Translating Climate Change Impacts at the Community Level

It is well recognized that climate change will have considerable impact on the physical landscapes of northern Canada. How these impacts will be transmitted to the level of human activity is not clear, but it needs to be understood by governments and other decision makers to help them identify and implement appropriate approaches to ameliorate the effects of climate change. Translating physical changes into human impacts is not a simple task; communities are not passive players that will respond to changes in the physical environment in easily predictable ways. While many prognoses about change are made on a large scale, human activity is highly localized, and impacts and responses will be conditioned by local geography and a range of endogenous factors, including demographic trends, economic complexity, and experience with "change" in a broad sense. More and more studies are yielding important information about community-level experience, both past and current, with environmental shifts in the North, but research effort by social scientists falls short of what is required to reduce the level of uncertainty, and it compares unfavourably with the physical sciences' dedication to the climate change problem. A pan-northern research effort, building on a long legacy of social science research in the North, would go some way towards translating the promise of change into probable community impacts.Il est bien connu que le changement climatique va avoir un impact considérable sur le paysage physique du nord du Canada. La façon dont ces retombées vont se transmettre au niveau de l'activité humaine n'est pas claire, mais les gouvernements et d'autres décideurs doivent la comprendre afin de pouvoir cerner et mettre sur pied des approches visant à amortir ces retombées. Traduire des changements physiques en répercussions humaines relève plus que d'une simple tâche; les communautés ne sont pas des intervenants passifs qui vont réagir au changement de leur milieu physique de façon nettement prévisible. Si bien des pronostics au sujet du changement sont établis sur une grande échelle, l'activité humaine, elle, est très localisée, et les impacts et réactions seront conditionnés par la géographie locale et par une gamme de facteurs endogènes, y compris les tendances démographiques, la complexité économique et l'expérience du "changement" au sens large. De plus en plus d'études fournissent de l'information importante sur l'expérience - passée comme actuelle - qui se vit au niveau de la communauté en rapport avec les changements environnementaux dans le Nord. Les travaux de recherche des spécialistes en sciences sociales ne sont toutefois pas à la hauteur pour diminuer le niveau d'incertitude, et ils se comparent mal à la détermination des sciences physiques de s'attaquer au problème du changement climatique. Des travaux à l'échelle du Nord, qui s'appuieraient sur une longue tradition de recherche en sciences sociales dans le Nord, aideraient dans une certaine mesure à traduire la promesse de changements en retombées probables au niveau des communautés

A Critical Look at Sustainable Development in the Canadian North

The notion of sustainable development has considerable appeal in northern Canada, a reflection of traditional practices of indigenous populations and the region's experiences with the encroachment of industrial society. The lexicon of "sustainable development" has made the identification of appropriate economic activities a central issue. There is no standard approach to this problem although Weeden (1989) produced a useful framework for evaluation. Analysis of the evolution of the economic geography of the North provides some insights into both the current emphasis on the role of communities in sustainable development strategies and the origin of candidate activities. Review of possible candidate activities suggests that there is perhaps a tendency to confuse renewal with sustainability and that the appropriateness of activities may be called into doubt when viewed from the standpoint of relative energy consumption and global context. Sustenance harvesting is seen as perhaps the most viable sustainable activity, although some assessments of its value may be overstated. Non-renewable resource exploitation is a particular problem, yet the extraction of some non-renewable resources may contribute to a global goal of sustainability. A prerequisite for the development of a rational approach to sustainability lies in establishing the nature of the reciprocal relationship between urban centres and the northern periphery.Key words: sustainable, development, energy, harvesting, indigenous, resourceRÉSUMÉ. Le concept de développement durable jouit d’une grande popularité dans le Canada septentrional, ce qui reflète les pratiques traditionnelles des populations autochtones et l’expérience qu’a la région de l’empietement de la société industrielle. Le vocabulaire du développement durable a fait de l’identification des activités économiques appropriées une question centrale. Il n’existe pas d’approche standard à ce problème bien que Weeden (1989) ait produit un cadre utile d’évaluation. Une analyse de l’évolution de la géographie économique du Nord offre un éclairage à la fois sur l’importance actuellement mise sur le rôle des collectivités dans les stratégies de développement durable et sur l’origine d’activités potentielles. Une étude de ces dernibres suggère qu’on a peut-être tendance à confondre le renouvellement avec le développement durable et que la pertinence des activités pourrait être remise en question si on l’examinait du point de vue de la consommation relative d’énergie et du contexte global. Leprélèvement de subsistance est perçu comme l’activité durable peut-être la plus viable, bien que certains jugements sur sa valeur puissent être exagérés. L’exploitation des ressources non renouvelables constitue un problème particulier, encore que l’exploitation de certaines de ces ressources pourrait contribuer à un objectif global de développement durable. Une condition préalable à l’élaboration d’une approche rationnelle au développement durable consiste à déterminer le caractère de la relation réciproque entre les centres urbains et la périphérie nordique.Mots clés: durable, développement, énergie, prélèvement, autochtone, ressourc

Minimisation of energy consumption variance for multi-process manufacturing lines through genetic algorithm manipulation of production schedule

Typical manufacturing scheduling algorithms do not consider the energy consumption of each job, or its variance, when they generate a production schedule. This can become problematic for manufacturers when local infrastructure has limited energy distribution capabilities. In this paper, a genetic algorithm based schedule modification algorithm is presented. By referencing energy consumption models for each job, adjustments are made to the original schedule so that it produces a minimal variance in the total energy consumption in a multi-process manufacturing production line, all while operating within the constraints of the manufacturing line and individual processes. Empirical results show a significant reduction in energy consumption variance can be achieved on schedules containing multiple concurrent jobs

The characterization and occurrence of clinically important gram-negative anaerobic bacillii

Awareness of the Bacteroidaceae as important members of the normal human flora and as pathogens has increased dramatically in recent years. Classification, however, has been confused and the identification of isolates difficult. In particular, the role of pigment production in the classification of Bacteroides spp. was debated. The aims of this investigation were (i) to study the classification of Bacteroidaceae with specific reference to pigment production by B. melaninogenicus; (ii) to examine conventional bacteriological tests for the characterization and identification of clinically - important gram -negative anaerobic bacilli; and (iii) to apply these methods to the study of Bacteroides spp. isolated from the normal human flora and from infections. In studies on pigment production, B. melaninogenicus strains produced a characteristic pigment when grown on media containing blood. The pigment was extracted by ultrasonic disintegration of washed cells of strains of B. melaninogenicus grown in blood broth and on blood agar. It was intra- cellular or cell- associated, soluble in water and had the spectrophotometric characteristics of a derivative of haemoglobin. No such pigment was extracted from strains of B. fragilis, F, necrophorum and Cl. clostridiiforme. The pigment was unrelated to the dense black colloidal precipitate of ferrous sulphide that resulted from the production of H2S by Bacteroides spp. and facultative species in the presence of ferrous ions. However, the pigment - producing strains were not a homogeneous species and were divided into three subgroups: B. melaninogenicus ss. melaninogenicus, ss. intermedius and ss. asaccharolyticus.A scheme for the identification of unknown isolates of Bacteroides spp. was devised following studies in which 165 reference strains and laboratory isolates were subjected to a series of simple laboratory tests that included conventional biochemical and fermentation tests, tests for resistance to antibiotics, and tolerance of dyes and bile salts. These tests allowed a clear separation of strains into three main groups - B. fragilis, B. melaninogenicus and Fusobacterium spp. - and certain tests were useful for identifying the subspecies of B. fragilis and B. melaninogenicus.The classification of B. melaninogenicus and related species was further studied in a series of tests with 175 strains of B. melaninogenicus, 17 strains of B. oralis and 6 strains of B. ochraceus. The pigmented asaccharolytic strains formed a distinct group and have been assigned a separate species - B. asaccharolyticus. B. melaninogenicus ss. intermedius strains formed a homogeneous group, B. ochraceus was distinguished from other Bacteroides spp. by its ability to grow in air plus 10% CO2 and its resistance to metronidazole; it is suggested that it should be removed from the genus Bacteroides. B. melaninogenicus ss. melaninogenicus and B. oralis gave similar patterns of results and were often indistinguishable except for the production of pigment by B. melaninogenicus strains.The following system of classification was derived after studies with additional reference and referred strains. The Bacteroidaceae were divided into 4 main groups - B. fragilis group, B. melaninogenicus /oralis/ ruminicola group, asaccharolytic group and Fusobacterium group. The B, frLgilis group comprised the 5 subspecies of B. fragilis that have been reinstated to species rank - B. fragilis, B. vulgatus, B. distasonis, B. thetaiotaomicron and B. ovatus - and several related species - B, splanchnicus, B. eggerthii, B. uniformis and B. variabilis. The B. melaninogenicus /oralis /ruminicola group contained the 2 saccharolytic subspecies of B. melaninogenicus, ss. melaninogenicus and ss. intermedius, a weakly fermentative subspecies - ss. levii, and 4 non -pigmented species - B. oralis, B. bivius, B. disiens and B. ruminicola, B. oralis and B. melaninogenicus ss, melaninogenicus strains share many characteristics and it is suggested that pigment production might not be a valid criterion for their separation. The asaccharolytic group included B. asaccharolyticus, B. corrodens and non -pigmented strains that were not further identified, and the Fusobacterium group was represented by reference strains of F. polymorphum, F. varium, F. necrogenes, F. necrophorum and L. buccalis. These species were identified by a combined set of tolerance tests with taurocholate, deoxycholate, Victoria blue LR. and ethyl violet, antibiotic disk resistance tests with neomycin, 1000}1g, kanamycin 10041g, penicillin 2 units and rifampicin 154g, pigment production and biochemical tests for indole production, gelatin digestion, aesculin hydrolysis and the fermentation of glucose, lactose, sucrose, rhamnose, trehalose, mannitol and xylose. Strains were allocated to the appropriate group by the results of the tolerance and resistance tests and to species /subspecies level by the results of biochemical and fermentation tests,The scheme was evaluated satisfactorilyin studies with Bacteroides strains isolated from the normal human flora and clinical infections. Specimens of faeces, vaginal secretions and sub -gingival plaque were obtained from 20 normal healthy adults. A heavy growth of Bacteroides spp. was obtained from all specimens of faeces and 10 colonies were selected from each subject for identification. Most(84 %) isolates belonged to the B. fragilis group. The commonest species /subspecies were B. fragilis ss. vulgatus and ss, thetaiotaomicron (22% pf B. fragilis -group isolates each), ss. distasonis (18 %) and the B. eggerthii /variabilis group (14 %). B. fragilis ss. fragilis accounted for only 9% of B. fragilis -group isolates. Bacteroides spp. were recovered from 65% of vaginal specimens. Most (78 %) isolates belonged to the B. melaninogenicus /oxalis/ ruminicola group and the commonest species /subspecies were B. bivius /disiens (42% of the group isolates) B. melaninogenicus ss. melaninogenicus (16 %) and ss. intermedius (22 %). Only 6 B. fragilis strains were identified and 5 were from a single subject. A heavy growth of Bacteroidaceae was obtained from all specimens of sub -gingival plaque; 68% of isolates were members of the B. melaninogenicus/oralis/ruminicola group. B. oralis (L2% of the group isolates), B. melaninogenicus ss. melaninogenicus (26%) and ss. intermedius (17 %) were the commonest species. Fusobacterium spp. and L. buccalis were common isolates from sub -gingival plaque and accounted for 36 isolates.In studies of the role of Bacteroides spp. in infections, 399significant isolates were obtained from 356 specimens from 332 patients. A variety of species were identified; the B. fragilis group accounted for 261 isolates and there were 55 isolates of B. asaccharolyticus. Many (68%) were from infections related to the gastro -intestinal tract but others were from gynaecological, soft tissue and a variety of other infections. B. fragilis ss. fragilis accounted for 51% of all isolates and 78% of B. fragilis -group isolates, which indicates that this subspecies has particular pathogenic potential, not only in infections derived from the gastro -intestinal tract. The Bacteroides spp. were isolated in pure culture from only 26% of the infections, 73% were mixed infections with Bacteroides spp. and facultative organisms that may act synergistically.Bacteroides spp. can be identified by a simple set of conventional bacteriological tests that can be performed in any dia nostic laboratory. These studies have shown that different species are predominant in the normal flora of the mouth, faeces and vagina and that a number of species, particularly B. fragilis ss. fragilis, form only a minor part of the normal flora but are the commonest pathogens

Taras Bulba by Leos Janacek: A *transcription for wind symphony

This document provides a transcription for wind symphony of Taras Bulba: Rhapsody for Orchestra by Leos Janacek. A brief historical background of Leos Janacek is presented including the influence of Russophilism on many of his musical compositions. Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol\u27s novella is comparatively placed alongside the programmatic storyline of the rhapsody of Taras Bulba upon which this piece is based. Within this framework, differing views of musical symbolism are elucidated. The defense of transcriptions, criteria for selection of pieces, and problems associated with the transcription process are examined along with the techniques utilized in the solution of said problems within the context of this transcription

Localization of pain-related brain activation: A meta-analysis of neuroimaging data

A meta-analysis of 140 neuroimaging studies was performed using the activation-likelihood-estimate (ALE) method to explore the location and extent of activation in the brain in response to noxious stimuli in healthy volunteers. The first analysis involved the creation of a likelihood map illustrating brain activation common across studies using noxious stimuli. The left thalamus, right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), bilateral anterior insulae, and left dorsal posterior insula had the highest likelihood of being activated. The second analysis contrasted noxious cold with noxious heat stimulation and revealed higher likelihood of activation to noxious cold in the subgenual ACC and the amygdala. The third analysis assessed the implications of using either a warm stimulus or a resting baseline as the control condition to reveal activation attributed to noxious heat. Comparing noxious heat to warm stimulation led to peak ALE values that were restricted to cortical regions with known nociceptive input. The fourth analysis tested for a hemispheric dominance in pain processing and showed the importance of the right hemisphere, with the strongest ALE peaks and clusters found in the right insula and ACC. The fifth analysis compared noxious muscle with cutaneous stimuli and the former type was more likely to evoke activation in the posterior and anterior cingulate cortices, precuneus, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and cerebellum. In general, results indicate that some brain regions such as the thalamus, insula and ACC have a significant likelihood of activation regardless of the type of noxious stimuli, while other brain regions show a stimulus-specific likelihood of being activated. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc