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Background: Efforts to better understand and improve letters of recommendation (LORs) in the resident selection process have identified unwritten rules and hidden practices that may limit their effectiveness. The objective of our study is to explore these unwritten rules and hidden practices more fully in one Canadian academic medical community. Methods: We conducted semi-structured, discourse-based interviews with 18 faculty members from the departments of Internal Medicine and Psychiatry at the University of Manitoba, Canada. Interviews were guided by sample LORs and were focused on experiences with either writing or reading LORs. We analyzed interviews using key concepts from genre theory and Aristotle’s appeals to ethos, logos, and pathos. Results: Participants described how the practices surrounding LORs are guided by unwritten rules. These practices contributed to writers’ use of visible strategies and textual silence to establish credibility, build a strong case, and appeal to readers. Readers rely on similar strategies, but not always as intended by the writers. Conclusions: The unwritten rules of one academic community can impede a nationally-facilitated resident selection process. Our findings highlight how critiques and potential improvements to LORs could benefit from considering the use of visible and invisible rhetorical strategies in specific contexts.

A temporal upscaling study was conducted to estimate net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of carbon dioxide and net methane exchange (NME) for a low-center polygon (LCP) ecosystem in the Mackenzie River Delta, for each of the 11 growing seasons (2009–2019). We used regression models to create a time series of flux drivers from in situ weather observations (2009–2019) combined with ERA5 reanalysis and satellite data. We then used neural networks that were trained and validated on a single growing season (2017) of eddy covariance data to model NEE and NME over each growing season. The study indicates growing season NEE was negative (net uptake) and NME was positive (net emission) in this LCP ecosystem. Cumulative carbon (C) uptake was estimated to be −46.7 g C m−2 (CI95% ± 45.3) per growing season, with methane emissions offsetting an average 5.6% of carbon dioxide uptake (in g C m−2) per growing season. High air temperatures (>15 °C) reduced daily CO2 uptake and cumulative NEE was positively correlated with mean air growing season temperatures. Cumulative NME was positively correlated with the length of the growing season. Our analysis suggests warmer climate conditions may reduce carbon uptake in this LCP ecosystem.

Growing season surface–atmosphere exchange of carbon dioxide and methane were quantified at Fish Island, a wetland site in the lower northeast Mackenzie River Delta, Northwest Territories, Canada. The terrain consists of low-center polygonal tundra and is subject to infrequent flooding in high water years. Carbon dioxide and methane fluxes were continuously measured using eddy covariance and the relevance of different environmental controls were identified using neural networks. Net daily carbon dioxide uptake peaked in mid-July before gradually decreasing and transitioning to net daily emissions by September. Variations in light level and temperature were the main controls over diurnal net carbon dioxide uptake, whereas thaw depth and phenology were the main seasonal controls. Methane emissions measured at Fish Island were higher than comparable studies on river delta sites in the Arctic and were influenced by the interaction of a large number of factors including thaw and water table depth, soil temperatures, and net radiation. Spikes in methane emissions were associated with strong winds and turbulence. The Fish Island tundra was a net sink for carbon during the growing season and methane emissions only slightly reduced the overall sink strength.

In the past, American universities and colleges would regularly publish yearbooks put together by the students to document campus life and activities. Frequently, when scholars look at historical archives, ephemeral material such as yearbooks are excluded from analysis, being cast aside as trivial, too personal, or lacking expertise as yearbooks simply document the goings-on of an academic year. Drawing from yearbooks produced at what is now Boise State University in Idaho and Portland State University in Oregon between 1945 and 1975, this article will be presenting their photographic memories, captions, and layouts as local reiterations of national trends, staid representations of the postwar era. Whether these phenomena are social—student housing, for example—, cultural—such as youth courting and dating—, or political—student activism, for instance—, yearbooks document the multitudinous ways young students created and reflected the national culture that have become hallmarks of the postwar American era.

Debris flows entrain sediments and water along their flow path and grow significantly in size. Because the entrainment process isn’t well understood and data is rare, hazard and risk assessment with numerical models is challenging. It is known, however, that both for debris flows and rock avalanches, interstitial pore water in flow path substrate can cause increases in pore water pressures when overridden by the flow, which enhances erosion. The entrained water likely also plays a role in the process transition from rock avalanche to debris flow, like in the Pizzo Cengalo event in 2017. We present a framework for producing entrainment maps serving as an input for runout modelling, here illustrated using RAMMS. The entrainment maps consist of spatially-distributed entities with properties such as max erosion depth, and soil water content inferred from land cover and lithology maps. This study serves as a basis for producing duration curves of subsurface water available for entrainment and include it into the entrainment maps. Such hydrologically-informed entrainment maps will be useful to assess the probability of certain runout distances.

Rock/ice avalanches are complex gravitational flows involving three important physicalprocesses: entrainment, phase-changes, and flow transitions. The basic complexity of modelling rock/ice avalanches lies in the fact that the flow is a mixture of rock, ice, water, snow, soil sediments. The interaction of these components can lead to flow transitions which is difficult to model with simplified flow rheologies. For example, a flow initially composed of rocks and ice can transition into a long-runout debris flow, dependent on the entrainment of water, water-saturated sediments and/or snow. The dynamic behaviour of rock/ice avalanches is therefore highly difficult to predict because the flow mixture is dependent on the hydrological and geomorphological properties along the avalanche track. These properties can vary from year to year but even from season to season. The problem is intensified by the fact that frictional shearing can produce enough heat energy to melt ice and snow, leading to additional water in the flow. In this contribution, we present a new RAMMS module specifically designed to simulate single- and multicomponent avalanches of rock, ice, water, snow, and ice. The rheology of the flow is treated by using the concept of component activation energy. The model includes both snow and sediment/water/ice entrainment modules. A unique feature of the model is that it tracks the temperature of the rock, ice and water phases and therefore can treat phase changes. We apply the model on the Chamoli case-study to highlight the potential and present limitations of the model..

Past debris flow events, like in Bondo (2017) and Brienz (2005) in Switzerland have been heavily covered in the (Swiss) media, illustrating how destructive such events can get. Protection measures play an important role in dealing with natural hazards. Debris flows are considered to be very rare, complex and multidimensional processes. Imagining and foreseeing the course and progression of a debris flow as well as estimating the potential damage and the influence of protection measures is a difficult task. Serious games offer a possibility to simulate these kinds of situations. With the MurGame, we have developed an application for natural hazard prevention. In the three-dimensional, interactive game, a village is created by selecting different objects, such as residential buildings or schools. Debris flow simulations show, which buildings would be destroyed and what damage would occur in the event of a debris flow. Different protection measures can be implemented to protect the village and their effectiveness can be monitored during the simulations. After the event, it is necessary to evaluate which measures offer the desired protection, what they may cost and how the needs of the population are met. The MurGame can be played online at www.murgame.ch.

Real-time breath analysis by high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) is a promising method to noninvasively retrieve relevant biochemical information. In this work, we conducted a head-to-head comparison of two ionization techniques: Secondary electrospray ionization (SESI) and plasma ionization (PI), for the analysis of exhaled breath. Two commercially available SESI and PI sources were coupled to the same HRMS device to analyze breath of two healthy individuals in a longitudinal study. We analyzed 58 breath specimens in both platforms, leading to 2,209 and 2,296 features detected by SESI-HRMS and by PI-HRMS, respectively. 60% of all the mass spectral features were detected in both platforms. However, remarkable differences were noted in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N), whereby the median (interquartile range, IQR) S/N ratio for SESI-HRMS was 115 (IQR = 408), whereas for PI-HRMS it was 5 (IQR = 5). Differences in the mass spectral profiles for the same samples make the inter-comparability of both techniques problematic. Overall, we conclude that both techniques are excellent for real-time breath analysis because of the very rich mass spectral fingerprints. However, further work is needed to fully understand the exact metabolic insights one can gather using each of these platforms.

Data of the dialect research project “Das Anna und ihr Hund. Weibliche Rufnamen im Neutrum” indicate the important role of diminutive names in terms of the historical develop-ment and consolidation of the onymic neuter gender assignment. The focus in the present arti-cle lies therefore on the forms and the use of diminutive names (e. g. Anneli, Ruedi) in Swiss-German dialects. Based on diachronic evidence from literary works and regional dictionaries, differences in the diminution of male and female names are historically traced and substantiated. It is for prag-matic reasons that female kinship names (e. g. Mami) are crystallized to be the last bastion for the neutral gender assignment which opens up new perspectives on the diachronic emergence of this phenomenon. The consideration of further onymic suffixes in the outlook brings up a debate on the disagreement of gender and sex which is considered to be a possible objective of the suf-fixation itself.

Numerous projects and industrial and academic collaborations benefit from state-of-the-art facilities and expertise in analytical chemistry available at the Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences. This review summarizes areas of expertise in analytical sciences at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW), the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO), and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). We briefly discuss selected projects in different fields of analytical sciences

This paper deals with four particle-like entities which emerged from clauses, namely glaub (from glaubi/i glaub’s ‘I believe [it]’), meini (from meini ‘I mean’), schiins (from schiint’s ‘it seems’) and denk (from denki/i denk’s ‘I think [it]’). They contain a meta-communicative function insofar as they express the speaker’s epistemic position. Based on evidence from different corpora it is argued that the category of modal particles accounts only superficially for the functionality of these entities. It would be more precise to distinguish between a particle, with which the speaker focusses on the factuality of the statement (glaub), and three particles, which focus on its evidentiality by referring to a source of information. The particle meini brings into play a personal (sensory) perception, schiins can function as hearsay-evidential, and denk conveys that the utterance is based on the speaker’s considerations. The particulisation of former clauses is understood as a grammaticalisation in progress, thereby touching on a semantic domain, which is otherwise expressed with lexemes (angeblich ‘allegedly’) and periphrases (allem Anschein nach ‘apparently’).

Retrogressive thaw slumps (RTS) are permafrost disturbances common on the Fosheim Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, Canada. During the 2013 growing season, three different RTS were studied to investigate the impact on vegetation composition, soil, and growing season net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO2 by comparing to the adjacent undisturbed tundra. Eddy covariance and static chamber measurements were used to determine NEE and ecosystem respiration (Re), respectively. Vegetation cover was significantly lower in all active disturbances, relative to the surrounding tundra, and this affected the overall impact of disturbance on CO2 fluxes. Disturbances were characterized by greater Re compared to surrounding undisturbed tundra. Over the mid-growing season (34 days), eddy covariance NEE measurements indicated that there was greater net CO2 uptake in undisturbed versus disturbed tundra. At one site, the undisturbed tundra was a weak net sink (−0.05 ± 0.02 g C m−2 day−1), while the disturbed tundra acted as a weak net source (+0.07 ± 0.04 g C m−2 day−1). At the other site, the NEE of the undisturbed tundra was −0.20 ± 0.03 g C m−2 day−1 (sink), while the disturbed tundra still sequestered CO2, but less than the undisturbed tundra (NEE = −0.05 ± 0.04 g C m−2 day−1). Two of the RTS exhibited average soil temperatures that were greater compared to the surrounding undisturbed tundra. In one case, the opposite effect was observed. All RTS exhibited elevated soil moisture (+14%) and nutrient availability (specifically nitrogen) relative to the undisturbed tundra. We conclude that RTS, although limited in space, have profound environmental impacts by reducing vegetation coverage, increasing wet soil conditions, and altering NEE during the growing season in the High Arctic.

Numerous social, economic and academic pressures can have a negative impact on representations of biomedical research. We review several of the forces playing an increasingly pernicious role in how health and science information is interpreted, shared and used, drawing discussions towards the role of narrative. In turn, we explore how aspects of narrative are used in different social contexts and communication environments, and present creative responses that may help counter the negative trends. As traditional methods of communication have in many ways failed the public, changes in approach are required, including the creative use of narratives.

Philosophy is a core element in the intellectual history of all civilizations. Yet as an academic discipline, it is far from inclusive: Swiss philosophy departments factor out nearly everything outside the European canon. This text offers fundamental criticism of the focus on a narrow range of dominant epistemologies that, as will be argued, originate in Eurocentric ideologies. I will present a two-pronged approach, proposing a shift in curricula as well as in methods of philosophical inquiry.

This paper is intended to stimulate a discussion between academia and industry on automotive control. It lists requirements that usually are not covered in control classes but are important for the way control is practiced in the automotive industry, among them are calibratability, extendibility, or testability of controllers. Then, three examples are discussed in more detail, one being energy management for hybrid electric vehicles. In the discussion, we suggest some research topics.

Context: More than 15 years ago, the School of Medicine of the Faculty of Biology and Medicine at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) established a simulated patient program. Its mission is to contribute to the training and evaluation of medical students and the continuing education of health professionals from several institutions. Objectives: This publication describes the resources required to develop the program, the educational roles of the simulated patients, and the recruitment, training, and supervision processes that were put in place. Conclusion: Standards of best practice have guided the evolution of the program into a recognized player in healthcare education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability requires fundamental adjustments not only in terms of policy objectives, but also in the ways policies are made and implemented, i.e. governance. Based on a transdisciplinary research project, this article presents how sustainability governance is understood and practiced in six Swiss cantons, and describes the challenges faced by cantonal sustainability offices. The central finding is that the cantons have developed different forms of sustainability governance, but face similar challenges. This leads to several follow-up questions about the potentials and limitations of different forms of sustainability governance in dealing with these challenges.

A phenomenological model of lead acid batteries is developed that is then used to construct an estimator for short term charge acceptance. Conceptually, the model is based on a partial differential equation that is discretized for tractability. With observers for the battery current and state of charge, the prediction of the internal states is improved. Since the model is essentially linear, the short term prediction can be implemented in closed form, thus without the need for computationally intensive prediction simulations at each sampling instant. The only nonlinearity, the dependence on temperature, can be incorporated in a linear parameter-varying model. Un modèle phénoménologique des batteries plomb-acide est développé et utilisé pour réaliser un estimateur d’acceptance de charge à court terme. Conceptuellement, le modèle est basé sur une équation différentielle partielle qui est discrétisée pour simplifier. La prédiction des états du modèle est améliorée par l’utilisation d’observateurs du courant et de la charge de la batterie. Comme le modèle est essentiellement linéaire, la prédiction à court terme peut être formulée en forme close. Il n’est donc plus nécessaire d’avoir recours à des simulations complexes à chaque instant d’échantillonnage. La seule dépendance non-linéaire, celle à la température, peut être incorporée dans un modèle linéaire à paramètre variable.

The concept of sustainability, first developed in forestry, includes ecologic, economic and social aspects. In a number of international agreements almost all countries of the world have committed themselves to a sustainable development. The assessment of sustainability is normally done by using indicators. In the case of rapeseed special attention has to be placed on nitrogen balances and green house gas emission compared with other crops, however, a number of very positive effects of rapeseed occur if the scale of the crop rotation is considered. In recent years politics and administration have also used the term sustainability in the context of agricultural production, but only focussed on very few aspects and thus did not consider the complex system. This led to misconceptions and might cause disadvantages for rapeseed in the future. Based on the example of forestry, such a strong political influence might be avoided if the agricultural sector itself is able to establish assessment and certification systems.

In spring 1834, when he started writing The Girl with the Golden Eyes, Honoré de Balzac was imbued with by Eugène Delacroix’s work and figure. Both shared an attraction towards the Orient which betrayed their tendency to romanticism. In 1834, the exhibition of the painting The women of Algiers in their Apartment encouraged a new impetus of the novelist’s oriental genius. From 1830, Balzac started to fulfill a dream: competing with Delacroix’s art by portraying the inside of a harem in the short story The Girl with the Golden Eyes, which he dedicated to the romantic painter. The hero, Henri de Marsay, conquers Paquita Valdès who is locked up in a luxurious Parisian hotel by her protector and lover, the Marquise of San Real. Paquita Valdès’s fatal passion for the Count unfolds against the backdrop of an oriental-like boudoir where Delacroix’s cherished colours prevail: yellow and red. This duo of colours, which sustains the unity of the twofold short story, prompted the following comment by Albert Béguin, a literary critic: “Balzac took up the challenge of competing with visual arts and expressing through linguistic means what painters usually say through the play with colours.” Hence the problematic question which motivates our study: How does Honoré de Balzac reproduce the romantic painter’s shape and colour language? We will first examine how the inordinate ambition to see everything and to have everything seen is expressed through Balzac’s art of composition, which he borrowed from Delacroix. The consecutive analyses of open and enclosed spaces will highlight Balzac’s treasured aesthetic law: the law of contrasts. The article will then show the aesthetic impact of the bodies and their stances upon the reader-viewer. Finally, the last part will focus on the suggestive potential of colour and motions in The Girl with the Golden Eyes.

Caffeine acts as a weak psychostimulant and is known to cause trouble with sleeping. Therefore, the presence of caffeine in sleep-aid herbal teas was somewhat surprising, and confirmatory investigations were conducted to exclude any possible misidentification. The botanicals of the sedative mixtures were analysed individually by ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled with a time-of-flight high-resolution mass spectrometer (TOF-HRMS), and caffeine was detected in linden (Tilia spp.) extracts. The presence of caffeine was unambiguously confirmed by means of its characteristic mass spectrum acquired during direct analyses of powdered linden by thermal desorption coupled to a GC×GC-TOF-MS. Caffeine content was determined in 11 linden-based samples, with a validated UPLC-MS/MS method using two mass transitions. Concentrations were between traces and 110 mg kg–1 in the herbal material while those in the corresponding prepared sleep-inducing hot beverages ranged from traces to 226 ?g per cup.