine visits, but studies indicate they are not well trained to detect or treat skin cancers. We piloted a structured, longitudinal, hands-on procedural curriculum to improve family medicine residents’ ability to identify and manage skin cancers. Family medicine residency programs wishing to improve the diagnosis and management of skin cancer by family physicians might consider trialing our structured curriculum and procedure clinic.Énoncé des implications de la recherche Le mélanome est un type de cancer de la peau potentiellement mortel qui est de plus en plus fréquent, mais qui est guérissable sous réserve d'une détection précoce. La visite de routine chez le médecin de famille est l’occasion idéale pour examiner la peau. Les études indiquent toutefois que les médecins de famille n'ont pas le niveau de formation nécessaire pour détecter et traiter les cancers de la peau. Nous avons piloté un programme structuré longitudinal axé sur la pratique visant à améliorer la capacité des résidents en médecine familiale à identifier et à traiter ce type de cancer. Nous invitons les responsables de programmes de résidence en médecine familiale qui souhaitent améliorer le diagnostic et la prise en charge des cancers cutanés par les médecins de famille à expérimenter notre programme structuré sur les procédures cliniques

Red clover investigations : Thesis for Master of Agriculture

Objective: To collect comprehensive information on Red Clover and so be able to define the best type for selection

The retention of differentiated function in cell culture : a study of the UDCK cell-line

The transporting properties of MDCK cells have been investigated upon epithelial monolayers grown upon permeable filter supports and mounted in Ussing chambers. When mounted without edge damage epithelial monolayers of MDCK cells (strain I) exhibited a transepithelial electrical resistance of 7.9 kO.cm2 and supported a small open-circuit potential (5.9 mV, basal-lateral surface positive) and a small short circuit current in agreement with the small magnitude of the net Na+, K+ and Cl- fluxes. Addition of adrenaline to the basal-lateral, but not the apical bathing solution stimulated a net basal-lateral to apical Cl- secretion, the magnitude of which accounted for the adrenaline stimulated short circuit current response. The Cl- secretion in MDCK cells exhibited many of the features of Cl- secretion in natural epithelia including sensitivity to the loop diuretics: furosemide, bumetamide and piretanide. In a number of secretory epithelia Cl- is accumulated across the basal-lateral cell border by a diuretic sensitive Na+K+Cl cotransport system. A comparison of the actions of the loop diuretics upon adrenaline stimulated Cl secretion and upon the cotransport system in MDCK cells provided strong but indirect evidence for a central role of the cotransport system in Cl secretion across MDCK cell monolayers. Measurement of influx and efflux across the apical and basal-lateral cell border demonstrated that the apical cell border was relatively impermeable to K. Influx across the basal-lateral border consisted of three major compenents; a ouabain sensitive , pump mediated, component; a diuretic sensitive component and a ouabain and diuretic insensitive flux component. K efflux across the basal-lateral cell border also consisted of these three components. Addition of adrenaline, ATP or A23187 to MDGK cells resulted in a transient stimulation of K+ efflux across both cell borders, although flux across the basal-lateral cell border was of greatest quantitative importance. Stimulation of K efflux was dependent upon the presence of Ca2+ in the external media and exhibited a similar pharmacology; sensitive to quinine and TEA, but insensitive to inhibition by apamin, as Ca2+-dependent K permeability?s in other, natural epithelia. Identification of an adrenaline stimulated Cl- secretory mechanism, a coupled Na + K + Cl cotransport system and a Ca2+-dependent K permeability in high resistance MDCK cells supports their use a model epithelium for the study of epithelial cell function

Beyond Ubuntu: Nnoboa and Sankofa as Decolonizing and Indigenous Evaluation Epistemic Foundations from Ghana

Background: Evaluation is an increasingly vital component of community and economic development projects in Africa. Yet questions remain about how relevant most evaluation approaches for the African evaluation context. Within the ‘Made in Africa’ (MAE) approach, ubuntu is frequently cited as an African philosophical concept with salience to MAE. There is a need to further expand and explicate other African philosophies that can serve as epistemological guideposts for African evaluation—and other decolonizing, indigenous evaluation approaches more broadly. Purpose: Drawing on Ghanaian epistemologies and frameworks, the purpose of this paper is to propose the Nnoboa system of communal collaboration in farming and industry, as well as the notion of Sankofa as a traditional philosophical concept that irrupts and challenges hegemonic Eurocentric notions of the linearity of time, to yield a Ghanaian indigenous knowledge of evaluation. Setting: Not applicable. Intervention: Not applicable. Research Design: This conceptual study draws on literature on culturally responsive evaluation (CRE), MAE, and (from beyond the field of evaluation), descriptions of Nnoboa and Sankofa to propose a conceptual synthesis applicable to decolonizing, indigenous evaluation. Data Collection and Analysis: Not applicable. Findings: We propose that Nnoboa and Sankofa represent an addition to the decolonizing and indigenous evaluation knowledge base, building on and going beyond the reliance of CRE and MAE in ubuntu. We propose this Ghanaian approach has potential applications across MAE and CRE more broadly

Attitudes towards sub-domains of professionalism in medical education: defining social accountability in the globalizing world

Background: Unmet health needs of populations around the world are a major contributor to lagging health outcomes globally. Medical professionals have a duty to address the health needs of their communities. In a globalizing world, the needs may seem limitless. Yet, most training involves immersion in one health system and its resources. How do practitioners reconcile this potentially limitless demand with their focused training and in understanding their duty to the populations they serve?Methods: A mixed-method design was used. We distributing a pre-validated survey examining all facets of professionalism to the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Ottawa. This was followed by interviewing a purposive sample of residents and faculty with different levels of interest in working with underserved populations, to examine attitudes towards social accountability.Results: Quantitative results did not replicate the factor structure of the pre-validated survey in our cohort. This and other gaps in individual responses were used to construct an interview guide. Interviews revealed differences between residents and faculty. Residents were likely to see social accountability as flowing from personal interest as opposed to a professional duty; and residents’ sense of duty can be met through good care of individual patients under their sphere of care. Faculty were more likely to discuss facets of care that they could influence at the health system level nationally and beyond. Conclusion: More usable and succinct instruments are needed to capture individual attitudes on social accountability. Our results identify how new physicians in family medicine in Ottawa, Canada wish to apply learning in global health to local needs, responding to the call to “think global, act local.

Carboniferous barite-fluorite mineralization in the Late Devonian Kinsac Pluton, southern Nova Scotia

Abundant barite ± fluorite ± quartz veins occur along the eastern margin of the Late Devonian Kinsac Pluton, a peraluminous granite that intruded metasedimentary rocks of the Meguma Group. The barite veins, striking 120° with vertical dip, occur in areas of strongly fractured granite, but the veins are not deformed and may contain lenses of comminuted granite. The veins (s 0.6 m wide) are dominated by coarse, cloudy white barite euhedra with or without a late infill of euhedral clear quartz and pink to dark purple fluorite. 40Ar/39Ar step-wise heating of a K-feldspar megacryst in granite immediately adjacent to a barite vein indicates a 354 Ma plateau age for the high-temperature gas fraction and a ca. 320 Ma age for the low-temperature gas fraction. The younger age is interpreted to record partial resetting of K-feldspar due to interaction of the mineral with vein-forming fluids. Fluid inclusions (aqueous, L-V types) hosted by vein fluorite have homogenization temperatures of 100° to 130°C. Last melting of ice indicates salinities of 24 to 28 wt. % equivalent NaCl, but low eutectic temperatures indicate that the fluids are mixed NaCI-CaCI2-FeCI2-MgCI2 brines. Although fluorite-hosted fluid inclusions from the South Mountain Batholith have similar salinities, they homogenize at temperatures of 150° to 160°C. Stable isotopic studies of vein minerals indicate 534Sb„,e = +13 ± 2%o, δl8Oquartz = +22%o and δD for fluid inclusion extracts are -123 to -165 %o. The data are interpreted to indicate that: (1) sulphur was derived from dissolution of Windsor Group evaporites rather than from sulphides in basement rocks; (2) the δ18)water of the veins was +8 to +12 %o for 100° to 150°C, which is consistent with either a basinal or metamorphic fluid; (3) the fluids interacted with organic matter to generate the low δD values. Measured 87Sr/86Sr on barite (0.7120; n=2) and fluorite (0.7086) indicate that the fluids exchanged with a radiogenic source, either the Horton Group or the Meguma Group being the most likely reservoir. Collectively the data indicate vein formation during the Early Carboniferous, when the study area was buried under ca. 2-3 km of Carboniferous strata which have subsequently been eroded. Basinal-type fluids were focused into zones of extension which opened as a result of high Pfluid, in concert with sinistral movement on NW-trending faults that crosscut the Meguma Terrane. RÉSUMÉ On trouve une abondance de filons de barytine ± fluorite ± quartz le long de la marge orientale du pluton du Dévonien superieur de Kinsac, granite hyperalumineux qui s'est introduit dans des roches métasédimentaires du groupe de Meguma. Les filons de barytine. orientés selon un pendage vertical de 120°, se trouvent dans des zones de granite fortement fracturees, mais ils ne sont pas déformés et ils pourraient renfermer des lentilles de granite fragmenté. Les filons (≤0.6 m) sont dominés par la présence de barytine automorphe blanc trouble, grossiére, avec ou sans remplissage tardif de quartz transparent automorphe et de fluorite rose à mauve foncé. Un réchauffement progressif 40Ar/39Ar d'un mégacristal de feldspath-K dans le granite immédiatement adjacent a un filon de barytine révèle que la fraction gazeuse à haute témperature à un âge plateau de 354 M.A. et que la fraction gazeuse à basse température est âgée de 320 M.A. L'âge le plus jeune est interprété comme I'enregistrement d'un rétablissement partiel de feldspath-K du à I'interaction du minéral avec des fluides constitutifs de filons. Des inclusions de fluides (aqueux de types L-V) contenues dans de la fluorite filonienne possèdent des températures d'homogénéisation de 100° a 130 °C. La derniére fonte des glaces révèle des teneurs en sels équivalant à 24 à 28 % en poids de NaCl. mais les températures eutectiques basses révèlent que les fluides constituent des saumures mêlées de NaCI-CaCI2-FeCl2-MgCl. Même si des inclusions de fluides contenues dans de la fluorite du batholithe du mont South affichent des salinités analogues, elles s'homogéneisent à des températures de 150° è 160 °C. Des études des isotopes lourds des minéraux filoniens révèlent que δ34Sbarytme = +13 ± 2%o. δ18Oquartz = +22%oet que δD des extraits d'inclusions de fluides affichent -123 à -165%o. Selon I'interprétation des chercheurs, ces données signifient: (1) que le soufre provient d*une dissolution d’évaporites du groupe de Windsor plutêt que de sulfures du socle rocheux; (2) que δ18Od’eau des filons représentait +8 à +12%o à des températures de 100° à 150°C, ce qui correspond à un fluide métamorphique ou un fluide de bassin; et (3) que les fluides ont interagi avec la matière organique pour produire de faibles valeurs δD. Le 87Sr/86Sr mesuré sur la barytine (0.7120; n=2) et la fluorite (0.7086) signale un échange de fluides avec une source radiogénique, soit les groupes de Horton ou de Meguma, qui constituent les reservoirs les plus vraisemblables. Les données révèlent collcctivement que les filons se sont formés au debut du Carbonifere inférieur lorsque le secteur d'étude se trouvait enfoui sous environ deux à trois kilomètres de strates du Carbonifere, qui se sont subsequemment érodées. Les fluides de bassin ont été concentrés dans des zones d'extension qui se sont ouvertes sous I'influence de fluidesP à teneur eievee de concert avec un mouvement senestre sur les failles orientées vers le nord-ouest entrecoupant le terrane de Meguma. [Traduit par la rédaction