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NSIS Volume 47, Part 1

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10222/71042

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Now showing 1 - 13 of 13
  • ItemOpen Access
    Voyage of Discovery: Fifty Years of Marine Research at Canada’s Bedford Institute of Oceanography
    (Nova Scotian Institute of Science, 2012) BIO-Oceans Association
    Announcement of a forthcoming survey of BIO research results on the oceanography of Arctic and Eastern Canada. It will be the most extensive survey of the history and scientific accomplishments of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography under one cover.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Inductees into the NSIS Hall of Fame: William S. Boyle and Kenneth Henry Mann
    (Nova Scotian Institute of Science, 2012)
  • ItemOpen Access
    Reports from the Nova Scotian Institute of Science Council
    (Nova Scotian Institute of Science, 2012)
  • ItemOpen Access
    The Use and Influence of Scientific Information in Environmental Policy Making: Lessons Learned from Nova Scotia
    (Nova Scotian Institute of Science, 2012) Soomai, Suzuette S.
    Governmental organisations produce vast quantities of scientific information on the state of the marine and coastal environment which is often intended to guide policy-making to mitigate or reverse the declining trends in the health of the environment. How scientific information is used and how it influences environmental policy and decision making are however not well understood. The apparent disconnect between the knowledge and information produced by scientists and that used by policy makers is attributed to problems at the science-policy interface. Based on a multi-disciplinary literature review, this paper describes how policy makers seek out and use scientific information within the context of policy design in the 21st century. Best practices for increasing information flows across the science-policy interface are drawn from a study of the awareness, use, and influence of The 2009 State of the Nova Scotia Coast Report in coastal policy making in Nova Scotia. Strategic or rational approaches to policy making can increase the two-way flow of information across the science-policy interface as it facilitates collaboration among multiple actors in information generation, transmission, and use. The production, use, and influence of The 2009 State of Nova Scotia's Coast Report in coastal policy making in Nova Scotia demonstrates the strategic approach to policy making whereby coastal policy is being developed through (i) intergovernmental partnerships, (ii) the use of best available information, (iii) linkages between the policy process and policy output, and (iv) public participation.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Turbidity Currents: A Unique Part of Nova Scotia's African Geological Heritage
    (Nova Scotian Institute of Science, 2012) Black, Carolanne
    Four hundred million years ago, when the supercontinent Pangea was torn apart, a piece of the continental crust from material that is now part of Africa broke off on the North American side. That piece of Africa became southern Nova Scotia. The African rock was made of material deposited by ancient turbidity currents. Created by submarine landslides, turbidity currents still happen today. Whether evaluating these sedimentary rocks for oil and gas deposits or for building a city, or studying the possibility of future turbidity currents along the coast to be prepared for a tsunami, turbidity currents are studied by scientists because they have an impact on Nova Scotians.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Student Science Writing Competitions Award-Winning Papers 2011 and 2102
    (Nova Scotian Institute of Science, 2012)
  • ItemOpen Access
    Growth and Overpopulation of Yellow Perch and the Apparent Effect of Increased Competition on Brook Trout in Long Lake, Halifax County, Nova Scotia
    (Nova Scotian Institute of Science, 2012) Munro, Cathy L.
    A fish survey was conducted on Long Lake, Woodens River, Halifax County, Nova Scotia during May 2005. A total of 2711 yellow perch were captured over a twelve day period and were the most abundant fish. Fifty-eight yellow perch were sampled for length, weight, scales, and sex. Total length of yellow perch ranged from 81mm to 276 mm with a mean of 133mm. Ages determined from scale analysis ranged from 2 to 13 years but 95% were younger than 8 years of age. Age at maturity was 2 years. The Von Bertalanffy growth relationship for yellow perch described slow growth and suggested stunting which is consistent in crowded populations. Increased abundance of yellow perch and reduced abundance of brook trout has been reported by anglers in the Woodens River system and was evident from our catches. The apparent effect of increased, intraguild competition on the brook trout population is discussed.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Beached Bird Surveys on Sable Island, Nova Scotia, 1993–2009, Show a Decline in the Incidence of Oiling
    (Nova Scotian Institute of Science, 2012) Lucas, Zoe; Horn, Andrew; Freedman, Bill
    Sable Island, located about 160 km southeast of the landmass of Nova Scotia, Canada, is far offshore and provides a platform for beach surveys to monitor oil pollution in Scotian Shelf waters. Sporadic beach surveys conducted there during the 1970s and 1980s indicated that oiled birds and beached tar were common occurrences. During a survey program from January 1993 to December 2009, more than 10,800 bird corpses were found in 171 surveys covering a total of >13,500 km of shoreline. Sixty-four species were recorded, of which 52 were seabirds and waterfowl. The numbers of beached birds and species composition exhibited large fluctuations, which reflected both the seasonal distribution of species and the effects of weather and beach conditions. The oiling rate of corpses for all seabirds and waterfowl combined was 28.6%, and ranged from a high of 69.9% in 1996 to a low of 1.4% in 2009. Alcids had the highest rates of oiling (averaging 54.3%), while lower rates were observed for shearwaters (1.9%) and Larus gulls (2.4%). The results of the 1993-2009 surveys, as well as those of earlier studies in the 1970s and 1980s, indicate a declining trend in the oiling rate of beached birds on Sable Island.
  • ItemOpen Access
    The Use of Aloe Constituents in Self-Administered Cancer Treatment
    (Nova Scotian Institute of Science, 2012) Gillies, Kelsie E.A.; Blay, Jonathan
    Complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) include many different biologic substances that may be ingested or applied topically in an effort to mitigate disease. One source of such substances is the Aloe, a plant that has been used since antiquity to treat a multitude of conditions, and which is now being touted as a potential natural aid in the fight against cancer. There are many different classes of nutrient and modulatory chemicals isolated from Aloe, and some have now been investigated for their anticancer activities. This review will focus on the anticancer properties of four main Aloe components – aloe-emodin, aloin, acemannan and b-sitosterol – in relation to their activities against cells in human cancers and potential abilities to interfere with conventional chemotherapeutics. We build upon this background to consider the validity for Aloe in cancer care. It is evident, after considering both in vitro and in vivo findings, that there needs to be further independent studies examining the safety and efficacy of ingestion of Aloe products for human use, proper standardization of product content, and systematic identification and characterization of the wide variety of Aloe constituents. Aloe is a genus of perennial succulent plants that thrive in hot, dry climates (Choi et al., 2002; Molassiotis et al., 2005). As with many plants, its cosmetic and health-related potentials have been explored since antiquity, and it finds current use in a multitude of cosmetic, dermatologic and other healthcare products (Reynolds and Dweck, 1999; Ulbricht et al., 2007). However, more recently it has fallen into that group of biologics that have found favour in the popular view as a natural remedy for chronic diseases such as cancer. In this review we explore the emerging issue of ‘natural medicines’, the anticancer activities reported for Aloe itself, and provide a perspective on whether Aloe has a place in rational support of the cancer patient.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Bioblitz of the Lake Rossignol Wilderness Area
    (Nova Scotian Institute of Science, 2012) Cameron, Robert
    The Lake Rossignol Wilderness Area is a 4100 ha protected area in Queens County, Nova Scotia. In July, 2006, the Protected Areas Branch of Nova Scotia Environment invited 34 scientists, students and volunteers to conduct a four day bioblitz of this little studied protected area. Surveys were conducted for reptiles, fish, vascular plants, fungi, lichens and bryophytes. Physical and biological attributes of peatlands and dendrochronological studies were also conducted. A total of 294 species were identified during the survey, 285 of which are new records for the Wilderness Area. Dendrochronological analysis suggests trees at the site have been growing in place for at least the last 350 years.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Communicating Knowledge to New Audiences: Victorian Popularizers of Science
    (Nova Scotian Institute of Science, 2012) Lightman, Bernard
    In the past historians have tended to explain the existence of a cult of science from about 1850 to 1890 as the result of the work of elite scientists such as Darwin, Huxley, and Tyndall. But this explanation leaves out two crucial factors: the role of popularizers who were not practitioners of science and the occurrence of a communications revolution in the second quarter of the 1800s that established the conditions necessary for what happened in the second half of that century. Once these factors are added to our account of the cult of science, a very different picture emerges, one that forces us to reconsider the standard story of the dominance of the scientific scene by figures like Darwin, Huxley, and Tyndall.
  • ItemOpen Access
    150th Anniversary AGM Attendees
    (Nova Scotian Institute of Science, 2012) Wells, Peter G.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Editorial: Another Notable Anniversary—Rachel Carson’s ‘Silent Spring’ and its Influence
    (Nova Scotian Institute of Science, 2011) Wells, Peter G.