In this thesis mercury concentrations in biota of the upper South Saskatchewan River Basin are assessed in three non-industrialized systems. Mercury levels in large sport fish (northern pike, walleye, lake trout) frequently exceeded the consumption limit of 0.5ppm. Goldeye and mooneye of the Oldman River and lake whitefish of Waterton Lakes were below 0.5ppm total mercury. Agricultural and urban effluents constituted no sources of significant mercury loadings to the Oldman River. A doubling of mercury biomagnification factors between longnose dace and their food suggests bioenergetic heterogeneity of these fish along the river gradient. Basin-specific mercury levels were detected for the upper and middle basins in Waterton Lakes, and are associated with food web characteristics, and fish bioenergetics. High mercury levels in a new reservoir were in part attributed to increased loadings from flooded soils, as is commonly observed, but also to bioenergetic constraints and growth inefficiency as a result of non-piscivory of this population. / xiii, 130 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm. --

Thèse (M. A.)--Université Laval, 1997. / Bibliogr.: f. 105-112. Publié aussi en version électronique.

Name of student: Marianna Vavříková Leader of the master thesis: Mgr. Kateřina Svěcená, PhD. Topic of the master thesis: Objectification of The Alberta Infant Motor Scale for Czech Republic Background: In the Czech Republic there is not a lot of standardized assessments for children which are formed for the Czech population. It is possible to use assessments from other countries. But for well interpreting of results and for good evidence based practice therapists need to have Czech normative data. Aims: Aim of this study was to make pilot study for using Alberta Infant Motor Scale. And then identify whether Czech therapists need to make new Czech normative data or if it is possible to use the Canadian ones. Methods: Alberta Infant Motor Scale was used on 31 Czech children. Assessment was used in home setting with presence of mother. All of assessments were videotaped. Each video was analyzed and the child obtained score after home visit. All mothers were informed about the research and anonymity was kept. Results: In the gross motor development Czech population is retarded in comparison with the Canadian normative data. Except children in ages 0 - < 1 and 1 - < 2 months. For using Alberta Infant Motor Scale new Czech normative data are needed. Key words: Alberta Infant Motor Scale Standardized...

Congenital Zika syndrome can cause a number of changes in the child, including severe brain abnormalities. Injuries to the developing central nervous system result in sensorimotor disorders with repercussions on motor performance. Physical therapy allows the acquisition of motor skills based on the child's interaction with the environment and the task. The present study aimed to analyze the role of physiotherapy in the acquisition of the motor skills of children with congenital Zika syndrome. This is a clinical trial developed at the Physiotherapy Clinic of the University Hospital of Sergipe, with a sample of 46 children with congenital Zika syndrome. Data collection was from January 2016 to December 2017, at the physiotherapeutic admission of the child and at 18 months of age. The children were stratified according to the age group in the initial evaluation. In the first moment, a form was designed to record information on the identification and clinical characteristics of mothers and children, sociodemographic characteristics of families, neurological and musculoskeletal disorders, and type of neurological lesion. The severity of the neurological lesion was classified based on the data obtained in the medical record in the transfontanel ultrasonography report, based on the Noyola Classification System. Motor skills were assessed through the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS), stratified scores by age group and subgroup of neurological injury. The children were then submitted to a physiotherapy program, with a frequency of two weekly sessions and a duration of up to 50 minutes each. The program was based on the principles of neurodevelopment therapy (Bobath), muscle stretching and passive mobilizations. When children completed 18 months of age, motor skills reassessment was performed through the AIMS. The results showed that there was an increase in the total score comparing the initial evaluation and at 18 months of age in the children who started physical therapy with age from 0 to 6 months (p <0.0001). Despite this increase, the total scores of the study sample at 18 months were significantly lower than the normative values, with a significant difference (p <0.0001). In the initial evaluation, only children older than 4 months of age presented motor impairment when compared with normative values (p <0.0001). As for most neurological lesions, the degree was moderate to severe, with a predominance of multiple calcifications, mainly cortical-subcortical, severe cortical atrophy and agenesis / hypoplasia of the corpus callosum. The severity and type of neurological lesions in children with congenital Zika syndrome suggest impairment of neuronal migration and proliferation related to motor dysfunction. However, early physiotherapy promoted a difference in the behavior of the motor skills of these children. / A síndrome da Zika congênita pode causar um conjunto de alterações na criança, dentre elas graves anomalias cerebrais. As lesões do sistema nervoso central em desenvolvimento acarretam em desordens sensoriomotoras com repercussão no desempenho motor. A fisioterapia possibilita a aquisição de habilidades motoras a partir da interação da criança com o ambiente e com a tarefa. O presente estudo teve como objetivo analisar o papel da fisioterapia na aquisição das habilidades motoras de crianças com a síndrome da Zika congênita. Trata-se de um ensaio clínico, desenvolvido no ambulatório de fisioterapia do Hospital Universitário de Sergipe, com amostra constituída por 46 crianças com a síndrome da Zika congênita. A coleta de dados ocorreu de janeiro de 2016 a dezembro de 2017, na admissão fisioterapêutica da criança e ao completar 18 meses de idade. As crianças foram estratificadas de acordo com a faixa etária na avaliação inicial. No primeiro momento foi aplicado formulário construído para registro de informações referentes a identificação e características clinicas das mães e das crianças, características sociodemográficas das famílias, alterações neurológicas e musculoesqueléticas e tipo de lesão neurológica. Classificou-se a gravidade da lesão neurológica, a partir dos dados obtidos em prontuário no laudo da ultrassonografia transfontanela, baseada no Sistema de Classificação de Noyola. Foi realizada avaliação das habilidades motoras através da Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS), estratificados escores por faixa etária e por subgrupo de lesão neurológica. Em seguida, as crianças foram submetidas a um programa de fisioterapia, com frequência de duas sessões semanais e duração de até 50 minutos cada. O programa baseou-se nos princípios da terapia do neurodesenvolvimento (Bobath), alongamentos musculares e mobilizações passivas. Quando as crianças completaram 18 meses de idade, foi realizada reavaliação das habilidades motoras por meio da AIMS. Os resultados apontaram que houve aumento do escore total comparando a avaliação inicial e aos 18 meses de idade, nas crianças que iniciaram a fisioterapia com idade de 0 a 6 meses (p<0,0001). Apesar deste aumento, os escores totais da amostra do estudo aos 18 meses são bastantes inferiores aos valores normativos, com diferença significativa (p<0,0001). Na avaliação inicial, somente as crianças com idade superior a 4 meses de idade apresentaram comprometimento motor ao comparar com os valores normativos (p<0,0001). Quanto as lesões neurológicas, em sua maioria, o grau foi de moderado a grave com predomínio de calcificações múltiplas, principalmente córtico-subcortical, atrofia cortical grave e agenesia/ hipoplasia de corpo caloso. A gravidade e o tipo das lesões neurológicas nas crianças com síndrome da Zika congênita, sugerem comprometimento da migração e proliferação neuronal, relacionados com a disfunção motora. Porém, a fisioterapia precoce promoveu uma diferença no comportamento das habilidades motoras dessas crianças. / Aracaju

Adequate and appropriate means of mobility are essential for the psychological and physical well-being of elderly persons. Elderly persons who live in urban regions encounter barriers to their mobility which are unique to them as group. Physical, psychological, and financial factors interact with urban form and the organization of public transportation to constrain access to usual private and public modes of transportation. As a result, many of the urban elderly cannot walk, drive, ride as a passenger, or ride on public transportation to important destinations. The demand for transportation by the urban elderly will be influenced by the following trends: - the aging of urban populations, - the growth of the frail elderly (persons over 75 years of age), - de-institutionalization, - suburbanization, - improving health and income status of elderly persons. The continuation of these trends will challenge planners to design transportation systems which are effective and efficient, and at the same time satisfactory to the elderly. There are three types of possible solutions to the mobility problems of an increasing number of urban elderly persons: - land-use planning, - the design traffic systems to accommodate elderly drivers, - the design of public transportation systems. Planners do not have the necessary instruments to implement effective land use solutions. Accommodating an increase in the number of elderly drivers conflicts with social goals to increase public transportation use by all age groups. The thesis argues the most effective solutions for overcoming elderly mobility problems are based on the design of public transportation systems. There are two public transportation solutions for assisting elderly persons with mobility problems. The first is making conventional public transportation more accessible. The second is expanding specialized transportation which is the focus of this thesis. Three policy issues have dominated the history of specialized transportation in North America. The first policy issue is whether public resources for assisting the transportation handicapped should be allocated to accessible conventional public transportation, or allocated to expanding specialized transportation. This is a debate as to which public transportation solution is the most effective for overcoming elderly mobility problems. The other two policy issues relate specifically to the design of specialized transportation. The second policy issue is what level of centralization provides the most effective and satisfactory service. The third policy issue is what are the appropriate roles of the public, non-profit, and for-profit sectors in the management and delivery of service. A particular specialized transportation system can be described by how the three policy issues have been resolved in the urban region this system serves. A specialized transportation system can be evaluated by indicators of efficiency, effectiveness, and elderly satisfaction. These descriptive and evaluative indicators are used to examine and compare specialized transportation in Greater Vancouver, Metropolitan Toronto, and the City of Edmonton. Four recommendations, based on the comparative examination, are made as to how specialized transportation in Greater Vancouver can be made more effective, efficient, and satisfactory to the elderly. These recommendations are: - further allocations of public resources to assist the transportation handicapped should be directed at specialized transportation; - greater use of telecommunications and computer technology to increase the effectiveness of scheduling and dispatching trips; - implement a block grant program to assist in the establishment of community based transportation alternatives; - implement a user side subsidy program as soon as possible; / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

This research seeks a clearer understanding of the field of social justice education in Canada. Informed by multicultural and antiracist pedagogy, I explore the theoretical underpinnings and practical realities of this work among 11 activist Alberta teachers and students. Collaborative interviews with these participants reveal portraits of current activism in voluntary coalitions in secondary schools. Through guided critical self-reflection, fellow activists and I examine forming and sustaining ongoing projects. I present guiding hypotheses and assumptions that steer this research, and a theoretical framework that accommodates complex intersections of "race," class, gender, sexual orientation, and other considerations of social justice pedagogy and activism. This research addresses omissions in the educational literature; one such gap is a lack of research attention to young people—particularly to their role as active participants in social justice movements. In addition, I address teachers' previously undervalued role as crucial participants in educational policy development, reform efforts, and research on social justice education. Attending to the relatively few accounts of school-based action projects, I describe the integrative STOP model of student and community activism. An overview of the unique Canadian and regional contexts and recent political developments around social justice issues, and a summary of relevant research and theory from British and American literature, suggest specific areas of contention, influence, and overlap of relevance to this study. I employ a qualitative research methodology using a specific collaborative approach, and include details of participant selection, data gathering and analysis, and ethical considerations. Two chapters develop my research results along the lines traced by my guiding hypotheses. A concluding chapter outlines the specific significance of this research, factors that promote coalition-building, and promising avenues for further scholarly study. A value of this investigation is the rich offerings from my participants, whose reflections on their work are solidly grounded in understandings of daily activism. Their contributions show the potential mutual benefits of respectful research collaborations that both reveal and share the wisdom of social justice practitioners as theorists. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The study was conducted to monitor pesticide residues in groundwater of two agriculturally intensive regions of Alberta, to determine the occurrence of pesticide residues in soil and groundwater of an experimental plot in southern Alberta, and to investigate the influence of land management factors and soil depth on pesticide residues in soil. A total of 440 groundwater samples were collected in three years (2013-2015) and analyzed for the presence of 142 pesticides using Liquid-liquid Extraction (LLE) in combination with Gas Chromatography- Mass Selective Detector (GC-MSD) and Gas Chromatography - Tandem Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). Ten herbicides, seven insecticides, and six fungicides were detected. Herbicides 2,4-D, MCPA, and clopyralid were the most frequently detected, and the only pesticides consistently detected every year in both regions. Pesticides were detected more frequently in summer and fall compared to spring. 4.5% of the samples were contaminated with more than one pesticides. No pesticides exceeded the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality. Similarly, a total of 213 groundwater samples (December 2014-November 2015) and 61 soil samples (in December 2014) in duplicates were analysed from the experimental plots in Lethbridge. Soil samples were collected at various depths (0-75 cm) and analyzed for the presence of 130 pesticides. A linear mixed effect model was fitted to determine the effect of soil depth, cropping systems and manure amendments on pesticide concentration in soil. In groundwater, bentazone, 2,4-D, and MCPA occurred most frequently and pesticide detection frequency varied seasonally with greater detections in July and September compared to other months. 37 different pesticide compounds were detected, and DDT isomers, 2,4-D, difenoconazole, MCPA and trans-heptachlor epoxide accounted for 85% of all detections. p,p’-DDE, 2,4-D, p,p-DDT, difenoconazole and MCPA occurred throughout the soil column and all of these except p,p-DDT were detected in underlying groundwater. Bentazone was found in groundwater throughout the year but not in soil. A greater number and higher concentrations of pesticides were found in soil. However, not all of them leached to groundwater. Soil depth and cropping system were significantly associated with total pesticide and total DDT concentration in the soil. Manure amendments had no affect pesticide concentrations. / May 2017

No description available.

Recent studies of labour have clearly established that the capitalist state is very involved in the recruitment, relocation and retention of migrant labour forces. Most of the literature tends to analyze migrant labour within the broader social, political and economic context of expanding capitalism. Consequently, studies tend to focus on how the use of migrant labour is profitable to capitalism because it is cheap and easy to exploit. Such studies, however, neglect the ways in which the state actually intervenes in the labour market in order to facilitate the flow of migrant workers to places of employment. Therefore, this thesis explores the relationship between the migration of labour, the state and the reserve army of labour through an analysis of the Native migrant work force in the sugar beet industry in southern Alberta.<p> Through the use of archival material, which includes various federal and provincial documents, annual reports of the Alberta Sugar Beet Growers' Association, newspapers and other materials, the circumstances underlying state intervention in the economy of the southern sugar beet industry became clear. While analyzing the structure of the sugar beet industry in southern Alberta, it was found that throughout much of the history of the sugar beet industry, farmers received low returns for their beet crops. Moreover, farmers also suffered financially from the high cost of machinery and, more recently, from the increased costs for fertilizer and chemical weed controls.<p> An examination of government documents on the FederalProvincial Agricultural Manpower Committee, whose mandate was to recruit workers and move them to areas of need in agricultural sectors throughout Canada, revealed that the federal part of the committee was represented by officials from the Department of Manpower and Immigration and, beginning in the early 1950s, officials from the Department of Indian Affairs, who represented Indians on reserves.<p> When the working conditions in sugar beet industry were examined, it was found that they were very poor for beet workers. In general, the weeding and hoeing of the sugar beets was difficult and the housing accommodations inadequate. Moreover, because of the low return on their beet crops and the high costs of machinery, fertilizer and weed control, the farmers had to keep the cost of labour as low as possible, which, meant paying low wages to beet workers. Moreover, it was found that throughout much the history of the sugar beet industry in southern Alberta, agricultural workers were unprotected by labour laws, which, was very conducive to reproducing conditions for cheap labour. Consequently, few wanted to work in the beet fields of southern Alberta if other employment could be found.<p> Prior to the 1950s the state recruited immigrant workers and even prisoners of war from internment camps to supply farmers with the needed labour for their beet crops. However, in the early 1950s unskilled immigrant labour could no longer be procured for beet work. It was at this time that the sugar beet industry, through the Federal-Provincial Agricultural Manpower Committee, turned to recruiting Natives, particulary northern Alberta and northern Saskatchewan reserve Indians, to perform their labour requirements. In order to maintain this needed work force, the state helped organize Native migratation to southern Alberta at the start of the beet season and also helped ensure that they stayed there for the duration of the needed period.

This paper develops a framework that analyzes how mergers and acquisitions in Alberta’s oil and gas industry affect stock prices. In this experiment, a multivariate regression is applied to several industry-specific variables to determine if they have impacts on the abnormal stock returns of acquirers. The results show that abnormal returns 5 days prior to the public announcement of the transaction are, in fact, driven by several industry-specific variables. However, the returns immediately after the M & A announcements are similar to previous research done in other industries. Acquirers’ gains 2 days after the announcement are essentially unaffected by the transaction. After a 90-day period, the share performances of acquiring firms tend to beat the index by 7% on average, but this is not thoroughly explained by the variables in the regression analysis.