Golder Associates Inc., branded as just Golder, is a Canadian employee-owned, global company providing consulting, design, and construction services in earth, environment, and related areas of energy. Its more than 7,500 employees operate from more than 155 offices in Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America and South America. Golder serves the manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, power, urban development and infrastructure sectors.
Contact lens dropout rates remain a significant challenge in eye care, with up to one in four new wearers discontinuing use within the first year. This study, commissioned by the Contact Lens Institute and conducted by Prodege, surveyed 401 U.S. adults to identify factors influencing contact lens retention. The survey categorized participants into new wearers (less than two years) and long-term wearers (two or more years) to assess differences in satisfaction, dissatisfaction, and the impact of eye care practice interactions. Results indicated a 19-point satisfaction gap between new (67%) and long-term wearers (86%), highlighting the need to improve early experiences. Key satisfaction drivers included comfort, visual quality, and convenience, while dissatisfaction stemmed from cost, handling, comfort, and vision issues. New wearers were more influenced by interactions with all practice staff, emphasizing the importance of comprehensive support and education. The study recommends proactive communication, personalized care, and lifestyle-centered prescribing to enhance retention. Addressing cost, handling, and comfort challenges through targeted actions can mitigate dropout risks. By fostering a supportive environment and leveraging the entire practice team, eye care professionals can improve patient satisfaction and promote long-term contact lens use.
This case study of a Canadian secondary school captures teachers’ and school administrators’ perceptions of a recently-constructed gender-inclusive washroom. Questions about employees’ perceptions of the washroom with respect to its location, amount (and importance) of visibility from common areas, and whether students understand the space as safe and socially inclusive were asked. Employees do not feel as though the new washroom has been a success. Its location is perceived to be too far from common areas and classrooms where a sense of surveillance may curb bullying and general misuse of the space. Design features that appear to be for social use have been confusing for some students and have promoted inappropriate behaviours in the setting. Despite this, students and employees believe that the intention of the washroom’s design was positive and that its flaws have initiated helpful conversations about diverse needs and the importance of respect among the school community.
Anisotropy is an important characteristic of rocks, especially distinguishable in metamorphic rocks. Transverse isotropy is a particular case of anisotropy where foliation planes are distributed in the rock mass. Anisotropy can also originate from mineral foliation where minerals are oriented in a preferential direction. This inherent anisotropy can affect the rock strength significantly. Here the effect of foliation on the anisotropic strength of a phyllite is experimentally investigated. Phyllite specimens with defined foliation orientations are prepared and a series of laboratory tests carried out. Results for tensile strength and unconfined compressive strength are analysed. Maximum values of tensile strength and unconfined compressive strength are found for β = 0 and 90° and a significant reduction of strength is found for β = 45°. Compressive triaxial tests are conducted under confining pressures up to 20 MPa. The Hoek–Brown failure criterion is found to capture the experimental results in a better form than the Mohr–Coulomb criterion. Anisotropy indexes are adopted to evaluate the anisotropy effect on strength. Confinement is found to reduce the effect of anisotropy on phyllite strength. Cohesion and angle of shearing resistance were also found to be affected by the stress level, and further influenced by β.
