Structure of causation and its influence on cooperation: A comparative study of forest management in Ontario, Canada

The paper uses cause mapping and structural analysis to analyse how key consensus-building criteria influence the development of cooperation among and between stakeholders and a government agency. The analyses are based on a comparative study of two Local Citizens Committees (LCCs) in Ontario, Canada. Given–Means–Ends (GME) analysis is used to identify the informal goals of LCCs, including the development of cooperation, and LCCs' influence over consensus-building criteria, and Context, Structure and Performance (CSP) analysis is used to identify the relative influence of key consensus-building criteria on cooperation criteria. The paper concludes with a discussion of the relationship between the structural analysis and content analysis of the same data and four inferences for consensus-building and co-management theories.     

润布勒苜蓿遗传变异研究

加拿大润布勒苜蓿于１９７２年自拿大斯喀切削 本中国农业科学院草研究所，经过试种栽培后，于１９８７年经全国牧草品种审定委员会审定通过登记为国外引进芷蓿品种，后简称中国润布靳苜蓿。本研究探讨了加拿大润布协引进中国后１５年间的遗传变异。     

中加双向投资战略思考及趋势分析

根据中加两国双向投资的现状,分析其存在的问题及趋势.     

Apple Industry Performance,Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation

Abstract

This study examines the changing structure of the apple industry in Canada and the United States over the last two decades. We attempt to describe whether changing policy environments (e.g., Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement) and strengthened intellectual property (IP) rights have affected innovativeness and the competitive position of the North American apple industry. Our analysis shows that Canadian apple production has been on a decline, with apple imports expanding to satisfy production shortfalls and changing consumer preferences for cultivar diversity and year-round supply. By contrast, U.S. apple production expanded in the 1990s because of strengthened exports stemming from export promotion programs and slight increases in foreign demand in selected Asian markets. Our results show that U.S. inventors are protecting their IP by the use of patents to a larger extent than their Canadian counterparts.     

农场中的博物馆：加拿大农业博物馆历史发展与管理体制研究

本文详细论述了加拿大农业博物馆与加拿大首都渥太华中心实验农场之间的渊源关系，加拿大农业博物馆是“绿色首都”渥太华的鲜活证明，渥太华是世界上唯一在城市心脏地带拥有大面积农场的国家首都，而渥太华中心实验农场是加拿大农业博物馆诞生的摇篮。通过深入探讨加拿大农业博物馆的组成部分、工作内容、管理体制与经营活动，得出几点启示，希望能对中国农业博物馆未来各项工作的开展产生有益的借鉴作用。     

Contribution of Health Attributes,Research Investment and Innovation to Developments in the Blueberry Industry

Abstract

This paper examines how the United States and Canadian highbush and lowbush blueberry industries have changed over the last two decades. Production increases have been driven by a combination of changing consumer preferences for healthy foods and the development of new cultivars that have opened new production regions, expanded fresh market opportunities, and created new food products. Canada has found it advantageous and economical to invest its research effort in the development of the lowbush blueberry, exploiting its health protective properties. The United States has concentrated its research effort on highbush cultivars to lengthen the harvest window and promote diversification opportunities in the Southern United States. Highbush production expansion in the Pacific Northwest has relied very little on new cultivar development and improvements in yield but more on increases in cultivated area.     

Increased intracellular chloride activity produced by the molluscicide,N-(triphenylmethyl)morpholine (Frescon), in Lymnaea stagnalis neurons

Chloride ion-selective microelectrodes were used to measure the intracellular chloride activity of Lymnaea stagnalis neurons. Values ranged from 3 to 23.5 mM in different cells. Neurons with inhibitory postsynaptic potentials had significantly lower chloride activity levels than cells without such inputs. Bicarbonate-buffered saline reduced intracellular chloride levels compared with those in Hepes-buffered saline. Frescon (Shell Chemicals) produced an increase in intracellular chloride activity in 14 out of 22 neurons (mean rate of increase, 0.09 mM/min). This increase was insensitive to changes in the membrane potential: the rate of increase was reduced in bicarbonate-buffered saline. The mechanism of Frescon action is discussed in terms of a bicarbonate/chloride exchange mechanism.     

Old problems on a new playing field: Helminth zoonoses transmitted among dogs, wildlife, and people in a changing northern climate

Although surveillance is limited, indigenous residents at latitudes ranging from 53 to 73°N in Canada appear to have a higher occurrence of infection with some zoonotic parasites than the general population. Conversely, they are relatively naïve to other zoonotic parasites that have previously been unable to establish at northern latitudes. For those parasites that circulate among dogs, wildlife, and people, potential risk factors in the North include limited availability of veterinary services, presence of free-roaming dog populations, and consumption of locally harvested fish and wildlife. These regions are also experiencing some of the greatest impacts of climate change in North America, including increased temperature, precipitation, and frequency and severity of extreme weather. We review the current taxonomy, genetic diversity, host and geographic distributions, epidemiology and risk factors for 3 genera of helminths (Diphyllobothrium spp., Echinococcus spp., and Toxocara sp.) in Canada's North in order to identify climate-sensitive aspects of their ecology. Free-living stages of parasitic zoonoses endemic in the Arctic (such as Diphyllobothrium dendriticum, the cervid strain of Echinococcus granulosus, and Arctic strains of Echinococcus multilocularis) will experience trade-offs between enhanced survival under wetter conditions and increased mortality under warmer conditions. Climate change might also lead to the introduction and establishment in the Arctic of parasitic zoonoses previously restricted to the sub-Arctic, such as Diphyllobothrium latum, Toxocara canis, and the prairie strain of E. multilocularis. Molecular techniques applied in broad geographic surveys are needed to address critical knowledge gaps in the geographic distribution, genetic diversity, and public health significance of zoonotic helminths already in the circumpolar North, and to determine the current barriers to range expansion of temperate-adapted parasites into the North. Dogs will continue to play important roles in the North, including that of a “bridging” host between sylvatic cycles and human communities. In a warming north, increased opportunities for business, agriculture, and tourism favor importation of dogs and their parasites into a newly suitable environment. Collaborations among veterinarians, public health personnel, and policy-makers are needed to enhance surveillance and mitigate for dog-transmitted parasitic zoonoses in a changing North.     

Comparing simulated crop yields with observed and synthetic weather data

Stochastic weather generators have been used in the development of climate scenarios which are input to agricultural simulation models that assess the climate impacts on crop growth and production. The synthetic data generated by a stochastic weather generator only mimic the observed weather data, thus discrepancies between the synthetic and the observed weather data often exist. For example, interannual variability in the synthetic data is often found to be weaker than in the observed data, i.e., the common problem of overdispersion. Here, we evaluate if the climate impact models are sensitive to such discrepancies. A stochastic weather generator (AAFC-WG) was used to generate 300 years long synthetic weather data for five Canadian locations, based on observed weather data for the baseline period of 1961−1990. The Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) v4.0 was employed to simulate crop growth and yield. Five major crops were simulated by the DSSAT model for three major soil types at each location, with 30-yr observed data and 300-yr synthetic data as weather input, respectively. Statistical tests were performed to investigate whether differences (both in mean and variance) of the simulated crop yields between the simulations with observed and synthetic weather data were statistically significant or not. Results showed that the differences in simulated crop yields were not statistically significant when synthetic weather data were used to substitute the observed data. Standard deviations of crop yield and biomass in simulations with synthetic weather data were, in 5 and 19% of all cases, respectively, found to be smaller by more than 20% to those simulated with observed weather. However, with only one exception, the differences in variances were not statistically significant. We conclude that reliable crop yield estimates can be obtained by combining the AAFC weather generator with the DSSAT crop growth models at the studied sites in Canada.     

基于GIS研究"加拿大一枝黄花"在合肥地区的分布特点

加拿大一枝黄花(Solidago canadensis L.)是一种的世界性的入侵性外来杂草.本文利用地理信息系统(GIS)的先进技术手段,针对2005年合肥地区一枝黄花的空间分布状况,进行空间分析研究表明,一枝黄花主要发生面积中,地质类型为第4纪Q3亚粘土、亚砂土,占发生面积的99.89%;地貌类型为缓低岗占发生面积99.89%;土壤亚类为潴育型水稻土占94.04%;土地利用方式为城镇用地占发生面积的60.67%.这些结果可为实现合肥基于GIS一枝黄花监测防治提供科学依据.