Royal Roads University

During the Second World War, the Supermarine Spitfire played a pivotal role defending the British nation, notably during the 1940 Battle of Britain. Drawing from the aircraft’s historiography and its continuing afterlife, we discuss the constitutive elements supporting the Spitfire’s transformation from war plane to memorial icon for the British wartime experience. In the context of this machine as memorial, the elements comprising what we refer to as the architecture of memorialisation are narrative permanence, enchantment of war technology, dialogic geometry of remembrance and commemorative adaptive capacity. These elements work to silence war, killing and death and in so doing justify a nation’s values, its moral compass. While these four elements may be unique to this aircraft, the architecture of memorialisation is a conceptual framework for analysing other types of memorials including those that are contested or which reflect regimes of power or cultures of remembrance very different to those of the United Kingdom (UK). Diverse social and cultural contexts will reveal different constitutive elements of the architecture of memorialisation.

Food additives are used to enhance freshness, safety, appearance, flavour, and texture of food. Depending on the absorbed dose, exposure method, and length of exposure, heavy metals in diet may have a negative impact on human health. The X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Analyzer from Niton Thermo Scientific (Mobile Test S, NDTr-XL3t-86956, com 24) was used in this work to measure the heavy metal content in saltpetre, a food additive that mostly contains potassium nitrate. The average essential metal concentrations in the samples were determined to be 27044.27 ± 10905.18 mg kg−1, 24521.10 ± 6564.28 mg kg−1, 2418.33 ± 461.50 mg kg−1, and 4.615 ± 3.59 mg kg−1 for Ca, K, Fe and Zn respectively. Toxic metals (As, Pb) were present in the saltpetre samples at 4.13 ± 2.47 mg kg−1 and 2.11 ± 1.87 mg kg−1 average concentrations. No traces of mercury or cadmium were detected. Studies on exposure, health risks, and bio-accessibility identified arsenic as a significant risk factor for potential illnesses. The need to monitor heavy metal content of saltpetre and any potential health effects on consumers is brought to light by this study.

Agbogbloshie in Accra, Ghana, was a center for informal e-waste recycling until it was closed recently. This study investigated the potential health risks of toxic metals (including As, Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, Sb, and Zn) found in the surface soils based on their concentrations and in vitro bioaccessibility. Mean concentrations at the burning sites were As: 218; Cd: 65; Cr: 182; Cu: 15,841; Ni: 145; Pb: 6,106; Sb: 552; and Zn: 16,065 mg/kg while the dismantling sites had mean concentrations of As: 23; Cd: 38; Cr: 342; Cu: 3239; Ni: 96; Pb: 681; Sb: 104; and Zn: 1658 mg/kg. The findings confirmed the enrichment of potentially toxic metals at the dismantling and burning sites, exceeding international environmental soil quality guidelines. Based on the total metal concentrations, bioaccessibility, and calculated risk indices, the risks associated with incidental ingestion of soil-borne metal contaminants at the dismantling and burning sites were very high. Despite evidence of higher metal concentrations in the communities near the burning and dismantling sites, the human health risk associated with soil ingestion was significantly lower in the surrounding neighborhood.

Aim: Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs) are frontline healthcare providers in Ontario long-term care (LTC) homes. Throughout COVID-19, RPNs working in LTC homes experienced prolonged lockdowns, challenging working conditions, and inadequate resource allocation. This study aimed to describe the personal and professional resilience of RPNs working in LTC during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: An open cross-sectional online survey containing the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Resilience at Work Scale®, and Resilience at Work Team Scale®. Methods: The survey was distributed by the RPN Association of Ontario (WeRPN) to approximately 5000 registered members working in Ontario LTC homes. Results: A total of 434 respondents participated in the survey (completion rate = 88.0%). Study respondents scored low on measures of resilience and reported extreme levels of job (54.5%) and personal (37.8%) stress. Resources to support self-care and work-life balance, build capacity for team-based care practice(s) are needed.

Purpose: Leaders in academic health sciences centres (AHCs) must navigate multiple roles as an inherent component of their positions. Changing accountabilities, varying expectations, differing leadership competencies required of multiple leadership roles can be exacerbated by health system disruption, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. We need improved models that support leaders in navigating, so they can better handle the complexity of multiple leadership roles. Method: This integrative conceptual review sought to examine leadership and followership constructs and how they intersect with current leadership practices in AHCs. The goal was to develop a refined model of health care leadership development. The authors used iterative cycles of divergent and convergent thinking to explore and synthesize various literature and existing leadership frameworks. The authors used simulated personas and stories to test the model and, finally, the approach sought feedback from knowledge users (including health care leaders, medical educators, and leadership developers) to offer refinements. Results: After five rounds of discussion and reformulation, the authors arrived at a refined model: the LEADS+ Developmental Model . The model describes four nested stages, organizing progressive capabilities, as an individual toggles between followership and leadership. During the consultation stage, feedback from 29 out of 65 recruited knowledge users (44.6% response rate) was acquired. More than a quarter of respondents served as a senior leader in a health care network or national society (27.5%, n=8). Consulted knowledge users were invited to indicate their endorsement for the refined model using a 10-point scale (10=highest level of endorsement). There was a high level of endorsement: 7.93 (SD 1.7) out of 10. Conclusion: The LEADS+ Developmental Model may help foster development of academic health centre leaders. In addition to clarifying the synergistic dynamic between leadership and followership, this model describes the paradigms adopted by leaders within health systems throughout their development journey.

This article used machine learning (ML) and artificial neural network (ANN) algorithms to predict the likelihood of a country being sanctioned by the Basel Institute on Governance for not adhering to anti-money laundering (AML) standards. Data for this paper came from the Basel AML Index and the World Bank. The results showed that the logistic regression and support vector machine (SVM) classifiers had the highest performance and balanced accuracy scores in sanction prediction. Additionally, these two algorithms also had the highest precision, specificity, and F1 scores, indicating that they were robust in their predictions of money laundering sanctions. In contrast to the ML classifiers, the ANN model had the highest sensitivity and receiver operating characteristic scores for money laundering sanctions. The strongest predictors of sanctions are financial transparency, political and legal risks, unemployment rate, and money laundering and terrorist financing risks. These findings reinforce the potential practical applications of ML and ANN models in predicting sanctions.

Objective: Despite Canada being an important energy producer, not all Canadians can access or afford adequate levels of energy services at home to meet their needs, maintain healthy indoor temperatures, and live a decent life-a situation known as energy poverty. Depending on the measure, 6-19% of Canadian households face energy poverty. Health risks associated with energy poverty are documented in countries with milder climates. This study explores, for the first time in the Canadian context, the association between energy poverty and health. Methods: Cross-sectional data are from the 2018 Canadian Housing Survey. Analyses are conducted on a sample weighted to represent 14 million Canadian households. The associations between expenditure-based and self-reported measures of energy poverty and self-rated general and mental health were assessed using logistic regression models, adjusted for potential confounding variables. Results: The odds of rating one's general (OR: 1.48; 95%CI: 1.29, 1.70) and mental (OR: 1.21; 1.04, 1.41) health as poor are significantly higher for Canadian adults in households with a high share of energy expenditure to income. The likelihood of poor general and mental health was significantly higher for those dissatisfied with the energy efficiency of their dwelling, and with their ability to maintain a comfortable temperature both in the winter and in the summer. Conclusion: Exposure to energy poverty is associated with significantly increased likelihood of poor general and mental health. Given the high proportion of Canadian households facing energy poverty, with demonstrated implications for population health, tackling energy poverty is essential for an equitable energy transition and for climate resilience.

Physician wellness is critical for patient safety and quality of care. Coaching has been successfully and widely applied across many industries to enhance well-being but has only recently been considered for physicians. This review aimed to summarize the existing evidence on the effect of coaching by trained coaches on physician well-being, distress and burnout. MEDLINE, Embase, ERIC, PsycINFO and Web of Science were searched without language restrictions to December 21, 2022. Studies of any design were included if they involved physicians of any specialty undergoing coaching by trained coaches and assessed at least one measure along the wellness continuum. Pairs of independent reviewers determined reference eligibility. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tools for Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) and for Non-randomized Studies of Interventions (ROBINS-I). Meta-analysis was not possible due to heterogeneity in study design and outcome measures as well as inconsistent reporting. The search retrieved 2531 references, of which 14 were included (5 RCTs, 2 non-randomized controlled studies, 4 before-and-after studies, 2 mixed-methods studies, 1 qualitative study). There were 1099 participants across all included studies. Risk of bias was moderate or serious for non-RCTs, while the 5 RCTs were of lower risk. All quantitative studies reported effectiveness of coaching for at least one outcome assessed. The included qualitative study reported a perceived positive impact of coaching by participants. Evidence from available RCTs suggests coaching for physicians can improve well-being and reduce distress/burnout. Non-randomized interventional studies have similar findings but face many limitations. Consistent reporting and standardized outcome measures are needed.

Purpose: Leaders in academic health sciences centres (AHCs) must navigate multiple roles as an inherent component of their positions. Changing accountabilities, varying expectations, differing leadership competencies required of multiple leadership roles can be exacerbated by health system disruption, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. We need improved models that support leaders in navigating, so they can better handle the complexity of multiple leadership roles. Method: This integrative conceptual review sought to examine leadership and followership constructs and how they intersect with current leadership practices in AHCs. The goal was to develop a refined model of health care leadership development. The authors used iterative cycles of divergent and convergent thinking to explore and synthesize various literature and existing leadership frameworks. The authors used simulated personas and stories to test the model and, finally, the approach sought feedback from knowledge users (including health care leaders, medical educators, and leadership developers) to offer refinements. Results: After five rounds of discussion and reformulation, the authors arrived at a refined model: the LEADS+ Developmental Model. The model describes four nested stages, organizing progressive capabilities, as an individual toggles between followership and leadership. During the consultation stage, feedback from 29 out of 65 recruited knowledge users (44.6% response rate) was acquired. More than a quarter of respondents served as a senior leader in a health care network or national society (27.5%, n=8). Consulted knowledge users were invited to indicate their endorsement for the refined model using a 10-point scale (10=highest level of endorsement). There was a high level of endorsement: 7.93 (SD 1.7) out of 10. Conclusion: The LEADS+ Developmental Model may help foster development of academic health centre leaders. In addition to clarifying the synergistic dynamic between leadership and followership, this model describes the paradigms adopted by leaders within health systems throughout their development journey.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is not an unknown name. The writer, actor, and producer has been a part of various comedy TV series and films. However, she has a pattern in her comedy writing and character creation that is obvious in the TV series – Fleabag (2016–2019) and Crashing (2016). In both these series, one cannot miss the obvious similarity between the characters she wrote and played – characters who knew what they wanted and did not hesitate to make attempts to achieve it, even when it meant defying the conventional rules of social relationships and breaking out of the gender identities set by society for women. In fact, other characters created around these female characters seem to lack the same courage, which leads to the creation of comical situations but also often results in these characters facing emotional obstacles that they eventually overcome. The women in both shows not only choose to reject predefined gender identities, but also make choices and take risks while being aware of the consequences. Throughout their journeys of embracing their free consciousnesses, these characters illustrate Jean Paul Sartre’s and Simone de Beauvoir’s process of transcending their facticity, thus avoiding bad faith. Implicit in Waller-Bridge’s work is the argument that we could do better to be – and encourage other women to be – the types of women that her protagonists are.

This study employs machine learning techniques to identify key drivers of suspicious activity reporting. The data for this study comes from all suspicious activities reported to the California government in 2018. In total, there were 45,000 records of data that represent various features. The paper uses linear regression along with Lasso, Ridge, and Elastic Net to perform feature regularization and address overfitting with the data. Other probabilistic and non-linear algorithms, namely, support vector machines, random forests, XGBoost, and CatBoost, were used to deal with the complexity of the data. The results from the mean squared and root mean squared errors indicate that the ensemble tree-based algorithm performed better than the statistical and probabilistic models. The findings revealed that filings from regulators, the type of products, and customers' relationships with the institutions were the top contributors to SAR filings. Through the evaluation of a vast amount of data, this study provides valuable insights for identifying suspicious activities in financial transactions and has the potential to significantly improve suspicious transaction monitoring.

This chapter takes a multilevel approach to the interrelated leadership/followership relationship within the changing global environment and argues that the narrative around achievement at the micro, meso, and macro levels needs to reflect more leadership/followership balance. The forces of globalization, particularly technological advances, have rapidly increased access to information across borders and cultures. Being informed in this global environment where we are predisposed to defining and accepting achievement and successes as leadership engendered has had dire consequences. In the United States, for instance, the early response to the COVID-19 pandemic saw the respect for the citizenry’s well-being give way to showing dominance and strength and demonstrating individualistic tendencies among other Western leadership traits, resulting in loss of lives and polarized politics, which has been mirrored in different societies with similar constructs. This chapter proposes that a VUCA world places new demands on how we understand effective leadership, especially as we have all experienced the scale and intensity of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has surpassed anything experienced globally in this era and has created a new normal to which we are still to comprehend fully. Therefore, this chapter seeks to locate a global leadership/followership construct within the context of (the VUCA) environment, emphasizing the need for narratives that illuminates a leadership/followership balance. In doing so, it explores the traditional Western subjective notion of “the leader” and the “the follower” as embedded identities to (1) determine how these emotional states are negotiated in practice at the micro, meso, and macro levels; (2) discuss a leadership/followership balanced framework that addresses negotiated leadership–followership arrangements; and (3) develop narratives that increase the other voices, thus ensuring broader participation and recognition.

Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) became a pandemic within a matter of months. Analysing the first year of the pandemic, data and surveillance gaps have subsequently surfaced. Yet, policy decisions and public trust in their country’s strategies in combating COVID-19 rely on case numbers, death numbers and other unfamiliar metrics. There are many limitations on COVID-19 case counts internationally, which make cross-country comparisons of raw data and policy responses difficult. Purpose and conclusions This paper presents and describes steps in the testing and reporting process, with examples from a number of countries of barriers encountered in each step, all of which create an undercount of COVID-19 cases. This work raises factors to consider in COVID-19 data and provides recommendations to inform the current situation with COVID-19 as well as issues to be aware of in future pandemics.

This article used machine learning (ML) and artificial neural network (ANN) algorithms to predict the likelihood of a country being sanctioned by the Basel Institute on Governance for not adhering to anti-money laundering (AML) standards. Data for this paper came from the Basel AML Index and the World Bank. The results showed that the logistic regression and support vector machine (SVM) classifiers had the highest performance and balanced accuracy scores in sanction prediction. Additionally, these two algorithms also had the highest precision, specificity, and F1 scores, indicating that they were robust in their predictions of money laundering sanctions. In contrast to the ML classifiers, the ANN model had the highest sensitivity and receiver operating characteristic scores for money laundering sanctions. The strongest predictors of sanctions are financial transparency, political and legal risks, unemployment rate, and money laundering and terrorist financing risks. These findings reinforce the potential practical applications of ML and ANN models in predicting sanctions.

In this paper, we investigate the process by which organizational commitment is influenced by job crafting among knowledge workers. To address this aim, we conducted a longitudinal qualitative case study in a software solutions development firm in Denmark. The findings from the study suggest that relational and cognitive job crafting encourage affective, normative, and continuous commitment among knowledge workers, which ultimately has a positive influence on retention. The study also highlights the considerable overlap between different types of job crafting, with task job crafting appearing to be a precursor to relational and cognitive job crafting. This paper contributes to the job crafting literature by providing a process-focused account of how it engenders knowledge workers’ organizational commitment and to practice by suggesting how managers can support job crafting efforts to increase knowledge worker retention.

This article explores the indicators and targets identified in the Canadian Indicator Framework, a localization of the UN Sustainable Development Goals for the country of Canada. Applying a critical theoretical lens and a human rights approach, the authors explore each of the ‘ambitions’ proposed by the federal government and assess their suitability in meeting the magnitude of transformative change that will be necessary to meet the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In considering each of the Canadian ambitions proposed to realize Sustainable Development Goals 1 to 17, and the framework as a whole, the authors conclude that a business-as-usual stance has been applied. Many of the Canadian ambitions have ‘no specific target’ identified, offering no baseline measures or concrete standards from which to benchmark and monitor progress. The ones that do are not tremendously transformative, leading to a framework that does not present a dramatic departure from existing policy and practice arrangements. The character of the Canadian ambitions to the Sustainable Development Goals are revealed, not as concrete change strategies, but as mere aspirations, albeit more for the status quo than for transformational action. To translate the Canadian ambitions into actions, human rights must be infused into the Canadian Indicator Framework, and these must be substantive, de facto, rights—rights that people can actually claim, and hold state actors accountable to.

The educational technology industry includes numerous learning providers and platforms offering cohort-based courses. In this paper, we examine, analyze, and critique one such platform called Maven. We focus our analysis on Maven because this specific platform describes itself as building ‘the university of the future’ and has recently received significant attention and funding, making it a compelling case study to better understand the potential roles and risks associated with education platforms operating outside of and alongside more traditional higher education institutions today and into the future. We highlight specific concerns about cohort-based platforms like Maven, including lack of transparency, risk of surveillance, lack of adequate financial support for learners, and over-reliance on social media networks as signifiers of educator/instructor qualification. Suggested benefits include adaptability, suitability to changing skills needs, and responsiveness to changing environmental scenarios.