Does land use and landscape contribute to self-harm? A sustainability cities framework

Self-harm has become one of the leading causes of mortality in developed countries. The overall rate for suicide in Canada is 11.3 per 100,000 according to Statistics Canada in 2015. Between 2000 and 2007 the lowest rates of suicide in Canada were in Ontario, one of the most urbanized regions in Canada. However, the interaction between land use, landscape and self-harm has not been significantly studied for urban cores. It is thus of relevance to understand the impacts of land-use and landscape on suicidal behavior. This paper takes a spatial analytical approach to assess the occurrence of self-harm along one of the densest urban cores in the country: Toronto. Individual self-harm data was gathered by the National Ambulatory Care System (NACRS) and geocoded into census tract divisions. Toronto’s urban landscape is quantified at spatial level through the calculation of its land use at di erent levels: (i) land use type, (ii) sprawl metrics relating to (a) dispersion and (b) sprawl/mix incidence; (iii) fragmentation metrics of (a) urban fragmentation and (b) density and (iv) demographics of (a) income and (b) age. A stepwise regression is built to understand the most influential factors leading to self-harm from this selection generating an explanatory model.This research was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Strategic Team Grant in Applied Injury Research # TIR-103946 and the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation grantinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Wastewater treatment by filamentous macroalgae

An increase in anthropogenic activity has led to the heightened levels of pollution entering aquatic systems. These excessive concentrations of heavy metals, nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) in water bodies can lead to several adverse impacts, such as eutrophication and human health risks. Therefore, the removal of pollutants from wastewaters, prior to their discharge into the natural environment, is of paramount importance. However, conventional wastewater treatment (WWT) technologies have their limitations; for instance, large capital/operational costs, and incomplete removal of contaminants. Therefore, innovative and more effective treatment technologies are required. Macro-algae typically have high growth and solar energy conversion rates, and are able to sequester nutrients, utilise CO2, and adsorb metals from aquatic environments. Therefore, algae may have potential applications in WWT. Furthermore, costs could be negated by the production of renewable algal biomass which may have a variety of commercially exploitable applications. However, issues such as poor selection of species or cultivation systems, and a lack of understanding of the influence of biological, chemical and physical factors, particularly in a highly dynamic wastewater environments, has led to varied results and prevented algal WWT becoming a widespread reality. In this thesis the algae Cladophora coelothrix and Cladophora parriaudii were studied as potential organisms for implementation into WWT. In addition to the features mentioned above, Cladophora was selected due to its ubiquity, filamentous morphology, which minimises harvesting costs, as well as their natural dominance and bloom forming behaviour in nutrient-rich environments. The influence of dewatering techniques, environmental factors, and nutrient regime upon the growth, nutrient/metal removal, and biochemical composition of the biomass were assessed. The first aspect of the thesis was an abiotic screening process, in order to investigate the robustness of Cladophora and its suitability for WWT applications on a fundamental level. Good rates of growth (4-13.3% d-1) and nutrient removal (45.2-99.9%) were observed throughout the screening process, except under the most extreme of conditions, e.g. pH 3. This indicated that Cladophora are potentially suitable for treating a broad range of wastewaters and merit further research to improve its potential applicability for WWT applications and commercial realisation. For instance, developing a reliable and accurate method for fresh weight (FW) assessment and hence productivity estimation. The determination of growth rate via FW measurement is one of the most basic aspects of algal biology, yet no standardised method exists for filamentous macro-algae. A variety of FW methods were systematically assessed in terms of accuracy and physiological impact. Methods involving mechanical pressing to dewater the biomass resulted in >25% reduction in the final biomass yield, compared to control cultures. The best method for FW determination employed a reticulated spinner, which was rapid, reliable, and easily standardised. Furthermore, this approach ensured accurate growth estimation with minimal physiological impact, measured as growth, maintenance of structural integrity and nutrient removal. This indicates that the method developed has the potential for widespread application in macro-algal cultivation, as such the method was employed throughout this thesis. The influence of nutrient regime on growth, biochemical composition, and bioremediation capacity was studied for both species of Cladophora. The nutrient regimes tested, representative of a broad variety of wastewaters, included four different N/P ratios, four N sources (ammonium, nitrate, nitrite and urea), and six different equimolar N source combinations provided at two N/P ratios. There were clear differences in performance between the two species, with higher rates of growth observed in all instances by C. parriaudii (4.75-11.2% d-1 vs. 3.98-7.37% d-1). Furthermore, ammonium was removed preferentially, whereas urea was removed secondarily. However, the presence of urea in the medium enhanced growth and uptake of the other co-existing N-forms, and yielded a carbohydrate-rich biomass (37.6-54% DW). These findings demonstrate that algal strain selection is important for treating wastewaters with specific nutrient profiles. In addition, results from this study suggest that nutrient regimes can be tailored to produce biomass with certain properties or characteristics, which make it suitable for further, potentially commercially viable, applications, such as metal biosorption. Since the biochemical characteristics of algal biomass were shown to be affected by nutrient regime, the final chapter describes research investigating the influence of nutritional history on metal biosorption. C. parriaudii was cultivated under different nutrient regimes to produce biomass of varying biochemical composition. This biomass was then used for metal removal, with maximum removal rates ranging from 1.08-2.35 mmol g1, 0.3-0.62 mmol g-1, 0.22-0.48 mmol g-1, and 0.43-0.61 mmol g-1 for Al2+, Cu2+, Mn2+, and Pb2+, respectively. Observations from this work indicate that metal removal is achieved by various mechanisms including adsorption, ion exchange, complexation and micro-precipitation, and that the biosorption efficacy is dependent upon the number and type of functional groups present, which are in turn influenced by the cultures nutrient regime. Overall, this study demonstrates the inter-relatedness of biological, chemical, and physical factors on algal growth, nutrient removal, biochemical composition, and metal biosorption. Results from this work have highlighted the need for standardisation in protocols, increased understanding of the influence of algal selection and nutrient characteristics in bioremediation, and highlighted the importance of considering biological aspects, specifically nutritional history, in biosorption studies

Long-Term Outcomes in Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A Systematic Review of Patellar Tendon Versus Hamstring Autografts.

BACKGROUND: Much controversy still exists surrounding graft choice in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. Over the past decade, an increase in comparative studies with longer follow-up has enhanced our understanding of current graft options and outcomes. PURPOSE: To describe the long-term comparative outcomes of ACL reconstruction with autograft bone-patellar tendon-bone (BPTB) versus autograft hamstring (HS) ACL reconstruction with regard to clinical and radiographic outcomes. STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review; Level of evidence, 2. METHODS: A search of the PubMed, MEDLINE, Cochrane, and Scopus databases was performed to identify studies in the English language with outcome data comparing ACL reconstruction utilizing autograft BPTB and autograft HS; only studies with a minimum 5-year follow-up were included. Outcome data included failure and complications, manual and instrumented laxity, patient-reported outcomes, and radiographic risk of osteoarthritis. RESULTS: Twelve studies with a total of 953 patients met the inclusion criteria. Of these studies, 8 were level 1 evidence and 2 were level 2. Mean follow-up was 8.96 years (range, 5-15.3 years). No differences in graft failure or manual or instrumented laxity were seen in any studies. Lower clinical outcomes scores and greater motion loss were seen in BPTB patients in 1 and 2 studies, respectively. Two of 4 studies reporting on anterior knee pain, and 3 of 7 that recorded kneeling pain found it more frequently among BPTB patients. One study found significantly increased reoperation rates in HS patients, while another found a similar result in BPTB, and 1 study reported a significant increase in contralateral ACL tears in BPTB patients. Three of 5 studies reporting on radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis noted significantly increased rates in BPTB patients. CONCLUSION: This systematic review comparing long-term outcomes after ACL reconstruction with either autograft BPTB or autograft HS suggests no significant differences in manual/instrumented laxity and graft failures between graft types. An increase in long-term anterior knee pain, kneeling pain, and higher rates of osteoarthritis were noted with BPTB graft use

Kentucky Traffic Collision Facts 2020

KENTUCKY’S TRAFFIC COLLISION FACTS report is based on collision reports submitted to the Kentucky State Police Records Branch. As required by Kentucky Revised Statutes 189.635: “Every law enforcement agency whose officers investigate a vehicle accident of which a report must be made...shall file a report of the accident...within ten days after investigation of the accident upon forms supplied by the bureau.” The stated purpose of this requirement is to utilize data on traffic collisions for such purposes as will improve the traffic safety program in the Commonwealth

Benefits to the U.S. from Physicists Working at Accelerators Overseas

We illustrate benefits to the U.S. economy and technological infrastructure of U.S. participation in accelerators overseas. We discuss contributions to experimental hardware and analysis and to accelerator technology and components, and benefits stemming from the involvement of U.S. students and postdoctoral fellows in global scientific collaborations. Contributed to the proceedings of the Snowmass 2013 Community Summer Study.Comment: 23 pages, 1 figur

Security of infantile attachment as assessed in the strange situation: its study and biological intrepretation

We study the Ainsworth \u27Strange Situation\u27 procedure to assess attachment between infant and parent, and intrepret individual variation in terms of modern human behavioral ecology ( sociobiology

Analysis of Traffic Crash Data in Kentucky 2017-2021

Each year the Kentucky Transportation Center publishes Analysis of Traffic Crash Data in Kentucky, a report that reviews state-level crash data from the previous five years. This report summarizes crash data for 2017 through 2021. In addition to presenting a review of crash data, the report also contains safety performance functions (SPFs) for nine roadway types. Because SPFs were derived using 2017-2021 data, the models predict crashes for a five-year period. Users must adjust the model by adding a coefficient of 1/5 to models to avoid overestimating crashes by a factor of five

Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Photometric Quasar Clustering: Probing the Initial Conditions of the Universe using the Largest Volume

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has surveyed 14,555 square degrees of the sky, and delivered over a trillion pixels of imaging data. We present the large-scale clustering of 1.6 million quasars between z = 0.5 and z = 2.5 that have been classified from this imaging, representing the highest density of quasars ever studied for clustering measurements. This data set spans ~11,000 square degrees and probes a volume of 80(Gpc/h)^3. In principle, such a large volume and medium density of tracers should facilitate high-precision cosmological constraints. We measure the angular clustering of photometrically classified quasars using an optimal quadratic estimator in four redshift slices with an accuracy of ~25% over a bin width of l ~10 - 15 on scales corresponding to matter-radiation equality and larger (l ~ 2 - 30). Observational systematics can strongly bias clustering measurements on large scales, which can mimic cosmologically relevant signals such as deviations from Gaussianity in the spectrum of primordial perturbations. We account for systematics by employing a new method recently proposed by Agarwal et al. (2014) to the clustering of photometrically classified quasars. We carefully apply our methodology to mitigate known observational systematics and further remove angular bins that are contaminated by unknown systematics. Combining quasar data with the photometric luminous red galaxy (LRG) sample of Ross et al. (2011) and Ho et al. (2012), and marginalizing over all bias and shot noise-like parameters, we obtain a constraint on local primordial non-Gaussianity of fNL = -113+/-154 (1\sigma error). [Abridged]Comment: 35 pages, 15 figure

Kentucky Traffic Collision Facts 2019

KENTUCKY’S TRAFFIC COLLISION FACTS report is based on collision reports submitted to the Kentucky State Police Records Branch. As required by Kentucky Revised Statutes 189.635: “Every law enforcement agency whose officers investigate a vehicle accident of which a report must be made...shall file a report of the accident...within ten days after investigation of the accident upon forms supplied by the bureau.” The stated purpose of this requirement is to utilize data on traffic collisions for such purposes as will improve the traffic safety program in the Commonwealth