NDM-561: MUNICIPAL RISK ASSESSMENT TOOL (MRAT)

MRAT is a made-in-Canada tool that overlays municipal data sets and insurance claims data onto an interactive map. The tool allows infrastructure managers to accurately identify areas with frequent insurance claims and easily identify where a more in-depth assessment should occur. The tool facilitates an understanding of risk factors to potentially impacted areas allowing owners to start to diagnose problems and generate solutions before flooding occurs. The process began with an original objective that would identify areas where there are an increased number of insurance claims. Early in its development, it became obvious that it could be a valuable tool for infrastructure managers. The team included three pilot municipalities from across the country that provided knowledge, data and feedback on the tool. As the power of the tool was developed and validated for municipalities and insurers, meteorologists were engaged to supplement the tool’s decision making capacity in developing future climate scenarios. On the surface, the tool is innovative because it a represents a marriage of datasets that do not naturally come together. With the unprecedented challenges of climate change and aging infrastructure, our standard practices and relationships need to be innovated. The tool provides objective proof that sharing information amongst stakeholders is valuable and benefit all parties including the public. Engineering is increasingly multi-disciplinary and there are exciting opportunities to facilitate continuous improvement by stretching traditional engineering paradigms. Prior to this tool, municipalities did not have access to claims information unless citizens took the initiative to report their claims

Age Differences in Women’s Anger Experience and Expression

Research on women’s anger is relative scarce. In this study the authors examined differences in anger experience and expression in women across three distinct age groups: 18-30, 31-49, and 50 and above. The authors used the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2) to survey a sample of 239 women in the United States and Canada. The groups were established according to hypothesized transitional life stages of changing responsibilities and expectations. A MANCOVA was used to test the effect of age and covariates of education, employment, relationship status, and country of residence on participants’ experience and expression of anger. The authors discuss limitations relative to sampling strategies as well as sample demographics and size, and discuss implications the implications of the findings for practice and future research

A theory of dynamical responses for metal films: surface roughness effects

A generic expression is derived for the dynamical response function of metal films, with conductivity tensors as the only input. The semi-classical model is then used to provide an analytical expression for the conductivity tensor, thus establishing a kinetic theory for the response function. A major advantage of the theory is its ability to handle surface roughness effects through the use of the so-called specularity parameter. We applied the theory to study the properties of surface plasma waves. It is found that surface roughness does not affect the dispersion, but rather the decay rate of these waves. Furthermore, it significantly affects the spectral weight carried by the SPW resonances, which diminishes toward zero as the specularity parameter approaches unity

Road infrastructure and primate conservation : introducing the Global primate roadkill database

As road infrastructure networks rapidly expand globally, especially in the tropics, previously continuous habitats are being fragmented, resulting in more frequent wildlife–vehicle collisions (WVC). Primates are widespread throughout many sub-/tropical countries, and as their habitats are fragmented, they are increasingly at risk of WVC. We created the Global Primate Roadkill Database (GPRD), the largest available standardized database of primate roadkill incidents. We obtained data from published papers, un-published and citizen science databases, anecdotal reports, news reports, and social media posts. Here, we describe the collection methods for the GPRD and present the most up-to-date version of the database in full. For each primate roadkill incident, we recorded the species killed, the exact location, and the year and month the roadkill was observed. At the time of publication, the GPRD includes 2862 individual primate roadkill records from 41 countries. As primates range in more than twice as many countries, the absence of data from these countries is not necessarily indicative of a lack of primate vehicular collisions. Given the value of these data for addressing both local and global research questions, we encourage conservationists and citizen scientists to contribute to the GPRD so that, together, we can better understand the impact road infrastructure has on primates and evaluate measures which may help mitigate risk-prone areas or species

An Evaluation Of Women\u27s Attitudes Towards Anger In Other Women And The Impact Of Such On Their Own Anger Expression Style

Research suggests that gender socialization contributes to how women perceive anger in general and anger in other women, and to how women express anger themselves. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether there is a relationship between how women perceive anger in other women and how they express anger themselves. Women age 18-75 (N=228) completed a vignette based on the vignettes, and theory of anger diversion in Cox, Van Velsor & Hulgus (2004), as well as the STAXI-2. Spearman Rho correlations found a relationship between how women express anger and how likely they feel other women would react in a similar manner. Comparisons were made and correlations were also found between how appropriate women gauge different anger responses, how likely they felt other women would engage in a similar manner, and women\u27s own anger expression style. Implications for practice and future research are included