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Since the 1970s, a defining feature of advanced economies has been industrial plant closures, stemming from the broader process of economic restructuring. Plant closures have been extensively covered by the media due to their adverse effects on localities. However, no media analysis of closures has been conducted in the plant closure literature. In addition to providing a wealth of information, such an analysis can provide insight into media narratives of closures. Media profoundly affects economies by disseminating narratives that influence society, institutions, and politics. To bridge the plant closure and media literature, this paper conducts a media analysis of closures in Ontario, Canada, from 2000 to 2019. Like other advanced economies, the province has experienced many plant closures over the past several decades. The paper found that the overarching narrative presented by the media was that 'no one is responsible' for plant closures and therefore 'no one can or should act'. Also, it was found that differences in media narratives of closures were primarily due to the political slant of news outlets, not city size or scale of news outlets or whether news outlets were independently owned or part of a media conglomerate. Lastly, the paper found that the dissemination of media coverage on plant closures throughout the province was primarily based on the number of job losses, resulting in media coverage of smaller closures remaining localised, while media coverage of larger closures spreading throughout the province. The paper found that the overarching narrative presented by the media was that 'no one is responsible' for plant closures and therefore 'no one can or should act'. Also, it was found that differences in media narratives of closures were primarily due to the political slant of news outlets. Lastly, the paper found that the dissemination of media coverage on plant closures throughout the province was primarily based on the number of job losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper traces the changing dynamics of forest management on privately owned land in southern Ontario, Canada, using the conceptual lens of state legibility to highlight how incentive programs are creating new ways of seeing and engaging in stewardship. Specifically, the Managed Forest Tax Incentive Program (MFTIP) and its corresponding Managed Forest Plan are investigated as a means through which a diversified field of knowledge has been activated to enable climate-conscious adaptive stewardship across the region. Methods: This case study uses a qualitative approach, incorporating document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and direct observation. Similar patterns and relationships within and across sites are identified to build theory and shed light on the socio-ecological context of private forest management. Results: Set within southern Ontario’s history of forest management and the rise of neoliberal environmental governance, this paper contributes theoretically to scholarship on state legibility. The results illustrate a shift in stewardship on private lands through a rescaling of management responsibility that embraces different perspectives and builds place-based practical knowledge of forest systems. By mapping and building knowledge networks, diverse approaches to management have proliferated at the local and regional levels. These approaches have been influenced by previous management experience, different professional backgrounds, knowledge of participants, and the motivation of landowners to engage in active stewardship. Conclusion: The process of developing a management plan plays a key role in making landscapes legible to all stakeholders. The document also serves as an instrument of the state to build private landowners’ and forest consultants’ knowledge and capacity. This has set in motion a socio-ecological landscape strategy to address encroachment, invasive species, and climatic challenges in this increasingly urbanizing region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on how social group work is integral to teaching and learning about critical reflection on practice (CRoP), on three different levels. The paper provides an overview of the theory and practice of CRoP, followed by a description of group work in two MSW CRoP course sections at a school of social work in Ontario, Canada. The paper describes the process of integrating CRoP into practicum integration seminar groups to sustain skills in critical reflection, as well as our own group process in our small faculty research and teaching group. By integrating group work and critical reflection literature and by focusing on the development of critical acceptance and mutual aid, this paper will outline benefits, challenges, and opportunities related to the use of groups in facilitating the CRoP process, along with next steps and further discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the early 2000s, plant closures have been a significant concern in Ontario, Canada. Scholars and policymakers alike aim to investigate the causes of plant closures and determine how to mitigate their impacts. Despite the large body of literature on plant closures, local economic development practitioners' perspectives and experiences have been neglected. To fill this gap, this paper interviewed twenty-two practitioners from various cities in Ontario to understand how practitioners perceive and respond to plant closures. The findings provide a comprehensive overview of the various dynamics of plant closures. Also, based on the findings, seven policy recommendations are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, homelessness has become more visible, and with it are increased demands for law enforcement to minimise the visibility of people experiencing homelessness, and manage, or ultimately remove, local encampments. While scholarship exists on police responses to homelessness, the role that other security actors, such as municipal bylaw officers, play in managing and regulating homelessness is largely unknown. In this paper, we explore municipal bylaw officers' perceptions of their roles and responsibilities related to homelessness in Ontario, Canada. Our analysis reveals how bylaw officers have become important players in the security governance of homelessness. We demonstrate how bylaw officers' policies, which focus on the regulation of space, are loosely coupled with, or disconnected from, their frontline activities, which require the regulation of people. This loose coupling situates bylaw officers in a perceived regulatory grey zone, requiring them to use discretionary solutions informed by their subjective experiences to govern people experiencing homelessness. The reliance on subjectivity and discretion expands security networks regulating and governing people experiencing homelessness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The expansion of the Patient-Centred Medical Home model presents a valuable opportunity to enhance the integration of team-based mental health services in primary care settings, thereby meeting the growing demand for such services. Understanding the organizational context of a Patient-Centred Medical Home is crucial for identifying the facilitators and barriers to integrating mental health care within primary care. The main objective of this paper is to present the findings related to the following research question: "What organizational features shape Family Health Teams' capacity to provide mental health services for depression and anxiety across Ontario, Canada?" Methods: Adopting a constructivist grounded theory approach, we conducted interviews with various mental health care providers, and administrators within Ontario's Family Health Teams, in addition to engaging provincial policy informants and community stakeholders. Data analysis involved a team-based approach, including code comparison and labelling, with a dedicated data analysis subcommittee convening monthly to explore coded concepts influencing contextual factors. Results: From the 96 interviews conducted, involving 82 participants, key insights emerged on the organizational contextual features considered vital in facilitating team-based mental health care in primary care settings. Five prominent themes were identified: i) mental health explicit in the organizational vision, ii) leadership driving mental health care, iii) developing a mature and stable team, iv) adequate physical space that facilitates team interaction, and v) electronic medical records to facilitate team communication. Conclusions: This study underscores the often-neglected organizational elements that influence primary care teams' capacity to deliver quality mental health care services. It highlights the significance of strong leadership complemented by effective communication and collaboration within teams to enhance their ability to provide mental health care. Strengthening relationships within primary care teams lies at the core of effective healthcare delivery and should be leveraged to improve the integration of mental health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Improving equity and early access to palliative care for underserved populations in Canada is a priority. Little is known regarding access to palliative and end-of-life care in the Black population. Methods: We undertook a scoping review using the framework by Arksey and O'Malley to identify knowledge, access gaps, and experiences of palliative and end-of-life care among Blacks living with life-limiting illnesses in Canada. Primary studies, discussion papers, books, and reports were considered eligible. We followed a comprehensive search strategy developed by an information scientist. Searches were performed in the following bibliographic databases: Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO via OVID, CINAHL via EBSCOhost, Scopus and Cochrane Library via Wiley. The search strategy was derived from three main concepts: (1) Black people; (2) Canada and Canadian provinces; (3) Palliative, hospice, or end-of-life care. No publication date or language limits were applied. Titles and abstracts were screened for eligibility by one reviewer and full text by two independent reviewers. Results: The search yielded 233 articles. Nineteen articles were selected for full-text review, and 7 articles met the inclusion criteria. These studies were published between 2010 and 2021, and conducted in the provinces of Ontario and Nova Scotia only. Studies used both quantitative and qualitative methods and included cancer decedents, next of kin, family caregivers and religious leaders. Sample sizes in various studies ranged from 6 − 2,606 participants. Included studies reported a general lack of understanding about palliative and end-of-life care, positive and negative experiences, and limited access to palliative and end-of-life care for Blacks, across all care settings. Conclusion: Findings suggest limited knowledge of palliative care and inequities in access to palliative and end-of-life care for Blacks living with life-limiting illnesses in 2 Canadian provinces. There is an urgent need for research to inform tailored and culturally acceptable strategies to improve understanding and access to palliative care and end-of-life care among Blacks in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Community paramedicine (CP) is an extension of the traditional paramedic role, where paramedics provide non-acute care to patients in non-emergent conditions. Due to its success in reducing burden on hospital systems and improving patient outcomes, this type of paramedic role is being increasingly implemented within communities and health systems across Ontario. Previous literature has focused on the patient experience with CP programs, but there is lack of research on the paramedic perspective in this role. This paper aims to understand the perspectives and experiences, both positive and negative, of paramedics working in a CP program towards the community paramedic role. Methods: An online survey was distributed through multiple communication channels (e.g. professional organizations, paramedic services, social media) and convenience sampling was used. Five open-ended questions asked paramedics about their perceptions and experiences with the CP role; the survey also collected demographic data. While the full survey was open to all paramedics, only those who had experience in a CP role were included in the current study. The data was qualitatively analyzed using a comparative thematic analysis. Results: Data was collected from 79 respondents who had worked in a CP program. Three overarching themes, with multiple sub-themes, were identified. The first theme was that CP programs fill important gaps in the healthcare system. The second was that they provide paramedics with an opportunity for lateral career movement in a role where they can have deeper patient connections. The third was that CP has created a paradigm shift within paramedicine, extending the traditional scope of the practice. While paramedics largely reported positive experiences, there were some negative perceptions regarding the slower pace of work and the "soft skills" required in the role that vary from the traditional paramedic identity. Conclusions: CP programs utilize paramedic skills to fill a gap in the healthcare system, can improve paramedic mental health, and also provide a new pathway for paramedic careers. As a new role, there are some challenges that CP program planners should take into consideration, such as additional training needs and the varying perceptions of CP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: International studies show that adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice and forensic mental health systems; however, it is difficult to capture their involvement across systems in any one jurisdiction. Aims: The current study aimed to estimate the prevalence of IDD across different parts of the criminal justice and forensic mental health systems in Ontario and to describe the demographic and clinical profiles of these individuals relative to their counterparts without IDD. Methods: This project utilised administrative data to identify and describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of adults with IDD and criminal justice or forensic involvement across four sectors: federal correctional facilities, provincial correctional facilities, forensic inpatient mental health care and community mental health programmes. Questions were driven by and results were contextualised by a project advisory group and people with lived experience from the different sectors studied, resulting in a series of recommendations. Results: Adults with IDD were over‐represented in each of the four settings, ranging from 2.1% in federal corrections to 16.7% in forensic inpatient care. Between 20% (forensic inpatient) and 38.4% (provincial corrections) were under the age of 25 and between 34.5% (forensic inpatient) and 41.8% (provincial corrections) resided in the lowest income neighbourhoods. Medical complexity and rates of co‐occurring mental health conditions were higher for people with IDD than those without IDD in federal and provincial corrections. Conclusions: Establishing a population‐based understanding of people with IDD within these sectors is an essential first step towards understanding and addressing service and care needs. Building on the perspectives of people who work in and use these systems, this paper concludes with intervention recommendations before, during and after justice involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To make recommendations on managing the surveillance of patients with stage I, II, III or resectable IV melanoma who are clinically free of disease following treatment with curative intent. This guideline was developed by Ontario Health's (Cancer Care Ontario's) Program in Evidence-Based Care and the Melanoma Disease Site Group (including seven medical oncologists, four surgical oncologists, three dermatologists, one radiation oncologist and one patient representative). The MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, PROSPERO databases and the main relevant guideline websites were searched. Internal and external reviews were conducted, with final approval by the Program in Evidence-Based Care and the Melanoma Disease Site Group. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach was followed, and the Modified Delphi method was used. Based on the current evidence (eight eligible original study papers and four relevant guidelines) and the clinical opinions of the authors of this guideline, the initial recommendations were made. To reach 75% agreement for each recommendation, the Melanoma Disease Site Group (16 members) voted twice and one recommendation was voted on three times. After a comprehensive internal and external review process (including national and international reviewers), 12 recommendations, three weak recommendations and six qualified statements were ultimately made. After a systematic review, a comprehensive internal and external review process and a consensus process, the current guideline has been created. The guideline authors believe that this guideline will help clinicians, patients and policymakers make well-informed healthcare decisions that will guide them in clinical melanoma surveillance and ultimately assist in improving patient outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the roles of quality managers at community colleges, their experiences balancing accountability and improvement and their insights into the future of quality assurance. Design/methodology/approach: This phenomenological, qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with eight community college quality managers to investigate their roles, experiences and perspectives. A reflexive thematic approach was used to analyze the interview data. Findings: Four themes were identified from participant responses: quality managers frame and enable program quality, quality managers drive program change, quality managers cultivate a culture of quality and quality managers seek system change. The findings illustrate the roles played by quality managers as they work to improve college education at program, institution and system-wide levels. Research limitations/implications: The decision of participants to accept the recruitment invitation might reflect particular attitudes, perspectives or experiences. Practical implications: Quality assurance has emerged as a key mechanism for ensuring postsecondary programs are current, relevant and meeting the evolving needs of students and employers. This study advances the understanding of how quality assurance processes play out at the operational level and explores the experiences of quality managers as they navigate various quality tensions. Originality/value: Quality managers play key roles in leading, evaluating and influencing quality assurance processes in postsecondary education yet they are underrepresented in the literature. The findings of this study shed new light on the aspirational and influential roles they play in advancing quality assurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Establishing the most important outcomes for school-based speech-language therapy is essential to guide future research and program evaluation for these services. Many health disciplines have developed core outcomes sets (COS) for this purpose. A COS encompasses the most important outcomes for particular health services as identified by appropriate interested parties. These interested parties usually represent health care providers and those with the health condition. In this paper, we report the development of a guiding framework for a COS for speech-language therapy services in schools in a Canadian context. Methods: Using a group concept mapping method, we identified the outcomes for inclusion in the COS guiding framework through the elicited opinions of key interested parties: speech-language therapists, teachers, and family members of children with speech, language, and communication needs. We extracted 103 statements (potential outcomes) from a previous data set of interview transcripts. We then asked participants to sort the statements into conceptually similar groups, which were aggregated and transformed into a cluster map using multidimensional scaling followed by hierarchical cluster analysis. Participants also rated each statement on 5-point scales for importance and feasibility. We calculated mean ratings for individual statements and for all statements in a cluster, for all participants and for participant groups separately. Results: We identified seven core outcomes for school-based speech-language services in Ontario, Canada. These included: classroom-based services, a holistic approach, support for teachers, care coordination, accessible services, family supports, and student success. All outcomes were rated highly for importance. Feasibility ratings were consistently below importance ratings. All participant groups concurred that a holistic approach was the most important outcome and accessible services was the least feasible outcome to achieve. Conclusions: The seven outcomes identified in this study are recommended to guide the development of a full COS to direct future research and program evaluation for school-based speech-language services. These outcomes have not been widely included in previous research and should be incorporated into future research alongside specific intervention outcomes. Data for some outcomes may be available from non-traditional sources such as administrative data sets. Consequently, their use for program evaluations should be accompanied by appropriate institutional support to allow speech-language therapists to make meaningful use of appropriate outcomes data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Promoting the uptake of vaccination for infectious diseases such as COVID-19 remains a global challenge, necessitating collaborative efforts between public health units (PHUs) and communities. Applied behavioural science can play a crucial role in supporting PHUs' response by providing insights into human behaviour and informing tailored strategies to enhance vaccination uptake. Community engagement can help broaden the reach of behavioural science research by involving a more diverse range of populations and ensuring that strategies better represent the needs of specific communities. We developed and applied an approach to conducting community-based behavioural science research with ethnically and socioeconomically diverse populations to guide PHUs in tailoring their strategies to promote COVID-19 vaccination. This paper presents the community engagement methodology and the lessons learned in applying the methodology. Methods: The community engagement methodology was developed based on integrated knowledge translation (iKT) and community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles. The study involved collaboration with PHUs and local communities in Ontario, Canada to identify priority groups for COVID-19 vaccination, understand factors influencing vaccine uptake and co-design strategies tailored to each community to promote vaccination. Community engagement was conducted across three large urban regions with individuals from Eastern European communities, African, Black, and Caribbean communities and low socioeconomic neighbourhoods. Results: We developed and applied a seven-step methodology for conducting community-based behavioural science research: (1) aligning goals with system-level partners; (2) engaging with PHUs to understand priorities; (3) understanding community strengths and dynamics; (4) building relationships with each community; (5) establishing partnerships (community advisory groups); (6) involving community members in the research process; and (7) feeding back and interpreting research findings. Research partnerships were successfully established with members of prioritized communities, enabling recruitment of participants for theory-informed behavioural science interviews, interpretation of findings, and co-design of targeted recommendations for each PHU to improve COVID-19 vaccination uptake. Lessons learned include the importance of cultural sensitivity and awareness of sociopolitical context in tailoring community engagement, being agile to address the diverse and evolving priorities of PHUs, and building trust to achieve effective community engagement. Conclusion: Effective community engagement in behavioural science research can lead to more inclusive and representative research. The community engagement approach developed and applied in this study acknowledges the diversity of communities, recognizes the central role of PHUs, and can help in addressing complex public health challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ontario education policy articulates an explicit commitment to equity and inclusion for increasingly diverse classrooms. Despite policy commitments, when equity and inclusion intersect with religion, enactments remain underwhelming. This paper draws on the voices of 30 Ontario public school educators, all of whom self-identify as Muslim, to share the ways they affect and have been affected in attempting to enact a responsive pedagogy for faith-centred learners. Through the use of dialogic portraits in two different school boards, the voices of Muslim educators express consistent sentiments of responsibility to advocate for basic religious accommodations while at the same time needing to tread carefully with anything to do with religion in order to not be marginalised by colleagues. Participants in this study reinforce the need for more robust conceptions of equity and inclusion that consider the complexities of the religious identities of learners and educators in public education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces an original approach to the joint inversion of airborne electromagnetic (EM) data for three-dimensional (3D) conductivity and chargeability models using hybrid finite difference (FD) and integral equation (IE) methods. The inversion produces a 3D model of physical parameters, which includes conductivity, chargeability, time constant, and relaxation coefficients. We present the underlying principles of this approach and an example of a high-resolution inversion of the data acquired by a new active time domain airborne EM system, TargetEM, in Ontario, Canada. The new TargetEM system collects high-quality multicomponent data with low noise, high power, and a small transmitter–receiver offset. This airborne system and the developed advanced inversion methodology represent a new effective method for mineral resource exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservation voltage reduction (CVR) is a strategy that tries to save energy consumption by managing consumers' voltage. On the other hand, enhancing reactive power compensation in the power system gives rise to CVR implementation more effectively. This paper addresses how the power system planner could encourage investment to establish the above‐mentioned topics. Here, a model for encouraging industrial loads to dynamically invest in implementing the CVR strategy over the planning horizon is presented. To make CVR implementation more efficient, investment in upgrading plug‐in electric vehicles (PEVs) chargers to be utilized as reactive power compensators is also considered. Industrial loads benefit from saving in their electricity bills and incentive payments that might be paid by utilities (if necessary). The objective function of the proposed planning model is to maximize the energy‐saving of industrial loads and to minimize incentive payment by electric utilities over the planning horizon. This objective is achieved subject to that the investment plan is economically feasible. Moreover, power system operation constraints in the planning horizon based on AC power flow equations and voltage‐dependent load models are considered. The proposed planning problem is modelled as a non‐linear optimization problem that can be solved by off‐the‐shelf software, for example, GAMS. The proposed model is applied to the Ontario transmission system. The numerical results show the proposed model's effectiveness in designing an investment plan for industrial loads to implement the CVR strategy and upgrade PEVs' chargers. Here, a model for encouraging industrial loads to dynamically invest in implementing the conservation voltage reduction (CVR) strategy over the planning horizon is presented. To make CVR implementation more efficient, investment in upgrading plug‐in electric vehicles (PEVs) chargers to be utilized as reactive power compensators is also considered. The objective function of the proposed planning model is to maximize the energy‐saving of industrial loads and to minimize incentive payment by electric utilities over the planning horizon. This objective is achieved subject to the fact that the investment plan is economically feasible. Moreover, power system operation constraints in the planning horizon based on AC power flow equations and voltage‐dependent load models are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores research with children through repeated online video interviews during the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides insight into the geographical and relational affordances provided by online interviewing, including repeated online interviewing, and discusses some of the kinds of unpredictability that can uniquely arise during online interviews. We draw on a qualitative research study conducted with children in Ontario, Canada, that explored their early pandemic experiences. With attention to children's participation, knowledge production and relationality, we reflect on the challenges, advantages and unexpected ethical moments that arose through using online video interviews. We provide a comprehensive reflection on our longitudinal, online research with children during a global crisis by focusing on three areas: building relationships in online interviews; entering and exiting children's worlds; and unexpected ethical challenges of online interviewing. Within these three areas we provide insight into relational dynamics shaped by the online space, how online video interviews with children can provide opportunities for them to share their feelings, the importance of careful planning when exiting research projects, and how online engagements provided relational spaces for understanding, building rapport, finding comfort, listening, and sharing during the early days of COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recurring debate in cities and in the literature is whether gardening food to eat is essential or recreational. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, some political jurisdictions closed gardens, deeming them non-essential to life – including the province of Ontario where fieldwork for this study was conducted. This paper analyzes mixed methods data generated pre-pandemic to understand the role of urban agriculture in the lives of gardeners in Toronto, Canada. When people produce food for the home, is their activity recreational or an essential source of food? We employ a social-ecological lens and find that gardening supported health and wellbeing and provided participants with an important food source, oftentimes culturally significant. Qualitative and quantitative data describes the rich experiences of gardener participants in the diverse city. We argue that gardens are essential and seeing them as part of culinary infrastructure makes space for nonmarket food production in food systems analyses. Viewing gardens as essential should prompt policy decisions, particularly during crises, which support social-ecological, nonmarket food sources as important parts of culinary infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the large uptake in virtual care in primary care in Canada, the care of patients with type 2 diabetes has been greatly affected. This includes decreased in-person visits, laboratory testing and in-person assessments such as blood pressure (BP). No studies have investigated if these changes persisted with pandemic progression, and it is unclear if shifts impacted patient groups uniformly. The purpose of this paper was to examine changes in diabetes care pre, early, and later pandemic across different patient groups. Methods: A repeated cross-sectional design with an open cohort was used to investigate diabetes care in adults with type 2 diabetes for a 6-month interval from March 14 to September 13 over three consecutive years: 2019 (pre-pandemic period), 2020 (early pandemic period), and 2021 (later pandemic period). Data for this study were abstracted from the University of Toronto Practice-Based Research Network (UTOPIAN) Data Safe Haven, a primary care electronic medical records database in Ontario, Canada. Changes in diabetes care, which included primary care total visits, in-person visits, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) testing, and BP measurements were evaluated across the phases of the pandemic. Difference in diabetes care across patient groups, including age, sex, income quintile, prior HbA1c levels, and prior BP levels, were assessed. Results: A total of 39,401 adults with type 2 diabetes were included in the study. Compared to the 6-month pre-pandemic period, having any in-person visits decreased significantly early pandemic (OR = 0.079 (0.076–0.082)), with a partial recovery later pandemic (OR = 0.162 (95% CI: 0.157–0.169). Compared to the pre-pandemic period, there was a significant decrease early pandemic for total visits (OR = 0.486 (95% CI: 0.470–0.503)), HbA1c testing (OR = 0.401 (95% CI: 0.389–0.413)), and BP measurement (OR = 0.121 (95% CI: 0.116–0.125)), with partial recovery later pandemic. Conclusions: All measures of diabetes care were substantially decreased early pandemic, with a partial recovery later pandemic across all patient groups. With the increase in virtual care due to the COVID-19 pandemic, diabetes care has been negatively impacted over 1-year after pandemic onset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Maternal glycemia is associated with pregnancy outcomes. Thus, supporting the self-management experiences and preferences of pregnant women with type 1 and type 2 diabetes is crucial to optimize glucose control and perinatal outcomes. Research design and methods: This paper describes the mixed methods integration of a sequential comparative case study. The objectives are threefold, as we integrated the quantitative and qualitative data within the overall mixed methods design: (1) to determine the predictors of glycemic control during pregnancy; (2) to understand the experience and diabetes self-management support needs during pregnancy among women with pre-existing diabetes; (3) to assess how self-management and support experiences helpe to explain glycemic control among women with pre-existing diabetes in pregnancy. The purpose of the mixing was to integrate the quantitative and qualitative data to develop rich descriptive cases of how diabetes self-management and support experiences and preferences in women with type 1 and type 2 diabetes during pregnancy help explain glucose control. A narrative approach was used to weave together the statistics and themes and the quantitative results were integrated visually alongside the qualitative themes to display the data integration. Results: The quantitative results found that women achieved "at target" glucose control (mean A1C of the cohort by the third visit: 6.36% [95% Confidence Interval 6.11%, 6.60%]). The qualitative findings revealed that feelings of fear resulted in an isolating and mentally exhausting pregnancy. The quantitative data also indicated that women reported high levels of self-efficacy that increased throughout pregnancy. Qualitative data revealed that women who had worked hard to optimize glycemia during pregnancy were confident in their self-management. However, they lacked support from their healthcare team, particularly around self-management of diabetes during labour and delivery. Conclusions: The achievement of optimal glycemia during pregnancy was motivated by fear of pregnancy complications and came at a cost to women's mental health. Mental health support, allowing women autonomy, and the provision of peer support may improve the experience of diabetes self-management during pregnancy. Future work should focus on developing, evaluating and implementing interventions that support these preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: First Nations, Inuit, and Métis (FNIM) peoples experience systemic health disparities within Ontario's healthcare system. Learning health systems (LHS) is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary area with the potential to address these inequitable health outcomes through a comprehensive health system that draws on science, informatics, incentives, and culture for ongoing innovation and improvement. However, global literature is in its infancy with grounding theories and principles still emerging. In addition, there is inadequate information on LHS within Ontario's health care context. Methods: We conducted an environmental scan between January and April 2021 and again in June 2022 to identify existing frameworks, guidelines, and tools for designing, developing, implementing, and evaluating an LHS. Results: We found 37 relevant sources. This paper maps the literature and identifies gaps in knowledge based on five key pillars: (a) data and evidence‐driven, (b) patient‐centeredness, (c) system‐supported, (d) cultural competencies enabled, and (e) the learning health system. Conclusion: We provide recommendations for implementation accordingly. The literature on LHS provides a starting point to address the health disparities of FNIM peoples within the healthcare system but Indigenous community partnerships in LHS development and operation will be key to success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research on consultants in policymaking described their expanding policy involvement and impact. This research focuses on consultants' policy formulation roles and on how and why these roles vary across jurisdictions and contexts. It draws on comparative research on healthcare policy in Ontario, Canada, and Victoria, Australia. Based on analysis of contracts and expenditure data, and 59 semi‐structured interviews, this research finds that consultants in Victoria are partners in formulation, used routinely for a variety of tasks, including core formulation work. Their role is institutionalized through formal and informal rules. In contrast, consultants in Ontario perform non‐core formulation work and are primarily active in linking the government to other sites and pools of knowledge. The paper ties this variation to public sector internal capacity and policy sector complexity. It offers new empirical data and provides a nuanced understanding of the roles of consultants in policy formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses simple electricity market models to demonstrate the workings of, and problems with, Ontario's zonal price/two-schedule electricity market design. The roles played by zonal prices, Shadow LMP prices, and out-of-market congestion payments are explained. This market design is compared and contrasted to the much better-known single-schedule designs with LMP pricing used in neighboring U.S. markets. The ways in which congestion payments can, and have been, gamed is highlighted and shown to be special cases of counter-trading "inc-dec games". The bizarre outcomes for interjurisdictional trading arising from Ontario's use of congestion pricing on its interties combined with uniform pricing on the internal grid are demonstrated. Some gaming problems identified in other markets are reviewed compared to Ontario's situation. Finally, the paper recaps the system operator's efforts to remedy the various problems with the market while preparing a fundamental redesign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction notice for an article titled "The geology, geochemistry, and magmatic evolution of the Legris Lake mafic-ultramafic complex, Ontario, Canada" published in the journal Mineralium Deposita. The correction states that a significant contributor, Richard A. Stern, was mistakenly not included in the original paper. Stern provided sulfur isotope data and was involved in interpreting the results, making his contribution essential to the research. The correction notice is provided by the publisher, Springer Nature, which remains neutral in terms of jurisdictional claims and institutional affiliations. The article was authored by Wyatt M. Bain, Pete Hollings, Lionnel M. Djon, Matthew J. Brzozowski, Daniel Layton-Matthews, Agatha Dobosz, and Richard A. Stern. [Extracted from the article]

• Lake processes are generally as sensitive to changes in wind speed as they are to changes in surface air temperature. • Changing climate resulted in a general increase in lake water temperature and the corresponding decrease in lake ice thickness and ice cover duration. • While lake water temperature is projected to increases at all depths, the shallow epilimnion layer is more sensitive to the changing climate than the deeper hypolimnion layer. • Projected climate resulted in seasonal changes in the biogeochemical cycling including projected change in the magnitude and timing of chlorophyll-a concentration over the depth of the lake. Regional climate plays an important role on in-lake physical and biogeochemical processes and determines the state of water quality and ecology of the lakes. This paper presents the result of a one-dimensional numerical modelling of lake ice cover, water temperature, as well as nutrient and phytoplankton dynamics in Lake 239 (Rawson Lake) located in the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA), Ontario, Canada. Using observed meteorological and inflow/outflow data, the Multi-year Lake simulation model (MyLake) was setup to replicate measured lake water temperature, ice-cover, dissolved organic carbon, particulate and dissolved phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a concentrations over the entire depth of the lake. The sensitivity of the lake to changes in climatic drivers, specifically to changes in surface air temperature and wind speed, was examined by incrementally changing the model input forcing for temperature and wind speed and mapping the resulting changes in the simulated outputs. The results show that lake processes are generally as sensitive to changes in wind speed as they are to changes in air temperature. Simulated changes in lake variables corresponding to projected changes in Global Climate Models (GCMs) under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 emission scenarios reveal a general increase in lake water temperature and the corresponding decrease in lake ice thickness and ice cover duration under the changing climate. While lake water temperature increases at all depths, the shallow epilimnion layer is more sensitive to the changing climate than the deeper hypolimnion layer, reaching mean annual change value of +3.7 °C for RCP 8.5 and the 2090s as compared to the 1990s baseline period. While the simulated change in lake ice thickness reaches −20 cm by 2090s for the RCP 8.5 scenario, the corresponding change in ice-cover duration reaches -47 days. These changes are shown to result in seasonal changes in the biogeochemical cycling over the depth of the lake with projected increases in chlorophyll-a concentration during ice covered season of December to May reaching up to +0.15 mg/m3 for RCP 8.5 and the 2090s followed by a decrease during open water season of June to November reaching −0.15 mg/m3 compared to the 1990s baseline period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the challenges of designing and operating adiabatic compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) systems, identifies core causes for the reported discrepancies between round-trip efficiencies from current literature models versus experiments, and presents a near-adiabatic CAES (NA-CAES) system design that addresses these issues. The core causes are overly simplified heat management modeling, neglect of heat losses in the thermal energy reservoir, single-cycle modeling, replacing a diabatic CAES combustor with a TES without other major design changes, using a mirrored compression-expansion design, and/or efficiency definition limitations. To demonstrate an approach to designing an NA-CAES system that addresses the core causes of modeling vs. experiment efficiency discrepancies, a case study is presented for Ontario, Canada. This full system view approach yielded NA-CAES systems with maximum round-trip efficiencies of 60.5, 61.1, and 61.5% for a constant reservoir volume throttled system, a constant reservoir volume variable pressure system, and a constant pressure reservoir system, respectively. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to identify primary with a strong influence on efficiency (such as reservoir pressure limits and the expanders' pressure ratio), and secondary parameters that more strongly affect TES size (including TES charging and discharging mass flow rates, inlet temperatures to the expanders, and TES tank temperatures). Multi-objective hierarchical optimization was employed to improve efficiency while reducing TES capacity. In brief, the results reveal that through design configuration selection it should still be possible to achieve in practice high NA-CAES efficiencies in excess of 60%. • Core causes of efficiency disparities between models and experiments are identified. • A case study is presented to address the core causes of efficiency discrepancies. • Primary and secondary parameters affecting efficiency and TES size are determined. • A-CAES efficiency is enhanced through optimization techniques, considering TES capacity. • Possibility of achieving efficiencies above 60% through design selection is affirmed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increases in child welfare investigations involving children's exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) in Ontario are likely the result of three factors: 1) changes to legislation, policy, and assessment instruments; 2) increased awareness of the risks of exposure to IPV for children, and 3) referrals from professionals (e.g., police). Using data from 6 cycles of the Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (OIS) (1993, 1998, 2003, 2008, 2013, and 2018), this paper will examine the changes of the incidence rates of IPV exposure, providing important context for a type of investigation that is not well understood in Ontario. The incidence of investigations where the primary concern of the investigating worker is IPV was derived and compared across OIS cycles. Investigation were compared across cycles using incidence counts. After the nearly 2-fold increase of investigations for all maltreatment types in Ontario between 1998 and 2003, IPV investigations are the only type that continue to increase. There is a growing gap between these investigations and substantiating child maltreatment. Rates of placement have not changed over time, remaining low. Rates of transfers and referrals have increased but not significantly. The continued growth in the rate of child welfare investigations involving exposure to IPV as well as the overwhelming endorsement of substantiated exposure to IPV, while maintaining the same proportion of transfers to ongoing child welfare services and low placement rates, is a significant concern for Ontario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]