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Climate change has facilitated the introduction, establishment, and movement of invasive species in northern regions, enabling the colonization of previously unsuitable areas. While the responses of insects to these changes have been increasingly studied, our understanding of how such alterations impact trophic interactions still requires further research to make reliable predictions about the spread of diseases in a warming world. Phytoplasmas, a group of obligate parasitic unculturable Mollicutes, primarily rely on leafhoppers (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) for transmission, spread, and survival. Phytoplasmas are associated with over 600 diseases affecting more than 1,000 plant species, including berries, grapevines, and other small fruits. In North America, diseases such as grapevine yellows, blueberry stunt, and strawberry green petal diseases have been linked to phytoplasma strains transmitted by known leafhopper species. However, the number of phytoplasma diseases has significantly increased in North America over the past decade, suggesting the presence of unidentified vectors or an abundance of leafhopper vectors. This short review provides an overview of the current knowledge on leafhoppers as vectors of phytoplasmas to berries, focusing on the last decade's research in Canada. This paper also explores the potential implications of climate change on this pathosystem, including the anticipated range expansion of leafhopper species, changes in phytoplasma acquisition and transmission, and the risk of new leafhopper-transmitted plant-pathogen introductions through the arrival of new leafhopper species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family members are essential contributors to the quality of life (QoL) of persons living in residential long-term care (RLTC). This paper analyzes how the system enables or inhibits family involvement with residents in RLTC. Our analysis of 21 policies that regulate long-term care in four Canadian Provinces reveal differences in their portrayal of residents' families. Family roles are characterized procedurally (task-oriented) or relationally (interactive). Operational standards linked to licensing of RLTC homes employ more formal terminology, while RLTC program guidelines, use facilitative language to engage families and build relationships. Examples of orientation procedures, care protocols, living at risk, and end-of-life care reveal inter-provincial variations. We argue that there are opportunities to further engage families within the current regulatory framework and improve their continued contributions in the post-pandemic era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted families across Canada; however, rural low-income mothers and their families have experienced significant challenges due to historical and current social, economic, cultural, and health inequities. These inequities complicated mothers' ability to navigate the pandemic. This paper is based on a study that used a grounded theory framework to explore the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural, low-income mothers in Nova Scotia, Canada, while supporting their families' wellbeing during the pandemic. Through 29 interviews with rural low-income mothers, and three focus groups with community organizations serving these mothers, this study found that mothers and their families were deeply impacted by the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. Factors such as inadequate internet and internet access, limited and unaffordable transportation options, food insecurity, social isolation, and mental health challenges emerged from these interviews. Three focus groups with service providers to low-income rural mothers also informed the final results. The inequities faced by rural mothers created additional barriers to accessing services and resources to support their families' wellbeing during the pandemic. The results of the study connect to the importance of addressing inequities through a holistic social determinants of heath model. As a result, the findings of this study have implications on the actions of service providers, policymakers, and researchers, as little has been written about this demographic in relation to social determinants of health and in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous-led impact assessment (ILIA) is a project review process designed and conducted with meaningful input and an adequate degree of control by Indigenous peoples. Using a case-based approach, this paper examines ILIAs conducted in Canada. The research – tools for ILIA – provides examples of options for the design and implementation of ILIA processes which have been utilized by Indigenous Nations while making their own determinations regarding if and how development should occur according to their unique locations, histories, natural resource issues, and governance. We have identified five tools: framework agreements; customized review panels; land use and consultation policy; impact and benefit agreements; and land use planning. Each tool is described along with a case study example of how the tool was applied within ILIA. Although our work focuses on Canada, the examples and tools can be valuable for Indigenous peoples and EIA practitioners in jurisdictions elsewhere who are looking to understand how ILIA might be operationalized to reflect their settings, values, and priorities. The results are helpful to Indigenous governments and groups looking to develop their own approaches to assessment, and for understanding the relative strengths and experiences of options they may consider or adapt for their own needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International student migration (ISM) is one of the fastest growing categories of migrants in Canada. Drawing on the narratives of 30 international students at a Canadian university, this paper investigates international students' decisions to study overseas and the roles of social networks in shaping mobility. We find that international students negotiate information while embedded in multiple social networks consisting of family, friends, ethnocultural and religious communities, and professional relations in origin and settlement countries. These social networks exceed typical knowledge and connection functions; they act as informal migration agents, providing transnational care and guidance, and 'do' family in ways that shape mobility decisions and settlement. The information provided through these networks, however, can be inaccurate or incomplete, requiring the strategic mobilization of new networks to support migration. We conclude that international student mobility relies on building transnational networks to support knowledge transfer, provide care and offer tangible supports. Furthermore, we argue that these fluctuating local and transnational social networks should be more fully recognized in the theorizing of ISM and in strategies implemented for supporting international students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In many countries, sexually active gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM) continue to be screened based on their sex or gender and the sex or gender of their sexual partner. However, there is growing support that screening based on specific sexual behaviors that pose risk of transfusion transmissible infection is a better approach to donor screening. Study Design and Methods: This paper reports results from Phase 1 (qualitative) of a mixed‐methods study on Canadian blood and plasma donors' views on expanding eligibility for gbMSM by changing to sexual behavior‐based screening. Semistructured interview data with 40 donors (whole blood = 20, plasma = 20; male = 21, female = 18, nonbinary = 1; mean age = 46.2; 10% participation rate) in Canada were analyzed using a thematic approach. Results: All participants, except one, supported the change as they anticipated that at least one of three outcomes would be achieved: increasing blood supply, enhancing equity, and improving or maintaining the safety of blood supply. One donor who was more skeptical of the change questioned the scientific evidence for the change and indicated mistrust of state institutions. The discussion considers implications for blood operators' communication strategies that can be used to reduce donor discomfort with the changes to donor screening. Conclusion: In a nonrandom, purposive sample of 40 Canadian blood and plasma donors, most participants held favorable views regarding expanding the eligibility of gbMSM donors based on sexual risk behavior. Understanding donors' views on increasing eligibility may inform Canadian Blood Services and other blood operators as they develop their communications plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There exist ongoing calls among social work scholars and practitioners to cultivate applied knowledge of critical and emancipatory practice. In this paper, I explore the utility of text-based vignettes as instruments that can be used to elicit insight from marginalized service users on critical social work practice. To do this work, I draw on data from interviews with 20 transgender and gender diverse (TGD) social service users, along with 10 social workers, whose responses to a text-based vignette were originally used to build an understanding of the constituents of equitable social work practice with TGD people. Incorporating critical pragmatism as a conceptual framework and constructivist grounded theory as a methodological orientation, I analyze data from this study as an exemplar that substantiates the promise of using text-based vignettes in qualitative social work research to generate knowledge of critical social work practice. Specifically, I demonstrate how text-based vignettes in this study (1) contextualized the meaning, significance, and impact of oppression for service users, (2) built insight on practice that reflects solidarity and allyship, and (3) identified opportunities for social workers' reflexive use of professional power to effect change. Accounting for the tensions between empiricism and critical praxis in social work, I consider the promise of incorporating text-based vignettes to develop empirical social work literature that is rooted in the voices of marginalized service users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of the Global Compacts on Migration and Refugees in 2018 marked a turning point in international migration governance. According to objective 13 of the Global Compact for Migration, States Parties have committed to use immigration detention as a measure of last resort and work towards alternatives. As for the Global Compact on Refugees, States Parties and relevant stakeholders also pledged to contribute to the development of non-custodial and community-based alternatives to detention, particularly with respect to children. Five years later, the enhancement of human rights protection for migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers within national territories remains a challenge. We argue that two states of the Global North – Canada and France – are actually using the Global Compacts to push forward their own agenda on the international scene, as a tool to influence other states. Even if Canada and France have engaged in multilateral discussions on the regulation of migration and the protection of refugees through soft law instruments, we find that national practices have not been altered since 2018. As such, this paper will demonstrate that the implementation of the Global Compacts is, in fact, used to advance foreign national policy for both states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Low‐Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines (LRDGs) aim to reduce the harms caused by alcohol. However, considerable discrepancies exist in the 'low‐risk' thresholds employed by different countries. Argument/analysis: Drawing upon Canada's LRDGs update process, the current paper offers the following propositions for debate regarding the establishment of 'low‐risk' thresholds in national guidelines: (1) as an indicator of health loss, years of life lost (YLL) has several advantages that could make it more suitable for setting guidelines than deaths, premature deaths or disability adjusted years of life (DALYs) lost. (2) Presenting age‐specific guidelines may not be the most appropriate way of providing LRDGs. (3) Given past overemphasis on the so‐called protective effects of alcohol on health, presenting cause‐specific guidelines may not be appropriate compared with a 'whole health' effect derived from a weighted composite risk function comprising conditions that are causally related to alcohol consumption. (4) To help people reduce their alcohol use, presenting different risk zones associated with alcohol consumption instead of a single low risk threshold may be advantageous. Conclusions: National LRDGs should be based on years of life lost and should be neither age‐specific nor cause‐specific. We recommend using risk zones rather than a single drinking threshold to help people assess their own risk and encourage the adoption of behaviours with positive health impacts across the alcohol use spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The benefits of employment in resource extraction figure prominently in state rationales for resource extraction. However, in Canada, the site of study, while the worker is a key figure in rationales for extraction, this same worker disappears in state attention to extractive/mine closure. The paper's focus on Indigenous mining labour is driven by a community–university research partnership with Dene communities in the Northwest Territories facing forthcoming closure of diamond mines on their land. Approaching mine closure as a juncture that can both reproduce or resist the settler extractive economy, we argue that the Canadian state responses to the labour implications of mine closure, and its lack of coherence, express the settler‐colonial tension between the reproduction of the (Canadian) settler state and its requisite labour force, and the social reproduction of Indigenous communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From November 2015 to October 2020, Canada had welcomed 44,620 Syrian refugees to more than 350 communities across the country. In 2019, it further surpassed the United States and Australia in the number of refugees settled. Lacking the necessary language skills for living and working in a new country is one of the most critical barriers refugees face. This paper aims to inform language-teaching professionals about pertinent linguistic and nonlinguistic issues as well as pedagogical implications associated with supporting adult Syrian refugee learners, drawing both on the literature more broadly and on the author's research in the Canadian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Drawing on historical constructions of Indigenous peoples, this paper analyses the continued impact of settler discourses of Indigenous families, parenting, and children on child welfare policy in Canada today. Findings: In this work, two provincial children's Advocate reports on the deaths of Indigenous children in care, Tina Fontaine and Alex Gervais, are critically assessed in order to explore the processes through which these colonial constructions operate to create adverse outcomes for Indigenous people. Through this analysis, a number of contemporary colonial narratives are made visible, including the belief that Indigenous parents are inherently incapable of caring for their children, and the gendered construction of Indigenous men and boys as criminal and deviant and Indigenous girls as sexually exploitable. Application: These findings suggest that greater critical reflection is needed when working with Indigenous peoples, including greater awareness of the ongoing impact of settler colonialism and the necessity of engaging in anti-colonial work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serious games (i.e., digital games designed for educational purposes) can foster positive learning attitudes and are increasingly used as educational tools. Foodbot Factory is a serious game application (app) that helps children learn about healthy eating based on Canada's Food Guide principles and has demonstrated to increase nutrition knowledge among this group. This paper describes the process followed to expand Foodbot Factory's educational content and integrate immersive technologies and innovative features into the app. The revision process, which was guided by the Obesity-Related Behavioral Intervention Trials model, included the following phases: first, an interdisciplinary team of nutrition scientists, education experts, and computer scientists analyzed data from the original pilot study, recently published literature, and feedback from stakeholders to define areas to improve Foodbot Factory. The five original Foodbot Factory modules were evaluated by the team during weekly meetings, where the educational content, interactive features, and other elements that required updates (e.g., aesthetics and accessibility) were identified. Second, prototypes were created and refined until a final version of Foodbot Factory was approved. Nineteen children tested the updated Foodbot Factory and found it "easy to use" (89%) and "fun" (95%). The new version of Foodbot Factory contains 19 learning objectives, including 13 original and six new objectives. Interactive engagement features in the updated Foodbot Factory included augmented reality incorporated into two learning modules; new mini-games were created, including a memory game; an overhaul of the aesthetics; (e.g., new food images); and accessibility features were included to support users with cognitive and vision disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a review of Indigenous engagement in renewable energy projects is conducted and the main elements of energy partnerships between stakeholders and Indigenous partners are discussed. In recent years, Canada has witnessed more significant Indigenous involvement in economic and energy development projects than ever before. For large-scale energy partnerships, the focus is on engagement, financial capital, community buy-in (readiness, and entrepreneurial and business skills), and benefits-sharing with community partners. Equity-ownership, reconciliation, and self-determination intersect with and impact the benefits and sustainability of energy projects, as they are interrelated in the framework of most energy partnerships. This paper illustrates policy disconnects in connection with partnership-making, social outcomes, and decision-making among Indigenous communities. Furthermore, findings from relevant literature explore the nuanced discourse on social implications and capacity challenges that interlink with climate adaptation and reconciliation when promoting large-scale renewable energy partnerships with Indigenous communities. Through a systematic review and a meta-analysis of the literature, we found 80 relevant studies during the screening process, of which 33 were selected for the synthesis. Findings demonstrate that the Crown, energy companies, and community partners need to coordinate and collaborate closely to achieve energy security and sustainable renewable energy. The review suggests that Indigenous engagement in energy partnerships supports positive outcomes for social development and environmental protection among Indigenous communities. The literature suggests that when government and industry mentor in the project implementation process, important positive impacts on energy transitions, and self-sufficiency can be realized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since Canada legalized medical assistance in dying (MAID) in 2016, it has become one of the most permissive regimes in the world for euthanasia and assisted suicide. The number of deaths has risen rapidly and the categories of eligibility continue to expand. The country is poised, as of March 2024, to allow MAID for those whose sole underlying condition is mental illness, generating considerable debate. Advocates of MAID for mental illness often frame it as a question of equal access, but this extension involves considerable complexities not present in other cases. This paper examines psychiatric MAID in the Canadian context, engaging directly with the most pertinent arguments of the practice􀂶s advocates. The paper argues that independent of any prior commitments vis-à-vis the permissibility of MAID per se, there is a clear ethical and legal necessity to oppose extending MAID on the grounds of mental illness if we follow the parameters set up within the Canadian regime. The paper advances three arguments: first, that mental illnesses cannot be deemed irremediable, as required by the Canadian law; second, that we cannot establish with adequate certainty that a mentally ill patient has the decision-making capacity to choose MAID; and third, that allowing psychiatric MAID will have a devastating impact on care and support of the mentally ill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ottawa Conference on the Assessment of Competence in Medicine and the Healthcare Professions was first convened in 1985 in Ottawa. Since then, what has become known as the Ottawa conference has been held in various locations around the world every 2 years. It has become an important conference for the community of assessment – including researchers, educators, administrators and leaders – to share contemporary knowledge and develop international standards for assessment in medical and health professions education. The Ottawa 2022 conference was held in Lyon, France, in conjunction with the AMEE 2022 conference. A diverse group of international assessment experts were invited to present a symposium at the AMEE conference to summarise key concepts from the Ottawa conference. This paper was developed from that symposium. This paper summarises key themes and issues that emerged from the Ottawa 2022 conference. It highlights the importance of the consensus statements and discusses challenges for assessment such as issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion, shifts in emphasis to systems of assessment, implications of 'big data' and analytics, and challenges to ensure published research and practice are based on contemporary theories and concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper mainly studies the financial data management method and edge computing platform based on intelligent edge computing and big computing. This paper first introduces the theoretical basis of edge computing and big data computing, analyzes the collaborative mode of edge computing model and cloud computing, and discusses the cloud data storage scheme. In this paper, edge computing platform is built, and EC Master and Docker private image warehouse are mainly deployed in the data center. In this paper, the edge computing platform constructed was tested. In the mobile edge computing business processing time test, when there was a big gap in computing amount between business 1 and business 2, the total service time of MEC instances was around 0.3 s, showing a good user experience. In the edge acceleration effect test, before and after the adoption of CDN edge acceleration, from the perspective of the overall web page, the average time consumed to open a web page decreased from 1615 ms to 403 ms. From requesting a single HTTP access request, the average time decreased from 520 ms to 74 ms. The financial data management edge computing platform designed in this paper can effectively manage financial data and make an effective contribution to enterprise data management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose : People experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) often seek, or are referred to, specialized service providers such as shelter workers, counsellors in programs for children exposed to IPV, and facilitators for men's behaviour change programs. This paper discusses the process of collaborating with service providers and survivors across Canada to articulate the often-unrecognized knowledge and skills of IPV specialists. Methods: Work included a scoping review and analysis of 140 academic and practice papers, interviews with 62 expert service providers, eight Delphi-method surveys and over 70 hours of collaborative discussion with expert working groups of experienced service providers and survivors. Results: Areas of knowledge and skill were drafted based on the review of literature and analysis of interviews with experienced service providers, then rated in Delphi surveys, and discussed by expert working groups. Consensus was reached on the Flourishing Practice Model which identifies nine areas of capability shared across IPV specialists, as well as unique knowledge and skills used to support and collaborate with survivors, recognize and respond to infant, child and youth experiences of violence and intervene to end abusive behaviours. The "stem" recognizes the critical role of IPV specialist organizations and leaders in supporting service providers' capabilities. "Blank petals" are included to signify expertise that has not yet been documented and to recognize ongoing growth. Conclusions: The combination of methods and processes allowed for the integration of research and practice knowledge with survivor and service provider voices to gain deeper insight into the knowledge and skills of IPV specialists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A strong knowledge of mathematics, beginning at the elementary level, is critical for participation in today's complex world. The home may be one way to facilitate individualized mathematics instruction, given that children spend more time at home than in an academic institution. Therefore, researchers are interested to see whether the home numeracy environment (HNE) can provide a solid foundation for children's mathematics understanding. Further, children's digital mathematics exploration at home is increasingly common (e.g., using math apps). Objectives: The present study evaluates the digital home numeracy practice (DHNP) model and explores its effect on children's mathematics knowledge across five domains (numeration, number operation, pattern recognition, spatial sense, and applied problem‐solving). Methods: To conduct this study, 117 Canadian parents and their children from Grade 1 through 5 completed a DHNP survey and a range of in‐person mathematics measures. Results and Conclusions: The results identified significant relations between parents and children's implicit mathematics factors (e.g., math anxiety, motivation). Children's mathematics anxiety and parents' academic estimations and expectations for their children positively predicted children's mathematics knowledge. In terms of DHNP components, parental involvement in DHNP predicted children's numeration and applied problem‐solving knowledge. Implications: Taken together, the results detail the contribution of parental and child factors to children's mathematics knowledge and suggest that parents adjust their role in DHNP according to their children's mathematics ability. Lay Description: What is (not) known about the subject matter?: Research is less developed on the impact of home technology in the mathematics learning processExisting research did not use a multi‐measure approach to assess the relationships between a variety of home numeracy factors and fundamental mathematics concepts and processes What is the contribution of this paper?: The paper highlights the importance of considering different home related factors to understand the role of home numeracy practices in children's mathematics developmentIt provides a holistic view of digital home numeracy practice (DHNP) by examining several implicit and explicit components of home numeracy environmentChildren's mathematics anxiety predicts their mathematics knowledgeParental estimation and expectation about their children's mathematics performance predicts their mathematics knowledge across several domains whereas parental role on DHNP impacts children's numeration only What are the implications of the findings?: The findings provide an understanding of the significant value of including digital mathematics practices in the study of the home mathematics environmentThe outcome of the study provides guidance for educators and researchers to better understand and leverage DHNP, and its impact on children's mathematics educationFuture research should investigate to what extent digital features should be included in the DHNP model. This will provide insights into the impact of using well‐designed apps on children's mathematics learning [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its original formulation, various extensions of the Kuznets hypothesis have been proposed. In this paper, we make use of a unique panel dataset of Canadian regions to test whether inter‐personal income inequality increases once the initial inverted‐U pattern is completed. Our results support the notion of a sideways S‐shaped curve describing a wavelike decrease to increase shift, with a turning point in the late‐1990s/early‐2000s where inter‐personal inequality across regions "bottoms out" before alternating to an upward‐sloping trajectory. While there are many factors associated with this reversal of trends, we find evidence that a region's size plays a role in explaining the more recent rise in inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When governments acquire third-party social welfare services (SWS), they create institutions of acquisition. The rules and practices that governments adopt define who is able to participate, on what basis, and how prices are determined. This paper conceptualizes the institutions of SWS acquisition, their variations, and implications, in order to contribute to a deeper understanding of the link between contracting and nonprofit commercialisation. Institutions of SWS acquisition include rules of entry, participation, and assessment. Resulting acquisition regimes can be marketised to a greater or lesser extent, and this is influential through its effect on nonprofit competition. Drawing on interviews with public servants and nonprofit staff, the paper compares acquisition regimes for homelessness services in England, a regime that closely resembles a market, and Canada, a regime which is not marketised. In contrast to their non-marketised counterparts, this paper finds that marketised SWS acquisition regimes create incentives for participants to reduce prices by loss-leading or ratcheting down service quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Due to ongoing inequities in the social determinants of health and systemic barriers, homelessness continues to be a significant concern that disproportionately impacts racialized communities. Despite constituting a small proportion of the population, Black individuals are over-represented among people experiencing homelessness in many Canadian cities. However, although Black homelessness in Canada is a pressing issue, it has received limited attention in the academic literature. The purpose of this paper is to examine the reported prevalence of Black homelessness across Canada. Design/methodology/approach: By consulting enumerations from 61 designated communities that participated in the 2018 Nationally Coordinated Point-in-Time Count and two regional repositories – one for homeless counts supported by the government of British Columbia and another from the Rural Development Network – this paper reports on the scale and scope of Black homelessness across Canada. Findings: Significantly, these reports demonstrate that Black people are over-represented among those experiencing homelessness compared to local and national populations. These enumerations also demonstrate significant gaps in the reporting of Black homelessness and inadequate nuance in data collection methods, which limit the ability of respondents to describe their identity beyond "Black." Originality/value: This research provides an unprecedented examination of Black homelessness across Canada and concludes with recommendations to expand knowledge on this important and under-researched issue, provide suggestions for future iterations of homeless enumerations and facilitate the development of inclusive housing policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk prediction models hold great promise to reduce the impact of cancer in society through advanced warning of risk and improved preventative modalities. These models are evolving and becoming more complex, increasingly integrating genetic screening data and polygenic risk scores as well as calculating risk for multiple types of a disease. However, unclear regulatory compliance requirements applicable to these models raise significant legal uncertainty and new questions about the regulation of medical devices. This paper aims to address these novel regulatory questions by presenting an initial assessment of the legal status likely applicable to risk prediction models in Canada, using the CanRisk tool for breast and ovarian cancer as an exemplar. Legal analysis is supplemented with qualitative perspectives from expert stakeholders regarding the accessibility and compliance challenges of the Canadian regulatory framework. While the paper focuses on the Canadian context, it also refers to European and U.S. regulations in this domain to contrast them. Legal analysis and stakeholder perspectives highlight the need to clarify and update the Canadian regulatory framework for Software as a Medical Device as it applies to risk prediction models. Findings demonstrate how normative guidance perceived as convoluted, contradictory or overly burdensome can discourage innovation, compliance, and ultimately, implementation. This contribution aims to initiate discussion about a more optimal legal framework for risk prediction models as they continue to evolve and are increasingly integrated into landscape for public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patient scheduling is a difficult task involving stochastic factors, such as the unknown arrival times of patients. Similarly, the scheduling of radiotherapy for cancer treatments needs to handle patients with different urgency levels when allocating resources. High-priority patients may arrive at any time, and there must be resources available to accommodate them. A common solution is to reserve a flat percentage of treatment capacity for emergency patients. However, this solution can result in overdue treatments for urgent patients, a failure to fully exploit treatment capacity, and delayed treatments for low-priority patients. This problem is especially severe in large and crowded hospitals. In this paper, we propose a prediction-based approach for online dynamic radiotherapy scheduling that dynamically adapts the present scheduling decision based on each incoming patient and the current allocation of resources. Our approach is based on a regression model trained to recognize the links between patients' arrival patterns and their ideal waiting time in optimal off-line solutions when all future arrivals are known in advance. When our prediction-based approach is compared with flat-reservation policies, it does a better job of preventing overdue treatments for emergency patients and also maintains comparable waiting times for the other patients. We also demonstrate how our proposed approach supports explainability and interpretability in scheduling decisions using Shapley additive explanation values. History: Accepted by Erwin Pesch, Area Editor for Heuristic Search & Approximation Algorithms. Funding: Mitacs Accélération IT26995 and Canada Research Chair in Analytics and Logistics in Healthcare (HANALOG). Supplemental Material: The software that supports the findings of this study is available within the paper and its Supplemental Information (https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/suppl/10.1287/ijoc.2023.1289) as well as from the IJOC GitHub software repository (https://github.com/INFORMSJoC/2021.0342) at (http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7579533). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been widely used in image denoising, and their performance has been enhanced through residual learning. However, previous research mostly focused on optimizing the network architecture of CNNs, ignoring the limitations of the commonly used residual learning. This paper identifies two of its limitations, which are the neglect of image information and the lack of effective consideration of image self-similarity. To solve these limitations, this paper proposes a compositional denoising network (CDN), which contains two sub-paths, the image information path (IIP) and the noise estimation path (NEP), respectively. IIP is trained via an image-to-image method to extract image information. For NEP, it utilizes image self-similarity from the perspective of training. This similarity-based training method constrains NEP to output similar estimated noise distributions for different image patches with a specific kind of noise. Finally, image information and noise distribution information are comprehensively considered for image denoising. Experimental results indicate that CDN outperforms other CNN-based methods in both synthetic and real-world image denoising, achieving state-of-the-art performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether a forced displacement of an ethnic group can lead to long-run changes to their spatial distribution and whether this shock can also lead to changes in where new migrants settle. I use the Canadian government's internment of Japanese Canadians during World War II, as well as their post-war forced resettlement, as a natural experiment. I find that the policy led to dramatic resettlement patterns; areas where Japanese Canadians were removed from had far fewer Japanese Canadians after World War II, with this effect persisting for decades. Despite these displacement patterns, I find that both the pre-war and post-war settlement patterns drive where new Japanese migrants settle within Canada, suggesting that the disruption of the connections and networks formed by Japanese migrants before World War II were not fully dismantled by the Canadian government's wartime policies. Reinforcing this mechanism, I show using Facebook's social connectedness data that Japanese population shares from both 1931 and 1951 predict whether a Canadian Census Division is more socially connected with Japan today. The results from this paper show that, despite Canada's forced dispersal of its Japanese population across the country, networks and forces that connect Census Divisions to Japan and draw in new migrants continued to persist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Discourse analysis has recently received much attention in the aphasia literature. Even if post‐stroke language recovery occurs throughout the longitudinal continuum of recovery, very few studies have documented discourse changes from the hyperacute to the chronic phases of recovery. Aims: To document a multilevel analysis of discourse changes from the hyperacute phase to the chronic phase of post‐stroke recovery using a series of single cases study designs. Methods & Procedures: Four people with mild to moderate post‐stroke aphasia underwent four assessments (hyperacute: 0–24 h; acute: 24–72 h; subacute: 7–14 days; and chronic: 6–12 months post‐onset). Three discourse tasks were performed at each time point: a picture description, a personal narrative and a story retelling. Multilevel changes in terms of macro‐ and microstructural aspects were analysed. The results of each discourse task were combined for each time point. Individual effect sizes were computed to evaluate the relative strength of changes in an early and a late recovery time frame. Outcomes & Results: Macrostructural results revealed improvements throughout the recovery continuum in terms of coherence and thematic efficiency. Also, the microstructural results demonstrated linguistic output improvement for three out of four participants. Namely, lexical diversity and the number of correct information units/min showed a greater gain in the early compared with the late recovery phase. Conclusions & Implications: This study highlights the importance of investigating all discourse processing levels as the longitudinal changes in discourse operate differently at each phase of recovery. Overall results support future longitudinal discourse investigation in people with post‐stroke aphasia. What This Paper Adds: What is already known on the subject: Multi‐level discourse analysis allows for in‐depth analysis of underlying discourse processes. To date, very little is known on the longitudinal discourse changes from aphasia onset through to the chronic stage of recovery. This study documents multi‐level discourse features in four people with mild to moderate aphasia in the hyperacute, acute, subacute and chronic stage of post‐stroke aphasia recovery. What this paper adds to existing knowledge: The study found that most discourse variables demonstrated improvement throughout time. Macrostructural variables of coherence and thematic units improved throughout the continuum whereas microstructural variables demonstrated greater gains in the early compared to the late period of recovery. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: This study suggests that multilevel discourse analysis will allow a better understanding of post‐stroke aphasia recovery, although more research is needed to determine the clinical utility of these findings. Future research may wish to investigate longitudinal discourse recovery in a larger sample of people with aphasia with heterogenous aphasia profiles and severities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Training staff and volunteers is an important aspect of successful program implementation. This paper follows Part A of an evaluation of the Special Olympics Canada (SOC) Coaching Young Athletes Training course. Consistent with Kirkpatrick's four-level model of training evaluation, Part A evaluated program leaders' reactions to (level 1) and immediate learning from (level 2) the training. This Part B paper covers "on the job" behavior (level 3). In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with youth program leaders (n = 11) from eight provinces. Overall, participants felt that more training related to working with children with autism and promoting positive athlete behavior was needed. The findings also lead us to suggest that program leaders need to develop a more fulsome understanding of how to foster skill mastery, including how to practice the same skill in many and varied ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes load and resistance factor design (LRFD) calibration for the resistance factor used in the Stiffness Method internal stability soil failure limit state for geogrid mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls. The Stiffness Method was recently adopted in the current American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials LRFD Bridge Design Specifications in the US, and will appear in the next edition of the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code. The paper describes the details of the calibration of the soil failure limit state which is unique to the Stiffness Method. Calibration outcomes include consideration of the concept of level of understanding in the selection of nominal load and resistance values which is unique to LRFD foundation engineering practice in Canada. A practical conclusion from these calculations is that if product line-specific creep test data are available to estimate the reinforcement secant creep stiffness used for design, then a resistance factor of 1.0 is reasonable for US practice. If only minimum average roll value tensile strength data are available, then a value of 0.95 is recommended for US practice. For Canadian practice, the corresponding values for typical level of understanding are 0.90 and 0.85, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID‐19 has had deep impacts on a wide range of vulnerable communities in Canada. Migrant agricultural workers in the southwestern region of Ontario were particularly impacted. Fearing the threat of the 'racialized foreign other', the Canadian state produced myriad securitization responses with heightened surveillance. This paper will examine both state and non‐state forms of securitization and the response from both workers and activists such as the advocacy group Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW). While there has been ample discussion of how vulnerable migrant agricultural workers were affected during the pandemic, there has been less attention paid to how state policies have heightened and targeted specific groups such as migrant agricultural workers through modes of securitization. Central to this was to ensure that labour needs would be met to ensure the viability of Canada's multi‐billion agricultural industry. This paper shows how securitization and control were vital to ensure no disruptions to production levels and Canada's role as a leading agricultural export producer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How aggregators reconcile repositories' user-supplied subject keywords is a growing challenge in the metadata profession. While aggregators allow users to search across multiple databases to find information, the search capability is only as good as the supplied metadata. This paper is a case study of a project to reconcile harvested metadata keywords within a research data discovery service. The Federated Research Data Repository (FRDR) Discovery Service is a national, bilingual platform for discovering Canadian research data that harvests metadata from over 90 repositories. This paper outlines the work of a cross-Canada, volunteer group of experts who attempted to develop a semi-automated workflow to map the FRDR subject keywords to Faceted Application of Subject Terminology (FAST) to improve discoverability. The authors, who were members of the working group, discuss why the project failed, the problems encountered, and their thoughts on the future of automated metadata reconciliation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

À l'aube de leur cinquantième année d'existence en tant que publication savante, les Papers/Cahiers de la Société bibliographique du Canada continuent de jouer un rôle primordial dans l'histoire du livre au Canada. Cet article donne un aperçu historique des Papers/Cahiers et de leur évolution au fil des ans y compris des notices biographiques des principaux rédacteurs et collaborateurs. Il contient également des observations pertinentes au sujet du contenu intellectuel et culturel des Papers/Cahiers, des points de repères et des données bibliographiques en mettant surtout l'accent sur l'histoire du livre au Canada durant les deux dernières décennies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

River ice, like open-water conditions, is an integral component of the cold-climate hydrological cycle. The annual succession of river ice formation, growth, decay and clearance can include low flows and ice jams, as well as midwinter and spring break-up events. Reports and associated data of river ice occurrence are often limited to single locations or regional assessments, are season-specific, and use readily available data. Within Canada, the National Hydrometric Program (NHP) operates a network of gauging stations with water level as the primary measured variable to derive discharge. In the late 1990s, the Water Science and Technology Directorate of Environment and Climate Change Canada initiated a long-term effort to compile, archive and extract river-ice-related information from NHP hydrometric records. This data article describes the original research data set produced by this near 20-year effort: the Canadian River Ice Database (CRID). The CRID holds almost 73 000 recorded variables from a subset of 196 NHP stations throughout Canada that were in operation within the period 1894 to 2015. Over 100 000 paper and digital files were reviewed, representing 10 378 station years of active operation. The task of compiling this database involved manual extraction and input of more than 460 000 data entries on water level, discharge, ice thickness, date, time and data quality rating. Guidelines on the data extraction, rating procedure and challenges are provided. At each location, time series of up to 15 variables specific to the occurrence of freeze-up and winter-low events, midwinter break-up, ice thickness, spring break-up, and maximum open-water level were compiled. This database follows up on several earlier efforts to compile information on river ice, which are summarized herein, and expands the scope and detail for use in Canadian river ice research and applications. Following the Government of Canada Open Data initiative, this original river ice data set is available at 10.18164/c21e1852-ba8e-44af-bc13-48eeedfcf2f4 (de Rham et al., 2020). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the knowledge and opinions of cannabis users regarding Canadian laws regulating possession of cannabis. Our study is based on data from 165 in-depth interviews with adult cannabis users from four Canadian cities. Our participants revealed a limited awareness of cannabis policy in Canada. When researchers informed them about actual Canadian laws, the majority of participants regarded the specified laws as "harsh," "excessive," "absurd" and/or "ridiculous." In practice, the common experience of participants suggests the existence of two sets of enforcement practice in Canada--"there's what's on paper and then there's what happens, out on the sidewalk." We situate our analysis of these practices in the context of broader debates regarding the putative normalization of drugs like cannabis in Canada. We conclude that greater consideration of the character of local law enforcement practices has the capacity to add further conceptual and analytical clarity to existing theories of normalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the 2009 Outstanding Conference Paper Award that was given to IEEE Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference (NSREC) in Canada. The conference paper on radiation effects comprises upset cross-section obtained from accelerated testing with the use of both protons and ions. The paper also focuses on the understanding a diverse range of single event effects. In addition, test shows that upset cross-sections-per-bit was similar for both ions and proton.

Working at the mill had been a family affair for generations of Sturgeon Falls' mill workers, as young men followed their fathers, uncles, older broth­ers, and occasionally mothers, into the Northern Ontario mill - the town’s largest employer for more than a century. The mill’s workforce was over­whelmingly white and male, with a historic linguistic divide between largely English-speaking managers and mainly French-speaking production workers. This linguistic division of labour and the near total exclusion of Aboriginal people were remnants of industrial colonialism in the region. Within a year of the mill’s December 2002 closure, I began interviewing the former employ­ees about their experiences and these interviews continued for the next two years. During that time, efforts to reopen the mill fizzled out and it was demol­ished by the departing company. Work-life oral histories offer us a way into the shifting sands of culture and economy in this former mill town. This article explores the shifting sense of temporal and spatial proximity or distance in the plant shutdown stories told by 37 former mill workers. Several dimensions of proximity are explored such as the temporal proximity of the interview to the events being recounted, the perceived social proximity that prevailed before the mill closing, the remembered physical proximity of the mill in the narrated lives of residents, and, now, after the mill’s closure, the spectre of forced relocation or distant daily commutes to new jobs in other towns and cities. For long-service workers, employment mobility or permanent relo­cation was understood to be a last resort. These interviews make clear that forced employment mobility was a core concern to everyone we interviewed, not just those who actually relocated or commuted to jobs found elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the conclusions and recommendations from the position paper on interventional radiology (IR) in Canada. The Millennium Research Group has been commissioned to produce a position paper on IR in the country, as part of a lobbying and public relations campaign initiated by the Canadian Interventional Radiology Association. The position paper has aimed to highlight the current state of IR in the country, to identify disease and treatment trends.

Much of Canada's industrial sector is driven by natural resources and relies heavily on provisioning services supplied by the boreal zone. However, the sometimes intensive processes used by resource-based industries and their associated infrastructure have significantly altered the region, creating concerns over the future socio-ecological health of the boreal zone. Addressing these concerns will require industries reliant on natural resources from the boreal zone to innovate their processes, management, and infrastructure to improve extraction efficiency while contributing to society's increasing expectations related to sustainability. Here, we explore past, current, and future trends in industrial innovation and infrastructure in the boreal zone for forestry, mining, pulp and paper, oil and gas, and renewable sources of power generation. We assess the role of innovation on the future socio-ecological state of the boreal zone by considering interactions between innovation in industry and infrastructure and other key drivers of change in the boreal, such as atmospheric changes, changing demands for nonprovisioning and provisioning ecosystem services, governance, and demographics and social values. We present future scenarios highlighting three divergent trajectories of change in boreal ecosystems based on past and current states of innovation in industry and infrastructure. We suggest that minimizing impacts of natural resource extraction activities in the boreal zone will only be possible through innovation directly focused on reducing the human footprint on the landscape. Innovation in the information technology sector related to process, management, and end products within these industries and placing greater emphasis on cross-sectoral collaboration will be key to achieving this goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this discussion paper is to explore the existing literature from Canada on transitioning from military to civilian life for veterans of recent deployments. A number of topics relating to the transition experience emerged: interpersonal readjustment, emotional including mental health needs, school needs, and social needs. Implications for nursing will be discussed in terms of veterans as a cultural group and culturally competent nursing care. Recommendations for future nursing research include how well current services are meeting the needs of the younger, more recent veterans transitioning to civilian life; conducting longitudinal studies on the impact of transitioning to civilian life for veterans and their families; comparing the transition experience at an international level; developing a transition model that situates the veteran culture as the overarching framework for testing and understanding the experience of transitioning to civilian life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Canadian environmental effects monitoring (EEM) program is a regulated, cyclical, industry-funded program designed to determine whether receiving water impacts exist when a mill is in compliance with its discharge limits. The results from three cycles of the fish monitoring program (1992 to 2004) are available from over 200 surveys of fish compared between sites located upstream and downstream of pulp and paper mill effluent outfalls. Previous meta-analyses have shown a national average response pattern across cycles characterized by an increase in endpoints measuring energy storage and growth and a decrease in a reproductive endpoint, consistent with a response of nutrient enrichment in combination with some form of metabolic disruption. Although the national average pattern of effects was temporally consistent, there was some variability in the magnitude of effects among cycles. Questions were raised as to whether the intercycle variability was due to changes in effluent quality or due, at least in part, to other factors. The present study compares responses over the first three cycles, and shows that the choice of sentinel species is likely to be a major contributing factor to the variability in observed effects. Subset analyses using studies from mills that used the same sentinel species across cycles reveal fairly uniform responses and little evidence of significant improvements in overall fish health from cycles one to three. However, a meta-analysis using 1991 data collected from 10 mills before the implementation of the EEM program and data from the same mills collected during cycles one to three of the program reveal significantly reduced effects on relative liver weight and potential improvements in other endpoints. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2010;29:440–452. © 2009 SETAC [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on a paper of the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada, focusing on the issue of the rural health service closures. It explores the main causes behind the hospital closures including quality concerns, economic matters and highlights the impact of the step. After studying different aspects of the topic, it concludes that the decision of closing rural hospitals is not backed by proper reasons.

The article presents a paper on the effectiveness of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) to treat children and adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) and anxiety disorders (AD). Based from the medical records, the number needed to treat (NNT) patients with AD acquired the percentage rating of 25%. Moreover, the author provides an overview on how the Canadian Academy Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CACAP) has developed its information resources management to conduct several randomized clinical trials. A chart is presented depicting a comprehensive explanation on how the antidepressants works efficiently in the human bodies.

The environmental benefits of water table management (WTM), as a method to reduce nitrate pollution, are well known. However, there are few published studies on the effects of WTM on water use efficiency (WUE). This paper highlights the agronomic interest of WTM for increasing WUE of irrigated grain corn production. A field study was conducted in 2001 and 2002 at a large scale WTM research facility in Québec, Canada. The region experienced periods of drought during the two growing seasons. This study shows that, by keeping the water table at 0.80 m below the soil surface, there were on average 35% increases in grain corn yields, compared to conventional free drainage. The WUEs obtained with WTM (5.1 kg m−3 in 2001 and 7.1 kg m−3 in 2002) indicate that the method is generally more water efficient than conventional sprinkler and furrow irrigation. The WUE of WTM also compares well with that of water conservation methods such as alternate furrow irrigation and deficit sprinkler irrigation. Moreover, WTM requires low inputs in terms of equipment, energy, and labour, because it makes use of existing subsurface drainage systems, which are widespread in Eastern Canada due to the region's soils and climate, and because of its design, which does not necessitate high-pressure pumps and allows for automated management. Hence, WTM appears to be an interesting alternative to conventional irrigation methods due to its combined environmental and agronomical benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Birthday cards are a ceremonial token that may purposefully or unintentionally transmit stereotypes about the ageing process. In the current study, the authors examined 150 age-specific paper birthday cards sold in retail outlets located in a small metropolitan area. Results suggest that a greater proportion of the cards' textual messages represented ageing in a negative manner (66.7%). Further, the negativity of these written messages did not appear to vary as a function of the intended recipient's chronological age or sex. The findings are compared to those of previous studies conducted in this area. As well, limitations and directions for future research are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

List several papers presented at the First International Conference on the Critical and Qualitative Approaches to Health Psychology in NewFoundland on July 1999. 'Acquiring Personal Knowledge for Theory and Therapy,' by Nick Milton; Theorizing Personal Change in Health,' by Carla Willig and Angela Harden; 'Health Psychology as Agent of Change,' by David Marks.

In this paper, I recount the circumstances which have caused me to question deeply my own complicity in Eurocentric education, which is really all we have to offer our Aboriginal students. Coming from my position as a white, female, middle-aged university professor with a history of school teaching and school counselling, I outline the concerns I have with both schools and faculties of education, fearing personal complicity in cultural genocide. In particular, I am concerned with three things: one, how we frame and name our own racism -- to come to feel comfortable talking about our own biases and prejudicial thoughts, actions, and attitudes-as a necessary first step to action; two, how we disadvantage Aboriginal students in our universities, for whom success may require some form of personal "amputation," and three, how we, as teacher educators, can begin to model, through our own culturally sensitive actions and through our teaching, ways of becoming culturally sensitive classroom teachers. While I do not provide answers to the thorny question of "what to do," I do hold out hope that working in arrangements of mutual respect with those of another culture can lead us to idiosyncratic and powerful models of change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has been substantially revised by the Canadian Psychiatric Association's Research Committee and approved for republication by the CPA's Board of Directors on May 3, 2017. The original policy paper1 was developed by the Scientific and Research Affairs Standing Committee and approved by the Board of Directors on November 10, 2008. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article responds to the article "Multiculturalism, Memory, and Ritualization: Ukrainian Nationalist Monuments in Edmonton, Alberta" by Per A. Rudling in volume 39, issue 5 of the periodical. The author claims that Rudling unfairly portrays Ukrainian Canadians as nationalistic, anti-Semitic, and supportive of participants in the Holocaust. Topics include allegations of Ukrainian collaboration with Nazi occupiers during World War II, the relations among different groups of Ukrainian immigrants, and the nature of Canadian multiculturalism.

Laboratory tests have been used to assess the regulatory and research questions related to the effects of pulp mill effluents on aquatic biota. Acute, short-term laboratory tests have clearly shown the improvement in final effluent quality following installation of secondary treatment at Canadian pulp mills. In an effort to predict and investigate impacts on wild fish, laboratory bioassays were developed to examine sublethal endpoints: induction of hepatic mixed function oxygenase activity and reduction of sex steroid concentrations. These laboratory assays have been used to assess whole effluents, specific chemicals, and components of pulp mill processes, and to discriminate between historical and present-day effluent discharges. These tests have shown that induction of mixed-function oxygenase activity and reduction of sex steroid concentrations are produced by effluents from a variety of mill types, with and without chlorine bleaching, in hardwood and softwood pulping facilities, and before and after effluent treatment. These short-term bioassays have enabled reductions in sex steroid concentrations to be linked to mill process streams, and have provided information on effective waste stream treatment. Longer term, life-cycle fish bioassays have shown that chronic exposure to pulp mill effluents commonly results in growth enhancement, liver enlargement, and decreases in gonad size, secondary sex characteristics, and fecundity. These long-term laboratory exposures are able to mimic the most commonly observed alterations of wild fish exposed to pulp mill effluents: increases in condition factors, increases in liver-somatic indices, and decreases in gonadosomatic indices. This pattern of response is a combination of nutrient enrichment with metabolic disruption. The most sensitive and biologically meaningful endpoint is decreased reproduction in fish life-cycle exposures. As the laboratory tests move forward into the next decade, attention will focus on the reproductive endpoints and on the possibility of shortening the fish bioassays while still maintaining sensitivity and biological relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]