From Words to Action : Alberta Can Afford a Real Poverty Reduction Strategy

The Edmonton Social Planning Council, Public Interest Alberta, and the Alberta College of Social Workers present Alberta's 2013 child poverty report card, which shows that despite an improving economy, in 2011 there were 84,000 children in Alberta (29,800 of whom were under the age of 6) living below the low-income measure (LIM After Tax).This year's report suggests reforms that would facilitate additional provincial investment in ending child poverty, and outlines the associated investment values. Other poverty indicators and suggestions for alleviating poverty are also included

We Must Do Better: It's Time to Make Alberta Poverty-Free

This report, authored by Jim Gurnett (in partnership with the ESPC, Public Interest Alberta, and the Bissell Centre), is a follow up to the We Can Do Better report released in 2009. We Must do Better overviews: the results of 5 poverty forums held across the province in 2009;recent statistics on poverty and unemployment in Alberta; and,potential public policy and program options that would help to reduce or eliminate poverty

A Phenomenological Exploration of the Experience of White Students at a Mission Based University

Diversity is an articulated value for higher education throughout the country. This research builds on existing research about how White students experience diversity and how they make meaning of their Whiteness and White privilege. This qualitative study utilized a phenomenological approach to understand White student leaders’ experience on a campus with a mission that emphasizes diversity. Eight White senior student leaders in the Division of Student Affairs were interviewed. These students experienced the campus ethos and messaging around the institutional values and mission. They also experienced leadership and diversity training in preparation for their roles. The participants discussed how they understood the mission, the values of the university, their experiences with diversity, and what it was like for them to come to understand their Whiteness and White privilege. The findings that emerged include the impact of a consequential interaction or relationship with a person of color on White student’s ambivalence toward issues of race. The mission and values of inclusion and diversity had a positive impact on the students by providing important context within which they grew. Finally, the participants report that the structures and support provided by the staff who engaged with the participants was a significant positive influence on their growth. These findings show the need for the university to create opportunities to leverage opportunities for White students to explore their identity development so they can engage in critical processing to become non-racist citizens

A Machine Learning System for Glaucoma Detection using Inexpensive Machine Learning

This thesis presents a neural network system which segments images of the retina to calculate the cup-to-disc ratio, one of the diagnostic indicators of the presence or continuing development of glaucoma, a disease of the eye which causes blindness. The neural network is designed to run on commodity hardware and to be run with minimal skill required from the user by packaging the software required to run the network into a Singularity image. The RIGA dataset used to train the network provides images of the retina which have been annotated with the location of the optic cup and disc by six ophthalmologists, and six separate models have been trained, one for each ophthalmologist. Previous work with this dataset has combined the annotations into a consensus annotation, or taken all annotations together as a group to create a model, as opposed to creating individual models by annotator. The interannotator disagreements in the data are large and the method implemented in this thesis captures their differences rather than combining them together. The mean error of the pixel label predictions across the six models is 10.8%; the precision and recall for the predictions of the cup-to-disc ratio across the six models are 0.920 and 0.946, respectively

Achieving the Promise: Ending Poverty in Alberta

This report focuses on child and family poverty in Alberta during the post-recession period. Despite the incredible wealth in the province, there are still thousands of Albertans who are struggling to make ends meet. This report shows that more work needs to be done to ensure that Alberta is a more equitable place to live. It also recommends actions that can be taken by provincial and municipal levels of government to address child and family poverty in our province

Ethnic residential segregation: the case of Asian Indians in Chicago, 1980

Call number: LD2668 .T4 GEOG 1988 K55Master of ArtsGeograph

Association Between Early Hyperoxia Exposure After Resuscitation From Cardiac Arrest and Neurological Disability: Prospective Multicenter Protocol-Directed Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: Studies examining the association between hyperoxia exposure after resuscitation from cardiac arrest and clinical outcomes have reported conflicting results. Our objective was to test the hypothesis that early postresuscitation hyperoxia is associated with poor neurological outcome. METHODS: This was a multicenter prospective cohort study. We included adult patients with cardiac arrest who were mechanically ventilated and received targeted temperature management after return of spontaneous circulation. We excluded patients with cardiac arrest caused by trauma or sepsis. Per protocol, partial pressure of arterial oxygen (Pao2) was measured at 1 and 6 hours after return of spontaneous circulation. Hyperoxia was defined as a Pao2 >300 mm Hg during the initial 6 hours after return of spontaneous circulation. The primary outcome was poor neurological function at hospital discharge, defined as a modified Rankin Scale score >3. Multivariable generalized linear regression with a log link was used to test the association between Pao2 and poor neurological outcome. To assess whether there was an association between other supranormal Pao2 levels and poor neurological outcome, we used other Pao2 cut points to define hyperoxia (ie, 100, 150, 200, 250, 350, 400 mm Hg). RESULTS: Of the 280 patients included, 105 (38%) had exposure to hyperoxia. Poor neurological function at hospital discharge occurred in 70% of patients in the entire cohort and in 77% versus 65% among patients with versus without exposure to hyperoxia respectively (absolute risk difference, 12%; 95% confidence interval, 1-23). Hyperoxia was independently associated with poor neurological function (relative risk, 1.23; 95% confidence interval, 1.11-1.35). On multivariable analysis, a 1-hour-longer duration of hyperoxia exposure was associated with a 3% increase in risk of poor neurological outcome (relative risk, 1.03; 95% confidence interval, 1.02-1.05). We found that the association with poor neurological outcome began at ≥300 mm Hg. CONCLUSIONS: Early hyperoxia exposure after resuscitation from cardiac arrest was independently associated with poor neurological function at hospital discharge

Curricula and methods for physician compassion training: protocol for a systematic review

Introduction: Compassionate patient care has been associated with improved clinical outcomes for patients. However, current evidence suggests that healthcare is experiencing a compassion crisis, with physicians frequently overlooking opportunities to treat patients with compassion. Although there is evidence that compassionate care can be enhanced through training interventions, it is currently unclear what specific skills and behaviours ought to be taught and how best to transfer this information to the learner. The objectives of this systematic review are to collate the world’s literature on compassion training to determine (1) the specific skills and behaviours that should be taught (curriculum), and (2) the methods of training that are most effective at improving compassionate patient care

Curricula for empathy and compassion training in medical education: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Empathy and compassion are vital components of health care quality; however, physicians frequently miss opportunities for empathy and compassion in patient care. Despite evidence that empathy and compassion training can be effective, the specific behaviors that should be taught remain unclear. We synthesized the biomedical literature on empathy and compassion training in medical education to find the specific curricula components (skills and behaviors) demonstrated to be effective. METHODS: We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL using a previously published comprehensive search strategy. We screened reference lists of the articles meeting inclusion criteria to identify additional studies for potential inclusion. Study inclusion criteria were: (1) intervention arm in which subjects underwent an educational curriculum aimed at enhancing empathy and/or compassion; (2) clearly defined control arm in which subjects did not receive the curriculum; (3) curriculum was tested on physicians (or physicians-in-training); and (4) outcome measure assessing the effect of the curriculum on physician empathy and/or compassion. We performed a qualitative analysis to collate and tabulate effects of tested curricula according to recommended methodology from the Cochrane Handbook. We used the Cochrane Collaboration\u27s tool for assessing risk of bias. RESULTS: Fifty-two studies (total n = 5,316) met inclusion criteria. Most (75%) studies found that the tested curricula improved physician empathy and/or compassion on at least one outcome measure. We identified the following key behaviors to be effective: (1) sitting (versus standing) during the interview; (2) detecting patients\u27 non-verbal cues of emotion; (3) recognizing and responding to opportunities for compassion; (4) non-verbal communication of caring (e.g. eye contact); and (5) verbal statements of acknowledgement, validation, and support. These behaviors were found to improve patient perception of physician empathy and/or compassion. CONCLUSION: Evidence suggests that training can enhance physician empathy and compassion. Training curricula should incorporate the specific behaviors identified in this report