The use of soil amendments in the revegetation of smelter-impacted soils near Flin Flon, MB/Creighton, SK

Some areas near Flin Flon, MB and Creighton, SK are devoid of vegetation due to a variety of mining, smelting, forestry activities and forest fires that have occurred since the 1930’s. This study investigated the use of soil amendments to enhance revegetation in these areas. The study was comprised of two main components, an in situ study and a growth chamber trial. The in situ component was conducted to determine the efficacy of soil amendments that could be utilized in a revegetation program. The growth chamber trial examined if the amount of moisture present in the soil would have an influence on the success of vegetation survival and growth. The in situ study was conducted near Flin Flon, MB and Creighton, SK over two growing seasons and consisted of replicated treatments imposed at 12 sites. Tree seedlings [trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) and jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.)] and understory species [tufted hairgrass (Deschampsia cespitosa L.) and American vetch (Vicia americana Muhl.)] were planted at each site. Each site also received soil amendments; bone meal and meat biochar (BMB), compost, commercial mycorrhizal inoculant (EMF) and, willow biochar (WB) in combination with dolomitic limestone and fertilizer. Each site also had a control that received an application of only dolomitic limestone and fertilizer. The growth chamber trial utilized the same plant species and soil amendments as the field trial with the exclusion of willow biochar. In general, soil amendments did not influence the survival or growth of the tree seedlings in situ or in the growth chamber trial. However, the compost amendment increased survival and growth of the tufted hairgrass significantly in the growth chamber trial and to a lesser extent in the field trial. Compost also positively influenced the pH and base saturation of the soil compared to the other amendments. The mycorrhizal inoculant increased the rate of mortality of tree species in the growth chamber trial. Moisture did not influence the survival and growth of the seedlings or understory species or the efficacy of the amendment treatments in this study

Face perception enhances insula and motor network reactivity in Tourette syndrome

Tourette syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder, characterised by motor and phonic tics. Tics are typically experienced as avolitional, compulsive, and associated with premonitory urges. They are exacerbated by stress and can be triggered by external stimuli, including social cues like the actions and facial expressions of others. Importantly, emotional social stimuli, with angry facial stimuli potentially the most potent social threat cue, also trigger behavioural reactions in healthy individuals, suggesting that such mechanisms may be particularly sensitive in people with Tourette syndrome. Twenty-one participants with Tourette syndrome and 21 healthy controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while viewing faces wearing either neutral or angry expressions to quantify group differences in neural activity associated with processing social information. Simultaneous video recordings of participants during neuroimaging enabled us to model confounding effects of tics on task-related responses to the processing of faces. In both Tourette syndrome and control participants, face stimuli evoked enhanced activation within canonical face perception regions, including the occipital face area and fusiform face area. However, the Tourette syndrome group showed additional responses within the anterior insula to both neutral and angry faces. Functional connectivity during face viewing was then examined in a series of psychophysiological interactions. In Tourette syndrome participants, the insula showed functional connectivity with a set of cortical regions previously implicated in tic generation: the pre-supplementary motor area, premotor cortex, primary motor cortex, and the putamen. Furthermore, insula functional connectivity with the globus pallidus and thalamus varied in proportion to tic severity, while supplementary motor area connectivity varied in proportion to premonitory sensations, with insula connectivity to these regions increasing to a greater extent in patients with worse symptom severity. In addition, the occipital face area showed increased functional connectivity in Tourette syndrome participants with posterior cortical regions, including primary somatosensory cortex, and occipital face area connectivity with primary somatosensory and primary motor cortices varied in proportion to tic severity. There were no significant psychophysiological interactions in controls. These findings highlight a potential mechanism in Tourette syndrome through which heightened representation within insular cortex of embodied affective social information may impact the reactivity of subcortical motor pathways, supporting programmed motor actions that are causally implicated in tic generation. Medicinal and psychological therapies that focus on reducing insular hyper-reactivity to social stimuli may have potential benefit for tic reduction in people with Tourette syndrome

Habitat selection and nest survival in two Great Plains shorebirds

As breeding populations of many grassland bird species decline, assessments of breeding habitat selection and reproductive success can provide useful insight into breeding ecology to support conservation delivery. Here, we demonstrate the use of nest location and survival data collated from 20 data contributors across the Prairie Pothole Region of the United States and Canada over a half century to examine habitat selection and nest survival of Western Willets (Tringa semipalmata inornata) and Marbled Godwits (Limosa fedoa), hereafter "willets" and "godwits." Both willets and godwits selected territories with less variation in vegetation height and topography relative to available locations. Willets selected nest sites that were flatter, closer to wetlands, and had shorter vegetation than Marbled Godwits, while godwits selected territories with greater wetland cover and shorter vegetation. Despite differences in fine-scale habitat selection, willets and godwits experienced similar daily nest survival rates and ecological drivers of nest survival. Nest success for the entire nest exposure period was estimated to be 0.521 (95% credible interval: 0.39-0.65) for willets and 0.562 (95% credible interval: 0.42-0.70) for godwits. Nest survival for both species increased with nest age and distance from the nest to the nearest wetland edge, while nest survival of godwits declined with conspecific breeding density. These relationships, as well as a weaker positive effect of microtine rodent abundance on nest survival, resembled drivers of upland nesting waterfowl reproductive success in the same region, which we attribute to their shared nest predators. Nest survival analyses of our collaborative dataset required substantial consideration of biases emerging from different data collection methods, ultimately reaffirming the importance of nest aging techniques in proper nest fate assignment. Analysis of compiled datasets using emerging analysis methods will continue to grow our understanding of the ecology of data sparse species

Designing Affordable Housing out of Shipping Containers for Chicago (Semester Unknown) IPRO 339: DesigningAffordableHousingOutOfShippingContainersForChicagoIPRO339FinalReportSu09

The City of Chicago has been nominated as the U.S. Bid City for 2016 Olympic Games and currently remains a strong contender for this title. If Chicago is selected as the Host City it will face the enormous task of providing temporary housing for all Olympiad participants including athletes, coaches, organizers, and media reporters. Continuing in the vein of last semester’s IPRO, our IPRO is proposing an economical and environmentally friendly solution to this challenge. We propose to utilize thousands of old shipping containers that are cluttering up shipping yards in the Chicago area and to convert them into low-cost housing units. With proper foresight, this challenge can become an opportunity for the I P R O 3 3 9 City to demonstrate an attitude of sustainability that can serve as a model for other cities around the world to follow suit. The intense media attention directed towards the Olympic Games could be channeled to showcase our commitment to environmentally and socially responsible actions.Deliverable

Designing Affordable Housing out of Shipping Containers for Chicago (Semester Unknown) IPRO 339: DesigningAffordableHousingOutOfShippingContainersForChicagoIPRO339BrochureSu09

The City of Chicago has been nominated as the U.S. Bid City for 2016 Olympic Games and currently remains a strong contender for this title. If Chicago is selected as the Host City it will face the enormous task of providing temporary housing for all Olympiad participants including athletes, coaches, organizers, and media reporters. Continuing in the vein of last semester’s IPRO, our IPRO is proposing an economical and environmentally friendly solution to this challenge. We propose to utilize thousands of old shipping containers that are cluttering up shipping yards in the Chicago area and to convert them into low-cost housing units. With proper foresight, this challenge can become an opportunity for the I P R O 3 3 9 City to demonstrate an attitude of sustainability that can serve as a model for other cities around the world to follow suit. The intense media attention directed towards the Olympic Games could be channeled to showcase our commitment to environmentally and socially responsible actions.Deliverable

Designing Affordable Housing out of Shipping Containers for Chicago (Semester Unknown) IPRO 339: DesigningAffordableHousingOutOfShippingContainersForChicagoIPRO339PosterSu09

The City of Chicago has been nominated as the U.S. Bid City for 2016 Olympic Games and currently remains a strong contender for this title. If Chicago is selected as the Host City it will face the enormous task of providing temporary housing for all Olympiad participants including athletes, coaches, organizers, and media reporters. Continuing in the vein of last semester’s IPRO, our IPRO is proposing an economical and environmentally friendly solution to this challenge. We propose to utilize thousands of old shipping containers that are cluttering up shipping yards in the Chicago area and to convert them into low-cost housing units. With proper foresight, this challenge can become an opportunity for the I P R O 3 3 9 City to demonstrate an attitude of sustainability that can serve as a model for other cities around the world to follow suit. The intense media attention directed towards the Olympic Games could be channeled to showcase our commitment to environmentally and socially responsible actions.Deliverable

Designing Affordable Housing and Olympic Village out of Shipping Containers for Chicago (Semester Unknown) IPRO 339: SustainableStudentHousingFromRecycledShippingContainersIPRO339PosterF09

As the deadline for determining which city will host the 2016 Olympics draws near, Chicago, along with Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo is trying to prove that it should be selected as the Host City. If on October 2nd Chicago is chosen as the Host City for the 2016 Olympics, it will face the enormous task of providing temporary housing for all Olympics and Paralympics participants, including athletes, coaches, organizers and media reporters. Building upon the previous two semesters, our IPRO is proposing an economical and environmentally friendly solution to this challenge. We propose to utilize thousands of old shipping containers that are cluttering up shipping yards all over the Chicago-land area and convert them into a more cost effective alternative to traditional housing units. Since Chicago’s motto for the 2016 Olympics is “the Blue Green Olympics,” which references the way Chicago prides itself in creating sustainable I P R O 3 3 9 solutions, our proposal would only enhance our chances of being selected as the Host City in addition to being a city that thinks “outside of the box.”Deliverable

Designing Affordable Housing out of Shipping Containers for Chicago (Semester Unknown) IPRO 339

The City of Chicago has been nominated as the U.S. Bid City for 2016 Olympic Games and currently remains a strong contender for this title. If Chicago is selected as the Host City it will face the enormous task of providing temporary housing for all Olympiad participants including athletes, coaches, organizers, and media reporters. Continuing in the vein of last semester’s IPRO, our IPRO is proposing an economical and environmentally friendly solution to this challenge. We propose to utilize thousands of old shipping containers that are cluttering up shipping yards in the Chicago area and to convert them into low-cost housing units. With proper foresight, this challenge can become an opportunity for the I P R O 3 3 9 City to demonstrate an attitude of sustainability that can serve as a model for other cities around the world to follow suit. The intense media attention directed towards the Olympic Games could be channeled to showcase our commitment to environmentally and socially responsible actions.Deliverable

Designing Affordable Housing out of Shipping Containers for Chicago (Semester Unknown) IPRO 339: DesigningAffordableHousingOutOfShippingContainersForChicagoIPRO339ProjectPlanSu09_redacted

The City of Chicago has been nominated as the U.S. Bid City for 2016 Olympic Games and currently remains a strong contender for this title. If Chicago is selected as the Host City it will face the enormous task of providing temporary housing for all Olympiad participants including athletes, coaches, organizers, and media reporters. Continuing in the vein of last semester’s IPRO, our IPRO is proposing an economical and environmentally friendly solution to this challenge. We propose to utilize thousands of old shipping containers that are cluttering up shipping yards in the Chicago area and to convert them into low-cost housing units. With proper foresight, this challenge can become an opportunity for the I P R O 3 3 9 City to demonstrate an attitude of sustainability that can serve as a model for other cities around the world to follow suit. The intense media attention directed towards the Olympic Games could be channeled to showcase our commitment to environmentally and socially responsible actions.Deliverable

Designing Affordable Housing and Olympic Village out of Shipping Containers for Chicago (Semester Unknown) IPRO 339: SustainableStudentHousingFromRecycledShippingContainersIPRO339EthicsF09

As the deadline for determining which city will host the 2016 Olympics draws near, Chicago, along with Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo is trying to prove that it should be selected as the Host City. If on October 2nd Chicago is chosen as the Host City for the 2016 Olympics, it will face the enormous task of providing temporary housing for all Olympics and Paralympics participants, including athletes, coaches, organizers and media reporters. Building upon the previous two semesters, our IPRO is proposing an economical and environmentally friendly solution to this challenge. We propose to utilize thousands of old shipping containers that are cluttering up shipping yards all over the Chicago-land area and convert them into a more cost effective alternative to traditional housing units. Since Chicago’s motto for the 2016 Olympics is “the Blue Green Olympics,” which references the way Chicago prides itself in creating sustainable I P R O 3 3 9 solutions, our proposal would only enhance our chances of being selected as the Host City in addition to being a city that thinks “outside of the box.”Deliverable