Provincial and Territorial Interests in Land Use Planning and Development

Report: iv., pp.156, appendix A-G.; ill., digital file.Land use planning in Canada is in the process of undergoing a radical shift as legislation, much of which dates from the 1980s or even the 1970s, is less and less able to cope with the increasing complexity of land use issues faced in every region of the country. Growing metropolitan regions, mechanization and intensification of farming practices and a growing concern over environmental issues have radically altered the context within which planning takes place. Concerns with water quality, particularly in light of the Walkerton tragedy, as well as the advent of Intensive Livestock Operations and rapidly expanding urban fringes are at the fore of land use issues facing planners in Canada today.The Intergovernmental Committee on Urban and Regional Researc

Is there plagiarism in the most influential publications in the field of andrology?

Plagiarism is a common form of academic misconduct that extensively jeopardises the quality of scientific publication. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent of plagiarism in the most influential andrology articles. A total of 77 highly cited andrology articles were analysed for their similarity index using iThenticate and Turnitin. The articles were categorised based on the year (before and on/after 2000) and type of publication (review and research articles), and the similarity indices were compared. Furthermore, the analysed articles were categorised based on the level of similarity using an arbitrary similarity index range (low: ≤10, moderate: 11–20, high: 21–50 and very high: >50) and average incidence rate (%) was determined. Our analysis revealed a higher percentage of the similarity indices for reviews than research articles. We noticed a higher similarity index for articles published on/after 2000 than those published before. The majority of the influential articles in the field of andrology showed a low similarity index, while some articles exhibited moderate to high levels of similarity. These findings support the need for the development of similarity index guidelines as a major pre‐requisite for establishing a more transparent and efficient system to address plagiarism in scientific publications

Don't be rejected, how can we help authors, reviewers and editors?:Report of a Symposium for Editors Publishers and Others with an Interest in Scientific Publication, Held in Boston on Wednesday, 11 March 2015, during the Annual Meeting of the International Association for Dental Research

This satellite symposium was the fifth in a series for editors, publishers, reviewers and all those with an interest in scientific publishing. It was held on Wednesday, 11 March 2015 at the IADR meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. The symposium attracted more than 210 attendees. The symposium placed an emphasis on strategies to ensure that papers are accepted by peer reviewed journals. The speaker, representing the Journal of Dental Research gave a history of peer review and explained how to access material to advise new authors. The speaker from India outlined the problems that occur when there is no culture for dental research and it is given a low priority in dental education. He outlined remedies. The speaker from SAGE publications described the help that publishers and editors can provide authors. The final speaker suggested that in developing countries it was essential to create alliances with dental researchers in developed countries and that local conferences to which external speakers were invited, stimulated research both in terms of quantity and quality. A wide ranging discussion then took place

Successful introgression of wMel Wolbachia into Aedes aegypti populations in Fiji, Vanuatu and Kiribati.

Pacific Island countries have experienced periodic dengue, chikungunya and Zika outbreaks for decades. The prevention and control of these mosquito-borne diseases rely heavily on control of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which in most settings are the primary vector. Introgression of the intracellular bacterium Wolbachia pipientis (wMel strain) into Ae. aegypti populations reduces their vector competence and consequently lowers dengue incidence in the human population. Here we describe successful area-wide deployments of wMel-infected Ae. aegypti in Suva, Lautoka, Nadi (Fiji), Port Vila (Vanuatu) and South Tarawa (Kiribati). With community support, weekly releases of wMel-infected Ae. aegypti mosquitoes for between 2 to 5 months resulted in wMel introgression in nearly all locations. Long term monitoring confirmed a high, self-sustaining prevalence of wMel infecting mosquitoes in almost all deployment areas. Measurement of public health outcomes were disrupted by the Covid19 pandemic but are expected to emerge in the coming years

Suspected dengue cases notified in Port Vila from January 2016 –January 2022 by (A) hospitalisation status and (B) diagnostic test result.

Blue shading indicates release period for Wolbachia (wMel)-infected Ae. aegypti. Suspected dengue cases without any laboratory diagnostic testing are included in panel A, but excluded from panel B.</p

<i>w</i>Mel introgression in two areas in South Tarawa, Kiribati.

A) South Tarawa, Kiribati showing the two release areas: Betio (left) and Bairiki (right). B) Introgression of wMel. The line (left axis) represents the percent of Ae. aegypti tested that were infected with wMel Wolbachia, between May 2018 and December 2019. The bars (right axis) indicate the number of Ae. aegypti tested. Data points with less than five screened mosquitos have been omitted. Shaded orange areas indicate wMel mosquito release times. Map produced in QGIS version 3.16.1 using the enumeration area boundaries freely available from the Pacific Data Hub (https://pacificdata.org/data/dataset/2010_kir_phc_admin_boundaries) and OpenMapTiles basemap layer (https://openmaptiles.org/) with CARTO light design (https://carto.com/).</p

<i>Wolbachia</i>-mediated reduction in DENV genome copy number per mosquito.

All mosquitoes were aged for 6–7 days prior to intrathoracic injection with DENV. Fifty mosquitoes were used for each data point but some died prior to testing (S3 Table). DENV copy number was determined 7 days post injection using qRT-PCR. All wMel Ae. aegypti lines had a significant reduction in DENV viral RNA concentration (Wilcoxon rank-sum est). A) Fiji release strain, Fij-wMel, and wild-derived control, Fij-WT,vector competence. B) Vanuatu release strain, Van-wMel, and wild-derived control, Van-WT, vector competence. C) Kiribati release strain, Kir-wMel, and wild-derived control, Kir-WT, vector competence. D) Australian Cairns strain, Aus-wMel, and tetracycline cured control, Aus-TET, vector competence. Data are shown as the median DENV copies per mosquito (thick line) ± interquartile ranges (box), extended by the whiskers indicating 1.5× the interquartile range, with dots indicating outliers. Individual data points are included as smaller partially opaque points. Data from uninfected mosquitoes are not included in the median estimates (S3 Table). (TIFF)</p

Public Acceptance Surveys.

Outcome of community surveys taken at baseline (prior to engagement activity) and pre-release (prior to deployment of Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes). Awareness was determined by asking participants if they had heard of the World Mosquito Program. Acceptance was determined by asking participants if, once it was explained to them, they approved of releasing mosquitoes with good bacteria to reduce dengue.</p