Since the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically influenced almost every aspect of human life. Activities requiring human gatherings have either been postponed, cancelled, or held completely virtually. To supplement lack of in-person contact, people have increasingly turned to virtual settings on-line, advantages of which include increased inclusivity and accessibility and reduction of carbon footprint. However, emerging online technologies cannot fully replace, in-person scientific events. In-person meetings are not susceptible to poor internet connectivity problems, and they provide novel opportunities for socialization, creating new collaborations, and sharing ideas. To continue such activities, a hybrid model for scientific events could be a solution offering both in-person and virtual components. While participants can freely choose the mode of their participation, virtual meetings would most benefit those who cannot attend in-person due to the limitations. In-person portions of meetings should be organized with full consideration of prevention and safety strategies including risk assessment and mitigation, venue and environmental sanitation, participant protection and disease prevention, and promoting the hybrid model. This new way of interaction between scholars can be considered as a part of a resilience system which was neglected previously and should become a part of routine practice in scientific community.

Introduction: Our team developed “The Ottawa Troponin Pathway” (OTP) for Non-ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction (NSTEMI) diagnosis using serial conventional troponin (cTnI) 3 hours apart to aid in safe and early disposition of ED patients. The primary objective of this study is to validate the diagnostic accuracy of the OTP in the cohort of patients with cTnI values above the 99th percentile ( > 45ng/L). Methods: This study is a health records review conducted at the Civic and General Campuses of The Ottawa Hospital from August 2017 to December 2017. Adults (≥18 years) who presented to the ED with symptoms of ACS, and who had serial cTnI (at least two values 3 hours ±15 minutes apart) performed for diagnosis of NSTEMI and at least one cTnI value > 45ng/L were included. Patients with cardiac arrest, STEMI, unstable angina or those with TnI values ≤45ng/L were excluded. The outcomes were death due to unknown cause or NSTEMI adjudicated by two blinded investigators within 30 days. Data collected include baseline characteristics, ED management, length of stay, cTnI values and times of measurement, disposition, and outcome. We used descriptive statistics and test diagnostic characteristics to analyze our data. Results: We screened 53,077 patients, of whom 635 patients were included in the study (mean age 71.6 years; 57.6% males; 59.7% hospitalized; median ED length of stay 4.7 hours.). 107 patients (16.9%; 95%CI 14.1%-20.0%) were diagnosed with NSTEMI within 30 days. Among patients with TNI values above the 99th percentile, the OTP did not miss any patients diagnosed with NSTEMI. The sensitivity and the specificity of the OTP were 100% (95%CI 96.6%-100%) and 32.2% (95%CI 28.2%-36.4%) respectively. Conclusion: Our results show that the OTP is diagnostically accurate in ruling out NSTEMI among patients with cTNI values above the 99th percentile with symptoms concerning for ACS. Using the OTP will allow for early referral to consulting services for management, safe and early discharge home, and improve ED crowding.

BACKGROUND: Meningiomas are the most common primary benign brain tumors in adults. Given the extended life expectancy of most meningiomas, consideration of quality of life (QOL) is important when selecting the optimal management strategy. There is currently a dearth of meningioma-specific QOL tools in the literature. OBJECTIVE: In this systematic review, we analyze the prevailing themes and propose toward building a meningioma-specific QOL assessment tool. METHODS: A systematic search was conducted, and only original studies based on adult patients were considered. QOL tools used in the various studies were analyzed for identification of prevailing themes in the qualitative analysis. The quality of the studies was also assessed. RESULTS: Sixteen articles met all inclusion criteria. Fifteen different QOL assessment tools assessed social and physical functioning, psychological, and emotional well-being. Patient perceptions and support networks had a major impact on QOL scores. Surgery negatively affected social functioning in younger patients, while radiation therapy had a variable impact. Any intervention appeared to have a greater negative impact on physical functioning compared to observation. CONCLUSION: Younger patients with meningiomas appear to be more vulnerable within social and physical functioning domains. All of these findings must be interpreted with great caution due to great clinical heterogeneity, limited generalizability, and risk of bias. For meningioma patients, the ideal QOL questionnaire would present outcomes that can be easily measured, presented, and compared across studies. Existing scales can be the foundation upon which a comprehensive, standard, and simple meningioma-specific survey can be prospectively developed and validated.

Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD), usually a self-limiting illness for young children, could cause a significant burden for parents because it can take up to 1–2 weeks for a sick child to recover. We conducted a two-wave longitudinal study over one summer peak season (May–July 2014) of HFMD to examine parents’ HFMD-related risk perceptions and protective responses. In total, 618 parents with at least one child aged ⩽12 years, recruited using randomly-dialled household telephone calls completed the baseline survey interview, 452 of whom subsequently completed the follow-up survey. Around two-thirds of participants perceived the chance of their child being infected by HFMD was ‘zero/very small/small’ but the likelihood of being hospitalized once infected was ‘somewhat likely/likely/very likely’. At follow-up, 82% reported washing child's hands frequently (Hygiene), 16% would keep their child away from school if HFMD cases were identified in school (Distancing) and 23% were ‘very likely/certainly’ to take the child for HFMD vaccination if available (Vaccination). Anticipated regret was consistently the strongest predictor for Hygiene (OR 3.34), and intention of Distancing (OR 2.58) and Vaccination (OR 3.16). Interventions focusing on anticipated regret may be effective to promote protective behaviour against HFMD among parents for their children.

During 1990 we surveyed the southern sky using a multi-beam receiver at frequencies of 4850 and 843 MHz. The half-power beamwidths were 4 and 25 arcmin respectively. The finished surveys cover the declination range between +10 and −90 degrees declination, essentially complete in right ascension, an area of 7.30 steradians. Preliminary analysis of the 4850 MHz data indicates that we will achieve a five sigma flux density limit of about 30 mJy. We estimate that we will find between 80 000 and 90 000 new sources above this limit. This is a revised version of the paper presented at the Regional Meeting by the first four authors; the surveys now have been completed.

In traditional transit timing variations (TTVs) analysis of multi-planetary systems, the individual TTVs are first derived from transit fitting and later modelled using n-body dynamic simulations to constrain planetary masses. We show that fitting simultaneously the transit light curves with the system dynamics (photo-dynamical model) increases the precision of the TTV measurements and helps constrain the system architecture. We exemplify the advantages of applying this photo-dynamical model to a multi-planetary system found in K2 data very close to 3:2 mean motion resonance, K2-19. In this case the period of the larger TTV variations (libration period) is much longer (>1.5 years) than the duration of the K2 observations (80 days). However, our method allows to detect the short period TTVs produced by the orbital conjunctions between the planets that in turn permits to uniquely characterise the system. Therefore, our method can be used to constrain the masses of near-resonant systems even when the full libration curve is not observed.

Metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) of silicon (Si) is a simple and low-cost process to fabricate Si nanostructures with varying aspect ratio and properties. In this work, we report on the structural and vibrational properties of Si nanostructures synthesized with varying metal catalyst. The morphology of the synthesized nanowires was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The optical and vibrational properties of the Si nanostructures were studied by photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopy using three different excitation sources (UV, visible and near-infrared) and are correlated to their microstructures. We propose that the excessive injection of holes into Si at the metal-Si interface and its diffusion to the nanowire surfaces facilitate the etching of Si on these surfaces, leading to a mesoporous network of Si nanocrystallites. When etched with catalytic Au nanoparticles, “hay-stacked” mesoporous Si nanowires were obtained. The straighter nanowires etched with Ag nanoparticles, consisted of a single crystalline core with a thin porous layer that decreased in thickness towards the base of the nanowire. This difference is due to the higher catalytic activity of Au compared to Ag for H2O2 decomposition. The SERRS observed during UV and visible Raman with Ag-etched Si nanowires and near-infrared Raman with Au-etched Si nanowires is due to the presence of the sunken metal nanoparticles. In addition, we explored the influence of varying H2O2 and HF concentration as well as the influence of increased etching temperature on the resultant nanostructured Si morphology. Such Si nanostructures may be useful for a wide range of applications such as photovoltaic and biological and chemical sensing.

Selective Chemical Vapor Deposition of Crystalline Ge-Sb-Te alloys initiating at the bottom metal contact of vias of various sizes has been accomplished. The method is based on selecting Sb and Te precursors which do not decompose on dielectric surfaces in the utilized temperature range.

Polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) show great promise of revolutionizing display technologies. The archetypical multilayer PLED heterostructure introduces numerous chemical and physical challenges to the develoment of efficient and robust devices. These layered structure are formed from solution based spin-casting or printing with subsequesnt removal of the solvent. However, solvent from the freshly deposited film may dissolve or partially dissolve the underlying layer resulting in loss of the desired structure and corresponding device functionality. Undesirable changes in the morphology and interfaces of the polymer films are another detrimental effect associated with solvent removal. Herein, we demonstrated that by embedding hole transporting materials (HTLs) in a cross-linked polymer matrix, the total luminance and external quantum efficiency were greatly improved over devices without this HTL layer.

We report the growth of Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin films by electrodeposition in ionic liquid. Sulfurization was performed in elementary sulfur vapor environment at 450°C for 2 hours. The X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that the film has a stannite structure with preferred grain orientation along (112). Photo-absorption measurement of the sample was performed from 500 nm to 990 nm. It is found that the energy bandgap of the film is about 1.49eV and the absorption coefficient is found to be of the order of 104cm-1.

The spectra of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) are being used to construct a catalogue of QSO absorption lines, for use in studies of abundances, relevant radiation fields, number counts as a function of redshift, and other matters, including the evolution of these parameters. The catalogue includes intervening, associated, and BAL absorbers, in order to allow a clearer definition of the relationships between these three classes. We describe the motivation for and the data products of the project to build the SDSS QSO absorption line catalogue.

Background. Conflicting results have been reported in previous association studies of the serotonin transporter promoter repeat length polymorphism (5-HTTLPR), seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and seasonality (seasonal variations in mood and behaviour). The aim of this study was to test for association in new case–control and population-based materials, and to perform a combined analysis of all published studies of 5-HTTLPR and SAD.

Method. One hundred and forty-seven new SAD cases and 115 controls were genotyped for 5-HTTLPR and in total 464 patients and 414 controls were included in the pooled analysis. In addition, 226 individuals selected for unusually high or low seasonality scores from a population based material and 46 patients with non-seasonal depression were analysed. Different genetic models were tested and seasonality was analysed both as a qualitative (high v. low) and as a quantitative trait in the different sample sets.

Results. No association between 5-HTTLPR and SAD was found in the new case–control material, in the combined analysis of all samples, or when only including 316 patients with controls (N=298) selected for low seasonality. A difference was detected between the population based high and low seasonality groups, when assuming a recessive effect of the short allele (20% and 10% short allele homozygotes, respectively, OR (95% CI): 2·24 (1·03–4·91)). Quantitative analysis of seasonality revealed no association with 5-HTTLPR in any sample set.

Conclusions. These results do not suggest a major role of the short variant of 5-HTTLPR in susceptibility to SAD, but provide modest evidence for an effect on seasonality.

Black Diamond (BD) is gaining popularity as a low k dielectric for copper/low k integration. However, because of lower hardness and more hydrophobic in nature of BD film surface comparing with those of the conventional oxide, some specific defects appear during CMP process of Cu/BD patterned wafers. In this study, the patterned wafer inspection systems, AIT II, and SEM review station are used to review and to classify such defects generated from CMP process. Using conventional Cu/Oxide CMP process, the percentage of these specific defects from Cu/BD CMP is typically more than 60 of total defect count. By modifying the composition of slurry with new additives and optimization of polishing and cleaning parameters, the total defect count can be reduced by 80%, in which the amount of specific defects is less than 5% of total defect count.

Synchrotron radiation-based x-ray photoemission spectroscopy was used to study the Fermi level position within the band gap for thin metal overlayers of Au, Ni, and Ti on n-GaN and p-GaN. The Fermi level position was determined with the measured Fermi edge of the metal on the sample in order to correct for the presence of non-equilibrium effects. There are two different behaviors observed for the three metals studied. For Au and Ti, the surface Fermi positions on n-GaN and p-GaN are roughly 0.5 eV apart within the band gap. For Ni, the n-GaN and p-GaN have a Schottky barrier that forms at the same place at the gap.

We studied and compared the emission properties of optically excited (Al)GaN structures grown by two different techniques: hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) and metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). We successfully achieved stimulated emission (SE) in an HVPE-grown GaN epilayer and a GaN/AlGaN double heterostructure at 10 K and room temperature. We found that the SE threshold and photoluminescence efficiency of the HVPE-grown samples are similar to those of high-quality MOCVD-grown structures. Photoluminescence measurements from 10 to 300 K show that the HVPE GaN has a high density of non-radiative recombination channels, especially those activated below 100 K. This study represents the first demonstration of SE in HVPE-grown (Al)GaN heterostructures.