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"Sustainability Matters: Prospects for a Just Transition in Calgary, Canada's Petro-City" is a book by Noel Keough and Geoff Ghitter that explores various issues related to sustainability in the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The authors cover topics such as urban planning, transportation, energy, equity, diversity, and governance. The book argues that Calgary's growth and development have been driven by land developers and business interests, resulting in a large ecological footprint and an unsustainable city. The authors propose solutions and draw on examples from other cities to increase sustainability in Calgary. However, the book lacks discussion on how to build political support for these proposals and appeal to a broader range of political values. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Mental health conditions affect one in seven young people and research suggests that current mental health services are not meeting the needs of most children and youth. Learning health systems are an approach to enhancing services through rapid, routinized cycles of continuous learning and improvement. Patient-reported outcome measures provide a key data source for learning health systems. They have also been shown to improve outcomes for patients when integrated into routine clinical care. However, implementing these measures into health systems is a challenging process. This paper describes a protocol for a formative evaluation of the implementation of patient-reported measures in a newly operational child and adolescent mental health centre in Calgary, Canada. The purpose is to optimize the collection and use of patient-reported outcome measures. Our specific objectives are to assess the implementation progress, identify barriers and facilitators to implementation, and explore patient, caregivers and clinician experiences of using these measures in routine clinical care. Methods: This study is a mixed-methods, formative evaluation using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Participants include patients and caregivers who have used the centre's services, as well as leadership, clinical and support staff at the centre. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews will be conducted to assess barriers and facilitators to the implementation and sustainability of the use of patient-reported outcome measures, as well as individuals' experiences with using these measures within clinical care. The data generated by the patient-reported measures over the first five months of the centre's operation will be analyzed to understand implementation progress, as well as validity of the chosen measures for the centres' population. Discussion: The findings of this evaluation will help to identify and address the factors that are affecting the successful implementation of patient-reported measures at the centre. They will inform the co-design of strategies to improve implementation with key stakeholders, which include patients, clinical staff, and leadership at the centre. To our knowledge, this is the first study of the implementation of patient-reported outcome measures in child and adolescent mental health services and our findings can be used to enhance future implementation efforts in similar settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article announces that the 2011 Physics Best Paper Award was presented to the authors Yi Liang and Andrzej Czarnecki for the article "Photon-photon scattering: A tutorial" at the CAP Congress conference in June 2012 in Calgary, Alberta.

The food landscape of Calgary, Canada, is sown with an abundance of polycultures. Alongside place-specific Indigenous foodways are food rescue, banking, and hamper programs, food studies scholars, a City of Calgary food resilience plan, and a growing number of alternative food network producers. Within the local alternative food network, there has been a boom in advancing indoor growing for our colder climate, including container, aquaponic, vertical hydroponic, and greenhouse growing. Situated as an agrarian ethnographer and an urban regenerative farmer, we seek to highlight the viability of agricultural techniques that are in relation with the land to grow more socially and ecologically sustainable food and farm systems in and around Calgary. From this position, we formed a collaboration between the University of Calgary, Root and Regenerate Urban Farms, and the Young Agrarians to document the cultivation process for a production urban farm. Over the course of one growing season--May to September, 2021--we harvested approximately 7,000 lbs (3,175 kg) of produce across nine urban spaces totaling 0.26 acres. The 48 vegetable varieties were distributed to 35 community supported agriculture shareholders, weekly farmers market customers, restaurant chefs, and members of the YYC Growers and Distributors cooperative. Moreover, we donated 765 lbs (347 kg) of surplus produce to the Calgary Community Fridge, Calgary Food Bank, and the Alex Community Food Centre, which work to mitigate food insecurity. Through a reflexive practitioner approach, our reflective essay discusses the benefits and limitations of Small Plot Intensive Farming methods and urban land-sharing strategies, as well as the viability of land-based urban agriculture in a rapidly changing socioecological climate. Our paper also demonstrates the potential for transcending siloed approaches to knowledge-making vis-à-vis experiential learning partnerships between graduate student researchers, farmers, and agricultural organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper overviews our recent results of energy market modeling, including The option pricing formula for a mean-reversion asset, variance and volatility swaps on energy markets, applications of weather derivatives on energy markets, pricing crude oil options using the Lévy processes, energy contracts modeling with delayed and jumped volatilities, applications of mean-reverting processes on Alberta energy markets, and alternatives to the Black-76 model for options valuation of futures contracts. We will also consider the clean renewable energy prospective in Canada, and, in particular, in Alberta and Calgary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing the reliability and resiliency of transportation infrastructure is critical to improving the safety and sustainability of roadways. Such information, particularly when available on a network level helps transportation agencies identify vulnerable locations on their road network and make more informed decisions when managing infrastructure and when introducing design improvements. To that end, many design experts have promoted integrating the risk of failure of roadway design elements to satisfy road user demand (i.e., reliability measures) into the highway design process. In fact, previous work has established a link between design reliability and safety. Although exploring such relationships provides extremely valuable insights on the impacts of meeting or deviating from design requirements, it does not provide much information on where the most (and least) reliable road segments exist on a network. To overcome these critical shortcomings, this paper proposes the adoption of hot spot analysis and spatial interpolation to assess reliability of compliance with sight distance requirements on an aggregate network level. Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data was first used to quantify available sight distance on 220 curved segments, and design reliability to sight distance requirements was then assessed at each location. Hot spot analysis and spatial interpolation using the inverse distance weighting method were then employed to identify regions of the Alberta road network where low or high design reliability existed or could be expected. The analysis revealed that the highest-risk regions on the Alberta highway network existed in areas of mountainous in the western region of the province as well as areas of rolling terrain in south Calgary. In contrast, it was found that curved road segments in the prairie region had a significantly higher design reliability to sight distance. The clustering of unreliable roadway segments in mountainous regions and regions of rolling terrain indicates that more effort is required to improve design reliability in those regions. Such important inferences are only possible when conducting an aggregate reliability assessment such as the one proposed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autonomous navigation requires multi-sensor fusion to achieve a high level of accuracy in different environments. Global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers are the main components in most navigation systems. However, GNSS signals are subject to blockage and multipath effects in challenging areas, e.g., tunnels, underground parking, and downtown or urban areas. Therefore, different sensors, such as inertial navigation systems (INSs) and radar, can be used to compensate for GNSS signal deterioration and to meet continuity requirements. In this paper, a novel algorithm was applied to improve land vehicle navigation in GNSS-challenging environments through radar/INS integration and map matching. Four radar units were utilized in this work. Two units were used to estimate the vehicle's forward velocity, and the four units were used together to estimate the vehicle's position. The integrated solution was estimated in two steps. First, the radar solution was fused with an INS through an extended Kalman filter (EKF). Second, map matching was used to correct the radar/INS integrated position using OpenStreetMap (OSM). The developed algorithm was evaluated using real data collected in Calgary's urban area and downtown Toronto. The results show the efficiency of the proposed method, which had a horizontal position RMS error percentage of less than 1% of the distance traveled for three minutes of a simulated GNSS outage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper emerges from the journey of a group of early childhood educators seeking to reconnect with land in meaningful and ethical ways. Reorienting from humancentric views, the authors explore "lively storytelling" to bring attention to overlooked stories and create alternative ways of being and thinking. We are called into new relations and ecological entanglements through a sensitive and responsive attunement to the soundscapes of Lynn Creek and Hastings Creek in Vancouver and Bow River in Calgary. Our engagement encompasses a posthumanist framework while weaving interdisciplinary studies in environmental humanities, materiality, and architecture to encourage generative inquiries and dialogue in early childhood classrooms and communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Using critical race theory and institutional ethnography as frameworks, this paper investigates the Extra-Judicial Sanctions (EJS) Program, as implemented in Calgary, Alberta, and its lack of ability to achieve transformative restorative justice in the cases of racialized immigrant youth. The failure to recognize the impact of race, ethnicity, and immigrant status in the Youth Criminal Justice Act is considered problematic as this paper challenges the notion of color blindness. It is suggested that a color-conscious approach be used in the EJS Program to incorporate inclusive institutional policies explicitly to foster a sense of belonging among racialized immigrant youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a large administrative dataset providing 105,149 daily observations on 3,176 youth aged between 18 and 24 years using emergency homeless shelters from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2019, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Using k-mean cluster analysis we classify youth who use emergency homeless shelters by their intensity of shelter use. In Calgary, most youth use homeless shelters as a temporary and infrequent refuge when housing is lost. For these youth, shelters are an effective and relatively inexpensive approach for helping them resolve their homelessness. A significant number, however, rely on shelters for much longer stays. For these youth, shelters are ineffective and expensive responses to their homelessness. To understand how youth are changing their use of shelters over time, we introduce time series measuring first admissions and readmissions to shelters. We show that how youth use shelters, and how that use has changed over time, differs for youth who self-identify as Indigenous, Caucasian and visible minority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing discourse on refugee resettlement in the West is rife with imperialist and neoliberal allusions. Materially, this discourse assumes refugees as passive recipients of resettlement programs in the host country, thereby denying them their subjectivities. Given the amplification of all social and economic inequities during the pandemic, our paper explores how Canada's response to the pandemic visa-vis refugees impacted the everyday of Yazidis in Calgary - a recently arrived refugee group who survived the most horrific genocidal atrocities of our times. Based on interviews with Yazidi families in Calgary and with resettlement staff we unpack Canada's paternalistic response towards refugees during the COVID-19 pandemic. We show how resettlement provisions and social isolation along with pre-migration histories have furthered the conditions of social, economic, and affective inequities for Yazidis. We also show how Yazidi women who were most impacted by the genocide and the subsequent pandemic find ways of asserting their personhood and engage in healing through a land-based resettlement initiative. Adopting a feminist refugee epistemology and a southern moral imaginary as our discursive lenses, we highlight the need to dismantle the existing paternalistic structures and re(orient) resettlement practices and praxis to a social justice framework centering the voices of refugee women and families in their resettlement process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For some time we have seen a shift away from direct marketing, a core feature and dominant exchange form in the alternative food world, towards a greater role for intermediation. Yet, we still need to better understand to what extent and in what ways new mediated Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) represent an evolution of or departure from core tenets of alternative food systems. This paper focuses on AFNs with new intermediaries that connect small-scale producers with urban end-consumers. Based on original research in Frankfurt, Berlin, and Calgary, we analyze three different types of mediated AFNs: one driven by consumers, one by an external intermediary, and one by producers. Our cases include non-capitalist, capitalist, and alternative capitalist economic practices as identified by Gibson-Graham. Conceptually, we base our analysis on the three-pillar-model of alternative agri-food systems, which we further refine. Besides comparing our cases with each other, for heuristic purposes we also compare them with an ideal-type model that adheres to core tenets of alterity in all three pillars. Our empirical analysis shows that intermediary organizations can bring important benefits and that mediated AFNs are in principle able to hold true to the core tenets of alternative agri-food systems. However, it is very important to develop models of democratic control and ownership as well as economic arrangements in which created value is fairly shared. Only then can the potentials of new mediated models be realized while the pitfalls of the conventional systems they seek to replace be avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I first met Jim Greer at the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Syntheses of Instructional Sciences and Computing Science for Effective Instructional Computing Systems in 1990 in Calgary, Canada. It was during this meeting that I came to realize that Jim was one of those rare individuals that could help "translate" computer science principles to non-computer scientists. Through this translation process new knowledge could be developed through interdisciplinary partnerships with psychology and education. In this paper, I describe the manner in which Jim influenced my own journey in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Education. In particular, he has influenced two directions in my research, one direction is the manner in which technology can influence teaching and learning for individuals working solo. The second direction is how technology can influence teaching and learning through collaboration. In both situations I will discuss Jim Greer's influence on my research with respect to learner modelling, educational data mining, and visualization. In the context of solo learning, I will discuss BioWorld, a system that fosters clinical reasoning in medical students, emphasizing the role of student modeling and educational data mining for fostering and identifying performance differences in clinical reasoning. In the context of collaborative learning, I will discuss HOWARD, an online platform for supporting small group problem-based learning in medical students. In particular, I will discuss the role of learning analytics used in a pedagogical dashboard to foster teachers' interpretation of group learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participatory action research can be a research methodology that seeks to offer relational processes that develop high touch research relationships, create coempowerment, while fostering resiliency and strength, within the HIV community. The Calgary HIV Social Society (CHSS) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada co-developed with peer-researchers at Mount Royal University, a progressive form of action-oriented research that allowed the HIV community to develop and provide social gatherings to reduce the impact of stigma and isolation. The research project was developed with the community of people living with HIV to reduce the impact of isolation and stigma. The focus of the research was to better understand how social gatherings could improve the quality of life for those living with HIV. The action-oriented methodology allowed for HIV peer-researchers to bring their expertise on what was needed to reduce stigma and isolation. The HIV social support community created participatory action research processes that successfully contributed to building an inclusive, community for people living with HIV. This paper will share the themes that acknowledge the significant impact that a HIV high touch relationship research community can have for those, who face the barriers of isolation and stigma by increasing community connection, reducing financial constraints that limit participation, while increasing mental health wellness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a Geographic Information System based Multicriteria Decision Making approach for evaluating accessibility to public parks in Calgary, Alberta. The approach involves the weighted linear combination with the entropy weighting method for obtaining the criterion (attribute) weights. The paper demonstrates a core-periphery pattern of accessibility to public parks in Calgary. Furthermore, the pattern has shown tendency to be more polarized between the year of 2006 and 2011. The results of this research can help the park planning authorities in identifying the needs for improving the accessibility to public parks, monitoring the changes of accessibility patterns over time, and locating new public parks. The results can also help the general public to better understand the spatial relationship between their neighbourhoods and public parks in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate and reliable short-term forecasts of influenza-like illness (ILI) visit volumes at emergency departments can improve staffing and resource allocation decisions within hospitals. In this paper, we developed a stacked ensemble model that averages the predictions from various competing methodologies in the current frontier for ILI-related forecasts. We also constructed a back-of-the-envelope prediction interval for the stacked ensemble, which provides a conservative characterization of the uncertainty in the stacked ensemble predictions. We assessed the accuracy and reliability of our model with 1 to 4 weeks ahead forecast targets using real-time hospital-level data on weekly ILI visit volumes during the 2012-2018 flu seasons in the Alberta Children's Hospital, located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Our results suggest the forecasting performance of the stacked ensemble meets or exceeds the performance of the individual models over all forecast targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author explores how the practice of walking the city may open curricular spaces to nurture a deep engagement and feelings of enchantment with the world. By disrupting the taken-for-granted sensibilities of our everyday urban lives and being open to the unexpected voices, bodies and more-than-human beings who co-exist in urban spaces, the author contends that when we slow down and become attuned to our surroundings, possibilities of transformation can emerge. In this interdisciplinary unfolding, the author first shares how walking allows us to experience time and space to accentuate our relations, engagements, and being in the world. Through narrative and photography, the author then reflects on encounters from recent walks through the city of Calgary, addressing notions of self-reflexivity, play and experience. Through these walking encounters, this paper reflects on considerations for embodying a curriculum to promote a modern ecological ethic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of teaching-focused faculty (TFF) continues to increase, raising concerns about opportunities to engage in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) for academics who are hired to focus on teaching rather than research. Various names for these teachingfocused positions include, but are not limited to: instructional, limited-term faculty; permanent, but not eligible for tenure; equivalent to tenure-track (eligible for tenure); and casual teaching-focused. Regardless of title, TFF face a unique challenge: hired for excellence in teaching and committed to improving teaching and learning, they are often not granted support to engage in professional development or research related to teaching and learning. These and other challenges are associated with their academically marginalized positions. The authors are members of the Advocacy Committee of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL). This paper builds on a session we offered at the ISSOTL conference in Calgary in 2017 where we invited TFF to contribute narrative examples of institutional SoTL challenges and their strategies for overcoming them. We describe potential solutions to creating institutional cultures that are supportive of TFF engaging in SoTL. We finish by offering recommendations for creating a SoTL teachingfocused community within ISSOTL to provide social and professional support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional methods for analysing rectangular piles (Barrettes) are mainly modelling the barrette and surrounding soil using 3D-FE. 3D-FE for barrette foundations needs a huge computational effort. Consequently, a huge system of equations required to be solved. In this paper, a composed coefficient technique (CCT) is developed for analysing laterally loaded barrettes. The technique takes into account the three-dimensional full interactions between the barrette and the surrounding soil. In the technique, the three dimensional coefficients of the stiffness matrix of the barrette are decomposed to be one-dimensional. This enables easily adding these coefficients to those of stiffness matrix of the soil. Besides the practical application and efficiency of the technique, the nonlinear response of the barrette using any load-settlement relation can be considered. The technique may be al so applied for single barrette, barrette groups or barrette raft. A series of validations is carried out to verify the application of CCT for analysing single barrettes. It is found that treating the barrette by CCT, gives nearly the same results compared with the measured values from load tests and FE results. The proposed technique is implemented in the program ELPLA El Gendy M and El Gendy A (Analysis and design of raft and piled Raft-Program ELPLA, GEOTEC Software Inc., Calgary, 2019). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Geographer is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Data compression is essential to reduce high storage and communication costs for a wide range of systems and applications. Canonical Huffman coding plays a pivotal role for several compression standards. This paper presents bit-parallel static and dynamic canonical Huffman decoder implementations using an optimized lookup table approach on a fine-grain many-core processor array and an Intel FPGA. The decoder implementation results are compared with an Intel i7-4850HQ and a massively parallel Nvidia GT 750M GPU executing the corpus benchmarks: Calgary, Canterbury, Artificial, and Large. The many-core implementations achieve a scaled throughput per chip area that is 891× and 7× greater on average than the i7 and GT 750M respectively. Moreover, the many-core implementations result in a scaled energy efficiency (compressed bits decoded per energy) that is 149.5×, 3.9×, and 2.5× greater on average than the i7, GT 750M, and Intel FPGA respectively. In addition, the optimized lookup-table-based static canonical Huffman decoder on the Intel FPGA yields performance and energy efficiency improvements of 2.1× and 3.68× respectively on average compared to a dynamic canonical Huffman decoder at a 17% cost in compression ratio. • The optimized look-up table approach speeds up the canonical Huffman decoding. • Static decoder executes faster than the dynamic decoder at the cost of compression ratio. • Many-core array implementation outperforms GPU, CPU, and FPGA in terms of area and energy efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medical historians and educators have long lamented that the integration of the study of the history of medicine into the educational curricula of medical schools and clinic-based teaching has been protractedly troubled. Employing the development of the history of medicine program at the University of Calgary as a case study, this article emphasizes the importance of integrating medical history with teaching schedules to further students' insights into changing health care settings, the social contingency of disease concepts, and socio-economic dependences of medical decision-making. History of medicine programs can furnish plentiful opportunities for research training through summer projects, insight courses, and field practica. This article explores the first fifty years of the History of Medicine and Health Care Program in Calgary and considers the impact of interdisciplinary cooperation as well as the role of interprofessional undergraduate and clinical medical education. Through this exploration, I argue that medical history should be a central part of study curricula, that a historical understanding can provide a robust background for physicians in a fast-changing world in the clinic, and that through their disciplinary expertise, medical historians play a fruitful role in scholarly and teaching exchanges with medical students and clinicians in the modern medical humanities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the response made by the University of Calgary to changes in Alberta's language policy in its language teacher education programme. The paper outlines recent policy changes in Alberta aimed at developing language education in schools and then examines how such changes have had an impact on planning for the delivery' of education for language teachers at the University of Calgary. The University's response led to the development of a new assessment approach for selecting candidates for teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the consumption of various infrastructure systems in Calgary, Alberta by residential, commercial, and industrial sectors is considered. Statistical models are developed to quantify the influences of built form factors, in addition to traditional factors of sociodemography. Analyses are performed by census community for electricity, transportation by mode of travel, and demolition permits by their size and frequency. The employment of a common methodology in a single geography allows for comparison across infrastructure systems and determination of common patterns. Assessing total consumption does not necessarily lead to a consistent interpretation. By differentiating electricity consumption by sector and transportation by mode, consistent analysis can be conducted that identifies the correct relationships. We find a trend toward increasing consumption of electricity use moving out from the center of the city, but also an increasing reliance on the private automobile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the development of a 'suitability for practice' policy in a large Canadian school of social work. Pertinent gatekeeping issues are reviewed and the results of a survey on suitability polices in Canadian social work schools are presented. The paper concludes with a discussion of the University of Calgary's Faculty of Social Work Suitability Policy. This policy integrates current research on gatekeeping, the results of the Canadian schools survey and input from primary stakeholders: the students, faculty members, the professional association and the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On behalf of the Canadian Association of Psychosocial Oncology, we are pleased to present the Abstracts from the 2024 Annual Conference, titled "Building Hope: Integrating Sustainable, Innovative and Accessible Care in Psychosocial Oncology". The Conference was held in Calgary from 6 June 2024 to 7 June 2024. This conference brought together key stakeholders including multidisciplinary professionals from nursing, psychology, psychiatry, social work, spiritual care, nutrition, medicine, rehabilitation medicine, occupational health and radiation therapy for both adult and pediatric populations. Participants included clinicians, researchers, educators in cancer care, community-based organizations and patient representatives. Patients, caregivers and family members presented abstracts that speak to their role in managing cancer experiences and care. Over one hundred (150) abstracts were selected for presentation as symposia, 20 min oral presentations, 10 min oral presentations, 90 min workshops and poster presentations. We congratulate all the presenters on their research work and contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a comparison of the spatial equity dimensions of dockless bike and e-scooter sharing in Calgary, Alberta. Using trip data from the City of Calgary's Shared Mobility Pilot (between July-September 2019), this study investigates differences in micromobility utilization by dockless mode between areas characterized by different levels of deprivation. ANOVA and linear regression results show that utilization of both dockless modes was spatially inequitable, with e-scooter and dockless bike trips concentrated in the least deprived areas. Dockless bike and e-scooter sharing utilization declined with each increase in deprivation level by 0.138 trips per 1,000 persons per vehicle for dockless e-scooters, and 0.015 trips per 1,000 persons per vehicle for dockless bikes, suggesting that more equity considerations are required to ensure that the benefits of dockless micromobility sharing are available to all areas regardless of the relative advantage or disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Galvanised by the increasing complexity in managing incidents of mass violence and mass casualty, the emergency response agencies in Calgary, Canada identified the need to develop research-based policies, establish common strategies/ tactics and conduct more joint training across all hazards. By identifying the challenges with initial command, coordination and control activities at scene, the Calgary first-responder community designed and implemented an integrated training programme to support interoperability between front-line incident commanders and supervisors. The training programme was created to address the differences in each respective agency's policies, procedures and cultures that can be barriers to integrating into a single incident management structure or unified command. Using features of interoperability like shared situational awareness and joint risk assessment, and applying the concepts into tactics like rescue taskforce, the training is building critical command relationships for the future. This training has further expanded into a programme with joint policy and procedure development, incident debriefings, expanded exercises, and tactic specific training. This paper describes how the members of Calgary's firstresponder community are stepping beyond their silos of excellence and unifying their planning, preparedness and response programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do incumbents dominate non-partisan elections because of an especially large personal vote? This question has important implications for understanding the causes of incumbent success and the benefits or drawbacks of non-partisan elections. This paper uses a natural experiment, combined with three original datasets, to estimate the size, persistence, and consequences of the personal vote in a large non-partisan city election. We first use individual-level survey data to show that individuals assigned quasi-randomly to a new incumbent are substantially less likely to support the incumbent. We use a second survey, one year later, to demonstrate the persistence of this effect. Finally, we use historical election results to simulate the electoral consequences of the personal vote; we find that the personal vote is sufficiently large to affect one in four incumbent races. We conclude that the personal vote, while large and important, is not sufficient to explain incumbent dominance in non-partisan contests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With increasing concerns over the possibility of tornadoes in highly populated areas in Canada, emergency managers are looking into ways to mitigate the impacts of tornadoes. Given that tornadoes can cause enormous destruction, early warnings and proper evacuation actions are critically important in helping save lives. In this paper, a survey was conducted to analyse the evacuation behaviour of households and drivers during a hypothetical tornado warning situation in the city of Calgary, Alberta. Nearly 500 Calgarians took part in the online survey and provided information on how they would respond to tornado warnings after receiving them. This paper presents the results of the survey. Using probit models, the factors influencing these evacuation decisions are identified and discussed in detail. The results of the household evacuation model show the importance of improving awareness about the safest locations during a tornado. It further highlights the need for targeting the population under the age of 30, who are more likely to take unsafe evacuation actions. The model for evacuation of drivers shows that several factors, such as knowing the difference between a watch and a warning, awareness of safe cover, receipt of warnings through natural environmental cues and the level of education, trigger evacuation actions in avoiding a tornado threat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study used a quantitative content analysis and a qualitative thematic analysis to explore how the Olympic Games were framed in print media prior to two Canadian Winter Olympic referendums. Content-analysis results showed that the salient topics and the tone of newspaper articles were framed more positively prior to the successful Vancouver 2010 referendum compared with the unsuccessful Calgary 2026 referendum. The thematic analysis indicated four themes. First, news discourse emphasized the importance of Olympic vision that is congruent with host city needs. Second, the prominence of health promotion through sport as a reported theme was more associated with a successful bid. Third, the communication and quantification of intangible benefits were reported to be increasingly important so that the value of the Olympics can be assessed fairly against the ever-burgeoning hosting costs. Finally, the Olympic brand has been deteriorating, at least over the last 15–16 years according to print media. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human alveolar echinococcosis is increasingly documented in Alberta, Canada. Its causative agent, Echinococcus multilocularis (Em), can be transmitted to humans by infected dogs. We assessed the prevalence and associated risk factors for Em infections in domestic dogs in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In this cross-sectional study that coupled collection and assessment of dog feces with a survey on potential risk factors, 13 of 696 (Bayesian true prevalence, 2.4%; 95% CrI: 1.3–4.0%) individual dogs' feces collected during August and September 2012 were qPCR positive for Em. Sequencing two of these cases indicated that both were from the same Em European strain responsible for human infections in Alberta. Likelihood of intestinal Em was 5.6-times higher in hounds than other breeds, 4.6-times higher in dogs leashed at dog parks than those allowed off-leash, 3.1-times higher in dogs often kept in the backyard during spring and summer months than those rarely in the yard, and 3.3-times higher in dogs living in neighbourhoods bordering Bowmont park than those in other areas of Calgary. This situation warrants surveillance of dog infections as a preventative measure to reduce infections in North America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Coding of obesity using the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) in healthcare administrative databases is under‐reported and thus unreliable for measuring prevalence or incidence. This study aimed to develop and test a rule‐based algorithm for automating the detection and severity of obesity using height and weight collected in several sections of the Electronic Medical Records (EMRs). Methods: In this cross‐sectional study, 1904 inpatient charts randomly selected in three hospitals in Calgary, Canada between January and June 2015 were reviewed and linked with AllScripts Sunrise Clinical Manager EMRs. A rule‐based algorithm was created which looks for patients' height and weight values recorded in EMRs. Clinical notes were split into sentences and searched for height and weight, and BMI was computed. Results: The study cohort consisted of 1904 patients with 50.8% females and 43.3% > 64 years of age. The final model to identify obesity within EMRs resulted in a sensitivity of 92.9%, specificity of 98.4%, positive predictive value of 96.7%, negative predictive value of 96.6%, and F1 score of 94.8%. Conclusions: This study developed a highly valid rule‐based EMR algorithm that detects height and weight. This could allow large‐scale analyses using obesity that were previously not possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refugee decisions to vaccinate for COVID-19 are a complex interplay of factors which include individual perceptions, access barriers, trust, and COVID-19 specific factors, which contribute to lower vaccine uptake. To address this, the WHO calls for localized solutions to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake for refugees and evidence to inform future vaccination efforts. However, limited evidence engages directly with refugees about their experiences with COVID-19 vaccinations. To address this gap, researchers conducted qualitative interviews (N = 61) with refugees (n = 45), sponsors of refugees (n = 3), and key informants (n = 13) connected to local COVID-19 vaccination efforts for refugees in Calgary. Thematic analysis was conducted to synthesize themes related to vaccine perspectives, vaccination experiences, and patient intersections with policies and systems. Findings reveal that refugees benefit from ample services that are delivered at various stages, that are not solely related to vaccinations, and which create multiple positive touch points with health and immigration systems. This builds trust and vaccine confidence and promotes COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Despite multiple factors affecting vaccination decisions, a key reason for vaccination was timely and credible information delivered through trusted intermediaries and in an environment that addressed refugee needs and concerns. As refugees placed trust and relationships at the core of decision-making and vaccination, it is recommended that healthcare systems work through trust and relationships to reach refugees. This can be targeted through culturally responsive healthcare delivery that meets patients where they are, including barrier reduction measures such as translation and on-site vaccinations, and educational and outreach partnerships with private groups, community organizations and leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Calgary HIV Social Society (CHSS) self-determined and organized several social-recreational monthly events to reduce and understand the effects of social isolation and stigma that people living with HIV face every day. It has been found that COVID-19 had impacted the lives of people living with HIV by creating significant isolation for those already stigmatized because of living with HIV. Using a Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology and focus group at the end of the events, the research showed how COVID 19, and the related concurring isolation has impacted the lives of people living with HIV. The research included three in-person social gatherings with a total of 60 participants living with HIV attending and a focus group with 10 participants. The social gatherings around the city of Calgary, Alberta showed how the possibility of having a safe space and being supported by people who live with similar systematic barriers, buffers the detrimental, social stigmatization of living with HIV and its secrecy. The research brought forth a better understanding on how social connection (including on-line support) during COVID-19 for persons living with HIV increased their general sense of belonging, reduced stigma and was a protective factor for their overall mental health. [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]

SUMMARY This paper presents a critical investigation of reasons for using transit by residents of the City of Calgary, Canada. Reasons for using transit are expressed as functions of people's perceptions and attitudes towards transit service quality and attributes. A multinomial logit model combined with latent variable models is developed to capture unobserved latent variables in defining perceptions and attitudes. Using data from a transit customer satisfaction survey conducted in 2007 by Calgary Transit, this approach models the reasons for choosing transit and tests the significance of two individual specific latent variables: perceptions of 'reliability and convenience' and 'ride comfort'. Many behavioural details are revealed that have important policy implications. Most importantly, it is found that the people of Calgary value 'reliability and convenience' over 'ride comfort'. As for policy implications of the findings, it is clear that improving the connectivity of train service, reducing multimodal transfers, and increasing dedicated right-of-ways for transit would effectively increase transit ridership in Calgary. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Computational electromagnetics models of microwave interactions with the human breast serve as an invaluable tool for exploring the feasibility of new technologies and improving design concepts related to microwave breast cancer detection and treatment. In this paper, we report the development of a collection of anatomically realistic 3-D numerical breast phantoms of varying shape, size, and radiographic density which can readily be used in finite-difference time-domain computational electro- magnetics models. The phantoms are derived from Ti-weighted MRIs of prone patients. Each MRI is transformed into a uniform grid of dielectric properties using several steps. First, the structure of each phantom is identified by applying image processing techniques to the MRI. Next, the voxel intensities of the MRI are converted to frequency-dependent and tissue-dependent dielectric properties of normal breast tissues via a piecewise-linear map. The dielectric properties of normal breast tissue are taken from the recently completed large-scale experimental study of normal breast tissue dielectric properties conducted by the Universities of Wisconsin and Calgary. The comprehensive collection of numerical phantoms is made available to the scientific community through an online repository. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]