University of Windsor

About: University of Windsor is a education organization based out in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Argumentation theory. The organization has 10654 authors who have published 22307 publications receiving 435906 citations. The organization is also known as: UWindsor & Assumption University of Windsor.

Effects of the non‐indigenous cladoceran Cercopagis pengoi on the lower food web of Lake Ontario

Abstract: Summary 1. In North America, the invasive predatory cladoceran Cercopagis pengoi was first detected in Lake Ontario. We explored the impact of Cercopagis on the lower food web of Lake Ontario through assessments of historical and seasonal abundance of the crustacean zooplankton, by conducting feeding experiments on the dominant prey of the invader, and by estimating its food requirements. 2. Between 1999 and 2001, a decrease in the abundance of dominant members of the Lake Ontario zooplankton community (Daphnia retrocurva, Bosmina longirostris and Diacyclops thomasi) coincided with an increase in the abundance of Cercopagis. Daphnia retrocurva populations declined despite high fecundity in all 3 years, indicating that food limitation was not responsible. Chlorophyll a concentration generally increased, concomitant with a decline in the herbivorous cladoceran zooplankton in the lake. 3. Laboratory experiments demonstrated that Cercopagis fed on small-bodied species including D. retrocurva and B. longirostris. 4. Consumption demand of mid-summer populations of Cercopagis, estimated from a bioenergetic model of the confamilial Bythotrephes, was sufficient to reduce crustacean abundance, although the degree of expected suppression varied seasonally and interannually. 5. Predatory effects exerted by Cercopagis on the Lake Ontario zooplankton, while initially very pronounced, have decreased steadily as the species became established in the lake.

Body Image and Sociocultural Norms A Comparison of Heterosexual and Lesbian Women

Abstract: Internalization of sociocultural norms about the body has been theorized to be an important factor in fostering body dissatisfaction in women. Some theorists have suggested that a lesbian identity ...

A New Finite-Field Multiplier Using Redundant Representation

Abstract: This article presents simple and highly regular architectures for finite field multipliers using a redundant representation. The basic idea is to embed a finite field into a cyclotomic ring which is based on the elegant multiplicative structure of a cyclic group. One important feature of our architectures is that they provide area-time trade-offs which enable us to implement the multipliers in a partial-parallel/hybrid fashion. This hybrid architecture has great significance in its VLSI implementation in very large fields. The squaring operation using the redundant representation is simply a permutation of the coordinates. It is shown that, when there is an optimal normal basis, the proposed bit-serial and hybrid multiplier architectures have very low space complexity. Constant multiplication is also considered and is shown to have an advantage in using the redundant representation.

Public and patient involvement in health technology assessment: a framework for action.

Abstract: Objective As health technology assessment (HTA) organizations in Canada and around the world seek to involve the public and patients in their activities, frameworks to guide decisions about whom to involve, through which mechanisms, and at what stages of the HTA process have been lacking. The aim of this study was to describe the development and outputs of a comprehensive framework for involving the public and patients in a government agency's HTA process. Methods The framework was informed by a synthesis of international practice and published literature, a dialogue with local, national and international stakeholders, and the deliberations of a government agency's public engagement subcommittee in Ontario, Canada. Results The practice and literature synthesis failed to identify a single, optimal approach to involving the public and patients in HTA. Choice of methods should be considered in the context of each HTA stage, goals for incorporating societal and/or patient perspectives into the process, and relevant societal and/or patient values at stake. The resulting framework is structured around four actionable elements: (i) guiding principles and goals for public and patient involvement (PPI) in HTA, (ii) the establishment of a common language to support PPI efforts, (iii) a flexible array of PPI approaches, and (iv) on-going evaluation of PPI to inform adjustments over time. Conclusions A public and patient involvement framework has been developed for implementation in a government agency's HTA process. Core elements of this framework may apply to other organizations responsible for HTA and health system quality improvement.

Argumentation Theory: A Very Short Introduction

Abstract: Since the time of the ancient Greek philosophers and rhetoricians, argumentation theorists have searched for the requirements that make an argument correct, by some appropriate standard of proof, by examining the errors of reasoning we make when we try to use arguments. These errors have long been called fallacies, and the logic textbooks have for over 2000 years tried to help students to identify these fallacies, and to deal with them when they are encountered. The problem was that deductive logic did not seem to be much use for this purpose, and there seemed to be no other obvious formal structure that could usefully be applied to them. The radical approach taken by Hamblin [7] was to refashion the concept of an argument to think of it not just as an arbitrarily designated set of propositions, but as a move one party makes in a dialog to offer premises that may be acceptable to another party who doubts the conclusion of the argument. Just after Hamblin’s time a school of thought called informal logic grew up that wanted to take a new practical approach to teaching students skills of critical thinking by going beyond deductive logic to seek other methods for analyzing and evaluating arguments. Around the same time, an interdisciplinary group of scholars associated with the term ‘argumentation,’ coming from fields like speech communication, joined with the informal logic group to help build up such practical methods and apply them to real examples of argumentation [9]. The methods that have been developed so far are still in a process of rapid evolution. More recently, improvements in them have been due to some computer scientists joining the group, and to collaborative research efforts between argumentation theorists and computer scientists. Another recent development has been the adoption of argumentation models and techniques to fields in artificial intelligence, like multi-agent systems and artificial intelligence for legal reasoning. In a short paper, it is not possible to survey all these developments. The best that can be done is to offer