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Using the example of an industrial site in Edmonton, Alberta, this paper argues that industrial ruins represent instantiations of abstract abandonment, a kind of real abstraction that directly articulates to the logic of capital. Drawing from excavations of the industrial ruins of Mill Creek Ravine, one of the first industrial areas in Edmonton, this paper reveals how sites of abstract abandonment congeal critical histories of both abandonment and its afterlives. The history of these ruins, and the communities that emerged after they were abandoned materialize the failures of capitalist fantasies, as well as the sprouts that grow in its cracks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers observational results of noctilucent clouds (NLC) performed by Michael Noble, who was an outstanding amateur observer. One of his special efforts was driving outside Edmonton to avoid weather clouds, hence obtaining clear skies to get more probability of observing NLC. It is demonstrated that this technique can greatly increase the number of NLC-active nights. Doubling the number of sites used or quadrupling the area between all sites can increase seasonal NLC-active night totals by half. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although road surface friction is considered the most effective performance measure for maintenance operations, it is not commonly used due to the high cost of collection. As a result, most jurisdictions use subjective visual indicators that qualitatively describe the state of the road surface, even though they create measurement inconsistencies and offer less detailed maintenance tracking. For maintenance personnel to transition into using friction, the collection cost must be reduced. This paper attempts to do so by proposing a low-cost, machine learning-based method for predicting road surface friction using dash camera imagery and demonstrates its feasibility through a case study. The dataset used for this project was collected in the City of Edmonton, AB, Canada during its 2021/2022 winter season. Three models were developed using tree-based algorithms, where all three displayed high performance with an average root mean squared error of 0.0796 or 79.3% accuracy based on RMSPE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I apply insights from Sport Studies, Indigenous Studies, Music Studies, and Feminist Cultural Studies to illuminate and theorize the cultural, material, and political affective salience of national anthems staged prior to sporting events. To do so I analyze two different cases: The Aboriginal musical trio Asani's 2014 multi-lingual performance of "O Canada" prior to an Oilers hockey game which closed Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) events in Edmonton, Alberta; and the projection of hatred onto former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick's kneeling protest of racism during the playing of the U.S. national anthem in 2016. Analysis suggests that these emotive, often visceral musical performances and responses are not contained within individual subjects but instead reflect contextually specific repetitive (dis)articulations across time, space, and a variety of bodies. Placed within broader colonial contexts, Asani's version of the Canadian anthem is exemplary of the embodied sensory, but politically limited settler-oriented communitas of Canadian TRC inclusionary music as previously explicated by Robinson. Kaepernick's anti-racist kneeling activism provides an additional case to theorize the relationship of national anthems in regards to movements for and against an imagined white nation as well as State-sanctioned colonization and hatreds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Maria Sharkova is first author on 'Photoreceptor calyceal processes accompany the developing outer segment, adopting a stable length despite a dynamic core', published in JCS. Maria is a PhD student in the lab of Dr Jennifer Hocking at the Department of Cell Biology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, investigating the role of microvilli surrounding the sensory ending of vertebrate photoreceptors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reinforced concrete is a commonly used material for constructing basements in low-rise buildings or residential houses in Canada, and as the use of cross-laminated timber (CLT) advances, the door to think of an alternative basement material to offset greenhouse gas emissions associated with reinforced concrete is open. However, the evaluation of CLT durability in below-grade environments, specifically concerning moisture and mould development, remains an unexplored field in research. Hence, this paper aims to analyze CLT's moisture response and mould growth risk in below-grade environments using field and laboratory experiments. A laboratory experiment was carried out to test a waterproofing membrane solution selected to compose the wall assembly in the field experiment. A large-scale experimental CLT basement was built at a cohesive soil site in Edmonton, Canada. The field experiment involved monitoring the relative humidity, temperature, and soil volumetric water content of the CLT panels, which measure 3 m by 6 m in plan and 2 m deep. Data was collected for an extended period from June 2022 to July 2023. The VVT model, developed by Hukka and Viitanen (1999) and updated by Viitanen et al., 2011 to estimate the mould growth level, was used to predict the risk of mould growth. The laboratory experiment showed that the waterproofing membrane is suitable for protection against moisture in a still-water setup. Field experiment results suggested that the primary moisture source was below the basement floor when the floor was finished inadequately. The moisture content of CLT walls was significantly increased by floor flooding and decreased by heating the basement interior. The acceptable mould index of three was surpassed during periods of abundant water below the basement floor due to flood events, showing that the CLT panels were at risk of mould growth development. • CLT use inbasements is in research stage. This paper contains insights for developing future research on this subject. • CLT in basement construction requires robust envelope with waterproofing membranes that perform well below grade. • Elevated moisture levels could pose structural and biological risks to the CLT basement and its occupants. • CLT basement walls take time to dry, and during this period, the walls may be exposed to risky levels of mould growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no shortage of sociological research that explores the successes and failures of various sport-related social movements. However, a more capacious approach to understanding the significance of sport-related social movements, their imaginative actions and collective labor, and their impacts on social change, is one that shifts its focus away from binary categories of "success" and "failure". In this paper, we explore the formation of the short-lived Edmonton Community Benefits Coalition, which emerged in 2016 to oppose the lack of a legally binding Community Benefits Agreement associated with a new publicly financed National Hockey League arena in Edmonton's gentrifying city center, an area of spatially concentrated racialized poverty. Drawing from our ethnographic research, we examine how coalition members engaged in the collective labor of building solidarity, including the collaborative development of political strategies, while recognizing that the odds of successfully penetrating neoliberal capital and municipal governance were virtually impossible. Finally, given that the coalition ultimately "failed" to secure more significant institutional impacts, we offer an analysis of how this failure engendered several effects, including the cultivation of new relationships and political strategies in the ongoing struggle against gentrification and its related displacements in Edmonton, Alberta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban marginality has long-been a concern of urban studies. The governance of urban marginality is important empirical terrain, particularly in the context of COVID-19, an event that challenged established governance systems globally. This article contributes to our understanding of the governance of urban marginality during the COVID-19 pandemic by examining urban poverty management responses in one Canadian city, Edmonton, Alberta. The article makes two contributions in this regard. First, the paper theorizes urban poverty management as a dispositif, an approach which draws attention to the role of problematization in the configuration of poverty management landscapes and the implications these configurations have for the spatial management of urban poverty in the city. Second, we show that while municipal officials attempted to reconfigure Edmonton's poverty management landscape, their efforts were inflected, and ultimately limited, by three 'problem spaces': forward fiscal liability, risk management, and legal jurisdiction. These problem spaces comprise what we call the 'municipal mentality.' We argue that this municipal mentality is indicative of the fact that municipal government is a conflict-laden site of articulation and that municipal decisions are often shaped by deliberation, deference and jurisdictional struggles which can have implications for the character of urban poverty management. • Urban poverty management is one form that the governance of urban marginality can take, particularly in North America. • Urban poverty management can be theorized as a dispositif and examined on the basis of different problematizations. • Urban poverty management is subject to a municipal mentality that produces a mix of socio-spatial outcomes for the unhoused. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Physicians face the challenge of staying current with a rapidly growing body of evidence and applying it to their practice. How emergency physicians (EPs) do so is unknown. The authors sought to describe and assess needs around EP patterns of evidence‐based medicine (EBM) and continuing medical education (CME) resource use. Methods: The authors conducted a multicenter, cross‐sectional study in 2019 across 12 tertiary care, community, and suburban emergency department (ED) sites in the greater area of Edmonton. Information on EBM/CME resource use along with barriers and facilitators to staying current was gathered using a rigorously developed survey tool, distributed electronically and by mail. Responses were tabulated and subgroups analyzed using MANOVA and ANOVA tests. Thematic analysis of comments used a phenomenological lens. Results: A total of 118 EPs (40.1%) completed the survey. Listening to podcasts, attending EM conferences, and subscription‐based resources were preferred for staying current. Resource use differed by years in practice but not by age, sex, training background, or site type. EBM had an important impact on respondents' practice (average rating 3.8 out of 5, with 5 indicating "practice changing"). Time was an important barrier. Most (62.7%) felt that they did not spend enough time, despite spending a median of 4 to 5 h monthly on EBM. Facilitators (including journal club summaries or lists of practice‐relevant papers) had only moderate impacts. Thematic analysis found three themes (importance of EBM, implementation challenges, and dissemination of EBM) and 13 subthemes. Conclusion: EPs preferentially chose podcasts, conferences, and subscription‐based resources to stay current with EBM; time was the biggest barrier. These findings help ED leads and educators tailor CME to physician learning preferences to maximize application of EBM to clinical practice. The next steps include developing/curating resources and disseminating the survey on a larger scale to identify opportunities for shared virtual resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the production of Prairie Urban Farm, an urban agricultural initiative in the Canadian city of Edmonton, Alberta. Motivated by our involvement in the initiative and guided by a broader interest in the evolving meaning and politics of urban agriculture, the paper presents Prairie Urban Farm as a negotiated and emergent social space. Rather than limit understandings of the initiative to official representations and discourses, the analysis draws on interviews with regular volunteers as well as personal reflections to emphasise everyday urban agriculture – those practices, understandings, and motivations often subsumed under official framings or tropes that together characterise the everyday, lived aspects of urban agriculture. The paper pursues tensions between Prairie Urban Farm understood as a sustainability and food security initiative and more ambivalent understandings. We ask, is Prairie Urban Farm, officially presented as an urban agriculture and food security project, not simply a community garden by another name? Obscuring these boundaries through a detailed ethnographic and qualitative analysis, we make an argument for finding value in urban agriculture beyond discursive tropes and in relation to the reflexive possibilities engendered within a view of gardening as epistemology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The great increase in car ownership has led to the daily recurrence of traffic congestion. Thus, traffic mobility, safety and emission concerns have become the most serious challenges for transportation researchers. To mitigate traffic congestion, a variety of proactive traffic-control strategies, such as ramp metering (RM), have been intensively investigated and deployed. With the aim of improving freeway traffic conditions, RM regulates the on-ramp flows dynamically in response to dynamic road conditions. However, most early RM strategies focus on optimising the traffic from one single aspect. This paper presents an RM control algorithm that predicts and evaluates the RM-controlled future traffic states. The impact of RM control was evaluated using a macroscopic traffic-flow model. The designed RM control algorithm possesses a multi-objective optimisation module, which improves the traffic network from the aspects of mobility, safety and emissions. The designed algorithm is evaluated through simulation and calibrated using field data collected over an 11 km major freeway stretch in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The comparison of the proposed algorithm-controlled scenario and the uncontrolled scenario shows that the proposed RM control algorithm can effectively relieve traffic congestion, improve safety and reduce carbon emissions concurrently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an award for the most outstanding student paper at the annual conference of the Plains Anthropological Society in Edmonton, Alberta. Solicitation of entries for the competition; Criteria for the student paper competition; Contact information.

Background: Among individuals experiencing homelessness, the prevalence of alcohol use disorder is extremely high. Alcohol-related harms are compounded by the use of non-beverage alcohol (NBA; e.g. rubbing alcohol, cooking wine). The dangers of NBA consumption pose significant risks to the individual and to others when consumed in large quantities and when mixed with other substances. The objectives of this paper are to describe the alcohol consumption patterns of individuals experiencing homelessness, identify substance use patterns, psychological stressors, and related harms associated with NBA consumption, and compare NBA consumers to non-NBA consumers in relation to their use of services and perceived barriers to care. Methods: Using a cross-sectional survey, 150 individuals experiencing homelessness were recruited from Edmonton's inner city and adjoining areas. Frequency, quantity, and volume of alcohol consumption were used to assess patterns of alcohol use in the last 6 months. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analyses were used to compare participants reporting NBA consumption and non-NBA consumption (p ≤ 0.05). Results: The majority of participants were male (71.3%) and self-identified as Indigenous (74.0%). Overall, 24% (n = 36) reported NBA consumption within the last six months. NBA consumers were older than non-NBA consumers (p = 0.005), reported different perceived living stability (p = 0.022), and had higher psychological distress (p = 0.038). The majority of NBA consumers reported not receiving harm reduction services while also not needing such services (n = 18, 51.4%), which differed from non-NBA consumers (p = 0.003). Structural barriers (e.g. availability, location, cost) were most frequently reported as reasons for unmet harm reduction (60.9%) and hospital care (58.3%) needs, while barriers to skills training (58.5%) and counselling services (53.6%) were mostly motivational (e.g. personal beliefs). Conclusions: Within such an already marginalized population experiencing homelessness, individuals who consume NBA represent a vulnerable subpopulation who require adapted and distinct health and social services to stabilize and recover. Current harm reduction services are not prepared to effectively assist this group of individuals, and specific treatment programs are rare. Managed alcohol programs are a feasible approach but must be tailored to the specific needs of those who consume NBA, which is especially important for Indigenous people. More comprehensive assessments of NBA consumption are needed for program development and policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction to the special issue offers a brief report on the proceedings from the 16th International Conference on Language and Social Psychology (ICLASP16) and concludes with an invitation to participate in the upcoming ICLASP17 (Hong Kong, 2020). The nine papers selected for this special issue represent the diversity of scholarship and methodology presented at ICLASP16 (held in Edmonton, Canada, 2018). It includes student debut work, student-faculty collaborative pieces, keynote addresses, competitive papers, and an invited state-of-the-scholarship review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the papers presented at the ninth International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels, and Minichannels (ICNMM) which was held at the University of Alberta at Edmonton, Alberta on June 19-22, 2011. The author says that the papers highlights the presentations by pioneering researchers D. B. Tuckerman and R. F. W. Pease on invented microchannels. He adds that the papers also focuses on interfacial transport, mixing inside colliding droplets, and wettability.

Background: Ongoing legal and social discrimination, and stigmatization of people with lived experience of drug use (PWLE) continues to contribute to overdose-related deaths in Canada. The involvement of PWLE working in harm reduction services has proven effective in decreasing drug-related harms among PWLE; however, there exist unintended negative impacts. PWLE working in harm reduction services risk overextending themselves beyond employment parameters (e.g., emotional labor) with few systems in place (e.g., employment advocacy) for support. While meaningful participation of PWLE in harm reduction programs is critical to addressing the overdose crisis, their labor in Canada's overdose response commands further investigation and recognition. This paper examines some of the benefits and negative aspects of working in harm reduction among PWLE. Methods: Fifty qualitative surveys were completed by PWLE working in harm reduction services from across Canada at the National 2018 Stimulus conference held in Edmonton, Alberta. The surveys focused on the benefits and negatives of 'peer' employment and recommendations for organizational transformation through short answer written sections. Surveys were analyzed thematically using NVivo, informed by critical perspectives on substance use, with attention to key re-occurring themes on employment equity. Results: While participants described multiple benefits of working in harm reduction services, such as the valuing of their expertise by fellow 'peers,' growing skill sets, countering stigma, and preventing overdose deaths, issues of workplace equity were significantly identified. Stigma, tokenism, workplace discrimination, including power and pay inequities, as well as lack of worker compensation and benefits were identified as key factors persisting in the everyday experiences of participants. Conclusion: Continued exposure to stigma, workplace discrimination, and/or power imbalances, combined with the impact of high stakes employment (e.g., dealing with overdose deaths), can have significant consequences for PWLE working in harm reduction, including burn out. Policy recommendations include large-scale structural changes that address inequities of hierarchical 'peer' employment for PWLE, including increased leadership roles for diverse PWLE, pay equity and benefits, unionization, as well as more supportive working environments attentive to the intersecting social-structural factors (poverty, criminalization, racism, gendered violence) impacting the everyday lives of PWLE working in harm reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the increasing number school sports academies in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. An examination of the information available via literature and public school websites shows that the number of school sports academies grew from two schools in 2005 to 30 schools in 2018. There are 12 sport specializations offered across the 30 schools, with ice hockey available at 22 of the schools. This growth in the number of school sports academies can be traced back to the Province of Alberta's Alternative Programs policy, which allows school districts to develop local courses that cater to the needs of their students, and the principle of opening the boundaries between school boards and schools throughout the province. The opening of the boundaries has allowed students and their parents to choose where they want to attend school anywhere in Alberta (student mobility), including the option of a school that offers a school sports academy program as an alternative to the regular physical education program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many cities are creating policies and programs aimed at expanding bicycling mode shares. Attitudes towards bicycling in combination with weather conditions, however, can strongly influence the decision to ride. In locations with wide annual seasonal variation, attitudes can radically alter demand on bicycle networks across the year. Though researchers have looked at weather impacts on bicycling, the link between attitudinal factors that might impact riding decisions and seasonal variation remains understudied. This paper investigates heterogeneous taste preferences about the inclination to bicycle for riders who ride only in the warm weather and those who ride all year long (including during severe winters). This research relies on survey data from Edmonton, Canada and presents results from a hybrid discrete choice model. After controlling for age, sex, education, income, the supply of bike lanes, and the latent variable "bicycling inclination," the results indicate that attitudes have a significantly positive impact on the decision to ride across seasons. The findings suggest that public education and season-specific training programs—particularly aimed at adults and women—have the potential to increase bicycling all year around. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Case-crossover designs have been widely applied to epidemiological and medical investigations of associations between short-term exposures and risk of acute adverse health events. Much effort has been made in literature on understanding source of confounding and reducing systematic bias by reference-select strategies. In this paper, we explored the nature of bias in the ambi-directional and time-stratified case-crossover designs via simulation using actual air pollution data from urban Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. We further proposed a calibration approach for eliminating systematic bias in estimates (coefficient estimate, 95% confident interval, and p-value). Bias check for coefficient estimation, size check and power check for significance test were done via simulation experiments to show advantages of the calibrated case-crossover studies over the ones without calibration. An application was done to investigate associations between air pollutants and acute myocardial infarction hospitalizations in urban Edmonton. In conclusion, systematic bias in a case-crossover design is often unavoidable, leading to an obvious bias in the estimated effect and an unreliable p value in the significance test. The proposed calibration technique provides an efficient approach to eliminating systematic bias in a case-crossover study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inner‐city service hubs are vital spaces of survival for homeless populations. They are also vulnerable to gentrification‐induced displacement, putting the populations they serve at increased risk. This paper contributes to recent work on the resilience of inner‐city service hubs through a case study of Edmonton, Canada. Specifically, we theorise the assemblage‐like qualities of Edmonton's service hub, in the context of a major urban redevelopment project. As a heterogeneous grouping of different spaces of care, service hubs lend themselves well to assemblage thinking. Viewed from this vantage point, service hubs can been seen as relational achievements, assembled through articulations among voluntary sector, private and government organisations. We demonstrate how these articulations express multiple practices, ideals and values and add to the spatial resilience of the service hub in historically and spatially contingent ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

In the highly competitive landscape of global cities and entrepreneurial urbanism, the development goals of cities are increasingly framed through discourses of 'innovation'. In this paper we critically examine this relationship through a case study exploring the attempt to build a nanotechnology sector in Edmonton, Alberta. Adopting a collaborative research methodology involving citizen engagement and urban touring, we explore participant representations of Edmonton as an 'innovative city'. The conversations we had with participants follow some common themes within an emerging literature on innovation geographies, for instance as related to network collaborations and quality of life. However, participants furthermore articulated innovation pathways which were more closely linked to local identities and values within the city, including negative place narratives. We argue that paying attention to these 'virtues of place' can assist cities to counteract trends towards the homogenisation of urban innovation strategy, and affix the 'innovative city' to more socially robust articulations of the future prosperity and the possibility of place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post‐depositional afterlife of an archaeological site is often viewed as the least important aspect of its history and outside of traditional archaeological interest. In the case of industrial sites, this elision ignores one of the most important aspects of industrial history, namely the long‐term effects of toxic waste. In an era where industrial pollution and anthropogenic climate change are rapidly changing the future of life on this planet, the stakes of understanding the effects of industrial waste are vital. This article outlines a reflexive, ecologically focused archaeology that interrogates the afterlives of industrial waste, not as a method to get back to the history of production, but as a means for taking seriously these afterlives as a defining characteristic of life in the Anthropocene. Using the concept of the ecological lives of industrial waste to explore the (post)industrial history of Mill Creek Ravine—a historically important industrial area in Edmonton, Alberta— this article argues that the decomposition of industrial waste serves as both a medium for long‐term harms, as well as the locus for emergent relations and critical investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A NetZero Energy Home (NZEH) is designed, modelled, and constructed to produce as much energy as it consumes on an annual basis, with the required energy generated from renewable resources. However, the actual performance of an NZEH may vary from the design objective, and the performance of a given NZEH may differ from other NZEHs. In order to examine the actual energy performance and identify discrepancies among multiple NZEHs, a research project has been initiated in which six NZEHs in Edmonton and Calgary, Canada, built by Landmark Group of Companies, are monitored, assessed, and compared in this research. Complete annual data has been collected for four of the NZEHs to date, and the results show the average energy balance, excluding the NZEH with a period of non-occupancy (listed for sale), reaches −1.4%, which is very near the targeted balance. The actual energy performance is analyzed and compared for the monitored NZEHs by category, including space heating, domestic hot water (DHW) heating, ventilator, and base loads (including major appliances). Overall, space heating and cooling are found to account for more than 50% of the total energy usage of the NZEHs, except for one listed for sale; all the base loads of the analyzed NZEHs are lower than the base load predicted in HOT2000 (19.5 kWh/day). The factors contributing to energy performance variations are also analyzed by category in this paper. This research thus addresses the actual energy performance and discrepancies among multiple NZEHs in cold regions; the research results can be referenced to improve building operation and future design of NZEHs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping early-career researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Kazuki Ueda is a joint first author on 'Recruitment of Peroxin 14 to lipid droplets affects lipid storage in Drosophila', published in JCS. Kazuki is a MSc student in the lab of Andrew Simmonds at University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, investigating peroxisome-independent roles of Pex proteins in regulating lipid metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speed limits are a common traffic regulation for balancing traffic mobility and safety on roadways. Speed transition zones bear complicated driver behaviours. However, driver behaviours are even more complex when speed transition zones are dynamically created and shifted by variable speed limits (VSLs). Much existing research has estimated long-term driver compliance, evaluated effectiveness of speed enforcement, and attempted to involve compliance into VSL control algorithms. Whereas, limited research provides convincing solutions for representing speed limit effect and estimating real-time driver compliance at speed transition zones. To fill this research gap, this paper analyses field data from two speed transition zones along southbound of 97th Street, Edmonton, Canada. Temporal and spatial variations of speed and driver compliance are investigated in detail using statistical tests. A linear regression is then established to rank the contributions of the selected factors. Finally, some suggestions and guidelines for VSL algorithm design and implementation are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years of the study (1999–2004) presented in this paper, the City of Edmonton, Canada’s Drainage and Maintenance Department has experienced an annual increase of about 12% in the installation of water and sewer services for residential facilities. According to the current estimating procedure, a discrepancy of up to 60% exists between the estimated and actual costs of these projects. A detailed analysis of all activities involved in the installation of the water and sewer services has been carried out and is presented in this paper. The proposed methodology, which is based upon the analysis of past data obtained from the City of Edmonton’s drainage division for the period of 1999–2004, is also presented. The methodology has been incorporated into a computer module, which integrates the concept of artificial neural network (ANN) with the current estimating system used by the City of Edmonton. The following research includes a description of the algorithm used in ANN, as well as an assessment of past data obtained from the city record for over 800 jobs (cases) performed over the period of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how Edmonton Police Service has built on the foundation of community-based policing and problem solving in an effort to achieve greater levels of efficiency and effectiveness. These proposed operational strategies are closely aligned with the conceptual framework of proactive policing. Here, proactive policing, in its original formulation, ‘refers to the strategic deployment of resources in order to target criminally active individuals’ (Stockdale et al., 1999, p. 5). The paper also examines the implications proactive policing has for police management and how Edmonton has responded to an organizational environment that requires management of demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The City of Edmonton’s Drainage Operations branch oversees the inspection, maintenance, and repair of the city’s drainage network. This network covers an area of 700.6 km2 to serve the city’s growing population of nearly 1 million people. The activities performed by this division consume a large amount of funding and are, therefore, receptive to improvements in productivity. The study presented in this paper was conducted to develop improved work methods and engineered productivity standards for the various drainage operations. The study focused on six crews, which accounted for over 25% of the total drainage operations budget. The six crews were divided based on their respective duties: (1) cleaning mains by low pressure flushing (LPF); (2) cleaning mains by high pressure flushing; (3) scheduled mechanical cleaning of catch basins (CBC); (4) inspecting mains by televising; (5) commercial establishment investigation; and (6) service-line rodding and televising. The study utilized the concept of work simplification and focused on two crew activities—LPF and CBC work tasks—to improve crew work methods, to develop an established work standard, and to verify the proposed improvements based on the simulation model’s output. These activities are described in greater detail in two case studies. The work measurement concept was implemented to develop engineered productivity standards for the remaining crews in order to improve their productivity as well. This paper describes the application of an industrial engineering philosophy of work measurement—lean production theory—and the technique of simulation analysis to capture current work methods, generate and test alternative methods, and develop new productivity standards for drainage maintenance operations crews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether different types of accessibility measures can perform similarly when evaluating changes in accessibility before and after transport interventions. Specifically, we compare three types of placed-based accessibility approaches: 1) cumulative-opportunity, 2) gravity-based, and 3) hybrid of the two. We conduct a comprehensive comparison of 12 accessibility measures by combining different operational forms, impedance functions, and parameters to see if the results of project appraisals are sensitive to the choice of accessibility measure. For case studies, we consider two scenarios in Canada: new bus rapid transit (BRT) services in Vancouver and transit system redesign (TSR) in Edmonton. We carry out high spatio-temporal resolution accessibility analyses based on General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) datasets through an open-source transit analytics tool. Results demonstrate that the three types of measures perform differently when evaluating changes in accessibility pre and post transit interventions. Accessibility change scores generated by cumulative-opportunity measures are notably different from those produced by gravity-based and hybrid measures. Also, the capability of cumulative-opportunity approach in capturing the geographic extent of areas affected by transit interventions is limited. We found that the project appraisal results can even change from positive to negative or vice versa, depending on the chosen accessibility measure. We recommend an analyst test several types of accessibility measure with a range of parameters for a more robust evaluation on the impacts of new public transit services on accessibility. We share our code and data to promote reproducible transportation science in planning practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waste collection management plays a crucial role in controlling pandemic outbreaks. Electric waste collection systems and vehicles can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of sanitary processes in municipalities worldwide. The waste collection routing optimization involves designing routes to serve all customers with the least number of vehicles, total traveling distance, and time considering the vehicle capacity. This paper proposes a dynamic location-arc routing optimization model for electric waste collection vehicles. The proposed model suggests an optimal routing plan for the waste collection vehicles and determines the optimal locations of the charging stations, dynamic charging arcs, and waste collection centers. A genetic algorithm and grey wolf optimizer are used to solve the large-sized random generated NP-hard location-arc routing problems. We present a case study for the city of Edmonton in Canada and show the grey wolf optimizer outperforms the genetic algorithm. We further demonstrate the total number of waste collection centers, charging stations, and arcs for dynamic charging needed to ensure a minimum required service for electric vehicles throughout Edmonton's entire waste collection system. [Display omitted] • The waste collection routing optimization optimizes routes serving customers. • Optimized routes use minimum vehicles, distance, and time with capacitated vehicles. • A dynamic location-arc routing optimization is proposed for electric waste collection vehicles. • Genetic algorithms and grey wolf algorithms solve the large NP-hard problem. • A case study in Canada shows grey wolf algorithm outperforms the genetic algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Airborne indoor particles arise from both indoor sources and ambient particles that have infiltrated indoors. The intra-urban variability of infiltration factors (Finf) is a source of measurement error in epidemiological studies estimating exposure from a central site measurement, hence information on the within and between-home variability of Finf is useful to better characterize ambient PM exposure. The objective of this paper was to estimate magnitudes and predictors of daily residential infiltration factors (Finf) and ambient/non-ambient components of indoor ultrafine particle (UFP) and fine particle (FP) concentrations. FPs and UFPs were measured continuously for 7 consecutive days in 74 Edmonton homes in winter and summer 2010 (50 homes in each season). Simultaneous measurements of outdoor (near-home) FP and ambient (at a central site) UFP concentrations were also measured. Daily infiltration factors were estimated for each home; considerable variability was seen within and between homes. For FPs, seasonal-averaged Finf (the average of the 7 daily Finf estimates) ranged from 0.10 to 0.92 in winter (median = 0.30, n = 49) and 0.31 to 0.99 in summer (median = 0.68, n = 48). For UFPs, the seasonal-averaged Finf ranged from 0.08 to 0.47 across homes in winter (median = 0.21, n = 33 houses) and from 0.16 to 0.94 in summer (median = 0.57, n = 48). The higher median Finf in summer was attributed to a high frequency of open windows. Daily infiltration factors were also estimated based on the indoor/outdoor PM1 sulfur ratio. These estimates were poorly correlated with DustTrak-based FP infiltration factor estimates; the difference may be due to losses of volatile components on the PM1 filter samples. Generalized linear mixed models were used to identify variables significantly associated with Finf and the non-ambient component of indoor FP and UFP concentrations. Wind speed was consistently associated with Finf across all seasons for both FPs and UFPs. The use of an air cleaner was associated with reduced UFP infiltration factors in summer, suggesting a potential method of reducing infiltrated UFPs. Various cooking activities and smoking were associated with the non-ambient component of indoor FP and UFP concentrations. On average, the majority of indoor FPs were of ambient origin while the majority of UFPs were of indoor origin. In summer, more of the indoor FP and UFP concentrations were from ambient origin, compared to winter, due to the higher infiltration factors. The variability in FP and UFP Finf within and between homes may cause substantial exposure misclassification in epidemiological studies using only ambient measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Condition assessment is a key component of successful asset management, and many diverse condition assessment protocols exist for sewer mains. These protocols are used to generate condition grades for sewer mains after inspection. Condition assessment protocols are important because renewal actions for sewers are prioritized based on condition grades. If condition grades assigned to sewers do not reflect actual pipe conditions close enough, the resulting allocation of resources will not be the best. This paper presents a comparison of three possible sewer condition assessment protocols for the City of Edmonton: the Pipeline Assessment and Certification Program quick grading method, the Manual of Sewer Condition Classification fourth edition, and the City of Edmonton's Sewer Physical Condition Classification Manual. The results show that structural sewer condition grades depend significantly on the protocol used; therefore, protocol selection has significant financial consequences for asset management programs in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies urban and environmental sociological theory to survey data on self-reported sustainable consumption practices, using a matched sample of central city and suburban residents in Edmonton, Alberta. We use cluster analysis to create an ordinal typology of four types of consumers, conduct an analysis of variance to characterize the resultant clusters, and perform logistic regression to predict the net effect of urban and neighbourhood context on sustainable consumption practices. We find that neighbourhood and environmental attitude are the strongest predictors of sustainable consumption practices. We conclude by arguing many sustainable activities are more difficult to incorporate into daily routine when residing in the suburban neighbourhood. While suburban residents may feel strongly that they should consume less, their geographic location appears to significantly constrain their ability to meaningfully reduce their own consumption. This urban Canadian case study has implications for middle class environmental practices in other North American urban and suburban settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Landing Trail was a Hudson's Bay Company supply route used between metropolitan Edmonton and frontier Athabasca during the late nineteenth century. This article begins with the rediscovery of the trail in 1950s Alberta and analyzes its diverse archival life in the two communities. In three sections, it moves through a fifty-year period of attempts to commemorate, represent, and archive the history of the trail as it existed in the 1890s. As groups in Edmonton and Athabasca sought to reinvest the trail with meaning, they also represented dynamics of power between the two places, each articulating a different version of Alberta's historical geography. I show that the commemorative and archival practices that unfolded between the 1950s and the present used history to reflect and interpret contemporary geographical relationships between Edmonton and Athabasca. I conclude that these stories of the trail and the archives they produced constitute spatial histories, because their meanings were informed by representational spaces in the present. A theory for using spatial history is elaborated throughout the paper. [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]

Pipe spool fabrication is an important stage in industrial construction project delivery. It is a complex production system characterized by product uniqueness and high product mix, which pose challenges to the analysis and improvement of this system. This research applies lean production principles and flow production to shop fabrication, and uses a simulation-based approach as a tool to facilitate its implementation. The work described in the paper is based on a real case study undertaken with an Edmonton-based industrial construction contractor. The traditional batch-and-queue fabrication system and the new cell-based work flow fabrication systems were compared and analyzed. Simulation models were built to experiment with the old and new production systems and quantitatively test the effects of lean principles on the performance of the systems. The developed simulation-based approach proves a practical and more powerful tool than the value stream map for modeling and for quantitatively evaluating the performance of a complex and dynamic spool fabrication shop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1942 the RCMP and Edmonton's municipal constabulary organized a dragnet operation involving the investigation, arraignment, trial, and imprisonment of at least six of ten men charged with same-sex activities in the city. The arrests and trials generated widespread publicity, pronouncements of opprobrium by politicians, and a "moral panic" among the general public. In several cases, the private correspondence of the accused men was seized and used to induce confessions, and then introduced in court as corroborating evidence to secure their convictions. Characterizing same-sex sexuality as "bestiality" and "perversion," members of the judiciary undermined assertions that the defendants could receive a fair trial in Edmonton in that period. The paper concludes with an assessment of the value of legal records for the study of the history of same sex experience and its historical marginalization in this country. The State's repression of sexual minorities as documented in the criminal case files of the Judicial District of Edmonton at the Provincial Archives of Alberta reveals the fragility of human rights and civil liberties prior to the inauguration of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms within Canada's Constitution Act of 1982. It is argued that preserving and making accessible archival court and police records is a critical step toward maintaining knowledge and awareness of past abuses, thereby making a tangible contribution toward safeguarding human rights and civil liberties in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a laboratory investigation into the performance of a novel stacked drop manhole design where two identical rectangular manholes are stacked one beside the other but at different heights so that there is a drop in elevation from one to the other. The focus of the study was to estimate the energy dissipation that occurs in such stacked manholes during diverse inflow conditions. Flow regimes inside the structure were identified and the effectiveness of the design was assessed under variable inflow conditions. Total energy dissipation in the stacked manhole was found to range from about 50% to 90%, and the contribution of each manhole chamber to the overall energy dissipation was assessed. A relationship between water depths in the manhole chambers and the corresponding outflow conditions was established. In addition, an analysis of the flow patterns and flow regimes highlighted the relevant parameters involved in the mechanisms of energy dissipation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructed by colonial agents to resolve administrative problems unanticipated by the entrance of Metis individuals without band affiliation into treaty, the ‘straggler’ category was a reflection of the fluid nature of Aboriginal identities during a period of harsh economic and environmental realities on the Plains in the mid to late nineteenth century. This paper argues that Metis women and their families used the ‘straggler’ category in ways unexpected by colonial agents in Treaty Six – they continued to participate in the fur trade economy, refused to settle on reserves, and thus explicitly challenged boundaries of racial classification. This Native agency in turn forced the government to rethink and reformulate status categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a local, quasi-ethnographic, activist-oriented analysis of the City of Edmonton's gentrification of an area just adjacent to the downtown core. Announced in 2005 and according to the teachings of self-proclaimed "go- to guru" Richard Florida, City officials have called this a "revitalization" of the "downtown east." The process and its already apparent effects reveal the strategy as one towards a targeted re-appropriation of land and forced displacement of people in the interest of accumulating first cultural but ultimately financial capital. Through analysis of the City of Edmonton's public meetings, as well as through the analysis of materials provided at those meetings and on City websites, we offer a critique of the City's process, we debunk Florida's "creative class" ideology, and finally, most importantly, we situate the gentrification of Edmonton's downtown within the historical and local context. The particular process of gentrification of this particular Western Canadian city is congruent with the "original" and continual theft of the land from indigenous inhabitants. It also must be considered in light of the cases in which women, mostly aboriginal, have gone missing or been murdered, sometimes from this very neighborhood. Edmonton's "revitalization" process hides its gentrification and hides an utter inattention to historical parallels and to contemporary issues of urgency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Full-scale laboratory tests were carried out at the University of Alberta to investigate the post-wrinkling ultimate behavior of steel pipelines. The pipe specimens exhibited extreme ductile behavior and did not fail in fracture under monotonically increasing axisymmetric compressive axial loads and displacements. Fractures developed at the wrinkled region, however, when a wrinkled pipe specimen was subjected to cyclic strain reversals due to unloading and loading of primary loads. This paper presents test procedures, complete post-wrinkling behavior, fracture limit strain values, and fracture configurations obtained from full-scale tests on wrinkled pipe specimens under cyclic and monotonic axial loadings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a cultural milieu where adult views predominate, youthful voices are silenced and frequently invalidated. While the ‘otherness’ of young people renders them unique, it also justifies their exclusion as decision-makers in institutional arrangements that fundamentally impact their lives. Nowhere is this condition more evident than in the youth justice system. Youth are subjects of justice sanctioning without being its authors. In recent months the Youth Restorative Action Project (YRAP), a grass-roots youth organization based in Edmonton Alberta, has challenged this hegemony. As a Youth Justice Committee created and administered entirely by youth, YRAP forces state actors to revisit how the youth justice system should function. However, as this paper argues, the group must guard against co-option by the state through engaging in ongoing self reflexivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the changing settlement patterns of Aboriginal peoples in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Edmonton, Alberta, between 1971 and 2001. The objective is to compare these residential patterns to the traditional model for immigrant settlement put forward by the Chicago school model and supported by other researchers. We recognize that Aboriginal people are not immigrants. Immigrant models have often been employed to interpret Aboriginal peoples settlement patterns in cities, though, and we attempt to evaluate the applicability of these models to the Aboriginal experience, and to explore variations between these two cities. Our results suggest that the classical model of immigrant settlement patterns does not describe the urban Aboriginal experience very well. They also show that patterns vary substantially between cities. Interviews with key informants in the two cities suggest that much of this variation is related to differences in the spatial distribution of low-cost housing in Edmonton and Winnipeg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the factors and criteria for the design of new and the retrofitting of existing dry detention ponds to enhance removal of total suspended solids (TSS) from stormwater. Detention time is discussed as the most important factor affecting TSS removal. Two-stage facilities and multi-level outlet design are important means of enhancing TSS removal in dry ponds. Two dry ponds within the city of Edmonton were selected to evaluate their TSS removal. The level of expected TSS removal is low owing to the relatively short detention times for both ponds. Methods for retrofitting the dry ponds to enhance TSS removal are discussed.Key words: dry pond, stormwater, TSS removal, detention time, retrofitting.Cet article passe en revue les facteurs et critères de conception de nouveaux étangs de rétention, et de modification de ceux déjà existants, avec pour but d'améliorer la capacité d'enlèvement des substances solides totales en suspension (SST) contenues dans les eaux de ruissellement. Le temps de rétention est examiné en tant que facteur principal affectant l'enlèvement des SST. Les installations à deux étages et la conception de sorties multi-niveaux sont des procédés importants qui améliorent l'enlèvement des SST dans les étangs. Deux étangs de la Ville d'Edmonton ont été sélectionnés et leur capacité de rétention a été évaluée. Le niveau d'enlèvement des SST escompté est bas compte-tenu des temps de rétention relativement courts de ces deux étangs. Les méthodes de modification des étangs visant à améliorer l'enlèvement des SST sont examinées.Mots clés : étang, eaux de ruissellement, enlèvement des SST, temps de rétention, réajustement.[Traduit par la Rédaction] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides summaries of several papers presented on Department of Medicine Research Day at the University of Alberta in May 2001. `Survey of Perioperative Care by Canadian General Internists,' by T.H. Taher et al; `Implications of Antinuclear Antibody Positivity in Healthy Individuals,' by S.O. Myckatyn et al; `Prevalence and Prediction of Metabolic Bone Disease in Chronic Liver Disease,' by J.C. McDermid et al.

Increasing clothing waste has prompted the need for alternative disposal methods to landfilling. While previous studies have examined consumer attitudes toward clothing consumption and use, research on clothing disposal options and behaviours in Canada is limited. A greater understanding of consumer clothing disposal practices and the context in which these practices take place is needed to better connect clothing waste streams and opportunities to reduce clothing sent to landfill. Edmonton provides a unique Canadian contextual opportunity to examine behaviour related to clothing disposal given its advanced set of systems available to reduce clothing sent to landfill. After describing the context, this paper focuses on an online survey of 318 residents in Edmonton, Alberta to explore the motivations and behaviour related to clothing disposal. Results of the study provide insights into the dynamics between textile waste and the systems that support re-use and recycling of textile waste in Edmonton and explore alternatives that could be implemented to reduce textile waste. Findings demonstrate opportunities for Edmonton's waste management to extend the life of clothing or generate value-added products from unwanted clothing via existing infrastructure as well as consumer willingness to take part in sustainable clothing disposal practices. • Edmonton offers unique option for unwanted clothing through waste-to-biofuels initiative. • Study participants interested in sustainable clothing disposal methods. • Current and potential pathways of clothing waste in Edmonton illustrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, based on 1973–74 Growth of Alberta Family Study data, examines the sex preference for children among women in Edmonton. Discriminant functions are used to examine whether the two groups of women—those who prefer to have sons and those who prefer to have daughters—differ in selected characteristics such as age, birth place, residence in youth, education, religion, number and sex of siblings, traditional female roles, and attitude towards sex predetermination.The results show some preference for sons, although generally women prefer to have children of both sexes. The variables birth place, number of female siblings of wife, and education of husband are found to discriminate best among the two groups. In general, the results suggest that sex preference among women is more heavily determined by their country of birth and number of male and female siblings. There is some evidence to suggest that preference for sex of children varies between adolescents and older women. The findings suggest that women generally do not favour the idea of sex predetermination. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]