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An examination of the new vocationalism and its influence on college-university articulation policies in Ontario: 1962-2000
Get PDFThis descriptive qualitative study examines how the ‘new vocationalism’ influenced the
historical evolution of credit transfer policies between college and university institutions
in Ontario. I used discourse analysis under the framework of interpretive policy analysis
in order to critically analyze documents reflecting college-university articulation policies
in Ontario, from 1962 to 2000. Interpretive policy analysis has been applied as a research
method to provide: a) a chronological overview of the data, and b) an analysis of the new
vocational discourse. Using a neo-Marxist lens, I investigate the larger political and
economic influences that have shaped postsecondary policies under the ‘new
vocationalism,’ including key concepts such as capitalism, hegemony, and alienation. I
assert that articulation agreements - influenced by new vocational discourses - were
deliberately implemented by the government of Ontario since the 1960s, in order to
reorient post-secondary education to the marketplace and fulfill the needs of the ‘new
knowledge economy.
Le retour au travail des employés suite à une absence prolongée reliés à une maladie personnelle ou professionnelle de nature psychologique : outiller les superviseurs immédiats
No full textLe présent essai porte sur la mise en contexte et l’analyse d’un stage spécialisé à la maîtrise en service social réalisé à Travaux publics et Services gouvernementaux Canada, de septembre à décembre 2014 et auprès de deux populations suivantes : les employés vivant de la souffrance au travail et leurs superviseurs immédiats. Si les causes, les effets et les façons d’intervenir en contexte de souffrance au travail furent au coeur de la démarche d’apprentissage, ce sont les conditions qui favorisent ou non les bons retours au travail des employés qui se sont absentés pour une raison de santé mentale qui furent au centre de mes interventions individuelles et de petits groupes en service social.Master`s These
A fugal discourse on the electromagnetic coupling of electromagnetic processes in the earth-ionosphere and the human brain
Get PDFThere exists a space between the ionosphere and the surface of the earth within which
electromagnetic standing waves, generated by lightning strikes, can resonate around the
earth; these standing waves are known collectively as the Schumann resonances. In the
late 1960s König and Ankermuller already reported striking similarities between these
electromagnetic signals and those recorded from the electroencephalograms (EEG) of
the human brain; both signals exhibit similar characteristics in terms of frequency and
electric and magnetic field intensity. The analyses reported here demonstrate that 1)
microscopic (brain) and macroscopic (earth) representations of natural electromagnetic
fields are conserved spatially, 2) that electric fields recorded from human brains exhibit
strong correlation with the strength of the these parameters and 3) that the human brain
periodically synchronizes with signals generated within the earth-ionosphere waveguide
at frequencies characteristic of the Schumann resonance for periods of about 300 msec.
These findings recapitulate 17th century ideas of harmony amongst the cerebral and
planetary spheres and may provide the means necessary to quantitatively investigate
concepts of early 20th century psycholog
La formation universitaire en Ontario français : une étude documentaire du bilinguisme à l’Université Laurentienne et ses effets sur les francophones
No full textTrend du Sex-ratio par la théorie de jeux évolutifs
No full textDans cet article, nous étudions l’influence génétique et sexuelle aussi bien mâle que femelle sur le génome mâle. La parité de ces allocations génétiques et sexuelles suit un cheminement d’un équilibre évolutivement stable qui induit implicitement une proportion, sex-ratio, génétiquement paritaire. La disparitéobservée en faveur d’un tel taux supérieur à l’unitépeut ainsi s’expliquer par la discrimination sexuelle et féminine
Effects of action video game training on spatial attention
No full textStudies suggest that action video game play improves top-down attentional control. A current learning to learn theory proposes that probabilistic inference, the ability to identify statistical patterns and create task-relevant perceptual templates to efficiently orient endogenous attention, underlies video game players’ greater performance relative to non-gamers in a variety of tasks. The current study aimed to evaluate this theory using a target detection task known to induce a suboptimal number line top-down template, which results in spatial biases. Participants were trained for ten hours on either Tetris or Medal of Honor. Mean reaction time across all conditions was significantly improved in both groups. However, there was no evidence for enhanced top-down control due to video game training in this experiment.Honours essa
The effectiveness of a care transitions and rapid response nurse intervention at reducing readmissions and emergency department use for high risk patients: a mixed methods study
Get PDFThe transition from hospital to home is a vulnerable period for the elderly patient with complex conditions, who are often frail, at risk for adverse events and unable to navigate a system of poorly coordinated care in the post-discharge period. Achieving seamless transitions between care settings is viewed as crucial to high-quality care for frail older persons. Care transitions interventions are seen as effective care coordinating mechanisms for reducing avoidable adverse events associated with the transition of the patient from the hospital to the home. This mixed methods study evaluates the effectiveness of a care transitions and rapid response nurse intervention at lengthening the time to first readmission and reducing total readmissions, emergency department use and total hospital bed days during the 30-day, 60-day and 90-day post-discharge periods for patients at high risk of readmission. The intervening impact of social isolation and patient frailty is evaluated. A randomized control trial was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. Analysis was completed using the intention-to-treat principle. The primary end-point - the time to first readmission - was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. The Fisher’s exact test compared differences in the post-discharge period, on the number of readmissions and emergency department visits and the Mann-Whitney-U test for hospital bed-days used. The intervening impacts of frailty and social isolation were evaluated using the independent t-test, Pearson correlation and two-way analysis of variance. Patient satisfaction with transition was evaluated using the Care Transitions Measure. Factors associated with inpatient and emergency department use were analyzed using a linear mixed model approach. No statistically significant differences were found between the intervention and control groups on the time to first readmission or in the post-discharge emergency department or inpatient bed use. Social isolation and frailty were not shown to significantly influence these outcomes but frailty was shown to be significantly associated with death. Men living alone were found to be more socially isolated. Linear mixed model analysis demonstrated that gender and previous emergency department and inpatient bed use to be significant predictors of future emergency department, readmission and inpatient bed use. No differences in patient satisfaction with the transitions were found between the intervention and control groups. A qualitative analysis was undertaken using focus groups and individual interviews, involving providers, to identify the factors that facilitated or were barriers to the implementation of this care transitions intervention. Using thematic content analysis, it was found that the effectiveness of transitional coordination efforts was thwarted by ineffective communication which affected the quality of the underlying relationships between the two teams. Other barriers to achieving the desired outcomes included: issues of role clarity, role awareness and acceptance of the positions within the respective organizations, the adequacy and reinforcement of coordinating mechanisms, and the effectiveness of the information exchange protocols. The combination of these factors limited the ability of the professionals to work effectively together to achieve the patient outcomes desired. Several improvement opportunities were identified. The activities of the individual professionals delivering care were patient focused
Numerical modeling of seismic wave propagation in underground mines.
No full textThe phenomenon of rockburst damage localization, which is not well understood, has been
observed in deep underground mines. Analysis of seismic wave propagation in underground
mines is of great interest for improved understanding of the dynamic rock failure problem. This
thesis aims at making a contribution for improving understanding of the seismic wave
propagation in deep underground mines. Advanced numerical modeling tools are used and new
modeling techniques are developed to attain this goal.
In this thesis, research is emphasized on the ground motion around excavations due to seismic
wave propagation that results from a fault-slip seismic event in the far-field and the near-field. It
is found that moment tensor point source model seems to be suitable for the source
representation in the far-field and the non-point source model (such as kinematic rupture source
model) seems to be suitable for the source representation in the near-field. The modeling results
confirm that ground motion is influenced by many factors such as target-source distance, slip direction, spatial location, and geometrical and geological conditions.
Influence of wavelength-to-excavation span (/D) ratio on the wavefield is investigated to gain
insights of ground motion behavior under both quasi-static and dynamic loading conditions. It is
revealed that PPV (peak particle velocity) values increase as the /D ratio increases and the
amplification effect increases as the /D ratio decreases. The loading condition maybe changed
from the dynamic loading to the quasi-static condition when the /D is larger than 30. Strong
dynamic loading should be considered when the /D ratio is small (less than 10, with a shear wavelength less than 50 m and an excavation span greater than 5 m) for most underground
excavations.
A method is proposed to estimate the quality factor (a measure of energy loss per oscillation
cycle) for shear waves propagating in underground hard rocks so as to gain insight into the
influence of internal attenuation on seismic wave propagation. A proper shear wave quality
factor can be obtained by comparing modeling results with that from a scaling law, even if there
are no high quality data for quality factor back analysis. Furthermore, the influence of different
geological structures on seismic wave propagation is studied. It is shown that wave propagation
patterns around an excavation can be altered and PPV amplification and shielding effect can
occur near the excavation boundaries amongst other reasons due to heterogeneities such as
tunnels, open and backfilled stopes, and dykes in underground mines. Finally, a coupled numerical procedure, which couples FLAC and SPECFEM2D, is developed to
consider the excavation effect on ground motion. The FLAC model considers the excavationinduced
stress change and rock mass failure, and passes the input data to SPECFEM2D by
invoking FISH scripts. In addition, a new nonlinear velocity model that considers the influence
of confinement and rock mass failure on wave velocity is presented. This nonlinear velocity
model and the coupled numerical technique are used to model a simple stope excavation problem.
It is found that there is a large difference in the wavefields and ground motions between the
results from the uniform and non-uniform velocity models. A relatively stronger amplification is
observed in the low confinement zones and on the excavation surface in the non-uniform
velocity models. Because stress redistribution and rock mass failure around an excavation are
considered, a realistic non-uniform velocity field can be obtained. The proposed coupled numerical procedure offers a method to improve the understanding of the site amplification
effect and ground motion near excavation boundaries.
This thesis presents some insights with regard to seismic wave propagation due to fault-slip
seismic events in underground mines. If seismic wave propagation in underground mines can be
modeled properly using techniques such as these presented in this thesis, then it is possible to
conduct forensic analysis after a large seismic event so as to explain one of many factors that
caused rockburst damage localization. Alternatively, the modeling approach may provide
valuable inputs for decision-making with regard to strengthening high risk areas to prevent
rockburst, thus improving mine safety
L’investissement socialement responsable : nouvelle dynamique du système économique et financier ?
No full textEducational data mining using fuzzy sets to facilitate usability and user experience - an approach to integrate artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction
No full textArtificial Intelligence (AI) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) have the common goal of enhancing effectiveness of a system and making it easier for people to use. AI accomplishes that by demonstrating intelligent behavior on a machine, whereas HCI involves the design approach required to obtain usability and user experience. This study integrates AI and HCI techniques in a real-world application complementing the aims of each field. A web based system was developed for a school board in Eastern Canada by following the user-centered approach of HCI. In the course of designing a good interface, it was found that fuzzy inference of AI was going on in users’ minds when they formed conceptual models to understand the application. The interface was evaluated by applying heuristic evaluation, cognitive walkthroughs and user feedback. It was shown that usability and user experience can be improved by employing fuzzy set techniques. Therefore, fuzzy set modeling can serve as a user centered method for HCI design. Furthermore, data gathering techniques of HCI helped to define the cognitive processes that could be replicated with the aid of fuzzy sets