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Prevailing winds and spruce budworm outbreaks: a reaction-diffusion-advection model
No full textWe extend the classical reaction-diffusion model for spatial population dynamics of spruce budworm on a finite domain with hostile boundary conditions by including an advection term representing biased unidirectional movement of individuals due to a prevailing wind. We use phase-plane techniques to establish existence of a critical value of advection speed that prevents outbreak solutions on any finite domain while possibly allowing an endemic solution. We obtain lower and upper bounds for this critical advection value in terms of biological parameters involved in the reaction term. We also perform numerical simulations to illustrate the effect of advection on the dependence of the domain size on the maximal population density of a steady state solution and on critical domain sizes for endemic and outbreak solutions. The results are also applicable to other ecological settings (rivers, climate change) where a logistically growing population is subject to predation by a generalist, diffusion and biased movement
Scaling the Imagination: The Creation of the Subject-Object Divide in Visual Perception and Landscapes
No full textThis paper unpacks the history of seeing and the separation of subjectivity from objectivity in order to establish a framework for landscape and architectural design interventions on large scales. As perception shifted from an act of subjective creation of meaning to one operating under the auspices of empiricism, a chasm opened between the observer and the observed. Instead of locating the meaning of the observed object within the subject, perception for Moderns became an act of describing the world as-is. The resulting proliferation of descriptions of large-scale, interrelated ecological and urban systems became unintelligible to the human imagination, becoming metaphorical “giants” in our cultural and artistic realms. In the process, the world has became both more distant and seemingly more conquerable. The author suggests confronting the limits of the imagination through exercises in scales in order to negotiate the increasing distance between subject (human observers) and object (the natural and built world)
Artist of Liminality: Miwa Yanagi’s Myth Machines as Heterotopia
No full textIn February 2020, Miwa Yanagi: Myth Machines (2019-2020), a traveling exhibition of works by the Japanese contemporary artist Miwa Yanagi (1967-), concluded its tour across Japan after failing to incite meaningful critical response from art historians and critics. The year-long, five-museum itinerary of the solo show reflected the public’s keen interest in Yanagi’s first major exhibition in a decade, but the enthusiasm was betrayed by the paucity of scholarly attention; beyond the four essays included in the catalogue, hardly any scholar or critic seriously engaged with the artist who previously represented Japan at the Venice Biennale and whose work continues to be exhibited internationally. The few texts that appeared display a noticeable anxiety toward Myth Machines—in particular its unapologetic juxtaposition of photography and theater—which suggests a failure of the prevailing art historical language to speak and write about Yanagi’s career. In response to this laconic condition, this paper identifies the concept of heterotopia, delineated by Michel Foucault on three occasions between 1966 and 1967, as a useful device to activate a discourse on Yanagi’s exhibition. A reading of Myth Machines as a heterotopia reveals an exhibition that astutely comments on the ongoing global political moment defined by divisions along racial, gender and national boundaries, visually symbolized by former American president Donald Trump’s divisive border wall
Gleaner’s Garment: Walking with the Windfall of Olmsted's Mont-Royal
No full textUsing the methodology of a/r/tography, which engages walking and artmaking as research, this paper explores parc Mont Royal as a multispecies habitat and work of public art. The park was designed by Olmsted during the industrailization of Montreal. For a few hundred years, the forested paths have become a respite from the demands of urban living. Gleaner's Garment is an artistic response to the mountain, an entrypoint into exploring Montreal's colonial past, and ongoing focus on reconciliation. 
The Differential Effects of Strict Voter Identification Laws on Minority Voter Turnout
No full textOver the past ten years, strict voter identification (ID) laws have become increasingly prevalent in the United States (Hicks et al. 2015). Voter ID laws require voters to present some form of ID before they can cast their ballot, with the strictest forms requiring non-expired government-issued ID, most often photo ID (National Conference of State Legislatures 2020). Before 2011, only two states, Indiana and Georgia, had strict voter ID laws (National Conference of State Legislatures 2020). However, this number has now grown to eleven states, with many more states actively considering implementing such voting regulations (National Conference of State Legislatures 2020)
ELIP 2021: Expanding Possibilities for Community
No full textIn the editorial, ELIP's 2021 Managing Editor Aarushi Mohan reflects on her experience compiling the journal over the year, particularly in terms of building an intellectual community online.
Slavery and Absolutism in Locke: A Response to Olsthoorn and van Apeldoorn
No full textThe following Note responds to a recent article by Johan Olsthoorn and Laurens van Apeldoorn on slavery and political absolutism in Locke’s Two Treatises of Government. The Note engages with Olsthoorn and Apeldoorn’s important article but queries its principal contentions
Embolization for acute gastrointestinal bleeding: a local retrospective review of clinical success and complication rates
No full textPurpose: To retrospectively evaluate the clinical success and complication rates following interventional embolization for treatment of acute gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) at a tertiary care centre. The secondary purpose was to evaluate results of practice change whereby multiphase CT angiography was requested prior to conventional angiograms.
Methods: A retrospective chart review and analysis of 38 patients undergoing Interventional Radiology guided embolization for acute GIB was performed. Clinical success was defined as patient stability 30 days’ post embolization and complications included subsequent bleeding requiring endoscopy, surgery or additional embolization, or death.
Results: Overall clinical success rate was 86.8% (33/38). Complications included 14 patients (36.8%) experiencing continued bleeding, 6 patients (15.8%) requiring repeat endoscopic evaluation, 8 patients (21.1%) requiring surgery, 3 patients (7.9%) requiring repeat embolization, and 4 deaths (10.5%). These results were not inferior to clinical success rates reported in the literature for GIB regardless of location. Positive predictive value for multiphase CT angiogram was 92.3% and the negative predictive value was 57.1%.
Conclusions: Interventional angiography and embolization is an effective treatment for GIB with the most common complication being recurrent bleeding which may require additional endoscopic evaluation, surgical intervention or additional embolization. Clinical success and complication rates at this centre are similar to those reported in the literature. Continued evaluation of the utility of multiphase CT angiography prior to conducting embolization should be considered to determine its impact on rates of negative angiogram studies
Heparin Resistance in ECMO and the Role of Direct Thrombin Inhibitors: A Case Report
No full textExtracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a potentially life-saving technology that can provide timely support to those failing to oxygenate their blood, either due to cardiac or respiratory related illnesses. However, ECMO also requires a careful hemostatic balance due to the thrombotic nature of the external circuit and the potential for bleeding events while anticoagulated. Current standard procedure for anticoagulating patients on ECMO is the use of unfractionated heparin. Despite its widespread use, many patients still face bleeding and/or clotting complications during their admission, some resulting in disastrous consequences. One possible etiology for this ineffectiveness is due to the mechanism by which heparin works via antithrombin (AT) and the AT deficiency of a critically ill patients. In this case study, we discuss the use of an alternative anticoagulant, a direct-thrombin inhibitor (DTI) in a patient cannulated to ECMO, which is independent of AT. The case study follows their course while on ECMO, focusing on relevant hemostatic measures. We further demonstrate the therapeutic potential for DTIs in place of UFH in ECMO patients, and the need for further research into anticoagulation strategies in critically ill patients
Consent in Critical Care Research: Challenges and Changes
No full textInformed consent plays an important role in critical care medicine (CCM) because patients are vulnerable so their rights must be carefully protected, and research in CCM may be associated with high risks of morbidity and mortality. However, the process of obtaining consent may be a significant barrier to CCM research. There is often limited time in which to make decisions, patients or substitute decision makers may not be able to make those decisions, and complex consent documents may be an additional barrier. This is an important issue, both because vulnerable patients should not be denied access to the benefits of research and because the loss of eligible patients from CCM clinical trials due to lack of consent could introduce bias and limit the generalizability of research. This article will explore why getting consent is challenging in CCM research, and how this can process could be improved