The vessel, formerly known as the Edmonton Queen, got skewered by its own moorings last month as the icy North Saskatchewan River began to thaw.

Much like a prehistoric pest trapped in amber, our summer plans remain in suspended animation.

Disaster relief funding for punishing spring floods is welcome news to civic leaders in northern Alberta.

A longstanding battle between an Alberta entrepreneur and a $50-million lottery winner is still raging after a new legal judgment, a securities investigation, allegations of harassment and even duelling ebooks.

In a new twist on oral history, University of Alberta paleontologists have discovered that an Argentinian reptile from 95 million years ago developed a type of tooth enamel that is common in humans and other mammals but rare among reptiles.

Police are investigating a report of a suspicious package in north Edmonton.

Tensions are rising on Manitoulin Island because a First Nation is stopping travellers on provincial highways that go through the community. But opinions on M'Chigeeng's attempt to protect its people from COVID-19 are not divided along racial lines. 

A doctor on Manitoulin Island is encouraging seasonal residents to stay home and not to come visit during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Porcupine Health Unit is reporting the fifth COVID-19 related death in its area.

As the province of Ontario starts to relax some COVID-19 restrictions, one Sudbury business owner says it feels great to be opening back up.

Business owners throughout northern Ontario will have the chance Friday morning to speak directly with federal Economic Development Minister Mélanie Joly.

A former miner who was forced to breathe in a fine aluminum dust before each shift says he’s not surprised a new report links that dust and a higher risk of Parkinson’s disease.

The following is a guest post by Martha H. Kennedy, Curator of Popular & Applied Graphic Art, Prints & Photographs Division. During Will Eisner Week, March 1-7, 2020, the Library of Congress joins art schools, libraries, universities, and museums in a global celebration of this legendary creator’s contributions to the world of comic art and […]

Just across town from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., stands Gallaudet University, an institute for higher learning for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed the law that allowed the school to begin issuing college degrees, a milestone for deaf people seeking higher education. Edward M. Gallaudet (right) was the […]

The following is a post by Kristi Finefield, Reference Specialist in the Prints & Photographs Division, and member of the Picture This blog team. Images have a way of opening our eyes to new aspects of a well-known story. When I think of singer Marian Anderson, an image of her performing at the Lincoln Memorial […]

This rapid and efficient method to prepare highly purified recombinant adeno-associated viruses (rAAVs) is based on binding of negatively charged rAAV capsids to an anion-exchange resin that is pH dependent.

Over many years, the Xenopus laevis embryo has provided a powerful model system to investigate how mechanical forces regulate cellular function. Here, we describe a system to apply reproducible tensile and compressive force to X. laevis animal cap tissue explants and to simultaneously assess cellular behavior using live confocal imaging.

Before probing blots for the presence of an antigen, the total composition of the transferred proteins can be determined by staining the nitrocellulose or polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane. Staining for proteins is useful to determine the position of the non-prestained molecular weight markers or individual lanes on the gel and to ensure that efficient transfer has occurred. It can be also used to verify equal loading of the samples in the gel when a comparison of the protein of interest between the different samples is important. The conventional procedures such as Coomassie Blue and silver staining methods used for staining polyacrylamide gels are incompatible with immunoblotting. Ponceau S is the more common staining method in immunoblotting protocols because it is compatible with antibody–antigen binding, is cost efficient, and provides a good contrast between the stained bands and background. In this protocol, nitrocellulose or PVDF membrane is rinsed with ultrapure H₂O after the transfer of proteins. Ponceau S dye is applied as an acidic aqueous solution, and the proteins on the membrane are stained with red color. The membrane is briefly destained with water and can be photographed or scanned to obtain the image of the total protein staining. Individual lane positions or the molecular weight standards can be marked with a pencil, if required.

Bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clones are rendered electrocompetent and transformed with the recombinant shuttle vector, pLD53SCAB/AB-box. Cointegrates are selected by growth on chloramphenicol and ampicillin to ensure recombination of the shuttle vector into the BAC.

Plasmid DNA is prepared from the recombinant shuttle vector pLD53.SCAB/A-B created by cloning of the A and B homology arms for two-step bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) engineering. To confirm that the A-box and B-box arms have been successfully incorporated into pLD53.SCAB, the pattern of enzyme digestion of the modified plasmid is compared with that of the unmodified pLD53.SCAB. Once the shuttle vector is shown to carry the proper sequences, it is ready for transfer into the BAC host.

This protocol describes the preparation of the shuttle vector before its introduction into bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) host cells for BAC two-step engineering. The homology arm sequences, prepared previously, are introduced by ligation into the digested shuttle vector DNA to provide sites for recombination within the BAC clone. Crude lysates of individual bacterial transformants serve as templates in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis to confirm the presence of the homology arms in the recombinant shuttle vector.

In two-step bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) engineering, a single plasmid is introduced into the BAC-carrying cell lines. The shuttle vector pLD53.SCAB (or pLD53.SCAEB) carries the recA gene and the R6K origin, which requires the protein to replicate. PIR2 cells, expressing , are typically used for the amplification of the vector and maintain about 15 copies/cell of the donor vector, which is relatively stable in this host.

FSI Briefs No 1, April 2020. Regulatory policy responses should seek to support economic activity while preserving the financial system's soundness and ensuring transparency. The recommendation for banks to make full use of capital and liquidity buffers should go hand in hand with restrictions on dividends and bonuses and clarity concerning the process for rebuilding them. Flexibility in loan classification criteria for prudential and accounting purposes should be complemented with sufficient disclosure on the criteria banks use to assess creditworthiness. The publication of detailed guidance on the application of expected loss provisioning rules, combined with sensible transitional arrangements, may constitute a balanced approach to mitigating the unintended effects of the new accounting standards.

FSI Briefs No 4, April 2020. Currently, insurers are more likely to experience losses from financial market volatility than from higher insurance claims arising from Covid-19. Few insurance supervisors have seen a need to strengthen or adjust prudential requirements to insulate insurers from current financial market uncertainties. So far, authorities have responded mainly by taking measures to provide operational relief to insurers from regulatory and supervisory requirements so that they can continue providing insurance services. These measures will also help insurers to enhance risk monitoring of their Covid-19 financial exposures. Some authorities have set out expectations for insurers to conserve capital through prudent exercise of dividend and variable remuneration policies. The aim is to enhance their resilience against huge uncertainties from potential Covid-19 fallout. Other capital-related measures should relieve supervisory pressures and reduce the tendency of insurers to manage their investments in a procyclical manner. These measures include: extending the supervisory intervention ladder, triggering the countercyclical lever and recalibrating capital requirements. The far-reaching impact of Covid-19 calls for sustained vigilance by both supervisors and insurers. In the post-pandemic phase, the extraordinary measures currently warranted will need to be unwound through a carefully crafted exit strategy that preserves sound risk management practices and protects policyholders' interests.

This paper reviews post-crisis financial regulatory reforms, examines how they fit together and identifies open issues. Specifically, it takes stock of the salient new features of bank and CCP international standards within a unified analytical framework.

The Covid-19 shock is placing enormous strains on corporates cash buffers. Corporate financial statements from 2019 suggest that 50% of firms do not have sufficient cash to cover total debt servicing costs over the coming year. Credit lines could provide firms with additional liquidity. On average undrawn credit stood around 120% of debt servicing costs at end 2019. However, access is uneven and banks may be reluctant to renew or extend them in the current environment. Sticky operating expenses result in many firms running operating losses, placing an additional burden on cash buffers. Estimates indicate that following a 10% drop in revenues, operating expenses only fall by 6% on average. Simulations suggest that if revenues fall by 25% in 2020, then closing the entire funding gap with debt would raise firm leverage by around 10 percentage points.

Rural educator Frank Cyr had the vision and pull to force the nation to standardize the color of the ubiquitous vehicle

Open for visitors, these houses model upcycling at its finest

A prototype deployed in San Francisco Bay imagines the underside of a floating building as an upside-down artificial reef

The graphic designer is receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from Cooper Hewitt for her recognizable computer icons, typefaces and graphics

A new book explores the evolution of cartography throughout more than a century of commercial air travel

From gas stations to public libraries, these celebrity architect-designed buildings are worth a road trip

Press release about the Basel Committee publishing consultation paper on revisions to the credit valuation adjustment risk framework, 28 November 2019.

Press release: CPMI and IOSCO share authorities´ experiences in cooperation to increase FMI safety and efficiency, 10 December 2019

Press release: CPMI report sets out considerations for developers of wholesale digital tokens, 12 December 2019

Press release: Basel Committee invites comments on the design of a prudential treatment for crypto-assets, 12 December 2019.

The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Sveriges Riksbank and the Swiss National Bank, together with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), have created a group to share experiences as they assess the potential case for central bank digital currency (CBDC) in their home jurisdictions. (Press release, 21 January 2020)

No global real estate market despite higher price synchronisation and growing role of international investors, central banks find (Press release, 18 February 2020)

Basel Committee Press release "Basel Committee meets to review vulnerabilities and emerging risks, advance supervisory initiatives and promote Basel III implementationl", 27 February 2020.

Press release "Basel Committee coordinates policy and supervisory response to Covid-19", 20 March 2020

Press release "Governors and Heads of Supervision announce deferral of Basel III implementation to increase operational capacity of banks and supervisors to respond to Covid-19", 27 March 2020

BCBS Press release "Basel Committee sets out additional measures to alleviate the impact of Covid-19", 3 April 2020

BCBS Press release "Basel III monitoring results based on end-June 2019 data published by the Basel Committee", 8 April 2020

CPMI Press release "Jurisdictions move towards full implementation of standards for financial market infrastructures", 8 April 2020.

Press release "Saudi G20 Presidency and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub invite global innovators to solve RegTech and SupTech challenges", 27 April 2020

It works like a very fine "molecular knob" able to modulate the electrical activity of the neurons of our cerebral cortex, crucial to the functioning of our brain.

Acute myeloid leukemia is an aggressive cancer of the blood-forming system. It affects the hematopoietic stem cells, or blood stem cells, of various white blood cells and of the red blood cells and platelets.

A randomized, controlled clinical trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of a treatment regimen of the investigational antiviral remdesivir plus the anti-inflammatory drug baricitinib for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has begun.

Imagining America between the crisis and the cure.

The closures were necessary. Chasing picnickers and closing paint aisles is petty overreach.