Politics,Science, and Termination: A Case Study of Water Fluoridation Policy in Calgary in 2011

Policy termination is identified as a rare occurrence and thus difficult to study. However, one policy area, community water fluoridation, has seen an apparent increase in termination in recent years. We examine the specific case of termination in Calgary, Alberta in 2011 with a specific goal to apply Kingdon's Multiple Streams Approach to the policy termination framework. Our findings suggest that of key importance for the termination of water fluoridation was the impending need for an upgrade to the fluoridation infrastructure, the effectiveness of the local anti‐fluoridation activists, the speed of decision making, and a prominent framing of the issue in ethical terms. The opening of a policy window made possible by the 2010 Calgary municipal election, one that introduced a number of new members to council, as well as the presence of a policy entrepreneur who took advantage of the window's opening, were of specific importance to the success of policy termination.     

Censors Get Smart: Evidence from Psiphon in Iran

Information controls are actions intended to deny, disrupt, monitor, or secure information for political ends. They can be implemented using a wide variety of technical and nontechnical means. Political contests over the control of information are heightened around important events, such as major anniversaries, armed conflicts, protests, and elections. In this paper, we offer a comparative case study of online censorship of the circumvention tool Psiphon during the Iranian elections in 2016 and 2013, drawing on unique access to analytics data from Psiphon. We find that the Iranian regime developed its censorship approach in two ways, deploying blocking that was more targeted and strategically timed in the more recent case. Evidence suggests that the regime relaxed censorship of Psiphon during the official campaign period for the 2016 election. The apparent objective of this new approach was to control access to information while minimizing the political consequences of doing so.     

Big Data and Dahl’s Challenge of Democratic Governance

Big data applications have been acclaimed as potentially transformative for the public sector. But, despite this acclaim, most theory of big data is narrowly focused around technocratic goals. The conceptual frameworks that situate big data within democratic governance systems recognizing the role of citizens are still missing. This paper explores the democratic governance impacts of big data in three policy areas using Robert Dahl’s dimensions of control and autonomy. Key impacts and potential tensions are highlighted. There is evidence of impacts on both dimensions, but the dimensions conflict as well as align in notable ways and focused policy efforts will be needed to find a balance.     

Technology Innovation as a Response to Climate Change: The Case of the Climate Change Emissions Management Corporation of Alberta

Innovation is the central element of climate change policy in many jurisdictions. Reduced to technology development and linked to market‐driven priorities, innovation accommodates the interests of large emitters in the energy sector and underpins a sustainable development discourse that denies ecological limits to economic growth. This study examines the use of innovation as a key component of climate change policy in the case of Alberta's Climate Change Emissions Management Corporation, utilizing a political economy approach to explain the drivers of government funding priorities. An analysis of this technology fund's investments over nine years, under two different governments, revealed that nearly half of the revenue has been used to subsidize R&D in the fossil fuels industry in the name of clean energy development, and that this priority has continued despite recent government commitments under the Paris CoP agreement. The carbon levy system that generates revenue for the fund has been unsuccessful in incentivizing facility reductions, pointing to the need for more stringent regulation. Innovation as a framework for transition to a post‐carbon economy is severely limited by its exclusion of the roles of social knowledge and citizen participation in envisaging and designing paths for change.     

美俄印欧的欧亚地缘战略对“一带一路”建设的影响

“一带一路”建设是中国以新兴发展中大国的姿态建设性参与全球秩序重塑的过程。在此过程中,“一带一路”与既定地缘政治格局中某些国家的利益和战略之间存在一定程度的冲突和博弈。为此,本研究试图从“一带一路”与美俄印欧版“一带一路”之间的互动关系中,考察美俄印欧基于各自地缘政治经济利益而制定的地缘战略,以及客观上所形成的地缘挑战,提出中国的应对举措。本文认为,源自于特朗普弱化美国国际领导责任的地缘战略,“C5+1机制”对“一带一路”并不具有反制的地缘战略效果;中俄互信固然达到了前所未有的高度,然则受地缘政治变化带来的地缘战略不定性的影响,不可忽视欧亚经济联盟与“一带一路”之间存在地缘利益失衡的潜在风险;印度“印太构想”等互联互通战略和“大国梦想”背后的地缘战略考量,势必削弱“战略对接”在人们预想中的相关积极功能;欧版“一带一路”反映出欧盟试图通过所谓的“可持续”亚欧联通战略提升在亚欧大陆话语权的地缘战略考虑,但其内部的认知分歧,使其无法摆脱中国对其“分而治之”的疑虑。     

Prohibitin 2基因参与猪圆环病毒2型PK-15细胞感染的研究

为探究Prohibitin2(PHB2)在PCV2感染细胞过程中发挥的作用,首先通过间接免疫荧光试验检测PCV2在PK-15细胞中的增殖变化,同时建立PHB2荧光定量PCR检测体系,然后以PCV2已知的宿主细胞互作蛋白gC1qR为对照,检测PCV2感染PK-15细胞后PHB2 mRNA的动态变化,最后鉴定PHB2 siRNA转染PK-15细胞中PCV2 Cap的表达。结果表明,PHB2在正常及PCV2感染的PK-15细胞中均有效表达。随着PCV2感染PK-15细胞,gC1qR转录水平在病毒感染3 h显著降低,感染6 h时升高,随后(12~48 hpi)转录水平下降;而PHB2转录水平在PCV2感染6 h内显著升高,随后(12~48 hpi)mRNA水平有所下降;RNA干扰PHB2对PCV2在PK-15细胞中复制起到显著的抑制作用。上述研究结果表明,PCV2可显著影响PK-15细胞中PHB2转录,而且PHB2对PCV2病毒复制具有调节作用。     

Beyond Domestic Violence Survivor Services: Refocusing on Inequality in the Fight against Gender‐Based Violence in the Americas

Despite a consensus in the Americas that gender‐based violence is rooted in inequality and historic precedent and exacerbated by socio‐economic hardship, government programmes and institutional evaluations of programmes to combat violence against women tend not to tackle the problem at source. Instead, governments and policy evaluations tend to focus on domestic violence survivor services. This article analyses current work to evaluate government efforts to fight violence against women and unpacks scholarly and policy consensus on the root causes of the violence. I then illustrate the disconnect between root causes of violence and government programmes, to emphasise the need to link programmes more closely to agreed‐upon causes of violence.     

A Procedure for Calculating the Vertical Space Height of the Sacrum When Determining Skeletal Height for Use in the Anatomical Method of Adult Stature Estimation

Estimating stature from skeletonized remains is one of the essential parameters in the development of a biological profile. A new procedure for determining skeletal height (SKH) incorporating the vertical space height (VSH) from the anterior margin of the sacral promontory to the superior margins of the acetabulae for use in the anatomical method of stature estimation is introduced. Regression equations for stature estimation were generated from measurements of 38 American males of European ancestry from the William M. Bass Donated Skeletal Collection. The modification to the procedure results in a SKH that is highly correlated with stature (r = 0.925–0.948). Stature estimates have low standard errors of the estimate ranging from 21.79 to 25.95 mm, biases from to 0.50 to 0.94 mm, and accuracy rates from 17.71 mm to 19.45 mm. The procedure for determining the VSH, which replaces “S1 height” in traditional anatomical method models, is a key improvement to the method.     

鞘胺醇1-磷酸2/3受体对心肌缺血再灌注损伤的影响

目的观察鞘胺醇1-磷酸2/3受体(S1PR2/3)在大鼠心肌缺血再灌注的在体实验中对心脏的影响。方法健康SD雄性大鼠,随机分为7组:正常对照组、假手术组、IR组、IR+DMSO组、IR+Cym5541(S1P3受体激动剂)组、IR+Cay10444(S1P3受体阻断剂)组、IR+Cay10444/Jte-013(S1P2/3受体阻断剂)组。制作大鼠缺血再灌注模型,并记录心功能、心肌梗死面积、死亡率。结果给予S1PR3抑制剂组和S1PR2/3抑制剂组与IR组相比在心肌缺血再灌过程中,心率下降(P0.05),左室舒张末期压力(LVEDP)上升(P0.05),心肌梗死面积增大(55.7%:28.8%,51.6%:28.8%),给予S1PR3激动剂组心肌梗死面积显著减小(18.6%:28.8%)。给予S1P2/3抑制剂组死亡率明显高于IR组(53%:22%,P0.05)。结论 S1P2和S1P3受体对缺血再灌注心肌起保护作用,抑制S1P2/3受体参与了IR后心源性猝死(SCD)。