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Focuses on the impact of information utilization failure in U.S. and Canadian businesses on future investments in research and development. Government approaches to the market failure problem; Comparison of research and development costs accounting in Canada and the United States; Approaches and objectives for the evaluation of research and development procedures.

Presents information on a study that examined the integration between U.S. and Canadian grain prices using cointegration and error correction approach. Price relationships in four different subperiods; Estimation and results of the study; Conclusion of the study.

Abstract The average expense ratio paid by Canadian mutual fund investors is 50% higher than that paid in the United States. This discrepancy is commonly thought to exist because Canadian funds do not take advantage of economies of scale and have less competition. A monopolistic competition framework is used to develop a model for the mutual fund industry. By allowing each fund to have different attributes, the model permits funds to charge different expense ratios in equilibrium and is found to strongly fit the North American mutual fund market. Empirical analysis indicates that these two common explanations and measurable fund attributes account for 24% of the discrepancy. JEL Classification: L11, L13 and G15 Les ratios de dépenses des fonds mutuels nord-américains Le taux moyen de dépenses payées par les investisseurs canadiens dans les fonds mutuels sont de 50% plus élevées que celles qu’on paie aux Etats-Unis. Cet écart est attribué d’habitude au fait que les fonds canadiens ne tirent pas profit des économies d’échelle et qu’il y a moins de concurrence au Canada. On utilise un modèle de concurrence monopolistique pour analyser l’industrie des fonds mutuels. En permettant à chaque fond d’avoir certains attributs, le modèle permet aux fonds de charger des taux de dépenses différents en équilibre. Il semble que cela corresponde aux caractéristiques du marché des fonds mutuels américains. Une analyse empirique montre que les deux explications usuelles et les attributs mesurables des fonds expliquent 24% de l’écart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Borders affect the composition, not only the level, of interregional trade. In disaggregated U.S. Commodity Flow data, border effects vary substantially across commodities. Substantial border–induced compositional change suggests the possibility that standard estimates suffer from aggregation bias arising from endogenous industry location patterns and the presence of zero observations in commodity–level trade. Adjusting for these effects reduces the estimate of the aggregate border effect from 20.9 to 5.7. JEL Classification: F14, F15 Biais d’agrégation, changement de composition, et effet de frontières. Les frontières affectent la composition et pas seulement le volume de commerce inter-régional. Une analyse des données désagrégées des flux de commerce de biens des Etats-Unis montre que l’effet de frontières varie substantiellement selon les biens. Le changement de composition du commerce engendré par les frontières suggère la possibilité que les estimations usuelles souffrent d’un biais d’agrégation résultant des patterns de localisation industrielle endogènes et de la présence d’observations nulles dans le commerce de certains biens. Un ajustement pour tenir compte de ces effets suggère que les effets de frontières passent de 20.9 à 5.7. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assesses the benefits and difficulties of disaster programs relative to traditional farm programs in the U.S. and Canada. Nature of disaster programs; Details of the Net Income Stabilization Account program in Canada; Model developed to interpret the results in the context of disaster programs.

Examines the effects of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (CUSTA) on earnings and manufacturing employment in Canada. Overview of the free trade agreement and the employment and wage patterns for production and non-production workers; Labor market consequences of CUSTA tariff reduction; Impact of CUSTA on skilled and less-skilled workers.

This article investigates the interdependence of stock returns and exchange rate changes within the same economy. Six countries were tested for volatility spillovers, namely the U.S., Great Britain, Japan, Germany, Canada and France. Evidence of spillovers from stock returns to exchange rate changes is found for all countries except Germany. These results suggest that the asset approach to exchange rate determination is valid when formulated in terms of the second moments of the exchange rate distribution for these countries. The spillovers from stock returns to exchange rate changes are symmetric in nature. Volatility spillovers from exchange rate changes to stock returns are insignificant for all countries.

Interest in emotions in the workplace has accelerated rapidly over the past decade. The impetus has come from several sources and has led to bodies of research on a variety of topics. Although these bodies of work are not yet fully developed, they all show promise, and portend that the study of emotions in the workplace has the potential to add to the understanding of behavior in organizations. In the aggregate, affective experiences contribute to the affective component of attitudes such as job satisfaction, and eventually to judgment-driven behaviors such as a decision to quit a job. Affective Events Theory seems to present a very useful framework for understanding the role of affect in the workplace. The widespread and increasing interest in affect at work is documented by symposia and caucuses at the Academy of Management annual meetings since 1996, the formation by Neal Ashkanasy of the Emonet discussion group and the successful First Conference on Emotions and Organizational Life held in San Diego, California in 1998. This conference has resulted in the forthcoming publication of an edited collection based on the best papers from the conference. A second conference is scheduled to be held in August 2000 in Toronto, Ontario.

Background: Facebook is a frequently used social media platform and is often used for human health information, yet little research has been conducted on how pet owners use Facebook pet groups to obtain and share pet health information. Method: This study was designed to assess how pet owners use dog and cat Facebook groups to provide and receive pet health advice and their perception of these groups' trustworthiness. Two comparable questionnaires (dog and cat owners) were developed and distributed through an online survey platform. Results: Results suggest that Facebook groups are a common source of pet health information, with 56.2% of dog owners and 51.8% of cat owners reporting receiving health information through Facebook groups. Similar numbers report giving health information through Facebook groups: 55.0% of dog owners and 57.9% of cat owners. Dog health information most commonly exchanged related to dermatology, gastroenterology and orthopaedics and the most common cat health information focused on gastroenterology, renal and urinary‐related issues. While the majority of Facebook users report feeling that Facebook groups are not a trustworthy source of pet health information, a substantial minority of users do appear to be influenced by these groups. Conclusion: Approximately 50% of cat and dog owning respondents either give or receive pet health advice through Facebook groups. These results suggest that many owners deem Facebook groups as useful, but not entirely trustworthy, sources of information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined individual influences on child empathy, the relationship between child and parent empathy, and the relationship between empathy and prosociality across seven countries. A large sample of children (N = 792, 49% female) from the ages of 6–10 years completed a situational empathy task, as well as a dictator game to assess prosociality. The questionnaire of cognitive and affective empathy was used to assess parents' and children's empathic dispositions. Children participated from Canada, China, Colombia, Jordan, South Africa, Turkey, and the United States. Situational empathy, empathic disposition, and prosociality were all positively associated with age. Boys displayed less situational empathy and lower empathic disposition than girls. Parental empathic disposition predicted the same dispositions in children but were not related to children's situational empathy or prosociality. No association was found between child prosociality and child empathic disposition. Overall, the results suggest similar ontologies of empathic disposition and situational empathy across countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Past research has found that young smokers are more likely to make quit attempts; however, there are conflicting findings regarding age and quit success. This study examined the degree to which smoker age is related to making quit attempts and quit success. Design Ten waves of the International Tobacco Control Policy Cohort survey (ITC‐4C) collected between 2002 and 2014, with nine wave‐to‐wave transitions with predictors at the first wave predicting quit attempts and success by the next wave. Setting: Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Participants: Data from 15 874 smokers categorized into four age groups at baseline (18–24, 25–39, 40–54 and 55+ years). Measurements Age, quit attempts and success (defined as ≥ 30 days abstinence confirmed, if possible, on a third wave for recent attempts). Findings Older smokers were more likely to smoke daily (χ2 = 1557.86, r = 0.136, P < 0.001) than younger smokers. Daily smokers were less likely to report quit attempts (38.1 versus 58.2%) and to achieve 30 days of abstinence (22.9 versus 34.3%) than non‐daily smokers. Older daily smokers were less likely to make quit attempts [0.61, confidence interval (CI) = 0.54–0.70, P < 0.001], even after controlling for indicators of nicotine dependence, country, sex, education, income, relationship status and household composition, than younger smokers. Younger smokers (< 25) were more likely to succeed for at least 30 days of abstinence, but only when compared with those aged 40–54 (OR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.68–0.99). However, when controlling for heaviness of smoking the age effect disappeared. Significant interactions with age were found between age and intention when predicting quit attempts, and age and heaviness of smoking when predicting quit success. Conclusions: An international cohort study indicates that young smokers are more likely to attempt to quit and appear to have similar levels of success in abstaining from smoking compared with older smokers when controlling for dependence. Quit success in all ages is most predicted by lower levels of nicotine dependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study on the Canada-United States (U.S.) border's effect on trade. Estimation of the size of the border effect with a dataset for 1990 province-U.S. trade; Model specification; Results and conclusion.

The first set of hours of work estimates constructed for Canada and its regions for the 1880-1930 period is presented in this article. These estimates suggest a trend decline in hours of work, especially following First World War. In addition, these estimates suggest that the decline in hours of work came at no or little cost in terms of real weekly income. The trends uncovered for Canada are found to be similar to those revealed for the U.S. In effect, by the early twentieth century workers were realizing their long expressed preferences for a shorter workweek at no loss in real income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents abstracts from several papers about cooperatives in Canada and Colorado and two key institutional features of cooperatives. `Determinants of Cooperative Patronage in Alberta,' K.K. Klein, Timothy J. Richards and others; `Agency Theory and Effort Incentives in Agricultural Cooperatives,' by Rachael E. Goodhus; `Strategic Alliance and Joint Venture Agreements in Grain Marketing Cooperatives,' by Joan R. Fulton, Michael P. Popp et al.

Copyright of Conservation Biology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell 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.)

Aim: To explore the health workforce responses to COVID‐19. Design: Analysis of job advertisements. Methods: We collected advertisements for healthcare jobs which were caused by and in response to COVID‐19 between 4 March–17 April 2020 for the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. We collected information on the date of the advertisement, position advertised and location. We categorized job positions into three categories: frontline, coordination and decision support. Results: We found 952 job advertisements, 72% of which were from the United States. There was a lag period between reported COVID‐19‐confirmed cases and job advertisements by several weeks. Nurses were the most advertised position in every country. Frontline workers were substantially more demanded than coordination or decision‐support roles. Job advertisements are a novel data source which leverages a readily available information about how workforces respond to a pandemic. The initial phases of the response emphasise the importance of frontline workers, especially nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Objectives: Differences in older adults' worry, attitudes, and mental health between high‐income countries with diverging pandemic responses are largely unknown. We compared COVID‐19 worry, attitudes towards governmental responses, and self‐reported mental health symptoms among adults aged ≥55 in the United States and Canada early in the COVID‐19 pandemic. Design: Online cross‐sectional survey administered between April 2nd and May 31st in the United States and between May 1st and June 30th, 2020 in Canada. Setting: Nationally in the United States and Canada. Participants: Convenience sample of older adults aged ≥55. Measurements: Likert‐type scales measured COVID‐19 worry and attitudes towards government support. Three standardized scales assessed mental health symptoms: the eight‐item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, the five‐item Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the three‐item UCLA loneliness scale. Results: There were 4453 U.S. respondents (71.7% women; mean age 67.5) and 1549 Canadian (67.6% women; mean age 69.3). More U.S. respondents (71%) were moderately or extremely worried about the pandemic, compared to 52% in Canada. Just 20% of U.S. respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the federal government cared about older adults in their COVID‐19 pandemic response, compared to nearly two‐thirds of Canadians (63%). U.S. respondents were more likely to report elevated depressive and anxiety symptoms compared to Canadians; 34.2% (32.8–35.6) versus 25.6% (23.3–27.8) for depressive and 30.8% (29.5–32.2) versus 23.7% (21.6–25.9) for anxiety symptoms. The proportion of United States and Canadian respondents who reported loneliness was similar. A greater proportion of women compared to men reported symptoms of depression and anxiety across all age groups in both countries. Conclusion: U.S. older adults felt less supported by their federal government and had elevated depressive and anxiety symptoms compared to older adults in Canada during early months of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Public health messaging from governments should be clear, consistent, and incorporate support for mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Borderlands on either side of undefended and easily crossed boundaries are now commoner than ever. Economic pacts and political change in North America (in this case particularly the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement), in Europe and in Africa have changed dramatically the character of the boundaries and borderlands of three continents. The aim of this paper is to examine the current impact of the increasingly open boundary between Quebec and the United States on the borderlands on the Quebec side, and thus to throw some light on a newly-emerging aspect of regional geography.There are a number of special geographical features in Quebec explained by the presence of the boundary. The most important economically are the decline of the retail sector and the threat to the forestry sector. Environmentally, the boundary has undoubtedly retarded the development of environmental policy, especially through making the administration of the border lakes, Champlain and Mephremagog, cumbersome to the point where agreements have been very difficult to reach and enforce; this contrasts unfavourably with more vigorous activity by provincial, state and federal governments away from the boundary. Culturally, the daily cross-boundary exchange gives a special character to the borderlands.The boundary between Quebec and the United States is both a barrier and a link. These twin characteristics give a special flavour to the geography of the borderlands. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using an investigation of a technical policy issue, this paper demonstrates the utility of employing an issue networks approach to understanding the dynamics among those concerned about the threat of earthquakes to the province of British Columbia, Canada and the state of Washington, United States. Such an approach focuses on issue emergence in the early stages of agenda building. This research demonstrates how scientific and technical expertise, in the absence of political leadership, is an unrivaled source of presumptive rights leading to key actor status within a specialized policy community. A complementary finding is that career-related rationales provide the overwhelming motivation for issue network participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provisions made by the governments of the United States, Canada and Australia to compensate individuals injured on account of in- creased import competition are examined. The rationale for specifically favoring trade displaced workers, even though employees elsewhere, on account of technological and other changes, also experience disruption, is explained. There- after, the salient features of the three countries' adjustment assistance schemes are outlined and their relative effectiveness evaluated. By and large, none of the three countries has provided sufficient compensation or amelioration to attenuate resistance by either firms or workers to freer trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religion in the United States is exceptionally vibrant compared to that in other industrialized nations. This research seeks to shed light on this anomaly by comparing measures of religiosity in the U.S. with those of its closest industrialized neighbor, Canada. The comparison demonstrates the effect of America's culture-religion in increasing levels of religiosity through social "convention." I argue that religious beliefs and practices are based more on "conviction in Canada, where cultural supports for religion are minimal. Although levels of religiosity are lower in Canada by nearly all measures, comparisons of the pervasiveness and interconnectedness of religious beliefs and practices in the two countries suggest that the differences may be related to culture-religion. Results show that those who rarely attend church in America have higher levels of orthodox religious belief and practice than Canadians who rarely attend. In addition, correlations between measures of commitment are weaker in the United States than in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of legislative professionalization is well documented in U.S. state legislatures, where it is closely associated with the advent of careerism. This association is partly responsible for the term limit movement. In this paper we show that Canadian provincial legislative assemblies have undergone a similar trend toward professionalization but that careerism has been less evident. Turnover rates are higher than under similar conditions in U.S. state legislatures because the electoral advantage of incumbency is substantially smaller in Canadian provincial elections. We identify five reasons why incumbents are less advantaged in the Canadian system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of religion on childbearing has been of great interest to students of the family and population. The large families of Catholics, Moslems, Fundamentalist Protestants, and Hutterites have been observed. The purpose of this paper is focus attention on another religious group, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, more commonly known as Mormons. Data are presented to establish that in the United States and Canada adherents of Mormonism historically have had and continue to have higher than average rates of childbearing. Second, data are discussed which suggest that the high fertility of Mormons is not the result of their occupying positions in the social structure in which childbearing is high. That is, the data are consistent with the hypothesis that there is something about Mormonism which influences childbearing, and this effect cannot be accounted for by social and economic characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a paper on world and country-specific disturbances effects on the Canada and United States. Global depression caused by United States disturbances and international propagation; Stochastic trend from U.S and Canada interwar data; Global economic depression 1930s.

A small general equilibrium model calibrated approximately to match the Canadian tradeable goods sector is used to examine the implications of a range of assumptions about pricing behaviour and entry barriers for the impact of free trade with the United States. It turns out that only a model with an extreme combination of non-competitive product market and free entry (as well as unexploited scale economies) can generate substantial gains from free trade. Other assumptions modelled include: monopolistic competition, market share pricing, an 'economist's' model, and a 'mainstream industrial organization' approach. The predicted welfare gains range from zero to more than 7 per cent of GNP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. Reduced form unemployment equations containing aggregate demand, structural, and frictional variables are estimated for Canada and the United States. Post-1981 increases in unemployment rates are explained almost entirely by aggregate demand variables, although structural / sectoral variables make important contributions to changes in the gap between the two countries' unemployment rates. For both countries, the results support the following 'monetarist' propositions: monetary variables are the prime determinants of the business cycle, exogenous investment shocks are typically of minor importance, and macro policy has tended to be destabilizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we investigate the effect of news about the advent of the U.S.- Canada Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on the exchange rate between the Canadian dollar and the U.S. dollar. We find evidence that information flows related to the likelihood of the FTA influenced the volatility of the daily spot rate. In particular, information that increased the likelihood of the FTA subsequently diminished exchange rate volatility. In contrast, information that decreased the likelihood of the FTA subsequently increased exchange rate volatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides additional insight into the nature and degree of interdependence of stock markets of the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany, and it reports the extent to which volatility in these markets influences expected returns. The analysis uses the multivariate GARCH-M model. Although they are considered weak, statistically significant mean spillovers radiate from stock markets of the U.S. to the U.K., Canada, and Germany, and then from the stock markets of Japan to Germany. No relation is found between conditional market volatility and expected returns. Strong time-varying conditional volatility exists in the return series of all markets. The own-volatility spillovers in the U.K. and Canadian markets are insignificant, supporting the view that conditional volatility of returns in these markets is "imported" from abroad, specifically from the U.S. Significant volatility spillovers radiate from the U.S. stock market to all four stock markets, from the U.K. stock market to the Canadian stock market, and from the German stock market to the Japanese stock market. The results are robust and no changes occur in the correlation structure of returns over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article looks at the development of a model, including both corporate and individual taxes, to determine the conditions under which preferred shares are issued and purchased in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Great Britain, France and Denmark prior to 1986. For each country examined, it is shown that there are conditions under which corporations are able to issue preferred shares that are profitable for the issuing corporations as well as attractive to investors. The model also produces specialized implications for each country. For example, the analysis suggests that there are stronger tax incentives to create a positive preferred stock equilibrium in Canada than in the U.S. This results from the existence of the dividend tax credit in Canada and from the higher dividend exclusion for corporate investors. The implication of the model for West Germany is that the ratio of new issues of preferred shares over bonds should be quite low because the condition for issuing preferred shares is only marginally satisfied. Individual investors and parent companies in France and Denmark are entitled to similar tax relief, but non-parent firms are in a less advantageous position than their Canadian counterparts.

Professional accounting bodies in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada are requiring disclosure of current cost of capital equipment and related depreciation. In this paper the ability of a normative programming model of the firm to produce depreciation allocations in accordance with economic depreciation is examined, and the model's depreciation allocations are compared with current professional pronouncements. It is found that if the firm can costlessly adjust capacity period-by-period, current cost depreciation is on strong theoretical grounds. Otherwise depreciation should be based on value-in-use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses that most quantitative tests of the structure-performance model basic to industrial organization analysis have been based on U.S. data. Although similar studies for other economies are becoming more common, in terms of completeness they still lag somewhat behind the U.S. efforts. The purpose of this paper is to attempt to answer this question on the basis of comparisons between Canada and the U.S. of the same structural variables and their effect on the same performance variable. Both countries are reasonably well suited for the comparisons because, although there are substantial differences (the Canadian economy is much smaller and there is a greater reliance on foreign trade) they are similar in many respects. The complete regression model specifies that profits are a function of national and regional concentration; barriers to entry; 'diversification' (which is here treated as the opposite of 'specialization'); demand; and foreign competition. The most significant difference between Canada and the U.S. concerns the foreign competition variable.

This paper examines and compares the portfolio behaviour of Canadian non-financial government and private enterprises. The greatest difference observed is the relatively small size and yet more active management of the government enterprise asset portfolio. In comparing our model of the private Canadian corporate sector with that of the US, we find the main difference to be a Canadian preference for borrowing rather than equity issue. This preference almost certainly reflects the high level of foreign ownership of Canadian resident corporations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical testing of alternative hedging strategies raises doubts about the usefulness of U.S. live cattle futures markets for cattle fed in Canada. Actual data from almost 100,000 head of custom fed cattle over a nine-year period were analyzed to test profitability and risk reduction associated with fourteen specific hedging routines. Full cost and revenue data from cattle custom fed in the three prairie provinces were used in this paper. The strategies tested were typical of those a custom feeder could use to attempt to reduce output price risk. The results indicate that hedging cattle in Canada is more complex than previous literature suggests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an attempt to examine the applicability of the relative income hypothesis (RIH) in terms of its various specifications proposed by Duesenberry, Duesenberry, Eckstein and Fromm (DEF), Davis and the authors (MD). Using the time series data for 1951 through 1968 the analysis has been carried out for Canada, Finland, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Japan, Philippines, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States. It is found that RIH provides a fairly good representation of the consumption behaviour of all the countries included in the study. All specifications, however, do not perform equally well. DEF and Davis functions score the maximum points; MD comes at par with DEF in case of Finland, Guatemala, and India. The original Duesenberry specification performs very poorly. This lends us to conclude that the process of habit formation is continuous contrary to what is implied by Duesenberry's original specification and that consumption is a better indicator of the standard of living than income is. Estimates of the long-run marginal propensities to consume are essentially the same as those computed from the permanent income hypothesis by Singh and Drost [1970]. This lends support to the view that the two hypotheses have essentially the same long-run implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To understand lay views on infant size and growth and their implications for a British population. Methods A systematic review of parental and other lay views about the meanings and importance of infant size and growth using Medline, PsycInfo, CINAHL, Sociological Abstracts, IBSS, ASSIA, British Nursing Index ChildData, Caredata, SIGLE, Dissertation Abstracts (US), Index to Theses. A total of 19 studies, most of which reported the views of mothers, from the USA, Canada, the UK and Finland, were reviewed. Results Notions of healthy size and growth were dominated by the concept of normality. Participants created norms by assessing and comparing size and growth against several reference points. When size or growth differed from these norms, explanations were sought for factors that would account for this difference. When no plausible explanation could be found, growth or size became a worry for parents. Conclusions Parents consider the importance of contextual factors when judging what is appropriate or healthy growth. For public health advice to be effective, lay, as well as scientific, findings and values need to be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics is the property of Wiley-Blackwell 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.)

In spring 2011, an unprecedented flood hit the complex eastern United States (U.S.)–Canada transboundary Lake Champlain–Richelieu River (LCRR) Basin, destructing properties and inducing negative impacts on agriculture and fish habitats. The damages, covered by the Governments of Canada and the U.S., were estimated to C$90M. This natural disaster motivated the study of mitigation measures to prevent such disasters from reoccurring. When evaluating flood risks, long‐term evolving climate change should be taken into account to adopt mitigation measures that will remain relevant in the future. To assess the impacts of climate change on flood risks of the LCRR basin, three bias‐corrected multi‐resolution ensembles of climate projections for two greenhouse gas concentration scenarios were used to force a state‐of‐the‐art, high‐resolution, distributed hydrological model. The analysis of the hydrological simulations indicates that the 20‐year return period flood (corresponding to a medium flood) should decrease between 8% and 35% for the end of the 21st Century (2070–2099) time horizon and for the high‐emission scenario representative concentration pathway (RCP) 8.5. The reduction in flood risks is explained by a decrease in snow accumulation and an increase in evapotranspiration expected with the future warming of the region. Nevertheless, due to the large climate inter‐annual variability, short‐term flood probabilities should remain similar to those experienced in the recent past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current article presents a series of commentaries on urgent issues and prospects in reforming interrogation practices in Canada and the United States. Researchers and practitioners, who have devoted much of their careers to the field of police and intelligence interrogations, were asked to provide their insights on an area of interrogation research that they believe requires immediate attention. The submitted independent commentaries covered a variety of topics – from police recruitment, interrogation training, use of proper interrogation practices, and the treatment of confession evidence in court. Common concerns from the contributions pertained to the lag between scientific knowledge on interrogations and the application of such knowledge in the justice system, and the glaring disparity between the treatment of similar issues in the interrogation context versus other criminal justice contexts. A primary intent of this collection of commentaries is to serve as a resource pointing researchers in the direction of the fundamental areas that require immediate consideration and encouraging them to simultaneously pursue solutions to the overarching concerns that emerged from this project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a commentary on spatial approach to Identify priority rural areas requiring targeted health support with COVID-19 pandemic. Topics include compared to urban communities, rural communities typically face poorer access to health services; and lack of staff with the need for coordinated health services, and operational and facility issues.

For decades, capital punishment has been a highly divisive topic. Today, most democratic governments have done away with capital punishment, with few exceptions which include the United States. Drawing from the Canadian Election Study (2015) and the American National Election Study (2016), this article explores the underlying value systems that shape contemporary pro‐death penalty opinions in Canada and in the United States. Findings suggest that, in both countries, pro‐death penalty attitudes should be better understood as part of a "law and order syndrome." In the United States, the distribution of attitudes toward death penalty is also the reflection of a partisan divide. Our results also support the hypothesis that government distrust increases death penalty support in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The United States (US) spends more on health care than any other high‐resource country. Despite this, their maternal and newborn outcomes are worse than all other countries with similar levels of economic development. Our purpose was to describe maternal and newborn outcomes and organization of care in four high‐resource countries (Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and United Kingdom) with consistently better outcomes and lower health care costs, and to identify opportunities for emulation and improvement in the United States. Method: We examined resources that described health care organization and financing, provider types, birth settings, national, clinical guidelines, health care policies, surveillance data, and information for consumers. We conducted interviews with country stakeholders representing the disciplines of obstetrics, midwifery, pediatrics, neonatology, epidemiology, sociology, political science, public health, and health services. The results of the analysis were compared and contrasted with the US maternity system. Results: The four countries had lower rates of maternal mortality, low birthweight, and newborn and infant death than the United States. Five commonalities were identified as follows: (1) affordable/ accessible health care, (2) a maternity workforce that emphasized midwifery care and interprofessional collaboration, (3) respectful care and maternal autonomy, (4) evidence‐based guidelines on place of birth, and (5) national data collections systems. Conclusions: The findings reveal marked differences in the other countries compared to the United States. It is critical to consider the evidence for improved maternal and newborn outcomes with different models of care and to examine US cultural and structural failures that are leading to unacceptable and substandard maternal and infant outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both Canada and the United States are considered liberal welfare states, yet exhibit notable differences in income poverty attributed to social policy. While a more generous welfare system lifts many above income poverty, models of household financial behaviour suggest that more income from the state should displace private savings via a substitution effect. Using nationally representative wealth surveys from Canada and the US from 1998/1999 to 2016 we extend knowledge on the relationship between the welfare state and private wealth accumulation. Specifically, we study household asset poverty defined as financial asset levels that fall below three‐month adjusted income poverty threshold. Asset poverty rates varied over time in the two countries and were higher in the less generous US welfare state. Further, income transfer share was positively related to asset poverty in Canada but not in the US. Counterfactual estimates offered evidence of the substitution effect in Canada, where higher levels of transfers may crowd out private asset accumulation. Results invite further consideration of the concept of asset poverty and its relationship to welfare state characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Every day, approximately 30,000 donors present to blood collection establishments in the United States or Canada, where they are provided information about donation and asked to sign a consent before donating. We evaluated elements of informational and consent documents and measures of readability that may influence their comprehension.Materials and Methods: Consents for whole blood (WB) and automated collections and predonation reading materials (PRMs) representing over 93% of WB collections in the United States and Canada were evaluated. Elements, including risks of donation, were cataloged. Word count, Flesch-Kinkaid (F-K) reading ease/grade level scores, Simple Measure of Gobbledygook grade, and percentage of complex words were measured.Results: F-K grade levels ranged from 9.2 to 16.9 for WB consents, 7.8 to 16.0 for apheresis consents, and 6.7 to 10.9 for PRMs, above the recommended level of eighth grade or lower for general audiences. F-K reading ease scores were below the cutoff of 60 for readability. Reading burden was substantial, with word count ranging from 131 to 885, 131 to 996, and 649 to 2743 for WB and apheresis consents and PRMs, respectively. Use of jargon and the absence of consent elements such as confidentiality, voluntariness, ability to withdraw consent, and risks of deferral were common.Conclusions: Donor consent documents and associated materials vary widely, are written at challenging grade levels, present considerable reading burden, contain substantial jargon, and are missing key elements of consent. The authors recommend an organized effort, including blood donors, legal experts, and blood collection experts, to reach consensus on the minimal requirements for standardized clear and concise consent documents in an optimized format. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts to combat continuing gender inequalities in academia need to be informed by evidence about where differences occur. Citations are relevant as potential evidence in appointment and promotion decisions, but it is unclear whether there have been historical gender differences in average citation impact that might explain the current shortfall of senior female academics. This study investigates the evolution of gender differences in citation impact 1996–2018 for six million articles from seven large English‐speaking nations: Australia, Canada, Ireland, Jamaica, New Zealand, UK, and the USA. The results show that a small female citation advantage has been the norm over time for all these countries except the USA, where there has been no practical difference. The female citation advantage is largest, and statistically significant in most years, for Australia and the UK. This suggests that any academic bias against citing female‐authored research cannot explain current employment inequalities. Nevertheless, comparisons using recent citation data, or avoiding it altogether, during appointments or promotion may disadvantage females in some countries by underestimating the likely greater impact of their work, especially in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to examine the association between breastfeeding and childhood obesity. A multinational cross‐sectional study of 4,740 children aged 9–11 years was conducted from 12 countries. Infant breastfeeding was recalled by parents or legal guardians. Height, weight, waist circumference, and body fat were obtained using standardized methods. The overall prevalence of obesity, central obesity, and high body fat were 12.3%, 9.9%, and 8.1%, respectively. After adjustment for maternal age at delivery, body mass index (BMI), highest maternal education, history of gestational diabetes, gestational age, and child's age, sex, birth weight, unhealthy diet pattern scores, moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity, sleeping, and sedentary time, exclusive breastfeeding was associated with lower odds of obesity (odds ratio [OR] 0.76, 95% confidence interval, CI [0.57, 1.00]) and high body fat (OR 0.60, 95% CI [0.43, 0.84]) compared with exclusive formula feeding. The multivariable‐adjusted ORs based on different breastfeeding durations (none, 1–6, 6–12, and > 12 months) were 1.00, 0.74, 0.70, and 0.60 for obesity (Ptrend =.020) and 1.00, 0.64, 047, and 0.64 for high body fat (Ptrend =.012), respectively. These associations were no longer significant after adjustment for maternal BMI. Breastfeeding may be a protective factor for obesity and high body fat in 9‐ to 11‐year‐old children from 12 countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The resources used in treatment for sex offenders with intellectual disabilities have had much research attention, but less has been written about how participants are expected to respond (programme mechanisms). Methods: A realist evaluation of seven programmes from the UK, Canada, USA, Switzerland and Germany was conducted. In semi‐structured interviews, programme designers elucidated how they are intended to work. The data analysis was driven by the realist concern to expose programme mechanisms and intended outcomes. Results: Two main outcomes are increasing risk management capacities and cultivating prosocial identities. These are achieved through developing insights into a person's risks, work on (sexual) self‐regulation skills, sexual boundaries and personal values and by developing meaningful social roles and positive relationships. Conclusions: Over time, there have been changes to some of the treatment resources used. However, there were little differences in terms of the intended programme mechanisms and outcomes, which remained surprisingly consistent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Introduction: Dementia in adults with Down syndrome causes a progressive decline in daily occupations impacting both persons with Down syndrome and their informal caregivers. This study aimed to explore the scope of occupational therapy practice for adults with both Down syndrome and dementia and their informal caregivers living in their homes. Methods: A survey was conducted with occupational therapists having clinical experience in providing interventions for adults with Down syndrome. A web‐based survey was developed to explore occupational therapy practice for this group of people with Down syndrome and their informal caregivers. Responses to closed‐ended questions were analysed descriptively, and inductive content analysis was used for open‐ended questions. Results: Forty‐three occupational therapists from Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and the United States of America participated in the survey. Two‐thirds were from the United Kingdom, most of whom were employed in the public sector and had at least 10 years of clinical experience. Over 90% of respondents received one or more referrals in a typical month for adults with Down syndrome having dementia, 68% of which were for a decline in activities of daily living. Home environment and activities of daily living were frequently assessed areas, and the commonest interventions were compensatory strategies and environmental modifications. Only half the respondents provided interventions for informal caregivers. Risk and safety and manual handling were frequently addressed domains for informal caregivers. Collaboration and developing clinical expertise were the two key perceived enablers for providing effective occupational therapy services. Fragmentation of services and a lack of client‐centred care were the common perceived barriers. Conclusion: Occupational therapists often address decline in activities of daily living for individuals with both Down syndrome and dementia. To support participation in meaningful occupations for these people and support the needs of their informal caregivers, it is essential that services are offered in a collaborative approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While treatment is often withdrawn from patients in intensive care units (ICUs), few people outside the healthcare profession have witnessed a death under such circumstances. Family members who have made the decision to withdraw treatment may have expectations about the dying process, what constitutes a good death and how they should behave in an ICU based on popular prime‐time television series. An inductive comparative thematic coding strategy is therefore used to examine how death following treatment withdrawal as depicted in a US medical drama (Grey's Anatomy) differs from realities observed for 6 months fieldwork at an ICU in Canada. Three common frames (privacy, emotional control and memorialising) help patients' intimates normalise the unfamiliar experience and guide their behaviour during the event. However, discrepancies between media representations and experiences in the ICU, especially around the frames of timing of death and the physicality of the unbounded body (incontinence and agonal breathing), can traumatise them. The bereaved may be left viewing ventilator withdrawal and dying as chaotic processes and believing their loved one suffered through a bad death. Understanding these normative and discrepant frames should help healthcare professionals better prepare the public to witness death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increase in our older adult population, there is a need for dementia training for informal and formal dementia caregivers. The objective of this scoping study is to assess dementia knowledge instruments utilized in educational programs and interventions intended for formal and informal dementia caregivers. Scoping review methodology was used to search PubMed, PsycInfo, CINAHL and Web of Science with tailored database search terms. The search yielded 8101 results, with 35 studies meeting inclusion. Studies were conducted in eight countries, had varying study designs (randomized controlled trials [RCTs] = 9, non‐RCTs = 6, one‐group study design = 20) and utilized previously published (19) and author developed (16) instruments. Furthermore, the studies were internationally diverse, conducted in the United States (n = 18), Australia (n = 7), UK (n = 3), China (n = 2), Canada (n = 2), Taiwan (n = 1), Brazil (n = 1) and multi‐country (n = 1). Only two studies focused on minority populations. While author‐developed instruments may be more relevant and timesaving, studies should strive to validate instruments or use previously published instruments to help standardize findings across studies and understand better the effects of educational programs on caregiver knowledge. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2020; 20: 397–413. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]