93 research outputs found
The Crumbling Wall: Data Archiving and Reproducibility in Published Science
No full textTim Vines, Arianne Y.K. Albert, Rose L. Andrew, Dan G. Bock, Sébastien Renaut, Diana J. Rennison (University of British Columbia
Data for: Repeated genetic divergence plays a minor role in repeated phenotypic divergence of lake-stream stickleback
No full textRecent studies have shown that the repeated evolution of similar phenotypes in response to similar ecological conditions (here 'parallel evolution') often occurs through mutations in the same genes. However, many previous studies have focused on known candidate genes in a limited number of systems. Thus, the question of how often parallel phenotypic evolution is due to parallel genetic changes remains open. Here, we used quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping in F2 intercrosses between lake and stream threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) from four independent watersheds on Vancouver Island, Canada to determine whether the same QTL underlie divergence in the same phenotypes across, between, and within watersheds. We find few parallel QTL, even in independent crosses from the same watershed or for phenotypes that have diverged in parallel. These findings suggest that different mutations can lead to similar phenotypes. The low genetic repeatability observed in these lake-stream systems contrasts with the higher genetic repeatability observed in other stickleback systems. We speculate that differences in evolutionary history, gene flow, and/or the strength and direction of selection might explain these differences in genetic parallelism and emphasize that more work is needed to move beyond documenting genetic parallelism to identifying the underlying causes.All datasets are provided as .csv, .txt, or .tab files. Analyses were conducted in R (script files are indicated as .r), bash (script files are indicated as .sh), and PERL (script files are indicated as .pl).Funding provided by: National Science FoundationCrossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001Award Number: DEB-1144773Funding provided by: National Science FoundationCrossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001Award Number: DEB-1144556All methods are described in the accompanying manuscript: Hilary A. Poore, Yoel E. Stuart, Diana J. Rennison, Marius Roesti, Andrew P. Hendry, Daniel I. Bolnick, Catherine L. Peichel (2022) Repeated genetic divergence plays a minor role in repeated phenotypic divergence of lake-stream stickleback. Evolution, in press.
All datasets and scripts are described in the README file
Comparing Alternative Output-Gap Estimators: A Monte Carlo Approach
No full textThe author evaluates the ability of a variety of output-gap estimators to accurately measure the output gap in a model economy. A small estimated model of the Canadian economy is used to generate artificial data. Using output and inflation data generated by this model, the author uses each output-gap estimation methodology to construct an estimate of the true output gap. He then evaluates the methodologies by comparing their respective estimates of the output gap with the true gap. The estimators are evaluated on the basis of correlations between the actual and estimated output gap, as well as the root-mean-squared estimation error. The author also varies the properties of potential output and the output gap in the data-generating process to test the robustness of his results. His findings indicate that an estimator that combines the Hodrick-Prescott filter with a Blanchard-Quah structural vector autoregression (SVAR) yields an estimate that is accurate compared with competing methods at the end-of-sample. He also finds that the performance of the SVAR relative to that of other methodologies is quite robust to violations in the identifying assumptions of the SVAR.Business fluctuations and cycles; Econometric and statistical methods; Potential output
The E-FooD Dataset and Food Security Simulators for Kenya and Nigeria: Innovative Tools to Support National Policies and Strategies
No full textRecent global food price spikes and household income losses pose significant challenges to people’s food security and diets, raising important questions for governments and international organizations about how best to support households. The new Income and Price Elasticities of Food Demand (E-FooD) dataset [https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/OXZ0H6] and Food Security Simulators (FSS) provide rigorous, yet easy-to-use tools for forward-looking evaluations of direct, household-level outcomes of economic crisis and policy responses. This webinar, organized by the CGIAR Initiative on National Policies and Strategies (NPS), introduces the E-FooD dataset and FSS for Kenya [https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/NS1A7V] and Nigeria [https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/WWMN6H], showcases their applications, and discusses the role that such tools can play in policymaking.
Welcome Remarks
Clemens Breisinger, Lead, CGIAR Initiative on National Policies and Strategies (NPS) and Country Program Leader, Kenya, IFPRI
The E-FooD Dataset
Olivier Ecker, Senior Research Fellow, IFPRI
Food Security Simulators for Kenya and Nigeria
Andrew Comstock, Senior Research Analyst, IFPRI
Panel Discussion
Alan Rennison, Senior Program Officer, Agricultural Development, Global Growth & Opportunity, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) Utz Pape, Lead Economist, The World Bank, Abuja Dorah Momanyi, Young Professional (YP) and Winner of FSS Blog Competition; KIPPRA Kenya Temitayo Adeyemo, Agricultural Economist, Food systems research, Policy research, AWARD-GRASP fellow, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Closing Remarks
Yumna Kassim, Program Manager, IFPRI
Moderator
Yumna Kassim, Program Manager, IFPR
Athabasca Homeguard
No full textPhotograph - A group of men and officers standing in a row in front of a building, Athabasca, Alberta. A note on the front reads: Line up at Athabasca in front of Hudons's Bay Warehouse for homeguard at the outbreak of Great War, 1914. Back row: Sgt. LaNauze RNWMP, Corp. Summers. Front row: unknown, A. Meigher, R. Bank, Ralph Pelluet, W. Vigor, A.M. Nichol, W. Rennison, A. Sutherland, C.A. Dallas, E. Fishenden, A. Hamilton. Note: Ralph Pelluet was killed later in action and his name is inscribed on the honor roll of the Royal Bank, Main Branch, Edmonto
How Soon? How Fast? Interest Rates and Other Monetary Policy Decisions in 2010
No full textWith the economic recovery taking hold and the Bank of Canada’s conditional commitment to keep the overnight rate at 0.25 percent expiring soon, a number of questions about the conduct of monetary policy need to be considered. The author argues the Bank should keep its conditional commitment, but should thereafter raise the overnight rate sharply by 50 basis points at every announcement date until mid-2011. In addition, the Bank should publish conditional statements about the future path of the policy rate to help shape market expectations and avoid surprises that disrupt financial markets, output, and employment. Further, the Bank should withdraw its injection of excess reserves at a future preannounced date and should gradually wind down credit easing measures.Monetary Policy, Bank of Canada, overnight interest rate
ToTEM: The Bank of Canada's New Quarterly Projection Model
No full textThe authors provide a detailed technical description of the Terms-of-Trade Economic Model (ToTEM), which replaced the Quarterly Projection Model (QPM) in December 2005 as the Bank's principal projection and policy-analysis model for the Canadian economy. ToTEM is an open-economy, dynamic stochastic general-equilibrium model that contains producers of four distinct finished products: consumption goods and services, investment goods, government goods, and export goods. ToTEM also contains a commodity-producing sector. The behaviour of almost all key variables in ToTEM is traceable to a set of fundamental assumptions about the underlying structure of the Canadian economy. This greatly improves the model's ability to tell coherent, internally consistent stories about the current evolution of the Canadian economy and how it is expected to evolve in the future. In addition, ToTEM's multiple-goods approach enables the Bank to gain insight into a much wider variety of shocks, including relative-price shocks. In particular, ToTEM is better equipped to handle terms-of-trade shocks, such as those stemming from movements in world commodity prices. But ToTEM does not mark a radical departure from QPM's design philosophy; rather, it should be regarded as the next step in the evolution of openeconomy macro modelling at the Bank. Indeed, ToTEM adopts most of the features that distinguished QPM from its predecessors, including a well-defined steady state, an explicit separation of intrinsic and expectational dynamics, an endogenous monetary policy rule, and an emphasis on the economy's supply side. However, ToTEM extends this basic framework, allowing for optimizing behaviour on the part of households and firms, both in and out of steady state, in a multi-product environment.Economic models; Business fluctuations and cycles
Comments on the Review of Low Copy Number Testing
No full textA challenge to the reliability of low copy number (LCN) DNA profiling in the trial of Sean Hoey in Belfast Crown Court in Northern Ireland (R v Hoey [2007] NICC 49, 20 December, 2007) prompted the UK’s new Forensic Science Regulator (Andrew Rennison) to commission a review of low template DNA profiling techniques. That review [2], conducted by Professor Brian Caddy (with the assistance of Dr. Adrian Linacre and Dr. Graham Taylor) was released on 12 April, 2008 and concluded that LCN DNA profiling is “robust” and “fit for purpose.” Yet, the review accepts that the evidence presented in Sean Hoey’s trial was insufficient to establish the validity of the technique. It also enumerates 21 recommendations for specific improvements that should be undertaken to improve the methodology, including such basic steps as the development of a consensus on the interpretation of test results and efforts to establish “best practices” for interpretation
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