Planting the Seeds of Stewardship: Making Forest Conservation Matter to Urban Communities at Ontario's Royal Botanical Gardens

As urbanization increases, green spaces within urban environments will play an important role in both biodiversity conservation and human health and well-being. It is critical to demonstrate the value of these spaces to the urban public in order to gain their support for urban conservation efforts. This project explores the factors that contribute to environmental stewardship in the urban public. It presents strategies to build environmental stewardship at Ontario's Royal Botanical gardens through novel visitor activities and experiences. The aim of the activities and experiences is to raise awareness of the benefits that urban green spaces confer and to foster feelings of attachment to them. The end goal is to facilitate the formation of pro-conservation attitudes in the urban public

Market adaptability, industrial divergence, and the politics of liberalization in the Kenyan and Ugandan coffee industries

This study explains market adaptability, industrial divergence, and liberalization in the Kenyan and Ugandan coffee industries by addressing two fundamental questions: is liberalization responsible for divergence in the coffee sectors of Kenya and Uganda and; moreover, why has Uganda liberalized while Kenya has not? It will be demonstrated that liberalization is a major factor responsible for industry divergence and that, from the colonial period to the present, socio-political variables have been the primary force driving the decision of the domestic bourgeoisie to liberalize in Uganda and the failure to do so in Kenya. It is argued that socio-political variables act, by influencing the domestic bourgeoisie, as change agents that determine Kenya and Uganda's path choice of liberalization and continuation of an illiberal status quo respectively. This study assumes that states have full knowledge of international market signals. Looking at the case of the domestic coffee industries in Kenya and Uganda, Kenya has opted for continuation of the illiberal status quo whereas Uganda has opted for liberalization. This particular path choice occurred because it was perceived as beneficial by the Ugandan domestic bourgeoisie to adapt to the global coffee economy by liberalizing domestic industry whereas the Kenyan domestic bourgeoisie perceived the maintenance of the status quo as beneficial, even at the expense of generating sub-optimal economic outcomes for the domestic coffee industry. The impetus behind both path choices is socio-political, involving the pursuit of defined elite interests in the context of a historical dialectic between competing foci of power.Arts, Faculty ofPolitical Science, Department ofGraduat

Can Biomass Quality Be Preserved through Tarping Comminuted Roadside Biomass Piles?

Storage conditions play a vital role in maintaining biomass quality as a suitable bioenergy feedstock. Research has shown that biomass undergoes significant changes under different storage conditions and that these may influence its suitability for various biorefining and bioenergy opportunities. This study explores the effects of different tarp covers on the properties of stored-comminuted forest harvest residue from the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Forest. Characteristics of the biomass were evaluated upon harvesting and after one year in storage. The physical state of the different tarps used for pile coverage was monitored onsite. Results indicated that tarp material considerably affects micro-climatic conditions inside piles, yielding variation in the characteristics of stored biomass over the storage period. While plastic based tarps were easier to work with and lasted longer than paper-based tarps, the paper-based tarps were more breathable and resulted in less degradation of biomass. However, the paper-based tarps did not maintain their structural integrity for the full duration of the storage period. Moisture content of original biomass (48.99%) increased to a maximum of 65.25% under plastic cover after 1 year of storage. This negatively influenced the net heating value of the biomass, causing it to decrease from 8.58 MJ/kg to 4.06 MJ/kg. Overall, the use of covers was not considered successful in preserving the original quality of biomass but may enhance its quality for other biorefinery opportunities

Role of Dopamine Receptors on Electroencephalographic Changes Produced by Repetitive Apomorphine Treatments in Rats

Repeated psychostimulants induce electroencephalographic (EEG) changes, which reflect adaptation of the neural substrate related to dopaminergic pathways. To study the role of dopamine receptors in EEG changes, we examined the effect of apomorphine, the dopamine D1 receptor antagonist, SCH-23390, and the D2 receptor antagonist, haloperidol, on EEG in rats. For single and repeated apomorphine treatment groups, the rats received saline or apomorphine for 4 days followed by a 3-day withdrawal period and then apomorphine (2.5 mg/kg, i.p.) challenge after pretreatment with saline, SCH-23390, or haloperidol on the day of the experiment. EEGs from the frontal and parietal cortices were recorded. On the frontal cortex, apomorphine decreased the power of all the frequency bands in the single treatment group, and increased the theta (4.5~8 Hz) and alpha (8~13 Hz) powers in the repeated treatment group. Changes in both groups were reversed to the control values by SCH-23390. On the parietal cortex, single apomorphine treatment decreased the power of some frequency bands, which were reversed by haloperidol but not by SCH-23390. Repeated apomorphine treatment did not produce significant changes in the power profile. These results show that adaptation of dopamine pathways by repeated apomorphine treatment could be identified with EEG changes such as increases in theta and alpha power of the frontal cortex, and this adaptation may occur through changes in the D1 receptor and/or the D2 receptor