How competing narratives influence water policy in the Saskatchewan River Basin

The Saskatchewan River Basin (SRB) is a critical water source for the Canadian prairies, but competing stakeholder values and priorities challenge effective policy planning. Competing stakeholder perspectives are relayed through narratives that interpret the meaning of policy problems and outcomes in unique, and often conflicting, ways. The purpose of this research is to introduce a new way of policy planning in the context of the SRB through an investigation of Saskatchewan water narratives and the impacts they have on the way policy choices and outcomes are perceived. An NVivo-assisted narrative content analysis of stakeholder documents is used to explore the narratives of four key stakeholder groups, Industry, Aboriginal, Irrigation Agriculture and Environment. Results include a collection of references corresponding to key narrative elements such as characters, frames and causal theories. Next, key elements from the Irrigation Agriculture and Aboriginal narratives are entered into a water resources model developed for Saskatchewan and used as a lens through which to explore three alternative futures in the SRB – a future with present-day conditions, a future with an irrigation expansion and a future with irrigation expansion and climate change impacts. At least four distinct water narratives are shown to exist in Saskatchewan and results suggest that stakeholder perspectives differ on values and priorities in part because each group holds a different conceptualization of the decision space, and how that space will change in the future. Discussion around desirable policy solutions becomes difficult because advocacy for one policy outcome is associated with the collection of assumptions represented by key narrative elements. Further, each narrative promotes a different perspective on how the future will unfold, exposing decision-makers to real differences in terms of which costs and benefits are highlighted or obscured. Results show there are real costs when one narrative successfully influences the policy outcome but a competing narrative comes to more accurately represent reality. Ultimately, these findings suggest that specific measures to address competing stakeholder priorities around water use are vital to design more innovative and inclusive policy when planning for a future that is forecast to be increasingly challenging for the SRB

Re-engineered Hospital Discharge Program (RED)

Between September 2020 and November 2020, an extensive literature review was done to determine how discharge education among medical-surgical patients can be improved. Results showed that there should be an introduction of discharge education from the start of a patient’s admission. Further, there needs to be greater understanding of specific roles within discharge and utilization of discharge material so as to improve patient satisfaction and self- perceived readiness for discharge. All efforts need to be placed to ensure that patients receive the best quality care and are not readmitted within 30 days of discharge

Hydrological and economic assessment of the Upper Qu’Appelle Water Supply Project : report for Western Economic Diversification

PDFCanada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF)Non-Peer ReviewedThis report describes some water resource management modeling, water quality modeling, and economic implications of the Upper Qu’Appelle Water Supply Project

The challenge of unprecedented floods and droughts in risk management

Risk management has reduced vulnerability to floods and droughts globally1,2, yet their impacts are still increasing3. An improved understanding of the causes of changing impacts is therefore needed, but has been hampered by a lack of empirical data4,5. On the basis of a global dataset of 45 pairs of events that occurred within the same area, we show that risk management generally reduces the impacts of floods and droughts but faces difficulties in reducing the impacts of unprecedented events of a magnitude not previously experienced. If the second event was much more hazardous than the first, its impact was almost always higher. This is because management was not designed to deal with such extreme events: for example, they exceeded the design levels of levees and reservoirs. In two success stories, the impact of the second, more hazardous, event was lower, as a result of improved risk management governance and high investment in integrated management. The observed difficulty of managing unprecedented events is alarming, given that more extreme hydrological events are projected owing to climate change3

C-reactive protein haplotypes and dispositional optimism in obese and nonobese elderly subjects

Background Chronic low-grade inflammation, characterized by elevated plasma levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), has been inversely associated with dispositional optimism. Using a Mendelian randomization design, this study explores whether CRP haplotypes that determine CRP plasma levels are also associated with dispositional optimism. Methods In a sample of 1,084 community-dwelling subjects (aged 60–85 years) from three cohort studies (Arnhem Elderly Study, n = 426; Leiden Longevity Study, n = 355; Zutphen Elderly Study, n = 303), six CRP polymorphisms (rs2808628, rs2808630, rs1205, rs1800947, rs1417938, and rs3091244) coding for five common haplotypes were genotyped. The association of CRP haplotypes with CRP plasma levels and dispositional optimism was analyzed using multivariable linear regression models. Subanalyses were stratified by body mass index (BMI =25 kg/m2). Results CRP haplotypes determined CRP plasma levels (adjusted ß = 0.094, p <0.001). In the whole group, no association was found between CRP haplotypes and dispositional optimism scores (adjusted ß = -0.02, p = 0.45). In BMI strata, CRP haplotypes were associated with increasing levels of plasma CRP levels (adjusted ß = 0.112; p = 0.002) and lower dispositional optimism levels (adjusted ß = -0.068; p = 0.03) in the obese group only. Conclusions These results suggest that genetically increased CRP levels are involved in low dispositional optimism, but only in case of obesit

Panta Rhei benchmark dataset: socio-hydrological data of paired events of floods and droughts

As the adverse impacts of hydrological extremes increase in many regions of the world, a better understanding of the drivers of changes in risk and impacts is essential for effective flood and drought risk management and climate adaptation. However, there is currently a lack of comprehensive, empirical data about the processes, interactions and feedbacks in complex human-water systems leading to flood and drought impacts. Here we present a benchmark dataset containing socio-hydrological data of paired events, i.e., two floods or two droughts that occurred in the same area. The 45 paired events occurred in 42 different study areas and cover a wide range of socio-economic and hydro-climatic conditions. The dataset is unique in covering both floods and droughts, in the number of cases assessed, and in the quantity of socio-hydrological data. The benchmark dataset comprises: 1) detailed review style reports about the events and key processes between the two events of a pair; 2) the key data table containing variables that assess the indicators which characterise management shortcomings, hazard, exposure, vulnerability and impacts of all events; 3) a table of the indicators-of-change that indicate the differences between the first and second event of a pair. The advantages of the dataset are that it enables comparative analyses across all the paired events based on the indicators-of-change and allows for detailed context- and location-specific assessments based on the extensive data and reports of the individual study areas. The dataset can be used by the scientific community for exploratory data analyses e.g. focused on causal links between risk management, changes in hazard, exposure and vulnerability and flood or drought impacts. The data can also be used for the development, calibration and validation of socio-hydrological models. The dataset is available to the public through the GFZ Data Services (Kreibich et al. 2023, link for review: https://dataservices.gfz-potsdam.de/panmetaworks/review/923c14519deb04f83815ce108b48dd2581d57b90ce069bec9c948361028b8c85/).</p

Report and repeat: Investigating Facebook’s hate speech removal process

Social media is rife with hate speech. Although Facebook prohibits this content on its site, little is known about how much of the hate speech reported by users is actually removed by the company. Given the enormous power Facebook has to shape the universe of discourse, this study sought to determine what proportion of reported hate speech is removed from the platform and whether patterns exist in Facebook’s decision-making process. To understand how the company is interpreting and applying its own Community Standards regarding hate speech, the authors identified and reported hundreds of comments, posts, and images featuring hate speech to the company (n=311) and recorded Facebook’s decision regarding whether or not to remove the reported content. A qualitative content analysis was then performed on the content that was and was not removed to identify trends in Facebook’s content moderation decisions about hate speech. Of particular interest was whether the company’s 2018 policy update resulted in any meaningful change.Our results indicated that only about half of reported content containing hate speech was removed. The 2018 policy change also appeared to have little impact on the company’s decision-making. The results suggest that Facebook also had substantial issues including: removing misogynistic hate speech, establishing consistency in removing attacks and threats, an inability to consider context in removal decisions, and a general lack of transparency within the hate speech removal processes. Facebook’s failure to effectively remove reported hate speech allows misethnic discourses to spread and perpetuates stereotypes. The paper concludes with recommendations for Facebook and other social media organizations to consider to minimize the amount and impact of hate speech on their platforms

Neuroplastic changes in anterior cingulate cortex gray matter volume and functional connectivity following attention bias modification in high trait anxious individuals

Attention bias modification (ABM) was developed to alleviate anxious symptoms by way of a reduction in anxiety-linked attentional bias to threat. Central to the rational of ABM is a learning-related reconfiguration of attentional biases. Yet, the neuroplastic changes in brain structure that underlie this learning are unresolved. The amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, and lateral prefrontal cortex are part of a system linked to attentional bias to threat and its modification with ABM. We assessed the extent to which ABM modulates gray matter volume and resting-state functional connectivity. Sixty-one individuals selected for attentional bias to threat and heightened trait anxiety completed a 6-week multi-session ABM protocol with 7200 total training trials. Participants were assigned to either an ABM (n = 30) or a control (n = 31) condition. We found that participants' levels of attentional bias and anxiety did not differ following ABM and control training interventions. However, the ABM group displayed greater levels of anterior cingulate cortex gray matter volume as well as greater superior frontal gyrus resting-state functional connectivity with the anterior cingulate cortex and insula. Changes in anterior cingulate cortex gray matter volume were linked to reduced anxious symptoms in the ABM, but not control, group. These findings suggest that ABM distinctively impacts structural and functional neural mechanisms associated with emotion reactivity and cognitive control processes

Data from: Functional traits in parallel evolutionary radiations and trait-environment associations in the Cape Floristic region of South Africa

Evolutionary radiations with extreme levels of diversity present a unique opportunity to study the role of the environment in plant evolution. If environmental adaptation played an important role in such radiations, we expect to find associations between functional traits and key climatic variables. Similar trait-environment associations across clades may reflect common responses, while contradictory associations may suggest lineage-specific adaptations. Here, we explore trait-environment relationships in two evolutionary radiations in the fynbos biome of the highly biodiverse Cape Floristic Region (CFR) of South Africa. Protea and Pelargonium are morphologically and evolutionarily diverse genera that typify the CFR yet are substantially different in growth form and morphology. Our analytical approach employs a Bayesian multiple-response generalized linear mixed-effects model, taking into account covariation among traits and controlling for phylogenetic relationships. Of the pairwise trait-environment associations tested, 6 out of 24 were in the same direction and 2 out of 24 were in opposite directions, with the latter apparently reflecting alternative life-history strategies. These findings demonstrate that trait diversity within two plant lineages may reflect both parallel and idiosyncratic responses to the environment, rather than all taxa conforming to a global-scale pattern. Such insights are essential for understanding how trait-environment associations arise and how they influence species diversification