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Canadian provinces are required to regulate their power sectors using carbon pricing systems that meet national minimum stringency standards, which are set by the federal government. A diverse set of systems has emerged as a result. However, there has been limited assessment of how different pricing mechanisms impact the evolution of Canada’s electricity system. To address this gap, we use an electricity system planning model called COPPER and a scenario-based approach to assess if, and to what extent, different policy regimes impact power sector greenhouse gas emissions and costs. Our results show that carbon pricing systems currently in place lead to significant carbon reductions over the long term, provided that free emissions allocations are reduced. However, the cost-optimal pathway for the power sector differs across provinces depending on the carbon pricing mechanism. Some provinces achieve least-cost emissions reductions by switching from high-carbon technologies to renewables, while others are better served by replacing high-carbon technologies with low-carbon fossil fuel alternatives. Further, provinces that implement cap-and-trade systems may affect the transitions of interconnected jurisdictions. Power sector climate policy design should reflect the heterogeneity of available assets, resources, and neighbouring approaches.

Specific weight (SW) is a long-established measure used as a malting quality specification in barley, with an increased SW thought to result in a higher malt output. Specific weight is a product of individual grain density as determined by grain composition and structure, and grain packing efficiency in a container as determined by grain dimensions. We investigated the effect of moderate but prolonged post-anthesis water stress on barley plant and grain development using pots of cultivars with a known range of SWs to explore how altering plant growth influence SW. Water stress was expected to influence these grain characteristics through decreased photosynthetic capacity. We demonstrated that SW was maintained under water stress conditions through compensatory mechanisms such as increased tiller mortality which preserved grain physical parameters on the main shoots. However, water stress significantly affected plant development by reducing not only ear number and yield, but also grain filling duration, plant biomass and ear length. Grain composition was also altered, with water-stressed plants having reduced carbon:nitrogen. Therefore, although SW can be conserved under water-stressed conditions, grain composition and plant development are altered, producing smaller harvests with higher grain nitrogen content. This would result in bulks of malting barley having different malt outputs despite having the same SW.

Decarbonizing industrialized economies through electrification requires electricity systems to simultaneously achieve dramatic capacity expansion, sustained reliability, and emissions reductions. We present a novel soft-linkage methodology between the CIMS energy-economy model and the COPPER electricity system planning model to quantify how economy-wide policies translate into specific electricity system requirements and greenhouse gas outcomes for the Canadian province of British Columbia. Our analysis examines two scenarios: one reflecting implemented policies, and another adding proposed climate policies alongside electrified industrial projects, including liquefied natural gas facilities and large-scale mining operations. Results reveal dramatically different infrastructure requirements between scenarios, with the latter requiring substantially higher electricity capacity expansion, dominated by variable renewable energy and higher peak demand growth. Emissions outcomes diverge: while implemented policies deliver meaningful emissions reductions, net-zero aligned proposed policies achieve smaller overall reductions when accounting for prospective emissions from fossil fuel projects, which offset decarbonization elsewhere in the economy. Proactive energy system planning and accelerated infrastructure permitting and construction will be required to meet decarbonization and economic development goals. British Columbia’s experience may offer insights for other jurisdictions pursuing both natural resource development and climate goals. Our approach can be adapted by other jurisdictions using similar models to assess their own energy transition pathways.

Governments at all levels rely on energy-economy models to design climate policy portfolios. Models vary in their purposes and methodologies, yet there is limited research comparing model characteristics and identifying models suitable for specific policy questions. We conduct a web-based survey of energy-economy model users and developers (n = 14) in Canada’s public, private, and non-profit sectors, to systematically compare seventeen models against the following characteristics: Technology representations, microeconomic and macroeconomic details, policy representations, treatment of uncertainty, high-resolution spatial and temporal representations, and data transparency. We find that for the most part, models represent technology, micro-, and macroeconomic characteristics according to the typology of bottom-up, top-down, and hybrid models. However, several modelling evolutions have emerged. To varying extents, top-down models can explicitly represent technologies and some bottom-up models incorporate microeconomic (non-financial) characteristics. We find that models differ in the types of policies they can simulate, sometimes underrepresenting performance regulations, government procurement, and research and development programs. All models use at least one method to explore uncertainty, rarely incorporate spatial and temporal representations, and most models lack publicly available methodological documentation. We discuss the implications of our comparative model analysis for climate policy projections and future research.

People experiencing homelessness make extensive use of public greenspace, and recent years have seen increased interest in park agency-based strategies to address homelessness and its symptoms. However, there is a relative lack of literature addressing the equitable management of these spaces with consideration for park users experiencing homelessness, and much of the existing work has been conducted from the perspective of a single user group. In this research we triangulate the perspectives of people experiencing homelessness, housed members of the public, and park district employees through a series of focus group interviews. This work provides unique context and multiple angles of approach to a challenging issue as we seek to understand perceptions and priorities within the context of park and public space management. Specifically, we addressed three research questions focused on (a) the current and ideal role of a park and recreation agency in addressing homelessness in the community, (b) the characteristics of positive and negative interactions between agency employees and people experiencing homelessness, and (c) management priorities and challenges in this context. Our results indicate substantial common ground, some ambiguity, and a number of concrete priorities for equitably managing parks and public spaces in this context. All three stakeholder groups agreed that the current agency role was limited in scope, and largely focused on enforcement and quality control over parks and the recreation experience. Whereas park district employees advocated for a more proactive approach to homelessness, people experiencing homelessness and housed members of the community favored maintaining a limited role for the park district. Positive interactions mirrored those between park agency employees and other users, and were characterized by an emphasis on the essential humanity of people experiencing homelessness, and the formation of longterm familiarity and relationships. Negative interactions on the other hand were largely related to enforcement of rules and regulations, and patterns of previous negative interactions. Safety was identified as the top priority by all three user groups, with the public also prioritizing a welcoming and aesthetically pleasing park environment. Key challenges included a lack of resources, and the complexity of the issue of homelessness.

People experiencing homelessness make extensive use of public greenspace, and recent years have seen increased interest in park agency-based strategies to ad-dress homelessness and its symptoms. However, there is a relative lack of litera-ture addressing the equitable management of these spaces with consideration for park users experiencing homelessness, and much of the existing work has been conducted from the perspective of a single user group. In this research we trian-gulate the perspectives of people experiencing homelessness, housed members of the public, and park district employees through a series of focus group inter-views. This work provides unique context and multiple angles of approach to a challenging issue as we seek to understand perceptions and priorities within the context of park and public space management. Specifically, we addressed three research questions focused on (a) the current and ideal role of a park and recre-ation agency in addressing homelessness in the community, (b) the characteris-tics of positive and negative interactions between agency employees and people experiencing homelessness, and (c) management priorities and challenges in this context. Our results indicate substantial common ground, some ambiguity, and a number of concrete priorities for equitably managing parks and public spaces in this context. All three stakeholder groups agreed that the current agency role was limited in scope, and largely focused on enforcement and quality control over parks and the recreation experience. Whereas park district employees advocated for a more proactive approach to homelessness, people experiencing homeless-ness and housed members of the community favored maintaining a limited role for the park district. Positive interactions mirrored those between park agency employees and other users, and were characterized by an emphasis on the essen-tial humanity of people experiencing homelessness, and the formation of long-term familiarity and relationships. Negative interactions on the other hand were largely related to enforcement of rules and regulations, and patterns of previous negative interactions. Safety was identified as the top priority by all three user groups, with the public also prioritizing a welcoming and aesthetically pleasing park environment. Key challenges included a lack of resources, and the complex-ity of the issue of homelessness.

This open-access dataset provides consistent records of air travel volumes between 205 airport catchments in Colombia and the associated number of reported human cases of Zika virus within these catchments during the arbovirus outbreak between October 2015 and September 2016. We associated in this dataset the monthly air travel volumes provided by the Colombian Civil Aviation Authority (AEROCIVIL) with the reported human cases of Zika Virus published by The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Our methodology consists of geocoding all the reported airports and identifying the catchment of each airport using the municipalities' boundaries since reported human cases of Zika Virus are available at the municipal level. In addition, we calculated the total population at risk in each airport catchment by combining the total population count in a catchment with the environmental suitability of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the vector for the Zika virus. We separated the monthly air travel volumes into domestic and international based on the location of the origin airport. The current dataset includes the total air travel volumes of 23,539,364 passengers on domestic flights and 11,592,197 on international ones. We validated our dataset by comparing the monthly aggregated air travel volumes between airport catchments to those predicted by the gravity model. We hope the novel dataset will provide a resource to researchers studying the role of human mobility in the spread of mosquito-borne diseases and modeling disease spread in realistic networks.

Environmentally induced phenotypic plasticity may be a critical component of response to changing environments. We examined local differentiation and adaptive phenotypic plasticity in response to elevated temperature in half‐sib lines collected across an elevation gradient for the alpine herb, Wahlenbergia ceracea. Using Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP), we found low but significant genetic differentiation between low‐ and high‐elevation seedlings, and seedlings originating from low elevations grew faster and showed stronger temperature responses (more plasticity) than those from medium and high elevations. Furthermore, plasticity was more often adaptive for plants of low‐elevation origin and maladaptive for plants of high elevation. With methylation sensitive‐AFLP (MS‐AFLP), we revealed an increase in epigenetic variation in response to temperature in low‐elevation seedlings. Although we did not find significant direct correlations between MS‐AFLP loci and phenotypes, our results demonstrate that adaptive plasticity in temperature response to warming varies over fine spatial scales and suggest the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms in this response. Our work presents an exciting fusion of research on epigenetics (DNA methylation in particular) and adaptive phenotypic plasticity. The relationship between epigenetic mechanisms and phenotypic plasticity has been the subject of increasing speculation in ecological studies. Our results demonstrate that adaptive plasticity in temperature response of an alpine herb varies over remarkably fine geographic scales and indicates the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms in this response.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Timothy German, international business development manager for the Middle East, says that the company is still in communication with Saudi Arabia about a deal for up to 23 C-130Js, in addition to its existing order for two KC-130J tankers. \"Saudi Arabia operates legacy C-130s,\" notes German. \"The opportunity is there for us to help them recapitalise their fleet and expand their missions with new aircraft.\"