Quantitative Analysis of the Impact of Agricultural Management Strategies on Environmental Indicators

This study uses an integrated economic-environmental modeling system to provide quantitative estimates that were used in the process of setting provincial environmental outcome targets under the APF. The analysis represents a joint effort of the Department's physical scientists, economists and policy analysts. This approach provides the ability to model the impacts of agricultural production and the adoption of Beneficial Management Practices (BMPs) on the Canadian environment. The analysis quantifies the impacts of various management practices on air, soil, and water quality as well as biodiversity through measurable and meaningful indicators. It also assists in identifying appropriate environmental goals by providing an indication of achievable outcomes as a result of adopting environmental management practices. This study is based on existing agri-environmental indicators and integrated modeling capacity. The limitations of these analytical tools and results are recognized.sustainability of agriculture, agricultural policy, environmental issues, social issues, environmental outcome targets, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Perceptions, Motivations, and Achievement of African American Students Enrolled in a Middle College High School

Historically, African American students have been underserved in our nation's public schools. Due to the accountability expectations of the 2001 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, greater awareness and attention has been given to the racial achievement gap and disparities among high school dropouts and postsecondary education. The Middle College High School design has been in existence since 1972, beginning with LaGuardia Community College in Long Island, New York. NCLB accountability has brought more attention to secondary school achievement and a sense of urgency regarding school reform and nontraditional school designs and structures. In the past three decades of the middle-college high school concept, the goals of reducing the drop-out rate, increasing graduation and college attendance rates, and improving student performance and self-esteem have been researched and proven effective. A variety of instructional strategies are used to help students make the connection between high school graduation and college or work in a "seamless" curriculum. In this study, 12 African American seniors that attended Guilford Technical Community College (GTCC) Middle College High School (MCHS) were interviewed about their perceptions regarding their school experiences. Student interviews, school records, and school archival documents were used to analyze the data within the blended theoretical framework of resiliency and self-efficacy theory created by the researcher. The research question in this study was: How do students perceive that the Guilford Technical Community College Middle College High School structure impacted their academic achievement and internal motivation to achieve educational success in high school and pursue postsecondary educational opportunities? The analysis of the research data offered emerging themes, implications for practice, and recommendations from which educators may improve their service. The interpretation of the data revealed four overarching themes from the voices of the 12th grade African American student participants, finding that the school structure at GTCC MCHS: (a) enabled healthy relationships between and among teachers and students, (b) enabled students to identify themselves as smart and mature, (c) gave students close access to college courses and resources to pursue postsecondary opportunities, (d) enabled students to embrace personal responsibility and the self-efficacy necessary to achieve their educational goals.Doctor of Educatio

From intimate exams to ritual nicking: interpreting nonconsensual medicalized genital procedures as sexual boundary violations

Purpose of Review This review seeks to integrate scholarly discussions of nonconsensual medicalized genital procedures, combining insights from the literature on obstetric violence with critiques based on children’s rights. In both literatures, it is increasingly argued that such interventions may constitute, or be experienced as, violations of patients’ sexual boundaries, even if performed without sexual intent. Recent Findings Within the literature on obstetric violence, it is often argued that clinicians who perform unconsented pelvic exams (i.e., for teaching purposes on anesthetized patients), or unconsented episiotomies during birth and labor, thereby violate patients’ bodily integrity rights. Noting the intimate nature of the body parts involved and the lack of consent by the affected individual, authors increasingly characterize such procedures, more specifically, as sexual boundary violations or even “medical sexual assault.” Separately, critics have raised analogous concerns about medically unnecessary, nonconsensual genital cutting or surgery (e.g., in prepubescent minors), such as ritual “nicking” of the vulva for religious purposes, intersex genital “normalization” surgeries, and newborn penile circumcision. Across literatures, critics contend that the fundamental wrong of such procedures is not (only) the risk of physical or emotional harm they may cause, nor (beliefs about) the good or bad intentions of those performing or requesting them. Rather, it is claimed, it is wrong as a matter of principle for clinicians to engage—to any extent—with patients’ genital or sexual anatomy without their consent outside of certain limited exceptions (e.g., is not possible to obtain the person’s consent without exposing them to a significant risk of serious harm, where this harm, in turn, cannot feasibly be prevented or resolved by any less risky or invasive means). Summary An emerging consensus among scholars of obstetric violence and of children’s rights is that it is unethical for clinicians to perform any medically unnecessary genital procedures, from physical examination to cutting or surgery, without the explicit consent of the affected person. “Presumed” consent, “implied” consent, and “proxy” consent are thus argued to be insufficient

Temporal patterns of radial growth in declining Austrocedrus chilensis forests in Northern Patagonia: The use of tree-rings as an indicator of forest decline

Using dendrochronology, combined with tree- and stand-level information, we reconstructed the temporal dynamics of ‘mal del ciprés’, a widespread decline of Austrocedrus chilensis forests in Argentina. We developed 12 new site-specific ring-width chronologies representing the growth of trees with no external (crown) or internal (radial growth) symptoms of decline. By comparing the ring-width series of individual trees with these reference chronologies, we detected reduced radial growth, likely due to ‘mal del ciprés’, in 301 symptomatic and dead overstory trees out of 1082 sampled trees. Radial growth decline also occurred in 67 living trees with asymptomatic crowns providing evidence that radial growth decline can be an early indicator of ‘mal del ciprés’. The length of the radial growth decline averaged 27 years for all trees and was 29 and 22 years for living symptomatic and dead overstory trees, respectively; the maximum decline length was 80 years. At the site level, the onset of radial growth decline ranged from the early 1920s to the 1960s, preceding dates reported in historical records. By 1979, P75% of trees per site exhibited radial growth decline. We conclude that decline in radial growth precedes crown symptoms in at least some A. chilensis trees in forests with ‘mal del ciprés’. Reduced radial growth prior to external crown symptoms implies that water uptake had been reduced, possibly because of root damage from Phyophthora or drought or their interactions. It also suggests salvage harvests that aim to eradicate trees with crown symptoms and facilitate growth of residual trees may not be the most effective management response to ‘mal del ciprés’.Fil: Amoroso, Mariano Martin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; ArgentinaFil: Daniels, Lori D.. University of British Columbia; CanadáFil: Larson, Bruce C.. University of British Columbia; Canad

Comparison of Pansharpening Algorithms: Outcome of the 2006 GRS-S Data Fusion Contest

International audienceIn January 2006, the Data Fusion Committee of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society launched a public contest for pansharpening algorithms, which aimed to identify the ones that perform best. Seven research groups worldwide participated in the contest, testing eight algorithms following different philosophies [component substitution, multiresolution analysis (MRA), detail injection, etc.]. Several complete data sets from two different sensors, namely, QuickBird and simulated Pléiades, were delivered to all participants. The fusion results were collected and evaluated, both visually and objectively. Quantitative results of pansharpening were possible owing to the availability of reference originals obtained either by simulating the data collected from the satellite sensor by means of higher resolution data from an airborne platform, in the case of the Pléiades data, or by first degrading all the available data to a coarser resolution and saving the original as the reference, in the case of the QuickBird data. The evaluation results were presented during the special session on Data Fusion at the 2006 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium in Denver, and these are discussed in further detail in this paper. Two algorithms outperform all the others, the visual analysis being confirmed by the quantitative evaluation. These two methods share the same philosophy: they basically rely on MRA and employ adaptive models for the injection of high-pass details

Creating a Framework for Treating Autoimmune Gastritis – The Case for Replacing Lost Acid

Autoimmune gastritis (AIG) is characterized by the destruction of gastric parietal cells, resulting in hypochlorhydria and eventual achlorhydria, as oxyntic glands in the corpus are destroyed and become atrophic. The permanent loss of gastric acid has many impacts—both theoretical and documented. The most concerning of these are hypergastrinemia and increased N-nitroso compounds, both of which increase the risk of gastric cancers. While known deficiencies of B12 and iron are often replaced in AIG, acid is not. Moreover, patients with AIG are often prescribed acid suppression for a stomach that is decidedly no longer acidic, worsening the sequelae of gastric atrophy. Betaine hydrochloride (BHCL) is a short-acting acidifying agent, available over the counter in capsule form. Mealtime acid supplementation has an historic basis and could ameliorate many AIG-related gastrointestinal symptoms. Theoretically, acidification could also reduce the potential for hypergastrinemia and the production of N-nitroso compounds, consequently reducing the risk of gastric cancers. Supplemental vitamin C may also help in preventing gastric N-nitroso formation, regardless of the gastric pH. This narrative review describes the functions of gastric acid in gastrointestinal and immune health, documents the effects of hypochlorhydria in AIG, and proposes potential options for safely re-establishing the acid milieu of the stomach for patients with AIG