Exploring Canadian-American Cross Border Articulation in South Western Ontario

In 2011, the College University Consortium Council (CUCC) provided funding to the University of Windsor to explore the competition between United States (US) and Canadian post-secondary degree-granting institutions located in border cities that wished to attract college transfer students. The cities chosen for the exploration included Sault Ste. Marie, Niagara Falls & St. Catherines, Sarnia, and Windsor. During the 2011/2012 Ontario college to university recruitment travel season, the first author encountered some Ontario colleges that referenced “2+2” agreements with US universities (two years at college plus two years at university for an honours degree) as a more favourable route to articulation into a degree program than transfer pathways currently available at Ontario universities. There were also a considerable number of US universities at both the St. Clair College and Niagara College fairs, suggesting a heightened US institutional interest in Canadian students. The visits to Lambton College and Sault College where the Student Recruitment Officer met with administrative staff also suggested that there is increasing student interest in US transfer opportunities. Ontario post-secondary institutions in border regions must constantly benchmark the goods and services offered in their cities to be competitive with what is offered in the US. The neighbouring US competition mixed with fluctuating currency creates unique and complex economic systems that can create challenges and/or opportunities for border city institutions

A Millimeter-scale Single Charged Particle Dosimeter for Cancer Radiotherapy

This paper presents a millimeter-scale CMOS 64$\times$64 single charged particle radiation detector system for external beam cancer radiotherapy. A 1$\times$1 $\mu m^2$ diode measures energy deposition by a single charged particle in the depletion region, and the array design provides a large detection area of 512$\times$512 $\mu m^2$. Instead of sensing the voltage drop caused by radiation, the proposed system measures the pulse width, i.e., the time it takes for the voltage to return to its baseline. This obviates the need for using power-hungry and large analog-to-digital converters. A prototype ASIC is fabricated in TSMC 65 nm LP CMOS process and consumes the average static power of 0.535 mW under 1.2 V analog and digital power supply. The functionality of the whole system is successfully verified in a clinical 67.5 MeV proton beam setting. To our' knowledge, this is the first work to demonstrate single charged particle detection for implantable in-vivo dosimetry

Cells exhibiting strong p16INK4a promoter activation in vivo display features of senescence

The activation of cellular senescence throughout the lifespan promotes tumor suppression, whereas the persistence of senescent cells contributes to aspects of aging. This theory has been limited, however, by an inability to identify and isolate individual senescent cells within an intact organism. Toward that end, we generated a murine reporter strain by “knocking-in” a fluorochrome, tandem-dimer Tomato (tdTom), into exon 1α of the p16 INK4a locus. We used this allele (p16 tdTom ) for the enumeration, isolation, and characterization of individual p16 INK4a -expressing cells (tdTom + ). The half-life of the knocked-in transcript was shorter than that of the endogenous p16 INK4a mRNA, and therefore reporter expression better correlated with p16 INK4a promoter activation than p16 INK4a transcript abundance. The frequency of tdTom + cells increased with serial passage in cultured murine embryo fibroblasts from p16 tdTom/+ mice. In adult mice, tdTom + cells could be readily detected at low frequency in many tissues, and the frequency of these cells increased with aging. Using an in vivo model of peritoneal inflammation, we compared the phenotype of cells with or without activation of p16 INK4a and found that tdTom + macrophages exhibited some features of senescence, including reduced proliferation, senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) activation, and increased mRNA expression of a subset of transcripts encoding factors involved in SA-secretory phenotype (SASP). These results indicate that cells harboring activation of the p16 INK4a promoter accumulate with aging and inflammation in vivo, and display characteristics of senescence

Artificial Stupidity

Public debate about AI is dominated by Frankenstein Syndrome, the fear that AI will become superhuman and escape human control. Although superintelligence is certainly a possibility, the interest it excites can distract the public from a more imminent concern: the rise of Artificial Stupidity (AS). This article discusses the roots of Frankenstein Syndrome in Mary Shelley’s famous novel of 1818. It then provides a philosophical framework for analysing the stupidity of artificial agents, demonstrating that modern intelligent systems can be seen to suffer from ‘stupidity of judgement’. Finally it identifies an alternative literary tradition that exposes the perils and benefits of AS. In the writings of Edmund Spenser, Jonathan Swift and E.T.A. Hoffmann, ASs replace, enslave or delude their human users. More optimistically, Joseph Furphy and Laurence Sterne imagine ASs that can serve human intellect as maps or as pipes. These writers provide a strong counternarrative to the myths that currently drive the AI debate. They identify ways in which even stupid artificial agents can evade human control, for instance by appealing to stereotypes or distancing us from reality. And they underscore the continuing importance of the literary imagination in an increasingly automated society

Defining the toxicology of aging

Mammalian aging is complex and incompletely understood. While significant effort has been spent addressing the genetics or, more recently, the pharmacology of aging, the toxicology of aging has been relatively understudied. Just as an understanding of `carcinogens' has proven critical to modern cancer biology, an understanding of environmental toxicants that accelerate aging (`gerontogens') will inform gerontology. In this review, we discuss the evidence for the existence of mammalian gerontogens, as well as describe biomarkers needed to measure the age-promoting activity of a given toxicant. We focus on the effects of putative gerontogens on the in vivo accumulation of senescent cells, a characteristic feature of aging that plays a causal role in some age-associated phenotypes

Sexuality Education Websites for Adolescents: A Framework-Based Content Analysis

The web has unique potential for adolescents seeking comprehensive sexual health information. As such, it is important to understand the nature, scope, and readability of the content and messaging provided by sexuality educational websites. We conducted a content analysis of 14 sexuality education websites for adolescents, based on the 7 essential components (sexual and reproductive health and HIV, relationships, sexual rights and sexual citizenship, pleasure, violence, diversity, and gender) of the International Planned Parenthood Framework for Comprehensive Sexuality Education. A majority of content across all sites focused on sexual and reproductive health and HIV, particularly pregnancy and STI prevention, and other information about STIs and HIV. No other topic comprised more than 10% of content coverage across a majority of sites. The authors found little discussion of gender issues, sexual rights, sexual diversity, or sexual violence. Most sites provided brief references to sexual pleasure, generally moderated with cautionary words. The language used implied a heterosexual female audience. Reading levels for most sites were above the 9th-grade level, with several at the college level. These findings have implications for enhancing online sexuality education and broadening the coverage of essential topics

Stimulus frequency modulates brainstem response to respiratory-gated transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation

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P2‐037: Categorical and correlational analyses of baseline fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography images from the Alzheimer’s disease neuroimaging initiative

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152628/1/alzjjalz2008051118.pd

P2‐037: Categorical and correlational analyses of baseline fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography images from the Alzheimer’s disease neuroimaging initiative

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152628/1/alzjjalz2008051118.pd