Grammar Enhanced Biliteracy: Naskapi Language Structures For Facilitating Reading In Naskapi

The Naskapi language is the language of instruction in the early primary grades of the school in the Naskapi community. Only recently have Naskapi-speaking teachers received formal instruction in pedagogy, with a cohort of Naskapi teachers following courses for their Bachelor of Education degree towards careers teaching in the Naskapi language in their local school. These adults are highly motivated to become literate in their mother tongue in order to teach or prepare curriculum materials in the Naskapi language. This thesis explores how basic grammatical structures can be mastered, and provides insight into the form that pedagogical grammatical instruction should take, in order to equip these individuals to become adequately literate in their mother tongue

Using near infrared spectroscopy of feces to predict growth performance in finishing feedlot cattle

The objective of this thesis was to use fecal composition and apparent total tract digestibility (aTTD) as predicted by near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to assess growth performance in commercial feedlot cattle. Studies were conducted to 1) develop and validate NIRS calibrations using dried ground feces from cattle, 2) determine the optimal timing of sample collection, 3) compare samples collected from the pen floor versus rectum, 4) determine the optimal number of fecal samples to collect from a pen, 5) determine if NIRS could be used to detect changes in fecal nutrient concentrations and aTTD for a variety of diets, 6) find associations between fecal parameters and growth performance, 7) use NIRS of feed to predict energy content of grain screening pellets (GSP), 8) and assess the ability of fecal NIRS to predict dry matter intake (DMI), average daily gain (ADG), and gain to feed ratio (G:F) of feedlot cattle in a commercial feedlot. Fecal NIRS calibrations yielded accurate predictions (R2CV > 0.90, SECV 0.71, SECV 7.86). Most fecal nutrients and apparent total tract digestibility (aTTD) predictions varied over 24 h, however spot fecal samples collected at any time point from multiple cattle could be used as predictors of chemical composition and digestibility. Morning samples collected within 0 to 4 h after first feeding are optimal for estimating fecal starch and aTTD of starch. Except for DM, which was higher (P < 0.01) in pen floor than rectal fecal samples, there were minimal differences in fecal constituents between collection methods. When diets were fed containing wheat or increasing levels of silage in place of barley, aTTD of GE predicted using NIRS was related to net energy of gain (NEg) of the diets as estimated by performance (R2 = 0.58, P = 0.03 and R2 = 0.43, P < 0.01, respectively). Similarly, observed ADG could be predicted using NIRS of feces for steers fed wheat (R2 = 0.48, P = 0.05) and increasing levels of silage (R2 = 0.40, P < 0.01), but not G:F. Compared to measured performance data, NIRS over predicted the energy content of grain screening pellets. When comparing cattle of different sexes, different processing methods and grain types, a quadratic relationship was observed between fecal starch, sex, average BW at time of sampling, and G:F (rho = 0.75, P < 0.01). These data indicate that NIRS predictions using dried ground feces collected from the pen floor from multiple feedlot cattle could predict G:F of feedlot cattle with reasonable certitude when variables such as BW and sex were included in the model

Recent change in patterns of vole dynamics – for better or for worse?

Gliwicz, J., Jancewicz, E

Międzynarodowa mobilność i formowanie bogactwa przez agentów ekonomicznych: w kierunku eklektycznych ram wspierających decyzje migracyjne

International migration has been a major influence on the economic and social development of nations. Nevertheless, a vast majority of the global population continues to reside in their country of birth. While income/wealth differentials between states create centrifugal forces responsible for migration, impediments to international mobility of human, financial, physical and social capital assets work in the centripetal direction. This paper reviews a large segment of the extant literature on international migration to probe economic influences on people’s international mobility and immobility decisions. It aims to refine and extend the neoclassical foundations of migration theory and to outline how potentially complex decision mechanisms used by potentially mobile economic agents may be modified to simplify the complexity inherent in such choices so that immobility is often a default outcome of indecision.Migracja międzynarodowa miała istotny wpływ na społeczny i gospodarczy rozwój narodów. Zdecydowana większość populacji świata nadal jednak mieszka w kraju swojego urodzenia. Z jednej strony różnice w dochodach i zamożności państw stanowią siłę odśrodkową motywującą do migracji, z drugiej strony utrudnienia w swobodnym przenoszeniu się kapitału ludzkiego, finansowego, fizycznego jak i społecznego stanowią siłę dośrodkową, motywującą do pozostania w miejscu. W niniejszym artykule dokonano przeglądu znacznej części literatury na temat migracji międzynarodowej pod kątem wpływu czynników ekonomicznych na decyzje dotyczące międzynawowej mobilności i jej braku. Artykuł ma na celu udoskonalenie i rozszerzenie neoklasycznych podstaw teorii migracji, nakreślenie, w jaki sposób ekonomiczni agenci (potencjalni migranci) starają się uprościć skomplikowane mechanizmy decyzyjne oraz pokazanie, jak w przypadku niezdecydowania domyślną decyzją staje się pozostanie w miejscu

The 2(2S+1)- Formalism and Its Connection with Other Descriptions

In the framework of the Joos-Weinberg 2(2S+1)- theory for massless particles, the dynamical invariants have been derived from the Lagrangian density which is considered to be a 4- vector. A la Majorana interpretation of the 6- component "spinors", the field operators of S=1 particles, as the left- and right-circularly polarized radiation, leads us to the conserved quantities which are analogous to those obtained by Lipkin and Sudbery. The scalar Lagrangian of the Joos-Weinberg theory is shown to be equivalent to the Lagrangian of a free massless field, introduced by Hayashi. As a consequence of a new "gauge" invariance this skew-symmetric field describes physical particles with the longitudinal components only. The interaction of the spinor field with the Weinberg's 2(2S+1)- component massless field is considered. New interpretation of the Weinberg field function is proposed. KEYWORDS: quantum electrodynamics, Lorentz group representation, high-spin particles, bivector, electromagnetic field potential. PACS: 03.50.De, 11.10.Ef, 11.10.Qr, 11.17+y, 11.30.CpComment: 13pp., merged hep-th/9305141 and hep-th/9306108 with revisions. Accepted in "Int. J. Geom. Meth. Phys.