An Analysis of Strategic Opportunities available to an Environmental Consulting and Engineering firm

Company Y is a full-service environmental and engineering consultancy cost leader with a client base in British Columbia and Alberta. The firm\u27s services help both public and private sector clients meet their environmental obligations under federal, provincial and municipal government legislation, regulations and programs, as well as meet industry standards, regulations, and best practice. Renewable energy, heat savings and energy efficiency initiatives that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and climate change impact are environmental sector growth areas. Despite being part of the heat and energy efficiency sector, Company Y\u27s Renewable Energy division operates at a loss. This paper presents a strategic analysis of the Renewable Energy division\u27s primary service, geoexchange, and discusses the options available to Company Y\u27s management team

Infant cerebral ventricle volume: a comparison of 3-D ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging

Enlargement of the cerebral lateral ventricles is observed in several neuropsychiatric disorders with origins in early brain development. Lateral ventricle size is also predictive of poor neurodevelopmental outcome in premature infants. 3D ultrasound offers an improved new methodology for the study of lateral ventricle volume in neonates. To assess the validity of ventricle volume measures obtained with 3D ultrasound, we compared the volumes obtained by 3D ultrasound with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 7 neonates. Ventricle volumes were determined using a computer-assisted image analysis program, IRIS. There was excellent correlation between ventricle volumes obtained with 3D ultrasound and those obtained with MRI (Pearson r = 0.96, p = 0.0005) indicating that 3D ultrasound provides valid measures of overall lateral ventricle volume. 3D ultrasound can provide an economical and practical means studying lateral ventricle volume in neonates, a neurostructural marker of abnormal brain development

Craftivism as Inquiry: Holding Life’s Threads

In this article, we share insights regarding an arts-based research project where carers of people with dementia conveyed their experiences in cloth. Carers face high rates of mental ill health and burnout, while forming a largely undervalued and unrecognised workforce. Through this project, carers’ knowledge was valued and amplified using an innovative methodology – craftivism. During a series of five workshops in 2021, a small group of carers, researchers and artists gathered online to develop an exhibition of craftivist textile works. They evoked the complexity of their makers’ journeys supporting loved ones at the end of life, finding joy and meaning despite grief and isolation. Making and crafting, together, we built community and highlighted the importance of the relationships at the heart of care: holding life’s threads. This article contributes to a growing literature surrounding arts-based methods in qualitative research, advocacy, and community life, while providing another platform to share and celebrate the stories of all those involved in the project

Frequency of spontaneous BOLD signal shifts during infancy and correlates with cognitive performance

Numerous studies have been conducted to delineate the early development of different functional networks, based on measuring the temporal synchronization of spontaneous blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals acquired using resting state functional MRI (rsfMRI). However, little attention has been paid to the change of the frequency properties of these signals during early brain development. Such frequency properties may reflect important physiological changes and potentially have significant cognitive consequences. In this study, leveraging a large (N=86 subjects), longitudinal sample of human infants scanned during the first two years of life, we aimed to specifically delineate the developmental changes of the frequency characteristics of spontaneous BOLD signals. Both whole-brain and network-level examinations were carried out and the frequency-behavior relationship was explored. Our results revealed a clear right-ward shift of BOLD signal frequency during the first year of life. Moreover, the power at the peak-frequency for sensorimotor and lateral visual networks correlates with domain-specific Mullen Scales in 1-year-olds, suggesting the behavioral significance of the BOLD signal frequency during infancy. Findings from this study shed light into early functional brain development and provide a new perspective for future searches for functional developmental abnormalities

Family Poverty Affects the Rate of Human Infant Brain Growth

Living in poverty places children at very high risk for problems across a variety of domains, including schooling, behavioral regulation, and health. Aspects of cognitive functioning, such as information processing, may underlie these kinds of problems. How might poverty affect the brain functions underlying these cognitive processes? Here, we address this question by observing and analyzing repeated measures of brain development of young children between five months and four years of age from economically diverse backgrounds (n = 77). In doing so, we have the opportunity to observe changes in brain growth as children begin to experience the effects of poverty. These children underwent MRI scanning, with subjects completing between 1 and 7 scans longitudinally. Two hundred and three MRI scans were divided into different tissue types using a novel image processing algorithm specifically designed to analyze brain data from young infants. Total gray, white, and cerebral (summation of total gray and white matter) volumes were examined along with volumes of the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes. Infants from low-income families had lower volumes of gray matter, tissue critical for processing of information and execution of actions. These differences were found for both the frontal and parietal lobes. No differences were detected in white matter, temporal lobe volumes, or occipital lobe volumes. In addition, differences in brain growth were found to vary with socioeconomic status (SES), with children from lower-income households having slower trajectories of growth during infancy and early childhood. Volumetric differences were associated with the emergence of disruptive behavioral problems

Discordance of prenatal and neonatal brain development in twins

Discordance of birth weight has been observed in twin pairs, though little is known about prenatal and early neonatal discordance of head and brain size, and the role that zygosity and chorionicity play in discordances of early brain development in twins

Prenatal isolated mild ventriculomegaly is associated with persistent ventricle enlargement at ages 1 and 2

Enlargement of the lateral ventricles is thought to originate from abnormal prenatal brain development and is associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. Fetal isolated mild ventriculomegaly (MVM) is associated with enlargement of lateral ventricle volumes in the neonatal period and developmental delays in early childhood. However, little is known about postnatal brain development in these children

Effect of Different Stellar Galactic Environments on Planetary Discs I: The Solar Neighbourhood and the Birth Cloud of the Sun

We have computed trajectories, distances and times of closest approaches to the Sun by stars in the Solar neighbourhood with known position, radial velocity and proper motions. For this purpose we have used a full potential model of the Galaxy that reproduces the local z-force, the Oort constants, the local escape velocity, and the rotation curve of the Galaxy. From our sample we constructed initial conditions, within observational uncertainties, with a Monte Carlo scheme for the twelve most suspicious candidates because of their small tangential motion. We find that the star Gliese 710 will have the closest approach to the Sun, with a distance of approximately 0.34 pc at 1.36 Myr in the future. We show that the effect of a flyby with the characteristics of Gliese 710 on a 100 AU test particle disk representing the Solar system is negligible. However, since there is a lack of 6D data for a large percentage of stars in the Solar neighbourhood, closer approaches may exist. We calculate parameters of passing stars that would cause noticeable effects on the Solar disk. Regarding the birth cloud of the Sun, we performed experiments to reproduce roughly the observed orbital parameters such as eccentricities and inclinations of the Kuiper Belt. It is known now that in Galactic environments, such as stellar formation regions, the stellar densities of new born stars, are high enough to produce close encounters within 200 AU. Moreover, in these Galactic environments, the velocity dispersion is relatively low, typically approximately 1-3 km s-1.We find that with a velocity dispersion of approximately 1 km s-1 and an approach distance of about 150 AU, typical of these regions, we obtain approximately the eccentricities and inclinations seen in the current Solar system. Simple analytical calculations of stellar encounters effects on the Oort cloud are presented.Comment: Accepted 2011 August 2 by MNRAS (Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Main Journal). Received 2011 June 27; in original form 2010 June 10 The paper contains 10 figures and 5 table

Baroque Music Ensemble

Program listing performers and works performed