20th annual meeting of the WEFTA Working Group on Analytical Methods in Fish and Fishery Products and 3rd annual meeting of the WEFTA Working Group on Microbiology. A retrospect on 20 years

After 20 annual meetings it is worth to have a look back and to see how it has started. There has been very little collaboration on research projects between member institutes under the auspices of WEFTA, co-operation in more neutral areas of common interest was developed at an early stage. The area which has proved very fruitful is methodology. It was agreed that probably the best way to make progress was to arrange meetings at each laboratory in turn where experienced, practising scientists could describe in detail how they carried out analyses. In this way, difficulties could be demonstrated or uncovered, and the accuracy, precision, efficiency and cost of the methods used in different laboratories could be compared.

Surface water temperature of Windermere. Monthly and yearly totals of degree-days centigrade and monthly mean temperatures, 1933 to 1975

The surface temperature of Windermere has been recorded by the staff of the Freshwater Biological Association on every weekday (with a few minor exceptions) since 11 January 1933. This publication presents this information in a form which can easily be used by individual research workers. There are 43 tables (1 for each year, 1933-1975) which give the data, expressed as degree-days centigrade. The tables show for each month the number of degree-days above each temperature from 0 degree C to the highest recorded, at 1 degree C intervals. Mean temperatures are obtained by dividing the number of degree-days over 0 degree C by the relevant number of days. The advantage of degree-days rather than mean temperatures is that degree-days are additive so data for any desired periods may be combined quickly and simply. Seasonal results for spring, summer, autumn and winter are presented in tabular form, as are selected totals for comparisons between years. Further tables give the mean temperature in each month of the year, and the frequency distributions of monthly mean temperatures.

Observations on the taxonomy and biology of Lates (Cuvier 1828) in Lake Albert

Both in terms of commercial landings and biological importance, the Nile Perch is one of the most prominent fish in Lake Albert. It can bear considerable further exploitation, is the source of stockings elsewhere, and it is, therefore, important to know whether more than one species is being dealt with, and, if so, what differences there are in the ecology of the different species.

Studying Gender in Conference Talks -- data from the 223rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society

We present a study on the gender balance, in speakers and attendees, at the recent major astronomical conference, the American Astronomical Society meeting 223, in Washington, DC. We conducted an informal survey, yielding over 300 responses by volunteers at the meeting. Each response included gender data about a single talk given at the meeting, recording the gender of the speaker and all question-askers. In total, 225 individual AAS talks were sampled. We analyze basic statistical properties of this sample. We find that the gender ratio of the speakers closely matched the gender ratio of the conference attendees. The audience asked an average of 2.8 questions per talk. Talks given by women had a slightly higher number of questions asked (3.2$\pm$0.2) than talks given by men (2.6$\pm$0.1). The most significant result from this study is that while the gender ratio of speakers very closely mirrors that of conference attendees, women are under-represented in the question-asker category. We interpret this to be an age-effect, as senior scientists may be more likely to ask questions, and are more commonly men. A strong dependence on the gender of session chairs is found, whereby women ask disproportionately fewer questions in sessions chaired by men. While our results point to laudable progress in gender-balanced speaker selection, we believe future surveys of this kind would help ensure that collaboration at such meetings is as inclusive as possible.

Agenda for the fifty-third annual meeting of the National Council of Women of Canada, 1946

The National Council of Women of Canada was founded in 1893 in Toronto to address the need for societal reform, such as better education for women and women’s suffrage. The first president was Lady Ishbel Aberdeen, the wife of the Governor General. The group’s early efforts focused on improving conditions for women prisoners, women working in factories, and women immigrants. The efforts of the Council also helped to achieve the passing of the Act to Confer the Electoral Franchise Upon Women in 1918. Members of the Council have advocated for the welfare of children, the family, the community, the environment and equal pay for work of equal value. The Council continues to be concerned with these issues, and presents an annual brief to the Prime Minister and Members of the Cabinet, as well as occasionally serving on special advisory committees.