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Crutzen (1974) and Crutzen and Ehhalt (1977) presented two key papers in Ambio that in Ambioexemplify how science first revealed to humankind the potential for damage to our ozone shield in the Anthropocene. Crutzen's (1974) review is a sweeping summary of the risks to the ozone layer from supersonic aircraft, chlorofluorocarbons, as well as nuclear weapons testing and nuclear war. Crutzen and Ehhalt (1977) described how the nitrous oxide produced from fertilizers could pose another threat to the stability of the stratospheric ozone layer. The two papers are part of a body of influential scientific work that led to the pioneering Montreal Protocol to Protect the Earth's Ozone Layer to phase out production of chlorofluorocarbons (in 1987), as well as national decisions that slowed or stopped production of supersonic planes (in the 1970s). They remain guideposts today for ongoing international negotiations regarding reducing emissions from fertilizer and limiting nuclear testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global population continues to grow, which expands demand for raw materials. Meanwhile, governments are developing circular economy strategies within cities and their industries. A circular economy utilizes refurbishing, reusing, remanufacturing, and repairing of products and materials. For companies, this involves to set targets and to rethink their supply chain. This paper seeks to model an exhaustive multi-echelon closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) network. This network functions within uncertainty, and the model optimizes three different objectives. The first objective function maximizes the network's profit; the second objective function minimizes network emissions. The last objective function maximizes job positions created by the network. Optimizing three contradicting objectives is a problem, so an augmented epsilon constraint method is applied to improve the model. Given the rise of fast fashion in developed countries, this model is used in the clothing industry in Montreal, Canada. The model includes three scenarios over five years with two types of products. The result shows the attractiveness of such a network for companies looking for profit, sustainability, and entrepreneurship in the garment industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on microscopic bicycle flow parameters (speed, headway, spacing, and density) is limited given the lack of methods to collect data in large quantities automatically. This paper introduces a novel methodology to compute bicycle flow parameters based on a LiDAR system composed of two single-beam sensors. Instantaneous mid-block raw speed for each cyclist in the traffic stream is measured using LiDAR sensor signals at seven bidirectional and three unidirectional cycling facilities. A Multilayer Perception Neural Network is proposed to improve the accuracy of speed measures. The LiDAR system computes the headway and spacing between consecutive cyclists using time-stamped detections and speed values. Estimation of density is obtained using spacing. For model calibration and testing, 101 hours of video data collected at ten mid-block sites are used. The performance of the cyclist speed estimation is evaluated by comparing it to ground truth video. When the dataset is randomly split into training and test sets, the RMSE and MAPE of the speed estimation method on the test set are 0.61 m/s and 7.1%, respectively. In another scenario, when the model is trained with nine of the ten sites and tested on data from the remaining site, the RMSE and MAPE are 0.69 m/s and 8.2%, respectively. Lastly, the relationships governing hourly flow rate, average speed, and estimated density are studied. The data were collected during the peak cycling season at high-flow sites in Montreal, Canada; However, none of the facilities reached or neared capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Special Issue: "Computer Algebra and Application to Combinatorics, Coding Theory and Cryptography" ACA 2019, Montreal, Canada, July 16-20, 2019 This volume contains the refereed papers within the scope of the special session on Computer Algebra and Application to Combinatorics, Coding Theory and Cryptography, in the ACA 2019 conference held July 16-20, 2019 at Montreal, Canada. These 8 papers covered various topics in computer algebra with applications to combinatorics (e.g., projective planes, SAT problem), coding theory (e.g., error locator polynomials for BCH codes, optimal RS-like LRC codes, skew or repeated-root constacyclic codes), and cryptography (e.g., boomerang uniformity, Gröbner basis, Dickson polynomials, permutation polynomials). [Extracted from the article]

Family history (FH) was characterized as follows: No FH of HBOC/LS cancers, FH of any HBOC/LS cancer, FH of HBOC cancers only, FH of HBOC cancers including the patient's presenting cancer type. Graph Presented by B Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Foundation b in collaboration with B Program in Cancer Genetics, McGill University b PROFFERED PAPERS S2-PP1: The genomic landscape of high grade serous ovarian tumors is defined by loss of BRCA1... Nicole Gull1, Michael Diaz2, Kruttika Dabke2, Pei-Chen Peng1, Jenny Lester3,5, Kate Lawrenson... 1Center for Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles,... High Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer (HGSOC) is typically diagnosed at late stage and most patients progress through tumor recurrence events, eventually developing chemoresistance. P046: Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) modeling of breast and ovarian cancer development... Nur Yucer1 2, Subash Dhugana2, Alyssa Okimoto2, Clive Svendsen1, Simon Gayther2, Xiaojiang Cu... 1Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles... Rare mutations in the highly penetrant BRCA1 & BRCA2 genes predispose women to breast and ovarian cancer and more than 90% of families in which these cancers occur in multiple individuals from families. The overall goals of this project are to: (1) increase ovarian cancer referrals among BC/YK patients, (2) increase ovarian cancer referrals among diverse or non-English speaking patients, and (3) provide BC/YK patients and physicians with up-to-date information regarding genetics and hereditary cancers. [Extracted from the article]

Large-scale agent-based microsimulation platforms, increasingly used in transportation demand modelling, require fully enumerated and spatialized lists of the population and its sociodemographic characteristics as input. The quality of the synthetic population, measured as its ability to reproduce the sociodemographic characteristics of the real population and their spatial distributions, is thus a determinant factor of the model reliability. While many efforts were devoted to improving the sociodemographic accuracy of synthetic populations, less attention was paid to perfecting their spatial precision. Conventional spatialized population synthesis methods, where the generation and spatialization processes are separated, are vulnerable to inconsistencies between zonal synthetic populations, and the built environments on which they are then distributed. These methods also present transferability issues that lie in their high reliance on rich spatialized datasets and knowledge of the local context. Hence, we propose an integrated multiresolution framework (IMF) that overcomes the limitations of the conventional framework (CF) by its ability to directly generate synthetic populations at the building resolution with minimal data requirements. The IMF includes an extension of an optimization-based method to multiresolution applications where any number and aggregation of spatial resolutions can efficiently be controlled. The CF and the IMF are applied to generate synthetic populations for Montreal, Canada. We define and measure sociodemographic accuracy, spatial precision, overall quality, and building-resolution fit of the synthetic populations to compare the frameworks' performances. Despite a small loss in accuracy, the IMF achieves drastically better spatial precision, overall quality and building-resolution fit of synthetic populations, compared to the CF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The passing of Professor Arthur Getis in May of 2022 initiated a number of events to both reflect on and remember the tremendous contributions he has made over his career to geographical systems more broadly, but also spatial analysis, spatial statistics, regional science, geography and GIScience, among others. This began with a series of sessions at the North American Regional Science Council meetings held in Montreal, Canada in November of 2022, followed by an invitation from the editors of Journal of Geographical Systems, Manfred Fischer, Antonio Paez, and Petra Staufer-Steinnocher, to organize a special issue in his honor. Soon thereafter, an open call was initiated to solicit submissions to this special issue, seeking original contributions that overlap and complement the broad range of research undertaken by Professor Getis over a distinguished career and life. This paper offers an overview of prominent geographical systems work carried out by Professor Getis. Reflections on his many contributions are also detailed. A summary of the contributions to this special issue is given, along with final thoughts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban ecology is a promising research field in limnology, but we still need to evaluate how urban waterbodies can sustain biodiversity. In this paper, we present a comprehensive foodweb perspective of urban waterbodies in the city of Montréal (Québec, Canada). The research goals are to evaluate if biodiversity and community structure of foodweb components (phytoplankton, zooplankton, and macroinvertebrates) are valuable tools for assessing the ecological status of urban waterbodies and examine how they are controlled by multiple factors related to trophic status and habitat complexity (origin, water residence, macrophyte cover, fish, and management practices). Multiple factor analysis, correlations, and non-parametric tests were used to examine the relationships between the environmental factors and foodweb biological variables. Our case study confirms that urban waterbodies are important sources of biodiversity and reveals that foodweb-based biological indicators are reliable tools for the biomonitoring of urban waterbodies. Foodweb biodiversity and community structure were more influenced by habitat complexity than by trophic status. The key determinants of variation were the differences in water regime, management of temporary and permanent waterbodies, and contrasts in habitat complexity depending on pond origin (artificial or natural) and macrophyte cover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by the South American research tradition known as "social technology," this article proposes an operational framework to advance the understanding of mechanisms that help to promote social transformation. To illustrate its theorizing potential, we apply the framework to a nonprofit organization–Parole d'excluEs–that was created in Montreal (Canada) in 2006 and that has been promoting citizen mobilization and commitment to social change (parole-dexclues.ca). To that end, we offer a theoretical paper with an empirical illustration as a first step in a reflection on employing a global South theoretical lens–drawing on the concept of social technology–to make sense of a global North social innovation experience and to advance existing knowledge on the mechanisms of social transformation. The results contribute to social innovation research and practice, particularly at the interface between the management and nonprofit literatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical modeling of precipitation at fine (sub-kilometer) spatial scales is computationally very expensive. This study develops a highly efficient framework for this task by coupling deep learning (DL) and physical modeling. This framework is developed and tested using regional climate simulations performed over a domain covering Montreal and adjoining regions, for the summers of 2015–2020, at 2.5 km and 250 m resolutions. The DL framework uses a recurrent approach and considers atmospheric physical processes, such as advection, to generate high-resolution information from low-resolution data, which enables it to recreate fine details and produce temporally consistent fields. The DL framework generates realistic high-resolution precipitation estimates, including intense short-duration precipitation events, which allows it to be applied in engineering problems, such as evaluating the climate resiliency of urban storm drainage systems. The results portray the value of the proposed DL framework, which can be extended to other resolutions, periods, and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Connected Vertex Cover problem, where the goal is to compute a minimum set of vertices in a given graph which forms a vertex cover and induces a connected subgraph, is a fundamental combinatorial problem and has received extensive attention in various subdomains of algorithmics. In the area of kernelization, it is known that this problem is unlikely to have a polynomial kernelization algorithm. However, it has been shown in a recent work of Lokshtanov et al. (Proceedings of the 49th annual ACM SIGACT symposium on theory of computing, STOC 2017, Montreal, QC, Canada, 2017) that if one considered an appropriate notion of approximate kernelization, then this problem parameterized by the solution size does admit an approximate polynomial kernelization. In fact, Lokshtanov et al. were able to obtain a polynomial size approximate kernelization scheme (PSAKS) for Connected Vertex Cover parameterized by the solution size. A PSAKS is essentially a preprocessing algorithm whose error can be made arbitrarily close to 0. In this paper we revisit this problem, and consider parameters that are strictly smaller than the size of the solution and obtain the first polynomial size approximate kernelization schemes for the Connected Vertex Cover problem when parameterized by the deletion distance of the input graph to the class of cographs, the class of bounded treewidth graphs, and the class of all chordal graphs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As with most multilateral environmental negotiations, the on going negotiations for a liability and redress regime in the context of the Cartagena Protocol have proved difficult. While content issues, such as the standard of liability, the scope of the instrument, the nature of the damage and the burden of proof have dominated discussions, the question relating to the nature of the instrument has lurked quietly, but ominously, in the background. This issue came to a head at COP/MOP4 in Bonn - where the instrument was due to be adopted. This paper traces the development of the discussions on the nature of the instrument to be adopted. In particular it considers the slow rise to prominence of the administrative approach to liability at the expense of the civil liability system. This slow rise to prominence of the administrative approach leads to the adoption of a dual approach, meaning a binding instrument on the administrative approach and a nonbinding instrument on civil liability. The paper argues that the positions adopted by the various delegations on the nature of instrument illuminate the complexities of modern international environmental law making and may dispell some closely held beliefs about environmental law making, particularly as it relates to the role of the South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural diversity poses a challenge to mental Health care systems in many settings. Specialized cultural consultation services have been developed in a number of countries as a way to supplement existing services. The objective of this paper is to compare and contrast cultural consultation services in Montreal, London, and Paris to determine how culture and society have shaped the evolution of these services to meet local sensitivities and imperatives. Historical contexts of the sites, their descriptions and origins, how they categorize cultural, ethnic, and linguistic diversity, and their intake procedures are compared and contrasted according to a standardized template of themes. Data came from site visits and participant observation at each site. For historical, political, and cultural reasons, categorization of diversity and intake procedures differ markedly by site: Montreal focuses on language categories and language proficiency; London enumerates ethnic diversity according to officially mandated categories; and Paris does not gather ethnic data on its patients in any form. The process of cultural consultation, specifically its triage and intake procedures, is profoundly influenced by local histories and social norms that are maintained by professional cultures of psychiatry in each setting. To properly place their patients in context, cultural psychiatrists must not only aim to understand the culture of the other, but also must consider the culture of the mainstream society and how it shapes the delivery of services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The property valuation is classically challenged by the weighting of attributes and observed prices of properties. Modern approaches, using statistical potential, optimization, and rich data increased expectations for better results. Although the practitioners recognize that, they prefer accessible estimations with the convenience of interpreting them like in the sales comparison adjustment-grid. The weighting process is thus either weak in practice or complex in modeling culture. The challenge mainly originates from the incoherencies, sometimes significant, between the negotiated prices and the utility reward (contribution) of attributes. Economic agents take decisions under uncertainty, essentially influenced by their subjective expectations, capacity of evaluation and ability of using reliable information. Therefore, existing approaches suffer from properly addressing these issues of valuation. In this paper, we are motivated to improve these issues based on Choquet integral (CI) and fuzzy logic, well-known in Multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problems. In comparison to the available classic (Adjustment-grid) and statistical approaches (like OLS regressions), the method we develop objectively and accurately weights the contribution of property attributes and the adjusted prices in market value estimations. Based on empirical experiments in case-by-case and mass valuation of single-family properties in Montreal (Canada), the results are encouraging and support its reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The total value apportionment between land and building components remains an international issue both in theory and in practice. There are several concepts and methods of value separation, each leading to approximate estimations and therefore to divergent opinions about their reliability. In this paper, we present an alternative method of value apportionment based on Shapley's scheme of values, well recognized in the coalitional game theory. The practicality of this method is verified using observed prices of 14,715 residential properties sold during the year 2019 over all the 27 districts in Montreal (Canada). This unique data comes with detailed information about the essential attributes of the land and the building components. The empirical results of the method presented in this work are in line with practical expectations of total and separate values, either taken case-by-case or in aggregation per district. They are indeed encouraging when compared to the results of two other independent methods (i.e., the city evaluations and the OLS predictions) for the same properties. The results are interesting not only regarding the separation of value but also in several other related aspects. For instance, land values are often close to or even higher than the building values. This shows a phenomenon of building depreciation and land value appreciation. Some districts seem to favor the quality of the building, others being influenced by the location and quality of the land. Interestingly, in contrast to what is believed in practice, a good quality parcel of land does not necessarily have a good quality building according to the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the distribution static compensator model based on the bond graph (BG) domain is presented. The methodology is applied to reactive power compensation in distribution systems where a traditional phase lock loop for sensing the AC grid frequency is not needed. The control law is developed using the inverse BG model, which is extracted using the bi-causality concept. In this way, it is possible to perform the distribution system analysis completely in the BG domain. This means that the graphical model is inverted by obtaining the open-loop control law structure, and then the close loop is formulated. The balanced and unbalance conditions are analyzed, generating a control structure that is robust and efficient. The efficacy of the proposed methodology is shown through: partial and complete system simulations in MATLAB/Simulink® (MATLAB r2015b, Natick, Massachusetts, 01760, USA), as well as experimental laboratory tests. Such tests use: the rapid control prototyping concept and the real-time simulator Opal-RT Technologies® (Montreal, QC, Canada). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we share our reflections based on a process consultation project in collaboration with the Montreal Bicycle Advisory Committee. We put forward the idea that changing people's habits of transportation in Montreal is a complex, wicked problem which cannot be solved by a single actor in a single domain using well-known solutions. We suggest using Transformative Scenario Planning as a framework for how to engage the ecosystem in a participatory, systemic and emergent process to help the system transform its problematic situation. We also discuss the implications of being a stakeholder and change agents in such a transformative culture change process, including our own experience of change through the project. Finally, we end our reflections with a question for further exploration that have emerged from this work. In doing so, we wish to share the continuous inquiry that this work may inspire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the sharing economy (SE) has attracted considerable attention, both scholarly and popular, relating to its capacity to enforce or undermine extant economic conventions. However, the process through which technological developments can effectively have this outcome of altering extant conventions on what is morally acceptable or desirable is still unclear. In this paper, we draw on the work of Boltanski and Thévenot (On justification: economies of worth. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2006) and the notion of agencement to investigate the moral and performative dimension of controversies related to the SE. The research stems from a qualitative case-based study of the controversy following Uber's implementation in Montréal's taxi market. We contribute to the literature on the SE through an empirical study of the moral debates entailed in the unfolding in situ of a SE device. We also add to the literature using the 'Orders of Worth' framework (2006) by showing how a compromise is solidified. We find that beyond discursive strategies, it is the concrete recomposition of laws, conventions, devices, persons, etc. that harmonised different definitions of the common good. Finally, we contribute to the literature on the relationship between technology, ethics, and social change by capturing the specific values that legitimise Uber, and by following their unfolding throughout a controversy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights the 16th World Conference on Nondestructive Testing, which was held from August 30 to September 3, 2004 in Montreal, Quebec. Event description; Attendees; Topics discussed; Programs and activities.

Daily weather records for the St Lawrence Valley region in Québec, Canada, exist on a continuous basis for nearly two centuries and on a more fragmentary level back to the French regime. Daily and sub-daily observations allow for the potential to reconstruct and analyse not only hazardous weather events of short duration but also high impact events such as freezing rain, snowstorms, blowing snow or thunder. Weather records can also give us a more detailed understanding of longer lasting events, such as consecutive dry days leading to drought, or long winters with consecutive frost days which have an impact on health and the demand for domestic heat, which can itself lead to hazardous conditions for air quality. Dry summers, severe snowstorms and long winters have always occurred in the St Lawrence Valley region. This paper looks at the frequency and evolution of a subset of weather events which constitute natural hazards over a period of centuries, from 1742 to the present day, with gaps from 1754–1798 and 1870–1953. The annual frequencies of most events fall broadly within the same ranges over the course of the past centuries. However, a decrease in the number of consecutive dry days and a concomitant increase in precipitation-related hazardous events, such as thunder and freezing rain, can be seen in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries compared to the nineteenth century. The mid-eighteenth century also saw a high frequency of freezing rain events. A mid-twentieth century peak in the number of days with smoke also stands out and is related to industrial and domestic sources of heating and energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we assess the performance variation of the municipalities in the greater Montreal area between 2005 and 2010 for a set of 12 common urban sustainability indicators. We then measure the global and local spatial autocorrelation of each indicator's variation in order to describe the regional distribution of the indicators. Three different patterns emerge from this analysis: (1) converging pattern; (2) diverging pattern, and (3) random pattern of the performance variation of the municipalities across the region. The results suggest the relevance of further research on the potential spillover effects of an individual city's performance, which could be overlooked because a local administration's monitoring of progress is generally performed within its own jurisdiction. Examples of urban sustainability issues for which assessment and monitoring could be more effective at a regional scale include urban densification and public security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a substantial increase in the number of people working from home (telecommuting), in turn leading to unprecedented changes in mobility patterns worldwide. Due to the changing context of the pandemic, there is still a significant gap in knowledge regarding the effects of working from home on workers' travel patterns. The main goal of this work is to unravel the interrelationship between telecommuting during the COVID-19 pandemic, the frequency of active travel for non-work utilitarian purposes, and local accessibility levels around workers' homes. This study uses a longitudinal approach by analyzing travel and telecommuting behavior data from a two-wave survey administered in Montreal in 2019, pre-pandemic, and 2021, during COVID-19 (n = 452). Through a set of weighted multi-level linear regressions, we study the effects of telecommuting on the frequency of active travel for non-work utilitarian purposes, mediated by local accessibility around the household. Results show that the effect of telecommuting on non-work active travel for utilitarian purposes is highly dependent on local accessibility levels around the person's household. For workers living in high local accessibility areas, an increase in telecommuting during the pandemic has induced an increase in active trips for non-work utilitarian purposes. On the other hand, for workers residing in low local accessibility neighborhoods, the effect is the opposite. This research provides insights into the effects of telecommuting on non-work active travel, an area that is currently of interest to policy-makers and practitioners working towards increasing the level of physical activity among individuals through travel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Montreal consensus recognizes chronic cough as an extra-esophageal manifestation of gastroesophageal reflux disease. We performed a meta-analysis to assess the effects of acid-suppressive medications in adults with non-specific chronic cough. The protocol was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42022368769). Placebo-controlled randomized trials evaluating the impact of acid-suppressive medications on persistent cough were included. The systematic search was performed on the 1st of November 2022 in three databases. A random-effects model was used for the calculations. The effect size was the standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI). A total number of 11 double-blinded placebo-controlled randomized trials were included in the meta-analysis. Data showed that compared to placebo, PPIs decreased the severity of cough (SMD 0.33; CI 0.05; 0.61). Therapeutic response was not different in patients with non-specific chronic cough only, compared to those with laryngopharyngeal reflux. Prolonged treatment durations did not result in greater symptomatic improvement, with SMD 0.33 (CI − 0.22; 0.88), 0.31 (CI − 1.74; 2.35), 0.32 (CI − 0.29; 0.93) and 0.34 (CI − 0.16; 0.85), following 4, 6, 8 and 12 weeks of treatment, respectively. The pooled analysis of the improvement in quality of life with PPIs found an SMD of 0.39 (CI − 0.51; 1.29). PPIs mildly decrease the severity of non-specific chronic cough, irrespective of treatment duration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moult and migration are energetically demanding and require adequate nutrition. In some species, individuals may interrupt their fall migration to moult at discrete stopover locations outside of their breeding grounds (i.e., moult-migration) leading to competing nutritional demands for moult and migration. Here, we use DNA barcoding of fecal samples to compare the diet of moulting and actively migrating (post-moult) Swainson's Thrushes (Catharus ustulatus) and Tennessee Warblers (Leiothlypis peregrina) during their fall migration stopover at a large urban greenspace in Montreal, Canada. Diet differed according to moult status, species, and seasonality. Swainson's Thrushes had a broad diet with frequent detections of both insects and berry-producing shrubs; while detections in Tennessee Warblers' diets were mainly arthropods. For both species, more actively migrating individuals consumed fleshy-fruiting plants than moulting individuals. A higher proportion of moulting birds consumed arthropods compared to active migrants, due to either arthropod availability or a dietary preference for proteinaceous foods to grow feathers. Both species and moult classes consumed more native plants than non-native plants later in the season. We show the importance of managing urban greenspaces with native plants and diverse food sources that can provide for the different dietary needs of migratory birds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information on several papers discussed at the 2009 World Molecular Imaging Congress in Montreal, Quebec from September 23-26, 2009 is presented. It presents an index of papers presented which include topics on development/novel use of imaging products, imaging disease/organ processes and imaging methodology. The congress featured several papers including from Hak Soo Choi, Scott Hilderbrand and John D. Lewis.

The paper presents a case study analysing the effects of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity as an intergovernmental organisation. Within the study, the effects of organisations are measured by their outcome, i.e. the influence on the behaviour of other actors such as national governments. Three forms of outcomes are being distinguished, namely knowledge brokerage and diffusion, capacity building, and negotiation facilitation. In addition, the paper tries to explain the observed effects on the basis of internal and external variables. The CBD Secretariat has been established in 1992 and is now located in Montreal with about 70 employees. As most other secretariats of international conventions, it is the main organiser and facilitator of the convention process. The empirical material shows that the Secretariat has a measurable influence on the intergovernmental cooperative process which can be attributed to the effective internal management processes and the qualities of its leaders. Lacking capacity building functions and highly selective effects with regard to the provision of knowledge are explained by the limited formal autonomy and the structure of the global biodiversity problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in the domain of electronic negotiations is a rather new and very interdisciplinary field, which gains more and more attention due to the industry hype and momentum regarding electronic commerce and electronic markets. Negotiations in a narrow sense (not taking into account simple forms such as “hit and take”) have been identified as an advantageous coordination mechanism for the interaction of buyers and sellers in electronic markets that transcend the selling of commodities or uniform goods. Hence, support for negotiations may become a critical success factor for electronic markets, especially regarding the recent failures of many industrial ventures. This paper presents the Montreal Taxonomy, which allows not only for the exact characterisation and comparison of a broad variety of electronic negotiation designs and systems, ranging from auctions to bilateral bargaining tables, but could also lead towards a more structured approach for the design of electronic negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We address the crustal properties of neutron stars, such as crustal mass, crustal radius, crustal fraction of the moment of inertia and investigate the crustal and structural properties related to the glitching mechanism observed in pulsars. The mass, radius and crustal fraction of the moment of inertia in neutron stars have been determined using β -equilibrated neutron–proton–electron–muon (npe μ ) dense neutron star matter obtained using the extended Skyrme effective interactions with NRAPR and Brussels–Montreal parameter sets. The maximum mass of the neutron star calculated from these sets is able to reach ∼ 2 M ⊙ and higher, corroborating the recently observed masses of compact stars. The crustal fraction of the moment of inertia depends sensitively on the pressure and the corresponding density at the core–crust transition. The core–crust transition density and pressure together with the extracted minimum crustal fraction of the total moment of inertia provide a limit for the radii of pulsars. Present calculations imply that due to the crustal entrainment, the crustal fraction of the total moment of inertia is about 5.5 % . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring extent and severity is vital in the ulcerative colitis (UC) follow-up, however, current assessment is complex and low cost-effectiveness. We aimed to develop a routine blood-based clinical decision support tool, Jin's model, to investigate the extent and severity of UC. The multicentre retrospective cohort study recruited 975 adult UC inpatients and sub-grouped into training, internal validation and external validation set. Model was developed by logistics regression for the extent via Montreal classification and for the severity via Mayo score, Truelove and Witts score (TWS), Mayo endoscopic score (MES) and Degree of Ulcerative colitis Burden of Luminal Inflammation (DUBLIN) score. In Montreal classification, left-sided and extensive versus proctitis model achieved area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.78 and 0.81 retrospectively. For severity, Mayo score model, TWS model, MES model and DUBLIN score model achieved an AUROC of 0.81, 0.70, 0.74 and 0.70 retrospectively. The models also were evaluated with satisfactory calibration and clinical unity. Jin's model was free with open access at http://jinmodel.com:3000/. Jin's model is a noninvasive, convenient, and efficient approach to assess the extent and severity of UC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people appear to be using public transit more than their predecessors, reversing twentieth century trends, but the importance of such findings depends on whether high transit use persists as these riders age. This paper examines whether transit mode share for commuting trips is increasing; socio-economic and geographic trends are also explored to attempt to determine whether these trends are likely to continue. The study uses repeated cross-sectional origin-destination surveys of Greater Montreal (1998, 2003 and 2008). Over 45,000 home-to-work and home-to-school trips are studied for each survey year. A general lifecycle pattern of decreasing transit share with age is apparent within cohorts until individuals reach their early 30s, followed by decades of stability. This pattern appears to hold in recent years, but with higher youth use rates, and it is argued that the higher use will continue as current younger cohorts mature. Suburbanization by those in their early 30s is evident and, along with household composition changes, appears to explain much of the final within-cohort mode share declines before equilibrium. Transit providers might see lasting ridership gains, as those currently in their early 30s and younger replace lower-use cohorts in the workforce, provided service provision keeps pace. Addressing the needs of young people, whose mode choices are comparatively unsettled, should be a priority for transit agencies to ensure higher transit usage in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence has linked residential instability and engagement in high-risk behaviors. This paper longitudinally examines the relationship between changes in residential stability and changes in HIV risk behaviors among Montréal street youth (SY). Between April 2006 and May 2007, 419 SY (18-25 years old) were recruited in a cohort study. SY (using Montréal street youth agencies services) were eligible if they had had at least one 24-hour episode of homelessness in the previous 30 days. Baseline and follow-up interviews, carried out every 3 months, included completion of a questionnaire (based on Life History Calendar Technique) assessing daily sleeping arrangements since the last interview, and monthly sexual and drug use behaviors. Using mixed-effects logistic regression method, we examined the association between various risk behaviors and residential stability, reached when a youth resided in any of the following settings for a whole month: own place; friends'/partner's/parent's place; any types of housing service (excluding emergency shelters). Analyses were carried out controlling for gender, age, education level, lifetime duration of homelessness, childhood sexual trauma, and lifetime mental health disorders. As of January 2009, 360 SY (79% boys) had completed at least one follow-up interview, representing 4,889 months of follow-up. Residential stability was significantly associated with the following: sex exchange (adjusted odd ratio [AOR], 0.25; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.14-0.37), drug injection (AOR, 0.55; CI, 0.33-0.76), daily alcohol consumption (AOR, 0.58; CI, 0.42-0.74), polydrug consumption (AOR, 0.61; CI, 0.50-0.73), polydrug consumption excluding marijuana (AOR, 0.55; CI, 0.45-0.65), and multiple sex partners (≥3 partners; AOR, 0.57; CI, 0.40-0.74). Our results suggest a reciprocal relationship between residential instability and HIV risk behaviors. This calls for more integrated services combining both individual and structural-level interventions to improve the health of street youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stratospheric ozone depletion threatens human health and the global environment. In 1987, the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer (Montreal Protocol) set aggressive timelines for countries to phase-out products and organic chemicals that were causing rapid ozone depletion in the Antarctic stratosphere. The Global Environment Facility (GEF), established in 1991, is the largest multilateral funder of environmental protection projects and provides financial support for implementation of the Montreal Protocol. This paper summarizes GEF investments to address ozone-depleting substances (ODS) in Countries with Economies in Transition (CEITs), presents case studies from representative countries, and discusses lessons learned. Complementing the work of the Multilateral Fund that supports developing country Parties of the Montreal Protocol, the GEF provides financial support to CEIT's to address ODS phase-out targets and timelines. These investments include technology development and transfer, outreach and training, institution building, and programs to phase-out ODS. Working with partners in the public and private sectors, the GEF has allocated approximately US$210 million, leveraging another US$250 million in co-financing, for 28 ODS phase-out projects in 18 CEITs. GEF ODS project investments in CEITs have contributed to Protocol success by phasing-out 20,000 ozone depletion potential (ODP) Megagrams (Mg) of consumption and 29,000 ODP Mg of production. Among the GEF's most significant efforts to eliminate ODS are projects that transfer technologies and strengthen institutional capabilities of partner countries. These projects have enabled the installation of non-ODS technologies, adoption of best practices by the private sector, and provided CEITs with the legislative and policy framework necessary to sustain ODS phase-out. Almost 25 years after its establishment, the Montreal Protocol with support from financial mechanisms such as the GEF, is a successful model for addressing global environmental challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

two-year international road tunnel fire detection research project (Phase II) was completed recently. As part of this project, a series of fire tests were conducted in a laboratory tunnel facility under minimum and longitudinal airflow conditions. In addition, fire tests were also conducted in the Carré-Viger tunnel in Montreal. This paper presents the results of the full-scale experiments conducted in the laboratory tunnel under minimum airflow conditions. The performance of nine fire detection systems representing five types of fire detection technologies was investigated using representative tunnel fire scenarios. Test results showed that the response of fire detection systems to a tunnel fire was dependent on the size, location and growth rate of the fire, the type of fuel as well as the method of detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to better understand home-to-work travel distances throughout the Montréal Metropolitan region. A simultaneous equation modelling analysis is carried out to jointly explain commuter trip length and home–work location as a function of neighbourhood typologies, commuter socio-demographics and measures of job and worker accessibility. First, a factor and cluster analysis of urban form is performed over the entire region on a fine-scale grid pattern. The outcome of this analysis is the classification of typologies at both home and job locations. Different measures of accessibility and commuter socio-demographics are then incorporated into the analysis. Varied data sources including a detailed Montréal Origin–Destination Survey on over 30,000 home-to-work automobile trips are analyzed. Among other results, commuters that live and work in a different sub-region almost double the average trip distance and although socio-economic factors have a statistically significant correlation with commuter distance, these factors have a marginal effect. Interestingly, our results highlight the importance of urban form and job accessibility. Deciding on whether to live and work in the same sub-region was modelled as an endogenous binary random utility model; unobserved heterogeneities seem to be simultaneously influencing both the home–work location choice and trip-to-work distances. Our results underscore the importance of home–work location with respect to urban form and job accessibility. Hence, policies that support more dense and mixed land-use in suburban areas would not be enough to reduce commuter distances. These actions should be accompanied by other policy initiatives to discourage long car trips. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada’s book trade is fascinating not only because it really consists of two book trades—the Anglophone and the Francophone—but also because it is a site of intense and sustained policy interventions designed to foster greater domestic control. Examining the country’s book policies, Statistics Canada data, trade association membership rosters and trade directories, this paper reveals that Canada’s contemporary book trade is characterized by three features: circa 40 years of government interventions in response to foreign dominance; the central role of foreign firms despite these interventions; and the dominance of Toronto and Montreal as domestic sites of book production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In older adults, an adequate diet depends on their ability to procure and prepare food and eat independently or the availability of dietary assistance when needed. Inadequate food intake or increased nutritional requirements lead to poor nutritional status, which is considered a key determinant of morbidity, increased risk of infection, and mortality in elderly individuals. Weight loss among seniors also heralds increased morbidity and mortality. Dietary behaviour disorders affecting food consumption, nutrition status and maintenance of body weight are common in older adults, and have a substantial impact on nutritional status and quality of life among older adults with Alzheimer Dementia (AD). The Nutrition Intervention Study (NIS) is ongoing. It employs a quasi-experimental pre-post intervention design in physically-well, community-dwelling early stage AD patients aged 70y or older. To date, 34 intervention group patients and 25 control group participants have been recruited with their primary caregivers (CG) from 6 hospital-based memory and geriatric clinics in Montreal. The NIS uses clinical dietetics principles to develop and offer tailored dietary strategies to patients and their CG. This paper reports on the application of dietary intervention strategies in two intervention group participants; one was deemed successful while the other was considered unsuccessful. The report documents challenges encountered in assessing and counselling this clientele, and seeks to explain the outcome of intervention in these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the basis of a detailed, in-depth study of the operations and strategic decision-making of Centraide, a charitable organization in Greater Montreal, this paper suggests that dependency on the environment can be a stimulus to organizational adaptation. Two major changes over a 10-year period are studied to show that strategic management in high dependency situations requires a continual attention to the organization's relationships and interactions with the forces in its environment, and a continuous management of the process by which change takes place. The basic position advanced is that: strategy in philanthropic organizations is more effective in ensuring survival and growth when the search for autonomy is seen as irrelevant and when dependence is seen as an unavoidable fact that should shape behavior. A set of propositions helps conceptualize the findings and is offered as a guide for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The introduction of community policing led to a significant increase in the number of police stations, particularly in urban settings. Police stations are largely assumed to have an impact on crime but there are few studies dedicated to the issue. Methods: The concept of deterrence suggests a negative relationship between police and crime: an increased police presence should lead to a reduction of crime. While it is difficult to directly test that relationship, the present study takes advantage of two recent events in Montreal (Canada) to test the hypothesis that the closure of a police station causes an increase of crime in the surrounding area. Andresen's Spatial point pattern tests and Wheeler and Ratcliffe' weight displacement difference tests were conducted. Findings: While tests suggest that crime geographic patterns were dissimilar pre- and post-closure, none of those differences support the deterrence hypothesis because the number of areas in which an increase in crime was recorded is lower than would be expected by chance. Similarly, decreases in breaking and entering, mischief, theft in or on vehicles and total crime were found, which does not support the deterrence hypothesis. Conclusions: The study of hotspot policing led to the belief that police presence needs to be concentrated in both time and space if it is to have a significant preventive impact on crime. It also led to the development of strategies of concentrated policing that encompass a variety of prevention actions aimed at specific individuals, specific crime types, and/or specific areas. Police stations provide something different: a concentrated presence at one point location with the ability to deploy to respond to any crime, at any time, in a particular area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B P1 b B Analysis of EIF2AK3 alternative splicing and its effect on PERK function in response to ER stress b Elena Alvarez Periel SP 1 sp , Avinash Singh SP 2 sp , Kelly Jordan-Sciutto SP 3 sp (corresponding author: elenaap@upenn.edu) SP I 1 i sp I Department of Oral Medicine, School of Dental Medicine, University of Pennsylvania; i SP I 2 i sp I College of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania; i SP I 3 i sp I Department of Oral Medicine, School of Dental Medicine, University of Pennsylvania i HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) are still prevalent in ~50% of people with HIV (PWH) despite widespread use of antiretroviral therapy (ART). This study focuses on the splicing regulation and expression of APP and its isoforms by using 2D (SHSY5Y neuroblastoma cells) and 3D (cerebral organoids (hCO's)) cell culture models to study APP splicing in aging and age-related neurodegenerative disorders in a translational cell model of HIV+ infection. Specifically, we identified cells positive for human specific nuclear protein, human astrocytes, myeloid cells, which are the main HIV reservoirs in the brain, as well as neuronal cells. To quantify the cells HIV-infected cells connected by TNTs with the uninfected cell we used live cell and confocal imaging (TNT marker, P24, and DAPI) up to seven days post-infection. Although VZV is cell-associated and spreads primarily through direct cell-cell contact, the role of non-infectious sEVs released from VZV-infected sensory neurons in viral spread and disease onset prior to lytic infection has not been studied. [Extracted from the article]

Herein, we discuss the governance implications for emerging protected areas with complexity in the 2020s by analyzing public–private partnership frameworks in Japan's national parks. First, we summarize previous literature to elucidate the characteristics of Japan's national park management as "weak government" represented by a lack of administrative resources and weak regulatory power. Second, we identify the weak implementation of two legal public–private partnership frameworks from questionnaires and interviews: the Park Management Organization and the Scenic Area Protection Agreement. We discuss the high transaction costs and lack of sufficient benefits to the private sector as the main reasons behind weak implementation. We identify this mismatch as a "governance paradox" and argue that sufficient administrative support and institutional design are indispensable for active partnership implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on activities of the American College of Gastroenterology in 1972 and 1973. Studies on gastroenterology that received the Rorer Awards during the Annual Banquet of the organization in Montreal, Quebec on October 17, 1972; Prizes that are given away to the winners; Topics that will be discussed at the International Symposium on Gastroduodenal Pathophysiology and Diseases from March 9 to 10, 1973 in Bologna, Italy.

Rate of complex hernia (inguinal hernias previously repaired with posterior approach, history of open prostatectomy, incarcerated hernias, scrotal hernias) was higher in RIHR (p < 0.001; 29% vs. Despite increased utilization of component separation over time and the uptake of MIS approaches, it remains unclear how hernia size and operative approach influence a surgeon's choice to perform component separation at the time of hernia repair. Notably, 168 (40%) of all component separations were performed for hernias < 6 cm in size, while 29 (7%) of component separations were for hernias measuring less than 2 cm. The rate of MIS repair was no different for smaller (< 6 cm) versus larger (6 + cm) hernias (35.0% vs. 34.4%, p = 0.91). Sixteen (3%) patients experienced a hernia recurrence in LIHR versus 4 (0.7%) in RIHR (p = 0.003). [Extracted from the article]

Each stage of sleep can affect human health, and not getting enough sleep at any stage may lead to sleep disorder like parasomnia, apnea, insomnia, etc. Sleep-related diseases could be diagnosed using Convolutional Neural Network Classifier. However, this classifier has not been successfully implemented into sleep stage classification systems due to high complexity and low accuracy of classification. The aim of this research is to increase the accuracy and reduce the learning time of Convolutional Neural Network Classifier. The proposed system used a modified Orthogonal Convolutional Neural Network and a modified Adam optimisation technique to improve the sleep stage classification accuracy and reduce the gradient saturation problem that occurs due to sigmoid activation function. The proposed system uses Leaky Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU) instead of sigmoid activation function as an activation function. The proposed system called Enhanced Sleep Stage Classification system (ESSC) used six different databases for training and testing the proposed model on the different sleep stages. These databases are University College Dublin database (UCD), Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center MIT database (MIT-BIH), Sleep European Data Format (EDF), Sleep EDF Extended, Montreal Archive of Sleep Studies (MASS), and Sleep Heart Health Study (SHHS). Our results show that the gradient saturation problem does not exist anymore. The modified Adam optimiser helps to reduce the noise which in turn result in faster convergence time. The convergence speed of ESSC is increased along with better classification accuracy compared to the state of art solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colorectal cancer remains the top leading cancer worldwide. Accumulating evidence suggests periodontal pathogens are involved in colorectal carcinogenesis, indicating the need for high-quality epidemiological evidence linking periodontal disease (PD) and colorectal cancer (CRC). Thus, we conducted the first population-based case–control study that was specifically designed to investigate the association between compromised oral health and sporadic CRC. A total of 348 incident cases of colon or rectal cancer, and 310 age and sex frequency-matched controls, from the Montreal island and Laval population participated in the study. Data were collected on PD and on several CRC risk factors using validated questionnaires. A life-course approach was used to document long-term history regarding lifestyle factors. Multivariable unconditional logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the rate ratio (RR) quantifying the association between CRC and PD. Results showed that the rate of new diagnosis of CRC in persons with a positive history of PD was 1.45 times higher than in those with a negative history of PD adjusting for age, sex, BMI, education, income, diabetes, family history of CRC, regular use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, lifetime cumulative smoking, lifetime consumption of red meats, processed meats, and alcoholic drinks, and lifetime total physical activity score (adjusted RR = 1.45; 95% CI 1.04–2.01; p = 0.026). Our results support the hypothesis of an association between PD and sporadic CRC risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to predict the monthly usage frequency of members of a car-sharing scheme by analysing the gradual change of behaviour over time, a new model is proposed based on the Markov Chains model with latent stages. The model accounts for changing patterns of frequency from soon after signing up to later stages by including five latent user 'life stages'. In applying the model to panel data from Montreal's free-floating carsharing service the authors calculate each user's 'lifetime' applied to 'system operation time', the time period since the start of the scheme. Three-fold validation reveals effective performance of the model for both lifetime and system operation time dimensions. The model is further applied to illustrate how previous carsharing experience and the extension of the scheme to a larger area can affect usage frequency changes. We conclude that this approach is effective for usage prediction for novel transport schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upon hearing someone's speech, a listener can access information such as the speaker's age, gender identity, socioeconomic status, and their linguistic background. However, an open question is whether living in different locales modulates how listeners use these factors to assess speakers' speech. Here, an audio-visual test was used to measure whether listeners' accentedness judgments and intelligibility (i.e., speech perception) can be modulated depending on racial information in faces that they see. American, British, and Indian English were used as three different English varieties of speech. These speech samples were presented with either a white female face or a South Asian female face. Two experiments were completed in two locales: Gainesville, Florida (USA) and Montreal, Quebec (Canada). Overall, Montreal listeners were more accurate in their transcription of sentences (i.e., intelligibility) compared to Gainesville listeners. Moreover, Gainesville listeners' ability to transcribe the same spoken sentences decreased for all varieties when listening to speech paired with South Asian faces. However, seeing a white or a South Asian face did not impact speech intelligibility for the same spoken sentences for Montreal listeners. Finally, listeners' accentedness judgments increased for American English and Indian English when the visual information changed from a white face to a South Asian face in Gainesville, but not in Montreal. These findings suggest that visual cues for race impact speech perception to a greater degree in locales with greater ecological diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In what ways do urban youths’ hybridity constitute positioning and engagement in science-as-practice? In what ways are they “hybridizing” and hence surviving in a system that positions them as certain types of learners and within which they come to position themselves often as other than envisioned? To answer these questions, I draw from two ethnographic case studies, one a scientist–museum–school partnership initiative, and the other, an after-school science program for girls only, both serving poor, ethnically and linguistically diverse youth in Montreal, Canada. Through a study of the micro dialectics from the perspective of youth, I show what we can learn from examples of doing science in a formal and informal educational context supportive of marginalized science practices resembling in part, at least, science-as-practice. Through an integration of the findings with current discourses of relevance in science education such as funds of knowledge and youth centered, co-opted science, I contribute to the formulation of a global pedagogy of science education and in particular, what such may imply in the eyes of youth in French Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has induced many issues for all societal sectors, in particular in the production and disposal of municipal solid waste. This may be because successive easing and reimposing of lockdown measures have deeply changed people's movements, consumers' behaviors and waste management. Previous studies have focused on the short-term effects of lockdowns on waste changes, yet there is little knowledge on waste variations during successive lockdowns and unlocking of various lockdown intensities. Moreover, the efficiency of lockdown and its relation to people's mobility in different countries are still not clear. Here, we studied the variations of amount and composition of municipal solid waste before the pandemic in 2019 and during the pandemic in 2020–2021 in USA, Brazil, Canada, UK, France and Italy. We used a stringency index and a composite mobility index to assess the lockdown intensity and people's movements. Results show that the mobility index sharply decreased with lockdown intensity, and enforcing measures were more efficient in France and Italy. Compared to 2019, prolonged lockdowns caused larger decreases in the quantity of commercial and construction wastes versus household waste. The initial implementation of lockdown or unlocking measures promoted inhabitants' consumption, generally leading to the increased waste amount, by about 9% for Trento and 12% for Montreal at the beginning of lockdown, respectively. Moreover, larger variations in the waste amount in Trento, from − 25.3 to 9.8%, were in line with higher lockdown intensity compared to those in Montreal, from − 9.5 to 12.7%, affected by people's mobility, consumers' behaviors and waste management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: (1) To develop a personalized health outcome profile as a feedback tool to improve self-management in people living with chronic conditions such as HIV and (2) to evaluate the interpretability and usefulness of the feedback tool for setting specific goals. Methods: The development of "My Personal Brain Health Dashboard" was inspired by the knowledge-to-action framework. A health outcome profile was computer generated in SAS from the outcome measures, at first and last recorded visits, of each person enrolled in the +BHN cohort from five sites in Canada. The Wilson–Cleary model framed the outcome measurement strategy. Single actionable items with evidence of life impact were chosen. The response option from the original item was the person's value and the optimal level was provided to help persons compare their results to an optimal target. Cognitive interviews were conducted with members of HIV community. Appropriateness of the Dashboard for goal-setting was tested by asking participants to write specific goals according to the Dashboard they were given. Results: Fifteen respondents were recruited from Montreal and Vancouver. Items most endorsed to be changed were cognition, pain, and body mass index. 80% found the Dashboard useful for setting health-related goals. A total of 85 goals were set, the text of which was mined to create a lexicon for scoring goal quality in future endeavours. Conclusion: This study was the preparatory phase for a future trial on a method to stimulate setting specific goals. The future trial would provide a thorough understanding of the quality of person-defined goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]