The Influence of Immigration on Global City Housing Markets: The Canadian Perspective

Current demographic trends in Canada include population aging and declining household growth. These trends generally result in falling housing demand and stable or declining house prices. Housing markets in Canada's major cities, however, have been characterized by increases in demand and prices in recent years; due in large part to the influence of arriving immigrants. The destinations of 76 percent of international immigrants to Canada are the three global cities—Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal—where they have a very significant effect on housing demand, particularly as under current immigration policy many of those arriving come with considerable wealth. Their influence, however, is much broader and includes the growth of exclusive, prosperous immigrant neighbourhoods, new architectural designs and other neighbourhood changes. Not all immigrants, however, arrive with wealth. Many are poor, live in less attractive neighbourhoods and pay unrealistic amounts of their inadequate incomes for poor quality housing. Some end up homeless on the street. The role of immigrants in housing markets is an important consideration for urban and housing policy.     

The medium matters: Mining the long-promised merit of group interaction in creative idea generation tasks in a meta-analysis of the electronic group brainstorming literature

This meta-analysis examines the influence of electronic communication media on group idea generation tasks. Data from the following three areas of the brainstorming literature are synthesized to assess differences across performance variables and group member satisfaction: (1) electronic brainstorming (EBS) groups versus traditional face-to-face (FTF) interacting groups, (2) EBS groups versus nominal groups, and (3) EBS versus electronic nominal (e-nominal) groups. The results of this integration show that EBS groups are more productive and more satisfied with the interaction process than FTF groups. Additionally, large EBS groups outperformed nominal groups, whereas small nominal groups outperformed EBS groups. These findings have important implications for electronic collaboration and teamwork in both academic and organizational settings, especially given the recent proliferation of virtual teamwork.     

Acute arthritis of cats associated with feline calicivirus infection

Twelve specific pathogen-free cats were infected either by intra-articular inoculation or by contact exposure to one of two strains of feline calicivirus (FCV), either F65, a field strain originating from an outbreak of lameness in a group of cats, or a vaccine strain. Following either route of exposure, both strains induced signs typical of FCV infection including oral and nasal ulceration, conjunctivitis and ocular discharge. These signs were of equal severity for both virus strains, but overall, following either route of infection, F65 induced more severe disease than the vaccine strain, with marked pyrexia, lethargy and lameness. Vaccine virus only induced a relatively mild lameness following intra-articular inoculation. Gross pathological and histopathological lesions were seen in some of the joints, but again changes were more severe in the F65-exposed cats. Virus was isolated from both normal and affected joints from both groups of F65-exposed cats, and from a joint from each cat inoculated intra-articularly with vaccine virus. Mild transient lameness was also seen in one of two control cats inoculated intra-articularly, but no pathological changes were seen or virus isolated from joints. A cDNA probe used in RNA dot blot hybridisation experiments was found to be specific and more sensitive than virus isolation in detecting FCV in selected tissues. This may be useful in future studies on the pathogenesis of FCV disease and in studies on viral persistence in FCV carriers.     

Shakedown state simulation techniques based on linear elastic solutions

The paper extends an iterative method, previously applied to the determination of the limit state of a perfectly plastic body [5], to the determination of the shakedown limit state of a body subjected to a cyclic history of mechanical load and temperature. A convergence proof is presented for a particular class of problems where the magnitude of a mechanical load at the shakedown limit is found as the limit of a sequence of monotonically reducing upper bounds. An implementation of the method in a finite element scheme is discussed and examples of the application of the method to sample problems are presented.     

Recrystallisation of amorphous natural brannerite through annealing: The effect of radiation damage on the chemical durability of brannerite

An amorphous natural brannerite sample was chosen to study the annealing of the radiation damage through thermal recrystallisation, and subsequently to evaluate the effect of radiation damage on its aqueous durability. Microstructural characterisation of the natural brannerite revealed minor alteration along the rim of the crystal and within cracks. The formation of UO₂ particles and soluble Pb–Ca-rich aluminosilicate glass is responsible for the higher U and Pb releases from the recrystallised brannerite. In general, natural brannerite has been shown to be resistant to dissolution over geological time, therefore minor brannerite inclusions in ceramic formulations for immobilisation of actinide-rich radioactive wastes should not have a detrimental effect on the long-term chemical durability of the wasteforms.     

Surface Morphology of Heat-Treated Ceramic Thin Films

The morphology of surfaces of several ceramic materials has been examined using transmission electron microscopy. The approach used was to prepare a sample for examination in the microscope, carefully clean it, and then heat-treat it. In the case of the oxides studied (alumina and spinel) the samples were heated in air; the non-oxides (α-SiC and β -SiC) were annealed under vacuum. The morphology in all but one case was such that the surface faceted parallel to the nearest low-index plane to give well-defined terraces; these were separated by ledges which also tended to facet parallel to the traces of low-index planes. The exception was the {1100} alumina surface, which appears to be unstable in air at temperatures close to 1400°C. A computer program using a multislice approach was used to estimate the height of the steps on the (0001) surface; the step heights appear to be multiples of the c lattice parameter. A reconstruction of this surface as a result of this heat treatment is also proposed.     

On the application of complex resistive boundary conditions tomodel transmission lines consisting of very thin superconductors

A resistive boundary condition for the case where the resistivity is assumed to be a complex quantity is shown to be an accurate model for a superconducting film which is thin compared to the super-conducting penetration depth. The imaginary part of the conductivity is the dominant terms and is a measure of the inductive energy stored in the superconductor. Numerical solutions of superconducting microstrip are obtained and compared to experimental results and to analytic solutions for superconducting parallel-plate waveguides. Excellent agreement is found between experimental, analytical, and numerical results     

A model agreement for genetic research in socially identifiable populations

Genetic research increasingly focuses on population-specific human genetic diversity. However, the naming of a human population in public databases and scientific publications entails collective risks for its members. Those collective risks can be evaluated and protections can be put in place by the establishment of a dialogue with the subject population, before a research study is initiated. Here we describe an agreement to undertake genetic research with a Native American tribe. We identified the culturally appropriate public and private social units within which community members are accustomed to make decisions about health. We then engaged those units in a process of communal discourse. In their discourses about our proposed study, community members expressed most concern about culturally specific implications. We also found that, in this population, private social units were more influential in communal decision making than were public authorities. An agreement was reached that defined the scope of research, provided options for naming the population in publications (including anonymity), and addressed the distribution of royalties from intellectual property, the future use of archival samples, and specific cultural concerns. We found that informed consent by individuals could not fully address these collective issues. This approach may serve as a general model for the undertaking of population-specific genetic studies.     

The Mayo Clinic-Canadian Cooperative trial of sulfasalazine in active multiple sclerosis

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether sulfasalazine is better than placebo in slowing disability progression in MS. METHODS: In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase III trial, 199 patients with active relapsing-remitting (n = 151) or progressive (n = 48) MS were evaluated at 3-month intervals for a minimum of 3 years (94% completed 3 years of follow-up; mean follow-up, 3.7 years). MRI studies were performed at 6-month intervals on a subset of 89 patients. RESULTS: Sulfasalazine failed to slow or prevent disability progression as measured by the primary outcome (confirmed worsening of the Expanded Disability Status Scale [EDSS] score by at least 1.0 point on two consecutive 3-month visits). Sulfasalazine influenced favorably a number of secondary outcomes during the first 18 months of the trial (e.g., annualized relapse rate, proportion of relapse-free patients; progressive subgroup only: rate of EDSS progression at 1 and 2 years, median time to EDSS progression) but these positive findings were not sustained into the second half of the trial. CONCLUSIONS: Sulfasalazine does not prevent EDSS score progression in the subset of MS patients studied by this protocol. Treatments may improve relapse-related outcomes in MS, at least temporarily, without providing sustained slowing of EDSS progression. Phase III MS trials should be of sufficient length to determine a meaningful impact on disease course.