1,720,997 research outputs found
Canadian beef producer survey, 2020
No full textThese data were collected through an online panel-based survey. The survey was designed to better understand Canadian beef producers grazing practices (continuous, rotational or adaptive such as Holistic Management, Adaptive Multipaddock or regenerative grazing), their reported well-being, mindsets (management priorities, systems thinking, etc) and demographics. The panel was recruited and run by Kynetec which is a specialist agricultural polling firm, who recruited for the study from their proprietary Canadian Producer Database. The survey was stratified across the four largest beef-producing provinces, roughly proportionally to farm numbers: Alberta (n=85), Saskatchewan (n=45), Manitoba (n=35) and Ontario (n=35). No criteria were applied on the amount of beef production, and respondents could also have other commodities. However, all participants had to be over 18, either the sole or joint decision-maker on their property (not secondary), have beef as part of their gross farm sales in 2018, and they had to graze cattle rather than simply feed them. Participants were rewarded with $25. Confidence interval is estimated at 6.9%.The dataset contains two files: the study questionnaire (text) and survey responses (tabular)
Biodiversity in the Bay of Fundy Dykelands: Insights from Citizen Science Data
No full textIn this work, we collected eBird and iNaturalist observations in the Upper Bay of Fundy area (around the Minas Basin) from 2016-2021 to explore the utility of citizen science datasets in spatially restricted landscapes like dykelands and tidal wetlands with scarce primary biodiversity data. This was done as a report to the NSERC Strategic Partnership Grants for Networks project called ResNet, as part of Landscape one of its six landscape case studies (https://www.nsercresnet.ca/landscape-1---bay-of-fundy.html). The short report (5 pages) briefly describes the results of the analysis, with relevant references, and the Technical Appendices (37 pages) include the analytical approaches, large versions of each map from the spatial analysis, as well as full species lists for each of the three two-year time slices taken
Understanding house residents perceptions of coastal landscapes and adaptation options around the Minas Basin, Nova Scotia, 2022.
No full textThese data were collected through an online survey hosted on Qualtrics software. The survey was designed to understand perceptions of coastal landscapes, specifically dykes, dykelands, and tidal wetlands, along with coastal adaptation options, specifically managed realignment and flood risk mapping, among residents of the Minas Basin region of Nova Scotia, around the Bay of Fundy. Recruitment was conducted through a multiple-reminder mailout of a simple random sample of the Nova Scotia Residential Dwelling Characteristics dataset (2022), rendering a response rate of 21%. Participants were rewarded with the option to enter to win one of twenty Tim Hortons or Irving Gas gift cards. Permission to make data public was a condition of participation, and all 'free text' questions have been removed to avoid the possibility of identification
Understanding ecosystem service impacts of tidal wetlands after managed dyke realignment through causal loop diagrams
No full textThis report explores ecological dynamics involved in the provision of three ecosystem services (blue carbon, storm protection, and fisheries) associated with existing and restored tidal wetlands in the context of managed dyke realignment. These dynamics are represented in causal loop diagrams depicting negative and positive relationships between ecological variables, all explained further in the glossary at the end. Reinforcing and balancing feedback relations are highlighted through each diagram description. Diagrams are based on a review of relevant literature conducted within the Bay of Fundy dykeland landscape and can be used to inform the decision-making process in the region. Managed dyke realignment is highlighted as a coastal adaptation strategy that provides opportunities to protect and restore tidal wetlands and their associated ecosystem services
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Towards taking farmers seriously: Contributions of farmer knowledge to food systems adaptation to climate change
Get PDFThe effects of climate change on land-based food systems are, and will continue to be, devastating. To preserve lives and livelihoods, policy in the food-climate nexus must help to build resilience and adapt successfully to these changes. Yet farmers, whose tacit knowledge makes them experts in food systems adaptation and whose livelihoods are directly affected by shifts in policy, are conspicuously absent from planning discussions. This is the case in three Eastern Canadian Maritime provinces—Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island—where provincial adaptation planning does not consider climate change a threat to food systems.
This thesis explores the potential and current contributions of farmers’ knowledge to adaptation of regional and global food systems. From an empirical perspective, I explain how farmer knowledge has been sidelined in research and policy discussions and demonstrate how farmer-led collective action successfully builds adaptive capacity to climate change. I also contribute to ongoing theoretical discussions by deconstructing the meaning of “resilience” in the context of the implementation of the term in policy in the food-climate nexus.
Its original contributions to research come in three published papers which primarily focus on small-scale vegetable producers in the Maritimes region as a case study of how farmers adapt markets and farms without policy support. Fieldwork insights draw from two sets of semi-structured interviews, conducted and analyzed through grounded theory methodology.
First, I present a systematic literature review of farmer perceptions of climate change in the academic literature. I argue that while the literature certainly recognizes farmers' participation in land management as an essential component of successful adaptation, their knowledge is largely perceived as provisional and open for verification by scientists, rather than trustworthy.
Then, I consider collective action in the food system and its implications for endogenous, grass-roots climate adaptation strategies. Building on interviews conducted in the Maritimes over 2017-2018, the paper suggests that collective action substantively contributes to adaptation and should be supported by adaptation policy, rather than overturned by top-down policies which dictate changes and adaptations.
Finally, I examine disjointed definitions of the term “resilience” between farmer participants and Canadian climate policy, pointing to the problematic nature of boundary objects in climate and food policy. Building on the notion that resilience is not a politically neutral term, the paper uses the example of studies from Canadian government committees to point out how a loose definition of resilience can entrench the status quo rather than enable necessary adaptations.
The thesis argues that farmer knowledge on successful adaptation is nowhere near as present in adaptation planning processes as the literature suggests it is, or ought to be. It shows that farmers can and do capably generate successful adaptations for entire food systems through collective action with other food system actors. The thesis also warns that while these adaptations require external support, the institutional mechanisms currently in place tend to reinforce the status quo rather than communicate felt impacts or enable transformative change in food systems
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Exploring and transforming a cultural imaginary of energy development in Canada
No full textSSHRC awarded 2012: This project aims to gather new scientific insights, foster civic deliberation, facilitate learning, and explore energy choices in Canada. Our approach is innovative, comparative, interdisciplinary, and organized around three broad objectives, to: (1) use elicitation and visualization techniques to understand how individually held landscape values influence citizen responses to energy development; (2) use Q methodology and survey research to understand cultural values and gauge technical literacy related to energy development in Canada; and, (3) draw on insights from objectives 1 and 2 (and use deliberative democratic techniques) to facilitate citizen deliberations and learning to identify acceptable energy alternatives. These objectives are intended to elucidate a
"cultural imaginary of energy development" and to help find ways to re-imagine it for the future. Adaptation to and mitigation of climate change will involve widespread transitions to technologies such as renewable energy and carbon capture and storage that will affect our landscapes and our cultural imaginaries, but these transitions can only take place where civil society has shifted their understanding of what is needed, what is desirable, and what is possible. Gaining deeper insight into public understandings of energy development alternatives will be an essential component to making the transition successfully and democratically. Working with civil society organizations and regional institutions within our study locations, this project has strong potential to contribute to public understanding of alternative energy development, encourage an appropriate mix of energy supply and conservation measures, improve energy development protocols and contribute to the adaptation and mitigation of climate change
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