From Gangs of Hooligans to Captains and Generals of the Industrial Army: The Windsor Walkerville Technical School, 1923 - 1973

In contrast to recent general conceptions of technical secondary schools in Ontario the Windsor Walkerville Technical School later named W D Lowe Technical School was wholeheartedly supported by its community The school began with a vision of offering education that was appealing to those boys who were deemed likely to end up in gangs of hooligans The rough and tough reputation of the WWTS WDLTS would attest to the needs that founder F P Gavin saw in the community but the school quickly gained a reputation for turning out the captains and generals of the industrial army in the form of skilled and successful machinists tool and die makers and mould makers who built specialized parts for the automotive industry The school existed historically in a social and economic context with the ingredients for a technical secondary school that served working class male youth well Today those ingredients no longer exis

Modeling apparent Pb loss in zircon U–Pb geochronology

oai:publications.copernicus.org:gchron110471The loss of radiogenic Pb from zircon is known to be a major factor that can cause inaccuracy in the U–Pb geochronological system; hence, there is a need to better characterize the distribution of Pb loss in natural samples. Treatment of zircon by chemical abrasion (CA) has become standard practice in isotope dilution–thermal ionization mass spectrometry (ID-TIMS), but CA is much less commonly employed prior to in situ analysis via laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) or secondary ionization mass spectrometry (SIMS). Differentiating the effects of low levels of Pb loss in Phanerozoic zircon with relatively low-precision in situ U–Pb dates, where the degree of Pb loss is insufficient to cause discernible discordance, is challenging. We show that U–Pb isotopic ratios that have been perturbed by Pb loss may be modeled by convolving a Gaussian distribution that represents random variations from the true isotopic value stemming from analytical uncertainty with a distribution that characterizes Pb loss. We apply this mathematical framework to model the distribution of apparent Pb loss in 10 igneous samples that have both non-CA LA-ICP-MS or SIMS U–Pb dates and an estimate of the crystallization age, either through CA U–Pb or 40Ar/39Ar geochronology. All but one sample showed negative age offsets that were unlikely to have been drawn from an unperturbed U–Pb date distribution. Modeling apparent Pb loss using the logit–normal distribution produced good fits with all 10 samples and showed two contrasting patterns in apparent Pb loss; samples where most zircon U–Pb dates undergo a bulk shift and samples where most zircon U–Pb dates exhibited a low age offset but fewer dates had more significant offset. Our modeling framework allows comparison of relative degrees of apparent Pb loss between samples of different age, with the first and second Wasserstein distances providing useful estimates of the total magnitude of apparent Pb loss. Given that the large majority of in situ U–Pb dates are acquired without the CA treatment, this study highlights a pressing need for improved characterization of apparent Pb-loss distributions in natural samples to aid in interpreting non-CA in situ U–Pb data and to guide future data collection strategies.</p

Perturbations of the Richardson number field by gravity waves

An analytic solution is presented for a stratified fluid of arbitrary constant Richardson number. By computer aided analysis the perturbation fields, including that of the Richardson number can be calculated. The results of the linear analytic model were compared with nonlinear simulations, leading to the following conclusions: (1) the perturbations in the Richardson number field, when small, are produced primarily by the perturbations of the shear; (2) perturbations of in the Richardson number field, even when small, are not symmetric, the increase being significantly larger than the decrease (the linear analytic solution and the nonlinear simulations both confirm this result); (3) as the perturbations grow, this asymmetry increases, but more so in the nonlinear simulations than in the linear analysis; (4) for large perturbations of the shear flow, the static stability, as represented by N2, is the dominating mechanism, becoming zero or negative, and producing convective overturning; and (5) the convectional measure of linearity in lee wave theory, NH/U, is no longer the critical parameter (it is suggested that (H/u sub 0) (du sub 0/dz) takes on this role in a shearing flow)

Melatonin Alters Age-Related Changes in Transcription Factors and Kinase Activation

Male mice were fed 40 ppm melatonin for 2 months prior to sacrifice at age 26 months, and compared with both 26 and 4 month-old untreated controls. The nuclear translocation of NF-κB increased with age in both brain and spleen and this was reversed by melatonin only in brain. Another transcription factor, AP-1 was increased with age in the spleen and not in brain and this could be blocked by melatonin treatment. The fraction of the active relative to the inactive form of several enabling kinases was compared. The proportion of activated ERK was elevated with age in brain and spleen but this change was unresponsive to melatonin. A similar age-related increase in glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) was also refractory to melatonin treatment. The cerebral melatonin M1 receptor decreased with age in brain but increased in spleen. The potentially beneficial nature of melatonin for the preservation of brain function with aging was suggested by the finding that an age-related decline in cortical synaptophysin levels was prevented by dietary melatonin

A Simulation Based Study in a Hospital Emergency Department: Capacity and Workflow Issues

Emergency departments’ capacities to deal with a patient surge (the number of patients increases in a short period of time) play an important role in preparedness for natural or man-made disasters. This paper examines how emergency departments could improve their capacities by optimizing the workflow. A framework is proposed to reconfigure the workflow to improve capacity while maintaining treatment equality. Our results show that reducing lower priority processes and combining originally separate processes can shorten patient total waiting time in the emergency department

Data Model Development for Fire Related Extreme Events - An Activity Theory and Semiotics Approach

Post analyses of major extreme events reveal that information sharing is critical for an effective emergency response. The lack of consistent data standards in the current emergency management practice however serves only to hinder efficient critical information flow among the incident responders. In this paper, we adopt a theory driven approach to develop a XML-based data model that prescribes a comprehensive set of data standards for fire related extreme events to better address the challenges of information interoperability. The data model development is guided by third generation Activity Theory and semiotics theories for requirement analyses. The model validation is achieved using a RFC-like process typical in standards development. This paper applies the standards to the real case of a fire incident scenario. Further, it complies with the national leading initiatives in emergency standards (National Information Exchange Model)

Dual effects of ‘losses disguised as wins’ and near-misses in a slot machine game

Individually, both near-misses and losses disguised as wins (LDWs) have been seen to exert pro-motivational effects on gambling. However, it is not clear whether both structural characteristics are effective within the same game. Participants (n = 40) played a slot machine simulation. The simulation delivered near-misses, wins and ‘full-misses’. Half the participants also received LDWs that occurred independently of the outcomes on the payline. Valence and motivation ratings were collected after each round. Results showed that the LDW group reported increased valence ratings compared to the no-LDW group. Within the LDW group, trials with LDWs also resulted in increased enjoyment compared to trials without LDWs. We distinguished near-misses falling either side of the payline. Near-misses before the payline (NMB) were rated as more motivational than near-misses after the payline (NMA), whereas NMAs were rated as more aversive than NMBs. These differences between the two near-miss types were exacerbated by LDWs. Results demonstrate LDWs increase the trial-by-trial enjoyment of non-win outcomes. The motivational and hedonic effects of near-misses differed for events either side of the payline, and these differences were exaggerated by the presence of LDWs. Thus, near-misses can retain their effectiveness in complex forms of gambling that also deliver LDWs