Foragebeef.ca Web Site: A Model for Technology Transfer

We live in an age of information overload. As budgets for technology transfer of scientific information and extension education continue to fall, new ways to disseminate agricultural knowledge are needed. Research findings, published in many scientific journals and reports, are seldom readily available to extension agents and farmers. Over time some of this material is lost. This program aimed to locate the best information on various forage and beef topics relative to Canada and the Northern USA and to summarise them in condensed form and in scientific review papers for a web-based site

Statistical Assessment of Shapes and Magnetic Field Orientations in Molecular Clouds through Polarization Observations

We present a novel statistical analysis aimed at deriving the intrinsic shapes and magnetic field orientations of molecular clouds using dust emission and polarization observations by the Hertz polarimeter. Our observables are the aspect ratio of the projected plane-of-the-sky cloud image, and the angle between the mean direction of the plane-of-the-sky component of the magnetic field and the short axis of the cloud image. To overcome projection effects due to the unknown orientation of the line-of-sight, we combine observations from 24 clouds, assuming that line-of-sight orientations are random and all are equally probable. Through a weighted least-squares analysis, we find that the best-fit intrinsic cloud shape describing our sample is an oblate disk with only small degrees of triaxiality. The best-fit intrinsic magnetic field orientation is close to the direction of the shortest cloud axis, with small (~24 deg) deviations toward the long/middle cloud axes. However, due to the small number of observed clouds, the power of our analysis to reject alternative configurations is limited.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Playing with Fire : Armand Vaillancourt : Social Sculptor

Grande's examination of the life and art of Vaillancourt highlights controversial aspects of the artist's career. Formal, material and technical characteristics of Vaillancourt's public monuments and "social sculpture" are considered in relation to the evolution of modernist sculpture in Quebec. Includes bibliography and brief biographical notes on Grande. 164 bibl. ref

History of Childhood Abuse and Mother-infant Interaction: a Systematic Review of Observational Studies

Literature that has examined maternal self-reported history of abuse and an observational assessment of infant-mother interaction were reviewed. Electronic databases were searched, and studies that met predefined criteria were included. Fourteen (12 independent samples) studies were included and assessed for quality using the Effective Public Health Practice Project tool (National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools, 2008). Ten of the 14 studies found a direct or an indirect relationship between self-reported abuse and observed caregiving. The small number of studies and variation in sample characteristics and measurement limit conclusions. Of the studies that were rated of the highest quality, there is some consistency showing that the effect of maternal abuse history on caregiving may be via a third variable (i.e., stress reactivity or depressive symptoms). The current review discusses strengths and limitations of the existing literature and offers suggestions for future research

Perioperative Teaching and Feedback: How are we doing in Canadian OTL-HNS programs?

Background: Discrepancies between resident and faculty perceptions regarding optimal teaching and feedback during surgery are well known but these differences have not yet been described in Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery (OTL-HNS). The objectives were thus to compare faculty and resident perceptions of perioperative teaching and feedback in OTL-HNS residency programs across Canada with the aim of highlighting potential areas for improvement. Methods: An anonymous electronic questionnaire was distributed to residents and teaching faculty in OTL-HNS across Canada with additional paper copies distributed at four institutions. Surveys consisted of ratings on a 5-point Likert scale and open-ended questions. Responses among groups were analysed with the Wilcoxon-Mann Whitney test, while thematic analysis was used for the open-ended questions. Results: A total of 143 teaching faculty and residents responded with statistically significant differences on 11 out of 25 variables. Namely, faculty reported higher rates of pre and intra-operative teaching compared to resident reports. Faculty also felt they gave adequate feedback on residents\u27 strengths and technical skills contrary to what the residents thought. Both groups did agree however that pre-operative discussion is not consistently done, nor is feedback consistently given or sought. Conclusion: Faculty and residents in OTL-HNS residency programs disagree on the frequency and optimal timing of peri-operative teaching and feedback. This difference in perception emphasizes the need for a more structured approach to feedback delivery including explicitly stating when feedback is being given, and the overall need for better communication between residents and staff

Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector (MKID) Camera Testing for Submillimeter Astronomy

Developing kilopixel focal planes for incoherent submm- and mm-wave detectors remains challenging due to either the large hardware overhead or the complexity of multiplexing standard detectors. Microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) provide a efficient means to produce fully lithographic background-limited kilopixel focal planes. We are constructing an MKID-based camera for the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory with 576 spatial pixels each simultaneously sensitive in 4 bands at 230, 300, 350, and 400 GHz. The novelty of MKIDs has required us to develop new techniques for detector characterization. We have measured quasiparticle lifetimes and resonator Qs for detector bath temperatures between 200 mK and 400 mK. Equivalent lifetime measurements were made by coupling energy into the resonators either optically or by driving the third harmonic of the resonator. To determine optical loading, we use both lifetime and internal Q measurements, which range between 15,000 and 30,000 for our resonators. Spectral bandpass measurements confirm the placement of the 230 and 350 GHz bands. Additionally, beam maps measurements conform to expectations. The same device design has been characterized on both sapphire and silicon substrates, and for different detector geometries. We also report on the incorporation of new shielding to reduce detector sensitivity to local magnetic fields

Why I tense up when you watch me: inferior parietal cortex mediates an audience’s influence on motor performance

The presence of an evaluative audience can alter skilled motor performance through changes in force output. To investigate how this is mediated within the brain, we emulated real-time social monitoring of participants’ performance of a fine grip task during functional magnetic resonance neuroimaging. We observed an increase in force output during social evaluation that was accompanied by focal reductions in activity within bilateral inferior parietal cortex. Moreover, deactivation of the left inferior parietal cortex predicted both inter- and intra-individual differences in socially-induced change in grip force. Social evaluation also enhanced activation within the posterior superior temporal sulcus, which conveys visual information about others’ actions to the inferior parietal cortex. Interestingly, functional connectivity between these two regions was attenuated by social evaluation. Our data suggest that social evaluation can vary force output through the altered engagement of inferior parietal cortex; a region implicated in sensorimotor integration necessary for object manipulation, and a component of the action-observation network which integrates and facilitates performance of observed actions. Social-evaluative situations may induce high-level representational incoherence between one’s own intentioned action and the perceived intention of others which, by uncoupling the dynamics of sensorimotor facilitation, could ultimately perturbe motor output

Cloud microphysical effects of turbulent mixing and entrainment

Turbulent mixing and entrainment at the boundary of a cloud is studied by means of direct numerical simulations that couple the Eulerian description of the turbulent velocity and water vapor fields with a Lagrangian ensemble of cloud water droplets that can grow and shrink by condensation and evaporation, respectively. The focus is on detailed analysis of the relaxation process of the droplet ensemble during the entrainment of subsaturated air, in particular the dependence on turbulence time scales, droplet number density, initial droplet radius and particle inertia. We find that the droplet evolution during the entrainment process is captured best by a phase relaxation time that is based on the droplet number density with respect to the entire simulation domain and the initial droplet radius. Even under conditions favoring homogeneous mixing, the probability density function of supersaturation at droplet locations exhibits initially strong negative skewness, consistent with droplets near the cloud boundary being suddenly mixed into clear air, but rapidly approaches a narrower, symmetric shape. The droplet size distribution, which is initialized as perfectly monodisperse, broadens and also becomes somewhat negatively skewed. Particle inertia and gravitational settling lead to a more rapid initial evaporation, but ultimately only to slight depletion of both tails of the droplet size distribution. The Reynolds number dependence of the mixing process remained weak over the parameter range studied, most probably due to the fact that the inhomogeneous mixing regime could not be fully accessed when phase relaxation times based on global number density are considered.Comment: 17 pages, 10 Postscript figures (figures 3,4,6,7,8 and 10 are in reduced quality), to appear in Theoretical Computational Fluid Dynamic