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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]

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]

Background: Though intravenous (IV) ketamine and intranasal (IN) esketamine are noted to be efficacious for treatment-resistant depression (TRD), access to each of these treatments within healthcare systems is limited due to cost, availability, and/or monitoring requirements. IV ketamine has been offered at two public hospital sites in Edmonton, Canada since 2015. Since then, demand for maintenance ketamine treatments has grown. This has required creative solutions for safe, accessible, evidence-based patient care. Objectives: Aims of this paper are twofold. First, we will provide a synthesis of current knowledge with regards to the clinical use of ketamine for TRD. Consideration will be given regarding; off-label racemic ketamine uses versus FDA-approved intranasal esketamine, populations treated, inclusion/exclusion criteria, dosing, assessing clinical response, concomitant medications, and tolerability/safety. Second, this paper will describe our experience as a community case study in applying evidence-based treatment. We will describe application of the literature review to our clinical programming, and in particular focus on cost-effective maintenance treatments, long-term safety concerns, routes of ketamine administration other than via intravenous, and cautious prescribing of ketamine outside of clinically monitored settings. Methodology: We conducted a literature review of the on the use of ketamine for TRD up to June 30, 2023. Key findings are reviewed, and we describe their application to our ketamine program. Conclusion: Evidence for the use of ketamine in resistant depression has grown in recent years, with evolving data to support and direct its clinical use. There is an increasing body of evidence to guide judicious use of ketamine in various clinical circumstances, for a population of patients with a high burden of suffering and morbidity. While large-scale, randomized controlled trials, comparative studies, and longer-term treatment outcomes is lacking, this community case study illustrates that currently available evidence can be applied to real-world clinical settings with complex patients. As cost is often a significant barrier to accessing initial and/or maintenance IV or esketamine treatments, public ketamine programs may incorporate SL or IN ketamine to support a sustainable and accessible treatment model. Three of such models are described. [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]

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.

As a newly emerging organ transplantation technique, islet transplantation has shown the advantages of minimal trauma and high safety since it was first carried out. The proposal of the Edmonton protocol, which has been widely applied, was a breakthrough in this method. However, direct contact between islets and portal vein blood will cause a robust innate immune response leading to massive apoptosis of the graft, and macrophages play an essential role in the innate immune response. Therefore, therapeutic strategies targeting macrophages in the innate immune response have become a popular research topic in recent years. This paper will summarize and analyze recent research on strategies for regulating innate immunity, primarily focusing on macrophages, in the field of islet transplantation, including drug therapy, optimization of islet preparation process, islet engineering and Mesenchymal stem cells cotransplantation. We also expounded the heterogeneity, plasticity and activation mechanism of macrophages in islet transplantation, providing a theoretical basis for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I provide an arts-based posthumanist cartography of a theatre play, Apple Time performed by deaf youth in Regina, Saskatchewan. This play was coconstructed by deaf youth performers, two deaf adults, a hearing teacher, and a hearing director. Apple Time premiered in Regina, Saskatchewan on June 2, 2018, and was remounted again at the Globe Theatre (Regina) in February 2019 and again at the SoundOff Festival in Edmonton, Alberta. The arts-based cartography examines intelligibility as a methodological problem as posited by Graif (2018), in which the actions of deaf children and youth often remain invisible due to the ontological position that perception of the world is predicated upon the ability to hear. Intelligibility as a methodological problem poses a challenge to the deficit perspective commonly held by families and service providers working with deaf children and youth (Glickman & Hall, 2019). The performers in this play were able to re-align audience perceptions through the presentation of their inner worlds and preoccupations, thereby making their multiple deaf worlds more intelligible. [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.

The article presents selected papers from the CIPS Edmonton 1987 Conference that was held in Edmonton, Alberta on November 16-19, 1987. The theme of the event was Intelligence Integration. The Program Committee's aim is to emphasize the integration of intelligence into computer applications, the application of intelligence to the integration of software components and the development of intelligent tools that would aid the process of system integration. A second unique feature of the event is its balanced treatment of invited and submitted paper presentations. The submitted papers were selected to complement the invited papers by providing technical information as well as indicating future research directions.

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]

The article provides an overview of the special issue of "INFOR" periodical on intelligence integration. The issue contains a second selection of papers from the CIPS Edmonton '87 Conference held November 16-19, 1987 in Edmonton, Alberta. The Conference was organized by the Edmonton Section of the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS) and the Department of Computing Science of the University of Alberta. The theme of the year's event was Intelligence Integration. The Program Committee's intention was to emphasize the integration of intelligence into computer applications, the application of intelligence to the integration of software components and the development of intelligent tools that would aid the process of system integration.

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Sewer assets are subject to deterioration due to environmental and physical factors. Existing industry practices show that there is a lack of proper scheduling of rehabilitation projects based on optimized solutions that would improve infrastructure performance while minimizing the total life cycle costing (TLCC). Improper asset management may lead to catastrophic failures that result in sewage spills. This paper aims at enhancing the methodologies adopted in capital improvement plans (CIPs) to identify certain intervention actions that will maintain existing infrastructure and restore the overall performance. The methodology utilized the particle swarm optimization (PSO) method to maximize the overall network performance (ONP) and minimize the TLCC, given a number of constraints. A nonlinear deterioration was also considered during the study period through the application of the Weibull distribution analysis. The framework was deployed on a number of pipelines and manholes in the Royal Gardens neighborhood in Edmonton, Alberta. The near-optimum budget required to restore the sewer network to an ONP of 2.11 was $1.126 million. This optimization tool will aid decision makers in planning for future interventions to limit sudden collapses and future spills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Disability Studies is the property of Canadian Disability Studies Association 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.)

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]

The article offers information on the 37th annual meeting of the Society for Exact Philosophy (SEP) held in Edmonton, Alberta in 2009 which was organized by Bernard Linsky and F. Jeffrey Pelletier. According to the article, the Society consists mainly of American and Canadian academics in computer science, philosophy, and linguistics. It cites papers presented at the 2009 SEP meeting including "Disjunctive Effects," by Roberta Ballarin and "Visibility Logic," by Adam Morton.

The assemblages of (post)industrial neoliberal society include the production of vast quantities of post-consumer materials categorized as waste, which for many appears to vanish from everyday spaces. But rather than make it disappear in any final sense, recycling and disposal processes simply move it in new forms into new places within the global flows of waste. In urban contexts, the abject category of waste must be expelled from the sanitary spaces and subjectivities of daily routines, yet its corresponding absence in everyday perception obviates the urgency of action. One approach to unbundling the abject residue of contemporary society without instigating castastrophic rupture of social orders is through the aestheticization of the expelled. Artists working in the realm of abjection can serve as agents disrupting and redefining boundaries and social imaginaries of the status quo. In this paper we examine an artist-in-residence at the Edmonton (Canada) Waste Management Centre, arguing that the Deleuzian assemblages erasing the material consequences of garbage can be short-circuited in a municipal setting by redistributions of aesthetic experience. In this case, the artist residency embedded in human and mechanical assemblages of waste disposal allowed the artist to transform materials into an aesthetic spectacle recategorizing the abject as sympathetic and a vital component of social and spatial discourse. [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]

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]

The driving forces controlling the long-term total ozone change are investigated using the total ozone data from Edmonton (53.55°N, 114.0°W), Canada, over 1958–2018. By using the slow feature analysis method, the driving force signal for monthly mean total ozone time series is extracted. It is found that the driving force has fluctuated at higher values since the mid-1980s, and the corresponding total ozone has varied at lower values. These variation patterns indicate that the ozone loss since the mid-1980s is correlated with the higher values of the driving force. It is also found that the driving force exhibits sharp values following some explosive volcanic events, indicating that explosive volcanic eruptions act as a driving factor for ozone depletion. In order to analyze the scale structure of the driving force, the wavelet analysis method is applied. The results show that the spectral scales of the driving force peak at 2.4, 7.0, 21.4, 28.5, and 42.8 years. Among them, the 21.4 year periodicity, which corresponds to the 22-year solar magnetic cycle, is the basic one, and it modulates other mode of oscillations. More importantly, the 21.4 year cycle is modulated in amplitude by a signal with a much longer time scale. This long-scale modulating signal represents the impacts of the ozone depleting substances (ODSs) in the stratosphere, and it controls the long-term evolution of total ozone. Since the turn of the century, as the ODSs decline, a slow recovery of total ozone is expected. [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]

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]

Computational models often are applied to simulate water quality for management of natural and constructed aquatic systems. As part of a larger study, a three-dimensional hydrodynamic and biogeochemical model was applied to three storm-water ponds in the City of Edmonton to examine relations between nutrients and eutrophication. This paper reports on the calibration and validation procedure of the hydrodynamic component of the model suite. It was found that correcting surface heat fluxes for atmospheric instability (defined as the difference between air and water temperature) led to greater latent and sensible heat loss (up to ~ 32% and ~ 34%, respectively) and resulted in the most accurate simulation of observed temperature time series (root-mean-square error, RMSE < 3.03 °C). The calibration also involved tuning of albedo and light attenuation coefficients, which were optimized by applying a global sensitivity analysis tool that showed the model was more sensitive to albedo. Global sensitivity analysis, can be applied to develop a resulting limited area, which is shown to be a valuable tool to optimize the calibration process. [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.)

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]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering is the property of Canadian Science Publishing 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.)

The article offers information on the 2018 Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment conference to be held in mid-November at the University of Edmonton in Alberta.

This article explores the strategies used by government-sponsored institutions dedicated to addressing systemic barriers to employment for racialized immigrants in Edmonton. The research involved conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews with service providers, employment program coordinators from different settlement and employment agencies, and a research and training centre operating in Edmonton, Alberta. The first objective is to understand the barriers racialized immigrants face through the hiring and promotion process. The second objective is to understand the support provided by those institutions and the impact of their equity policies on how they assist racialized Canadians in finding gainful employment. Lastly, this study explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement on the employment of racialized immigrants in Edmonton. The results show that around 50% of employment service providers acknowledged that visible minority immigrants face barriers while integrating into the labour market, including racial microaggressions in their jobs. In addition, the findings indicate a lack of programs tailored to the needs of racialized job seekers. Participants in this study reported that the Black Lives Matter movement raised awareness among employers regarding racial issues in the workplace. Hence, there is a demonstrated need for employers to undergo training to recognize and address racism in hiring, promoting, and retaining racialized employees at Canadian workplaces. Interviewees recognized that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted racialized employees and newcomers. They recommended that Canadian companies establish educational programs that emphasize the importance and benefits of racial diversity, equity, and inclusion in the hiring process. [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]

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]

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]

The article presents information on the Humanities and Social Sciences Library of University of Alberta. The library is situated at I-01 Rutherford Library, Edmonton, Alberta. Primary users of the library have free access to the collection. While consortial partners and external users have access via interlibrary loan. Free on-site access is available to any user. The library's collection focuses on the areas of humanities and social sciences. There are a number of unique archival collections preserved at the University of Alberta, housed at the University of Alberta Archives and at the Canadian institute of Ukrainian Studies. The strengths of the collection in humanities include literature (primary and secondary works), philology, language teaching and learning, applied linguistics, cultural studies, popular media, and folklore.

Copyright of INFOR is the property of Taylor & Francis 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.)

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering is the property of Canadian Science Publishing 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.)

Copyright of Forestry Chronicle is the property of Canadian Institute of Forestry 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.)

Turning movements are one of the key inputs required for several traffic studies. Several methods have been developed to measure them. However, present techniques have high operational or capital costs, which motivate researchers to develop new techniques to estimate turning movements. However, there is neither a flexible technique available to make best use of different available information types, nor a framework that supports deciding additional data to achieve a target accuracy. This paper proposes a new methodology using all available data to identify the subspace containing all solutions and determine its centroid; thus, providing the most realistic and non-extreme solution. In addition, a framework, including scenarios with different data combinations, is developed with capability to evaluate the proposed solution and then locate further measurements to achieve the target accuracy. The framework is validated using a considerable set of intersections at Edmonton city, Canada. The results show that the proposed framework can achieve the target accuracy with minimum field measurements saving time, effort and cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that an analysis of the capitalized burdens and benefits of the local public sector offers a simple, straightforward and objective computational methodology to fiscal incidence at the local level. This capitalization approach represents a major departure from the highly discretionary and imprecise computational environment of the "reasonable assumptions" and Aaron and McGuire approaches. It is initially discussed both from conceptual and operational points of view and then implemented using alternate procedures. Major limitations of the approach are then noted. A comparative perspective on fiscal incidence results based on the capitalization approach and of earlier studies on this subject is provided in the concluding section of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. In our earlier studies of the supermarket industry in Edmonton, Alberta, we tested for predation in a spatial setting and found evidence which supported the predation hypothesis. In this paper we use data on the locations, entry, exit and market area populations of supermarkets in Edmonton to test whether the entry deterrence and timing-of-expansion implications of the reputation hypothesis are confirmed. We find that our time series data are consistent with entry's being deterred and with delayed opening of new supermarkets by the dominant established firm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a paper which is concerned with the relationship between skill level and left/right orientation toward worker-management relations. The paper begins with a description of a backcloth of contradictory hypotheses on this relationship in the literature. Then the relationship is explored for samples of craft and non-craft workers drawn from two different plants in Edmonton, Alberta. Relationships between skill level and left/right orientation showed different directions for workers from the different plants. Alternative interpretations of the results are discussed. Results showed that the relationship of skill level and left/right orientations did not seem to generalize across companies. The picture of workers' consciousness that emerges from this study of craft and non-craft workers is an extremely murky one and if results are consistent with any of the available theoretical perspectives on worker beliefs, it is the notion that workers, regardless of skill level, do not subscribe to highly consistent sets of beliefs of either a left or right orientation.

The surge in the uptake of harmonic producing loads in 21st-century smart distribution networks has necessitated that robust data-driven approaches for harmonic assessment be developed. Moreover, there exists abundant harmonic data which can be leveraged on for the construction of this harmonic assessment tool. This is the objective of this study. Large volumes of time-stamped data acquired from a practical distribution network in Edmonton, Canada, have been used to construct a time-dependent cross-coupled harmonic model that has been combined with a formulated iterative time-dependent robust extended computer-aided harmonic power flows. The constructed harmonic power flow formulation also considered the constraints relating to the power conservation principle at the fundamental frequency. Practical network conditions including untransposed lines, load unbalance and skin effects of conductors have been thoroughly modelled. The proposed method has been applied to practical radial and weakly meshed medium voltage distribution networks and it demonstrated robustness to initialisation of the iterative procedure. Moreover, findings from this detailed data-driven technique reveal that harmonic impacts in the distribution networks depend on the quantum of harmonic levels, type of network and location of the harmonic sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]