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Rural development in Alberta is a long‐standing challenge, with local communities and economies often stuck between economic cycles, fiscal largesse from the Provincial Government, and a historical pattern of conservative leadership that seeks to leave the private sector unimpeded. As a result, many rural communities now face significant economic, social, political, and ecological challenges that, while not unique to Alberta, are marked by only modest innovation and a tendency to return to previous developmental initiatives. This paper is focused upon identifying the common challenges facing municipal government in the province, but also accounting for the inertial dynamics within municipal politics. Drawing from qualitative data collected from rural municipalities, it seeks to situate contemporary adaptive economic strategies and initiatives within the dominant public ideology of the province. This paper argues that while reform initiatives undertaken in the province broadly align with pragmatic municipalism as a necessary response to decades of neoliberal austerity and inertia, that pragmatism is tempered by a provincial rationality that limits, rather than enhances, the likelihood of meaningful change. This rationality, and its effects, are explained through four fallacies: home rule, agency, the Golden Age, and homogeneity. Key Messages: Albertan municipalities are innovative and pragmatic, and not solely embedded in reducing costs due to budgetary constraints.Provincial governments have a long history of limiting institutional, jurisdictional, or legislative changes that could facilitate municipal sustainability.Choices for municipalities are structured by an institutional inertia that rhetorically emphasizes the autonomy, individualism, responsibility, and accountability of rural municipalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are chronic gastrointestinal diseases that negatively affect the enjoyment of food and engagement in social and cultural gatherings. Such experiences may promote psychosocial challenges, an aspect of IBD often overlooked and under‐supported in clinical settings and research. Objectives: This study explored the psychosocial experiences that young adults with IBD have with food via a qualitative patient‐led research process. Methods: Trained patient researchers conducted this study by engaging peers via semi‐structured interviews and focus groups in a three‐step co‐design process. Participants (n = 9) identified the research topic (SET), explored the topic and identified emerging themes (COLLECT), refined themes and made recommendations for healthcare system change (REFLECT). Results: Themes that emerged included: 'Experimenting with Food', 'Evolution Over Time', 'Diet Changes are Emotional' and 'Role of Stigma'. Participants identified the significance and frustrations of repeated testing and experimenting with food compatibility, and noted nuances in food relationships as they gain knowledge and experience over time. They emphasized the importance of maintaining a sense of hope throughout and wished to impart this to newly diagnosed patients. Conclusion: Participants experience numerous psychosocial challenges as they strive to manage their diet, noting gaps in support available from IBD practitioners. Participants made practical recommendations for healthcare system change to improve patient outcomes, highlighting the importance of sharing stories and collaboratively including patients in the development of new services and protocols. Authors recommend further research in this area to build a body of knowledge and support that helps IBD patients maintain hope while navigating challenges with food. Patient or Public Contribution: The first four authors on this paper were the lead researchers in this study's design and analysis and identify as patients; they conducted the research with this identity at the forefront following a peer‐to‐peer research model. These authors were mentored by patient researchers who also contributed to the manuscript, and the research process itself was co‐lead and directed by other patient participants and consultants. Results and recommendations coming from this paper came directly from patient participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of school reforms to advance reconciliation with Indigenous peoples provides an opportunity to explore what Canadians think is important in framing their identities and values. This paper draws on data from a survey of public perspectives on education for reconciliation activities in two Canadian provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan. We consider the broader community context within which schools are located. By examining public perspectives, we are able to assess how curricular initiatives related to reconciliation are understood by community members, both as a priority in itself and in relation to other key curricular areas. Informed by critical race theory, our findings suggest that reconciliation is restricted to activities that do not involve extensive change to existing curricular and ideational frameworks. These perspectives exist alongside extensive opposition to reconciliation justified by claims that Indigenous experiences and perspectives are receiving undue attention relative to more pressing educational priorities. Our findings suggest that aims to transform dominant understandings about Canadian history and identity remain far from being fulfilled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides insights into the little‐explored gendered perspective of the parenting practices of Somali immigrant mothers in a Canadian province (Alberta). We use a critical ethnographic methodology and a transnational feminist framework. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with ten Somali mothers aged 18 to 50. Mothers were interviewed about their parenting practices in a post‐migration context, including challenges. Our results show immigrant mothers combine their cultural values with new values from Canada that they find effective. We find gendered differences in how parenting experiences are perceived. Our results suggest the need for anti‐racist and culturally safe health, education, and child policies and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The response of critically stressed dormant faults to fluid perturbation, by oil and gas production, has been a major public concern because of its link to induced seismicity. In this paper, we study the hydrogeological factors that affect a nearby fault response, during and after hydraulic fracturing (HF) operations, evaluated by the change in Coulomb Failure Stress (CFS) and the rate of seismicity (R) through coupling solid deformation and fluid flow. Our results show that the pore pressure increases rapidly in a fault that is close (hydraulically connected) to HF operations, which might lead to its activation when the injection rate is high. When the fault is adjacent to HF but distant from it, its shallow region is subjected to a stabilizing deformation‐induced normal compressive stress and its deeper region is destabilized under extension. In this case, the fault orientation and damage zone size have a significant effect on the fault's stability and response. On the other hand, decreasing the rate of injection can either increase or decrease the CFS values depending on the fault location and the dominant stresses. Therefore, serious attention should be given to the fault position, its architecture, and the injection rate to help reduce the potential for induced seismicity from HF. Our findings are verified and confirmed using the case of the Duvernay formation in Alberta, Canada, where the reported seismic data correlate with high CFS and R values. Plain Language Summary: The main cause for the induced seismic events occurring during or after hydraulic fracturing (HF) operations can be attributed to fluid diffusion and/or stress changes along critically stressed dormant faults located near the operations. Different factors can affect the response of pre‐existing faults to HF operations including the distance between the fault and HF operations, fault orientation, size of its damage zone, and the injection rate of HF. Based on our simulations, we conclude that when the fault is far from the operations, its shallow region (i.e., closer to HF) is subjected to a stabilizing deformation‐induced compressive normal stress and its deeper region is destabilized under extension. However, for a close fault that is hydraulically connected to HF, the pore pressure increases rapidly which might lead to fault activation. Moreover, we found that decreasing the rate of injection can either increase or decrease the risk of induced seismicity depending on the fault location with respect to HF. Hence, besides avoiding fracturing rocks near faults, operators need to give serious attention to the location of faults relative to the operations, its architecture and the injection parameters to limit induce seismic events. Key Points: Faults can be destabilized by pressure diffusion if close to hydraulic fracturing and by increase in tensile and shear stresses if distantDamage zone size is important when normal and shear stresses dominate the fault response to hydraulic fractuirng (HF)Lowering injection rates does not necessarily reduce seismicity rates of faults that are stabilized by normal compressive stress during HF [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A paper published in this journal, 'Measuring the short-term impact of fluoridation cessation on dental caries in Grade 2 children using tooth surface indices,' by McLaren et al had shortcomings in study design and interpretation of results, and did not include important pertinent data. Its pre-post cross-sectional design relied on comparison of decay rates in two cities: Calgary, which ceased fluoridation, and Edmonton, which maintained fluoridation. Dental health surveys conducted in both cities about 6.5 years prior to fluoridation cessation in Calgary provided the baseline. They were compared to decay rates determined about 2.5 years after cessation in a second set of surveys in both cities. A key shortcoming was the failure to use data from a Calgary dental health survey conducted about 1.5 years prior to cessation. When this third data set is considered, the rate of increase of decay in Calgary is found to be the same before and after cessation of fluoridation, thus contradicting the main conclusion of the paper that cessation was associated with an adverse effect on oral health. Furthermore, the study design is vulnerable to confounding by caries risk factors other than fluoridation: The two cities differed substantially in baseline decay rates, other health indicators, and demographic characteristics associated with caries risk, and these risk factors were not shown to shift in parallel in Edmonton and Calgary through time. An additional weakness was low participation rates in the dental surveys and lack of analysis to check whether this may have resulted in selection biases. Owing to these weaknesses, the study has limited ability to assess whether fluoridation cessation caused an increase in decay. The study's findings, when considered with the additional information from the third Calgary survey, more strongly support the conclusion that cessation of fluoridation had no effect on decay rate. Consideration of the limitations of this study can stimulate improvement in the quality of future fluoridation effectiveness studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African immigrant children and youth have some of the poorest social and mental health outcomes in Canada. Although parenting challenges have been widely documented as a key driver of these outcomes, limited systematic research has investigated this phenomenon. In this paper, we report the results of a study examining parenting challenges among a sample of African immigrant parents in Alberta, Canada. We relied on the theoretical lens of transnationalism to collect and analyse data from a purposive sample of African community leaders (n = 14), African immigrant parents (n = 32), and a range of stakeholders (n = 30). Our thematic data analysis revealed several intricately intertwined parenting challenges, organized around six overarching themes, namely, cultural incompatibility, family tension, state interference, limited social supports, poor access to services, and low socioeconomic status. We present these themes and the policy and service implications of our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To model regional vegetation cycles through data fusion methods for creating a 30‐m daily vegetation product from 2000 to 2018 and to analyze annual vegetation trends over this time period. Location: The Yellowhead Bear Management Area, a 31,180‐km2 area in west central Alberta, Canada. Methods: In this paper, we use Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) as a data fusion technique to combine Landsat 5, 7 and 8 satellite data and Moderate Resolution Image Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Aqua and Terra imagery, to quantify daily vegetation using Enhanced Vegetation Index at a 30‐m resolution, for the years 2000–2018. We validated this approach, entitled DRIVE (Daily Remote Inference of VEgetation), using imagery acquired from a network of ground cameras. Results: When DRIVE was compared to start and end of season dates (SOS and EOS respectively) derived from ground cameras, correlations were r = 0.73 at SOS and r = 0.85 at EOS with a mean absolute error of 7.17 days at SOS and 10.76 days at EOS. Results showed that DRIVE accurately increased spatial and temporal resolution of remote‐sensing data. We demonstrated that SOS is advancing at a maximum rate of 0.78 days per year temporally over the 18‐year time period for varying elevation gradients and land cover classes over the region. Conclusions: With DRIVE, we demonstrate the utility of DTW in quantifying vegetation cycles over a large heterogeneous region and determining how changing climate is affecting regional vegetation. DRIVE may prove to be an important method to determine how carbon sequestration is varying within fine‐scale individual plant communities in response to changing climate and likely will be beneficial to wildlife movement and habitat selection studies examining the varying response of wildlife species to changing vegetation cycles under shifting climatic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has examined the relative significance of uncertainty in future climate projections from a subset of the coupled model intercomparison project phase 5 (CMIP5) global climate models for the Prairie Provinces of western Canada. This was undertaken by determining: (a) the contribution of model and scenario uncertainty and natural variability to the total variance of these future projections, and (b) the timing of climate signal emergence from the background noise of natural climate variability. We examined future projections of mean temperature, precipitation and summer climate moisture index (CMI). In this region, natural climate variability plays an important role in future uncertainty until the end of this century, particularly for precipitation and to a lesser extent, summer CMI. Model uncertainty also contributes to total uncertainty for these variables throughout this century, while scenario uncertainty becomes more important towards the end of the century. For the region as a whole, significant climate change (i.e., signal/noise >2) occurs earliest for summer mean temperature, with median time of emergence around 2035 for the RCP8.5 radiative forcing scenario. Although the median precipitation signal emerges from the noise (i.e., signal/noise >1) around the 2070s in winter and the 2080s in spring, significant values do not occur in any season for this variable before 2100. For summer CMI, the median time of emergence for significant change is around 2085. At the grid scale, signal‐to‐noise ratios are significant for all seasons for mean surface air temperature, with earliest times of emergence occurring in summer. In contrast, the summer precipitation signal is not significant this century; for summer CMI, significant values are obtained in the eastern half of the region, occurring from about 2065 onwards. Median times of emergence are towards the end of the century for summer CMI in western Saskatchewan and in Alberta, although some areas of Alberta do not exhibit significant signals this century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To evaluate a new prenatal education program evaluation tool, the UpStart Parent Survey – Prenatal, in terms of: (a) reliability and validity; (b) sensitivity to change over time; (c) whether results differed for mothers versus fathers; and (d) whether results differed when using an electronic tablet‐computer versus a paper survey. Design and Sample: Psychometric study. Participants were 277 expectant mothers (n = 161) and fathers (n = 106) enrolled in Childbirth Essentials, a 6‐week prenatal education program. Measures: The UpStart Parent Survey – Prenatal is a retrospective pretest/posttest survey with three scales: Parenting Knowledge, Parenting Experience, and Program Satisfaction, and three open‐ended questions. Results: The UpStart Parent Survey – Prenatal is sensitive to change and demonstrated significant positive differences in parenting knowledge and parenting experience. There was no difference in results whether the survey was completed by mothers or fathers. Results were similar whether paper or electronic formats were used. The survey was easy to complete. Conclusion: The UpStart Parent Survey – Prenatal holds promise as a reliable and valid evaluation tool to capture outcomes of brief prenatal education programs that target the general population of expectant parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As boreal forests rapidly warm due to anthropogenic climate change, long‐term baseline community data are needed to effectively characterize the corresponding ecological changes that are occurring in these forests. The combined seasonal dynamics (SEADYN) and annual dynamics (ANNDYN) data set, which documents the vegetative changes in boreal forests during the snow‐free period, is one such source of baseline community data. These data were collected by George H. La Roi and colleagues in Alberta, Canada from 1980 to 2015 within permanent sampling plots established in the Hondo‐Slave Lake area (eight stands; 1980–2015) in central Alberta and the Athabasca Oil Sands (AOS) region (17 stands; 1981–1984) near Fort McMurray in northeastern Alberta. Various data were collected, with temporal and spatial coverage differing by data set. These data sets include, but are not limited to, cover of each identified vascular plant and bryoid (moss, liverwort, and lichen) species; forest mensuration; forest litter production; and soil temperature and moisture. Notably, permanent sampling plots were set up as a grid, which will facilitate analyses of spatial relations. These data can be used to analyze long‐term changes in seasonal dynamics and succession within boreal forest communities and serve as a baseline for comparison with future forest conditions in unmanaged, managed, and reclaimed forests. Data are released under a CC‐BY license; please cite this data paper when using the data for analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This paper outlines the transformation of youth mental health services in Edmonton, Alberta, a large city in Western Canada. We describe the processes and challenges involved in restructuring how services and care are delivered to youth (11‐25 years old) with mental health needs based on the objectives of the pan‐Canadian ACCESS Open Minds network. Methods: We provide a narrative review of how youth mental health services have developed since our engagement with the ACCESS Open Minds initiative, based on its five central objectives of early identification, rapid access, appropriate care, continuity of care, and youth and family engagement. Results: Building on an initial community mapping exercise, a service network has been developed; teams that were previously age‐oriented have been integrated together to seamlessly cover the age 11 to 25 range; early identification has thus far focused on high‐school populations; and an actual drop‐in space facilitates rapid access and linkages to appropriate care within the 30‐day benchmark. Conclusions: Initial aspects of the transformation have relied on restructuring and partnerships that have generated early successes. However, further transformation over the longer term will depend on data demonstrating how this has impacted clinical outcomes and service utilization. Ultimately, sustainability in a large urban centre will likely involve scaling up to a network of similar services to cover the entire population of the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are persistent pollutants of concern. A process-based model of the PAH degradation can improve our understanding of ecological drivers and processes. In this paper, a process-based biogeochemistry model, DeNitrification-DeComposition (DNDC) is modified to simulate the dynamics of PAHs degradation in soils at abandoned oil and gas well sites. This new version of DNDC-Organic Pollutants, called DNDC-OP, coupled the rates of PAH degradation with dynamics of soil, vegetation and climate, such as soil moisture and temperature. The model was parameterized and validated against datasets of four soil PAHs: pyrene, fluorene, chrysene and anthracene, at three different abandoned oil and gas well site locations in Alberta, Canada. The sensitivity of the parameters was analyzed and tested. The simulated results were in good agreement with the measured data with a coefficient of determination (R²) of 70 to 97%, and the root mean square error (RMSE) of 4.5 to 9.1 at all three sites. We also evaluated the influence of environmental factors, such as soil temperature and moisture, on the degradation of PAHs. An increased degradation of all four PAHs occurred with increasing soil moisture content. An increase of soil temperature from 10 to 20°C and subsequently to 25°C resulted in a decreased appearance of all four PAHs from the three well sites. The result shows that this model can be used as a tool for evaluating PAH degradation for effective reclamation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alberta, Canada, passed a Sexual Sterilization Act in 1928 and up until its repeal in 1972, over 2,800 people were sterilized. Women were overrepresented in the number of sterilizations performed. This paper explores how changing understandings of eugenics led to a subtle transformation which resulted in a “two-pronged” system that targeted mentally defective men, often a danger to society, and mentally normal but morally abnormal women who consented to sterilization. The end result was success for the movement in terms of the types and numbers of people sterilized, and in the longevity of the program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Price volatility complicates price discovery and creates risks for cattle producers. This paper analyzes volatility spillovers in the western Canadian beef cattle supply chain. A modified bivariate VAR‐BEKK‐GARCH model is used to examine spillovers and account for asymmetries associated with rising versus falling markets. The spillovers that are found are unidirectional from input to output markets. Spillovers tended to be stronger when cattle prices are depressed and feed costs are rising. Volatility transmission is also flows from feed barley to feeder cattle markets, but volatility does not flow in the opposite direction nor does it advance by more than one level in the supply chain. La volatilité des prix complique la découverte des prix et crée des risques pour les éleveurs de bétail. Cet article analyse les répercussions de la volatilité au sein de la chaîne d'approvisionnement des bovins d'élevage. Un modèle VAR‐BEKK‐GARCH modifié à deux variables sert à l'examen des répercussions et tient compte des asymétries associées aux marchés à la hausse et à la baisse. Les répercussions décelées sont unidirectionnelles du marché des intrants aux produits. Les répercussions semblent plus fortes lorsque les prix des bovins sont bas, et les coûts de fourrage à la hausse. Le transfert de la volatilité se fait aussi sentir de l'orge de fourrage aux marchés de bovins d'engraissement, mais l'inverse ne survient pas et elle ne progresse pas de plus d'un niveau dans la chaîne d'approvisionnement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: The increase in the incidence of dementia in the aging population and the decrease in the availability of informal caregivers put pressure on continuing care systems to care for a growing number of people with disabilities. Policy changes in the continuing care system need to address this shift in the population structure. One of the most effective tools for assessing policies in complex systems is system dynamics. Nevertheless, this method is underused in continuing care capacity planning. Methods: A system dynamics model of the Alberta Continuing Care System was developed using stylized data. Sensitivity analyses and policy evaluations were conducted to demonstrate the use of system dynamics modelling in this area of public health planning. We focused our policy exploration on introducing staff/resident benchmarks in both supportive living and long‐term care (LTC). Results: The sensitivity analyses presented in this paper help identify leverage points in the system that need to be acknowledged when policy decisions are made. Our policy explorations showed that the deficits of staff increase dramatically when benchmarks are introduced, as expected, but at the end of the simulation period, the difference in deficits of both nurses and health care aids are similar between the 2 scenarios tested. Modifying the benchmarks in LTC only versus in both supportive living and LTC has similar effects on staff deficits in long term, under the assumptions of this particular model. Conclusion: The continuing care system dynamics model can be used to test various policy scenarios, allowing decision makers to visualize the effect of a certain policy choice on different system variables and to compare different policy options. Our exploration illustrates the use of system dynamics models for policy making in complex health care systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementing policies and laws is difficult in areas where there are interested parties with differing values, attitudes, and perceptions. Another challenge is the democratization of policy and including those who have been systematically excluded from the conversation. The main topic of this paper is human interactions with free-roaming horses (FRH) in Alberta. A multidimensional approach to policymaking is suggested by using situational mapping approaches that visually position and represent diverse perspectives on FRH. Drawing upon qualitative interviews with 24 landowners, business leaders, and First Nations/Métis who share land with FRH, we analyze four key themes: rural alienation, First Nations and the branding of horses, managing FRH on grazing leases, and the representation of FRH interests. Together, the four thematic foci illustrate diverse perspectives and shifting allegiances that exist within and between policy 'stakeholder' groups. We present situational mapping as a useful tool to be used by policymakers to address complex environmental problems that include multidimensional perspectives. Les problèmes liés aux politiques, les « audiences » et le pouvoir de la définition : les discours contradictoires et le cas des chevaux en liberté en Alberta La mise en œuvre des politiques et des lois est difficile dans les domaines où il y a des parties intéressées qui ont des valeurs, des attitudes et des perceptions différentes. Un autre problème est la démocratisation des politiques et l'inclusion de celles qui ont été systématiquement exclues de la conversation. Le thème principal de cette communication est celui des interactions humaines avec les chevaux en liberté (CL) en Alberta. Une approche multidimensionnelle à l'égard de l'élaboration des politiques est suggérée en utilisant des approches de cartographie situationnelle qui positionnent et représentent visuellement divers points de vue sur les CL. Nous appuyant sur des entrevues qualitatives avec 24 propriétaires fonciers, chefs d'entreprises et Premières Nations/Métis qui partagent le territoire avec les CL, nous analysons quatre thèmes principaux : l'aliénation rurale, les Premières Nations et le marquage des chevaux, la gestion des CL sur des baux de pâturages et la représentation des intérêts des CL. Ensemble, les quatre axes thématiques illustrent divers points de vue et allégeances changeantes qui existent au sein et entre les groupes « d'intervenants » s'intéressant aux politiques. Nous présentons la cartographie situationnelle comme un outil utile que les personnes qui élaborent des politiques peuvent utiliser pour résoudre des problèmes environnementaux complexes qui incluent des points de vue multidimensionnels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use change models based on historical behavior have proven useful in predicting and understanding determinants of change. Such approaches are not possible where land use change data are absent. In this paper, we develop a normative spatial model that considers option values associated with land conversion between agriculture and forestry and their differing time scales. The model is applied in a case study regarding the potential for a cellulosic biofuel industry in Alberta. Results indicate the importance of future patterns of prices in influencing decisions to switch from agriculture to bioenergy production, and suggest that cellulosic plantations are not likely to prevail over agricultural land uses. Les modèles de changement d'affectation des terres basés sur les comportements historiques se sont avérés utiles pour la prédiction et la compréhension des facteurs de changements. Ces approches sont impossibles là où les données concernant les changements d'affectation des terres sont absentes. Cet article présente un modèle normatif spatial qui tient compte des valeurs d'option associées à la conversion des terres agricoles en terres forestières et à leurs différentes échelles de temps. L'application du modèle se fait dans une étude de cas au sujet du potentiel pour une industrie du biocarburant cellulosique en Alberta. Les résultats montrent l'importance de l'influence des futures structures de prix sur le choix de passer de l'agriculture à la production de bioénergie, et suggèrent que les plantations cellulosiques ne l'emporteront pas sur les affectations agricoles des terres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context An increasing number of medical schools around the world are implementing longitudinal integrated clerkships ( LICs). The University of Alberta's third-year LIC admits a small group of each class. Those not in the LIC undertake a rotation-based clerkship ( RBC). All students have a fourth-year RBC. Meaningful participation in patient care and guidance have been identified as affordances for work-based learning. Methods This qualitative study is part of an ongoing research programme conducted in a hermeneutic phenomenological frame. The overarching research question is: What is the lived experience of integrated community clerkship ( ICC) students in their clerkships? This paper focuses on an emic question, that is, one arising from the analysis, which was: What was the experience of ICC students in their transitioning to the fourth year? One-to-one reflective conversations with LIC students when they were at the end of their fourth year were the source of the material analysed. Transcripts were first analysed by each researcher and then co-analysed with an emphasis on overall meaning. Results are from conversations with 33 students from the first five LIC cohorts. Socio-cultural learning theory was used as an interpretive framework. Results This study identifies that the length and nature of placements led to continuity relationships for students with patients and teachers and meaningful participation in patient care. These are an interwoven set of affordances that facilitate learning in the ICC. Participants described the loss of these affordances in the RBC, resulting in diminished confidence, disruption of the learning trajectory and a re-forming of identity. Conclusion It is important for all medical schools with LICs followed by RBCs to consider the differences between these two clerkships as experienced by students in order to determine how best to support students as they navigate through both. Medical educators need to examine all of their clerkships to identify the affordances that support learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though language manifests linearly, one word at a time, children must learn that words are embedded in constituents, which are in turn embedded in larger constituents. That is, they must learn that syntax is hierarchically structured. Prosody-speech melody and rhythm-is likewise hierarchically organized, with smaller prosodic constituents embedded in larger ones. This paper presents results showing that 20-month-olds ( N = 40) can use modifier + clause prosody to learn constituents at multiple levels in a hierarchically structured artificial grammar, but that they fail to learn from clause + modifier prosody. We consider several explanations for this asymmetry, and suggest that it may be due to the frequency of the two constructions in the input. Two parallel experiments with adults suggest that older learners may not be able to learn the prosodically marked constituents. Instead, adult responses are likely based on perceptually prominent boundary words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I describe dividing practices in making up a specific medical-legal category-the revolving door patient-to identify, label, and direct the actions of particular people living with mental illness. The revolving door patient was a category that had been spoken of for some time, but became a formal legal subject with the introduction of the Alberta Mental Health Act 2010 and Community Treatment Orders (CTOs). I demonstrate how a rationale of control over unpredictable and dangerous individuals was primary in creating this new category, and that the characterization of the revolving door patient required a disciplinary technology to reduce danger. I argue that the CTO is a medical-legal technology that solves the problem of governing a subject in order to produce a patient that manages mental illness. I conclude by reflecting on how the narrative of the revolving door patient, and of mental illness more broadly, has implications for personal identity and tensions between care and control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shaft sinking through solid rock, which contains little or no water, poses little difficulty. However, when loose, water-bearing strata have to be contended with, water control measures and pumping facilities are needed. Shaft sinking in the Athabasca Basin requires sinking through water bearing sandstone which can be highly fractured. Intersection of local zones of extensive fracturing results in the potential for high water inflows with hydrostatic pressures of up to 5 MPa. Typically cementitious grouting is carried out ahead of each shaft sinking interval as a water control strategy. Shaft sinking performance which can be quantified in terms of rate of advance is highly dependent on the days spent at each interval grouting before sinking can advance to the next interval. This paper presents the shaft sinking experience in Athabasca Basin and how some of this is translated into geoscientific investigations for future shafts. A comparison of geoscientific data collected from future shafts at McArthur River and other Cameco Corporation operations and project sites. The paper concludes with the strategies for better integration of hydrogeological, geotechnical and geophysical data. Schachtbau im standfesten Gebirge, das wenig oder kein Bergwasser aufweist, bereitet geringe Schwierigkeiten. Wenn jedoch lockere, wasserführende Schichten angetroffen werden, sind Wasserhaltungsmaßnahmen und Pumpeinrichtungen erforderlich. Beim Schachtteufen im Athabasca Becken werden wasserführende Sandsteine angetroffen, die stark zerlegt sein können. Lokale Verschnitte zwischen hoch zerlegten Zonen können zu starken Wasserzutritten mit Drücken bis zu 5 MPa führen. In der Regel werden Zementinjektionen vor jedem Abteufschritt ausgeführt, um die Wasserzutritte zu minimieren. Die Teufleistung hängt sehr stark von der Zeit ab, die für die Injektion benötigt wird, bevor der nächste Ausbruchschritt gemacht werden kann. Dieser Beitrag behandelt die Erfahrungen mit Schachtabteufen im Athabasca Becken, und wie ein Teil dieser Erfahrung in geowissenschaftliche Erkundungen für künftige Schächte einfließt. Geowissenschaftliche Daten von künftigen Schächten bei der McArthur River Mine und anderen Cameco Corporation Betrieben und Projekten werden verglichen. Der Beitrag schließt mit Strategien für eine bessere Integration von hydrogeologischen, geotechnischen und geophysikalischen Daten. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines gender-specific transformations of nursing practice in institutional mental health-care in Alberta, Canada, based on archival records on two psychiatric hospitals, Alberta Hospital Ponoka and Alberta Hospital Edmonton, and on oral histories with psychiatric mental health nurses in Alberta. The paper explores class and gender as interrelated influences shaping the work and professional identity of psychiatric mental health nurses from the 1930s until the mid-1970s. Training schools for nurses in psychiatric hospitals emerged in Alberta in the 1930s under the influence of the mental hygiene movement, evolving quite differently for female nurses compared to untrained aides and male attendants. The latter group resisted their exclusion from the title ‘nurse’ and successfully helped to organize a separate association of psychiatric nurses in the 1950s. Post-World War II, reconstruction of health-care and a de-institutionalization policy further transformed nurses’ practice in the institutions. Using social history methods of analysis, the paper demonstrates how nurses responded to their circumstances in complex ways, actively participating in the reconstruction of their practice and finding new ways of professional organization that fit the local context. After the Second World War more sophisticated therapeutic roles emerged and nurses engaged in new rehabilitative practices and group therapies, reconstructing their professional identities and transgressing gender boundaries. Nurses’ own stories help us to understand the striving toward psychiatric nursing professionalism in the broader context of changing gender identities and work relationships, as well as shifting perspectives on psychiatric care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terrestrial conservation offsets have become a leading solution to the ecological consequences of Alberta's oil sands boom. The broad-based support for terrestrial offsets in the province is representative of a larger global trend toward the rescaling of environmental governance and greater use of market-based conservation models. A well-developed critical literature now documents some of the overarching logics and material implications of these 'neoliberal' approaches to conservation. Much of this scholarship has drawn on Marxian notions of accumulation by dispossession to raise concern that the use of market-based approaches serves to widen dispossession through increased enclosure and privatisation of both nonhuman nature and political discourse on issues of environment. While in many instances these concerns are justified, the mechanisms through which market-based conservation channels benefits to powerful societal actors may be more complicated than often assumed. Drawing from recent empirical research on attempts to establish markets in terrestrial conservation offsets in Alberta, Canada, this paper complicates some of the dominant narratives of privatisation associated with market-based conservation initiatives. Market-based conservation may, in some instances, be employed to expand a functionally public domain as a means of lubricating private wealth generation, suggesting the need for a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between market-based conservation, dispossession and accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes cattle killing by First Nations in Southern Alberta in the 1890s m light of different theoretical approaches to the issue of First Nations crime. This paper suggests that this form of criminal behaviour was not a result of cultural differences or cultural misunderstandings between First Nations and Europeans. Rather, this type of First Nations criminality was rooted in material circumstances characterized by extreme hunger, and was reflective of a process of resistance to state policies. The crime of cattle killing was, in part, a political act that was part of Treaty Seven First Nations efforts to oppose and change the Department of Indian Affairs rations policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the demand for hockey game trips among metropolitan and nonmetropolitan residents of Alberta, Canada. Using data on both revealed and stated preference game-trip behavior from a telephone survey conducted throughout Alberta, we estimate the effect of ticket prices, team quality, arena amenities, and capacity on the latent demand for National Hockey League hockey games. We find that lower ticket prices, higher team quality, and additional capacity encourage attendance. In the status quo scenario, consumer surplus per game is $50 for those who had attended hockey games and about 50% less for those who had not attended games. Exploiting the stated preference data, we develop a number of other consumer surplus estimates. We also include travel costs in the estimation of the demand function and estimate the full value of the game trip considering both ticket prices and travel costs. Sold-out arenas in Calgary and Edmonton generate annual consumption benefits of $40 and $35 million when only ticket prices are used to calculate consumer surplus (i.e., excluding travel costs). Considering the full-price consumer surplus for the Calgary Flames of $103 per game trip, the annual consumption benefits may be as high as $82 million. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Please cite this paper as: Krauss et al. (2012) Respiratory tract versus cloacal sampling of migratory ducks for influenza A viruses: are both ends relevant? Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses DOI: . Background Early studies in dabbling ducks showed that cloacal swabs yielded a larger number of avian influenza virus (AIV) isolates than did respiratory tract swabs. Historically, AIV surveillance has been performed by collecting cloacal or environmental fecal samples only. Highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 virus emerged in 1996 and replicated to higher titers in the respiratory rather than the gastrointestinal tract of ducks, prompting the collection of respiratory samples in addition to cloacal swabs from wild birds. Studies confirmed that some virus subtypes, especially H9 and highly pathogenic H5, are shed primarily through the respiratory tract and may not be detected in cloacal swabs. Objectives To examine prevalence and subtype differences for AIV isolates from cloacal or respiratory swabs of wild ducks and to determine whether individual respiratory tract samples should be included in AIV surveillance studies in wild birds. Methods Individual respiratory tract and cloacal swabs were collected from each of 1036 wild ducks in Alberta, Canada, during the month of August from 2007 to 2010 in an ongoing surveillance study. Virus isolation in eggs and subtype identification by antigenic and molecular methods were performed. Results and conclusions Respiratory tract and cloacal swabs yielded ten influenza virus HA subtypes representing 28 HA-NA combinations. Three HA-NA subtype combinations were found exclusively in respiratory tract samples. Only four HA subtypes (H1, H3, H4, and H7) were recovered from respiratory samples, but respiratory shedding was associated with the dominance of 1 year's subtype. Might respiratory shedding provide a risk assessment indicator? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociologists are increasingly directing attention toward social responses to climate change. As is true of any new field of inquiry, theoretical frameworks guiding the research to date have room for improvement. One advance could be achieved through closer engagement with Reflexivity Theory, particularly the work of Margaret Archer, who asks just how individuals come to give attention to certain problems, and formulate responses to them. Individuals vary significantly in regard to their understanding of and concern for anthropogenic climate change, and these standpoints in turn influence commitment to mitigation and adaptation. The emergent social interactions among all such agents in turn influence the morphogenetic trajectories through which social structures will evolve, but the role of 'meta-reflexives' is particularly crucial. Identifying pathways of individual climate change reflexivity can make a valuable contribution to our understanding of the potential for and nature of collective responses. In this paper, I explore climate change reflexivity, with particular attention to climate change meta-reflexives, through a qualitative analysis of personal interviews with residents of two small communities in Alberta, Canada. Applying Reflexivity Theory to this context articulates dimensions of reflexive processing not elaborated in current theoretical treatments, including future outlook and comfort with uncertainty, among others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts of papers to be presented at the 2012 Canadian Conference on Medical Education (CCME) including "Sustaining Community-Based Health Education Programs," by S. Jarvis-Selinger and K. Wisener, "Aging Physicians: Succumbing to the Limits of Working Memory?," by G. Voyer and colleagues, and "The Use of Reflective Writing in an Undergraduate Surgical Clerkship," by N. Sharma and J. White.

The article presents abstracts of papers to be presented at the 2012 Canadian Conference on Medical Education (CCME) including "Medical Education as a Determinant of Health: Teaching Advocacy for Social Justice," by S. Dharamsi and M. Donohoe," "When Things Go Wrong: Teaching How to Disclose Adverse Events," by J. Mir, J. Evans, and H. MacLeod, and "Career Transition Support: Successful Approaches for Undergraduates, Residents, and Entry into Practice," by A. Oswald, J. Lockyer, and C. Campbell.

This paper examines the site choices of recreational deer hunters in context of changing levels of chronic wasting disease (CWD) and its management in Alberta. CWD is a prion disease that affects wild cervids and is found in Saskatchewan and Alberta. There are no known human health risks from CWD but the condition is fatal for cervids. The methodological approach employed utilizes both revealed and stated preference data collected from resident hunters using a computer-based survey. The results suggest that while hunting behavior is not significantly altered by current CWD levels and management programs, there would be some changes given higher prevalence and spread levels of the disease. To avoid a situation of high CWD spread and prevalence, hunters would be willing to pay on average $20.35 per trip to keep CWD at current levels. This translated into just under a million dollars of direct economic value. Although the estimate is not large compared to other provincial economic activities, when added up over a number of years the economic losses could be substantial. Le présent article examine les choix de site des amateurs de chasse au cerf en fonction de l'évolution de la maladie débilitante chronique des cervidés (MDC) et de la gestion de cette maladie en Alberta. La MDC est une maladie à prions qui frappe les cervidés sauvages, notamment en Saskatchewan et en Alberta. Cette maladie ne semble pas présenter de risques pour la santé humaine, mais elle demeure fatale pour les cervidés. Nous avons utilisé une approche méthodologique comprenant des données sur les préférences révélées et les préférences déclarées des chasseurs résidents, recueillies au moyen d'un sondage informatisé. D'après les résultats, bien que les niveaux actuels de la MDC et les programmes de gestion n'aient pas entraîné de changements considérables sur le plan du comportement de chasse, une hausse de la prévalence et des niveaux de propagation de la maladie pourrait toutefois entraîner certains changements. Afin d'éviter une augmentation de la propagation et de la prévalence de la MDC, les chasseurs se sont dit prêts à verser en moyenne 20,35 $ par voyage de chasse pour contenir la maladie aux niveaux actuels, ce qui représenterait une valeur économique directe de près de un million de dollars. Bien que cette estimation soit faible par rapport aux autres activités économiques provinciales, les pertes financières cumulées sur un certain nombre d'années pourraient toutefois être substantielles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The depositional stratigraphy of within-channel deposits in sandy braided rivers is dominated by a variety of barforms (both singular 'unit' bars and complex 'compound' bars), as well as the infill of individual channels (herein termed 'channel fills'). The deposits of bars and channel fills define the key components of facies models for braided rivers and their within-channel heterogeneity, knowledge of which is important for reservoir characterization. However, few studies have sought to address the question of whether the deposits of bars and channel fills can be readily differentiated from each other. This paper presents the first quantitative study to achieve this aim, using aerial images of an evolving modern sandy braided river and geophysical imaging of its subsurface deposits. Aerial photographs taken between 2000 and 2004 document the abandonment and fill of a 1·3 km long, 80 m wide anabranch channel in the sandy braided South Saskatchewan River, Canada. Upstream river regulation traps the majority of very fine sediment and there is little clay (< 1%) in the bed sediments. Channel abandonment was initiated by a series of unit bars that stalled and progressively blocked the anabranch entrance, together with dune deposition and stacking at the anabranch entrance and exit. Complete channel abandonment and subsequent fill of up to 3 m of sediment took approximately two years. Thirteen kilometres of ground-penetrating radar surveys, coupled with 18 cores, were obtained over the channel fill and an adjacent 750 m long, 400 m wide, compound bar, enabling a quantitative analysis of the channel and bar deposits. Results show that, in terms of grain-size trends, facies proportions and scale of deposits, there are only subtle differences between the channel fill and bar deposits which, therefore, renders them indistinguishable. Thus, it may be inappropriate to assign different geometric and sedimentological attributes to channel fill and bar facies in object-based models of sandy braided river alluvial architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes Alberta consumers’ perceptions toward extrinsic and intrinsic attributes of bison and beef steaks. In contrast to published Canadian consumer studies on bison meat that were undertaken prior to May 2003, before the first BSE case of Canadian origin was identified in beef cattle, this study provides a “post-BSE” assessment of consumer perceptions toward selected bison meat attributes. The results from an attribute-based choice experiment provide little support that simple traceability assurance schemes have value to consumers of bison and beef steaks, thus confirming similar findings of earlier beef studies that have employed different methodological approaches. The results also suggest that consumers are willing to pay significant premiums for bison steaks that are certified as being produced without genetically modified organisms, an attribute that has so far been unexplored in previous published bison studies. Le présent article analyse les perceptions des consommateurs de l’Alberta envers des attributs intrinsèques et extrinsèques du bifteck de bœuf et de bison. Contrairement aux études canadiennes sur la consommation de viande de bison publiées avant mai 2003, soit avant l’apparition du premier cas d’ESB dans un troupeau de bovins canadien, la présente étude livre une évaluation « post-ESB » des perceptions des consommateurs envers des attributs sélectionnés de la viande de bison. Les résultats obtenus à partir de la méthode des choix multi-attributs apportent peu d’appui à l’idée voulant que les mécanismes simples d’assurance de la traçabilité aient de la valeur pour les consommateurs de bifteck de bison et de bœuf, ce qui confirme les résultats similaires d’études antérieures sur le bœuf effectuées à l’aide de diverses approches méthodologiques. De plus, les résultats ont montré que les consommateurs sont prêts à payer un supplément appréciable pour du bifteck de bison certifié sans organisme génétiquement modifié (OGM), un attribut qui n’a pas été examiné dans les études sur le bison publiées antérieurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim The spatial extent of western Canada’s current epidemic of mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae), is increasing. The roles of the various dispersal processes acting as drivers of range expansion are poorly understood for most species. The aim of this paper is to characterize the movement patterns of the mountain pine beetle in areas where range expansion is occurring, in order to describe the fine-scale spatial dynamics of processes associated with mountain pine beetle range expansion. Location Three regions of Canada’s Rocky Mountains: Kicking Horse Pass, Yellowhead Pass and Pine Pass. Methods Data on locations of mountain pine beetle-attacked trees of predominantly lodgepole pine ( Pinus contorta var. latifolia) were obtained from annual fixed-wing aircraft surveys of forest health and helicopter-based GPS surveys of mountain pine beetle-damaged areas in British Columbia and Alberta. The annual (1999–2005) spatial extents of outbreak ranges were delineated from these data. Spatial analysis was conducted using the spatial–temporal analysis of moving polygons (STAMP), a recently developed pattern-based approach. Results We found that distant dispersal patterns (spot infestations) were most often associated with marginal increases in the areal size of mountain pine beetle range polygons. When the mountain pine beetle range size increased rapidly relative to the years examined, local dispersal patterns (adjacent infestation) were more common. In Pine Pass, long-range dispersal (> 2 km) markedly extended the north-east border of the mountain pine beetle range. In Yellowhead Pass and Kicking Horse Pass, the extension of the range occurred incrementally via ground-based spread. Main conclusions Dispersal of mountain pine beetle varies with geography as well as with host and beetle population dynamics. Although colonization is mediated by habitat connectivity, during periods of low overall habitat expansion, dispersal to new distant locations is common, whereas during periods of rapid invasion, locally connected spread is the dominant mode of dispersal. The propensity for long-range transport to establish new beetle populations, and thus to be considered a driver of range expansion, is likely to be determined by regional weather patterns, and influenced by local topography. We conclude that STAMP appears to be a useful approach for examining changes in biogeograpical ranges, with the potential to reveal both fine- and large-scale patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context The multiple mini-interview (MMI) was used to measure professionalism in international medical graduate (IMG) applicants for family medicine residency in Alberta for positions accessed through the Alberta International Medical Graduate (AIMG) Program. This paper assesses the evidence for the MMI’s reliability and validity in this context. Methods A group of 71 IMGs participated in our 12-station MMI designed to assess professionalism competency. A 10-point scale evaluated applicants on ability to address the objectives of the situation, interpersonal skills, suitability for a residency and for family medicine, and overall performance. We conducted generalisability and decision studies to assess the reliability of MMI scores. We assessed the validity by examining the differences in MMI scores associated with session, track and socio-demographic characteristics of applicants and by measuring the correlations between MMI scores and scores on compulsory examinations, including the AIMG objective structured clinical examination, the Medical Council of Canada Evaluating Examination (MCCEE) and the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination Part I (MCCQE I). We measured the correlation between MMI and non-requisite MCCQE Part II (MCCQE II) scores that were provided. Results The reliability as indicated by the generalisability coefficient associated with average station scores was 0.70 with one interviewer per station. There were no statistically significant differences in total MMI scores or mean station sum scores based on session, track, applicant age, gender, years since medical school completion, or language of medical school. There were low, non-significant correlations with OSCE overall ( r = 0.15), MCCEE ( r = 0.01) and MCCQE I ( r = 0.06) scores and a higher non-significant correlation with MCCQE II scores ( r = 0.33). Conclusions There is evidence that the MMI offers a reliable and valid assessment of professionalism in IMG doctors applying for Canadian family medicine residencies and that this clinically situated MMI assessed facets of competency other than those assessed by the OSCE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the evaluation of a mental health liaison (MHL) role in a rural community in Alberta, Canada. The role provides advocacy, education, indirect and direct client intervention, and follow up. It was developed to eliminate gaps in mental health care and build collaborative cultures between the local hospital, physicians' offices, mental health clinics, and community agencies. Obtaining stakeholder feedback was an important step in assessing initial service impact while providing directions for role refinement and future programme development. A total of 116 questionnaires were distributed to physicians, hospital staff, and community mental health assessing stakeholder perception relating to various functions of the MHL. A 50% ( n = 58) response rate was achieved with broad representation from different partners, including 75% of local physicians. The majority of respondents positively perceived the roles, functions, and impact of the MHL, including relationship development across the hospital community, improved access to services, and perceived improved client outcomes. The results reinforced that the MHL service meets a previously unmet need in this rural setting. Findings are being used to refine roles, provide local learning and resource development, understand issues relating to programme development in other areas, and develop client level outcomes relating to the services delivered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper was to conduct an analysis of the health services costs for persons who have been diagnosed with hepatitis C, from the time of diagnosis. Data were based on 1230 persons diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1998 in the Capital Health region of Alberta. Identifiers and dates of diagnosis were sent to Alberta Health and Wellness where records were linked to those of physician visits and billings, as well as hospital (inpatient and outpatient) visit records. Costs were assigned to all visits, and data were analysed for one pre- and two post-diagnosis years. Total cost per person increased from $2630 (Canadian) to $3514 between the pre- and first post-diagnosis year. They then returned to $2694 in the second post-diagnosis year. Liver-related costs were a low portion of the total in all periods, though they increased following diagnosis. Mental-health related costs were the largest component. Observational data present a more balanced picture of the costs of persons with hepatitis C, though most current estimates are not based on such data. Our results indicate that, when analysed within the picture of the entire person, liver-related costs (which have been the focus of most studies to date) are the tip of the iceberg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

À une époque où l'enthousiasme se manifeste pour une gouvernance environnementale plus délibérative et participative, des études critiques sur ces activités s'avèrent grandement nécessaires. Un forum très en vue sur la gouvernance, le Comité de consultation publique, en est venu à jouer un rôle d'une importance capitale dans la réglementation législative et axée sur les forces du marché des ressources forestières. L'article présente une évaluation critique de ces milieux environnants de plus en plus privés et localisés pour le discours politique du secteur forestier de l'Alberta. Quoique la prudence soit conseillée concernant le potentiel d'engagement actif du citoyen à l'intérieur de comités financés par les entreprises, l'étude de cas révèle l'importance de la variation contextuelle sur la qualité de la délibération. At a time when enthusiasm waxes for a more deliberative and participatory environmental governance, critical inquiries into these activities are sorely needed. One prominent governance forum is the public advisory committee, which has come to play a central role in the legislative and market-based regulation of forest resources. This paper offers a critical assessment of these increasingly privatized and localized settings for political discourse within the forest sector of Alberta. Although caution is urged regarding the potential for active citizen engagement within corporate-sponsored committees, the case study reveals the importance of contextual variation in the quality of deliberation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

North America's meatpackers have relied upon immigrants to staff their plants from the earliest days of the industry in the late nineteenth century when packinghouses were located in urban areas adjacent to stockyards. A hundred years later the industry remains dependent on an immigrant labor force, but now most of its plants are located in rural areas. This means rural communities are transformed with the arrival of immigrants to staff their plants. But Canada and the United States have different immigration policies, which means they draw upon different immigrant sources. Canada favors the recruitment of highly skilled labor while the United States emphasizes family reunification. This paper examines whether this difference affects the labor force composition of a Canadian and U.S. meatpacking plant, and the associated transformation of the plants' host communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we hypothesize that farmers with a stronger valuation of family farming will be more resistant to converting farmland to tree plantations. Our survey data analysis from 106 farmers in northern Alberta reveals that general opposition to trees on farmland is the strongest predictor of farmers' resistance to the establishment of poplar tree plantations on privately-owned land. Valuation of family farming is the strongest determinant of resistance to trees on farmland. Among the potential intervening variables influencing support for tree plantations, including county, age, gender, number of children, and percent of income from farming, number of children and percent of income from farming had significant direct effects on valuation of family farming. This study suggests that economic incentives alone are unlikely to influence farmers' willingness to convert their land to non-traditional uses, and that intergenerational transfer of land, and its relationship to valuation of family farming, deserves further attention in rural sociological scholarship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, creation of carbon offset and emission reduction credits are examined from the perspective of the Little Red River Cree Nation (LRRCN), a forest tenure holder in northern Alberta. Carbon credits are produced under three scenarios: (1) carbon uptake in forest ecosystems, with postharvest waste left on site; (2) carbon uptake in forests and products; and (3) carbon uptake in forests with harvested fiber used for energy production. A mathematical programming model is used to solve for the minimum prices that cause the LRRCN to include production of carbon credits in its forest management and post-harvest processing strategies. If LRRCN is paid according to its costs of creating carbon credits, it will opt to use fiber for forest products as this provides the greatest earning potential. If LRRCN faces a fixed price for carbon credits, it will produce fiber for generating electricity in lieu of coal as this strategy has the lowest average cost. However, when costs of feedstock transportation and construction of a power plant are taken into account, carbon uptake in biomass and forest products turn out to be more competitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses abstracts of papers presented at the Joint Conference of the Canadian Society for Transfusion Medicine, Canadian Blood Services and Hema-Quebec in Banff, Alberta, from April 21 to 24, 2005. "Templates, tips and taboos," by D. Evanovitch; "Cryobiology and the preservation of stem cells," by L.E. McGann; "Hema-Quebec's experience in the development of a public cord blood bank," by G. Delage, L. Peltier, L. Richard and D. Roy.

In this paper, the authors describe an aspect of a program of research around grief and clinical practice. The first phase of the study involves examination of experiences of grief with attention to troublesome or problematic beliefs that fuel the extent of suffering in the bereaved. The data, obtained from a review of videotaped clinical interviews with families seen in the Family Nursing Unit at the University of Calgary, were analyzed according to philosophical hermeneutic tradition. Findings suggest that grief is an experience that is ongoing, that changes in nature over time, but that involves a continuing relationship with the deceased; it is a graceful, periodic, deliberate walk backwards while keeping a sure foot in living forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through an exploration of the practices characterizing teacher training, this paper critiques the operation of institutional power within an historical setting. Utilizing a tripartite model integrating the ideas of Foucault and van Gennep, the impact of (inmate) separation, examinations and awards are investigated as specific technologies that served to produce a definable inmate identity, one infused with institutional values and norms. Inmate voice figures prominently, and serves to remind us that the dynamic of power is not characterized by certainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines patterns of structure in the helminth communities of long-billed curlews collected on their breeding grounds in Alberta, Canada. The communities are neither large nor species rich but they do show evidence of having structure which is mediated by interactive mechanisms between some helminths. In particular, we focus on the role played by congeneric host-specialists in contributing to community patterns and suggest that even in low diversity systems, some species may set the stage around which other species must assort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The findings reported in this paper were based on a representative, city wide sample ( N = 708) of Calgary youths (aged 15-24). Twenty six per cent of the respondents reported having used marijuana "in the past six months". Contrary to Smart' s (1970) differential school drop out hypothesis, no decline in drug use was reported by 17 and 18 year old students, As measured by Rotter's concept, internally oriented respondents were less apt than externals to use marijuana. As predicted, this correlation was stronger among high school than college respondents. Several other demographic correlates of marijuana use were found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A thick late Pleistocene sequence comprising multiple beds of massive diamict facies resting on outwash gravels, occurs along the Bow River, near Banff, Alberta. Diamicts have a simple sheet-like geometry which dip downvalley at between 5° and 10°, with largely conformable bedding contacts. The sediments are strongly bimodal in texture, consisting of clasts supported by a silty sand matrix. Prolate clasts show a weak a-axis alignment parallel and transverse to the trend of the Bow Valley with a weak imbrication. Clasts of soft sediment are common. The diamict sequence has a maximum thickness of 30 m, infills the valley floor over an area of approximately 12 km[SUP2] and buries a channeled topography cut on the surface of underlying outwash gravels. Abandoned braided channels, veneered by windblown sand containing volcanic tephra dated at 6600 yr BP, occur on the infill surface. Diamict facies were emplaced as subaerial debris flows derived by the mixing and remobilization of large volumes of outwash and glaciolacustrine sediment. Orientation data from clasts and a few basal grooves indicate that debris was derived upvalley and from adjacent valleyside slopes. A major episode of debris flow sedimentation may have been triggered by the abrupt drainage of lakes in tributary valleys as the Bow Valley glacier retreated. Downslope resedimentation of large volumes of sediment resulted in braided river aggradation downstream along the Bow River and can be dated to between 12 000 and 10 000 yr BP. Similar conditions probably occurred during deglaciation throughout the Canadian Cordillera and many other alpine areas, where poorly-sorted late glacial debris-flow facies have been mistaken for tills deposited directly by glaciers. The late glacial setting identified in this paper provides a basis of comparison with ancient continental glacial facies preserved in area of active tectonism and high relief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the highlights of the Institute for Philosophical Nursing Research (IPNR) Conference held at the Banff Centre in Banff, Alberta, from May 16 to 18, 2010. Hosted by the Nursing Faculty of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, the conference discussed the philosophy of the nursing practice. Several papers on a variety of topics had been presented at the conference, which include the state of nursing knowledge and the virtues of evidence-based practice.

The article provides guidelines to authors who wish to contribute to the journal "Journal of Historical Sociology." The journal welcomes articles that contribute to the historically grounded understanding of human societies, whatever their disciplinary provenance or theoretical standpoint. For paper submission, four copies of the manuscript should be sent to Derek Sayer and Yoke-Sum Wong, Department of Sociology, University of Alberta, Edmonton in Alberta. All contributions should be accompanied by an abstract of no more than 100 words, and a brief biographical note including institutional affiliation. The article states that the authors should write in plain English, and that various spellings may be used as long as they are consistent within an article. Manuscripts should be typed double-spaced throughout, including quotations, notes, and references. Illustrations should be submitted in camera-ready form, and provided on separate sheets and should not included in the body of the text. A note in the text should indicate location of illustrations.

Water quality, environment, agricultural land use, waterfowl, and fish community data were collected from wetlands in four landscapes (West Peace Lowlands, East Peace Lowlands, West Central, and East Central) in the Boreal Transition Zone (BTZ) of Alberta (AB) and with one landscape in British Columbia (East Peace Lowlands, BC) during May and August over three years (2005-2007). This data set is unique in that it provides comprehensive water quality sampling, habitat conditions, and associated breeding and molting waterfowl data over a three-year period, which includes a drought year. Land use in the BTZ has rapidly changed with at least 73% of the BTZ. particularly in Saskatchewan, AB. being converted from forest to agriculture since the early 20th century. The BTZ has experienced a drying trend over the past 60 years with the lowest cumulative effective precipitation since 1943 with a --2323-mm precipitation deficit recorded in 2006. A total of 723 and 489 wetlands were surveyed for waterfowl abundance during the breeding and molting seasons, respectively. A subset of 214 and 213 wetlands in May and August, respectively, was further sampled for habitat, limnology, and agricultural encroachment surrounding the wetland. A subset of 25 wetlands was sampled in 2006 for fish abundance data. This data set has been used in several papers in assessing the impact of drought and agricultural impact on water quality and wetland conditions, as well as drought and land use impacts on habitat associations between breeding and molting waterfowl and wetland condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]