scholarly journals The Biodiversity Heritage Library Response to the Global COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Kalfatovic ◽  
Constance Rinaldo ◽  
Jane Smith ◽  
David Iggulden ◽  
Colleen Funkhouser
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Digital Libraries ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Natural Ecosystem ◽  
Virtual Collaboration ◽  
The North ◽  
User Comments ◽  
National Organizations ◽  
The Impact

The global onset of the COVID-19 pandemic began in January 2020. In February, many academic and research institutions began to move to a telework environment. By March, many borders had been closed and nearly all institutions fully transitioned to telework. With their institutions closed and travel shut down, researchers lacked access to both specimen collections as well as the library and archives material needed to continue productive research. Preliminary research on the impact of COVID-19 on the research enterprise has been published. In the United States, the impact on federally funded research has been documented in Effects of COVID-19 on the Federal Research and Development Enterprise (Morgan and Sargent Jr. 2020). Likewise, What Happens to the Continuity and Future of the Research Enterprise? (Coalition for Networked Information 2020) is an initial appraisal of issues and concerns within the North American academic and research environment. Library and archives staff were limited in their access to collections-based work and needed valuable and impactful telework. The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) was founded as a global, dispersed, and virtual library and thus was well-suited to continue to provide service to teleworking researchers as well as telework tasks for staff at BHL's partner institutions. Examples of the telework projects include enhancing BHL metadata, and uploading BHL illustrations to the BHL Flickr collection. BHL makes critical information available thanks to all of the partners' efforts to digitize for open access. The natural strengths of the BHL virtual organization include social distancing, virtual collaboration and opening up science; the pandemic world is a natural ecosystem for BHL partners. Initial analyses of BHL use have shown a significant increase in year-over-year usage of BHL content. The preliminary statistics have shown an approximate 25% increase in usage of the BHL site. BHL has also collected anecdotal evidence in the form of user comments and direct conversations with research staff at BHL partner institutions. Many national or pan-national organizations and projects were instigated to examine the impact of COVID-19 on library and archives materials. One key project that some BHL partners participated in is Reopening Archives, Libraries, and Museums (REALM) Information Hub: A COVID-19 Research Project. With most BHL partners pausing all digitization around the February-March 2020 time period, outcomes from studies such as REALM will assist partners in understanding when it will be safe for digitization to restart. This presentation will cover how usage of BHL changed from early 2020 to the present, showing trends and significant impact. The pivot of many BHL partner staff to improve BHL content and metadata for their local users as well as the global biodiversity community will be documented. Also covered will be the enhanced impact of digital libraries, such as BHL, in both the short and long terms along with lessons learned for expanded virtual open access for library collections supporting biodiversity and museum research.

scholarly journals Mycotoxins that affect the North American agri-food sector: state of the art and directions for the future

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.D. Miller ◽  
A.W. Schaafsma ◽  
D. Bhatnagar ◽  
G. Bondy ◽  
I. Carbone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
The North ◽  
Food And Feed ◽  
The Impact

This paper summarises workshop discussions at the 5th international MYCORED meeting in Ottawa, Canada (June 2012) with over 200 participants representing academics, government and industry scientists, government officials and farming organisations (present in roughly equal proportions) from 27 countries. Workshops centred on how mycotoxins in food and feed affect value chains and trade in the region covered by the North American Free Trade Agreement. Crops are contaminated by one or more of five important mycotoxins in parts of Canada and the United States every year, and when contaminated food and feed are consumed in amounts above tolerable limits, human and animal health are at risk. Economic loss from such contamination includes reduced crop yield, grain quality, animal productivity and loss of domestic and export markets. A systematic effort by grain producers, primary, transfer, and terminal elevators, millers and food and feed processers is required to manage these contaminants along the value chain. Workshops discussed lessons learned from investments in plant genetics, fungal genomics, toxicology, analytical and sampling science, management strategies along the food and feed value chains and methods to ameliorate the effects of toxins in grain on animal production and on reducing the impact of mycotoxins on population health in developing countries. These discussions were used to develop a set of priorities and recommendations.

Characteristics of Physician Relocation Following Hurricane Katrina

2009 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-12
Author(s):  
Kusuma Madamala ◽  
Claudia R. Campbell ◽  
Edbert B. Hsu ◽  
Yu-Hsiang Hsieh ◽  
James James
Keyword(s):  
Hurricane Katrina ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
General Medicine ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Bivariate Analysis ◽  
Fisher Exact Test ◽  
Exact Test ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT Introduction: On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the Gulf Coast of the United States, resulting in the evacuation of more than 1.5 million people, including nearly 6000 physicians. This article examines the relocation patterns of physicians following the storm, determines the impact that the disaster had on their lives and practices, and identifies lessons learned. Methods: An Internet-based survey was conducted among licensed physicians reporting addresses within Federal Emergency Management Agency-designated disaster zones in Louisiana and Mississippi. Descriptive data analysis was used to describe respondent characteristics. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify the factors associated with physician nonreturn to original practice. For those remaining relocated out of state, bivariate analysis with x2 or Fisher exact test was used to determine factors associated with plans to return to original practice. Results: A total of 312 eligible responses were collected. Among disaster zone respondents, 85.6 percent lived in Louisiana and 14.4 percent resided in Mississippi before the hurricane struck. By spring 2006, 75.6 percent (n = 236) of the respondents had returned to their original homes, whereas 24.4 percent (n = 76) remained displaced. Factors associated with nonreturn to original employment included family or general medicine practice (OR 0.42, 95 percent CI 0.17–1.04; P = .059) and severe or complete damage to the workplace (OR 0.24, 95 percent CI 0.13–0.42; P < .001). Conclusions: A sizeable proportion of physicians remain displaced after Hurricane Katrina, along with a lasting decrease in the number of physicians serving in the areas affected by the disaster. Programs designed to address identified physician needs in the aftermath of the storm may give confidence to displaced physicians to return.

scholarly journals Quebec’s Economic and Commercial Linkages with the United States, 1994–2017

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Earl H. Fry
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
The North ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Government ◽  
Big Picture ◽  
The Impact

This article examines the ebb and flow of the Quebec government’s economic and commercial relations with the United States in the period 1994–2017. The topic demonstrates the impact of three major forces on Quebec’s economic and commercial ties with the US: (1) the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which became operational in 1994 and was fully implemented over a 15-year period; (2) the onerous security policies put in place by the US government in the decade following the horrific events of 11 September 2001; and (3) changing economic circumstances in the United States ranging from robust growth to the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The article also indicates that the Quebec government continues to sponsor a wide range of activities in the United States, often more elaborate and extensive than comparable activities pursued by many nation-states with representation in the US. 1 1 Stéphane Paquin, ‘Quebec-U.S. Relations: The Big Picture’, American Review of Canadian Studies 46, no. 2 (2016): 149–61.

scholarly journals Particularity of Canada-Mexico bilateral relations (from beginning to entry into force NAFTA Agreement)

2018 ◽  
pp. 31-41
Author(s):  
Oleh Bulka
Keyword(s):  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mutual Cooperation ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
The North ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
Organizational Mechanism ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Impact

The article is devoted to the particularity of Canada-Mexico bilateral relations in the period from their beginning to signing and entry into force the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It is noted that from the time of first contacts bilateral relations between two countries have developed unevenly with periods of increase and periods of decline. It is determined that in the history of Canada-Mexico relations before signing NAFTA can be identified four main periods. The first one is a period of early contacts that lasted from the end of XIX century to the establishment of the official diplomatic relations between Canada and Mexico in 1944. In this period of time ties between the two countries were extremely weak. The second period lasted from 1944 to the end of the 1960s. This period clearly shows the limits of cooperation between Canada and Mexico after the establishment of the official diplomatic ties, but it is also possible to see a certain coincidence between the values and diplomatic strategies of these countries. The third period of Canada-Mexico relations lasted from the beginning of the 1970s to the end of the 1980s. During this period, both Canada and Mexico try to diversify their foreign policy and strengthen the organizational mechanism of mutual cooperation. But it is also shown that despite the warm political rhetoric, there was some distance in Canada-Mexico relations. The fourth period of the relations lasted from the late 1980s until the NAFTA treaty came into force in 1994. At that time Canadian and Mexican governments began to give priority to economic relations over political and diplomatic ones. It was revealed that the main influencing factors of bilateral relations between Mexico and Canada were the impact of third countries, especially the United Kingdom and the United States, regional and global economic conditions, and the attitude to the bilateral relations of the political elites of both countries.

Great Britain and the tvolution of the colonial system (end 19th – beginning 20th centuries)

2020 ◽  
pp. 60-71
Author(s):  
A.V. Goncharenko ◽  
T.O. Safonova
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Colonies ◽  
The North ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
General Decline ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact

The article investigates the impact of Great Britain on the evolution of colonialism in the late ХІХ and early ХХ centuries. It is analyzed the sources and scientific literature on the policy of the United Kingdom in the colonial question in the late ХІХ – early ХХ century. The reasons, course and consequences of the intensification of British policy in the colonial problem are described. The process of formation and implementation of London’s initiatives in the colonial question during the period under study is studied. It is considered the position of Great Britain on the transformation of the colonial system in the late XIX – early XX centuries. The resettlement activity of the British and the peculiarities of their mentality, based on the idea of racial superiority and the new national messianism, led to the formation of developed resettlement colonies. The war for the independence of the North American colonies led to the formation of a new state on their territory, and the rest of the “white” colonies of Great Britain had at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries had to build a new policy of relations, taking into account the influence of the United States on them, and the general decline of economic and military-strategic influence of Britain in the world, and the militarization of other leading countries. As a result, a commonwealth is formed instead of an empire. With regard to other dependent territories, there is also a change in policy towards the liberalization of colonial rule and concessions to local elites. In the late ХІХ – early ХІХ centuries the newly industrialized powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) sought to seize the colonies to reaffirm their new status in the world, the great colonial powers of the past (Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands) sought to retain what remained to preserve their international prestige, and Russia sought to expand. The largest colonial empires, Great Britain and France, were interested in maintaining the status quo. In the colonial policy of the United Kingdom, it is possible to trace a certain line related to attempts to preserve the situation in their remote possessions and not to get involved in conflicts and costly measures where this can be avoided. In this sense, the British government showed some flexibility and foresight – the relative weakening of the military and economic power of the empire due to the emergence of new states, as well as the achievement of certain self-sufficiency, made it necessary to reconsider traditional foreign policy. Colonies are increasingly no longer seen as personal acquisitions of states, and policy toward these territories is increasingly seen as a common deal of the international community and even its moral duty. The key role here was to be played by Great Britain, which was one of the first to form the foundations of a “neocolonial” system that presupposes a solidarity policy of Western countries towards the rest of the world under the auspices of London. Colonial system in the late ХІХ – early ХІХ century underwent a major transformation, which was associated with a set of factors, the main of which were – the emergence of new industrial powers on the world stage, the internal evolution of the British Empire, changes in world trade, the emergence of new weapons, general growth of national and religious identity and related with this contradiction. The fact that the First World War did not solve many problems, such as Japanese expansionism or British marinism, and caused new ones, primarily such as the Bolshevik coup in Russia and the coming to power of the National Socialists in Germany, the implementation of the above trends stretched to later moments.

Institutional, Legal, and Attitudinal Barriers to the Accessibility of University Digital Libraries

2017 ◽  
pp. 223-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sushil K. Oswal
Keyword(s):  
User Interfaces ◽  
Digital Libraries ◽  
The United States ◽  
Access To Higher Education ◽  
Attitudinal Barriers ◽  
Legal Standards ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Knowledge Repositories ◽  
Accessibility Barriers ◽  
The Impact

This chapter takes a look at the impact of accessibility barriers to today's digital libraries on disabled students' ability to succeed and considers the wider institutional implications of such barriers in light of disability laws in the United States. It analyzes the implications of these barriers from the broader institutional policy perspective in improving the access to higher education for users with print disabilities. The author concludes by reiterating that achieving technical accessibility through adherence to industry or legal standards alone is not adequate for making usable research and teaching libraries available to students and scholars with print disabilities. The author also emphasizes that engaging actual disabled users both in the design and development stages of the platforms, user interfaces, and content presentation schemas for these knowledge repositories is of utmost importance.

International trade in forest products: lumber trade disputes, models and examples

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International Trade ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
The United States ◽  
Wood Products ◽  
Forest Sector ◽  
Softwood Lumber ◽  
Background Theory ◽  
The North ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Because of the long-standing Canada-United States lumber trade dispute and the current pressure on the world's forests as a renewable energy source, much attention has been directed toward the modelling of international trade in wood products. Two types of trade models are described in this book: one is rooted in economic theory and mathematical programming, and the other consists of two econometric/statistical models--a gravity model rooted in theory and an approach known as GVAR that relies on time series analyses. The purpose of the book is to provide the background theory behind models and enable readers to easily construct their own models to analyze policy questions, whether in forestry or another sector. Examples in the book illustrate how models can be used to say something about a variety of issues, including identification of the gains and losses to various players in the North American softwood lumber business, and the potential for redirecting sales of lumber to countries outside the United States. The discussion is expanded to include other products besides lumber, and used to examine, for example, the effects of log export restrictions by one naton on all other forestry jurisdictions, the impacts of climate policies as they relate to the global forest sector, and the impact of oil prices on forest product markets throughout the world.

The Functional Endoscopic Approach to Inflammatory Sinus Disease: Current Perspectives and Technique Modifications

1988 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 89-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Kennedy ◽  
S. James Zinreich
Keyword(s):  
Computed Tomography ◽  
Surgical Techniques ◽  
The United States ◽  
Endoscopic Examination ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Sinus Disease ◽  
Technical Modifications ◽  
The Impact

Endoscopic examination and pleuridirectional polytomography provided some important insights into the pathogenesis of inflammatory sinus disease. These insights have been further refined by the increasing utilization of endoscopy in medical therapy and surgical follow-up, and by the use of computed tomography for diagnosis. The aim of this paper is to review the current status of the diagnosis of chronic inflammatory sinus disease and of functional endoscopic surgical techniques. The impact of this approach on previously held theoretical and diagnostic concepts is evaluated. Technical modifications made since the surgery was first introduced in the United States and the lessons learned from close postsurgical endoscopic examination are presented.

scholarly journals Response of Soybean Cultivars to Bean pod mottle virus Infection

Plant Disease ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 91 (6) ◽  
pp. 719-726 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy D. Ziems ◽  
Loren J. Giesler ◽  
George L. Graef ◽  
Margaret G. Redinbaugh ◽  
Jean L. Vacha ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seed Coat ◽  
Protein Composition ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mottle Virus ◽  
Growth Stages ◽  
Bean Pod Mottle Virus ◽  
Soybean Cultivars ◽  
The North ◽  
Soybean Plants ◽  
The Impact

Bean pod mottle virus (BPMV) has become increasingly common in soybean throughout the north-central region of the United States. Yield loss assessments on southern soybean germplasm have reported reductions ranging from 3 to 52%. Currently, no soybean cultivars have been identified with resistance to BPMV. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of BPMV infection on soybean cultivars representing a broad range of northern soybean germ-plasm by comparing inoculated and noninoculated soybean plants in paired row studies. In all, 30 and 24 cultivars were evaluated in Nebraska (NE) in which soybean plants were inoculated at the V3 to V4 growth stage. Eleven cultivars from public and breeding lines were inoculated at the VC and R5 to R6 growth stages in Ohio (OH). Disease severity, yield, and percent seed coat mottling were assessed at both locations, whereas protein and oil content also were assessed at NE. Yield and percent seed coat mottling was significantly reduced following inoculation at the VC (OH) and V3 to V4 (NE) growth stages. In addition, seed oil and protein composition were impacted in 1 of the 2 years of the study. This study demonstrates that substantial yield losses can occur in soybean due to BPMV infection. In addition, protein and oil may be affected depending on the environment during the production season.

scholarly journals Unexpected Realities: Lessons from China’s New English Textbook Implementation

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Niu
Keyword(s):  
Education Policy ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Action Theory ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Conflict Theory ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
National Education ◽  
English Textbooks ◽  
The Impact

Although studies have been done in China’s large cities on education policy issues, research is lacking on China’s smaller towns, which are more indicative of the situations throughout China. This article presents lessons learned from studying Chinese English teachers at four different schools that were adopting new English textbooks, in accordance with revised national education policy. Using conflict theory and social action theory as an analytical lens, and combining ethnographic and naturalistic inquiry as research methods, the article reports on the conflicts that the Chinese English teachers confronted as they were adopting the new English textbooks at the classroom level. Analysis of the implementation conflict resulted in lessons learned related to the influence of the traditional cultural and education structures, the impact of policy implementation contexts, and the availability of support systems for teachers. The lessons indicate that future education policymakers in both China and the United States need to be mindful of obstacles that teachers struggle to overcome when implementing new policies.

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