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Training for policy capacity: A practitioner’s reflection on an in-house intervention for civil servants, students, and post-secondary graduates in Canada
No full textA substantial amount of scholarly work focuses on conceptualizing, theorizing and studying the policy capacity of governments. Yet, guidance for practitioners on developing policy capacity training programs is lacking. In this article, I reflect on my experience as a public servant in the provincial government of Prince Edward Island where I designed and implemented the Policy Capacity Development and Mentorship Program for civil servants, recent graduates and students. In this article, I offer a descriptive overview of the framework and logic of the program and discuss how I integrated policy capacity theory. This article may serve other practitioners who seek to implement similar programs in their respective organizations and provides a base for future interventions. The article also offers thoughts on practitioner-led collaboration with academics and recommendations for those who would like to establish similar programs in their organizations
Diversity, equity and inclusion policy texts in Canadian agriculture: A patchwork quilt
No full textThis study explores diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policy texts in Canadian agriculture from a policy-as-information perspective. Public policy is a powerful form of information in shaping citizenship behaviour and identity. Borrowing theory from social constructionism and using “policy texts” as data, this article enables us to start to understand the discursive framework constructing under-represented groups in agriculture. The article finds that there is a patchwork quilt approach with DEI agricultural policy in Canada: Federal, provincial and territorial governments and non-governmental organizations are individually pursuing DEI agendas. The conclusion calls for future information research on DEI agricultural policy in Canada, with contributions from academics, practitioners, industry and farmers. The contribution of this article is twofold: It provides policy practitioners with a snapshot of current DEI policies in agriculture across Canada and it attempts to stimulate research and discussion among policy scholars through suggestions for future research
Spatiotemporal heterogeneity in precipitation over China and Its connections with large-scale climate oscillations—A moisture budget perspective
No full textClimate change can lead to variations in the probability distribution of precipitation. In this study, quantile regression (QR) is undertaken to identify the quantile trends in precipitation over China and to examine the quantile effects of various climate oscillations on precipitation. The results show that the quantile trends show apparent seasonal variations, with a greater number of stations showing trends in winter (especially at quantile levels ≥ 0.5), and larger average magnitudes of trends at nearly all quantile levels in summer. The effects of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) exhibit evident variations with respect to the quantile level. Spatial clusters are subsequently identified based on the quantile trends, and the individual and combined effects from the teleconnection patterns are further investigated from the perspective of moisture budget. Seven spatial clusters with distinct seasonal quantile trends can be identified; three of them are located in southeastern China and are characterized by increasing trends in summer and winter precipitation. Summer precipitation over this region is positively influenced by ENSO and negatively influenced by NAO, with the former affecting both the dynamic and thermodynamic components of vertically integrated moisture divergence and the latter affecting only the dynamic component. The interaction effect of ENSO and NAO on summer precipitation anomalies in months that are extremely wetter than normal is statistically significant. In comparison, winter precipitation in this region is under the positive influence of ENSO and NAO and the negative influence of PDO; the effect of ENSO on moisture convergence can be mainly attributed to its dynamic component
Detection of faults in subsea pipelines by flow monitoring with regression supervised machine learning
No full textThis study investigates the relationship between pressure change, velocity change, and temperature of crude oil through a pipeline and presents a method of using a regression supervised machine learning (ML) algorithm to detect faults. A representative dataset of crude oil flow is generated by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and used to train the algorithm to develop a model of fluid behavior under normal pipeline operations over a range of typical flow rates and temperatures. CFD data are then collected under several simulated fault conditions: leaks of 10% and 20%, and a 50% restriction to flow, by nominal pipe cross-sectional area. This study demonstrates that the ML algorithm can be trained to model the system under normal conditions, thereby successfully recognizing a fault condition as non-conforming and indicative of a statistically significant change in pipeline operation. It is further able to identify the fault type based on the pattern observed in the new data. It is shown that ML may be a safe, low-cost, and accurate method of monitoring a subsea pipeline for optimal performance and fault detection without the need to introduce special equipment to a subsea pipeline network, providing an avenue for enhanced process safety and protection of ocean environments. This paper demonstrates that the application of ML to the monitoring of pipeline networks could provide valuable contributions to the industry in terms of safety, cost, and environmental protection.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)Memorial Universit
Public attitude toward and perceptions of dairy cattle welfare in cow-calf management systems differing in type of social and maternal contact
No full textEarly cow-calf separation followed by individual housing of calves is standard practice on dairy farms. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that as awareness grows the public will oppose these practices, which could compromise the dairy industry's social license. Despite disagreement among different stakeholders over weighting and evaluations of effects of early separation (e.g., distress response, disease risk), recent systematic reviews indicate that there is little scientific evidence supporting this practice. The acceptability of alternative cow-calf management systems is unknown. We used a mixed methods survey with a convenience sample of 307 Canadians plus a representative sample of 1,487 Americans to investigate perceptions of these systems, examining the effects of providing social or foster cow contact following early separation or not separating cow-calf pairs. Attitudes and perceptions of animal welfare were more positive (on a 7-point scale where 1 is most negative, 7 is most positive, and 4 is a neutral midpoint) toward the system where calves were not separated from the cow (mean ± SE; 5.8 ± 0.07; 5.7 ± 0.07), compared with systems in which the calf was separated and individually housed (3.6 ± 0.07; 3.4 ± 0.07), separated and group housed (3.7 ± 0.07; 3.4 ± 0.07), or separated and kept with a foster cow (3.8 ± 0.07; 3.6 ± 0.07). Participants were consistent in their attitudes toward and perceptions of animal welfare within the system, suggesting that participants took a holistic and value-oriented approach to cow-calf management regarding separation. These results, in combination with many participants' concern for the importance of the mother cow-calf relationship and perceptions that severing of this bond was a breach of standard of care, suggest that there may be low acceptance of any cow-calf management system involving early separation as such systems are unlikely to resonate with underlying values.Hans Sigrist Research Prize (Bern, Switzerland
Bacterial identification and antimicrobial resistance trends in farmed salmonids in Atlantic Canada
No full textBacterial disease is one of the leading causes of significant economic losses in farmed salmonid aquaculture worldwide. Early detection of bacterial disease can hasten intervention, minimizing farmed salmonid losses. The occurrence of bacterial infection in farmed salmonids has necessitated the use of antimicrobials, which is associated with the risk of antimicrobial resistance. There is a dearth of comprehensive studies on antimicrobial resistance in salmonid aquaculture, especially in Atlantic Canada. This thesis conducted a descriptive study on the frequency of bacterial isolates and antimicrobial resistance profiles of salmonid samples submitted to the Atlantic Veterinary College, Aquatic Diagnostic Services Bacteriology Laboratory (AVC ADSBL) from 2000 to 2021, which is documented in chapter 2. The most prevalent pathogens detected in the cases of samples submitted within the study period were Yersinia ruckeri type 1 (5.54%, n = 127), Renibacterium salmoninarum (2.10%, n = 48), Aeromonas salmonicida (atypical) (1.66%, n = 38), and Pseudomonas fluorescens (1.22%, n = 28). Most bacterial isolates tested for antimicrobial susceptibility (n = 918) showed resistance to florfenicol, oxytetracycline, ormetoprimsulfadimethoxine, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, ampicillin, but not enrofloxacin. This thesis also developed and validated a novel main spectral profile (MSP) to identify Y. ruckeri rapidly and accurately from Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) (chapter 3). The analytical sensitivity of MALDI-TOF MS using the developed MSP to identify a validation set comprised of 29 Y. ruckeri isolates was 86.2%. This thesis provided valuable information on temporal trends of commonly cultured salmonid pathogens in Atlantic Canada and described their antimicrobial susceptibility profiles. These findings may influence fish veterinarians in antimicrobial selection to treat bacterial diseases of salmonids. In addition, the developed MSP has supplemented the MSPs of other Y. ruckeri in the
MALDI-TOF MS reference library to facilitate the early detection of Y. ruckeri from Atlantic salmon samples submitted for bacteriology. The developed MSP can be shared with many aquatic laboratories around the world
Income inequality, international trade and firm location
No full textIn this paper we analyze the effect of within-country income inequality on economic outcomes. We develop a new model of international trade with non-homothetic preferences whereby within-country income distribution affects firm location decisions. In a two-country, three-sector framework with increasing returns to scale and positive trade costs we show that increases in income inequality generates firm movement to countries with more equal income distributions
Nexus between agricultural land use, economic growth and N2O emissions in Canada: Is there an environmental kuznets curve?
No full textThe present study investigates the relationship between nitrous oxide emissions and economic growth using the ARDL bounds testing approach in Canada over the period of 1970–2020. The agricultural land use and exports are included in the estimated models as additional control variables. The empirical findings confirmed the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis when total N2O emissions are used as a dependent variable in the case of Canada, and similar results are found when we used agricultural induced N2O emissions as a dependent variable. The results also indicate that Canada is already in the decreasing segment of the Kuznets curve, and the turning point of GDP per capita for the total N2O emissions is 38,825. Our empirical evidence confirms that agricultural land use had a positive and significant effect on total N2O emissions, while a negative but insignificant effect in the case of agricultural induced N2O emissions. However, Canadian exports are negatively associated with total N2O emissions as well as agricultural induced N2O emissions, but it requires more stringent laws to curb N2O emissions-oriented exports to keep the ecosystem in balance in the short-run and intends to meet its long-term target of reducing emissions as it progresses towards Canada’s 2050 net-zero ambition
To serve school communities and address inequities after COVID-19, principals must become activists
No full textConcerns for long-run risks and natural resource policy
No full textThe legislature in many countries requires that short-run risk and long-run risk be considered in making natural resource policy. In this paper, we explore this issue by analyzing how natural resource conservation policy should optimally respond to long-run risks in a resource management framework where the social evaluator has (Duffie and Epstein in Econometrica 60:353–394, 1992; Schroder and Skiadas in J Econ Theory 89:68–126, 1999) continuous-time stochastic recursive preferences. The response of resource conservation policy to long-run risks is reflected into a matrix whose coefficients measure precaution toward short-run risk, long-run risk and covariance risk. Attitudes toward the temporal resolution of risk underly concerns for long-run risks as well as the response of resource conservation policy to future uncertainty. We formally compare the responses of natural resource policy to long-run risks under recursive utility and under time-additive expected utility. A stronger preference for early resolution of uncertainty can prompt a more conservative resource policy as a response to long-run risks. In the very particular case where the social evaluator preferences are represented by a standard time-additive expected utility, long-run risks are not factored in resource conservation policy decisions. Our work also contributes to the so-called Hotelling Puzzle by formally showing that the fundamental Hotelling’s homogeneous resource depletion problem (one without extraction costs, without new discoveries, and without technical progress) can lead to a decreasing shadow price when attitudes toward the temporal resolution of risk are accounted for