Deliberation on Childhood Vaccination in Canada: Public Input on Ethical Trade-Offs in Vaccination Policy

Background: Policy decisions about childhood vaccination require consideration of multiple, sometimes conflicting, public health and ethical imperatives. Examples of these decisions are whether vaccination should be mandatory and, if so, whether to allow for non-medical exemptions. In this article we argue that these policy decisions go beyond typical public health mandates and therefore require democratic input. Methods: We report on the design, implementation, and results of a deliberative public forum convened over four days in Ontario, Canada, on the topic of childhood vaccination. Results: 25 participants completed all four days of deliberation and collectively developed 20 policy recommendations on issues relating to mandatory vaccinations and exemptions, communication about vaccines and vaccination, and AEFI (adverse events following immunization) compensation and reporting. Notable recommendations include unanimous support for mandatory childhood vaccination in Ontario, the need for broad educational communication about vaccination, and the development of a no-fault compensation scheme for AEFIs. There was persistent disagreement among deliberants about the form of exemptions from vaccination (conscience, religious beliefs) that should be permissible, as well as appropriate consequences if parents do not vaccinate their children. Conclusions: We conclude that conducting deliberative democratic processes on topics that are polarizing and controversial is viable and should be further developed and implemented to support democratically legitimate and trustworthy policy about childhood vaccination

Internet of Things for Sustainable Forestry

Forests and grasslands play an important role in water and air purification, prevention of the soil erosion, and in provision of habitat to wildlife. Internet of Things has a tremendous potential to play a vital role in the forest ecosystem management and stability. The conservation of species and habitats, timber production, prevention of forest soil degradation, forest fire prediction, mitigation, and control can be attained through forest management using Internet of Things. The use and adoption of IoT in forest ecosystem management is challenging due to many factors. Vast geographical areas and limited resources in terms of budget and equipment are some of the limiting factors. In digital forestry, IoT deployment offers effective operations, control, and forecasts for soil erosion, fires, and undesirable depositions. In this chapter, IoT sensing and communication applications are presented for digital forestry systems. Different IoT systems for digital forest monitoring applications are also discussed

Highly symmetric POVMs and their informational power

We discuss the dependence of the Shannon entropy of normalized finite rank-1 POVMs on the choice of the input state, looking for the states that minimize this quantity. To distinguish the class of measurements where the problem can be solved analytically, we introduce the notion of highly symmetric POVMs and classify them in dimension two (for qubits). In this case we prove that the entropy is minimal, and hence the relative entropy (informational power) is maximal, if and only if the input state is orthogonal to one of the states constituting a POVM. The method used in the proof, employing the Michel theory of critical points for group action, the Hermite interpolation and the structure of invariant polynomials for unitary-antiunitary groups, can also be applied in higher dimensions and for other entropy-like functions. The links between entropy minimization and entropic uncertainty relations, the Wehrl entropy and the quantum dynamical entropy are described.Comment: 40 pages, 3 figure

The old bone project: Quality assurance on radiocarbon dating bone in the 30,000–50,000 age range at the A.E. Lalonde AMS Laboratory (Ottawa, Canada)

A quality control program was undertaken to test the merit of different techniques for the preparation of Late Pleistocene bone at the A.E. Lalonde AMS Laboratory in Ottawa (Canada). The samples studied here include a mammoth bone (S-EVA 2000) previously dated by other labs (Oxford, Kiel, Mannheim) with results ranging between 35,280 and 31,660 14C yr BP (n = 10), a bison bone (S-EVA 2001) previously dated between 47,300 and 40,200 14C yr BP (n = 9; Talamo and Richards, 2011), and our in-house background standard (Hollis Mine Mammoth, HMM). Samples were prepared in four different ways: (1) no ultrafiltration and combustion by elemental analyser (EA); (2) ultrafiltration and EA combustion; (3) no ultrafiltration and quartz tube combustion; (4) ultrafiltration and quartz tube combustion. All four methods produced dates for the S-EVA 2000 bone between 34,530 and 34,080 14C yr BP (n = 7) and consistent stable isotope data (δ13C, δ15N, C:N). Results for the HMM bone ranged from 54,600 to 46,800 14C yr BP. Further, the S-EVA 2001 was prepared without ultrafiltration and combusted on the EA, resulting in a date of 45,010 ± 460 14C yr BP. Finally, since a major challenge with dating Late Pleistocene bone is to decipher between finite and infinite ages, we report results from two years of measurement of the HMM bone, which is prepared with each bone batch. The average age of the HMM is 50,700 ± 3400 14C yr BP (n = 17) when not ultrafiltered, and 48,400 ± 2900 14C yr BP (n = 13) when ultrafiltered. Results from this study do not reinforce or negate the use of ultrafiltration, but it was determined that combustion by EA is preferred as it gives %C and %N values

Vaginal health and hygiene practices and product use in Canada: a national cross-sectional survey

Background: The vaginal microbiome influences quality of life and health. The composition of vaginal microbiota can be affected by various health behaviors, such as vaginal douching. The purpose of this study was to examine the types and prevalence of diverse vaginal/genital health and hygiene behaviors among participants living in Canada and to examine associations between behavioral practices and adverse gynecological health conditions. Method: An anonymous online survey, available in English and French, was distributed across Canada. The sample consisted of 1435 respondents, 18 years or older, living in Canada. Results: Respondents reported engaging in diverse vaginal/genital health and hygiene behavioral practices, including the use of commercially manufactured products and homemade and naturopathic products and practices. Over 95% of respondents reported using at least one product in or around the vaginal area. Common products and practices included vaginal/genital moisturizers, anti-itch creams, feminine wipes, washes, suppositories, sprays, powders, and waxing and shaving pubic hair. The majority of the sample (80%) reported experiencing one or more adverse vaginal/genital symptom in their lifetime. Participants who had used any vaginal/genital product(s) had approximately three times higher odds of reporting an adverse health condition. Several notable associations between specific vaginal/genital health and hygiene products and adverse health conditions were identified. Conclusions: This study is the first of its kind to identify the range and prevalence of vaginal/genital health and hygiene behaviors in Canada. Despite a lack of credible information about the impact of these behaviors on women’s health, the use of commercially manufactured and homemade products for vaginal/genital health and hygiene is common. Future research can extend the current exploratory study by identifying causal relationships between vaginal/genital health and hygiene behaviors and changes to the vaginal microbiome.Medicine, Faculty ofNon UBCObstetrics and Gynaecology, Department ofReviewedFacult