A Search for a Measure of the Quality of Life on Prince Edward Island: An Inter-Provincial ‘Cost of Living’ Inquiry

Can one come up with the ‘hard science’ to show that part of the enviable ‘quality of life’ in certain provinces in Canada has to do with the differential ‘purchasing power’ of their residents? Although the mean level of earnings/income per annum is lower/higher in certain provinces than others, (and such mean earnings may be lower in the rural areas than in the urban ones), yet expenditures and overall costs of consumption may be lower/higher. Various persons think they are; and various others think they aren’t, and neither party appears (so far) to have come up with systematic statistics to back their position or refute the alternative: usage of data is sketchy, anecdotal and fragmented, at best. Thus, by way of example, lot or property purchases and rents, gas bills, professional services, and University tuition costs on Prince Edward Island are presumably amongst the lowest, if not the lowest, in the country. But so are average wages. Moreover, the cost of food, white goods, as well as the levels of provincial taxation, is presumably higher. The fuel/gas bill has also been getting increasingly higher these past couple of years. This very focused study will come up with a measure of the cost of living, or ‘household financial health’, and use this to compare the state of affairs in the various provinces of Canada.prince edward island; quality of life; cost of living; environmental conditions; social conditions; canada; inter-prvincial; consumer price index; island life; insularity

Environmental infomediaries in the Risk Society: The behavioral impact of online environmental information and communication strategies

The expansion of the online marketplace changed the way many people consume products and information by allowing consumers to conduct increasing amounts of pre-purchase research. Many organizations developed online tools to help consumers efficiently find and use environmental information to make more sustainable purchase decisions. In this paper I explore the impact and efficacy of these online environmental infomediaries through an analysis of their history, methods, and impact. Using a framework developed from Ulrich Beck’s theory of the Risk Society and Bettman’s theory of contingent decision making, I conducted a preliminary case study of GoodGuide.com, a well-known online environmental infomediary. Based on this framework, I found that effective online environmental infomediaries (1) target educated, internet-savvy, leisure- and trend-oriented consumers; (2) focus on high-risk, non-convenience purchases; (3) provide visually appealing and interactive tools; (4) ensure information tools are easy to use and understand; (5) employ a clear and transparent methodology; and (6) satisfy consumers’ expectations of their efficacy. GoodGuide.com excelled at several of these criteria, but its opaque methodology and failure to meet most consumers’ expectations may threaten its long-term viability

Sanpete County Agriculture Profile

This publication includes a report that gives agricultural facts and statistics pertaining to Sanpete County

A Search for a Measure of the Quality of Life on Prince Edward Island: An Inter-Provincial ‘Cost of Living’ Inquiry

Can one come up with the ‘hard science’ to show that part of the enviable ‘quality of life’ in certain provinces in Canada has to do with the differential ‘purchasing power’ of their residents? Although the mean level of earnings/income per annum is lower/higher in certain provinces than others, (and such mean earnings may be lower in the rural areas than in the urban ones), yet expenditures and overall costs of consumption may be lower/higher. Various persons think they are; and various others think they aren’t, and neither party appears (so far) to have come up with systematic statistics to back their position or refute the alternative: usage of data is sketchy, anecdotal and fragmented, at best. Thus, by way of example, lot or property purchases and rents, gas bills, professional services, and University tuition costs on Prince Edward Island are presumably amongst the lowest, if not the lowest, in the country. But so are average wages. Moreover, the cost of food, white goods, as well as the levels of provincial taxation, is presumably higher. The fuel/gas bill has also been getting increasingly higher these past couple of years. This very focused study will come up with a measure of the cost of living, or ‘household financial health’, and use this to compare the state of affairs in the various provinces of Canada

The Fate of Federal Milk Marketing Orders: Is Order 135 An Indication of the Future

In theory, theory and practice are the same, in practice they\u27re not -Yoggi Berra . Federal Milk Marketing Orders (FMMO) were established in the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1937. They were designed to reduce/eliminate the effects of milk pricing wars generated by processors that essentially had monopsony power when buying milk from producers as a result of seasonal production (Stillman; Kessel; Ladd; Blayney and Normile). More generally Masson and Eisenstat indicate that orders were to provide: a) orderly marketing, b) an adequate supply of milk and c) an increase in farmers\u27 incomes. In practice, the establishment of the FMMO order system allowed a classified milk pricing system and dictated the minimum prices processors had to pay for milk associated with an order. The FMMO system still has its proponents while others believe the FMMO has too many problems and has outlived its usefulness(Marsh; Schiek). Some believe the system provides benefits besides classified pricing. These include reducing price uncertainty for buyers and sellers, reducing, if not eliminating, incentives for destructive competition, and providing a framework to encourage rational and orderly marketing behaviors and outcomes. (Novakovic). However, these potential benefits do not come without a cost. Several authors have outlined these costs (Buxton; Dahlgren; Ippolito and Mason; Kessel; Ladd; McDowell, Fleming and Fallerts). The outcome of these studies indicate that prices paid by consumers and revenue received by producers are generally higher as a result of the FMMO system. However, the majority of these results are more than 20 years old and do not reflect recetnt structural changes in the industry, changes that could potentially alter the outcomes of these evaluations. Some of the important changes that have occurred in the last 20 years includ

iSKID: From integrated pilot scale runs to GMP implementation approach

One of the most compelling business reasons for integrated processing is the ability to de-risk capital investment due to a significantly more productive process that takes less space and fewer campaigns to generate clinical and commercial material. Boehringer Ingelheim and Pfizer developed the iSKID, a fully integrated and automated system that hydraulically links the perfusion bioreactor with several downstream unit operations (2xProtein A columns, continuous viral inactivation, AEX in flow through mode, and SPTFF). The Protein A elution cycles are discrete and separated by \u3e2hrs, allowing the ability to discard cycles that do not meet process specifications. The discreteness between product cycles and hydraulic linkage enables the sanitization between cycles for a robust bioburden control strategy. Each cycle is captured in a single use mixer (SUM), where the product is pooled in stable conditions until viral filtration, ultrafiltration/diafiltration and final filtration are performed in batch mode. Identical iSKID prototypes at 100L scale were used at three different sites to generate product quality, process, and bioburden data from three different molecules. The data has been used to understand implementation gaps in GMP facilities and process platforms (CMC1/CMC2). In addition, the team identified specific items to present to the FDA’s Emerging Technology Team (ETT). These items include our strategies for batch definition, microbial control, and process control. In this talk, we will use the data generated from the consistency runs to elaborate on the robustness of the process and touch upon the strategies to be presented to the ETT

Balancing continuous, integrated, and batch processing

We are building a new disposable manufacturing system to support the development and manufacturing of mAb and mAb-related products. We have made choices that are different than many others in the field of continuous and integrated processing. These choices avoid many misperceptions about continuous processing, are consistent with a staged approach to implementation, and facilitate manufacturing in either large-scale disposable or stainless manufacturing facilities. We have avoided the use of long-term steady-state perfusion. This mode of perfusion suffers from long development times, long manufacturing duration, extended Process Performance Qualification, large media consumption and perceived concerns about product quality variability and contamination. The system uses a short duration (\u3c15 days) non-steady state perfusion with perfusion rates as low as 0.3 bioreactor volumes per day. On-line UPLC is used to monitor product titer and quality. As a consequence of non-steady state perfusion operation, the integrated downstream is capable of handling day to day variability of 0.5g/L/day to 4g/L/day. The downstream avoids the use of SMB or PCC; rather, it integrates two batch chromatographic steps, a continuous virus inactivation step, and avoids in-process pooling. The product is stored after the second chromatography step for the duration of the batch. When the batch is complete, the pooled product is batched through a virus reduction filter and UFDF to make the bulk drug substance. Running these last two processes on the entire product pool at once allows an easy definition of a batch, without worry about pooling drug substance with different product quality profiles. The result is an integrated, semi-continuous manufacturing process that mitigates many of the concerns felt by the batch-processing community

Uptake of and adherence to oral pre-exposure prophylaxis among adolescent girls and young women at high risk of HIV-infection in Kampala, Uganda: A qualitative study of experiences, facilitators and barriers

Background: There is limited information on factors that influence oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) uptake and adherence among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW). We conducted a qualitative methods study to explore experiences, facilitators and barriers of PrEP uptake and adherence to PrEP among AGYW at risk of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection in Kampala, Uganda. Methods: This study was nested in a prospective cohort study that offered daily oral PrEP to AGYW. Between April 2019 and October 2020 we conducted in-depth interviews with 26 AGYW aged 14–24 years who had been offered or had been using PrEP for at least 6 months, including PrEP adherers (8), non-adherers (8) and those who had declined PrEP (10). After 12 months, follow-up interviews were conducted with 12 AGYW who had adhered to PrEP and those who had dropped it. Thematic analysis was conducted and data were further examined and categorized into the 5 constructs of the Socio-Ecological Model (SEM). Results: PrEP uptake and adherence were facilitated by factors including: perceptions that one’s own or partner’s sexual behaviour was high risk, a negative attitude towards condoms, social support and wanting to maintain a negative HIV status after receiving a negative HIV test result. Good adherence to PrEP was enabled by effective counselling, support tools such as alarms and phone reminders and incentives like free treatment for STIs and other illnesses during study visits. Barriers to uptake included: anxiety about the pill burden, perceptions of being too young for PrEP and fear of being labelled `prostitute’ or `HIV positive’. Poor adherence was attributed to doubt over the efficacy of PrEP as a result of beliefs that because HIV was incurable, no medicine could prevent it. Alcohol use, side effects experienced, and mobility all had a negative impact on adherence. The majority of PrEP users reported feeling safe as a result of using PrEP which had both good and negative implications on their sexual behaviour, specifically the number of sexual partners and condom use. Conclusion: Addressing community misconceptions to maximize uptake of PrEP among AGYW is important. Targeted education messages, and counselling to address misconceptions in ways that capture the attention of AGYW in communities are required