Balsam Poplar (Populus balsamifera; Salicaceae) Beyond the Tree Line in the Western Canadian Mainland Arctic (Northwest Territories)

Balsam poplar is the northernmost tree species in North America, with a reported range that extends generally to the tree line across the continent and beyond the tree line in Alaska, where extralimital stands growing in Arctic ecosystems on the North Slope have been documented and studied. Here we summarize existing information and report new data on extralimital stands of balsam poplar from the Arctic ecozone in the northeastern mainland Northwest Territories. These occurrences extend the geographical and ecological range of the species fully into the mainland Canadian Arctic. In this region, balsam poplar is known from four sites: two in Tuktut Nogait National Park and two along the Hornaday and Brock rivers just beyond the northwestern Park boundary. Balsam poplar was first reported from two of these sites more than 50 years ago, but those data have not been considered in most subsequent floristic and ecological work. A balsam poplar grove in Tuktut Nogait National Park consists of four discrete stands of shrubby plants growing on a low ridge adjacent to the Hornaday River; their tallest ramets measure 1.1 – 1.86 m. A larger grove along the edge of the lower Brock River consists of three large stands, the tallest ramets measuring 3.5 – 4 m. The boreal and subarctic regions of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut have large areas where balsam poplar has not been documented by herbarium specimens, including most of the forest-tundra and tree-line zones. Collections from these areas and other potential extralimital sites in the Canadian Arctic are urgently needed to document the current distribution of balsam poplar. Such data could serve as a baseline for assessing potential future alteration of the range of this species as a result of climate change.Le peuplier baumier est l’espèce arborescente qui pousse le plus au nord de l’Amérique du Nord. Son aire d’extension s’étendrait généralement jusqu’à la limite forestière du continent et au-delà de la limite forestière de l’Alaska, où des peuplements extralimites qui croissent dans les écosystèmes arctiques ont été répertoriés et étudiés sur le versant nord. Nous résumons ici des données recueillies antérieurement et publions de nouvelles données sur les peuplements extralimites de peupliers baumiers de l’écozone arctique se situant dans la partie continentale nord-est des Territoires du Nord-Ouest. Ces occurrences ont pour effet d’étendre la portée géographique et écologique de l’espèce entièrement sur la partie continentale de l’Arctique canadien. Dans cette région, le peuplier baumier se retrouve dans quatre emplacements : deux d’entre eux se trouvent dans le parc national Tuktut Nogait et les deux autres, le long des rivières Hornaday et Brock, juste au-delà de la limite nord-ouest du parc. Le peuplier baumier a été signalé dans deux de ces emplacements il y a plus de 50 ans, mais ces données n’ont pas été considérées dans la plupart des études floristiques et écologiques subséquentes. Un bocage de peupliers baumiers du parc national Tuktut Nogait consiste en quatre peuplements discrets de végétation arbustive poussant sur une dorsale basse adjacente à la rivière Hornaday; les plus grands ramets y mesurent de 1,1 à 1,86 mètre. Un bocage plus volumineux le long du rivage de la rivière Brock inférieure est composé de trois gros peuplements, où les ramets les plus grands mesurent de 3,5 à 4 mètres. Les régions boréale et subarctique des Territoires du Nord-Ouest et du Nunavut sont dotées de grandes sections où le peuplier baumier n’a pas été répertorié dans les échantillons d’herbiers, ce qui comprend la plus grande partie de la toundra forestière et les zones de limite forestière. Il faudrait procéder promptement à la collecte d’échantillons de ces régions et d’autres emplacements extralimites potentiels de l’Arctique canadien afin de pouvoir consigner la répartition actuelle du peuplier baumier. De telles données pourraient servir de point de référence pour évaluer la modification éventuelle de l’aire d’extension de cette espèce, modification attribuable au changement climatique

Corporations—Restrictions on Alienation of Stock—When Valid

The validity of a charter provision giving the directors of a corporation the unrestricted power to purchase, retire, or cancel common stock at will was challenged by a newly retired employee whose stock had been called by the company. Held: the provision was not invalid per se and would support a call of common shares if not exercised arbitrarily. Plaintiff’s refusal to comply with the corporate decree was based upon his contention that the broad power of the call provision created an unreasonable “restraint on alienation.” However, plaintiff had been an officer and director of the corporation for over 25 years, and had voted for the adoption of the challenged provision. He knew that the purpose of the provision was to keep all stock in the hands of active officers and directors and that it had been an invariable practice for retiring officers and directors to sell their stock either to other shareholders or to the corporation. While the decision is thus justified by the facts, it may appear to sanction an arbitrary call power much broader than is required to achieve the end which motivated it, i.e., keeping all stock in the hands of active officers and directors

Arts and Humanities: Budget (1974-1976): Report 07

<p>Leymus innovatus subsp. velutinus. Kuc 405 (CAN 432023)</p

Design Arts (1994-1995): Correspondence 01

<p>Pinguicula vulgaris. Saarela, Gillespie, Sokoloff & Bull 2565 (CAN 601975)</p

Constitutional Law—Due Process—Right to Counsel in State Felony Proceedings

Petitioner, under a life sentence imposed by a state court, brought a writ of habeas corpus alleging violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in that while he was of unsound mind and unassisted by counsel, he was tried and convicted of a charge carrying a mandatory life sentence. The lower court dismissed the writ without a hearing. Held: reversed, a hearing on the issue of insanity was required. If the allegations were true, the failure to assign counsel violated the Fourteenth Amendment since a trial which left the defense to a man who was insane and who by reason of his mental condition was unable to raise the insanity issue was unfair. The accused in a federal felony proceeding is assured the right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment. In state felony proceedings, however, the Sixth Amendment is held inapplicable; instead the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment controls. In interpreting the Due Process Clause, the Supreme Court has required counsel only where the absence of counsel was prejudicial to fundamental rights of the accused. In an attempt to define this vague standard, the nine members of the Court have frequently disagreed on what constitutes a prejudicial situation. The majority, following a case-by-case method of definition, has established certain categories of situations which are considered prejudicial if counsel is absent, e.g., where there is (1) a young and inexperienced defendant; (2) a mentally deficient defendant; (3) a possibility of a death sentence; (4) a defendant who is a stranger to our language and our courts; (5) deception by the prosecution; (6) a biased or careless judge; or (7) complexity of issues. A minority of the Court has constantly argued that the lack of counsel in any felony proceeding is prejudicial to the fundamental rights of the accused. The instant case adheres to the majority’s rationale and establishes yet another situation in which the lack of counsel creates a potential danger to the fundamental rights of the accused; viz, the possibility of an insane defendant

PTF10fqs: A Luminous Red Nova in the Spiral Galaxy Messier 99

The Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) is systematically charting the optical transient and variable sky. A primary science driver of PTF is building a complete inventory of transients in the local Universe (distance less than 200 Mpc). Here, we report the discovery of PTF10fqs, a transient in the luminosity "gap" between novae and supernovae. Located on a spiral arm of Messier 99, PTF 10fqs has a peak luminosity of Mr = -12.3, red color (g-r = 1.0) and is slowly evolving (decayed by 1 mag in 68 days). It has a spectrum dominated by intermediate-width H (930 km/s) and narrow calcium emission lines. The explosion signature (the light curve and spectra) is overall similar to thatof M85OT2006-1, SN2008S, and NGC300OT. The origin of these events is shrouded in mystery and controversy (and in some cases, in dust). PTF10fqs shows some evidence of a broad feature (around 8600A) that may suggest very large velocities (10,000 km/s) in this explosion. Ongoing surveys can be expected to find a few such events per year. Sensitive spectroscopy, infrared monitoring and statistics (e.g. disk versus bulge) will eventually make it possible for astronomers to unravel the nature of these mysterious explosions.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, Replaced with published versio

ACCESS: Design and Sub-System Performance

Establishing improved spectrophotometric standards is important for a broad range of missions and is relevant to many astrophysical problems. ACCESS, "Absolute Color Calibration Experiment for Standard Stars", is a series of rocket-borne sub-orbital missions and ground-based experiments designed to enable improvements in the precision of the astrophysical flux scale through the transfer of absolute laboratory detector standards from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to a network of stellar standards with a calibration accuracy of 1% and a spectral resolving power of 500 across the 0.35 -1.7 micrometer bandpass

Participant recruitment and retention in a pilot program to prevent weight gain in low-income overweight and obese mothers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Recruitment and retention are key functions for programs promoting nutrition and other lifestyle behavioral changes in low-income populations. This paper describes strategies for recruitment and retention and presents predictors of early (two-month post intervention) and late (eight-month post intervention) dropout (non retention) and overall retention among young, low-income overweight and obese mothers participating in a community-based randomized pilot trial called <it>Mothers In Motion</it>.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Low-income overweight and obese African American and white mothers ages 18 to 34 were recruited from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children in southern Michigan. Participants (n = 129) were randomly assigned to an intervention (n = 64) or control (n = 65) group according to a stratification procedure to equalize representation in two racial groups (African American and white) and three body mass index categories (25.0-29.9 kg/m², 30.0-34.9 kg/m², and 35.0-39.9 kg/m²). The 10-week theory-based culturally sensitive intervention focused on healthy eating, physical activity, and stress management messages that were delivered via an interactive DVD and reinforced by five peer-support group teleconferences. Forward stepwise multiple logistic regression was performed to examine whether dietary fat, fruit and vegetable intake behaviors, physical activity, perceived stress, positive and negative affect, depression, and race predicted dropout as data were collected two-month and eight-month after the active intervention phase.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Trained personnel were successful in recruiting subjects. Increased level of depression was a predictor of early dropout (odds ratio = 1.04; 95% CI = 1.00, 1.08; p = 0.03). Greater stress predicted late dropout (odds ratio = 0.20; 95% CI = 0.00, 0.37; p = 0.01). Dietary fat, fruit, and vegetable intake behaviors, physical activity, positive and negative affect, and race were not associated with either early or late dropout. Less negative affect was a marginal predictor of participant retention (odds ratio = 0.57; 95% CI = 0.31, 1.03; p = 0.06).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Dropout rates in this study were higher for participants who reported higher levels of depression and stress.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>Current Controlled Trials NCT00944060</p