The Changing Profile of Full-Time Faculty at Canadian Universities

Canadian universities underwent a remarkable expansion from the late sixties until the mid-seventies. However, they are entering the eighties on an uncertain note, due to financial restraints imposed by governments, the sudden growth in university enrolment and the shift to professionally oriented programs. These developments have had an impact on the socio-economic characteristics of the 33,000 full-time university teachers: their age, sex, academic rank, salary, citizenship, and qualifications. Especially uncertain is the demand for new faculty in this decade and the implications for the health of Canadian universities. This statistical series documents the changes which are occurring in the demand and supply patterns of doctoral recipients from Canadian universities with the purpose of providing a statistical base from which policy analyses could be developed.Les universités canadiennes ont subi au cours des années 1960/mi-1970 un épanouissement remarquable. Cependant, elles se voient entrer dans une période d'incertitude au début des années 1980 due aux contraintes financières imposées par les gouvernements, l'accroissement soudain de l'inscription au niveau univer-sitaire, et au déplacement vers les programmes de métier. Ces développements ont eu un impact sur les caractéristiques socio-économiques des quelques 33,000 professeurs engagés à plein temps soit l'âge, le sexe, le rang académique, le salaire, la citoyenneté et les qualifications. Comme la demande de professeurs est res-treinte dans cette décade, le fonctionnement des universités canadiennes en est affecté. Les différentes statistiques présentent les changements qui surviennent face aux modèles d'offre et de demande chez les détenteurs de doctorats d'univer-sités canadiennes. Cette documentation a pour but de fournir une ligne de con-duite qui servira au développement de nouvelles politiques

A teoria do desenvolvimento político e a questão da ordem e da estabilidade

O tema do artigo são teorias sobre o desenvolvimento político dos países pobres produzidas nos Estados Unidos que baseiam suas práticas científicas (a investigação, a classificação e a seleção de temas) em uma determinada representação do que definiria esses países. O artigo possui como questão de fundo a compreensão da passagem de uma representação desenvolvimentista e econômica para uma visão mais centrada na estabilidade e na ordem durante a década de 1960. Para tanto, debruça-se, primeiramente, sobre a série Studies in Political Development, do Committe on Comparative Politics. Com esse objeto é possível abarcar de forma privilegiada as transformações pela qual a teoria clássica teve que passar para abarcar o novo tema da instabilidade. Por fim, a análise das obras clássicas de Huntington indica quais são as características da nova representação que emerge. Dois aspectos-chave são investigados: (i) a representação dos países pobres e a relação que se estabelece entre a teoria do desenvolvimento político, a teoria do desenvolvimento econômico e a teoria da modernização; (ii) o significado de desenvolvimento político. A análise das obras indica que, por meio da inserção do tema da instabilidade, a teoria do desenvolvimento político se consolida como campo de estudos relevante e autônomo, uma vez que tal tema permitiu conceituar o seu objeto - desenvolvimento político - e argumentar que ele não poderia ser inteiramente reduzido à modernização social ou econômica

Aberrant prelimbic activity is associated with elevated fear in SAPAP3 knockout mice

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), characterized by intrusive thoughts and repetitive actions, affects 1-3% of the population. One theory of OCD pathophysiology is that patients form maladaptive fear responses to neutral stimuli, leading to heightened fear and anxiety that drive repetitive behaviors. Thus, understanding abnormal fear processing in OCD may provide new treatment avenues. To investigate the mechanisms of aberrant fear processing in OCD, I used SAPAP3 KO mice, an OCD-relevant model. In Chapter 2, I characterize fear conditioning in KOs and WTs and examine nociception and audition, which are relevant to fear learning. KO mice display elevated fear conditioning compared to WTs that cannot be explained by altered nociceptive or auditory signaling. In Chapter 3, I assess conditioning-related neural activity in fear-associated regions using the proxy of cFos expression. cFos in the prelimbic cortex (PL) and basolateral amygdala (BLA) is significantly correlated in KOs, but not WTs. In contrast, PL cFos is correlated with freezing in WT mice only. This suggests that freezing behavior is linked to PL activity in WTs, while broad alterations in fear-related circuitry in KOs may be unrelated to behavioral output, and may impair normal fear learning. Finally, in Chapter 4 I examine PL/BLA circuitry in KOs and WTs using fiber photometry. Interestingly, modulation in this circuit, particularly the PL, is associated with online learning of specific aversive associations in WTs. In KOs, modulation is absent, suggesting that their behavior is driven by both specific and generalized fear. Next, I directly determined that KOs generalize more than WTs during discriminative fear conditioning. Finally, I demonstrate that PL activity underlies online fear processing via optogenetic inhibition during fear conditioning. Together, these data suggest that modulation within the PL/BLA circuit, particularly the PL node, is critical for online fear processing in WTs. Conversely, a lack of PL modulation across conditioning trials could indicate that fear learning is driven by both specific and generalized fear learning in KOs. These data provide the first systematic characterization of PL/BLA functioning during online fear processing in WTs and a viable model for studying aberrant fear processing in the context of OCD