Saint Mary's University

Objective – Practicing physicians must engage in continuous learning throughout their careers, and in Canada this learning is guided by frameworks that include information retrieval and scholarship. Health sciences librarians (HSLs) are well equipped to support knowledge growth in this area through their demonstrated instruction capabilities. Yet the literature depicting librarian instruction of practicing physicians within the Canadian context is lacking, and an understanding of what characterizes their teaching to this learner group is needed. Methods – Using descriptive study design, a bilingual, electronic survey was distributed across two professional listservs for HSLs in North America in May 2024. Once the survey closed, data were cleaned and tabulated using Microsoft Excel and responses to open-ended questions were reviewed. Results – The survey engaged 21 respondents, and after data were cleaned, 15 were left for inclusion and analysis. Most worked in a hospital setting when teaching practicing physicians, and online synchronous delivery methods were most common, followed closely by in-person synchronous. A variety of topics were reportedly taught, and the use of formal objectives and feedback processes was common. In open-ended responses, participants suggested they may be interested in teaching practicing physicians about artificial intelligence. Conclusion – This study’s sample size is too small to offer definitive conclusions. However, it provides insight into what and how HSLs in Canada are teaching practicing physicians, and suggests missing components in planning instruction for this learner group. HSLs can provide value to Canadian physician organizations looking to bolster their CPD offerings and should advocate for themselves within their provincial and national networks.

Sexual satisfaction is a common goal within romantic relationships that contributes to individual and relational well-being. Yet, theoretical perspectives, and even popular assumptions, suggest that women may be less sexually satisfied than men. We tested this possibility among people in romantic relationships with two high-powered Integrative Data Analyses (one cross-sectional, n = 11,841, k = 28; one daily-experience, n = 1,827, k = 8, daily reports = 18,321). Contrary to theoretical and lay perspectives, partnered women reported slightly greater sexual satisfaction than did partnered men (r = .08).. To further explore why partnered women reported greater sexual satisfaction than did partnered men, we conducted supplemental analyses that revealed that women's greater sexual satisfaction was not a result of engaging in less frequent sexual behavior, their broader satisfaction with their relationship, or considering partners' sexual enjoyment. In sum, although women may face obstacles that hinder their sexual experiences, these findings suggest that partnered women do not report being less satisfied and instead report being slightly more satisfied with their sex lives than do partnered men. Nevertheless, it is still unknown whether these slight differences in sexual satisfaction have practical implications for couples' relationships or well-being.

When oil reaches shorelines during a marine oil spill, it can persist in the sediment for decades, extending well beyond on-water operations and can become a significant expense to the overall response. Oil's persistence on beaches is initially driven by its ability to penetrate sediment, a process heavily influenced by a suite of in situ shoreline conditions as well as the oil's properties. One property of note is viscosity, which undergoes non-linear changes under the influence of temperature and influences oil's ability to penetrate shoreline sediments. Through 435 column experiments, this study systematically examines the penetration behaviour of diluted bitumen (dilbit) and a distillate very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) in unsaturated, coarse-grained, inorganic beach sediments under seven temperature regimes (Polar to Equatorial), five sediment types and two oil types. Results indicate that the sediment's temperature significantly influences oil penetration, while the presence of temperature gradients within the sediments exerts minimal influence on its penetration. Low temperatures limited oil penetration, concentrating oil near the sediment's surface. In contrast, higher temperatures in those same sediments resulted in deeper penetration and increased the net volume of oil-contaminated sediment. These findings confirm the temperature-viscosity feedback as a key control on oil migration in marine beach sediments and provide new empirical insights that directly inform shoreline response strategies and waste management planning across diverse climatic regions.

This qualitative case study examined the reading instruction capacity of six teachers at Laparay Elementary School, a remote and resource-constrained public school in Talusan District, Philippines. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis informed by an inductive approach. Findings revealed that teachers demonstrated strengths in fostering engaging and supportive reading environments through phonics instruction, fluency practice, comprehension strategies, and the use of culturally relevant texts. However, teachers also faced persistent challenges related to diverse learner reading levels, limited attention spans, gaps in foundational skills, scarcity of instructional materials, and insufficient home literacy support. Teachers addressed these challenges by applying developmentally appropriate strategies, differentiated instruction, and assessment-driven instructional adjustments. The study highlights the need for targeted professional development, adequate instructional resources, and community-based literacy initiatives to strengthen teacher capacity and improve reading outcomes in rural elementary schools.

Abstract. The Scotian Slope in the North Atlantic Ocean extends for ∼ 500 km along the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. Its surface sediments host microbial communities, which respond to complex geochemical drivers that not only include communication with the overlying water column, but also potential advection from deeper basinal fluids. Archaea are fundamental components of these communities, and their lipids act as important historical indicators of environmental geochemical change and microbial interactions within marine sediments. This study evaluates the spatial abundance and diversity of archaeal lipids preserved in shallow Scotian Slope sediments to better understand processes. Seventy-four sediment samples from 32 gravity and piston cores, reaching a maximum of 9 m below seafloor (m b.s.f.) were collected during three survey cruises. In total, 14 archaeal lipid classes comprising 42 unique compounds were detected. The lipid distributions reflect a high contribution of anaerobic methanotrophic (ANME) archaeal groups, such as ANME-1 to -3. Hierarchical cluster analysis and principal components analysis were used to show varying contributions of four lipid classes that included distinct assemblages of intact polar lipids (IPLs), core lipids (CLs), and their degradation products (CL-DPs). IPL to CL and CL to CL-DP turnover rates were estimated for the various lipid classes. Four stratigraphically distinct archaeal lipidomes were observed. The first, reflects a unique community influenced by a nearby cold seep. Three additional ambient sediment lipidomes were detected with overlapping depth intervals. These lipidomes contained varying abundances of IPL, CL, and CL-DPs, which likely mark geochemically controlled, microbial community variations that are further accompanied by a systematic increase to the stockpile of diagenetically altered lipids. The ambient sediment lipidomes appear to be highly spatially conserved across the latitudinal extent of the study area marking a resolvable shallow sediment lipostratigraphy that occupies a sediment stratigraphy that spans ∼ 27 000±4000 years of basin evolution for the Scotian Slope.

Numerous wetlands in Nova Scotia (NS) have been contaminated by mercury (Hg) and geogenic arsenic (As) from gold mine tailings deposited between the mid-1800s and mid-1900s. These two potentially toxic elements have been shown to bioaccumulate in benthic invertebrate species in wetlands impacted by legacy gold mine tailings. We evaluated the efficacy of a Thin Reactive amendment and Protective capping (TRaP) treatment composed of silica sand, zeolite, zero-valent iron (ZVI), and bentonite as a potential remediation strategy for these wetlands. We assessed whether TRaP could limit Hg and As toxicity and bioavailability to Chironomus dilutus larvae. Overlying water from TRaP-treated sediments had dissolved methylmercury (MeHg) and As concentrations which were 78% and 99% lower respectively compared to untreated contaminated sediments. Chironomid survival improved from 45% in the contaminated sediment to 90% when treated, while growth increased by 36.5%. Additionally, TRaP reduced MeHg levels and improved chironomid growth and survival beyond that observed in sediments treated only with ZVI. However, total Hg bioaccumulation in the chironomids remained similar across contaminated and treated sediments at the end of the test. This laboratory experiment demonstrates that TRaP holds considerable promise as a practical remediation strategy for legacy-contaminated wetland ecosystems. Further research is needed to assess its effectiveness under real-world field conditions.

Changes in wild berry species are increasingly being reported across North America, tied to climate change and associated environmental changes. This is likely to affect the people and animals who use wild berries. In this context, we examined the status of wild berries in a subarctic area of northern Canada (the Gwich'in Settlement Area, Northwest Territories, Canada), between 1989 and 2024, through new and archive interviews with Gwich'in berry pickers. Results from these interviews showed high interannual variability in productivity and lower berry yields in years of hot and dry weather conditions. Knowledge holders identified climate change, overharvesting and improper harvesting, and local development as threats. Declines in the health of the land and the loss of traditional harvesting practices were also described. Changes in animal habits in relation to berries were not reported, but people’s relationships with berries do appear to be changing, reflecting settlement in communities, loss of traditional practices, cost of transportation, and shifts in berry productivity. In spite of these changes, knowledge holders felt that berry picking is an important activity for community members to engage in, permitting ongoing connection with the land, increased food security, and improved health.

Ambiphilic Sb–H bonds have been explored with both proton acceptors and hydride abstractors. Reactions with LiHMDS have also afforded a never-before-seen anionic triantimony chain as a lithium salt, and octameric antimony cluster.

This paper introduces BACOLIKR, a new software package for the error-controlled numerical solution of systems of one-dimensional time-dependent partial differential equations (PDEs). A novel feature of this package is that it allows the user to specify a solution dependent condition, called an event, and then the software will determine the point in time at which the specified event occurs. This event detection capability can be used to provide an efficient and accurate means for dealing with time-dependent discontinuities in the PDEs or the boundary conditions.BACOLIKR employs adaptive B-spline Gaussian collocation for the spatial discretization of the PDE system within a spatial error control algorithm. The event detection capability in BACOLIKR is based on its use of a modified version of the time integrator, DASKR, which implements event detection for time-dependent differential-algebraic equations. BACOLIKR was developed through modifications of an earlier error control PDE solver, BACOLI.In this paper, we provide an overview of the BACOLI and DASKR packages and then describe the modifications that were made in order to develop BACOLIKR. We then show how BACOLIKR can be used for the effective solution of a number of PDE-based event detection problems including solution layer-boundary intersection detection and solution layer merge detection in a fluid mechanics model, critical tumor mass detection in a brain tumor model, steady state detection in the Gierer-Meinhardt model, and boundary condition event detection in a discontinuous heat flow model.