‘A genealogist's paradise’: France,Québec and the genealogics of race

Genealogy, or the study of one's ancestral patri-lineage, has a long and esteemed pedigree in French Canadian and Québécois history. From Cyprien Tanguay's late-nineteenth-century encyclopedias to René Jetté's updated versions more than a century later, genealogy has been an important component of French Canadian nationalisms. Tracing one's ancestry back to the early St. Lawrence settlement in the seventeenth century has provided Québécois subjects with opportune political and social capital with which to make territorial and national claims legitimate. Through a case study approach, I explain how genealogy provides the grounds upon which Québécois and French subjects remember a shared past. Specifically, I examine a variety of sites of memory in the French countryside, including a museum that relies on ‘genealogics’ to call the French Canadian Québécois back to its roots. As such, I demonstrate how the biological, read as a contemporary articulation of Balibar's notion of the racial supplément necessary to nation building, travels across the Atlantic.     

Nature,Natives, and Nations: Glorification and Asymmetries in Museum Representation,Fiji and Hawaii

The Fiji Museum and Hawaii's Bishop Museum research and represent local indigenes differently, and more extensively, than they do the culture and history of descendants of plantation laborers. While these museums connect Japanese-Hawaiians and Indo-Fijians to themes of economic struggle and multiculturalism, the erstwhile 'natives'are strongly, if implicitly, connected to 'nature.'Against Foucaultian approaches depicting museums as 'modern' institutions of classification, this argument locates museums with a liberal focus on nature, natives and nations (three conceptions, from the same Latin root, for self-constituting objects) as descendants of imperial museum projects, and finds not classification but glorification originally organizing museum representations. The politics of museum representation concern dilemmas in glorification, not classification. The asymmetries traced here follow local will as well as institutional design.     

Public versus private care: philosophy,not economics,is shaping the debate

A debate is brewing on the future of private health care within Canada''s medicare system, and even though the federal government professes its intention to defend the existing public system, the growing rightward trend of Canadian voters may mean they are willing to consider more private care. Citizens may continue to express undying support for medicare as an “untouchable” public good, says Charlotte Gray, but they are less and less willing to pay for it through taxes.     

Crucible of fire: the Boer War and the birth of the Canadian Army Medical Corps.

Although Canada''s military physicians didn''t come to prominence until WW I and WW II, the Canadian Army Medical Corps (CAMC), the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps and the current Canadian Forces Medical Service, actually had its origins in the Boer War. During that turn-of-the-century conflict, field hospitals accompanied Canadian troops to South Africa. Ian McCulloch discusses that early type of medical service and the steps that led to the creation of the CAMC.     

Predicting the sensitivity of butterfly phenology to temperature over the past century

Studies to date have documented substantial variation among species in the degree to which phenology responds to temperature and shifts over time, but we have a limited understanding of the causes of such variation. Here, we use a spatially and temporally extensive data set (ca. 48 000 observations from across Canada) to evaluate the utility of museum collection records in detecting broad‐scale phenology‐temperature relationships and to test for systematic differences in the sensitivity of phenology to temperature (days °C^?1) of Canadian butterfly species according to relevant ecological traits. We showed that the timing of flight season predictably responded to temperature both across space (variation in average temperature from site to site in Canada) and across time (variation from year to year within each individual site). This reveals that collection records, a vastly underexploited resource, can be applied to the quantification of broad‐scale relationships between species' phenology and temperature. The timing of the flight season of earlier fliers and less mobile species was more sensitive to temperature than later fliers and more mobile species, demonstrating that ecological traits can account for some of the interspecific variation in species' phenological sensitivity to temperature. Finally, we found that phenological sensitivity to temperature differed across time and space implying that both dimensions of temperature will be needed to translate species' phenological sensitivity to temperature into accurate predictions of species' future phenological shifts. Given the widespread temperature sensitivity of flight season timing, we can expect long‐term temporal shifts with increased warming [ca. 2.4 days °C^?1 (0.18 SE)] for many if not most butterfly species.     

跨区域森林生态补偿的演化博弈分析——基于主体功能区的视角

新常态下,我国的森林生态环境承载力已经达到或接近上限,森林资源存在乱砍乱伐现象和林区政府监管乏力问题,究其根源是缺乏森林保护和补偿的驱动机制。在中央政府投入大量物力和财力的同时,其他利益相关主体却存在不同利益诉求和行为导向冲突,跨区域森林生态补偿难以实现,因此利用演化博弈模型厘清森林生态环境保护与补偿行动中保护主体、受益主体和中央政府的关系,有助于突破跨区域森林生态保护补偿困境,形成良好的行动机制。分析主体功能区利益群体逻辑关系的基础上,构建保护地区政府和受益地区政府的演化博弈模型,分别研究未引入"约束-激励"机制和引入"约束-激励"机制下的主体行为特征及其影响因素,剖析不同情形地方政府间的博弈决策行为。研究结果表明,在未引入中央政府"约束-激励"机制的情况下,跨区域生态补偿无法实现,保护地区政府会通过权衡保护森林资源收益和机会成本进行策略选择,当保护森林资源的净收益为正时,即使没有受益地区生态补偿,保护地区政府仍然有足够的激励保护森林资源,当保护森林资源的净收益为负时,两类政府群体容易陷入森林生态治理的"囚徒困境",而"约束-激励"机制的引入可以实现森林生态保护补偿的帕累托改进,通过中央政府惩罚、奖励金额的限制能够实现最优稳定均衡策略。     

Report of the Canadian Hypertension Society's consensus conference on the management of mild hypertension.

Since the publication in 1977 of joint recommendations by the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, the Canadian Heart Foundation and the Ontario Council of Health on the detection and management of hypertension in Canada, several clinical trials on the efficacy of antihypertensive drug treatment in patients with mild hypertension have been undertaken. The Canadian Hypertension Society (CHS) felt that the results of these trials should be reviewed to determine whether existing recommendations on treatment should be changed. Three expert panels appointed by the CHS reviewed evidence on the clinical efficacy of antihypertensive therapy, the diagnosis of hypertension and the treatment of mild hypertension, and formulated recommendations on the care of mildly hypertensive patients in Canada. A consensus conference of biomedical scientists, practising physicians and government representatives reviewed and reached agreement on the panels'' recommendations. The final recommendations of the conference are presented in this report.     

A Place Containing Many Places: Museums and the Use of Objects to Represent Place in Melanesia

In this paper I discuss a number of incompatible ways of comprehending object meanings, contrasting western ethnographic museum practice with indigenous, specifically ni-Vanuatu, understandings. I discuss these differences as a way of looking analytically at some of the practices of museum ethnography and material culture studies. There are several aspects to this contrast: here I concentrate on ideas about place. Place is a centrally important concept in Vanuatu, but is not privileged in relation to objects. Western museums, however, use provenance as any ethnographic object's defining characteristic, and have developed a sophisticated, though largely unexamined, set of principles and practices for the attribution of provenance on stylistic grounds. On the basis of provenance identification, museums attribute meaning to objects. When enshrined as professional museum practice, such approaches pose dilemmas for Melanesian museums, and are the subject of debate among Pacific region museum professionals. For ni-Vanuatu, the significance of objects on display may represent not places, but the performance of the skills that reveal the maker's place-based identity.     

A quantitative ranking of Canada's research output of original human studies for the decade 1989 to 1998

BACKGROUND: Since 1987 research articles have been catalogued with the author''s affiliation address in the 40 databases of the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System (MEDLARS) of the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Md. The present study was conducted to examine the Canadian entries in MEDLARS to interpret past and future trends and to combine the MEDLARS demographic data with data from other sources to rank Canadian research output of human studies both nationally and internationally. METHODS: The PubMed Web site of the National Library of Medicine was used to count medical articles archived in MEDLARS and published from Jan. 1, 1989, through Dec. 31, 1998. The articles attributed to Canadian authors were compared by country, province, city, medical school, hospital, article type, journal and medical specialty. RESULTS: During the study period Canadian authors contributed on average 3% (standard deviation [SD] 0.2%) of the worldwide MEDLARS content each year, which translated to a mean of 11,067 (SD 1037) articles per year; 49% were human studies, of which 13% were clinical or controlled trials, and 55% involved people aged 18 years or less. In total, 68% of the articles were by authors affiliated with Canadian medical schools; those affiliated with the University of Toronto accounted for the greatest number (8604), whereas authors affiliated with McGill University had the greatest rate of annual increase in the quantity published (8%). Over one-third (38%) of the articles appeared in Canadian journals. When counted by specialty, 17% of the articles were by authors with clinical specialties, 5% by those with surgical specialties and 3% by those with laboratory specialties. INTERPRETATION: The annual rate of increase in research output for Canada was more than 3 times higher than that seen world wide. Canada is now ranked seventh among countries contributing human studies to MEDLARS. The increase indicates that Canada''s medical schools are productive, competitive in making contributions to medical science and are supporting Canadian journals.     

Prevention should be the preferred insurance program for all physicians.

Recent fee increases announced to the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA) and the Ontario government''s plan to stop its CMPA rebate program for the province''s physicians have put the spotlight on medical liability insurance. In this examination of the role played by the CMPA, Ottawa lawyer Karen Capen notes that quality service and attention to physician-patient communication will in most cases ensure a litigation-free professional life.     

Canada and the law of the sea

Abstract

This paper gives a compact overview of Canadian policy on the law of the sea. Section I looks at Canada's maritime attributes, and the policy interests which arise from them. Section II describes the development of Canada's policy in ten issue areas, and examines the outcomes for Canadian diplomacy at UN‐CLOS. Section III covers the strategy and technique used by Canada in pursuit of its law of the sea objectives, and explores five reasons underlying its high level of influence and success. The conclusions consider Canada as a case study of middle‐power influence, and look at the role of unilateral action in the process of international law‐making.     

基于演化博弈的煤炭矿区生态修复管理机制研究

地方政府环境监管部门和煤炭企业是煤炭矿区生态修复保证金制度实施的重要责任主体。从演化博弈论的研究视角探讨了地方政府与煤炭企业在生态修复保证金制度实施中的决策演化过程,构建了地方政府与煤炭企业演化博弈模型,根据复制动态方程规律得到了参与者的行为演化规律和行为演化稳定策略,分析了生态修复保证金制度实施的策略选择影响因素。选择龙口矿区为研究对象进行了实证研究,结果表明:地方政府的监管力度随煤炭企业的生态修复比例变化而变化,生态修复初期比例低;随着地方政府监管力度加大,生态修复比例相应提高,地方政府可以适当放松监管,但监管力度应保持在一定范围内,确保系统向最优状态演化。可通过动态调节保证金收缴金额,增加税收优惠,降低煤炭企业的治理成本,加强对地方政府环保政绩考核,引导地方政府与煤炭企业共同促进煤炭矿区生态修复工作有效实施。     

Successive Ontario governments forced to grapple with problem of health care fraud.

Albert Shu of Willowdale, Ont., is the 1995 winner of the Amy Chouinard Memorial Essay Contest. Named in memory of long time CMAJ and Canadian Journal of Surgery contributor Amy Chouinard, the competition is intended to stimulate interest in medical and health-related writing among journalism students. The winning essay, written prior to Ontario''s 1995 provincial election, examined health care fraud in the province and the impact of the photo health card that was introduced by the New Democrats party government.     

昆虫数字化博物馆的建设

数字化博物馆是博物馆现代化的一个重要标志。国外博物馆从20世纪90年代就开始进行数字化建设,国内的博物馆数字化建设起步较晚,同国外的先进技术相比还有一定的差距,但发展较快。目前,国内外已有的昆虫数字化博物馆各具特色,有以展示昆虫图片为主的,有以介绍昆虫知识为主的,也有以营利为目的的,但仍有不少需要改进的地方。为了满足中小学生的求知欲和探索欲,适应他们喜欢自己动手操作和活泼好动的性格,昆虫数字化博物馆网站建设在技术上应采用J2EE三层体系结构,采用动态网站内容管理与发布系统构建的后台管理系统,将昆虫数字化博物馆分成后台管理和前台展示与交互两部分,从而实现网站内容与表现形式的分离,加快网页更新的速度。在数据库建设上,应采用功能强大的数据库软件,以满足大量图片、声音、动画、视频等多种类型的数据库的有效存储和高效的检索功能。在网站的内容上应有实体展厅的数字化、昆虫学术交流与知识集锦、中小学生互动教育等板块。在网站的后期维护上应做到由全社会的昆虫爱好者共同维护和管理。     

Buffeted by harsh economic winds,medical schools turn a wary eye to the future

All parts of Canada''s health care system are facing fiscal pressures these days, but they are particularly great at Canada''s medical schools. However, Dr. David Hawkins of the Association of Canadian Medical Colleges is optimistic that all 16 of Canada''s medical schools will remain open, mainly because of the huge impact they have on health care in their local communities. “We don''t just turn out students — we raise the standard of health care in a whole community,” he says.     

A Relative Risk Ranking of Selected Substances on Canada's National Pollutant Release Inventory

The National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) provides pollutant release and transfer data from point sources to various media in the Canadian environment. While the inventory serves as Canada's community right-to-know program, the growing number of listed substances and reporting facilities makes it exceedingly difficult for the public to discern which substances are of greatest concern in their respective communities. A chemical's impact is best characterized when its environmental release data are combined with its toxicity and environmental fate properties. Presently, the NPRI does not provide a synthesis of this critical information and there is a need to provide more context with NPRI data to increase its usability. To help deliver this context, a relative risk ranking was compiled for a subset of NPRI substances using a modified Chemical Hazard and Evaluation Management Strategies (CHEMS-1) model. The model combines toxicity, chemical fate properties, and NPRI release data to yield a risk score for each substance. The resulting risk scores are ranked accordingly to provide a priority ranking of the substances. In addition to contextualizing the NPRI release data with hazard information, the ranking can also help set priorities for future risk assessment and evaluation by the Canadian government and scientific community. Limitations included the reliance on modelled data and default values to fill data gaps and uncertain reliability in reported NPRI data. In spite of its limitations, the CHEMS-1 model is a useful tool for prioritizing NPRI substances.     

Towards a theory of ethnic separatism

In the decades between 1896 and the mid-1960s it was unusual for the federal government to act to defend or advance Black Americans' interests. In this article two such rare instances are analysed. Both occurred in the 1920s, a decade with a distinctive political complexion. In 1923 Black Americans called upon the federal government's Veterans Bureau [VB] to make good its assurance that African Americans would staff a newly opened hospital in Tuskegee, Alabama, for blacks. At the end of the decade, the Superintendent of Prisons was petitioned to abrogate the new practice at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia, of leasing out exclusively Black American prisoners to local governments for contract work. Each case was formulated and justified within the prejudicial framework of segregated race relations, but Black Americans sought fair treatment within its unsalubrious confines. The cases demonstrate the capacity of the federal government to act on racial issues when political circumstances permitted.     

Associations between trilobite intraspecific moulting variability and body proportions: Estaingia bilobata from the Cambrian Emu Bay Shale,Australia

Trilobites were notably flexible in the moulting behaviours they employed, producing a variety of moult configurations preserved in the fossil record. Investigations seeking to explain this moulting variability and its potential impacts are few, despite abundant material being available for study. We present the first quantitative study on moulting in a single trilobite species using a dataset of almost 500 moult specimens of Estaingia bilobata from the Cambrian (Series 2, Stage 4) Emu Bay Shale, South Australia. Specimens were categorized by moulting mode (Salter's or Sutural Gape) and their associated configurations, and their body proportions measured from both a museum collection (including a bycatch sample) and a randomly-collected field sample. This enabled analysis of the proportion of E. bilobata specimens displaying the Sutural Gape and Salter's modes of moulting and their different configurations, and tests for association between moulting behaviour and body proportions. The results show a wide range of E. bilobata moulting configurations in all samples, suggesting that configurations represent definable instances in a largely continuous spectrum of variation. Analyses comparing body proportions of specimens showing the two modes of moulting were non-significant, suggesting there is no true association between moulting behaviour and body proportion, except for a single significant result for body length. All results were relatively consistent between the museum and field samples. However, removing accessioned specimens from the museum sample brought results even further in line with the field sample, supporting the need for consideration of museum collection bias in palaeontological analyses.     

央地两级政府生态治理行动的演化博弈分析——基于财政分权视角

生态环境是人类社会经济发展过程中的重要组成部分,然而由于粗放的经济发展模式,生态系统退化严重,影响人类幸福感和可持续发展。中央政府和地方政府是生态环境的主要治理主体,因此研究两类群体在生态治理过程中的行为互动机制具有较强的现实意义。基于财政分权的背景,从微观主体的收益函数出发,构建央地两级政府生态治理行动的演化博弈模型,探究两类主体的行为特征及其影响因素。根据复制动态方程分析参与主体的演化规律,采用MATLAB仿真工具分析不同情形下演化均衡状态及收敛趋势。研究结果表明,中央政府与地方政府在一定程度上都是"理性经济人",系统稳定均衡策略取决于地方政府"严格执行"生态治理的净收益和中央政府"严格监管"的净收益,其中关键指标包括:地方政府生态治理执行力度和成本、政绩考核体系中生态指标和经济指标的权重系数、中央政府的监管成本、监管力度和惩罚金额。据此提出"财政分权同时创新地方政绩考核机制、发展比较优势、拓宽监管渠道"等对策建议,引导央地两级政府共同促进生态治理工作有效实施。     

Bergmann's and Rensch's rules and the spur‐thighed tortoise (Testudo graeca)

Body size is an ecologically important variable in animals. The geographical size variation of most snakes and some lizards counters Bergmann's rule in that, among related taxa, the larger ones live at warmer latitudes. However, exceptions notwithstanding, and despite being ectothermic, turtles as a group tend to obey Bergmann's rule. We examined this idea in Testudo graeca, ranging from Morocco to Romania and to Iran with disputed systematics, both at the global scale (using literature) and within the focal area of Israel (using museum specimens). Both globally and locally, carapace length correlated with latitude, in accordance with Bergmann's rule. The scant data on reproduction fully support the hypothesis that Bergmann's rule enables larger clutches where the climate would limit repeated clutches. The sexual size dimorphism (SSD) was approached using two methodologies: (1) ‘conventional’, using globally literature data and locally museum samples and (2) ‘innovated’, using photographs of copulating tortoises from Israel and Turkey. By each methodology, SSD emerged as being male biased in the larger‐bodied populations and female biased in the smaller‐bodied populations, obeying Rensch's rule. Some observations support the hypothesis that the evolution of large males serves intermale combating. Finally, Rensch's rule was found to apply separately within Anatolia and within the Levant, possibly indicating that these populations are separate.