Impacts of the Point System and Immigration Policy Levers on Skill Characteristics of Canadian Immigrants

This paper examines how changes in immigration policy levers actually affect the skill characteristics of immigrant arrivals using a unique Canadian immigrant landings database. We first review the Canadian experience with a point system as part of its immigrant policy. Section III of the paper describes some overall patterns of immigrant arrivals since 1980. Section IV identifies some relevant hypotheses on the possible effects on immigrant skill characteristics of the total immigration rate, the point system weights and immigrant class weights. The "skill" admissions examined are level of education, age, and fluency in either English or French. Regressions are then used to test the hypotheses from Canadian landings data. It is found that (i) the larger the inflow rate of immigrants the lower the average skill level of the arrivals; (ii) increasing the proportion of skill-evaluated immigrants raises average skill levels; (iii) increasing point system weights on a specific skill dimension indeed has the intended effect of raising average skill levels in this dimension among arriving principal applicants; and (iv) increasing the proportion of skill-evaluated immigrants appears to have the strongest effects among the immigration policy levers.immigration policy, points system, Canadian immigration

Flash sintering of injection molded zirconia under AC electric field for enhancement of optical properties

Zirconia is a very versatile ceramic material used in many applications, from structural components to healthcare implantable parts. The majority of current flash research has been performed using uniaxial pressed samples. In our research, we looked to study a large-scale manufacturing technique to produce the samples to be sintered. Ceramic injection molding (CIM) is a known method to produce complex shaped parts with great precision and high density. The high binder content in CIM parts can cause difficulty during flash sintering, due to the high porosity left after debinding process. This can cause localization and flashover during the application of the electric field. Commercially injection molded partially stabilized zirconia (3YSZ) was chosen as it has important properties, such high fracture toughness, however, it is usually opaque due to inherent microstructure defects and grain size of the material. For many applications, zirconia, does not require a particular color or specific appearance, but in some cases for aesthetic uses, a transparent-like material is highly desirable. This paper will describe the results on flash sintering equipment design and field parameters used in order to optimize levels of translucency in zirconia disks, with high fracture toughness. The flash sintering process is shown to be repeatable, and is compared with conventionally sintered samples to assess the improvement on translucency and/or fracture toughness. It is then proposed that flash sintering is an enabling mechanism for the use of zirconia in a wider range of applications and markets, where aesthetics and toughness are required in parallel

14C-Cobalamin Absorption from Endogenously Labeled Chicken Eggs Assessed in Humans Using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry.

Traditionally, the bioavailability of vitamin B-12 (B12) from in vivo labeled foods was determined by labeling the vitamin with radiocobalt (57Co, 58Co or 60Co). This required use of penetrating radioactivity and sometimes used higher doses of B12 than the physiological limit of B12 absorption. The aim of this study was to determine the bioavailability and absorbed B12 from chicken eggs endogenously labeled with 14C-B12 using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). 14C-B12 was injected intramuscularly into hens to produce eggs enriched in vivo with the 14C labeled vitamin. The eggs, which provided 1.4 to 2.6 μg of B12 (~1.1 kBq) per serving, were scrambled, cooked and fed to 10 human volunteers. Baseline and post-ingestion blood, urine and stool samples were collected over a one-week period and assessed for 14C-B12 content using AMS. Bioavailability ranged from 13.2 to 57.7% (mean 30.2 ± 16.4%). Difference among subjects was explained by dose of B12, with percent bioavailability from 2.6 μg only half that from 1.4 μg. The total amount of B12 absorbed was limited to 0.5-0.8 μg (mean 0.55 ± 0.19 μg B12) and was relatively unaffected by the amount consumed. The use of 14C-B12 offers the only currently available method for quantifying B12 absorption in humans, including food cobalamin absorption. An egg is confirmed as a good source of B12, supplying approximately 20% of the average adult daily requirement (RDA for adults = 2.4 μg/day)

No effect of arm exercise on diaphragmatic fatigue or ventilatory constraint in Paralympic athletes with cervical spinal cord injury

Cervical spinal cord injury (CSCI) results in a decrease in the capacity of the lungs and chest wall for pressure, volume, and airflow generation. We asked whether such impairments might increase the potential for exercise-induced diaphragmatic fatigue and mechanical ventilatory constraint in this population. Seven Paralympic wheelchair rugby players (mean ± SD peak oxygen uptake = 16.9 ± 4.9 ml·kg–1·min–1) with traumatic CSCI (C5–C7) performed arm-crank exercise to the limit of tolerance at 90% of their predetermined peak work rate. Diaphragm function was assessed before and 15 and 30 min after exercise by measuring the twitch transdiaphragmatic pressure (Pdi,tw) response to bilateral anterolateral magnetic stimulation of the phrenic nerves. Ventilatory constraint was assessed by measuring the tidal flow volume responses to exercise in relation to the maximal flow volume envelope. Pdi,tw was not different from baseline at any time after exercise (unpotentiated Pdi,tw = 19.3 ± 5.6 cmH2O at baseline, 19.8 ± 5.0 cmH2O at 15 min after exercise, and 19.4 ± 5.7 cmH2O at 30 min after exercise; P = 0.16). During exercise, there was a sudden, sustained rise in operating lung volumes and an eightfold increase in the work of breathing. However, only two subjects showed expiratory flow limitation, and there was substantial capacity to increase both flow and volume (<50% of maximal breathing reserve). In conclusion, highly trained athletes with CSCI do not develop exercise-induced diaphragmatic fatigue and rarely reach mechanical ventilatory constraint

Obtaining material identification with cosmic ray radiography

The passage of muons through matter is mostly affected by their Coulomb interactions with electrons and nuclei. The muon interactions with electrons lead to continuous energy loss and stopping of muons, while their scattering off nuclei lead to angular 'diffusion'. By measuring both the number of stopped muons and angular changes in muon trajectories we can estimate density and identify materials. Here we demonstrate the material identification using data taken at Los Alamos with the Mini Muon Tracker.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, Accepted to AIP Advance

Carcinoids and Capsules: A Case Series Highlighting the Utility of Capsule Endoscopy in Patients With Small Bowel Carcinoids

Background: Neuroendocine tumors (NETs) or carcinoids arise at many different sites of the gastrointestinal tract. The small intestine is the most common site for NETs. Diagnosing small bowel carcinoids remains challenging given their non-specific presentations and the overall low incidence of small bowel tumors. Video capsule endoscopy (VCE) has significanly improved our ability to detect small bowel malignancies. We explore the value of VCE in the initial workup and management of a series of small bowel carcinoid patients. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed adult patients undergoing surgical management for small bowel lesions from July 2005 to September 2015 at a tertiary care center. Patient characteristics, presenting symptomatology, diagnostic workup and surgical management were analyzed among patients with histologically confirmed small bowel carcinoid tumors. Results: Our study identified 16 patients treated surgically for small bowel carcinoids. The majority of patients (87.5%) presented with either occult gastrointestinal bleeding or anemia. Most patients (87.5%) were initially evaluated with various endoscopic and imaging modalities before all ultimately undergoing surgery. Seventy-five percent of patients had a VCE, with 83.3% (10/12) having positive findings that correlated with intraoperative findings compared to 62.5% (5/8) with computed tomography scan, 21.4% (3/14) with colonoscopy, 44% (4/9) with deep enteroscopy, and 0% (0/9) with esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD). Conclusions: In the absence of any contraindications, VCE is an effective endoscopic modality in the diagnostic workup of small bowel NETs. Furthermore, positive VCE findings appear to highly correlate with surgical findings, thus suggesting a valuable role for VCE in the initial surgical assessment of patients with small bowel NETs

Interacting tonal processes in Susu

Susu, like a number of other Mande languages, displays tonal melody neutralization in some nominal constructions. This paper illustrates that in addition to the lexical tonal melody of input elements playing a key role in the outcomes of neutralization, prosodic structure and interactions between multiple tonal processes are also important factors driving observed surface forms. We present novel data on a wide variety of compounds containing complex word shapes; tonal outcomes in such compounds offer a deeper look at factors influencing neutralization. We posit that tones in Susu nominal compounds are subject to Neutralization-by-Copy, which subsequently interacts with analogous, more generalized processes that further smooth the overall tonal contours of a given word.Le soussou, comme certaines autres langues mandé, manifeste la neutralisation tonale dans quelques constructions nominales. Cet article cherche à montrer qu’à part le schéma tonal lexical des éléments dont le rôle est principal pour la neutralisation, la structure prosodique et l’interaction entre des nombreux processus tonals sont également des facteurs importants pour la production des formes de surface. Nous présentons de nouveaux données sur la grande variété des mots composés comportant des formes complexes ; les schémas tonales de ces mots composés donnent une vision plus profonde des facteurs qui exercent l’influence sur la neutralisation. Nous supposons que les tons dans les mots composés en soussou subissent la règle de neutralisation par copie, et ensuite ils se soumettent aux processus généraux qui aplatissent les contours tonals des mots.В сусу, как и в некоторых других языках манде, имеет место нейтрализация тональных контуров в некоторых именных конструкциях. В статье показано, что на результат нейтрализации и на поверхностные тональные реализации, помимо исходного тона элемента, влияет также просодическая структура и взаимодействие между многочисленными тональными процессами. Мы вводим новые данные по многочисленным типам составных слов, включающих в себя сложные формы; тональные реализации таких сложных слов позволяют более глубоко взглянуть на факторы, обуславливающие нейтрализацию. Мы считаем, что тоны сложных слов в сусу подчиняются правилу нейтрализации через копирование, которое взаимодействует с аналогическими более общими процессами, результатом чего является сглаживание тональных контуров слов