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While recent evidence indicates that the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and associated oxidative damage are frequently observed in fish populations with exposure to pulp and paper mill effluents, the potential for ROS generation from municipal sewage effluents has not been addressed. This study investigates the utility of measures of oxidative stress in delineating the effects of both pulp and paper mill and municipal sewage discharges. Longnose sucker (Catostomus catostomus) were collected below three pulp and paper mill and two municipal sewage effluent discharges over a 3-year period within the Wapiti and Athabasca River systems in northern Alberta. Biochemical responses in longnose sucker varied between the two rivers systems, with more pronounced changes occurring within the Wapiti River. Of the suite of biochemical parameters examined, fatty acyl-CoA oxidase (FAO) activity was the most sensitive indicator of pulp and paper mill exposure, but was only infrequently induced with exposure to municipal sewage effluent. Hepatic and gonadal 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, lipid hydroperoxides, and hepatic free iron were less consistently elevated with exposure to pulp and paper mill effluent than FAO activity, and were also only infrequently altered with sewage effluent exposure. Hepatic ascorbic acid, liver somatic index, and condition factor were consistently altered with exposure to both sewage and pulp and paper mill effluents. While specific biochemical and organismal responses varied with effluents and time, the collective suite of oxidative stress endpoints proved to be useful tools in identifying relative influences of municipal sewage and pulp and paper mill effluent on fish populations in adjacent receiving waters.

The latitudinal herbivory-defense hypothesis (LHDH) predicts that plants near the equator will be more heavily defended against herbivores than are plants at higher latitudes. Although this idea is widely found in the literature, recent studies have called this biogeographic pattern into question. We sought to evaluate the LHDH in a high-latitude terrestrial ecosystem where fire and mammalian herbivores may contribute to selection for higher levels of defensive chemistry. To address this objective, we collected seeds of Alaska paper birch (Betula neoalaskana) from nine locations along two north-south transects between 55 degrees N and 62 degrees N latitudes in western, interior Canada. The birch seeds were planted in pots in a common garden in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. From the resulting seedlings, we determined levels of chemical defense by assessing the density of resin glands, which have been shown to be negatively correlated with browsing. To assess plant architectural traits such as height, mean individual leaf area, and root-to-shoot ratio, we harvested a subset of the birch seedlings. Further, we used these traits to examine growth-defense trade-offs. Contrary to the LHDH, we found a positive correlation between chemical defense and latitude. Investigating relationships with fire, we found a strong positive correlation between resin gland density and percentage of area annually burned (PAAB) around each collection location and also between PAAB and latitude. Additionally, birch seedlings originating from higher latitudes were shorter, smaller-leaved, and rootier than their lower-latitude counterparts. Growth-defense trade-offs were observed in negative correlations between resin gland density and height and leaf size. Seedlings with higher resin gland densities also allocated less biomass to shoots and more to roots. These results further call into question the LHDH and provide specific information about latitudinal trends in plant defense at high, northern latitudes where fire is a major ecosystem driver and mammals are the main herbivores of deciduous trees such as birches. We propose that these interconnected relationships are the key drivers of the positive correlation between defense and latitude in B. neoalaskana. Understanding patterns of boreal plant defense and growth is especially important because high latitude ecosystems are particularly susceptible to climate change. Key words: Alaska paper birch; Betula neoalaskana; biogeography; chemical defense; grotvth-defense trade-offs; inherent growth rate; latitude; latitudinal herbivory-defense hypothesis; papyr'feric acid; plant ar- chitecture; resin glands; root-to-shoot ratio.

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Sociology is the property of Canadian Journal of Sociology 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.)

Top-down approaches to measure total integrated emissions provide verification of bottom-up, temporally-resolved, inventory-based estimations. Aircraft-based measurements of air pollutants from sources in the Canadian oil sands were made in support of the Joint Canada-Alberta Implementation Plan on Oil Sands Monitoring during a summer intensive field campaign between 13 August and 7 September 2013. The measurements contribute to knowledge needed in support of the Joint Canada-Alberta Implementation Plan on Oil Sands Monitoring. This paper describes a Top-down Emission Rate Retrieval Algorithm (TERRA) to determine facility emissions of pollutants, using SO2 and CH4 as examples, based on the aircraft measurements. In this algorithm, the flight path around a facility at multiple heights is mapped to a two-dimensional vertical screen surrounding the facility. The total transport of SO2 and CH4 through this screen is calculated using aircraft wind measurements, and facility emissions are then calculated based on the divergence theorem with estimations of box-top losses, hori zontal and vertical turbulent fluxes, surface deposition, and apparent losses due to air densification and chemical reaction. Example calculations for two separate flights are presented. During an upset condition of SO2 emissions on one day, these calculations are within 5% of the industry-reported, bottom-up measurements. During a return to normal operating conditions, the SO2 emissions are within 11% of industry-reported, bottom-up measurements. CH4 emissions calculated with the algorithm are relatively constant within the range of uncertainties. Uncertainty of the emission rates is estimated as 20 %, which is primarily due to the unknown SO2 and CH4 mixing ratios near the surface below the lowest flight level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Effective winter road maintenance relies on precise road friction estimation. Machine learning (ML) models have shown significant promise in this; however, their inherent complexity makes understanding their inner workings challenging. This paper addresses this issue by conducting a comparative analysis of road friction estimation models using four ML methods, including regression tree, random forest, eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), and support vector regression (SVR). We then employ the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) explainable artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance model interpretability. Our analysis on an Alberta dataset reveals that the XGBoost model performs best with an accuracy of 91.39%. The SHAP analysis illustrates the logical relationships between predictor features and friction within all three tree-based models, but it also uncovers inconsistencies within the SVR model, potentially attributed to insufficient feature interactions. Thus, this paper not only showcase the role of explainable AI in improving the ML interpretability of models for road friction estimation, but also provides practical insights that could improve winter road maintenance decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of sentinel species are regularly sampled from the environment near the Oil Sands Region (OSR) in Alberta, Canada. In particular, trout-perch are sampled as a proxy for the health of the aquatic ecosystem. As the development of the OSR began before the environmental monitoring program was in place, there is currently no established measure for the baseline health of the local ecosystem. A common solution is to calculate normal ranges for fish endpoints. Observations found to be outside the normal range are then flagged, alerting researchers to the potential presence of stressors in the local environment. The quality of the normal ranges is dependent on the accuracy of the estimates used to calculate them. This paper explores the use of neural networks and regularized regression for improving the prediction accuracy of fish endpoints. We also consider the trade-off between the prediction accuracy and interpretability of each model. We find that neural networks can provide increased prediction accuracy, but this improvement in accuracy may not be worth the loss in interpretability in some ecological studies. The elastic net offers both good prediction accuracy and interpretability, making it a safe choice for many ecological applications. A hybridized method combining both the neural network and elastic net offers high prediction accuracy as well as some interpretability, and therefore it is the recommended method for this application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review paper investigates the landscape of wildfire-related studies with a focus on infrastructure and evacuations across Canadian provinces, revealing a predominant focus on Alberta, particularly after the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire. The aftermath of this event has heightened attention to the unique challenges faced during evacuations, emphasizing the urgent need for heightened awareness and preparedness, especially in the vulnerable northern communities of Alberta. Studies beyond Alberta contribute to understanding Canadian wildfire dynamics. However, a noticeable research gap in British Columbia raises concerns about research prioritization and resource allocation despite heightened wildfire activity. The fact that some provinces are contributing less than 4.2%, such as Quebec, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Northwest Territories, Yukon, and the Prairies, might be attributed to regional variations influenced by historical wildfire frequency and population density. Thematic analysis categorizing studies into "community support/resilience", "evacuation efficiency", and "infrastructure protection/raising awareness" provides nuanced insights. The dominance of the "community support/resilience" category, comprising over 40% of studies, signifies a societal shift towards proactive community engagement. Balanced representation in the "evacuation efficiency" and "infrastructure protection/raising awareness" categories, each contributing over 29%, reflects a collective effort to glean lessons from past evacuations and enhance community preparedness. Temporal trends and thematic analyses spotlight a commitment to continuous improvement, adaptability to emerging challenges, and a growing recognition of the multifaceted aspects of wildfire management. The evolving emphasis on community involvement, responsiveness to changing evacuation dynamics, and heightened awareness of infrastructure protection underscores the proactive stance of the research community, providing insights for shaping future research priorities, policy frameworks, and community resilience strategies in the face of evolving wildfire threats in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Season of seeding and soil amendment with manure mix, wood shavings and erosion control blankets were evaluated over two growing seasons to determine their effect on soil properties and native grass establishment at a Canadian limestone quarry and lime processing plant. Season (fall, spring) of soil amending and seeding did not significantly affect revegetation or soil properties. Site characteristics such as slope, aspect, initial soil nutrients and surrounding plant communities influenced early plant community development and overall effects of soil treatments. Erosion control blankets resulted in the highest seeded plant cover and the lowest non seeded plant cover despite not significantly changing soil chemical properties. Total nitrogen and carbon significantly increased establishment of seeded grasses and non seeded species. Increased nitrogen and carbon in the constructed soils were best achieved through addition of manure. Wood shavings did not favour establishment of vegetation and resulted in similar, and in some cases less, vegetation than controls. Assisted revegetation increased plant cover from <6 to 50% and reduced cover of non seeded species. Amendments that modified both chemical and physical soil conditions were best to increase vegetation establishment in the harsh conditions of the quarry. [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: Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) was legalized in Canada in 2016 and amended in 2021. At the time that this study was conducted, the federal government was considering expanding the eligibility criteria to include patients whose death was not reasonably foreseeable. The purpose of this study was to better understand rural healthcare professionals' experiences with assisted dying set against the backdrop of legislative expansion. Methods: A qualitative exploratory study was undertaken with general rural practice physicians, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, ethicists, patients, and patient families in rural Southern Alberta, Canada. For this paper, data from 18 audio-recorded and transcribed semi-structured interviews with healthcare professionals were analyzed using thematic analysis. Categories and patterns of shared meaning that linked to an overarching theme were identified. Results: Between the binary positions of full support for and conscientious objection to assisted dying, rural healthcare professionals' decisions to participate in MAiD was based on their moral convictions, various contextual factors, and their participation thresholds. Factors including patient suffering; personal and professional values and beliefs; relationships with colleagues, patients and family, and community; and changing MAiD policy and legislation created nuances that informed their decision-making. Conclusions: The interplay of multiple factors and their degree of influence on healthcare professionals' decision-making create multiple decision points between full support for and participation in MAiD processes and complete opposition and/or abstention. Moreover, our findings suggest evolving policy and legislation have the potential to increase rural healthcare professionals' uncertainty and level of discomfort in providing services. We propose that the binary language typically used in the MAiD discourse be reframed to reflect that decision-making processes and actions are often fluid and situational. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID-19 (C19) pandemic shocked primary care systems around the world. Those systems responded by supporting patients in the community, and acute care facilities in crisis. In Canada, the Patient Medical Home (PMH) is a widely adopted care model that aims to operationalize the tenets and principles of Primary Health Care (PHC) as developed since the Alma-Ata Declaration. This paper describes how personnel working in and with Primary Care Networks (PCNs) in Alberta, Canada deployed the PMH model and its underlying PHC principles to frame and respond to the C19 shock. Methods: Using purposive and snowball sampling techniques, we interviewed 57 participants who worked in public health and primary care, including community-based family physicians. We used interpretive description to analyze the interviews. Results: PCN staff and physicians described how the PMH model was foundational to normal operations, and how C19 responses were framed by the patient-centric, team-delivered, and continuous care principles the model shares with PHC. Specifically, participants described ensuring access to care, addressing the social determinants of health, being patient centered, and redeploying and expanding PHC teams to accomplish these goals. Discussion: Delivering PHC through the PMH allowed physicians and allied health staff to deliver patient-centered, team-based, holistic bio-medical services to Albertans. In tailoring services to meet the specific social and health needs of the populations served by each PCN, healthcare providers were able to ensure relevant support remained available and accessible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pope Francis's dream for a synodal Church has implications for Catholic schools globally, but what exactly are these consequences? This paper explores Francis's vision in the context of Canadian Catholic schools in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories (NWT), where these schools are fully-funded by the government and enroll nearly a quarter million students. Ten exploratory interviews with chief superintendents from these schools—which formed the basis of a larger study—were analyzed to understand potential connections to Francis's vision and his four commitments to synodality: focusing on relationships, a culture of encounter, the essentials of the Christian faith, and local decision-making. The pope differentiates synodality from democratic forms of leadership and demands a communal form of listening and discerning God's Spirit. While the superintendents' style of leadership appeared to mirror synodality in many ways, predominant issues remain to be explored: an emphasis on relationships upends the status quo and gives new directions for the schools; encountering others will inevitably demand prophetic leadership by the system leaders; leading with the essentials of faith will not please everyone in Catholic schooling; and shared authority among the superintendents, bishops, and trustees requires further dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the relationship of stem diameter to tree, site and stand characteristics for six major tree species (trembling aspen, white birch, balsam fir, lodgepole pine, black spruce, and white spruce) in Alberta (Canada) with data from Alberta Sustainable Resource Development Permanent Sample Plots. Using non-linear mixed effects modeling techniques, we developed models to estimate diameter at breast height using height, crown and stand attributes. Mixed effects models (with plot as subject) using height, crown area, and basal area of the larger trees explained on average 95% of the variation in diameter at breast height across the six species with a root mean square error of 2.0 cm (13.4% of mean diameter). Fixed effects models (without plot as subject) including the Natural Sub-Region (NSR) information explained on average 90% of the variation in diameter at breast height across the six species with a root mean square error equal to 2.8 cm (17.9% of mean diameter). Selected climate variables provided similar results to models with NSR information. The inclusion of nutrient regime and moisture regime did not significantly improve the predictive ability of these models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Basal gravel and sand mantling the bedrock floors of buried valleys throughout the Canadian Interior Plains, and conformably overlying proglacial lacustrine sediment, comprise the Empress Group. While previously conceptualized as stratigraphically equivalent deposits of preglacial rivers prior to the first and most extensive continental and montane glaciations, subsequent stratigraphic studies indicated that buried valley basal gravel must have been deposited between, or during, progressively more extensive continental glaciations and could not be stratigraphically equivalent throughout the buried valley network. However, in the general absence of formation-rank stratigraphic description of basal gravel units that might better inform the geologic history of the deposits, most workers simply consider Empress Group sediments time-transgressive. In this paper, we examine basal gravel at provincial and regional scales to understand its genesis and geologic history. At the provincial scale, we map basal gravel in three dimensions using a novel machine learning approach. At the regional scale, we formally define basal gravel formations at either end of the largest buried valley system in Alberta, which informs its glacial history and physiographic development and shows the importance of formation-rank stratigraphic description. Our results indicate that the buried valley network across Alberta is palimpsest in genesis and basal gravel units within it are chronostratigraphically intercalated between tills. We advocate that the Empress Group definition be extended across Alberta with modifications to improve its clarity and utility, and formally define the Old Fort, Unchaga, Ipiatik, and Winefred formations as part of the Empress Group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: Transitioning from mental health inpatient care to community care is often a vulnerable time in the treatment process where additional risks and anxiety may arise. We collected data for this study as part of a pragmatic cluster-randomized, longitudinal approach in Alberta. As the first phase of the ongoing innovative supportive program, this paper assessed the progression of mental health symptoms in patients six weeks after hospital discharge. Factors that may contribute to the presence or absence of anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as well-being, following return to the community were investigated. This provides evidence and baseline data for future phases of the project. (2) Methods: An observational study design was adopted for this study. Data on a variety of sociodemographic and clinical factors were collected at discharge and six weeks after via REDCap. Anxiety, depression, and well-being symptoms were assessed using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) questionnaire, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and the World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5), respectively. Descriptive, chi-square, independent t-tests, and multivariate regression analyses were conducted. (3) Result: The survey was completed by 88 out of 306 participants (28.8% response rate). The chi-square/Fisher exact test and independent t-test revealed no significant change in the mental health conditions from baseline to six weeks after discharge. It was found that the only significant factor predicting symptoms six weeks after discharge from inpatient treatment was the baseline symptoms in all three logistic regression models. It was four times more likely for those who experienced anxiety and depression at baseline to experience anxiety and depression symptoms six weeks after discharge (OR = 4.27; 95% CI: 1.38–13.20) (OR = 4.04; 95% CI: 1.25–13.05). Those with poor baseline well-being were almost 12 times more likely to experience poor well-being six weeks after discharge (OR = 11.75; 95% CI: 3.21–42.99). (4) Conclusions: Study results found no significant change in mental health conditions in the short term following hospital discharge. It is essential that researchers and policymakers collaborate in order to implement effective interventions to support and maintain the mental health conditions of patients following discharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic led to major service disruptions in the healthcare sector, especially regarding sexual and reproductive health services. However, the impact of the pandemic on Canadian adolescents is relatively unknown. This study aimed to investigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health measures on the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) of adolescents in Alberta, Canada. Methods: A qualitative study using an interpretive description (ID) approach and community-based participatory research principles was conducted to capture the subjective experience and perceptions of adolescents and service providers. With the collaboration of the Adolescent Advisory Group and community partners, 18 adolescents and 15 service providers were recruited for the study through purposive sampling. Findings from the qualitative interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Three major themes emerged from the analysis: (1) COVID-19 SRH experience, (2) barriers to SRH, and (3) adolescent SRH strategies. Our findings highlight numerous barriers and challenges that prevented adolescents from accessing SRH education, products, and services. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on the SRH and the well-being of adolescents. Our study reflects the need for diverse SRH strategies to maintain continued access to SRH resources during disruptive events, such as the pandemic. Plain language summary: Access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services is a basic human right. All individuals require access to appropriate SRH services to maintain their optimal sexual and reproductive health. Adolescents require special guidance, support, and youth-friendly services in matters of SRH as they enter puberty and explore their sexual identity. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many health and SRH services were suspended. Access to SRH products and services became difficult due to public health restrictions, which has possible negative consequences for adolescents' SRH. The experiences of adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic regarding their SRH are not reported in Alberta, Canada. Therefore, we explored the impacts of these public health restrictions on adolescents' SRH. We performed qualitative interviews with adolescents and SRH service providers to know their perspectives on how the pandemic influenced the SRH of adolescents. This paper provides insights into the barriers faced by adolescents while accessing SRH services during the pandemic, as well as their perceptions of digital strategies, such as mobile applications, and other recommendations for supporting SRH education and services. Based on the study findings, an adolescent-friendly mobile application will be developed to provide a virtual platform connecting adolescents to SRH educational resources, services, and support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The transition from hospital to community settings for most mental health service users is often hindered by challenges that affect community adjustment and continuity of care. The first few weeks and days after discharge from mental health inpatient units represent a critical phase for many service users. This paper aims to evaluate the changes in the resilience, personal recovery, and quality of life status of individuals with mental health challenges recently discharged from acute mental health care into the community. Methods: Data for this study were collected as part of a pragmatic stepped-wedge cluster-randomized, longitudinal approach in Alberta. A paired sample t-test and Chi-squared/Fisher test were deployed to assess changes from baseline to six weeks in the recovery assessment scale (RAS), brief resilience scale (BRS), and EuroQol-5d (EQ-5D), using an online questionnaire. Results: A total of 306 service users were recruited and 88 completed both baseline and six weeks, giving a response rate of 28.8%. There was no statistically significant change in the level of resilience, recovery and quality of life as measured with the brief resilience scale, recovery assessment scale and EQ-5D from baseline to six weeks (p > 0.05). Conclusions: The study showed that there was neither an improvement nor deterioration in resilience, recovery, or quality of life status of service users six weeks post-discharge from inpatient mental health care. The lack of further progress calls into question whether the support available in the community when patient's leave inpatient care is adequate to promote full recovery. The results justify investigations into the effectiveness of innovative and cost-effective programs such as peer and text-based supportive interventions for service users discharged from inpatient psychiatric care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of cancer in Alberta is expected to grow considerably, largely driven by population growth and aging. The Future of Cancer Impact (FOCI) initiative offers an overview of the present state of cancer care in Alberta and highlights potential opportunities for research and innovation across the continuum. In this paper, we present a series of detailed projections and analyses regarding cancer epidemiological estimates in Alberta, Canada. Data on cancer incidence and mortality in Alberta (1998–2018) and limited-duration cancer prevalence in Alberta (2000–2019) were collected from the Alberta Cancer Registry. We used the Canproj package in the R software to project these epidemiological estimates up to the year 2040. To estimate the direct management costs, we ran a series of microsimulations using the OncoSim All Cancers Model. Our findings indicate that from 2020, the total number of annual new cancer cases and cancer-related deaths are projected to increase by 56% and 49% by 2040, respectively. From 2019, the five-year prevalence of all cancers in Alberta is projected to increase by 86% by 2040. In line with these trends, the overall direct cost of cancer management is estimated to increase by 53% in 2040. These estimates and projections are integral to future strategic planning and investment. [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.)

Background: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are chronic gastrointestinal diseases that negatively affect the enjoyment of food and engagement in social and cultural gatherings. Such experiences may promote psychosocial challenges, an aspect of IBD often overlooked and under‐supported in clinical settings and research. Objectives: This study explored the psychosocial experiences that young adults with IBD have with food via a qualitative patient‐led research process. Methods: Trained patient researchers conducted this study by engaging peers via semi‐structured interviews and focus groups in a three‐step co‐design process. Participants (n = 9) identified the research topic (SET), explored the topic and identified emerging themes (COLLECT), refined themes and made recommendations for healthcare system change (REFLECT). Results: Themes that emerged included: 'Experimenting with Food', 'Evolution Over Time', 'Diet Changes are Emotional' and 'Role of Stigma'. Participants identified the significance and frustrations of repeated testing and experimenting with food compatibility, and noted nuances in food relationships as they gain knowledge and experience over time. They emphasized the importance of maintaining a sense of hope throughout and wished to impart this to newly diagnosed patients. Conclusion: Participants experience numerous psychosocial challenges as they strive to manage their diet, noting gaps in support available from IBD practitioners. Participants made practical recommendations for healthcare system change to improve patient outcomes, highlighting the importance of sharing stories and collaboratively including patients in the development of new services and protocols. Authors recommend further research in this area to build a body of knowledge and support that helps IBD patients maintain hope while navigating challenges with food. Patient or Public Contribution: The first four authors on this paper were the lead researchers in this study's design and analysis and identify as patients; they conducted the research with this identity at the forefront following a peer‐to‐peer research model. These authors were mentored by patient researchers who also contributed to the manuscript, and the research process itself was co‐lead and directed by other patient participants and consultants. Results and recommendations coming from this paper came directly from patient participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two years ago, the Alberta government put in place a temporary oil-production quota. However, the quota's impact could well be felt in the province's oil production for years to come. The quota applied only to firms producing more than 10,000 barrels of oil per day and was instituted as a response to pipeline constraints that caused Alberta oil prices to be much lower than prices elsewhere. Production from both oilsands mines and oil wells dropped as soon as the government announced the quotas. The media warned that the quotas would force production to transfer to Saskatchewan, but the research for this paper found that this never occurred. The quota policy was announced in December 2018 and a week later, the price of Alberta oil had jumped from $29.09/bbl to $50.08 bbl, a 72 per cent rise. When the quota policy actually took effect the first of January 2019, the price increased again, but by much less. The anticipation of the quota alone was enough to create the desired price increase. The quota, which set limits for the total combined crude oil and bitumen permitted to be produced, was assigned to individual operators and designed to provide an 8.5 per cent reduction in oil production. The total quota was fixed at 3.56 million barrels a day in January 2019, but individual quotas could be traded across eligible operators, minimizing the overall costs of achieving the total goal. However, total production continued falling even when the quota was eventually relaxed; the market and a low world price created a scenario in which production fell below the amount permitted by the quota. All the oil companies reduced their production regardless of whether they fell within the quota's guidelines or not; however, the firms that were subject to the quota reduced their production more than the others. The quota was lifted in December 2020 when export capacity again became sufficient. While curtailing production had the desired result of raising Alberta oil prices and resolving the differential between local prices and the world benchmark, its ripple effects may well be felt in the longer term. This paper finds that fewer wells are being drilled and more wells are suspending production. Tradition dictates that when a well becomes inactive, it is rarely returned to a productive state. Those firms that resorted to low levels of drilling in order to meet the quota have created a situation that could affect Alberta oil production in the years ahead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore how the power wielded by regional incumbents has impacted subnational innovation agendas. Our findings suggest that the design of mission-oriented innovation policies should be more attentive to regional innovation policies and their relationship to how innovation may serve to bolster incumbents and not undermine them. We use a case-study of innovation in fossil fuels. Recently, innovation policy literature has explored innovation policy and global climate as a major topic. On the one hand, carbon lock-in has been used to explain why there has been such difficulty in reducing carbon emissions, in many cases, despite an increasing emphasis of mission-innovation policies. On the other hand, mission-innovation policies are believed to be a key to the development of disruptive innovations that could break this carbon intensive path dependency. Although the two literatures explore the same problem, there could be more integration. While carbon lock-in is being considered in the mission-innovation literature, it nevertheless has been largely overlooked at the mission-setting stage. On the other hand, the lock-in literature has tended to overlook the findings of mission-oriented innovation literature in offering solutions, which suggests that there is a more productive role for mission-oriented innovations in breaking free of previous constraints to serve in the low-carbon energy transition. To make our case, we argue it is important to distinguish among the various impacts disruptive innovations have on the market shares of incumbents'. We propose the following three schema: new market, market rewarding and market destroying. By variegating the potential impact of innovations, we suggest that mission-oriented innovation polices may be designed to only support certain types of innovations that do not directly undermine the market share of incumbents. Using a detailed case study of the Province of Alberta, Canada, we then explore the role of the province's mission-oriented policy in the development of technology to produce the Canadian oil sands. The case study illustrates how incumbents influenced the establishment and direction of the mission's goal. Shifts in incumbency opposition toward the province's mission-oriented innovation policy coincided with the changing impact of the innovation from being market destroying to market rewarding. We suggest that future research should be more attentive to the role of incumbents in influencing mission-oriented innovation policy and the importance of their influence at the mission-setting stage. Furthermore, we suggest that to meet the grand challenge of addressing climate change through mission-oriented innovation policies, these policies must be designed to break free of these institutional constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Now, more than ever, governments and the public are recognizing the importance of health innovation. Precision health (PH) is the next frontier in medicine, enabling individually tailored ways to diagnose, treat and prevent disease in place of today's one-size-fits-all approach. Exploring new opportunities for economic growth is a priority in Alberta given the roller-coaster in recent years from reliance on hydrocarbon royalties coupled with resource-based economic divestment. PH offers Alberta the chance to diversify its economy by developing technology, attracting investment and creating a new health-care industry. As discussed in greater detail in a policy communiqué released alongside this research paper, PH comes with tremendous benefits. Foremost among these benefits is the ability to narrow health disparities among population groups and support social services in times of crisis. Plus, an Alberta-grown PH sector will fuel economic growth, innovation and lasting prosperity. Opportunities are expanding as the global PH market is forecast to grow by 11.3 per cent annually, reaching $141 billion in value by 2026. With a unified health system and many clinical and research strengths, Alberta is well placed to make great strides in PH. Government and universities are already working on PH strategies. However, success is not assured. The province is already dealing with severe fiscal constraints, especially in health care. This paper identifies several other policy issues, based on interviews with leaders in the public and private sectors. There are four main areas where Alberta faces challenges: innovation networks; facilitating discovery; governance and decision- making; and risk and procurement. Alberta's innovation networks are too fragmented, with too much competition and not enough collaboration. There is also a lack of supports and commercialization channels; entrepreneurs don't know where to turn or whom to talk to. Motivating researchers to develop and commercialize products is an especially contentious problem. Projects range from those with high commercial potential to theoretical concepts providing the foundation for future discovery. The interviews for this paper revealed a powerful divide between academics, who want the freedom to research their interests, and government and funding agency participants, who want specific goals and health-care challenges to receive the bulk of the dollars. Executing and co-ordinating a provincial PH strategy is another area where change is necessary. Governance is unclear and many participants are worried about the vagaries of politics affecting funding decisions. Research incentives are often misaligned or structured to produce impacts within one election cycle. This doesn't mean a single authority is required, since that likely would not align with existing structures in place. However, a central group charged with making high-level decisions about priorities might be a valuable resource. Finally, there's procurement and the tolerance of risk. AHS as a single service provider is beneficial in that it cuts down on duplication and overspending. But the system is also rigid and risk-averse, so it's not the ideal customer for SMEs or early-stage ventures. PH is far from a mature industry, meaning results are not guaranteed. There's a need to expand the comfort zones of the powers that be, so they are more willing to bet on innovations. There's also a need to bring promising products to their attention. Health care is not a traditional market with individual consumers, and administrators remote from clinical practice may not grasp the value of new technologies. This paper summarizes the findings of many interviews with decision-makers in health care, academia, government circles and the innovation sector. Much like PH, it presents solutions to specific problems confronting Albertans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2019 MacKinnon report, commissioned by the Alberta government, recommended ending fee-for-service (FFS) as the model for paying primary care physicians because of its significant and inherent inefficiencies. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has also demonstrated the value of moving Alberta's family physicians to an alternative payment (APP) model. While the MacKinnon report was in favour of enacting legislation to change the compensation model, this paper instead recommends offering physicians a choice of alternative payment programs as an incentive to move on voluntarily from an FFS system. Other provinces have attempted to reform physicians' pay using a quadruple aim model for health-care improvement, which identifies the major points policy-makers must examine in instituting a replacement for FFS. The quadruple aim model is four-pronged and encompasses patient experience, population health, care team wellbeing and cost reductions. Alberta Health Services already uses the quadruple aim model to improve patient care and quality outcomes, although the MacKinnon report focused primarily on reducing costs. However, reforming doctors' compensation is not just about the amount they should be paid; it must also consider that the method of compensation has a profound impact on both cost and quality of care received. Meanwhile, the self-isolation and social distancing measures for both doctors and patients, established with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, have put Alberta's doctors on a policy roller-coaster. Applying the FFS compensation model during the pandemic has resulted in the use of virtual care codes such as telehealth billing and in-person limited assessment codes. However, these codes were immediately problematic because they do not adequately account for complex patient care that requires longer visits, after-hours premiums and the Rural Remote Northern Program. During a pandemic is not the right time to embark on physician compensation reform. This gives the government time to reconsider the controversial approach taken prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The need for compensation reform in Alberta is driven by the reality that Alberta has the highest proportion of physicians on FFS along with some of the highest FFS payments per physician in Canada. Meanwhile, family physicians in other provinces are now more likely to be covered by an APP rather than the former FFS system. The problem with FFS is that it tends to encourage physicians to create volume in number of patients seen per day, in order to increase compensation. Thus, it also encourages more diagnostic testing, which increases costs to the health-care system. In general, physicians compensated under FFS have much less incentive to consider costs when treating patients. The argument for legislating pay reform is poorly justified. No other province has legislated physicians out of the FFS system, and that is not a route Alberta should take, either. Nova Scotia has brought in a one-size-fits-all APP, while Ontario implemented a menu of higher paying APPs that produced greater downstream cost savings, making APPs an increasingly attractive payment option to family physicians. Ontario's approach would be better for Alberta because it improves patients' overall experience with primary care, their care outcomes and the wellbeing of those who care for the patients. Alberta should offer a menu of APP models tailored to primary care so that the family doctors themselves can choose the best model for their own practices. As this paper has demonstrated in its comparison of the experiences of other provinces, and as the COVID-19 affirms, the menu approach is the model most strongly aligned with the goals of quadruple aim. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2016, Canada was ordered to implement Jordan's Principle by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. In response to the order, Canada created the Child First Initiative to provide federal funding for provincial and territorial organizations supporting First Nations children's health, education, and social service needs, including service coordination. In the shifting national landscape of Child First Initiative funding, there is a lack of evidence on how pediatric healthcare services are addressing the serious health and healthcare inequities experienced by many First Nations children. This paper describes the implementation of a Child First Initiative by the First Nations Health Consortium in the Alberta region and research findings that provide insights into the complexity and challenges of advancing First Nations children's health and health equity within the current federal Child First Initiative mandate in this province. This paper highlights the need for transformative pediatric healthcare approaches that expand beyond an individual and demand-driven system and orient towards practices and policies that are sociallyresponsive. Also, this paper highlights that First Nations leaders and Jordan's Principle initiatives play a leading role in the design and delivery of all pediatric healthcare services with First Nations communities, families, and children across Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Declining extraction costs and process efficiencies have incented the revival of the oil and gas sector postrecession. The application of drilling rigs has been done more efficiently. These loads are very large, temporary in nature, and mobile. The drilling of each well can be done as quickly as a few hours and typically not more than a few days. These massive loads are complex to own, maintain, and operate, as a result few specialized drillers share the market. Because of the requirements for variable speed and control, drilling rigs are driven by variable frequency drives (VFDs), which are in their clear majority of older technologies such as six-pulse thyristor bridge or SCR-driven motors. These technologies are known to impose steep ramp rates (up and down) as well as rich harmonic content and variable, typically low, power factor. Furthermore, the locations of drilling rigs are typically remote, where distribution systems, if present, are weak, which lead to large background voltage distortions when such loads are present. This paper presents measurements, simulations, and analytical assessments of the characteristics and effects of harmonics and interharmonics (IHs) generated by top-drive and mud-pump VFDs in a large drilling rig operated in Alberta, Canada. Measurement results reveal very high harmonic and IH generation. To further refine the impact assessment of these harmonic emissions, the harmonic attenuation effect of the VFDs is quantified to avoid overestimating the harmonic generation of the loads. The thermal impact of the current harmonics on the coupling transformer is also quantified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, tailings facilities have been designed primarily with consideration of the mine's active life. This is problematic, as the lifespan of a tailings dam may far exceed the life of the mine. Over time, it is expected that these structures will transform into a mine waste structure and then eventually a landform. In Alberta, Canada, dam owners can submit a decommissioning, closure, and abandonment (DCA) plan and completion reports to apply for the facility to be de-registered as a dam. If successful, the structure would be considered a solid waste structure and may be reclassified and regulated as a mine waste dump. The Alberta Energy Regulator expects DCAs to be accompanied and supported by risk assessments that consider long-term physical failure modes, including failure modes that may not be applicable during operations, in accordance with Manual 019. To help support the process of de-registering a tailings dam, a risk management tool, referred to as a Generalized Failure Modes Effects (G-FMEA) framework, was developed and presented in the Journal of Minerals in the Special Issue Tailings Dams: Design, Characterization, Monitoring, and Risk Assessment. The G-FMEA was designed to be used for assessing risks of an external tailings facility in closure, with the goal of assessing the long-term risk of geotechnical failure to support the process of de-registration. In Alberta, a number of tailings dams are undergoing closure and reclamation activities. This paper applies the developed G-FMEA framework to an oil sands tailings dam in Alberta to demonstrate the application of the framework. The paper assesses two specific failure modes of two different elements, including clogging of the drains and surface erosion of the berm. The failure modes are assessed over different timescales to demonstrate how the consequence, likelihood, and risk rating may change over time. The results of this process are discussed in the context of the potential for the facility to be de-registered as a dam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In "Who Is Next: Patient Prioritization Under Emergency Department Blocking," Li, Sun, and Hong study how physicians and nurses choose the next patient for treatment in hospital emergency departments (EDs). Using data from a tertiary hospital in Alberta, Canada, they conduct an empirical investigation and find that both clinical factors and resource constraints are considered in patient-prioritization decisions. In particular, discharged patients are prioritized when ED beds are increasingly occupied by boarding patients so as to avoid further blocking the ED. A stylized model is developed to explain the rationale behind the prioritization behavior. Using a simulation study, they show such behavior can improve ED operations by reducing the average patient waiting time and length of stay without adding extra capacity, which results in significant cost savings for hospitals. Upon arrival at emergency departments (EDs), patients are classified into different triage levels indicating their urgency. Using data from a large hospital in Canada, we find that, within the same triage level, the average waiting time (time from triage to initial assessment by a physician) of patients who are discharged is shorter than that of patients who are admitted for middle- and low-acuity patients, suggesting that the order in which patients are served deviates from first-come, first-served, and to a certain extent, discharged patients are prioritized over admitted patients. This observation is intriguing as, among patients of the same triage level, admitted patients—who need further care in the hospital—should be deemed no less urgent than discharged patients who only need treatment at the ED. To understand how ED decision makers choose the next patient for treatment, we estimate a discrete-choice model and find that ED decision makers apply urgency-specific delay-dependent prioritization. Moreover, we find that, when the ED blocking level is sufficiently low, admitted patients are prioritized over discharged patients for high-acuity patients, whereas disposition does not affect the prioritization of middle- and low-acuity patients. When the ED blocking level becomes sufficiently high, decision makers start to prioritize discharged patients in an effort to avoid further blocking the ED. We then analyze a stylized model to explain the rationale behind the change in decision makers' prioritization behavior as the ED blocking level increases. Using a simulation study, we demonstrate how policies inspired by our findings improve ED operations by reducing the average patient waiting time and length of stay, resulting in significant cost savings for hospitals. We also show how to leverage our findings to improve the accuracy of ED waiting time predictions. By testing and highlighting the central role of decision makers' patient prioritization behavior, this paper advances our understanding of ED operations and patient flow. History: This paper has been accepted for the Operations Research Special Issue on Behavioral Queueing Science. Funding: This work was partially supported by grants from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region [Project No. CRF C7162-20GF, CityU 21500517, and CityU 11504620] and by grants from the Natural Science Foundation of China [Project No. 72091211]. Supplemental Material: The e-companion is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/opre.2021.2187. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents abstracts of second- and third-place undergraduate papers in agricultural economics. 'Factors affecting the price paid for breeding bulls: a case study of the UBIA performance bull test and sale,' by Shane Ellis; 'Attitudes towards establishing a new organic grain cooperative in Alberta,' by Chantelle L'Hoir.

As universities around the world face plunging revenues coupled with rising expenses, many argue that today's post-secondary sector is in crisis (Anderson et al., 2020). In some regions, budgetary challenges are exacerbated by performance-based funding models that place an increased focus on impacting local economics and communities more broadly (e.g., Blue Ribbon Panel on Alberta's Finances, 2019). In response to growing public, personal, and institutional demands for post-secondary institutions to improve their relevance and impact, increasing numbers of academics are pursuing communityengaged approaches to their research. In this paper, two Canadian researchers provide a collaborative autoethnographic account that reflects on and examines their experiences with meaningful and authentic community-engaged research partnerships. The authors explore themes associated with navigating personal, professional, institutional, and relational dimensions of faculty community engagement. In doing so, they draw on and present a modified version of Wade and Demb's (2009; Demb & Wade, 2012) faculty engagement model that includes relational factors informed by Bringle and Hatcher's (2002) theoretical framework of relationships. The results of this collaborative autoethnography have broad implications for the practice of research, including implications for work-life balance, tenure and promotion, how service is recognized/categorized, and institutional ethics review board processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alberta’s history with coal development goes back to 1874, but 21st century social, economic and environmental factors demonstrate that it’s not in the public interest to pursue coal mining on the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains. This paper uses a multiple account benefit-cost analysis to compare the positives and negatives of a hypothetical coal mine in the eastern foothills of the Rockies. We provide estimates of the economic, social and environmental impacts, and evaluate how coal mining affects different stakeholders. The economic benefits — $440 million in undiscounted incremental tax revenues and $35 million in undiscounted incremental employment earnings — are overshadowed by the costs arising from the displacement of ranching, tourism and the negative environmental effects on water, vegetation, air and wildlife. Compounding these effects is the non-zero probability that the Alberta government will pick up the tab for reclamation costs, and the adverse social impacts on local communities and on Indigenous Peoples’ rights and interests. Therefore, any new coal mine development is unlikely to provide the province with a net benefit. Following on the heels of the federal government’s rejection of the Grassy Mountain coal project in southwestern Alberta, the provincial government should consider banning coal mining in the Eastern Slopes. Any future coal development policy should include a public-interest test that examines both monetary and non-monetary impacts. This paper finds an estimated undiscounted profit before taxes and royalties of $511 million to the mine developer. Discounting that value by a rate of eight per cent, which would approximate the opportunity cost of investors’ capital, shows coal mines are at best a break-even proposition from a private perspective. Only under optimistic price and activity assumptions does the mine earn a net profit. Tax revenues would be marginal and additional labour income would accrue to only a few individuals. These benefits would be vastly outweighed by the adverse effects on a much greater population, including Indigenous Peoples. Further, the Eastern Slopes already suffer the effects of current forestry, oil and gas, ranching, road development and recreational activities. Water quality and habitat for such wildlife as the Westslope cutthroat trout would be significantly compromised. With coal markets in a long-term decline due to coal’s impact on climate change and the focus on transitioning to alternative energy sources, new coal mine projects in Alberta would be counter-productive in many ways. The comparatively small economic benefits derived from a new coal mine could not possibly justify the large and possibly irreversible damage done to the environment, local communities and to the rights and interests of Indigenous Peoples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What does it mean to intervene in antiracist interviews with public sector workers? What do interventions look like in research seeking to name complicity in settler colonial violence and imagine otherwise relationships between non-Indigenous and Indigenous people? How might we methodologically define interventions and their pedagogical purpose(s)? In this paper, we share our experience of adopting a dual-pedagogical antiracist interventive research methodology in our qualitative research with public sector workers on settler colonial socialization. Building on antiracist interventive interviewing method, we map out our conceptualization of interventions as multidirectional and multiscalar. We narrate how we see interventions as dual pedagogical moments of disruption and possibility occurring at three scales, where we intervene to support our participants' learning and they intervene to support ours. Our approach is illuminated through illustrations from our transcribed data of virtual interviews with 32 public sector workers in BC (n = 23) and Alberta (n = 9), and through our reflections on our research process. Our analysis demonstrates that interventions have three key effects. First, they are generatively disruptive in that they offer better access to understanding processes of settler colonial socialization. Second, interventions create junctures for antiracist and anticolonial learning. Third, interventions with participants open up opportunities to imagine otherwise beyond the strictures of settler colonialism, and orient towards anticolonial praxis rooted in recognition of Indigenous sovereignties. We conclude with a vocabulary of interventions meant to offer other qualitative researchers possibilities for how to intervene to better access and disrupt sites of deep colonizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has become, among countless pressures, a dominant threat to heritage places. It is critical to identify, analyse, assess, and mitigate immediate risks, and manage unforeseeable, unavoidable, and adverse impacts of climate on heritage values. There is an urgency in the heritage field to identify practical, efficient, and repeatable ways to document and monitor the condition of diverse heritage resources and develop climate adaptation strategies. Digital technologies, cloud computing, and digital preservation of heritage places can play a vital role in support of condition assessment, conservation planning, and sustainable management of heritage resources. This paper discusses a pilot project that experiments with the application of this idea on a selected case study, St. Albert River Lots in Alberta, Canada, and examines the challenges and opportunities of employing Amazon Web Services (AWS) and other Cloud-based applications. The project aimed to prepare a 3D model, as a foundation for recording current conditions and a tool for monitoring the impacts of climate change on heritage aspects and values in order to assist with the preparation of a detailed conservation management plan for the place in a digital format and contribute to the interpretive programming activities and raising public awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The creating healthy eating and active environments survey (CHEERS) is an audit tool used to assess the nutrition and physical activity environment in early childhood education and care (ECEC) centres. Availability of the tool has been limited to paper-based versions. Digital health initiatives offer improved reach and immediacy of support for community-based clients through novel technology products. In order to provide increased access to the CHEERS tool, an online version was developed. The objective of this study was to assess the reliability of an online version of CHEERS. Methods: Utilizing a randomized crossover design, ECEC educators completed either a paper-based or online-based survey and then the opposite mode with a two to three-week interval. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC, with 95% confidence interval) was used to determine the reliability between test and retest. Absolute index of reliability in the original measurement was assessed through the standard error of measurement (SEM = SD × √1-ICC). The smallest amount of change not due to inherent variation was assessed by determining minimal detectable change at the 95% confidence level (MDC95 = SEM × 1.96 ×√2; MDC95% = MDC95/mean ×100). Results: Test–retest reliability was good to excellent for the online-based CHEERS total score (ICC = 0.86) and for each of the four subscales: food served (ICC = 0.82), healthy eating environment (ICC = 0.76), program planning (ICC = 0.76), and physical activity environment (ICC = 0.79). The SEM, MDC95, and MDC95% for the CHEERS overall score were 0.79, 2.19, and 9.6%, respectively. Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrate that the online-based and paper-based versions of the CHEERS audit tool share comparable accuracy. The CHEERS tool can be reliably implemented in an online environment and this provides users an alternative means to complete the centre-based health assessment. The advantage of the online-based version includes user accessibility and the potential to develop a feedback response for participants using digitally collected data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alberta does not have a land transfer tax on the sale of real property, nor should the province contemplate bringing one in. Instead, if the Alberta government seeks new tax revenue, it should institute a sales tax or raise property taxes. This paper examines previous research on land transfer taxes in Canada, Australia and Europe, and concludes that such a tax would only add its own volatility to that inherent to Alberta's resource revenue-based economy. Calculations show that a one-per-cent land transfer tax in Alberta would have yielded between $460 million and $500 million for provincial coffers in 2017. However appealing that amount of revenue sounds, the tax's benefits do not outweigh its drawbacks. Land transfer values in Alberta can undergo substantial changes from one year to the next, making a land transfer tax a highly precarious revenue source. Given the already volatile fluctuations in Alberta's fiscal situation due to its boom-and-bust economy, the volatile nature of a land transfer tax would be thrown into the mix, thus compounding the difficulty of making budget decisions. Nor would a land transfer tax benefit Albertans who are in the market for a home. Studies show that such taxes discourage residential real estate transactions because of the burden of the added fees involved. They also impose a larger welfare loss per dollar of tax revenue than do residential property taxes. Further, while placing a larger financial burden on real estate transactions, the revenue generated by land transfer taxes does not displace or exceed the revenue that property taxes bring in. If land transfer taxes are burdensome for homebuyers, they are equally so for sellers who may be compelled to lower their asking prices to make up for the extra costs the tax imposes. This leads to a drop in fair market value of homes with a negative impact on the volume and value of real estate transactions. While a land transfer tax could potentially raise a significant amount of revenue for the Alberta government it still would be insufficient to cover the province's current fiscal deficit. The situation would be made worse by a negative spin-off effect for the economy due to the reduction of transactions, and a slippage in tax revenues because of declines in the value and volume of land transfers. This paper estimates those declines to be between five and 15 per cent, based on a land transfer tax rate of three per cent, which should be the highest rate if the Alberta government ever considers creating such a tax. Meanwhile, the land transfer tax would exact a relatively high tax payment from middle-income families - as high as seven per cent of median household income in Calgary and Edmonton - which could add a substantial amount to the mortgage debt for these families. Real estate transactions in Alberta are currently subject to a land titles fee, with property taxes being the standard for raising revenue from homeowners. This system should not be revamped in favour of a land transfer tax, as such a move would only be to the detriment of the provincial economy and to individual Albertans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new methodology to assist geophysicists in determining the first-break event in a 3-D seismic data set using the well-known technique called dynamic time warping algorithm (DTW), which is usually used to find the optimal alignment between two time-series. We used the optimal path from the cost matrix to identify the first break in the seismogram using a few picks (seeds) made by an interpreter as a reference to perform this task. Furthermore, the data were pre-conditioned by the topographic and linear moveout to improve the method's accuracy. To demonstrate the technique's robustness, first, we applied the methodology in a synthetic seismic data. After demonstrating the efficiency of the algorithm, we applied the aforementioned methodology in the Polo-Miranga 3-D seismic cube located in the Recôncavo sedimentary basin, Bahia-Brazil, and in the seismic data acquired from the Blackfoot field in Alberta, Canada. The high-quality results showed consistency in determining the first break in all ranges of offsets, demonstrating an alternative way to accelerate this seismic processing step. Furthermore, we compared the results obtained by the proposed methodology with an algorithm based on comparing the short-time averages with long-time averages. Finally, we performed the static correction calculation to ensure that the time distortion resulting from the terrain and the low-velocity layer was mitigated in shoot gathers and in the stacked section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dairy farms have become more reliant on technology. The overall aim of this study was to better understand how dairy farmers view technology and its effects on animal care, including their views on the prospect of integrating gene-editing technology in the future. Virtual-semistructured interviews were conducted with dairy farmers (n = 11) from British Columbia and Alberta. To facilitate discussion, the participants were asked to develop and discuss a timeline describing when and why various technologies were adopted on their farm. Although farmers defined technology broadly and affecting multiple aspects of farm management, this paper focuses on their views regarding how technology can affect animal care. Following thematic analysis of the data, the following 3 themes emerged: (1) the changing role of the farmer (including intergenerational considerations and learning new technology), (2) the effect of technology on the cow and her relationship with the farmer and, (3) technology as the future of the farm. The discussions also highlight the concerns that some farmers have regarding challenges associated with reduced human-animal interactions and effective use of the large amounts of data that are collected through technology. We also specifically asked the participants their views about gene editing as a potential future technology. Most of the participants did not specifically address their views on gene editing, but they spoke about the effect on genetic technologies more generally, often making references to genomic testing. However, some questioned how this technology may affect farmers more generally and spoke about how it could affect human-animal relationships. These results illustrate differences among farmers in the way they view technology and how this can affect the dairy cattle they care for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a discursive analysis of the gendering of Alberta's K-6 Social Studies draft curriculum. It examines if and to what extent the social studies curriculum promotes a gender-less portrayal of history buttressed by a façade of diversity and inclusion. In borrowing from Carol Bacchi's theories of "what's the problem represented to be" (WPR) and policies as gendering, it focuses on the discursive positioning of gendered norms and knowledge structures within the curriculum to unearth how the curriculum cultivates traditional masculinist and settler-colonial forms of historical truth while silencing those who contradict these narratives (1999; 2017). Through paying attention to the inclusion of binary gendered representation, their contextual underpinnings, and where gendered absences are positioned, the paper uncovers how the curriculum promotes a return to historical narratives predicated on patriarchal and white thought that pose dire implications for student's conceptualization(s) of their and their province's identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE The effective integration of primary care into public health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly through data sharing, has received some attention in the literature. However, the specific policies and structures that facilitate this integration are understudied. This paper describes the experiences of clinicians and administrators in Alberta, Canada as they built a data bridge between primary care and public health to improve the province's community-based response to the pandemic. METHODS Fifty-seven semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with a range of primary care and public health stakeholders working inside the Calgary Health Zone. Interpretive description was used to analyze the interviews. RESULTS SARS-CoV-2 test results produced by the local public laboratory were, initially, only available to central public health clinicians and not independent primary care physicians. This enabled centrally managed contact tracing but meant primary care physicians were unaware of their patients' COVID-19 status and unable to offer in-community followup care. Stakeholders from both central public health and independent primary care were able to leverage a policy commitment to the Patient Medical Home (PMH) care model, and a range of existing organizational structures, and governance arrangements to create a data bridge that would span the gap. CONCLUSIONS Primary care systems looking to draw lessons from the data bridge's construction may consider ways to: leverage care model commitments to integration and adjust or create organization and governance structures which actively draw together primary care and non-primary care stakeholders to work on common projects. Such policies and structures develop trusting relationships, open the possibility for champions to emerge, and create the spaces in which integrative improvisation can take place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many community-based HIV research studies incorporate principles of greater involvement and meaningful engagement of people living with HIV (GIPA/MEPA) by training people with HIV as peer researchers. Unfortunately, there are still some aspects of research (e.g., quantitative data analysis and interpretation) where many projects fall short in realizing GIPA/MEPA principles. To address these gaps, we developed an eight-week training course that aimed to build the capacity of peer researchers around the understanding and interpretation of quantitative data and incorporating lived experience to increase the impact of the knowledge transfer and exchange phase of a study. Methods: Peer researchers (n = 8) participated from British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario and lessons learned from the training were implemented throughout the dissemination of research findings from the People Living with HIV Stigma Index study. This paper presents the curriculum and main training components, course evaluation results, and challenges and lessons learned. The manuscript was created in collaboration with and includes the perspectives of both the peer researchers involved in the training, as well the course facilitators. Results: Throughout the course, peer researchers' self-assessed knowledge and understanding of quantitative research and data storytelling improved and, through interactive activities and practice, they gained the confidence to deliver a full research presentation. This improved their understanding of research findings, which was beneficial for discussing results with community partners and study participants. The peer researchers also agreed that learning about integrating lived experience with quantitative data has helped them to make research findings more relatable and convey key messages in a more meaningful way. Conclusions: Our training curriculum provides a template for research teams to build capacity in areas of research where peer researchers and community members are less often engaged. In doing so, we continue to uphold the principles of GIPA/MEPA and enhance the translation of research knowledge in communities most greatly affected. Plain English Summary: Engaging patient groups or community members is commonplace in HIV research where people living with HIV are trained as peer researchers. There are still however some gaps where community members are less engaged, especially in quantitative data analysis. This presents a barrier preventing them from being meaningfully engaged in research about them. To build capacity in these areas, we designed an eight-week online course that taught peer researchers about quantitative data analysis and interpretation with a focus on concepts that would be important for talking about key messages from research findings. This was used to enhance the knowledge translation and dissemination initiatives for the People Living with HIV Stigma Index study—a survey tool containing quantitative measures examining stigma and related health factors. Peer researchers agreed that their knowledge and understanding of the key quantitative data concepts improved significantly throughout the course. This increased understanding helped them discuss quantitative data with community members and study participants, which was important to ensure that research findings reach the affected communities. Peer researchers also agreed that incorporating their new data analysis knowledge with existing lived experience helped them to make findings more relatable and understandable which is critical for translating knowledge to other researchers and policy makers. Overall, our training curriculum gave peer researchers the confidence to talk about quantitative data and improve their capacity to disseminate research. This work also provides guidelines for training peer researchers and ensuring that they are meaningfully engaged in research studies they are a part of. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of the demand for hunting licenses in Alberta from 1968 to 2004. Regression analysis was used to estimate the effects of some of the commonly thought reasons for the decline in hunting participation in Alberta; specifically, the effects of changes in wildlife certificate prices, species license prices, income levels, and the proportion of the population living in urban areas. I found that hunting appears to be an inferior good since the income elasticity of demand was elastic—as provincial income levels increase, it is expected that less people will participate in hunting. In addition, the price elasticity of demand was inelastic indicating that raising license prices could theoretically generate increased revenues for wildlife management. I further hypothesize that if hunting participation needs to be increased for wildlife management purposes, it can be accomplished by decreasing the prices of licenses without directly affecting the revenue generated. Ultimately, we must realize that many of the hypothesized reasons for the decline in hunting participation in Alberta are qualitative and non-economic in nature and are thus difficult to include in most analyses. Whereas price and income are important determinants of hunting demand, they are only part of the story. In an attempt to increase household expenditure on shell eggs, producers have differentiated production to offer consumers a multitude of specialty egg varieties. These varieties lie in one of two general classifications; eggs which are nutritionally enhanced, and those which are produced under alternate production techniques yet are otherwise nutritionally equivalent to their generic counterparts. This study uses two surveys developed in 2005 and 2006 focusing on consumer attitudes, potentially impacting egg preferences. The data were then analyzed with a multinomial logit regression utilizes attitude factor scores and demographic characteristics. This study reveals what consumer attitudes and demographic traits are associated with preferences for vegetarian, free-run, organic, vitamin-enhanced and omega-3-enhanced egg types with two significant conclusions. It is first shown that consumers have a strong preference for free-run eggs and second that there appears to be confusion surrounding egg attributes. This is revealed by the result that health conscious consumers show a greater willingness to pay (WTP) for free-run, vegetarian or organic eggs, while revealing a negative WTP for nutritionally enhanced varieties (omega-3 and vitamin-enhanced). Deciphering consumer attitudes towards egg varieties is an important aspect of developing marketing strategies, predicting policy change implications and in understanding consumer views towards industry directions. Proliferation of differentiated products may not increase demand in the targeted segments, it may confuse consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper describes the first detailed 3-D study of the Alberta basement using the magnetotelluric (MT) method. Long-period MT data were used to generate a 3-D electrical resistivity model of the crust and upper mantle beneath Alberta. The Western Canada Sedimentary Basin was imaged as a low-resistivity layer. A number of crustal and upper-mantle conductors were imaged and include: (1) the Red Deer conductor, (2) the Kiskatinaw conductor, (3) a conductor coincident with the Kimiwan oxygen isotope anomaly, (4) the southern Alberta–British Columbia conductor, (5) the Loverna block conductor and (6) a conductor beneath the Birch Mountain kimberlite field. Conductors (3) and (6) are newly identified in this study. All of these conductors can be related to past tectonic events associated with the assembly of Laurentia and subsequent kimberlite magmatism. The depth of the lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary across Alberta varies from 150 to 300 km as defined from the 100 Ω m contour. Furthermore, the Snowbird tectonic zone in Alberta is characterized by a thick, resistive lithosphere.  Similarly, the diamondiferous Buffalo Head Hills kimberlite field is imaged with a thick, resistive lithosphere, both may indicate depletion. In contrast, the Birch Mountain kimberlite field is underlain by a pronounced conductor that extends through the lithosphere and may be the result of metasomatism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]