Public Education and Multicultural Policy in Canada: The Special Case of Quebec

Education is a provincial responsibility in Canada, but there is a sharing of expenditure and strong support of public education, health and other welfare programs between the provinces and the federal government. Although the federal policy of multiculturalism has been aimed at making Canada a just society, the implementation of this policy in education in English-speaking Canada has been far from satisfactory, and there is great variation among the provinces in educational programs. In Quebec, the federal policy of multiculturalism is ideologically opposed to the vision of French-Québécois nationalism. While the federal policy of intercultural education has made some attempts to integrate immigrant populations, the focus remains on linguistic programs. In facing the dramatic changes driven by internationalization and a globalized economy, Canadians must respond – so the conclusion of the present study – to the urgent need to redefine the meaning of multiculturalism with radical educational programs.     

Sapria Himalayana

Sighting Sapria in the wild is a lifetime experience for a botanist. Because this rare, parasitic flowering plant is one of the lesser known and poorly understood taxa, which is on the brink of extinction. In India, Sapria is only found in the forests of Namdapha National Park in Arunachal Pradesh. In this article, an attempt has been made to document the diversity, distribution, ecology, and conservation need of this valuable plant.     

Use of the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms 62 (CCAPS-62) as a Repeated Measure

The purpose of this initial, exploratory study was to examine the utility of the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms-62 (CCAPS-62) as a repeated measure tool at one university counseling center. This study investigated whether clients engaged in individual counseling changed in symptomology while in treatment and when (e.g., session) changes in symptomology occurred. To answer these research questions, reliable change indexes (RCIs) were calculated for each subscale of the CCAPS-62. Results indicated that all eight of the CCAPS-62 subscales demonstrated reliable changes from initial to subsequent administrations, and that changes occurred between sessions 3 and 6 at this specific university counseling center. Findings suggest the importance of incorporating CCAPS-62 information into counseling sessions to inform treatment and assessment.     

Prof. K S Krishnan and crystal magnetism

The article presents a brief discussion of the two most important contributions in crystal magnetism by Prof. K S Krishnan.     

A paradox of Newtonian gravitation and Laplace’s solution

Newton’s theory of gravitation solvedmany problems of celestialmechanics but led to some major problems, one of which was that it gave rise to a serious paradox discussed in this article. The paradox has a number of manifestations one of which is presented here. It should be remembered that the root cause of all these paradoxes is fundamentally the same. Laplace attempted an ad hoc solution. However, it could not be mathematically demonstrated that his proposal solves the difficulty. In this article, it is shown that his suggestion removes the problem. A physical phenomenon that can justify Laplace’s suggestion is also mentioned briefly. This article also poses an interesting mathematical problem that can be attempted by interested readers. The computational solution is presented here.     

Search for future viands

Algae and fungi have good prospects to be exploited as alternative sources of food. Both these groups of organisms are rich in food value, especially in their protein component. Their large-scale utilization may help to minimize food crises as well as malnutrition around the world.     

Spurious Hyperphosphatemia in a Case of Multiple Myeloma

A 50 year old male was admitted in our hospital with anemia and impaired renal function. He was subsequently found to have extremely elevated serum phosphate level (24 mg/dL, reference interval: 2.5–4.5 mg/dL) with normal serum calcium when assayed on a Beckman Coulter AU 480^® analyser. Clinico-biochemical discrepancy led to the suspicion of spurious hyperphosphatemia. Serum total protein was grossly elevated with gross reversal of albumin to globulin ratio. Serum electrophoresis revealed a large M band and was confirmed as Ig G-Kappa type on immunofixation. Subsequently a bone marrow aspiration biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of multiple myeloma. The patient serum was then reassayed for phosphate on a Vitros^® 250 Dry Chemistry platform and the result was within normal reference interval. Paraproteinemias are a common cause of analytical interference in clinical biochemistry laboratories and as multilayered film technology platforms like Vitros^® assay most routine analytes on a protein free filtrate they are unaffected by paraprotein interference. Clinically discordant patient results should always be interpreted keeping such interferences in mind.