More Than Plumbing: The History of Sexual Education in Ontario, 1960-1979

During the 1960s and 1970s, Ontario educators were concerned that the “sexual revolution” would encourage youths to engage in sexually promiscuous behaviour, become unwed mothers, and contract STIs. As parents were perceived as unreliable sex educators, school administrators and educators felt compelled to teach traditional sexual values, and the importance of the nuclear family through sexual education. This dissertation analyzes the creation and instruction of sexual education in physical and health education courses throughout the 1960s and 1970s in Ontario. This study provides the first comprehensive discussion of sexual education in Ontario during the sixties and seventies through an examination of the Department/Ministry of Education, school boards, and teachers’ efforts to implement sexual instruction.An oral history project was also conducted to explore classroom culture and teacher’s experiences with educating youth about their bodies, reproduction, puberty, and sexual values. Due to the controversial nature of sexual instruction, the Ministry of Education avoided implementing a mandatory curriculum until 1987, as a result of the AIDS crisis. Many school boards did not have the resources or the motivation to create sexual education lesson plans and materials. The school boards that attempted to form a sexual health program usually had the support of the local medical community and were located in more urbanized areas. Regardless of their school boards’ stance on sexual education, teachers were ultimately responsible for deciding whether sexual instruction would be incorporated into their lesson plans. As can be seen throughout this study, the struggles and resistance to modernize sexual education during social crises have persisted for over half a century; it appears that Ontario sexual instruction is doomed to be outmoded, and ineffectual

Shear-induced fractures and three-dimensional motions in an organogel

The flow behavior of a viscoelastic organogel is investigated using ultrasonic velocimetry combined with rheometry. Our gel presents a decreasing flow curve, i.e., the measured stress decreases as a function of the applied shear rate. Strikingly, we note that the local flow curve calculated from the velocity profiles also exhibits a decreasing part. We attribute this regime to the presence of a fracturing process and three-dimensional motions in the bulk of the sample.Comment: 13 pages, 19 figure

A liquid Xenon Positron Emission Tomograph for small animal imaging : first experimental results of a prototype cell

A detector using liquid Xenon (LXe) in the scintillation mode is studied for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) of small animals. Its specific design aims at taking full advantage of the Liquid Xenon scintillation properties. This paper reports on energy, time and spatial resolution capabilities of the first LXe prototype module equipped with a Position Sensitive Photo- Multiplier tube (PSPMT) operating in the VUV range (178 nm) and at 165 K. The experimental results show that such a LXe PET configuration might be a promising solution insensitive to any parallax effect.Comment: 34 pages, 18 pages, to appear in NIM

Adiabatically coupled systems and fractional monodromy

We present a 1-parameter family of systems with fractional monodromy and adiabatic separation of motion. We relate the presence of monodromy to a redistribution of states both in the quantum and semi-quantum spectrum. We show how the fractional monodromy arises from the non diagonal action of the dynamical symmetry of the system and manifests itself as a generic property of an important subclass of adiabatically coupled systems

The adequacy of Hepato‐Pancreato‐Biliary training: how closely do perceptions of fellows and programme directors align?

BackgroundHepatopancreatobiliary fellowship programmes have recently undergone significant changes with regards to training standards, case‐volume thresholds and multimodality educational platforms. The goals of this study were to compare the perspectives of fellows and programme directors (PDs) on perceptions of readiness to enter practice and identify core Hepato‐Pancreato‐Biliary (HPB) procedures that require increased emphasis during training.MethodsThis survey targeted PDs and trainees participating in the Fellowship Council/AHPBA pathway. Data related to demographics, education and career plans were collected. Analysis of PD and fellow opinions regarding their confidence to perform core HPB procedures was completed.ResultsThe response rate was 88% for both fellows (21/24) and PDs (23/26). There was good agreement between PDs and fellows in the perception of case volumes. Select differences where PDs ranked higher perceptions included major hepatectomies (PDs: 87% versus fellows: 57%, P = 0.04), pancreaticoduodenectomies (100% versus 81%, P = 0.04) and laparoscopic distal pancreatectomies (78% versus 43%, P = 0.03). ‘Good or excellent’ case volumes translated into increased fellow readiness, except for some pancreatitis procedures, laparoscopic distal pancreatectomies and potentially major hepatectomies.ConclusionsThis study provides insight into content domains that may require additional attention to achieve an appropriate level of proficiency and confidence upon completion of training.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113116/1/hpb12457.pd

Multiple-look effects on temporal discrimination within sound sequences

The multiple-look notion holds that the difference limen (DL) decreases with multiple observations. We investigated this notion for temporal discrimination in isochronous sound sequences. In Experiment 1, we established a multiple-look effect when sequences comprised nine standard time intervals (S) followed by an increasing number of comparison time intervals (C), but no multiple-look effect when one trailing C interval was preceded by an increasing number of S intervals. In Experiment 2, we extended the design. There were four sequential conditions: (a) 9 leading S intervals followed by 1, 2, …, or 9 C-intervals; (b) 9 leading C intervals followed by 1, 2, …, or 9 S intervals; (c) 9 trailing C-intervals preceded by 1, 2, …, or 9 S-intervals; and (d) 9 trailing S-intervals preceded by 1, 2, …, or 9 C-intervals. Both the interval accretions before and after the tempo change caused multiple-look effects, irrespective of the time order of S and C. Complete deconfounding of the number of intervals before and after the tempo change was accomplished in Experiment 3. The multiple-look effect of interval accretion before the tempo change was twice as big as that after the tempo change. The diminishing returns relation between the DL and interval accretion could be described well by a reciprocal function

A Broadband Study of the Emission from the Composite Supernova Remnant MSH 11-62

MSH 11-62 (G291.1-0.9) is a composite supernova remnant for which radio and X-ray observations have identified the remnant shell as well as its central pulsar wind nebula. The observations suggest a relatively young system expanding into a low density region. Here we present a study of MSH 11-62 using observations with the Chandra, XMM-Newton, and Fermi observatories, along with radio observations from the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA). We identify a compact X-ray source that appears to be the putative pulsar that powers the nebula, and show that the X-ray spectrum of the nebula bears the signature of synchrotron losses as particles diffuse into the outer nebula. Using data from the Fermi LAT, we identify gamma-ray emission originating from MSH 11-62. With density constraints from the new X-ray measurements of the remnant, we model the evolution of the composite system in order to constrain the properties of the underlying pulsar and the origin of the gamma-ray emission.Comment: 12 Pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa