Search

The practice of evidence-informed policy-making (EIPM) consists of systematically searching, analyzing, synthesizing and disseminating the best available research evidence to inform decision-makers about policy problems, policy tools, implementation options, and/or policy evaluation results. Identifying the best available scientific evidence is not a simple task. The vast majority of research evidence contains risks of bias that hinder the reliability of their conclusions. In order to select the soundest available research evidence, policy analysts need to know how to critically appraise research evidence and identify different risks of bias. Formal theories on expertise acquisition in public bureaucracies suggest that these skills and knowledge should be acquired within academia rather than within governmental agencies. We thus created a 45-hour course in EIPM, POL-7061, that was first offered in 2012 to students enrolled in the Master’s Program in Public Affairs at Université Laval (Québec, Canada). The course mainly teaches techniques for searching and appraising different types of empirical studies. In 2013, we conducted a before-and-after study to assess the impact of the course on the methodological knowledge of the students. We repeated the exercise on two consecutive cohorts in 2014 and 2015. Mean percent of pre-post improvement on the knowledge test was 37% for the 2013 cohort, 51% for the 2014 cohort and 31% for the cohort of 2015. Teaching techniques in EIPM to Master’s students in public affairs is thus feasible and can have a positive impact on their basic methodological knowledge.

We present Pieri rules for the Jack polynomials in superspace. The coefficients in the Pieri rules are, except for an extra determinant, products of quotients of linear factors in $\alpha$ (expressed, as in the usual Jack polynomial case, in terms of certain hook-lengths in a Ferrers' diagram). We show that, surprisingly, the extra determinant is related to the partition function of the 6-vertex model. We give, as a conjecture, the Pieri rules for the Macdonald polynomials in superspace., Comment: 28 pages

Generalizations of the (rank- 1 1 ) Bannai–Ito algebra are obtained from a refinement of the grade involution of the Lie superalgebra o s p ( 1 , 2 ) \mathfrak {osp}(1,2) . A hyperoctahedral extension is derived by using a realization of o s p ( 1 , 2 ) \mathfrak {osp}(1,2) in terms of Dunkl operators associated with the Weyl group B 3 B_3 .

We introduce generalizations of Macdonald polynomials indexed by n -tuples of partitions and characterized by certain orthogonality and triangularity relations. We prove that they can be explicitly given as products of ordinary Macdonald polynomials depending on special alphabets. With this factorization in hand, we establish their most basic properties, such as explicit formulas for their norm-squared, evaluation and reproducing kernel. Moreover, we show that the q , t -Kostka coefficients associated to the multi-Macdonald polynomials are positive and correspond to q , t -analogs of the dimensions of the irreducible representations of the wreath product C n ∼ S d , where C n is the cyclic group of order n .

To synthesize the available evidence on playground-related injuries and to determine the prevalence of these injuries in pediatric populations.A rapid systematic review was conducted using PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library, as well as the gray literature.The search was limited to studies published between 2012 and 2016 and identified a total of 858 articles, of which 22 met our inclusion criteria: original quantitative studies published in peer-reviewed journals in the past 5 years, concerning unintentional injuries in playgrounds in children aged 0 to 18 years.Information was collected on study and injury characteristics, and the proportion of pediatric injuries related to playground activity was determined. Studies were performed in various countries and most were retrospective cohort studies. The prevalence of playground-related injury ranged from 2% to 34% (median 10%). Studies varied in the types of injuries investigated, including head injuries, genitourinary injuries, ocular and dental trauma, and various types of fractures. Most injuries were low severity.Although playgrounds are a common location where pediatric injuries occur, these injuries are relatively low in frequency and severity.

We show that the ring of symmetric functions in superspace is a cocommutative and self-dual Hopf algebra. We provide formulas for the action of the coproduct and the antipode on various bases of that ring. We introduce the ring sQSym of quasisymmetric functions in superspace and show that it is a Hopf algebra. We give explicitly the product, coproduct and antipode on the basis of monomial quasisymmetric functions in superspace. We prove that the Hopf dual of sQSym, the ring sNSym of noncommutative symmetric functions in superspace, has a multiplicative basis dual to the monomial quasisymmetric functions in superspace.

The goal of this study was to meet a small, remote emergency department's need to reflect on the minimum threshold of services to offer. The study's main objectives were to 1) provide a statistical profile of the emergency services in Fermont, Quebec, 2) assess the staff's and users' perception of the threshold of services offered and 3) propose solutions for improving care and services.This case study was conducted with a participatory approach and a mixed methodology. We compared the results from a questionnaire on the emergency services that was validated during a previous study with the results concerning the other rural emergency services in Quebec as well as with national and provincial recommendations. The questionnaire concerned users' sociodemographic characteristics, the hospital's and the emergency services' descriptors, the services available locally, and the physician and nurse staff. Interviews were also carried out with 33 people (health care professionals, policy-makers and citizens).Fermont's emergency department is smaller than the average rural emergency department in Quebec. They have resources that are in some respects comparable to those of other emergency departments and in line with the recommendations; in other respects, their resources are rather limited. Respondents emphasized how important it is to take into account the environment's specific features when establishing the minimum threshold of services. The proposed solutions would promote collaboration, break down silos within professional practice and focus on training.Fermont's case aside, this exploratory case study highlights how important it is to adopt a pluralistic, participatory and local approach in order to support reflection on the minimum threshold of services in remote emergency departments and to improve their overall performance.Cette étude visait à répondre au besoin d’une petite urgence éloignée d’assoir sa réflexion autour d’un seuil minimum de services à offrir. Les principaux objectifs de l’étude étaient de : 1) dresser le portrait statistique de l’urgence de Fermont, Québec, 2) évaluer la perception du personnel et des usagers en lien avec le seuil de services offert et 3) énoncer des solutions permettant d’améliorer les soins et les services.Cette étude de cas a été réalisée avec une approche participative et une méthodologie mixte. Nous avons comparée les données d’un questionnaire sur l’urgence qui a été validé lors d’une étude précédente aux données des autres urgences rurales québécoises et à des recommandations nationales et provinciales. Le questionnaire portait sur les caractéristiques sociodémographiques des usagers, les descripteurs du centre hospitalier et de l’urgence, les services disponibles localement et les effectifs médicaux et infirmiers. Des entrevues ont aussi été réalisées auprès de 33 personnes (professionnels de la santé, décideurs et citoyens).L’urgence de Fermont est plus petite que la moyenne des urgences rurales québécoises et dotée de ressources à certains égards comparables aux autres urgences et aux recommandations et à d’autres égards limités. Les répondants ont souligné l’importance de tenir compte des particularités du milieu dans l’établissement d’un seuil minimum de services. Les solutions proposées concernent l’importance de favoriser la collaboration, de décloisonner la pratique professionnelle et de miser sur la formation.Au-delà du cas de Fermont, cette étude de cas exploratoire a permis de souligner l’importance d’adopter une approche pluraliste, participative et locale pour soutenir la réflexion autour du seuil minimum de services à offrir dans les urgences éloignées et pour améliorer la performance générale des urgences rurales.

The ability to critically appraise empirical studies of any type is a prerequisite to evidence-informed policy making. We scanned the syllabi of all Canadian university undergraduate and graduate programs in public affairs, public administration, public policy and political science. Our findings suggest that evidence-informed policy is not yet institutionalized in most public administration and political science training curricula. We conducted a systematic review of prospective experimental and quasi-experimental studies examining the effect of university courses aimed at training social sciences students in critical appraisal, but did not find such a study. Sommaire L'aptitude a evaluer de maniere critique les etudes empiriques en tous genres est une condition prealable a l’elaboration de politiques fondee sur des donnees probantes. Nous avons examine sommairement les programmes de cours du premier cycle et des cycles superieurs en affaires publiques, administration publique, politique publique et sciences politiques de toutes les universites canadiennes. Nos resultats laissent entendre que la politique fondee sur les donnees probantes n'est pas encore institutionnalisee dans la plupart des programmes de formation en administration publique et en sciences politiques. Nous avons mene un examen systematique d’etudes prospectives experimentales et quasi-experimentales en etudiant l'effet de cours universitaires visant a donner aux etudiants en sciences politiques une formation en evaluation critique, mais n'avons pas trouve une telle etude.

A pilot controlled before-and-after design was used to assess the impact of a new master-level course in evidence-informed policy making on students’ basic knowledge in evidence-based practice. The primary outcome variable was the mean percentage of pre-post improvement on the knowledge test. In the treatment group, the mean percentage of pre-post improvement to the knowledge test was 36.9% (SD 27.5), compared to 11.3% (SD 19.1) in the control group composed of students exposed to the traditional graduate-level research methodology course in Political Science. However, the mean score on the post-test for the treatment group was only half of the maximum score.

The Bernstein vertex operators, which can be used to build recursively the Schur functions, are extended to superspace. Four families of super vertex operators are defined, corresponding to the four natural families of Schur functions in superspace. Combinatorial proofs that the super Bernstein vertex operators indeed build the Schur functions in superspace recursively are provided. We briefly mention a possible realization, in terms of symmetric functions in superspace, of the super-KP hierarchy, where the tau-function naturally expands in one of the super-Schur bases.

We demonstrate the validity of previously conjectured explicit expressions for the norm and the evaluation of the Macdonald polynomials in superspace. These expressions, which involve the arm-lengths and leg-lengths of the cells in certain Young diagrams, specialize to the well known formulas for the norm and the evaluation of the usual Macdonald polynomials.

Introduction: Rural trauma patients are at increased risk of morbidity and mortality compared to trauma patients treated in urban facilities. Factors contributing to this disparity include differences in resource availability and increased time to definitive treatment for rural patients. Telemedicine can improve the early management of these patients by enabling rural providers to consult with trauma specialists at urban centres. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of telemedicine utilisation on the diagnosis, clinical management and outcomes of rural trauma patients. Materials and Methods: A rapid review of the literature was performed using the concepts 'trauma', 'rural' and 'telemedicine'. Fifteen electronic databases were searched from inception to 29th June 2018. Manual searches were also conducted in relevant systematic reviews, key journals and bibliographies of included studies. Results: The literature search identified 187 articles, of which 8 articles were included in the review. All 8 studies reported on clinical management, while the impact of telemedicine use on diagnosis and outcomes was reported in 4 and 5 studies, respectively. Study findings suggest that the use of telemedicine may improve patient diagnosis, streamline the process of transferring patients and reduce length of stay. Use of telemedicine had minimal impact on mortality and complications in rural trauma patients. Conclusions: The evidence identified by this rapid review suggests that telemedicine may improve the diagnosis, management and outcomes of rural trauma patients. Further research is required to validate these findings by performing large and well-designed studies in rural areas, ideally as randomised clinical trials.

We introduce a conjectural construction for an extension to superspace of the Macdonald polynomials. The construction, which depends on certain orthogonality and triangularity relations, is tested for high degrees. We conjecture a simple form for the norm of the Macdonald polynomials in superspace, and a rather non-trivial expression for their evaluation. We study the limiting cases q=0 and q=\infty, which lead to two families of Hall-Littlewood polynomials in superspace. We also find that the Macdonald polynomials in superspace evaluated at q=t=0 or q=t=\infty seem to generalize naturally the Schur functions. In particular, their expansion coefficients in the corresponding Hall-Littlewood bases appear to be polynomials in t with nonnegative integer coefficients. More strikingly, we formulate a generalization of the Macdonald positivity conjecture to superspace: the expansion coefficients of the Macdonald superpolynomials expanded into a modified version of the Schur superpolynomial basis (the q=t=0 family) are polynomials in q and t with nonnegative integer coefficients., 18 pages

This article proposes a systematic scoping review of the structural “root” causes of non-suicide terrorism. It aims to synthesize the knowledge produced on this very specific issue from 2000 and 2009 and to raise questions about unanswered issues and those that deserve more in-depth investigation. After presenting our methodology, we offer an overview of this subfield of research. We then discuss our main results and explain why no substantive argument on the structural “root” causes of terrorism emerges. We argue that the main gaps lie in the high fragmentation of this subfield, definitional problems, a somehow flexible operationalization of concepts, and a high dependence on sources of questionable reliability.

We prove that structure constants related to Hecke algebras at roots of unity are special cases of k k -Littlewood-Richardson coefficients associated to a product of k k -Schur functions. As a consequence, both the 3-point Gromov-Witten invariants appearing in the quantum cohomology of the Grassmannian, and the fusion coefficients for the WZW conformal field theories associated to s u ^ ( ℓ ) \widehat {su}(\ell ) are shown to be k k -Littlewood-Richardson coefficients. From this, Mark Shimozono conjectured that the k k -Schur functions form the Schubert basis for the homology of the loop Grassmannian, whereas k k -Schur coproducts correspond to the integral cohomology of the loop Grassmannian. We introduce dual k k -Schur functions defined on weights of k k -tableaux that, given Shimozono’s conjecture, form the Schubert basis for the cohomology of the loop Grassmannian. We derive several properties of these functions that extend those of skew Schur functions.

We present the basic elements of a generalization of symmetric function theory involving functions of commuting and anticommuting (Grassmannian) variables. These new functions, called symmetric functions in superspace, are invariant under the diagonal action of the symmetric group on the sets of commuting and anticommuting variables. In this work, we present the superspace extension of the classical bases, namely, the monomial symmetric functions, the elementary symmetric functions, the completely symmetric functions, and the power sums. Various basic results, such as the generating functions for the multiplicative bases, Cauchy formulas, involution operations as well as the combinatorial scalar product are also generalized., 21 pages, this supersedes the first part of math.CO/0412306

Jack superpolynomials are eigenfunctions of the supersymmetric extension of the quantum trigonometric Calogero-Moser-Sutherland. They are orthogonal with respect to the scalar product, dubbed physical, that is naturally induced by this quantum-mechanical problem. But Jack superpolynomials can also be defined more combinatorially, starting from the multiplicative bases of symmetric superpolynomials, enforcing orthogonality with respect to a one-parameter deformation of the combinatorial scalar product. Both constructions turns out to be equivalent. This provides strong support for the correctness of the various underlying constructions and for the pivotal role of Jack superpolynomials in the theory of symmetric superpolynomials., Comment: 6 pages. To appear in the proceedings of the {\it XIII International Colloquium on Integrable Systems and Quantum Groups}, Czech. J . Phys., June 17-19 2004, Doppler Institute, Czech Technical University

The k-Young lattice Y k is a weak subposet of the Young lattice containing partitions whose first part is bounded by an integer k > 0. The Y k poset was introduced in connection with generalized Schur functions and later shown to be isomorphic to the weak order on the quotient of the affine symmetric group Sk + 1 by a maximal parabolic subgroup. We prove a number of properties for Y k including that the covering relation is preserved when elements are translated by rectangular partitions with hook-length k. We highlight the order ideal generated by an m x n rectangular shape. This order ideal, L k (m, n), reduces to L(m, n) for large k, and we prove it is isomorphic to the induced subposet of L(m, n) whose vertex set is restricted to elements with no more than k - m + 1 parts smaller than m. We provide explicit formulas for the number of elements and the rank-generating function of L k (m, n). We conclude with unimodality conjectures involving q-binomial coefficients and discuss how implications connect to recent work on sieved q-binomial coefficients.

We obtain general identities for the product of two Schur functions in the case where one of the functions is indexed by a rectangular partition, and give their t-analogs using vertex operators. We study subspaces forming a filtration for the symmetric function space that lends itself to generalizing the theory of Schur functions and also provides a convenient environment for studying the Macdonald polynomials. We use our identities to prove that the vertex operators leave such subspaces invariant. We finish by showing that these operators act simply on the k-Schur functions, thus leading to a concept of irreducibility for these functions., Comment: 18 pages

We call superpartitions the indices of the eigenfunctions of the supersymmetric extension of the trigonometric Calogero-Moser-Sutherland model. We obtain an ordering on superpartitions from the explicit action of the model's Hamiltonian on monomial superfunctions. This allows to define Jack superpolynomials as the unique eigenfunctions of the model that decompose triangularly, with respect to this ordering, on the basis of monomial superfunctions. This further leads to a simple and explicit determinantal expression for the Jack superpolynomials., 20 pages - minor corrections; to appear in CMP

We present results of single crystal neutron diffraction experiments on the rare-earth, half-Heusler antiferromagnet (AFM) NdBiPt. This compound exhibits an AFM phase transition at $T_{\mathrm N}=2.18$~K with an ordered moment of $1.78(9)$~$\mu_{\mathrm B}$ per Nd atom. The magnetic moments are aligned along the $[001]$-direction, arranged in a type-I AFM structure with ferromagnetic planes, alternating antiferromagnetically along a propagation vector $\tau$ of $(100)$. The $R$BiPt ($R$= Ce-Lu) family of materials has been proposed as candidates of a new family of antiferromagnetic topological insulators (AFTI) with magnetic space group that corresponds to a type-II AFM structure where ferromagnetic sheets are stacked along the space diagonal. The resolved structure makes it unlikely, that NdBiPt qualifies as an AFTI., Comment: As resubmitted to PRB, corrected typos and changed symbols in Fig. 3

The Calogero-Sutherland model occurs in a large number of physical contexts, either directly or via its eigenfunctions, the Jack polynomials. The supersymmetric counterpart of this model, although much less ubiquitous, has an equally rich structure. In particular, its eigenfunctions, the Jack superpolynomials, appear to share the very same remarkable combinatorial and structural properties as their non-supersymmetric version. These super-functions are parametrized by superpartitions with fixed bosonic and fermionic degrees. Now, a truly amazing feature pops out when the fermionic degree is sufficiently large: the Jack superpolynomials stabilize and factorize. Their stability is with respect to their expansion in terms of an elementary basis where, in the stable sector, the expansion coefficients become independent of the fermionic degree. Their factorization is seen when the fermionic variables are stripped off in a suitable way which results in a product of two ordinary Jack polynomials (somewhat modified by plethystic transformations), dubbed the double Jack polynomials. Here, in addition to spelling out these results, which were first obtained in the context of Macdonal superpolynomials, we provide a heuristic derivation of the Jack superpolynomial case by performing simple manipulations on the supersymmetric eigen-operators, rendering them independent of the number of particles and of the fermionic degree. In addition, we work out the expression of the Hamiltonian which characterizes the double Jacks. This Hamiltonian, which defines a new integrable system, involves not only the expected Calogero-Sutherland pieces but also combinations of the generators of an underlying affine ${\widehat{\mathfrak {sl}}_2}$ algebra.

A topological insulator is a state of matter which does not break any symmetry and is characterized by topological invariants, the integer expectation values of non-local operators. Antiferromagnetism on the other hand is a broken symmetry state in which the translation symmetry is reduced and time reversal symmetry is broken. Can these two phenomena coexist in the same material? A proposal by Mong {\it et al.}\cite{Mong2010} asserts that the answer is yes. Moreover, it is theoretically possible that the onset of antiferromagnetism enables the non-trivial topology since it may create spin-orbit coupling effects which are absent in the non-magnetic phase. The current work examines a real system, half-Heusler GdBiPt, as a candidate for topological anti ferromagnetism. We find that the magnetic moments of the gadolinium atoms form ferromagnetic sheets which are stacked antiferromagnetically along the body diagonal. This magnetic structure may induce spin orbit coupling on band electrons as they hop perpendicular to the ferromagnetic sheets., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B Rapid Comm

This purpose of this chapter is to introduce Stanley symmetric functions and affine Stanley symmetric functions from the combinatorial and algebraic point of view. The presentation roughly follows three lectures I gave at a conference titled “Affine Schubert Calculus” held in July of 2010 at the Fields Institute in Toronto.

The purpose of this chapter is to outline some of the results and open problems related to k-Schur functions, mostly in the setting of symmetric function theory. This chapter roughly follows the outline of several talks given by Luc Lapointe and Jennifer Morse at a conference titled “Affine Schubert Calculus” held in July of 2010 at the Fields Institute in Toronto.

This book is an exposition of the current state of research of affine Schubert calculus and $k$-Schur functions. This text is based on a series of lectures given at a workshop titled "Affine Schubert Calculus" that took place in July 2010 at the Fields Institute in Toronto, Ontario. The story of this research is told in three parts: 1. Primer on $k$-Schur Functions 2. Stanley symmetric functions and Peterson algebras 3. Affine Schubert calculus

This chapter discusses how k-Schur and dual k-Schur functions can be defined for all types. This is done via some combinatorial problems that come from the geometry of a very large family of generalized flag varieties. They apply to the expansion of products of Schur functions, k-Schur functions and their dual basis, and Schubert polynomials. Despite the geometric origin of these problems, concrete algebraic models will be given for the relevant cohomology rings and their Schubert bases.

We present formulas of Rodrigues type giving the Macdonald polynomials for arbitrary partitions through the repeated application of creation operators on the constant 1. Three expressions for the creation operators are derived one from the other. When the last of these expressions is used, the associated Rodrigues formula readily implies the integrality of the (q,t)-Kostka coefficients. The proofs given in this paper rely on the connection between affine Hecke algebras and Macdonald polynomials, 15 pages, AmsLaTeX

Formulas of Rodrigues-type for the Macdonald polynomials are presented. They involve creation operators, certain properties of which are proved and other conjectured. The limiting case of the Jack polynomials is discussed.

Thermal impedance spectroscopy (TIS) is applied for the thermal characterization of a large prismatic battery cell. The method is based on previously published work and is extended to a three dimensional system. By using a discretized three dimensional model, the experimental results can be fitted to obtain the specific heat capacity and heat conductivity of the cell in three dimensions. The results show good agreement with the available data in the literature. Suggestions are made to improve the test setup to gain more confidence in the results and to increase the precision of the model.

We uncover a deep connection between the $\mathcal{N}=1$ superconformal field theory in 2D and eigenfunctions of the supersymmetric Sutherland model known as Jack superpolynomials (sJacks). Specifically, the singular vector at level $rs/2$ of the Kac module labeled by the two integers $r$ and $s$ are given explicitly as a sum of sJacks whose indexing diagrams are contained in a rectangle with $r$ columns and $s$ rows As a second compelling evidence for the distinguished status of the sJack-basis in SCFT, we find that the degenerate Whittaker vectors (Gaiotto states) can be expressed as a remarkably simple linear combination of sJacks. As a consequence, we are able to reformulate the supersymmetric version of the (degenerate) AGT conjecture in terms of the combinatorics of sJacks. Note that the closed-form formulas for the singular vectors and the degenerate Whittaker vectors, although only conjectured in general, have been heavily tested (in some cases, up to level 33/2). Note also that both the Neveu-Schwarz and Ramond sectors are treated., 37 pages. v3: correction of some equations (not corrected in the published version), most importantly, (6.9), (6.10), and (B.27)

The Jack polynomials P_\lambda^{(\alpha)} at \alpha=-(k+1)/(r-1) indexed by certain (k,r,N)-admissible partitions are known to span an ideal I^{(k,r)}_N of the space of symmetric functions in N variables. The ideal I^{(k,r)}_N is invariant under the action of certain differential operators which include half the Virasoro algebra. Moreover, the Jack polynomials in I^{(k,r)}_N admit clusters of size at most k: they vanish when k+1 of their variables are identified, and they do not vanish when only k of them are identified. We generalize most of these properties to superspace using orthogonal eigenfunctions of the supersymmetric extension of the trigonometric Calogero-Moser-Sutherland model known as Jack superpolynomials. In particular, we show that the Jack superpolynomials P_{\Lambda}^{(\alpha)} at \alpha=-(k+1)/(r-1) indexed by certain (k,r,N)-admissible superpartitions span an ideal {\mathcal I}^{(k,r)}_N of the space of symmetric polynomials in N commuting variables and N anticommuting variables. We prove that the ideal {\mathcal I}^{(k,r)}_N is stable with respect to the action of the negative-half of the super-Virasoro algebra. In addition, we show that the Jack superpolynomials in {\mathcal I}^{(k,r)}_N vanish when k+1 of their commuting variables are equal, and conjecture that they do not vanish when only k of them are identified. This allows us to conclude that the standard Jack polynomials with prescribed symmetry should satisfy similar clustering properties. Finally, we conjecture that the elements of {\mathcal I}^{(k,2)}_N provide a basis for the subspace of symmetric superpolynomials in N variables that vanish when k+1 commuting variables are set equal to each other., Comment: 36 pages; the main changes in v2 are : 1) in the introduction, we present exceptions to an often made statement concerning the clustering property of the ordinary Jack polynomials for (k,r,N)-admissible partitions (see Footnote 2); 2) Conjecture 14 is substantiated with the extensive computational evidence presented in the new appendix C; 3) the various tests supporting Conjecture 16 are reported