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Considering Autistic Women and Girls in Public Policy: A Review of British Columbia
No full textDespite growing evidence that sex and gender shape how autism is experienced, diagnosed, and supported, autistic women and girls remain critically overlooked in British Columbia’s autism policies. This gap contrasts with Canada’s equity commitments and raises urgent questions about the inclusivity of current policy frameworks. This capstone examines how government-produced materials referring to autism policies, supports, and services in British Columbia from 2014 to 2024 consider autistic women and girls. It offers the first comprehensive assessment of British Columbia’s autism policies through a gendered lens. Guided by Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) and the Intersectionality-Based Policy Analysis (IBPA) framework, this research examines how policies recognize identity, incorporate inclusive data practices, and meaningfully engage with diverse stakeholders. Through a scoping review methodology guided by JBI and PRISMA-ScR standards, 60 government-produced materials were analyzed. Only 13 sources referenced sex or gender, typically through prevalence statistics. One-third mentioned other identity factors, most commonly Indigeneity. However,inclusive data practices and diverse stakeholder engagement were limited overall. This capstone concludes with 12 Calls to Action, highlighting three overall priorities: (1) improve disaggregated data and stakeholder engagement, (2) implement a provincial autism strategy and/or legislation, and (3) update the National Autism Strategy to include gender-based considerations. Adopting these measures would align British Columbia’s autism policy with federal equity commitments and international best practices, ensuring autistic women and girls are recognized and addressed
Healthcare accessibility in yemen’s conflict zones: comprehensive review focused on strategies and solutions
No full textAbstract The nine-year ongoing conflict in Yemen accumulated humanitarian crisis, and severely struggling healthcare system. In the current review, we are trying here to elucidate the many perspective areas where the conflict in Yemen has made it harder to access medical care, emphasizing how the war has negatively affected medical infrastructure, caused a severe shortage of medical supplies, and obstructed access to or the ability to receive medical services. We conducted a comprehensive search across reports from in-ground working organizations like UN, MSF, ICRC, and official authorial channels, including local organizations as well to illustrate how the conflict-induced challenges have drastically limited access to essential services, as well as literature repositories (PubMed MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science). Then, data were thematically presented. Our data suggest urgent and thoughtful long-term solutions, including the need of economic support, reconstructing healthcare infrastructure through coordinated efforts, and setting up safe supply lines to ensure a steady flow of medical resources particularly in intensive war zones where mobile clinics could serve as an alternative. Additionally, we highlight the importance of supporting and incentivizing the healthcare workforce to prevent further depletion through training programs that include professional and practical skills and ensuring safe transport to and from medical facilities for both patients and healthcare personnel. Moreover, we recommend implementing targeted programs to improve access to quality healthcare for disproportionately affected populations, guaranteeing access to medical treatment as a right and not a privilege, and most significantly, ensuring that the medical facilities are not targeted. Therefore, these focused recommendations aim to guide policymakers, international donors, and on-ground NGOs in restoring healthcare access and improving the quality of life for millions of Yemenis
Isolated-atom Engineering for Active Sites Design Promotes Solar-driven Carbon Dioxide Conversion
No full textSolar-driven carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction to value-added chemicals and fuels offers a promising route toward carbon neutrality and sustainable energy development. However, the complexity of the photocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) including the activation of the chemically inert C=O bond (~750 kJ/mol) of CO2, diverse intermediate pathways, energy-intensive C-C coupling and microenvironment optimization, poses significant challenges to achieving high efficiency and selectivity. To address these limitations, isolated-atom engineering has emerged as an effective strategy for active site design, enabling the simultaneous optimization of multiple limiting factors in CO2RR. Under this concept, three research projects were conducted focusing on the rational design of isolated-atom active sites to improve both activity and product selectivity. In the first project, bismuth (Bi) single atoms were employed as active sites, achieving selective photocatalytic production of formic acid as well as cyclic carbonates via CO2 cycloaddition. The formic acid production pathway underwent a thermodynamically favorable *HCOO intermediate upon the Bi isolated atom engineering. However, the selective regulation for *HCOO intermediates limited its capacity to convert CO2 into C2+ products. The second project targeted C2+ chemical production using ruthenium (Ru) single atoms. The strong *CO adsorption on Ru sites allowed for C-C coupling process by thermodynamically favorable *CO-*CHO dimerization pathway, resulting in high ethanol productivity and selectivity (over 90%). In situ analysis revealed a dynamic reconstruction scheme between Ru0-O and Ruδ+-O species during the photocatalytic CO2RR to ethanol. However, the potential competitive reaction (HER) should be further optimized, aiming to improve the electrons contribution to CO2RR. In the third project, Ru-Pd dual-atom sites were designed to optimize the CO2RR reaction environment and suppress the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The dual-atom configuration enabled synergistic interactions, enhancing electron transfer toward CO2RR upon Ru sites while suppressing HER by proton spillover upon Pd sites, respectively. Together, these studies offer valuable insights into the dynamical reconstruction behavior of isolated-atom active sites during photocatalytic CO2RR and highlight their potential in overcoming critical limitations in photocatalytic CO2 reduction field
A Feasibility Study of a Culinary Medicine Intervention for Bone Health in Adults Living with Age-Associated Low Bone Mass or Increased Fracture Risk
No full textBackground: Dietary intervention is a valuable co-therapy in the primary and secondary prevention of fractures, and food and cooking skills protect against nutrition risk in older adults. Culinary Medicine (CM) interventions have potential to improve dietary quality and health outcomes, but there is a lack of randomized trials in this area. Objective: This pilot trial assessed the feasibility and acceptability of implementing and evaluating dietitian-led virtual CM intervention for bone health as an adjunct to usual care at our specialty osteoporosis center. Methods: Forty adults aged 45 years and older referred for fracture risk assessment were randomized to receive either usual care (group nutrition education) or usual care plus a CM program. The CM program included a 1.5-hour virtual group session with two dietitians, a recipe package, and an optional follow-up session. The usual care group could attend the CM program after study completion (wait-list control). At baseline and 3 months, participants completed surveys on home cooking and confidence in eating well for bone health and were asked to complete 2 dietary recalls. The CM group completed an acceptability survey post-session. Primary feasibility outcomes were recruitment (target: 100% in 6 months), adherence (target: ≥85%), and retention (target: ≥85%). Acceptability was measured using a questionnaire adapted from the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability. Findings: We recruited 40 participants in 6 months, meeting the recruitment target. The adherence target was also met. Most participants (80%, CI 64%-91%) were retained through the 3-month follow-up, indicating feasibility but suggesting this aspect of study design could be improved. Only 5 participants (25%, CI 9%-49%) completed all 4 dietary recalls. The intervention was generally acceptable, with the lowest scores in the ‘burden’ and ‘opportunity cost’ constructs. Conclusion: This pilot RCT suggests CM intervention is a feasible and acceptable adjunct to usual care at our osteoporosis center. However, dietary assessment measures were infeasible as delivered, and further refinement of the intervention may improve acceptability sub-constructs. In future studies, opportunities exist to increasingly tailor CM interventions for older adults, and test the optimal duration and intensity needed to achieve meaningful improvements in behavior change, nutrition status, and bone preservation
Parallels and Divergences in Multisystem Proteinopathy Genes: Stress Granules, Autophagy, and Myogenic Deficits
No full textMultisystem Proteinopathy (MSP) is a disease that causes some combination of inclusion body myopathy with rimmed vacuoles, Paget’s disease of bone, and ALS/FTD. Several different genes give rise to the unique phenotypic expression of MSP. Given the variety of genes that cause MSP and the specificity of the phenotype and tissue involvement, we asked; what are the unifying pathogenic features of MSP? To address this, we examined three areas of interest: stress granules, autophagy, and myogenesis. The currently identified roster of MSP genes have several structural and functional commonalities which fall into two categories: LC3B-intracting domain containing autophagy adaptors (SQSTM1, VCP, OPTN) and prion-like domain containing stress granule proteins (HNRNPA2B1, HNRNPA1, MATR3, TIA1). Previous studies identified that a non-pathogenic variant of the non-classical MSP protein, TIA1 N357S , can act as a phenotype modifier with SQSTM1P392L leading to distal muscle weakness rather than proximal muscle weakness seen with monogenic SQSTM1 mutations. Here we show that the same TIA1 variant is able to act as a modifier with VCP R159H to produce the same distal weakness. We established three major findings: 1) The non-classical MSP gene TIA1 N357S can modify the myopathy phenotype of both VCP and SQSTM1 to produce distal rather than proximal muscle weakness at the onset of disease, and that TIA1b expression drives the increase of TIA1 expression in diseased muscle and also fails to colocalize with SQSTM1—implying that upregulation of TIA1b is important for muscle stress response and also that TIA1b stress granules have reduced clearance by autophagy. 2) VCP and SQSTM1 both exhibit lysosome accumulation, which may be an emergent feature of inclusion body myopathies. 3) Impaired myogenesis via resistance to the master regulator of myogenesis MyoD, is a feature of MSP
Estimation Based Adaptive Controllers for Microgrid Connected Boost Converters
No full textMicrogrids are an excellent solution to integrate modern power generation and consumption with legacy infrastructure. Their flexibility and adaptability make them ideal for several applications combining Renewable Energy Sources and Energy Storage Systems, interfacing them with traditional generation systems. Nonetheless, the stability of these can be compromised under the presence of Constant Power Load (CPL) behavior, given by tightly regulated converters connecting AC and DC loads to a DC bus. This thesis presents an innovative nonlinear estimator used to identify the CPL and resistive power consumption components, and two estimation based controllers for Boost converters regulating the DC bus voltage. These controllers leverage the information provided by the system identification method and enhance the Microgrid stability by increasing the power range of operation. The controllers combine non-linear control techniques with the traditional PI control structure, in which the proportional and integral gains vary according to the estimated load power, allowing it to maintain constant dynamics at all operating conditions. The analysis incorporates comprehensive models that characterize the dynamic behavior of the Microgrid connected Boost converter, validating the stable operation under different loading conditions through simulation and experimental results. The proposed methods show low computation complexity and are suitable for implementation on industry-standard microcontrollers, making them flexible to be implemented in low-cost power platforms
Justifying the Inevitable: How Observers of Mistreatment Can Perpetuate Mistreatment
No full textObservers of workplace mistreatment are embedded within organizations—the same organizations in which mistreatment has occurred. Importantly, organizations represent social systems: they provide structure, create predictability, and offer resources to its employees. Attributes of the organizational system may guide observers’ reactions to mistreatment. Drawing on system justification theory (Jost & Banaji, 1994), the current research examines how perceiving the mistreatment incident as inevitable may shape observers’ reactions towards the mistreatment incident and the target of mistreatment. Specifically, I propose that perceived mistreatment inevitability can trigger system justification tendencies, which may prompt observers’ behaviors aimed at maintaining or even perpetuating mistreatment within the organizational system. I also explore the role of perceived mistreatment tolerance climate as an antecedent of perceived mistreatment inevitability and the role of perpetrator power relative to the target in augmenting this relationship. I begin by developing and validating a psychometrically robust measure of perceived mistreatment inevitability. Next, I adopt a multi-method approach to test my proposed model across two studies: an online experiment and a time-lagged critical incident technique. The findings indicate that perceived mistreatment inevitability relates positively to observer evaluations of mistreatment legitimacy and negatively to evaluations of target legitimacy. In turn, these legitimacy evaluations have implications for observer reactions to the mistreatment incident and the target of mistreatment. Perceived mistreatment tolerance climate serves as an antecedent of perceived mistreatment inevitability. While I did not find support for the augmenting role of perpetrator power, findings from supplemental analyses revealed that females (but not males) may be disadvantaged as targets in climates characterized by perceived mistreatment tolerance. Taken together, these findings provide important theoretical implications including why observers may justify workplace mistreatment, how this can impact their behaviors, what may prompt observers’ system justification tendencies, and who is most likely to experience these detrimental effects. This research also provides practical insights into how to mitigate the effects of mistreatment in the workplace
Co-production of Hydrogen and Value–added Products from Glycerol Using Photocatalysts
No full textOne viable solution to the present problems of environmental degradation and the depletion of fossil fuels is solar-driven hydrogen generation. Photocatalysts may be activated to generate electrons for hydrogen production from water when solar energy is used as the driving force. Additionally, photogenerated holes can oxidize water or substrates to produce oxygen or value-added compounds. The extremely low efficiency of photocatalytic water splitting severely restricts its use, even though it might optimize the usage of photogenerated electrons and holes without producing any byproducts. As a result, a lot of work has been done on photocatalytic hydrogen generation using additives acting as electron donors.
Among many kinds of photocatalysts, Tio₂ has drawn interest from researchers because of its excellent stability, low toxicity, appropriate cost, and ideal band location for water splitting. The quick recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs and the large energy band gap of Tion₂ are two significant issues that prevent its commercial use. Techniques like doping, dye sensitization, and creating heterostructures with other semiconductors such as p-n heterojunctions, n-n heterojunctions, and Schottky heterojunctions might all help to mitigate these drawbacks of Tiou₂. Herein, we rationally design a catalyst (TiO₂) with different morphologies, 0D, 1D, 2D, and 3D, to investigate the effect of morphology on hydrogen production. Experiments revealed that the nanosheet structure of TiO₂ (2D) outperformed other morphologies, achieving up to 40 hydrogen production, which was 40%, 25%, and 32% superior to that of the commercial TiO2 nanoparticles (0D), as well as the as-fabricated TiO2 nanorod (1D) and 3D structure. "By employing a p-type semiconductor (Ni), a p–n heterojunction with varying morphologies (NiO–TiO₂) was formed, enhancing charge separation and thereby increasing the hydrogen production rate. Among the different morphologies, the nanosheet structure exhibited the highest hydrogen production, achieving almost 4600 μmol·g⁻¹·h⁻¹. Further optimization involved the formation of a Schottky heterojunction (Ni-TiO₂) and sandwich-like SPN heterojunctions (NiO-Ni-TiO₂), with the SPN structure yielding a further boost, achieving a hydrogen production rate of approximately 14,200 μmol·g⁻¹·h⁻¹. To improve visible light absorption and drive photocatalytic activity under solar irradiation, g-C₃N₄ was employed to fabricate a Ni-TiO₂@g-C₃N₄ nanocomposite. The composite with a 2:1 mass ratio exhibited the highest hydrogen production rate of almost 32000 μmol·g⁻¹·h⁻¹, along with a glycerol conversion efficiency of 73%. HPLC analysis revealed that the main oxidation products of glycerol were glycolic acid, glyceraldehyde, and dihydroxyacetone (DHA), indicating the selective formation of value-added chemicals alongside hydrogen. Glycolic acid showed the highest selectivity and yield, reaching approximately 45% and 33%, respectively
Analysis of the Law on Adjudication of Construction Disputes in Alberta
No full textThe construction industry is a cornerstone of economic activity in many jurisdictions, contributing significantly to their gross domestic product (GDP). This is true of Alberta’s economy especially as the energy hub of Canada. Construction projects are inherently capital-intensive and complex. They are also dispute intensive. The most common construction disputes are payment-related, and if not managed and resolved promptly, these disputes can hinder project progress, leading to inefficiencies and delays that significantly impact the industry. To address these issues, Alberta, following the practice in other jurisdictions including the United Kingdom and Ontario, has adopted statutory adjudication as a means of construction dispute resolution. Adjudication is intended to be an interim and expedited dispute resolution mechanism that reserves the right of the parties to still submit the dispute to litigation or arbitration, usually after project completion. Proponents argue that adjudication addresses delays and inefficiencies in resolving construction disputes, ensuring timely project completion and delivery. This thesis adopts a doctrinal and historical analytical research methodology to answer the question as to whether statutory adjudication as practiced in Alberta is an efficient and timely method of construction dispute resolution, and to suggest potential areas for reform as necessary. This thesis aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of adjudication in Alberta, its advantages over other dispute resolution mechanisms, and the challenges it faces. By examining the historical development, current practices, and potential improvements, this research seeks to contribute to the ongoing efforts to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of construction dispute resolution in Alberta and beyond
Modulating STDP with Vectorized Backpropagation: A New Paradigm for Real-time Audio Prediction in Spiking Neural Networks
No full textSpiking Neural Networks (SNNs) are inspired by biological neural systems in the human brain. Theoretically, they were proven to consume less power than those non-spiking conventional neural networks due to their sparse spike activities in information transfer and processing. These make the SNNs crucial in state-of-the-art low-power applications widely present in both edge computing and mobile devices. In this thesis, a novel modulating Spike-Timing-Dependent-Plasticity (STDP) learning rule is proposed for multilayer SNNs. The global error feedback strategy has been used to optimize the performance of the proposed learning algorithm. Then, this learning rule is modified with vectorized backpropagation, therefore enabling continuous online learning, hence allowing real-time processing of data. This is extended to a Spiking Long-Short-Term-Memory (S-LSTM) network performing audio prediction on speech data. This enables the extension of SNNs to real-world applications where energy efficiency and real-time processing are imperative. Demonstrating competitive performance from this SNN framework in tasks such as S-LSTM audio predictions points toward outstanding computational efficiency improvements over conventional deep learning models. These strategies are significant pointers to the fact that SNNs be a promising approach for efficient, on-device learning across a wide spectrum of applications in Internet of Things (IoT) deployments