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We examined how performance-based funding (PBF) for higher education institutions in Tennessee, Ohio, and Indiana affects bachelor’s degree completion, admission practices, and the enrollment of underserved students. Utilizing data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, we employed an event study analysis, in addition to a canonical difference-in-differences and coarsened exact matching strategy. The event study results revealed no effect in Tennessee, whereas bachelor’s degree completion may have a delayed positive effect in Ohio and Indiana. Interestingly, Indiana institutions funded based on performance increased their institutional selectivity immediately after the funding was enacted, whereas underrepresented students’ enrollment results differed among subgroups across states. We conclude by offering a critical review of the policy regimes and recommending fruitful areas for future research.

This paper demonstrates the use of climatological data and published information to develop a thaw-freeze/freeze-kill indicator for fruit trees during flowering. In fruit-producing regions, when budding and flowering occur before the last spring freeze, a freeze-kill event can cause substantial losses. As spring onset is occurring earlier with climate change, thaw-freeze events have the potential to become more of a hazard both in terms of current production and in terms of potential adaptation strategies. To model the spring thaw-freeze and its magnitude or intensity, we proposed an indicator based on the accumulation of daily minimum temperature between successive freezing dates and its maximum value over the spring. This indicator was tested on apple and peach production in southern Ontario, Canada, using data from eight climate stations in southern Ontario. The indicator showed promise in its utility in that its magnitude was greater when freezing occurred after blooming and it was demonstrated to be correlated to the estimated blooming dates of apple and peach fruits grown in southern Ontario. The annual series was shown to fit the generalized extreme value distribution thereby allowing the extreme risk to be modelled and the return period to be calculated. It was also shown that the reported thaw-freeze events that caused significant apple and peach losses had a return period on the order of 10 years.

The determination of the stress distribution around driven piles in soft clays constitutes a complex problem. The stress distribution is affected by a range of factors such as soil permeability, soil strength, sensitivity, remoulding, distance from adjacent piles and number of piles. The mechanisms of pile installation and subsequent consolidation are investigated by considering that pile installation may be represented by the expansion of a long vertical cylindrical cavity. The stress paths followed by typical soil elements at the soil–pile interface are analyzed by means of the theoretical relationships obtained during the undrained expansion of a cylindrical cavity in soft cohesive soils and modified to take into account the severe remoulding caused by pile installation. It is shown that the shaft resistance of driven piles may be calculated by considering either a drained stress path or an effective stress path during undrained loading. It is also shown that soft clay remoulding caused by pile driving is a major factor that must be taken into account for a reasonable estimation of the limiting skin friction.

Objective: To assess mental health symptoms, suicidal ideation/behaviors, and treatment among a nationally representative probability sample of student veterans. Participants: Student veterans enro...

Purpose The purpose of the current study was to examine inhibition of irrelevant information in younger and older English monolingual and Spanish–English bilingual adults. Method Sixty-one participants divided into four groups: 15 younger English monolinguals, 16 younger Spanish–English bilinguals, 15 older English monolinguals, and 15 older Spanish–English bilinguals participated in this study. Younger participants were 18–25 years of age, and older participants were 47–62 years of age. Bilingual participants had learned Spanish from birth and began learning English by the age of 3 years old ( SD = 3.1). All participants had hearing thresholds of < 25 dB HL from 250 to 4000 Hz, bilaterally (American National Standards Institute [ANSI], 2004) and were right-handed. Inhibition was measured using a forced-attention dichotic consonant vowel listening task with a prime stimulus and the Simon task, a nonverbal visual test. Results Younger participants were better able to inhibit the irrelevant auditory and visual stimuli and modulate their attention according to the instructions that they were given compared to the older participants. However, no significant differences in inhibition performance or attention modulation were evidenced between the monolingual and bilingual groups in any of the dichotic listening conditions or on the Simon task. Conclusions No significant differences in performance on an auditory or a visual test of inhibition of irrelevant information was evidenced between the monolingual and bilingual participants in this study. These findings suggest that younger and older adult, early balanced Spanish–English bilinguals may not exhibit an advantage in the inhibition of irrelevant information compared to younger and older adult English monolinguals.

Accurate estimates of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from agricultural soils and management factors that influence emissions are necessary to capture the impact of mitigation measures and carry out life cycle analyses aimed at identifying best practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We propose improvements to a country specific method for estimating N2O emissions from agricultural soils in Canada based on a compilation of soil N2O flux data from recent published literature. We provide a framework for the development of empirical models that could be applied in regions where similar data and information on N2O emissions are available. The method considers spatial elements such as soil texture, topography and climate based on a quantitative empirical relationship between synthetic N-induced soil N2O emission factor (EF) and growing season precipitation (P) {N2OEF = e(0.00558P−7.7)}. Emission factors vary from less than 0.0025 kg N2O-N kg N−1 in semi-arid regions of Canada to greater than 0.025 kg N2O-N kg N−1 in humid regions. This approach differentiates soil N2O EFs based on management factors. Specifically, empirical ratio factors are applied for sources of N of 1.0, 0.84, and 0.28 for synthetic N, animal manure N and crop residue N, respectively. Crop type ratio factors where soil N2O EFs from applied manure- and synthetic-N on perennial crops are approximately 19% of those on annual crops. This proposed approach improves the accuracy of the dominant factors that modulate N2O emissions from N application to soils.

Background Despite efforts to increase the overall diversity of the medical student body, some medical specialties have a less diverse applicant pool based on both gender and race than would be expected based on medical graduate demographics. Objectives To identify whether women and Underrepresented in Medicine (URiM) medical students have baseline differences in their career interests or if their career plans change more during medical school when compared to men and non-URIM students. Methods Secondary data analyses of all medical students who applied through ERAS from 2005–2010 was conducted. Binary logistic regression models with the response being a planned career in one of four medical specialties (internal medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN, and general surgery/surgical specialties) at medical school entry and graduation. Regression models included demographics, student attitudes, debt, academic metrics, and medical school experiences. Results Comparatively, women were less likely to be interested in internal medicine and surgery and more interested in pediatrics and OB/GYN at matriculation. URiM students expressed more interest in OB/GYN and surgery when starting medical school. At graduation, women were less likely to plan for internal medicine and surgery and were more interested in pursuing OB/GYN and pediatrics. URiM students were more likely to plan for a career in internal medicine and less likely to choose pediatrics. Conclusions From matriculation to graduation, women have relatively stable preferences regarding planned medical specialties. In contrast, URiM students’ specialty plans shifted over time among the four specialties, with variation in preferences occurring between matriculation and graduation.

It is generally accepted that land use and land management practices impact climate change through sequestration of carbon in soils, but modulation of surface energy budget can also be important. Using Landsat data to characterize cropland albedos in Canada's three prairie soil zones, this study estimates the atmospheric carbon equivalent drawdown of albedo radiative forcing for three management practices: 1) moving from conventional tillage to no-till, 2) eliminating summer fallow in crop rotations, and 3) growing crops with higher albedos. In a 50-year time horizon, conversion from conventional tillage to no-till results in a total equivalent atmospheric C O 2 ( C O 2 -eq) drawdown of 1.0–1.5 kg m − 2 , and conversion from summer fallow to crops results in C O 2 -eq drawdown of 1.1–2.4 kg m − 2 . Conversion of summer fallow to crops results in different magnitudes of C O 2 -eq drawdown depending on specific crops. Lentils, peas, and canola have relatively higher albedo than that of spring wheat and flax; hence, a larger magnitude of C O 2 -eq drawdown results when they replace summer fallow in the rotation. For the management changes from 1990 to 2019 for the whole Canadian Prairies, albedo changes induced a C O 2 -eq drawdown of about 179.3 ± 20.9 Tg due to increased area of no-till, and 101.6 ± 9.5 Tg due to reduced area under fallow. The study shows that the magnitudes of C O 2 -eq drawdown due to albedo change are comparable to that due to soil carbon sequestration. Therefore, it is important to account for cropland albedo changes in assessing the potential of agricultural management practices to mitigate climate change.

Analysis of the unique hourly Canadian Prairie data for the past 60 years has transformed our quantitative understanding of land–atmosphere–cloud coupling at northern latitudes. The Canadian Prairie data is exceptional, because observers, typically at most major airports, were trained to estimate hourly the opaque cloud fraction in tenths, by cloud level and in total. These trained observersmade hourly estimates of the opaque cloud fraction that obscures the sun, moon, or stars, following the same protocol for 60 years at all stations. These 24 daily estimates of opaque cloud data are of sufficient quality that they can be calibrated against Baseline Surface Radiation Network data to yield the climatology of the daily short-wave, long-wave, and total cloud forcing (SWCF, LWCF and CF, respectively). This key cloud radiative forcing has not been available previously for surface climate datasets. Net cloud radiative forcing changes sign from negative in the warm season, to positive in the cold season, when reflective snow reduces the negative SWCF below the positive LWCF. This in turn leads to a large climate discontinuity with snow cover, with a systematic cooling of 10°C or more with snow cover. In addition, snow cover transforms the coupling between cloud cover and the diurnal range of temperature. In the warm season, maximum temperature increases with decreasing cloud, while minimum temperature barely changes; while in the cold season with snow cover, maximum temperature decreases with decreasing cloud, and minimum temperature decreases even more. In the warm season, the diurnal ranges of temperature, relative humidity, equivalent potential temperature, and the pressure height of the lifting condensation level are all tightly coupled to the opaque cloud cover. Given over 600 station-years of hourly data, we are able to extract, perhaps for the first time, the coupling between the cloud forcing and the warm season imbalance of the diurnal cycle, which changes monotonically from a warming and drying under clear skies to a cooling and moistening under cloudy skies with precipitation. Because we have the daily cloud radiative forcing, which is large, we are able to show that the memory of water storage anomalies, from precipitation and the snowpack, goes back many months. The spring climatology shows the memory of snowfall back through the entire winter, and the memory in summer, goes back to the months of snowmelt. Lagged precipitation anomalies modify the thermodynamic coupling of the diurnal cycle to the cloud forcing, and shift the diurnal cycle of the mixing ratio, which has a double peak. The seasonal extraction of the surface total water storage is a large damping of the interannual variability of precipitation anomalies in the growing season. The large land-use change from summer fallow to intensive cropping, which peaked in the early 1990s, has led to a coupled climate response that has cooled and moistened the growing season, lowering cloud-base, increasing equivalent potential temperature, and increasing precipitation. We show a simplified energy balance of the Prairies during the growing season, and its dependence on reflective cloud.

Canada has natural solutions to support its efforts to tackle climate change: forests, wetlands, grasslands, and agriculture., Alongside the steep reductions needed in fossil fuel emissions, natural climate solutions (NCS) represent readily deployable options that can contribute to Canada’s goals for emission reductions. We estimate the mitigation potential of 24 NCS related to the protection, management, and restoration of natural systems that can also deliver numerous co-benefits, such as enhanced soil productivity, clean air and water, and biodiversity conservation. NCS can provide up to 78.2 (41.0 to 115.1) Tg CO2e/year (95% CI) of mitigation annually in 2030 and 394.4 (173.2 to 612.4) Tg CO2e cumulatively between 2021 and 2030, with 34% available at ≤CAD 50/Mg CO2e. Avoided conversion of grassland, avoided peatland disturbance, cover crops, and improved forest management offer the largest mitigation opportunities. The mitigation identified here represents an important potential contribution to the Paris Agreement, such that NCS combined with existing mitigation plans could help Canada to meet or exceed its climate goals.

This article analyses the interaction between two policy areas affecting young people in England – housing and student funding. It is the first of its kind exploring a range of dynamics in the relationship between housing and student loan debt. Young people today are far less likely to own their home and are more likely to live with their parents than earlier generations. In parallel, higher education tuition fee increases have led to a growing share of students taking out loans and graduating with higher debt, which they will be repaying for most of their working lives. This research examines the relationship between student loans – having borrowed for higher education and attitudes towards debt – and housing tenure at age 25, using the Next Steps dataset. We find that young graduates who did not borrow for higher education are more likely to own their home and less likely to rent or live with their parents than graduates who borrowed for their studies or young people who never attended higher education. These results suggest that higher education funding policies and student loan debt play important roles in structuring young people’s housing in England.

This chapter presents aircraft-based methods of measuring the flux densities of sensible and latent heat, carbon dioxide, ozone, nitrous oxide, methane, and other trace gases. The main techniques and sensors that are used to measure flux densities with an aircraft are briefly described. Factors that affect the accuracy of those flux density measurements are discussed, including analysis techniques, run lengths, sampling heights, surface and environmental conditions, and data quality assessment. The use of aircraft-based flux density measurements to evaluate the representativeness of tower-based flux measurements is examined. The versatility of aircraft to act as sensor platforms under a wide range of conditions is demonstrated using several interesting examples. Future potential research directions are mentioned., Series: Springer Handbooks

The eddy-covariance (EC) method is the most direct micrometeorological approach to measure the surface–atmosphere trace gases under turbulent conditions. The measurement of trace gas fluxes by eddy covariance requires fast-response instruments (higher than 1 Hz) to measure the turbulent fluctuations of vertical wind velocity and trace gas mixing ratio. For many trace gas species, such fast-response analyzers are either not available or do not meet the required precision, long-term stability, and ease of operation under field conditions. Thus, a range of alternative flux measurement techniques have been developed to relax the requirement for fast response time and precision of analysis of the targeted trace gases. These alternative trace gas flux measurement methods are based on surface layer gradients, eddy accumulation, and disjunct eddy-covariance approaches. Of these, the two latter are presented in this chapter. In addition, the surface layer renewal approach, which can be used to understand turbulent exchange processes, and the nocturnal boundary layer Keeling plot approach for determination of the isotopic composition of emitted gases under stable conditions are also described.

The discussion of diversified protein sources triggered by the 2019 Canadian Food Guide has implications for Canada&rsquo, s livestock industry. In response to this discussion, a scenario analysis is conducted on the potential impact of reducing red meat consumption on the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from Canadian livestock production. This analysis uses medical recommendations as a proxy for healthy servings of red meat. For simplicity, it was assumed that red meat is either beef or pork and that broilers are the only nonred meat choice. The medical scenario is combined with four livestock production scenarios for these three livestock types. Broiler consumption is allowed to expand to maintain national protein intake in all four scenarios. Under the medical scenario, red meat consumption in Canada would decrease from 2.5 Mt to 1.9 Mt of live weight. A feedlot diet for slaughter cattle, and a 50:50 split of the medically recommended red meat intake of beef and pork (Scenario 1), reduced GHG emissions by 3.9 Mt CO2e from the 20.6 Mt CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) for current consumption. Replacing the feedlot beef diet by grass fed beef (Scenario 2) increased GHG emissions by 1.5 Mt CO2e over Scenario 1. Halving the consumption of grass fed beef and increasing pork by 50% (Scenario 3) reduced GHG by 7.7 Mt CO2e. Reverting back to the feedlot diet, and the same 25:75 beef&ndash, pork ratio (Scenario 4), increased the GHG emissions reduction to 8.9 Mt CO2e. Without including the emission savings from the medical scenario, GHG reductions from Scenarios 3 and 4 dropped to 3.8 Mt and 5.0 Mt CO2e, respectively. No scenario exceeded the feed grain area required to meet the 2017 consumption of these commodities, but Scenario 2 required more forage area compared to consumption in 2017.

The two main sources of CH4 from the agricultural sector are enteric fermentation and manure management systems. Canada uses the IPCC Tier-II methodology to estimate CH4 for its national inventory report of GHG emissions to UNFCCC, which is based on a bottom-up approach using activity data and emission factors obtained through site level experimental measurements. However, because of the presence of wetlands in some agricultural regions, it has been challenging to obtain accurate CH4 emission estimates at a regional scale.This study explores the usefulness of S5P methane product for verifying methane emission estimates in eastern Ontario agricultural land. We investigated the spatiotemporal variability of total column methane mixing ratio, as well as other detailed data layers in the TROPOMI product, such as averaging kernels and a prior profiles. The spatial temporal patterns of wetland methane emission derived from the global WetCHARTs dataset, and a prior knowledge of livestock distribution in the region, are used to interpret S5P methane product. Results showed that TROPOMI methane product provides great spatiotemporal coverage that can be used to verify CH4 emissions from agricultural landscape. This will be useful to reduce methane estimation uncertainties at the regional and national scales.

This paper demonstrates the use of climatological data and published information to develop a thaw-freeze/freeze-kill indicator for fruit trees during flowering. In fruit-producing regions, when budding and flowering occur before the last spring freeze, a freeze-kill event can cause substantial losses. As spring onset is occurring earlier with climate change, thaw-freeze events have the potential to become more of a hazard both in terms of current production and in terms of potential adaptation strategies. To model the spring thaw-freeze and its magnitude or intensity, we proposed an indicator based on the accumulation of daily minimum temperature between successive freezing dates and its maximum value over the spring. This indicator was tested on apple and peach production in southern Ontario, Canada, using data from eight climate stations in southern Ontario. The indicator showed promise in its utility in that its magnitude was greater when freezing occurred after blooming and it was demonstrated to be correlated to the estimated blooming dates of apple and peach fruits grown in southern Ontario. The annual series was shown to fit the generalized extreme value distribution thereby allowing the extreme risk to be modelled and the return period to be calculated. It was also shown that the reported thaw-freeze events that caused significant apple and peach losses had a return period on the order of 10 years.

The Fruit And Vegetable Energy (FAVE) model was developed to quantify the energy budget and fossil CO2 emissions in this paper. The energy terms considered were fieldwork, irrigation, on-farm cooling, farm building maintenance, off-farm transport, and N fertilizer supply, with an estimate of farm machinery supply energy integrated with the farm fieldwork energy CO2 emission intensity estimates. The 31 vegetable crops and 18 fruit crops identified in the socio-economic Canadian data base (CANSIM) were divided into six vegetable groups and five fruit groups, along with potatoes. The data provided by the 1996 Farm Energy Use Survey (FEUS) and the guidance provided by two grower focus groups were essential to the development of this model. Total energy use in Canada between 2007 and 2016 was 2.3 PJ by the vegetable industry and 2.32 PJ by the fruit industry. These included 0.77 PJ for fieldwork, 1.05 PJ for irrigation, 0.36 PJ for on-farm coolers, 0.67 PJ for farm building maintenance, 0.70 PJ for off-farm transport and 1.07 PJ for fertilizer supply. The FAVE model was used to determine the fossil CO2 emission intensities of 12 individual crops.

PURPOSE Medical school admissions committees are tasked with fulfilling the values of their institutions through careful recruitment. Making accurate predictions regarding enrollment behavior of admitted students is critical to intentionally formulating class composition and impacts long-term physician representation. The predictive accuracy and potential advantages of employing an enrollment predictive model in medical school admissions compared with expert human judgment have not been tested. METHOD The enrollment management-based predictive model previously generated using historical data was employed to provide a predicted enrollment percentage for each admitted student in the 2016-2017 application pool (N = 352). Concurrently, the human expert created a predicted enrollment percentage for each applicant while blinded to the values generated by the model. An absolute error for each applicant for both approaches was calculated. Statistical significance between approaches (expert vs. enrollment model) was assessed using t tests. RESULTS The enrollment management approach was noninferior to expert prediction in all cases (P < .05) with a superior correct classification rate (77.7% vs. 71.2%). When considering subgroup analyses for specific populations of potential importance in recruiting (underrepresented in medicine, female, and in-state applicants), the enrollment management predictions were statistically more accurate (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS Examining a single admitted class, the enrollment predictions using the enrollment management model were at least as accurate as the expert human estimates, and in specific populations of interest more accurate. This information can be readily exported for a real-time dashboard system to drive recruitment behaviors.

Global demand for food and energy pushes the agrifood sector to increase production which, in turn, increases pressures on ecosystems. An integrated approach is essential to cope with agro-environmental challenges and ensure sustainable agricultural productions. The current study follows the principles of industrial ecology and explores potential greenhouse gas mitigation practices by considering multiple agricultural sectors as complementary industries. The focus of the study was the production of meat, considering the dairy and beef industries as complementary sectors. They were studied as an integrated system in order to evaluate how these two meat production systems can contribute at reducing environmental impacts and make agricultural productions more sustainable. We use Canada as an example because it has two very different meat production systems: Western Canada raise beef cattle quasi-exclusively and has relatively few dairy cattle; in contrast, Eastern Canada, has a balanced production of beef and dairy cattle (about 50/50). This situation provides an ideal opportunity to achieve the objective of this study. Calculations were based on the Unified Livestock Industry and Crop Emissions Estimation System (ULICEES) calculator. Our results show synergy between integrated beef and dairy systems in Eastern Canada resulted in a 22% lower carbon footprint (CF) of meat compared to the scenario where meat was only produced by the beef industry. A scenario where western Canada would have equal size dairy and beef populations indicated that western meat CFs would be 31% lower than its current levels. This study illustrates how complementary multi-product agricultural production systems acting in synergy can increase production efficiencies compared to specialized single-product systems. It shows that such production strategy represents one of the great opportunities to reduce the environmental impacts from agricultural production systems.

The effects of manure management practices on ammonia (NH3) emissions were evaluated using a micrometeorological technique at four contrasting dairy storage facilities: untreated raw manure slurry (RM), solid-liquid separation with storage of separated liquids (SL), anaerobic digestion of manure and off-farm materials (AD), and anaerobic digestion with solid-liquid separation and storage of the liquid fraction (ADL). Annual average NH3 emissions per surface area were lowest for RM (2.7 g m−2 d−1), followed by SL (4.5 g m−2 d−1), AD (10.0 g m−2 d−1), and ADL (15.5 g m−2 d−1). Lower NH3 emissions from the RM storage were partly due to the 30 cm thick surface crust which formed on the storage surface in summer (wood shavings was used as bedding). Greater surface crusting at the AD storage compared to the ADL storage was also likely the reason for higher emissions at the ADL storage. Relationships between NH3 emissions, temperature, and wind-speed were observed at all sites but were strongest at sites with minimal crusting (SL, ADL) and weak at the RM storage with a crust cover. Total NH3 emissions from each storage facility (kg y−1) did not simply track the differences in fluxes; rather, facilities with greater storage (RM, AD, ADL) had higher emissions than the facility with less storage (SL) due to removal of solids and more frequent field application. Overall, bedding material, manure processing, and storage management all have important effects on NH3 emissions from manure storage.

Accurately accounting for water budgets within regional agroecosystems is becoming an increasingly important practice, as both climate change and water consumption pressures have the potential for influencing agro-productivity and other water use activities. In this study, water budget measurements from 10 rainfed experimental sites across Canada were utilized to evaluate the performance of three models for their water partitioning capabilities: denitrification–decomposition (DNDC), Holos, and versatile soil moisture budget (VSMB). To assess the likely model performance at an upscaled national level, the models were applied at the site level with no water component-specific calibration. Evapotranspiration (ET) was found to be the dominate component of the water budget at the prairie sites (89%–149% of precipitation) (i.e., in comparison to runoff, tile drainage, and deep percolation), while both ET (37%–73% of precipitation) and drainage (19%–61% of precipitation) represented most of the water outflow bud...

Agro-ecosystem models, such as the DNDC (DeNitrification and DeComposition) model are useful tools when assessing the sustainability of agricultural management. Accuracy in soil temperature estimations is important as it regulates many important soil biogeochemical processes that lead to greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The objective of this study was to account for the effects of snow cover in terms of the measured snow depth (mm of water), soil texture and crop management in temperate latitudes in order to improve the surface soil temperature mechanism in DNDC and thereby improve GHG predictions. The estimation of soil temperature driven by the thermal conductivity and heat capacity of the soil was improved by considering the soil texture under frozen and unfrozen conditions along with the effects of crop canopy and snow depth. Calibration of the developed model mechanisms was conducted using data from Alfred, ON under two contrasting soil textures (sandy loam vs. clay). Independent validation assessments were conducted using soil temperatures at different depths for contrasting managements for two field sites located in Canada (Guelph, ON and Glenlea, MB). The validation results indicated high model accuracy (R 2 > 0.90, EF ≥ 0.90, RMSE 2 O emissions during spring thaw and provide a foundation for future studies aimed at improving simulations in DNDC for better representations of other biogeochemical processes.

Purpose Bilingual individuals have been shown to be more proficient on visual tasks of inhibition compared with their monolingual counterparts. However, the bilingual advantage has not been evidenced in all studies, and very little is known regarding how bilingualism influences inhibitory control in the perception of auditory information. The purpose of the current study was to examine inhibition of irrelevant information using auditory and visual tasks in English monolingual and Spanish–English bilingual adults. Method Twenty English monolinguals and 19 early balanced Spanish–English bilinguals participated in this study. All participants were 18–30 years of age, had hearing thresholds < 25 dB HL from 250 to 8000 Hz, bilaterally (American National Standards Institute, 2003), and were right handed. Inhibition was measured using a forced-attention dichotic consonant–vowel listening task and the Simon task, a nonverbal visual test. Results Both groups of participants demonstrated a significant right ear advantage on the dichotic listening task; however, no significant differences in performance were evidenced between the monolingual and bilingual groups in any of the dichotic listening conditions. Both groups performed better on the congruent trial than on the incongruent trial of the Simon task and had significantly faster response times on the congruent trial than on the incongruent trial. However, there were no significant differences in performance between the monolingual and bilingual groups on the visual test of inhibition. Conclusions No significant differences in performance on auditory and visual tests of inhibition of irrelevant information were evidenced between the monolingual and bilingual participants in this study. These findings suggest that bilinguals may not exhibit an advantage in the inhibition of irrelevant information compared with monolinguals.

This paper studies the patterns of individuals’ student loan repayment for up to 12 years, tracking borrowers through the formative ages of the early 20s to the late 30s. Using social sequence and cluster analysis to understand these longitudinal repayment histories, we identify five archetypes of loan repayment that describe borrowers’ experiences: persistent defaulters, perpetual payers, rapid full payers, late full payers, and consolidators. We find significant stratification by race/ethnicity, social class, and institutional sector into repayment clusters, with minoritized borrowers and those attending for-profit institutions more likely to experience adverse borrowing outcomes and to experience them for longer.

Carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide are two important greenhouse gases (GHG) released from cropping systems. Their emissions can vary substantially with climate, soil, and crop management. While different methods are available to account for GHG emissions in life cycle assessments (LCA) of crop production, there are no standard procedures. In this study, the objectives were: (i) to compare several methods of estimating CO 2 and N 2 O emissions for a LCA of cropping systems and (ii) to estimate the relative contribution of soil GHG emissions to the overall global warming potential (GWP) using results from a field experiment located in Manitoba, Canada. The methods were: (A) measurements; (B) Tier I and (C) Tier II IPCC (Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change) methodology, (D) a simple carbon model combined with Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) Tier II methodology for soil N 2 O emissions, and (E) the DNDC (DeNitrification DeComposition) agroecosystem model. The estimated GWPs (−7.2–17 Mg CO 2 eq ha −1 y −1 ; −80 to 600 kg CO 2 eq GJ −1 y −1 ) were similar to previous results in North America and no statistical difference was found between GWP based on methods D and E and GWP based on observations. The five methods gave estimates of soil CO 2 emissions that were not statistically different from each other, whereas for N 2 O emissions only DNDC estimates were similar to observations. Across crop types, all methods gave comparable CO 2 and N 2 O emission estimates for perennial and legume crops, but only DNDC gave similar results with respect to observations for both annual and cereal crops. Whilst the results should be confirmed for other locations, the agroecosystem model and method D can be used, at certainly one selected site, in place of observations for estimating GHGs in agricultural LCA.

Process-based models are useful tools for estimating the complex interactions between plant, soil and climate systems, assessments which are necessary for improving nutrient cycling and reducing trace gas emissions. Incorporation of knowledge gained through new research is ongoing, thus there is a need for evaluation of model processes and process interactions. In this study, three sites in eastern Canada (St. Bruno, St. Jean, and Ottawa) planted with spring wheat during the years 1993–2007 were used to evaluate and compare the water and N process simulations of the models DayCent, DNDC, and STICS. The simulated soil moisture by all models was generally well represented with low ARE ( 0.1. The unsaturated flow mechanism included in DayCent further improved soil moisture estimates compared to the other models. When sufficient replicate data was available measurement variability was considered, resulting in soil nitrogen being only slightly underestimated (ARE of −10, −1, and −22%, for DayCent, DNDC, and STICS, respectively). On average across the three sites, considering all statistics, the DNDC model proved to be most accurate for simulating mineral N, followed by DayCent and then STICS. Continued process model development is reliant on measurement datasets that can accurately represent carbon and nitrogen dynamics. Frequently, site specific biases convolute model mechanism evaluation and thus assessments have to be conducted across numerous sites to better benchmark model performance. On this premise a comprehensive multi-site inter-model mechanism evaluation was conducted and future model development needs were identified.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which intervention with hearing aids, namely, a 6-week hearing aid field trial, can minimize the psychosocial consequences of hearing loss in adults who have previously not sought treatment for their hearing loss. Method Twenty-four adults with mild to moderate bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, who had never worn hearing aids or sought help for their hearing loss, participated in this study. Participants were fitted with receiver-in-canal hearing aids, bilaterally, and wore them for 6 weeks. Participants completed subjective measures of hearing handicap and attitudes about hearing loss and hearing aids before, during, and after the hearing aid trial. A control group of age-matched participants followed the same experimental protocol, except they were not fitted with hearing aids. Results Using hearing aids for 6 weeks significantly reduced participants' perceived stigma of hearing aids, personal distress and inadequacy due to hearing difficulties, and hearing handicap. Conclusions A hearing aid trial can have a positive effect on a person's attitudes toward wearing hearing aids and decrease hearing handicap.

A growing number and proportion of students rely on student loans to assist with the costs of postsecondary education. Yet little is known about how first-generation students use federal loans to finance their education. In this article, we examine each of the decisions that culminate in student indebtedness: the decision to apply for aid, whether to borrow, and how much to borrow. We find significant differences by generational status at each step of the student borrowing process. First-generation students are more likely to apply for financial aid, borrow, and take out larger loans than their peers, after controlling for a rich set of covariates for costs and financial resources. We find that student characteristics cannot fully explain these observed differences in borrowing outcomes across generations.

This paper uses 620 station years of hourly Canadian Prairie climate data to analyze the coupling of monthly near-surface climate with opaque cloud, a surrogate for radiation, and precipitation anomalies. While the cloud–climate coupling is strong, precipitation anomalies impact monthly climate for as long as 5 months. The April climate has memory of precipitation anomalies back to freeze-up in November, mostly stored in the snowpack. The summer climate has memory of precipitation anomalies back to the beginning of snowmelt in March. In the warm season, mean temperature is strongly correlated to opaque cloud anomalies, but only weakly to precipitation anomalies. Mixing ratio anomalies are correlated to precipitation, but only weakly to cloud. The diurnal cycle of mixing ratio shifts upward with increasing precipitation anomalies. Positive precipitation anomalies are coupled to a lower afternoon lifting condensation level and a higher afternoon equivalent potential temperature; both favor increased convection and precipitation. Regression coefficients on precipitation increase from wet to dry conditions. This is consistent with increased uptake of soil water when monthly precipitation is low, until drought conditions are reached, and also consistent with gravity satellite observations. Regression analysis shows monthly opaque cloud cover is tightly correlated to three climate variables that are routinely observed: diurnal temperature range, mean temperature, and mean relative humidity. The set of correlation coefficients, derived from cloud and climate observations, could be used to evaluate the representation of the land–cloud–atmosphere system in both forecast and climate models.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from enteric and manure management (MM) activities tend to dominate the carbon footprint of beef and milk production. In this study, a comparative life cycle assessment of dairy milk production (cradle-to-farm gate) was undertaken where the trade-offs of an automated composter-separator technology were contrasted to those of a conventional liquid manure storage system. A simulation of a dairy farm in Ontario, Canada was carried out using the process based manure-DeNitrification DeComposition (Manure-DNDC) model after it was calibrated to a comprehensive set of on-farm MM GHG emission measurements. Results indicated that the active composter system on this farm reduced the carbon footprint (CF) of milk production by 36% (from 1.92 to 1.23 kg CO 2 eq kg −1 fat-protein corrected milk). For the simulated dairy farm system with only liquid manure storage as a treatment option, the GHG emissions (mainly methane) from the manure storage tank contributed 56% of the carbon footprint, which surpassed the contribution from enteric methane emissions. On the other hand, for the dairy farm with the active composter system, GHG emissions from manure (34% of CF) and enteric emissions (31% of CF) were found to be nearly equivalent in terms of carbon footprint contribution. The composter system created other life cycle benefits (no need to import sand for bedding, increased soil carbon sequestration) and burdens (increased on-farm electricity demand for composter operation), however, the relative contributions of these additional trade-offs were small. Given these additional trade-offs were minor, the GHG mitigation potential of this manure composting technology is likely high in any region of application. In addition, the dairy system with the composter created only marginal problem shifting concerns in terms of the non-CF environmental impact categories considered. For the 146 lactating dairy cow system investigated, an estimated 1460 tCO 2 eq in life-cycle GHG emissions reduction can be achieved on an annual basis. The benefits of manure composter solutions should provide an impetus for jurisdictions to explore the development of climate policies that incentivize increased adoption rates of this important climate change mitigation opportunity.

Process-based biogeochemical models such as the DeNitrification-DeComposition (DNDC) and DayCent models can provide reliable estimations of components of the nitrogen (N) cycle but have rarely been evaluated for a more complete N balance. This is important in order to assess the long-term effects of management practices on soil and environmental quality. Using published data collected from a long term study in the Canadian semi-arid prairie, the Canadian DNDC version (DNDC v.CAN) and DayCent models were evaluated for their ability to simulate the long term nitrogen dynamics and budgets as well as nitrogen use efficiencies (NUEs) in a loam/silt loam soil for three distinct spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cropping systems. Both DNDC v.CAN and DayCent models predicted the spring wheat grain yields, above-ground plant biomass and nitrogen uptake well. The predicted NUEs in DNDC v.CAN, calculated using two approaches with respect to grain yield and grain N concentration, indicated good correlations to the observed values with r ≥ 0.70 and low biases and average relative errors. The N balances were also simulated well in the two models, however DayCent showed a higher estimate of the deficit between N inputs and outputs, termed ‘Unaccounted N’, in all three systems compared to DNDC v.CAN. For both model simulations and the observed data, N outputs in the form of grain N uptake and N losses (nitrogen leaching, N gas emissions) were greater than N inputs except in the ContW (NP) system. In general, a multiple linear regression for estimations of NUEs with respect to N balance and N inputs across all three cropping systems showed that, DNDC v.CAN correlated better with the observed data compared to DayCent. Thus, based on model performance in this study, DNDC v.CAN as a process-based model offers promise as a tool for analyzing different cropping systems with varying N rates in terms of N dynamics and subsequent environmental impacts and benefits.

We quantify the biases in the diurnal cycle of air temperature in ERA5, using hourly climate station data for four stations in Saskatchewan, Canada. Compared with ERA-Interim, the biases in ERA5 have been greatly reduced, and show no differences with snow cover. We compute fits to the ERA5 mean air temperature biases based on ERA5 effective cloud albedo. They can be used to improve the ERA5 diurnal cycle of air temperature for modeling agricultural processes. Diurnally, ERA5 has a negative wind speed bias, which increases quasi-linearly with wind speed, and is greater in the daytime than at night. We evaluate ERA5 precipitation against the original climate station precipitation data, and a second generation adjusted precipitation dataset by Mekis and Vincent (2011). For the warm season, ERA5 has a high bias of 8 ± 9% above the Mekis dataset. ERA5 is −22 ± 7% below the Mekis estimate in winter, suggesting that their correction with snow may be too large. It is likely that the ERA5 precipitation bias is small, which is encouraging for agricultural modeling. Data from a BSRN site near Regina shows that the biases in the downwelling shortwave and longwave radiation estimates in ERA5 are small, and have changed little from ERA-Interim. We show that the annual cycle of the Saskatchewan surface energy and water budgets in ERA5 are realistic. In particular the damping of extremes in summer precipitation by the extraction of soil water is comparable in ERA5 to our earlier observational estimate based on gravity satellite data.

Purpose The purposes of the current study were to examine the effect of age on Spanish–English bilinguals' speech recognition performance and to identify differences in speech recognition performance between Spanish and English bilinguals' 1st and 2nd languages. Method Fifteen younger adult Spanish–English bilinguals, 15 older adult Spanish–English bilinguals, 15 younger adult English monolinguals, and 15 older adult English monolinguals participated in this study. Bilingual participants had learned Spanish from birth and began learning English by the age of 4 years ( SD = 2.7). Speech recognition performance was measured using the Spanish and English versions of the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT; Nilsson, Soli, & Sullivan, 1994 ) presented in quiet and in a speech-shaped background noise. Participants also completed a self-assessment of the listening effort they expended on the HINT in background noise. Results There were no significant differences in performance within or between the participant groups for the HINT in quiet. In background noise, Spanish–English bilinguals performed significantly poorer and had increased listening effort on the English HINT than English monolinguals, with the most significant effects evidenced for the older Spanish–English bilingual group. Overall, the bilingual participants performed significantly better and expended less listening effort on the Spanish than on the English HINT in background noise, despite learning both languages at an early age. Conclusions Older Spanish–English bilinguals are at an increased disadvantage in understanding English in background noise compared to older English monolinguals. This suggests that current clinical audiological evaluation and treatment procedures may need to be modified to better serve an older bilingual population.

The rapid increase in the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) has given rise to international commitments to reduce GHG emissions such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Climate Agreement. If countries are going to be successful in meeting their commitments and help reduce the impact of climate change, it is essential that all sectors of the economy be part of the solution. In Canada, the agriculture sector, which encompasses a wide array of production systems and commodities, accounts for about 12% of the anthropogenic GHG emissions. Numerous techniques have been developed to quantify GHG emissions from the agriculture sector. The data collected have been used to calculate the carbon footprints of a wide range of agricultural products and to develop indicators to help formulate climate change mitigation and adaptation policies for the sector. It is well known that agricultural soils have lost large quantities of carbon in the past. With some of the changes in management practices, agricultural soils in some regions have now become significant sinks of carbon. The agriculture sector is responsible for carbon dioxide emissions associated with fertilizer production, farm fieldwork operations, machinery supply and a variety of other smaller sources. It is also the biggest anthropogenic source of methane and nitrous oxide. If we are to promote the consumption of low carbon products, it is then important to have an accurate estimate of the GHG emissions associated with their production. Carbon footprint estimates vary substantially depending on the units and what is included in the calculations. Recent estimates of the carbon footprints per unit protein for animal products ranged from 215 kg CO2e for sheep to 15 kg CO2e for poultry–broiler meat. As expected, the carbon footprints per unit protein of plant products are substantially less. Some examples are presented on how the sharing of the environmental burden reduces the magnitude of the carbon footprints of certain products and how environmental indicators can be used to develop policies. These results highlight opportunities for climate change mitigation by consumers and producers of agricultural products in Canada.

Liquid manure storages are a significant source of methane (CH4) emissions. Farmers commonly agitate (stir) liquid manure prior to field application to homogenize nutrients and solids. During agita...

The challenges of accurately measuring in situ ammonia (NH3) losses from agricultural systems are well known. Using an open path laser coupled with a backward Lagrangian stochastic dispersion model is a promising approach for quantifying both point- and area-sources, however, this approach requires the open path laser to detect low NH3 concentrations and small concentration differences. In this study, we compared the new GasFinder3 open path laser (Boreal laser Inc., Edmonton, Canada) with the GasFinder2 sensor, the previous version. The study took place at two locations: an outdoor open-air manure compost site, and a field of wheat stubble which was fertilized with urea ammonium nitrate. Results showed the two lasers reported similar concentrations during three days of measurements at the compost site, but differed at the field site, where concentrations were close to the minimum detection limit. The GasFinder3 had a lower standard deviation under all conditions, especially with low wind speed and high relative humidity.

Surface albedo and soil carbon sequestration are influenced by agricultural management practices which impact the Earth's radiation budget and climate change. In this study we investigate the impact of reduced summer fallowing and reduced tillage in the Canadian Prairies on climate change by estimating the change in radiative forcing due to albedo and soil carbon sequestration. Seasonal variations of albedo, which are dependent on agricultural management practices and soil colour in three soil zones, were derived from 10-day composite 250-m Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. Using this information, we found an overall increase of surface albedo due to the conversion from summer fallowing to continuous cropping and from conventional tillage (CT) to either no-tillage (NT) or reduced tillage (RT). The increase was dependent on soil brightness, type of vegetation and snow cover. Using data from the Census of Agriculture and taking into consideration both albedo and soil carbon changes, we estimated that from 1981 to 2016, the total radiative forcing for the cropland area in the Canadian Prairies was −405 μW m−2 due to the conversion of CT to either NT or RT and about 70% was due to the change in albedo. During the same period, the total radiative forcing was −410 μW m−2 due to a reduction in the area under summer fallow and about 62% was due to the change in albedo. The equivalent atmospheric CO2 drawdown from these two management changes from albedo change was about 7.8 and 8.7 Tg CO2 yr−1, respectively. These results demonstrate that it is important to consider both the changes of soil carbon and surface albedo in evaluating climate change impacts due to agricultural management practices.