Search

• Limited research attention has been paid to fatigue-related issues in the short-sea, domestic segment of seafaring. • Canadian short-sea seafarers can suffer from acute and chronic fatigue associated with lack of rest hours, broken watches, the neglect of commute-related fatigue and long rotations. • Canadian domestic maritime labour standards for rest hours need to be improved to ensure Canadian seafarers have equivalent minimum hours of rest protection to their international and European counterparts. Shipping is a safety-critical industry and seafaring is a demanding job. Fatigue among seafarers is attracting increasing attention due to its implications for their health and safety, for public safety and for environmental risk. Seafaring, like other forms of transportation work entails work on moving (floating) and geographically mobile platforms. Existing studies on seafaring and fatigue have focused mainly on international seafaring and on the relationship between work on mobile work platforms, work-scheduling and fatigue, including its effects on navigation in that sector. Less attention has been paid to fatigue-related issues in the short-sea, domestic segment of seafaring including patterns of extended commuting for work in that sector that may contribute to fatigue and the risk of injury and incidents. This paper reports on findings from a Canadian study of mobility to (commuting) and within work and safety in short-sea shipping on the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes. This segment of Canadian shipping is associated with high numbers of accidents and incidents. The study comprised 25 in-depth interviews with seafarers, managers from Canadian shipping companies, union representatives and government and other key informants carried out between July 2017 and April 2018. It also included a review of relevant statutes, collective agreements and legal cases. Results from 17 interviews with current and former seafarers and company managers and some of the legal findings are presented here. When asked about safety-related challenges, fatigue was the most commonly identified challenge in these interviews. Eleven out of 17 Canadian, current and ex-seafarers (with the latter now engaged in other roles in the sector) identified fatigue as a challenge. Findings suggest that a combination of (a) extended geographical mobility (commuting) to work, (b) intensive demands and long working hours associated with manoeuvring vessels through the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes and into and out of ports, (c) the failure to monitor and include commute-related fatigue in calculating eligibility for hours of rest, and (d) lower than international and European Union statutory requirements for hours of rest in Canadian regulations contribute to the risk of fatigue-related accidents and incidents in this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Bayesian mediation analysis is used to assess the mediated effects of covariates on cyclist-vehicle crashes. • Bike kilometers travelled is set as a mediator of the relationship between zonal characteristics and cyclist crashes. • The zonal characteristics direct, indirect and total effects on cyclist-vehicle crashes are estimated. • The results show the importance of considering indirect effects when evaluating cyclists' safety. • Network coverage and recreational density have negative direct effect on cyclist crashes while their total effect is positive. Cyclist safety is affected by many factors on the zonal level. Previous studies have found associations between cyclist-vehicle crashes and vehicle and bike exposures, network configuration, land use, road facility, and the built environment. In addition, the network configuration, land use, and road facility were found to affect bike exposure levels. The association of zonal characteristics with both exposure and crashes may bias the development of macro-level bike safety models. This paper aims to explain these associations simultaneously using a form of Structural Equation Modelling approach. The analysis assesses the mediated effects that some variables have on crashes through their effects on bike exposure (by setting bike exposure as a mediator). Data from 134 traffic analysis zones (TAZ's) in the City of Vancouver, Canada is used as a case study. The indirect effect of network configuration, land use, and road facility on cyclist-vehicle crashes was assessed through Bayesian mediation analysis. Mediation analysis is an approach used to estimate how one variable transmits its effects to another variable through a certain mediator. These effects could be direct only, indirect only (through a certain mediator), or both direct and indirect. The results showed that the bike kilometers travelled (BKT) was a mediator of the relationship between network configuration, land use, and road facility and cyclist-vehicle crashes. The mediation analysis showed that some variables have different direct and indirect effect on cyclist-vehicle crashes. This indicates that while some variables may have negative direct association with crashes, their total crash effect can be positive after accounting for their effect through exposure. For example, bike network coverage and recreational density have negative direct association with cyclist-vehicle crashes, and positive indirect association leading to positive total effect on cyclist-vehicle crashes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Government of Canada has implemented measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including a carbon tax and its proposed Clean Fuel Standard. Alberta's Oil Sands industry, arguably one of Canada's largest and most energy intensive industries, has made significant progress towards improving energy efficiency and reducing its fossil energy footprint, including investigating options for integrating bio-based feedstocks into bitumen extraction and processing. Nevertheless, developing sustainable bioenergy supply chains remains a crucial challenge to reaching this goal. This paper investigates pathways for harvesting and hauling biomass residues to produce bio-oil that can replace fossil fuels used in oil sands bitumen processing. A 3–stage grid model is developed, comprising a square grid distribution of harvesting fields and district centres. Biomass is collected and hauled to fast pyrolysis units centrally located within square harvesting fields. Raw bio-oil is hauled from fields to the centre of one of 11 District centres, where it is stabilized and blended. Stage–1 and Stage–2 estimate hauling distance using hypothetical roads described by geometric equations and tortuosity factors. Stage–3 hauling of stabilized bio-oil from District centres to upgraders at Scotford AB and Fort McMurray AB is estimated by using web-based mapping tools and actual road networks. Total diesel requirements for hauling are calculated using total distances obtained from the 3–stage hauling model. Average diesel consumption obtained from the model is 0.32 L per 1000 L of bio-oil produced, increasing to 3.45 L per 1000 L bio-oil delivered to district centres. Total diesel consumption is 10.23 and 14.40 L per 1000 L bio-oil delivered to Scotford and Ft. McMurray, respectively. The model shows that co-processing of biomass residues can reduce the fossil energy footprint of processing oil sands synthetic crude oil by 22–28%. The quantity of delivered bio-oil is sufficient to replace petroleum coke and synthetic crude oil used for combustion as well as a substantial fraction of natural gas fuel. Moreover, the model can help to determine the most suitable processing and hauling options at each stage in order to minimize diesel fuel requirements, and the model framework can be extended to other jurisdictions as well as other industries. • 3–stage hauling model for biomass and bio-oil destined for bitumen upgraders. • Diesel requirement estimated using hypothetical and actual road networks. • 87% of bio-oil's energy can replace fossil inputs to synthetic crude production. • Energy footprint is lower by 22% for SAGD operations and 28% for mining operations. • Model is applicable to other jurisdictions and other energy intensive industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Key operational parameters of 14 office buildings were reviewed. • Over 60% of the air handling units were not turned off outside normal occupied hours. • Most of the reviewed buildings did not have an economizer cycle program. • A sensitivity analysis was conducted with the reviewed operational parameters. • A mixed-integer genetic algorithm was applied to identify the optimal operational parameters. Operator decisions regarding daily and seasonal scheduling of systems' availability and setpoints play an important role in building performance. This paper reviews the key operational parameters of 14 office buildings in Ottawa, Canada. The results revealed that over 60% of the air handling units (AHUs) were not turned off outside of normal occupied hours, and most of them did not have an economizer cycle. The indoor temperature setpoints were between 20 and 24 °C. Based on these insights, a building performance simulation (BPS)-based sensitivity analysis was conducted to better understand the energy and comfort performance implications of common operator decisions. Eight operational parameters were studied: AHU start and stop times, seasonal switchover to heating and cooling times, heating and cooling season temperature setpoints, and ventilation rate and mode (i.e., constant or occupancy-based). The results revealed that the AHU start and stop times and the ventilation rate are the most critical operational parameters examined in terms of affecting the energy and comfort performance of the buildings investigated. Subsequently, a mixed-integer genetic algorithm was applied to identify the optimal operational parameters among the set of eight operational parameters investigated for four different heating dominated climate zones, nine different occupancy and three different envelope scenarios. The relationships between the variables of these scenarios and the optimal operational parameters were examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• ASR expansion was suppressed and transferred to free or low stress directions. • Stress reduces the degradation of the modulus of elasticity. • ASR did not affect the peak shear strength of the low aspect ratio shear walls. • The Disturbed Stress Field Model provides a viable platform for implementing ASR constitutive models. Concrete nuclear structures have been identified as suffering from alkali aggregate reaction (AAR) in both Canada and the United States. Although much research effort has been directed toward understanding its effect on reinforced concrete structures, unresolved issues still remain. Among them are the effect of multiaxial stress states, commonly developed in nuclear structures, on the response of AAR-affected concrete; also of concern is the possible invalidity of conventional methods of analysis for structural assessment due to the induced anisotropy in the mechanical properties of concrete. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission initiated and funded an extensive study aimed to reveal the implications of concrete deterioration due to AAR on structural integrity, which included material and structural testing and modeling. This paper presents an overview of the entire research program and discusses the key results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Cernavoda Tritium Removal Facility as tritium supplier for fusion activities is in line with ITER plans for construction. • Tritium quantities produced by CTRF are lower than those required by fusion activities, but CTRF can be considered as an important contributor. • Position of CTRF in EU may be considered as an advantage, all requirements for tritium management (storage for transportation, transfer arrangements, safety) can be easily met. National R&D for Cryogenics and Isotopes Separation (ICSI) completed the conceptual design of the Cernavoda Tritium Removal Facility (CTRF) in 2015. CTRF is located at CNE 1 1 Centrala Nucleara Electrica - NPP Cernavoda and is sized to process 40 kg/h heavy water from 2 CANDU reactors, with a detritiation factor of 100, over 40 years design life. CTRF removes tritium using liquid phase catalytic exchange (LPCE) paired with cryogenic distillation (CD). The design of CTRF uses expertise from ICSI (Pilot Plant for Tritium and Deuterium Separation) and from Canada (Kinectrics), together with experience from Wolsung TRF project, research tritium laboratories and industry. The CTRF design uses the most advanced TRF technology, including recent safety requirements for a tritium industrial facility as specified by the Romanian Regulator. Construction of CTRF is planned to start in 2020 and the detritiation of heavy water from first reactor is scheduled to begin in 2026. After this date tritium stored will become available to be used for fusion research and industrial facilities. First phase of detritiation process is to reduce the moderator tritium content from 65 Ci/kg to 10 Ci/kg, second phase to maintain the tritium concentration up to 10 Ci/kg and third phase to use CTRF to reduce tritium content as low as possible before decommissioning of the site. This paper will present the technologies used, provide a prediction of tritium production, and considerations for possible use of CTRF for supplying He-3, as a by-product of the detritiation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes the results from a comprehensive laboratory experimental research program conducted at the University of British Columbia, Canada to study the mechanical behavior of natural fine-grained soils. Constant-volume direct simple shear tests were performed on natural silt samples collected from various locations in British Columbia to investigate the monotonic and cyclic shear loading response of these materials. Influencing factors such as effective confining stress, over-consolidation ratio, initial static shear bias, soil plasticity, and soil fabric/micro-structure on the mechanical behavior of silts were systematically investigated using a series of controlled laboratory tests. The key observations arising from these examinations are presented and discussed to serve as input for the development and/or refinement of design practice approaches for seismic geotechnical design. New directions to be considered to advance the current state of understanding and knowledge on the mechanical behavior of natural fine-grained soils are identified. • Seismic response of natural fine-grained soil was experimentally investigated. • Effect of wide range of physical parameters on the soil behavior was investigated. • Behavioral patterns were explored for a number of different natural soils. • Outcomes were interpreted and translated for potential practice usage. • Findings will contribute to advancement of earthquake engineering design practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction : As seniors represent a growing proportion of the driving population, research about how automated vehicles can help improve older driver safety and mobility is highly relevant. This paper examines the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of older drivers towards limited self-driving vehicles (LSDVs), and how these variables can influence the likelihood that they will rely on this technology. Method : The study includes data from a previous national survey (N = 2662) about automated vehicle technology, with new analyses to test hypothetical models using structural equation modeling. Results of the first model were confirmed and built upon with a second more complex model that incorporated the construct "behavioral adaptation." Focus groups with older drivers were also conducted (N = 38) to help reveal nuances in older drivers' knowledge, attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors regarding this technology. Results : Survey results demonstrated that feelings of safety and knowledge about LSDVs are positively related to perceived ease of use and adoption of the technology. The positive association between safety and perceived ease of use was further highlighted when comparing responses of older drivers to those of younger age groups, as older drivers were significantly less likely to agree that LSDVs were easy to use and were significantly less agreeable about feeling safe using them. Focus groups results confirmed that safety and knowledge of LSDVs are essential to the likelihood of adopting this technology, and revealed a high receptivity among older drivers to educational strategies and tools to increase their knowledge of LSDVs. Implications for educational strategies and safety benefits for older drivers are discussed. Practical applications : Results provide insight into strategies to encourage the early adoption of automated vehicles by older drivers and facilitate a safer transition towards automated vehicles that is lead by a cohort of safety-conscious drivers. • A national survey of Canadian drivers was conducted on automated vehicles. • Focus groups with older drivers were conducted on automated vehicles. • Survey data was analyzed using structural equation modeling. • Data revealed feelings of safety, knowledge are vital to adopting this technology. • Importance of and receptivity to education on automated vehicles for older drivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the social inclusion of the illicit drug user. It does this through a comparative examination of policy orientations to the social inclusion of people who use drugs. Six policy documents from Canada and Scotland produced in the years 2000 and 2001 were systematically sampled from 42 known documents. A poststructural content analysis adapted from the work of Maarten Hajer and mapped onto an analytic frame derived from Nikolas Rose's Governing the Soul: The Shaping of the Private Self is conducted. Within the years considered, drug policy texts from Scotland signaled a more punitive approach to drug use and a less socially inclusive approach to people who used drugs than drug policy texts from Canada. The differences in policy directions identified were in keeping with a priori interpretations of each country's broad approach to illicit drug use and to the social inclusion of the illicit drug user, if not to social inclusion itself. Methodologically, combining the approaches of Hajer and Rose proved complimentary and useful as well as promising for future application to the content analysis of public discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Synoptic analysis of two IBM types yielded interesting details on similarities and differences. • New methodology of recombining model components was crucial to analysis. • Models with detailed interaction structure are only beneficial if the data provide the interaction information required. • Substantial progress in estimating the parameters of spatial IBMs was made. Agent/individual-based models (A/IBM) help to explain in a mechanistic way how spatial plant patterns evolve through time. In the past, seemingly different and independent types of A/IBMs were developed for modelling the dynamics of tree populations, e.g. growth interaction (GI) and shot noise (SN) models. In this paper, we present a new, advanced methodology of pattern-oriented modelling (POM) for the comparative, synoptic analysis of the behaviour of different types of A/IBMs by using recombinations of model components, validation and sensitivity analysis. We analysed model behaviour for spatio-temporal data from natural forests of interior Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var glauca (Mirb.) Franco) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) populations from Canada and the UK, respectively. Our detailed analysis clarified that both models, GI and SN along with their recombinations performed similarly and belong to the same group of A/IBMs. From the application of our new methodology we learnt that SN models were able to describe interactions more accurately than GI models and additionally produce interaction fields that can be used for other modelling purposes. On the other hand the GI model was more robust when using observed data that did not include sufficient information on tree interactions. Maximum-likelihood estimations were more reliable in spatial regression analysis than least-squares methods and should be preferred in spatial A/IBM parametrisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Sheltered natural carbonation can be similar between different climates. • Huge impact of curing on natural carbonation for very early age (i.e. 1 day) • Impact of curing is negligible for advanced curing age, regardless of cement type. • Strong impact of precipitation on natural carbonation. • The higher the number of rainy days, the lower the carbonation speed. This paper describes a unique international inter-laboratory study on the carbonation resistance of concrete prepared with different supplementary cementing materials. Concrete specimens – from 45 different concrete mixtures – prepared centrally in Lafarge Centre de Recherche (France) were shipped in a sealed condition to 4 other academia research laboratories (located in USA, Canada, India and China). The specimens were exposed to the ambient environments and atmospheric CO2 concentrations in the five locations, including Lafarge Centre de Recherche in France, in both sheltered and unsheltered condition for a period of 5 years. Measurements of carbonation depth were performed at periodic intervals, and the data was analyzed to assess the influence of climatic conditions on the resistance to carbonation. The results indicate that the general trend of carbonation is not much different irrespective of the macroclimate. Further, the number of rainy days seems to have a more significant influence on the progress of carbonation than the total rainfall in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the stratigraphic occurrence of n -alkanes (C n) is investigated in three peat cores (Mildred, JPH4 and McMurray) from the ombrotrophic peatlands in northeastern Alberta, Canada, to determine their origin, biomass input, and paleoclimatic significance. The molecular composition of n -alkanes is dominated by the >C 21 medium- to long-chain homologues, with a strong odd over even predominance. A number of n -alkane-based indices (e.g. predominant n -alkane, C 23 /C 29 , C 23 /(C 27 + C 31), P aq , ACL, and CPI), show changing conditions in the organic matter (OM) input from Sphagnum species or terrestrial vascular plants, which increasingly contributed upwards in the peat profiles, and through time. P aq and C 23 /(C 27 + C 31) proxies are similar in the three cores, and allow us to infer vegetation variations that coincide with the climate alternations of the Medieval Warm Period (MWP), Little Ice Age (LIA), and modern Recent Warming (RW). The utilization of ACL-ket and (C 23 + C 25)/(C 27 + C 29 + C 31)-ket proxies, performed in comparison with n -alkane proxies, further support the biomarker-based reconstructions of paleoclimate variations over recent centuries. This study suggests that n -alkane homologues are sensitive to vegetation and climate changes and thus are reliable biomarkers for tracking past shifts in vegetation and climate variations in peat archives. • Determine organic matter source of peat sediments from n -alkane biomarkers. • C 23 /(C 27 +C 31) n -alkane proxy is proposed and can effectively characterize climate changes. • P aq proxy indication could be misleading when the contribution of Sphagnum fuscum to the peat is large. • n -Alkan-2-one proxy is studied to further confirm the biomarker-based reconstruction of paleoclimatic changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Development of the safety profession in Canada. • Certification and education in the safety profession. • Future outlook for the safety profession. This thematic paper explores the development of the occupational health and safety profession in Canada, including: a review of the OHS professional bodies – the national membership and national certification boards, a brief history of the profession in Canada, the impact of the Singapore Accord and the INSHPO Framework, OHS professional certification in context, including accreditation model and the historical development of examination competencies in Canada, an overview of the OHS education in Canada, and the future outlook for the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil respiration is a crucial source of carbon dioxide (CO 2) in the atmosphere. The underlying processes involved are multifaceted, sequential chemical reactions associated with the conversion of soil organic carbon to CO 2. In this paper, we present a mechanistic, biogeochemical model to simulate soil CO 2 emissions considering the microbial and sequential chemical processes using the well-established hydrological model, Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) for the first time. The soil CO 2 emissions from multiple sequential soil chemical reactions were compared with the observed data at three sites in Canada. The results show that the modelled CO 2 emission rates are in good agreement with the observed data with performance statistics: PBIAS: 0.13%–23%; NSE: 0.27 to 0.62; RSR: 0.60 to 0.84; R2: 0.29 to 0.83. This approach could be used in future regional to global-scale models for simulating the soil CO 2 emission and hydrological processes. Image 1 • Modelling of soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition. • Soil chemical reactions modelling using microbial kinetics and thermodynamics. • Modelling of soil autotrophic respiration and soil heterotrophic respiration. • Modelling of soil CO 2 emissions using the soil and water assessment tool (SWAT). • Watershed-scale modelling of soil CO 2 emission using SWAT tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper investigates the seismic collapse capacity of buildings with ductile RM shear walls with boundary elements. • The study provides practical design recommendations to enhance overall structural performance. • Simple and efficient nonlinear numerical macro-model for RM shear walls is proposed. • Results demonstrate the potential of ductile RM shear walls with boundary elements as a SFRS in high-rise buildings. • It is concluded that the building height limits of NBCC 2015 can be relaxed for ductile RM shear walls. The National Building Code of Canada, NBCC-15 has recently added a new Seismic Force Resisting System (SFRS) category, ductile shear walls, for Reinforced Masonry (RM) buildings. Although it was assigned a higher ductility-related force modification factor compared to that of moderately ductile walls, NBCC-15 assigned the same building height limits for the ductile and moderately ductile RM walls. This study aims to assess (i.e. numerically) the seismic performance and collapse capacity of ductile RM buildings, having heights exceeding the code limit, built using ductile RM shear walls with boundary elements as the SFRS. The main objective is to propose height limits based on solid and objective seismic performance acceptance criteria. In this regard, six archetype buildings with varying heights are designed according to CSA S304-14 with ductile RM structural walls having confined boundary elements. The reference buildings are located in two regions representing the high and moderate seismicity levels of NBCC-15. The seismic performance is evaluated using nonlinear pseudo-static pushover and Incremental Dynamic Analyses (IDA). The quantification of seismic performance and collapse capacity is executed using the procedure outlined in FEMA P695. This research study contributes to the understanding of the seismic performance and collapse capacity of ductile RM shear wall buildings with boundary elements. It provides practical design recommendations to enhance the overall system performance. In addition, the study proposes a simple, yet efficient nonlinear numerical macro-modeling approach for RM shear walls. Finally, based on the findings of this study, it is suggested to assign a 70 m limit for the height of buildings in moderate seismicity regions and a 50 m limit for the buildings in regions with high seismic hazard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme cold weather alert programs have been implemented in some areas to address the significant health impacts of exposure to cold. One such program is the Toronto Cold Weather Program (TCWP) that was implemented in the City of Toronto since 1996 to protect the public from extreme weather conditions. In this paper, we aim to evaluate the effectiveness of the TCWP in reducing mortality and morbidity outcomes related to cold temperatures. We applied a quasi-experimental study design using the Difference-in-Differences method coupled with propensity-score-matching to determine the effect of the TCMP on daily hospitalizations and deaths due to cardiovascular disease (CVD), coronary heart disease (CHD) or cerebrovascular disease, using two complementary analytical approaches. Overall, the analysis did not detect an impact on reduced mortality/morbidity in the City of Toronto from the TCMP. For example, we obtained a Risk Difference (RD) of −0.88 (per 1,000,000 people) (95% CI: −3.27 to 1.51) and a Risk Ratio (RR) of 0.98 (95% CI: 0.91 to 1.05) people for CVD hospitalizations. The TCWP was not found to be effective in reducing cold related mortality and morbidity which demonstrates the importance of improving existing policies related to cold in Canada and other countries. • Exposure to cold is substantially increases an individual's risk for injury and death, and worsen pre-existing chronic conditions • Little is known about existing cold warning programs impact on reducing cold-related mortality and morbidity. • We observed that the Toronto Cold Weather Program was not effective in reducing cold-related mortality/morbidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to increase the sustainability of transportation in cities, streets must provide infrastructures that favor active and public transportation modes. However, the current decision-making processes in transportation projects do not always explicitly take into account sustainable transportation requirements and often ignore concerns that may arise in other fields such as environmental protection, health, or urban design. The proposed framework in this paper aims at integrating sustainability in a decision-making process by creating better collaboration and communication between professionals of such disparate fields. The framework is based on group workshops, problem structuring, multi-criteria decision aiding and geographic information systems. It was applied in Quebec City, Canada. The objective of the workshops was to identify higher priority streets that should be redesigned as Complete Streets, a popular movement that advocates "streets for everyone" in North America. To facilitate communication and use for future decisions, the results of the analysis were integrated and presented in a geographic information system. As a result, this user-friendly tool is currently used to support decision-making by Quebec City officials who must choose the streets to be redesigned as Complete Streets while ensuring transparency and traceability. Such an approach may better support policies to make the transport system more sustainable by integrating various considerations, being transparent and improving communication of the outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Just-in-time fuel inventories reduce resilience against fuel shortages. • Subduction earthquakes can cause widespread fuel shortages. • Localized fuel shortages after earthquakes are likely in the next 50 years. • A new object-oriented network model was developed to explore resilience scenarios. • Local emergency planners helped improve simulations and build realistic solutions. Abstract An agent-based object-oriented model for the fuel distribution network in coastal British Columbia in Canada is presented. Objects representing infrastructure components with varied attributes and behaviors are described together with objects representing transportation modes on land and on water. A novel feature of the modeling approach is its capacity to represent the diverse nature of the objects in a network. Another novelty of the approach is its capacity to simulate discrete deliveries based on requests, which is a requirement in the modeling of the considered fuel distribution network. This paper presents the software architecture and applies it to assess the probability of fuel shortages following an earthquake for six storage facilities in coastal British Columbia. The results of this assessment can be used to inform emergency response plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The common perception of a foreign service career emphasizes the role of high-ranking diplomats traveling the world to engage in the high politics of statecraft and negotiation. Critical geographic scholarship, however, has recently turned to examine the more mundane, quotidian, and regularized work of foreign policy professionals in consulates, embassies, and foreign ministries. This paper builds a historical and institutional understanding of the work of Canada's foreign service officers, examining how ideals, practices, and structures related to professionalism, elite status, expertise, and collective bargaining matter for articulating diplomats' self-identity, and how this shapes and is shaped by institutional change in the Canadian state. We look first at the changing "institutional culture" within the foreign service, especially how FSOs understand their work and its relationship to the foreign ministry as a workplace, and how this workplace has changed through institutional shifts in the departmental configuration housing the diplomatic corps. We then examine the role of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers (PAFSO), which represents and bargains on behalf of foreign service officers in Canada, in shaping Canadian foreign service officers' sense of themselves, their work, and their place in the Canadian state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Due to misinformation and enduring discourses about pregnant women and mothers suspected of using drugs, these women continue to experience systemic discrimination. In 2014, this fact was once again made public in Canada when the Ontario government established an independent review of hair testing practices conducted by Motherisk Drug Testing Laboratory (MDTL) at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Kids. Between 2005 and 2015, MDTL tested the hair of more than 16,000 individuals for drug consumption. The results were introduced as evidence in court and resulted in both temporary and permanent loss of custody of children. Tragically, it was later discovered that the hair testing results were unreliable. This paper provides an analysis of child protection policies and practices directed at pregnant women and mothers suspected of using drugs, with a focus on the Motherisk tragedy in Ontario.Methods: Informed by feminist and critical drug perspectives, this study draws from findings in the 2015″Report of the Motherisk Hair Analysis Independent Review," produced by Honourable Susan Lang, and provides a Bacchi-informed critical analysis of Commissioner Beaman's 2018 report of the Motherisk Commission, "Harmful Impacts: The Reliance on Hair Testing in Child Protection" (HI).Results: The HI report is quite sympathetic to the plight of families and it acknowledges systemic issues and unequal power relations between families, social workers and the courts. Even though drug testing is an inadequate measure of parenting capacity, the HI report does not recommend banning the practice. In the HI report, the themes of harm reduction and drug prohibition are notably absent - while the use of gender-neutral terms, such as "parent" and "families," render mothers invisible.Conclusions: The Motherisk tragedy cannot be understood as an isolated event, rather it is part of a continuum of state and gendered violence against poor, Indigenous, and Black women in Canada. The HI report fails to consider how prohibitionist discourses about drugs, addiction, mothering, and risk lead to institutional practices such as drug testing and child apprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Canada has announced that it will legalize cannabis on October 17, 2018, and as a result of this impending drug law reform the need to develop prevention resources and drug education - in schools, in public health, and for parents - has emerged as a public concern and a policy priority. Set against this context, the aim of our paper is to amplify the parent perspective on preventing problematic adolescent cannabis use, but also to interrogate the idea of 'parents as the best prevention' that has taken hold in discussions about the potential consequences of legalization for youth.Methods: In 2016 we undertook an exploratory, qualitative interview study in Vancouver, British Columbia (n = 16) with parents of adolescents who had used cannabis. Building on our past research developing educator-led resources to support an open dialogue about cannabis in the classroom, in this study we asked parents about the supports and resources they needed to inform their discussions about cannabis with their adolescent children, as well the challenges they faced in responding to cannabis use when they believed it had become problematic.Findings: Across the interviews, parents mobilized discourses of risk and responsibility for preventing problematic cannabis use that appeared to reinstate individualizing accounts of substance use. Many echoed normative ideas about health, the risks of cannabis use, and 'good' parenting, sidestepping social inequities around drug use, and thus implicating parents and families as solely responsible for preventing adolescent drug use.Conclusion: Our analysis suggests how parents have been largely disempowered and unsupported when it comes to addressing adolescent drug use in the family context. Even as they expressed their awareness that formal supports and resources to assist them were lacking, parents also assigned blame to themselves - or to other parents - for 'failing' to prevent problematic cannabis use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Neoproterozoic St Honoré carbonatite complex is one of three currently mined niobium deposits. In these and most other carbonatite-hosted niobium deposits, pyrochlore is the principal ore mineral. Four major pyrochlore-bearing rock types are observed in the St Honoré complex, namely, biotitite, magnetite-biotite rock, apatitite and carbonatite. The textural relationships among the different rock types and within each rock type are extremely complex, as are the textures and crystal chemistry of the pyrochlore. Compositionally, there are two major types of pyrochlore. Type-1 is enriched in Ta, U, Zr, Sr, Th, Fe, REE and Cl and Type-2 is a Ca-Na-F-rich pyrochlore, with proportions of other elements close to or below their detection limits. Type-1 pyrochlore is yellow- to red-brown and, in many cases, displays oscillatory zoning. This variety occurs most commonly in the cores of crystals in apatitite, where it has its highest concentrations of the elements listed above. It also is observed in biotitite, but the proportions of the above elements are much lower. Type-2 pyrochlore is light to dark brown and, generally, does not exhibit oscillatory zoning. It forms overgrowths on Type-1 pyrochlore in apatitite and biotitite, and occurs as large crystals in the magnetite-biotite rock (Type-1 pyrochlore is not present in this rock). We propose that Type-1 pyrochlore crystallised from a highly evolved, fluid-undersaturated carbonatitic magma, whereas Type-2 pyrochlore crystallised from a carbonatitic magma that had undergone fluid exsolution, which depleted the magma in elements that tend to partition preferentially into aqueous fluids, i.e., U, Sr, Fe, REE, Ba and Cl. The processes that governed the evolution of the carbonatitic magma (which was mantle-derived and introduced in numerous small batches) and crystallisation of pyrochlore at St Honoré were biotitisation (by the magma), crystallisation of calcite and aqueous fluid exsolution. Biotitisation of the host syenite consumed MgO, H 2 O and CO 2 from each magma batch (the CO 2 was released as a gas), leading to the crystallisation of Type-1 pyrochlore in biotitite. This process also locally increased the CaO content of the magma to a level sufficient to saturate it with calcite, leaving a residual phoscoritic magma that crystallised the most Ta-U-enriched variety of Type-1 pyrochlore. Exsolution of the aqueous fluid occurred as a result of prolonged crystallisation and/or pressure release and led to the crystallisation of Type-2 pyrochlore. The evolution of each of the magma batches was different and depended on the extent of biotitisation, on whether calcite crystallised, and on the timing of fluid exsolution. As the two types of pyrochlore and their temporal relationship have been described for many carbonatite complexes, the hypotheses presented in this paper are likely also applicable to the genesis of pyrochlore in these other complexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Develops a structure-agency analytical framework to examine the trajectories of emerging technologies in different national contexts. • Compares AI development and diffusion between a developed country and an emerging country based on 125 in-depth interviews. • Argues that the levels of institutionalisation exert different structural forces and leave different spaces for institutional work. • Yields practical implications for developing countries to address the trade-off between the opportunities and risks brought by emerging technologies. Development studies have paid less attention to the role of technological innovations and we are yet to understand how, and more importantly why, technological trajectories differ across countries. This gap becomes sharper as emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) are becoming increasingly important in addressing many world development challenges. Drawing on insights from institutional work literature, this paper develops a structure-agency interplay framework to unravel the various trajectories of emerging technologies at the national level and examines the development and diffusion of AI in Canada and China. The findings show that Canada's stable institutional environment, reinforced through institutional work by various actors, generated a national AI trajectory driven by technology development through a strong focus on scientific research and ethics, with slower organic commercialisation of AI. In China, a dynamic and loose institutional structure characterised by lax regulations, low entry barriers, and high openness to novelties has resulted in a market-driven AI trajectory focused on technology commercialisation, with domestic digital giants and the government as dominant players. National-level dynamics in formal institutions, informal institutions, technologies, and actor strategies determine heterogeneous approaches to technology development and diffusion, giving rise to varieties of technological trajectories. The levels of institutionalisation exert different forces and create different spaces for institutional work across different geographical contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Evidence for repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for smoking cessation is increasing. • One rTMS coil has recently received regulatory approval, signaling the potential for clinical adoption. • Implementation and dissemination into clinical practice requires planning and preparation. • Accessibility, technological, economical, and social challenges remain to be addressed. • Real-world effectiveness studies are needed, including the prevalence of comorbidities and vaping. Tobacco smoking is a significant determinant of preventable morbidity and mortality worldwide. It is now possible to modulate the activity of the neurocircuitry associated with nicotine dependence using repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS), a non-invasive neurostimulation approach, which has recently demonstrated efficacy in clinical trials and received regulatory approval in the US and Canada. However there remains a paucity of replication studies and real-world patient effectiveness data as access to this intervention is extremely limited. There are a number of unique challenges related to the delivery of rTMS that need to be addressed prior to widespread adoption and implementation of this treatment modality for smoking cessation. In this paper, we review the accessibility, scientific, technological, economical, and social challenges that remain before this treatment can be translated into clinical practice. By addressing these remaining barriers and scientific challenges with rTMS for smoking cessation and delineating implementation strategies, we can greatly reduce the burden of tobacco-related disease worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on findings from our exploratory qualitative study that aims to advance knowledge around access to and experiences with abortion services among Indigenous Peoples in Canada. We applied an Indigenous methodology to engage with 15 Indigenous Peoples across Canada utilizing a conversational interview method. Our study was informed by an Indigenous Advisory Committee consisting of front-line service providers working in the area of abortion service access and/ or support across Canada. We conducted conversations from September and November 2021. Participants identified with Métis, Cree, Dene, Inuit, Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, and Mi'kmaq nations, across nine provinces and territories. Participants spoke to six themes encompassing challenges and potential solutions around abortion access experiences among Indigenous Peoples in Canada. These included (1) logistical barriers, (2) poor treatment, (3) stigma, (4) impacts of colonialism on attitudes towards abortion, (5) traditional knowledge, and (6) follow-up care and support. Our study demonstrates that Indigenous Peoples experience abortion access barriers that are different than non-Indigenous Canadians, and that these barriers are closely linked to colonialism. Indigenous knowledges and practices that honor reproductive choice that pre-dates settler colonialism, must be brought forward into today to enhance the quality of abortion care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Eight new samples were newly dated from plutons in the NE Superior Province. • The U–Pb zircon ages indicate successive emplacement between ca. 2745 and 2697 Ma. • Undeformed dike constrains transpression along the arc margin to >2696 Ma. • U–Pb pluton ages then show a weak southward younging trend across the Province. • This type of age variations is transitional between plume–lid and plate tectonics. This paper presents new U–Pb zircon ages obtained using laser ablation ICP-MS from various plutonic units that intruded along the southern margin of the Bienville domain, a presumed Neoarchean magmatic arc in the northeastern Superior Province, Québec, Canada. The U–Pb ages indicate that the arc plutons were emplaced episodically between ca. 2745 Ma and ca. 2697 Ma, synchronous with regional transpressional deformation. Furthermore, the observed intra-pluton age variations show that the largest examined intrusion, the Radisson pluton, grew incrementally over a period of at least 15 My, perhaps in a series of elongated, sheet-like magma batches straddling the presumed arc margin and emplaced successively, younging inwards. This emplacement style is comparable (though not unique) to modern arc plutons emplaced along or within regional transpressional shear zones. The new ages are then complemented with a statistical analysis of previously published U–Pb pluton zircon ages from the adjacent units (La Grande, Opinaca, Opatica), which revealed a subtle southward-younging trend (i.e., towards the presumed trench) in otherwise broadly coeval and areally extensive plutonism characterized by diverse compositions. The observed spatiotemporal pattern of plutonism is transitional between unfocused, plume-related magmatic centers and focused, unidirectionally migrating magmatism of modern arcs, perhaps as a result of hotter environment and complex interplay between the waning plume-related regime and increasingly dominating modern-style plate tectonics at the end of Archean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy-makers are investigating ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of the transportation sector. Many government agencies have studied the effects of pavement type and characteristics on fuel consumption. Such models, valid for a particular set of simulation conditions, suggest that rigid pavements perform better than flexible pavements. However, it is unclear how this type of model can be applied at the scale of a realistic road network. This paper proposes a statistical approach to assess the relative importance of pavement type and characteristics on fuel consumption of heavy vehicle traffic by considering the specificities of meteorological conditions, heavy vehicles, and driver behaviours. A case study in Canada showed that the potential advantage of using rigid pavements was offset by cold climate effects and the consideration of a realistic statistical payload distribution. Road roughness accounted on average for 1.1% of total fuel consumption, with an increased value of 1.9% in January. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global waves of activism are powerful social forces shaping - and shaped by- policy and politics worldwide. Such waves are constituted not by a single movement or campaign but rather comprise national, local and transnational organizations and networks of activists. We lack the conceptual underpinnings necessary to fully capture the impact of such a diffuse and complex phenomenon. This prevents scholars from fully grasping the ways that waves shape and are shaped by national and transnational campaigns and their interactions, the ways that core ideas become embedded in national and international institutions, and the ways that core ideas develop and change. In this paper, we propose understanding global feminism as a global wave as a way to develop some insight into these processes. We elaborate this concept and give a brief overview of the development of the global feminist wave, showing the ways that transnational networks serve as mechanisms for linking activists to global governance and also to activists in other countries, strengthening global civil society. These organizational forms contribute to the development of global feminism, a set of ideas that motivate action and become embedded in an evolving set of international norms. Though global feminism is sometimes associated with a particular set of ideas from second wave feminism of the 1960s and 70s, we argue that it has its roots in the abolitionist and suffrage movements of the late 1800s.The roots of global feminism in the struggles of racialized and colonized women illuminates its potential as a source for gender justice today. We sketch the way that the global feminist wave interacts with different kinds of regimes, showing how domestic regimes and global norms evolve together focussing on the issue of gender-based violence against women. We suggest that different regime types channel waves differently, with neoliberal regimes paradoxically producing more openness to global waves while social democratic regimes- particularly those with weak civil society- channel waves through established institutional channels. A stronger connection to global civil could advance gender justice for intersectionally-marginalized women. We illustrate this argument with a brief application to Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies barriers and opportunities that Indigenous women in Canada face in energy, mining, and forest sector employment through a review of scholarly and practitioner literature published between 2000 and 2022, and 10 in-depth interviews conducted between May and August 2021 with Indigenous women working in various capacities within (or knowledgeable about) natural resources industries in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. Our findings reveal that it is important to understand the intersections of gender, culture, ethnicity/race, language, and class to respond to the challenges Indigenous women face in natural resources employment. Some of the barriers that Indigenous women encounter in these industries are similar to those faced by non-Indigenous women (glass ceilings, lack of mentors, for example). Indigenous women encounter the added dimension of racism (based on Indigenous status) as well as limitations based on geographic location. Our recommendations for improving the status of Indigenous women in natural resources industries in Canada include implementing specific targets for Indigenous women in professional, technical, and senior administrative positions; enabling the Native Women's Association of Canada to serve as an information and employment conduit to industry associations and employers; and creating mechanisms to enable Indigenous women who live off-reserve to access quality employment opportunities. Enabling Indigenous women to access skilled, well-paid employment in natural resources should be considered a key priority and opportunity for governments, resource development companies, industry associations and gender equality advocacy organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Finnish Baby Box provides parents of newborns with a wide range of infant clothing and other basics. • The cardboard box in which the infant can sleep was emphasized by the media and commercial companies outside Finland. • The box preventing SIDS was advanced by private companies and the media. • This was less the case in Wales and Scotland, a result of their being governed by authorities with a "left" orientation. For over 80 years the Finnish state has provided expectant mothers with a cardboard box containing an extensive collection of clothing, bathing products for the baby, nappies, bedding and a small mattress. Numerous jurisdictions have implemented it in some form. We investigated through a critical case study methodology whether its translation into the liberal welfare states of Canada, UK, and USA experienced message distortion (the box as a means of preventing SIDS), commercialization, watering down of content; and separation from the complex of Finnish welfare state policies that support families with children. We find that only Scotland and Wales recognized the decommodification and equity roles played by the baby box. This study identified numerous barriers to building progressive public policy in Canada, UK, and USA: the structures and processes of the liberal welfare state, commercial interests that skew public policymaking and media logic that limits news reporting to the concrete and simple, eschewing complex analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the distribution, stratigraphy and chronology of landslide deposits within the Gouffre Valley to provide a long-term context for the 1663 CE M 7.0–7.5 Charlevoix earthquake, Charlevoix-Kamouraska Seismic Zone (CKSZ), southern Quebec, Canada. Our mapping utilized a 1 × 1 m digital terrain model, and we interpreted deposit age and stratigraphy from 30 new AMS radiocarbon ages, supplemented by 51 regular radiocarbon ages and 23 dendrochronology ages compiled from previous studies. These data provide a robust chronological connection between the 1663 CE earthquake and large-scale landslide deposits that cover about 24 km2, extend about 20 km along the valley bottom, and originated from separate source areas. Eight, relatively small-scale (less than 0.48 km2), prehistoric landslide features are also present in the Gouffre Valley, including three dated landslides, aged between about 7950–7300, 6595–6087, and 1310–1200 cal BCE, a poorly-constrained deposit aged between 4782–4452 BCE and 1663 CE, and four landslides of unknown age. There is no evidence to support an earthquake trigger for any of these prehistoric landslides. Instead, the widespread deposits associated with the 1663 CE earthquake represent the only multi-event, landslide signature in the Gouffre Valley. This, in combination with a long gap between early postglacial and late Holocene mass movement activity in several nearby lakes, is consistent with the 1663 CE earthquake being the largest to occur in the CKSZ over the past about 10 ka. • Large-scale landslide deposits present along lower 20 km of Gouffre Valley. • Robust connection between age of landslides and strong 1663 CE earthquake. • No clusters of older, pre-1663, similarly-aged landslides in valley. • 1663 CE earthquake is largest to occur in CKSZ over the past roughly 10 ka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A convolutional neural network-based method to calculate the composite system reliability indices. • A data generation scheme to both train the CNN and calculate reliability indices. • Training and testing algorithm for the CNN to calculate composite system reliability indices. • Developing mathematical model to calculate composite system reliability indices. This paper proposes a machine learning-based approach in conjunction with Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) to improve the computation efficiency of composite power system reliability evaluation. Traditional composite system reliability evaluation approaches are computationally demanding and may become inapplicable to large integrated power grids due to the requirements of repetitively solving optimal power flow (OPF) for a large number of system states. Machine learning-based approaches have been used to avoid solving OPF in composite system reliability evaluation except in the training stage. However, current approaches have been derived to classify system states into success and failure states (i.e., up or down). In other words, they can be used to evaluate power system probability and frequency reliability indices, but they cannot be used to evaluate power and energy reliability indices unless OPF is solved for each failure state to determine minimum load curtailments. In this paper, a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based regression approach is proposed to determine the minimum amount of load curtailments of sampled states without solving OPF, except in the training stage. Minimum load curtailments are then used to evaluate power and energy indices (e.g., expected demand not supplied) as well as to evaluate the probability and frequency indices. The proposed approach is applied on several systems including the IEEE Reliability Test Systems (The IEEE RTS and IEEE RTS-96) and Saskatchewan Power Corporation in Canada. Results show that the proposed approach is computationally efficient (fast and accurate) in calculating the most common composite system reliability indices. The developed source code of the proposed method is available to the community for future research and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most home care for people living with chronic illness or disability is provided by informal, or unpaid, family members. Family caregivers in rural New Brunswick engage in essential work to maintain the home as a site of care. Renovations, property maintenance, and the administrative work involved in accessing medical equipment and managing staff are examples of the types of invisible labour involved in interacting with a complex care environment. Conversations with 13 family caregivers across a small rural Canadian province suggest that even when resources are 'available', place-based factors involved in caring at home in a rural setting make it difficult for carers to use these resources and accessing them becomes another form of work itself. Similar to Wiles et al.'s (2018) findings in their study of end-of-life family care in Aotearoa, New Zealand, carers in rural New Brunswick spoke of their activities as part of an ongoing process of interaction with the care recipient and care environment. Carers with fewer financial and material resources experienced higher burdens of invisible work. The paper sheds light on the types of labour involved in 'knowing, doing, and negotiating' care at home and re-categorizes these activities as 'health work' as a means of informing home care policy. The paper finds that family caregivers are aware of their invisible work, characterize it as essential health work, and seek recognition for their complex contribution to the formal health system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A previous study determined that Obstetrics and Gynecology (ObGyn) residency Program Directors (PD) endorse mandatory Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology (PAG) training to achieve national PAG objectives. Although barriers exist that limit the achievement of PAG objectives, this paper presents existing PAG tools and curricula. These include the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology (NASPAG) short and long curricula, a wide variety of PAG electives available across Canada, more than 25 online clinical cases, and a simulation curriculum. This paper details these resources and provides a 4-week PAG schedule to accommodate ObGyn residency training programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to an understanding of overseas professional development of teacher educators through an analysis of the learning experiences of a group of Chinese teacher educators (CTEs) in Canada. Drawing on qualitative data, research findings reveal specific areas of knowledge are deemed by the CTEs as essential for enhancing their own practice and noteworthy characteristics of their approaches to learning overseas. The CTEs' sense-making processes also provide insights into the complexity of overseas learning and the necessity of "unlearning" long-held beliefs and practices, which enables the development of new ideas, knowledge, and skills. • This paper analyses the overseas learning experiences of teacher educators from 31 key Chinese teacher universities. • The teacher educators identify approaches that are essential for the improvement of Chinese teacher education. • Their professional learning is characterised by a pragmatic search of solutions to problems in China. • Their sense-making of overseas learning illuminates the complexity of cross-boundary interaction. • Analysis of cultural differences reveals nuanced but important aspects of professional development in international context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of sustainability standards integrate the principle of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) as a requirement to ensure respect for the rights of Indigenous peoples. FPIC remains a contested norm, due in part to divergences of interpretation and gaps in implementation. Drawing on a typology based on FPIC conceptions, this paper presents a comparative analysis of the Forest Stewardship Council's (FSC) standard development processes in three countries, Canada, Russia and Sweden. The paper investigates the dynamics of designing FPIC requirements and conceptions of FPIC reflected in national standards. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and analysis of written standards, this study finds similarities in terms of the key debates, such as the scope of Indigenous authority and applicability of FPIC to non-Indigenous communities, however underscored by different stakeholder dynamics and outcomes. Despite the structuring presence of International Generic Indicators, different conceptions of FPIC are reflected in national standards. • We develop a typology of FPIC conceptions including: human rights, relational and procedural. • Analysis of FSC standard development processes in Canada, Russia, Sweden reveal divergent views of FPIC between chambers. • Articulations of FPIC in national standards tend toward relational (Canada) and procedural (Russia and Sweden) conceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternative food networks (AFNs) for seafood employ different approaches along their diverse value chains, yet typically share five common attributes – supporting small-scale and place-based fishing operations through the provision of traceable , sustainable , and high-quality seafood products to customers. While a range of benefits from AFNs have been described, the potential for broad impacts of seafood AFNs remains largely unknown due to a range of constraints, including a lack of understanding of consumer preferences related to different seafood attributes, including those central to AFNs. This paper utilizes an online survey of consumers in Canada (n = 2006) to assess the potential demand for products supplied through seafood AFNs. Results indicate both barriers and opportunities for growing seafood AFNs. While respondents' top three consumed seafood species (salmon, tuna, and shrimp) aligned with North American consumption patterns, a willingness to substitute between species was also indicated, which could present market opportunities for seafood AFNs offering a variety of product options based on local seasonality and abundance. Respondents prioritized product quality attributes situated at the consumption end of the value chain (e.g., taste, appearance, freshness, affordability, health benefits, and seafood type) over harvesting-related features (e.g., sustainability, production method, and fair compensation to harvesters). In addition, despite some degree of willingness to pay (WTP) – especially for high quality seafood – respondents were not willing to pay large price premiums for other features emphasized by seafood AFNs. Finally, different consumer segments interact differently with seafood AFNs' five key features – for example, higher WTP was evidenced amongst younger consumers. Overall, the paper suggests that seafood AFNs should consider emphasizing their high-quality product offerings, pricing their products competitively, and targeting specific consumer segments when looking to expand into new markets. • Consumer preferences affect alternative food networks (AFNs) for seafood. • These preferences vary across regions and demographic groups. • Seafood AFNs may benefit from targeted marketing to these regions and groups. • Willingness to pay for seafood AFNs' product attributes is low to moderate. • Consumers prioritize consumer-facing over harvesting-related seafood features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of Canada's war on drugs on segments of the Black community, specifically with respect to the impact of structural violence, over-policing, and high incarceration rates. It offers evidence of the systemic nature of these dynamics by examining the early context of the war, growing stigma against Blacks, globalizing influences, and the punitive focus of funding and policy. The paper also explores how Black men have been identified as the main enemy and how drug control efforts have served to diminish the health, well-being, and self-image of Black men via discriminatory and inequitable treatment before the law. The current high rates of imprisonment of Black men are an indicator of systematic deprivation of significant social capital, which will perpetuate socioeconomic harm and cycles of violence. This commentary calls for an immediate dissolution of policies regulating the war on drugs as the first step in remedying the injustices experienced by Black Canadians. Due to the lack of Canadian data in this important area, the paper also emphasizes the critical need for more research to shed more light on the Canadian-specific complexities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Deregulation of the North American railroad industry continues to be controversial (Trunick, 2010). Class I American and Canadian rail carriers have exploited the policy environment, consolidated and prospered. However, some of their customers, the “captive” shippers, have complained about lack of competition, higher rates and deteriorating service. This paper reviews developments in the industry over the last four decades, and looks to the future in discussing policy implications. Each decade is characterized by an important event or development impacting the industry, as follows: 1970–1979 is the decade of deregulation; 1980–1989, the decade of intermodal growth; 1990–1999, the decade of mega-mergers; and 2000–2009, the decade of rising oil prices. The paper also draws on secondary data to analyze the impact of deregulation and other factors on rail freight rates, service and traffic volume. The industry faces new challenges and opportunities due to increasing demand for rail service, rising fuel costs and concerns about emissions. To meet the rising demand, rail capacity will have to increase. Given that rail is generally “greener” than trucking, an important public policy question is whether the government should facilitate further modal shifting via some sort of carbon tax. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: High quality agricultural land is extremely scarce in the province of British Columbia, Canada. As a consequence of this scarcity and development pressure, the provincial government established a province-wide land preservation scheme – the agricultural land reserve – in 1973. The principal focus of the paper is an examination of the consequences of recent changes to the reserve''s enabling legislation. One of the changes is of particular importance: the Commission which manages the reserve is now explicitly required to consider community needs within the over-arching objective of land preservation. An important question immediately presents itself: how will the Commission balance the two conflicting objectives? An outline for a land evaluation and site assessment (LESA) framework is presented which – if adopted – would ensure that the Commission''s land use decisions reflected a range of concerns; including, the agricultural value of the parcels of land being considered for removal from the reserve, the likely impact of the removal of a parcel on the agricultural value of nearby parcels, the impact that development of a parcel removed from the reserve would have on environmental, recreational and open space amenities, the social, cultural and heritage effects stemming from the removal of a parcel, and community needs. The paper also addresses the likelihood of government support for the implementation of a LESA framework. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Watersheds are under increasing stress from the cumulative environmental effects of water and land use disturbances caused by both anthropogenic and natural causes. Yet, while the science of watershed cumulative effects assessment and management (CEAM) is advancing much less is known about the institutional and capacity requirements to implement and sustain watershed CEAM. Based on lessons from a transboundary watershed in western Canada this paper presents eight institutional requirements, or requisites, for the implementation of watershed-based CEAM. We suggest that effective watershed CEAM requires government leadership to move beyond the current inward focus on project approvals toward an outward focus on the cumulative effects of all disturbances in a watershed; complementary monitoring programs at the project and watershed scale, and a means to ensure the sharing of monitoring data across watershed stakeholders; and a nested planning framework to coordinate watershed planning objectives with individual project impact assessment and decision making. Results of this paper show that simply scaling up from individual project-based assessments to the watershed scale exposes many institutional constraints that can impede CEAM action. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Labour geography has yet to pay full attention to the experiences of public sector workers and their employer (the state). This article addresses this lacuna and provides some insight into the labour geographies of public sector workers through an empirical analysis of the centralization of governance, employment relations, and collective bargaining in Ontario, Canada’s publicly-funded elementary and secondary schools. This case demonstrates how one particular group of public sector workers – teachers – and their unions located and exercised agency in the arenas of politics and collective bargaining through a rescaling of their activities from the local to the provincial level. The paper also argues that the rescaling of politics and collective bargaining is problematic. Questions remain regarding whether or not Ontario’s teachers were able to increase their aggregate bargaining power through centralization or merely transferred agency and authority from one scale to another. Moreover, the paper engages with the fast-developing geographies of education literature, and is consistent with an outward-looking approach that links education to wider political and economic processes. In so doing, it extends the scope of the geographies of education to the employees of publicly-funded schools and their administrative bodies, and suggests value a theoretically- and empirically-informed dialogue between geographers interested in education and those interested in labour. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The paper addresses a critically important area in Canadian immigration and health from both a social and a spatial perspective. It employs multilevel and contextual approaches to examine the social determinants of immigrant health as well as the place effects on self-reported health at a regional and neighborhood scale. The data come from the raw microdata file of the 2005–10 Canadian Community Health Survey (a random national health survey) and the publicly available Canadian Marginalization index based on the 2006 Census. Three populations are compared: Canadian-born, overall foreign-born, and Chinese immigrants. The results suggest various degrees of association between self-reported health, individual and lifestyle behavioral characteristics, and neighborhood material deprivation and ethnic concentration in census tracts. These factors contribute differently to the reported health of Chinese immigrants, Canada's largest recent immigrant group. A healthy immigrant effect is partially evident in the overall foreign-born population, but appears to be relatively weak in Chinese immigrants. For all groups, neighborhood deprivation moderately increases the likelihood of reporting poor health. Ethnic concentration negatively affects self-rated health, with the exception of the slight protective effect of Chinese-specific ethnic density in census tracts. The multilevel models reveal significant area inequalities across Census Metropolitan Areas/Census Agglomerations in risk of reporting unhealthy status, with greater magnitude in the foreign-born population. The vast regional variations in health among Chinese immigrants should be interpreted carefully due to the group's heavy concentration in large cities. The study contributes to the literature on ethnicity and health by systematically incorporating neighborhood contextual effects in modeling the social determinants of immigrant health status. It fills a gap in the literature on neighborhoods and health by focusing on ethnically disparate groups rather than on the general population. By revealing regional disparities in health, the paper adds a spatial perspective to the work on immigrant health. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper investigates the contributions of digital infrastructure policies of provincial governments in Canada to the development of broadband networks. Using measurements of broadband network speeds between 2007 and 2011, the paper analyzes potential causes for observed differences in network performance growth across the provinces, including geography, Internet use intensity, platform competition, and provincial broadband policies. The analysis suggests provincial policies that employed public sector procurement power to open access to essential facilities and channeled public investments in Internet backbone infrastructure were associated with the emergence of relatively high quality broadband networks. However, a weak essential facilities regime and regulatory barriers to entry at the national level limit the scope for decentralized policy solutions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Diamond drilling typically constitutes a major part of costs in advanced mineral exploration programs. This generates thousands of meters of rock cores during major exploration campaigns, but the cores are not currently utilized to their full potential. They could supply three-dimensional information on physical properties, geochemistry and mineralogy; such data could be used to model the geology or physical properties in 3D, characterize hydrothermal alteration, or provide chemo-stratigraphic constraints, for example. But measuring all the parameters one by one at high spatial resolution by traditional methods would be impractical due to cost or time considerations and, for some parameters, it would destroy the core (e.g. geochemistry). In this paper we describe a multi-sensor core logger and its use on rock cores from exploration diamond drill holes. This semi-automated system can measure near-simultaneously, non-destructively and at high spatial resolution, the following parameters: (1) volumetric magnetic susceptibility; (2) density using gamma-ray attenuation; (3) several chemical elements through energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry; and (4) visible/near infrared spectrometry, which allows numerous minerals to be detected and characterized. The logger also acquires a continuous image of the core using a line-scan camera, which allows the user to compare other properties with the visual aspect of the core and creates a complete virtual archive. The aim of this mostly methodological paper is to describe the logger as a whole and then each instrument or sensor separately, outlining the numerous tests that have been performed to assess and improve data quality. We also present preliminary results from the Matagami mining camp of Canada, a base metal district. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Resting on the notion that rural spaces are “food deserts,” rural adolescents are increasingly regarded as a “problem population” in Western obesity narratives. Using qualitative data gleaned from interviews with 51 teenage participants from rural areas across Canada, this paper focuses on the ways in which obesity is constructed as a rural disease in the Canadian context, demonstrating in particular how discourses of food deserts and related rural obesity rely on classist imaginings of obesity as a working-class embodiment. The paper will further question the understanding of the rural as a food desert, showing the ways in which rural teens acquire fresh, healthy foods in part through an informal economy of food growing and sharing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: This paper begins by reviewing the structure and evolution of polar bear (Ursus maritimus) management in Canada and in the Territory of Nunavut since the inception of the Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears in the 1970s. This is followed by the paper''s main focus, the examination of the socio-economic and cultural importance of polar bears for Inuit and the success of the Agreement in supporting contemporary Inuit subsistence relations in Nunavut. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper examines the challenge of knowledge co-production and the implications for learning and adapting in the context of a narwhal co-management in Nunavut, Canada. Knowledge co-production is the collaborative process of bringing a plurality of knowledge sources and types together to address a defined problem and build an integrated or systems-oriented understanding of that problem. The paper considers knowledge co-production by examining five interrelated dimensions: knowledge gathering, sharing, integration, interpretation, and application. Voices of hunters, community representatives, and managers engaged in co-management are highlighted to identify primary challenges and opportunities. The analysis reveals how compartmentalized views of knowledge continue to constrain adaptive and collaborative management. An understanding of knowledge co-production processes, however, may help to overcome the resilience of top-down management approaches. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Following work done in the UK, Canada and now starting across Europe, 1 [1] UK Ministry of Defence, UK Foresight Office Horizon Scan; Global Futures Forum Vancouver April 2008, Europe @ 2025 European Commission. there appears to be renewed interest in charting the boundaries of what to expect between 2010 and 2025 as the character of the 21st century begins to become firmly established. What are the shaping forces, or sources of change and what might be their impacts, particularly where these may create entirely new challenges and opportunities? Futures experts (attendees of the FTA 2008 Conference) were invited to state their opinions on these questions by considering the trends, drivers, wilds cards, discontinuities and weak signals likely to shape the future through the Big Picture Survey. The survey was launched 6 months prior to the Conference. More than 250 responses were submitted by the Conference date. The results collected were synthesised and presented back to the attendees in a plenary presentation by the authors. The current paper aims to clarify the concepts first by suggesting definitions and discussing the distinctions between them. The paper then presents the rationales of conducting the Big Picture Survey (BPS), presents its methodology and discusses the results of the survey in a greater extent. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]