University of Regina

One of the major parts of the healthcare industry is the pharmaceutical sector. When we focus on the pharmaceutical supply chain, the process of delivering medicine is long in duration and has been characterized as more complicated in structure than other organizations. The objective of this study was to find issues associated with the supply chain of pharmaceutical firms in Pakistan, in addition; to what approaches can be used to minimize and eliminate the inefficiencies in the operations of the supply chain in pharmaceutical firms. The research followed a phenomenological method approach using explorative design. The research employed qualitative method using in-depth interviews. The study found that there are some major issues that act as significant operational inefficiencies in the context of Pakistan. Government regulations, product expertise, continuous forecasting, and technological advancement are major issues.

The research aims to investigate the impact of supply chain resilience in the healthcare supply chain of Pakistan when experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic disruption. The study uses a qualitative approach. The interview method is selected for data collection. Population of the research is the healthcare sector of Pakistan. A sample of three participants is chosen for this study. Findings: The study finds six different themes as the key strategies of supply chain resilience in COVID-19 disruption namely, cost-effectiveness, collaboration, flexible supply chain strategies, conflict management, future planning, and self-medication. Implications: The research implies focusing on these factors in order to strengthen the supply chain network so that organizations do not have to face risks and disruptions during a crisis or pandemic period.

John Brewer's argument that eighteenth‐century Britain developed a centralized and effective fiscal‐military state that allowed it to become a great power has been instrumental in making early modern state‐building an important field of inquiry for historians. New directions in the field explore conflicting eighteenth‐century ideologies, the notion of a ‘naval‐military’ state, the non‐military dimensions of the state, the nature of the Irish and Scottish fiscal‐military states, the relationship between Britain's central state and colonial states, and the relationship between the state and the informal actors who served it.

Simple Propagation is a message passing algorithm for exact inference in Bayesian networks. Simple Propagation is like Lazy Propagation but uses the one in, one out-principle when computing inter-clique messages passed between cliques of the junction tree. Here Lazy propagation performs a more in-depth graphical analysis of the set of potentials. Originally, Simple Propagation used Variable Elimination as the marginalization operation algorithm. In this paper, we describe how Symbolic Probabilistic Inference (SPI) can be used as the marginalization operation algorithm in Simple Propagation. We report on the results of an empirical evaluation where the time performance of Simple Propagation with SPI is compared to the time performance of Simple Propagation with Variable Elimination and Simple Propagation with Arc-Reversal. The experimental results are interesting and show that in some cases Simple Propagation with SPI has the best time performance.

Childcare programs enable newcomers’ adaptation and integration to life in the host country by allowing them to access employment and educational opportunities while building new social networks. Newcomer children’s participation in quality childcare programs also fulfills their right to education and care while enhancing their development, learning, and future success in school. In a context where affordable, subsidized childcare options are limited, newcomers are particularly disadvantaged in their access to formal childcare programs due to linguistic, cultural, and administrative barriers. Reporting on part of a larger convergent mixed-methods study focused on the post-migration barriers to integration experienced by newcomers to Canada in a smaller urban center, this article explores newcomer families’ preferences and access to childcare. Quantitative survey data were generated from a survey of 305 newcomers who had lived in Canada for less than five years (n = 305), 153 of whom had children (n = 153). Qualitative data were concurrently collected from 96 (n = 96) newcomers during 13 focus groups. The findings indicated that 55.2% did not have childcare that was accessible by transportation, 47% did not have subsidized care, and 61.3% did not believe their childcare program was sensitive to their language and culture despite their distinct preferences for these characteristics. Without access to childcare, they reported challenges accessing employment, language learning courses, and social opportunities and experienced feelings of stress and isolation. These findings have negative implications in terms of newcomer families’ full and meaningful participation in their new community and suggest the need for culturally and linguistic responsive care options.

An in-depth understanding of gas diffusion characteristics in coal is of great value to coalbed methane (CBM) production planning and coal mine safety management. However, the mechanism and model of gas diffusion is still unclear, and some methods for determining diffusion coefficients are not accurate enough. Accordingly, a free gas density gradient (FGDG)–driven coal particle gas desorption and diffusion model was established in this work, and numerical solutions were performed via finite difference method (FDM) and dimensionless method. The variation rules of dimensionless gas pressure, gas content, desorption capacity, and desorption rate were obtained. Finally, the application of the dimensionless method in diffusion modeling and diffusion coefficient inversion was discussed. The results show that the dimensionless method can simplify mathematical equation processing and analyze the common phenomena of desorption and diffusion under different parameters. The gas desorption diffusion in coal particles is from the surface to the inside, and there is obvious desorption hysteresis effect. The larger the dimensionless radius or dimensionless time, the smaller the dimensionless gas pressure, gas content, and dimensionless desorption rate. The dimensionless cumulative gas desorption amount increased rapidly first and then tended to flat with dimensionless time. The simulated curve can be easily converted into the variation curves of several different measured parameters, and the diffusion coefficient can be calculated accurately. The prediction curve of the FGDG diffusion model is in good agreement with the experimentally measured data, which verifies its reasonableness. The research content aims to provide some ideas for modeling gas desorption and diffusion behavior.

Following the seminal work of Gloria Ladson-Billings, research on culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) has, in recent years, expanded significantly. Ladson-Billings proposes three elements of CRP: academic achievement, cultural competence, and sociopolitical consciousness. Nevertheless, in mathematics education research on CRP, the sociopolitical consciousness element is often under-explored or even absent. This paper began as an investigation of how Ladson-Billings' three elements could be used to examine prospective and practicing teachers' (PPTs') perspectives on CRP, prior to their participation in a professional development course on CRP in the mathematics classroom. Thirty-one participants from three separate offerings of the course responded in writing to a set of open questions about CRP (in general and in mathematics). Thematic data analysis pointed to the complexities of categorising the data based primarily on Ladson-Billings' three elements. In addition, our analysis indicated five components underpinning participants' responses: challenges; opportunities; fears; resistance; insights. We conclude with a revised conceptualisation of CRP for mathematics teacher education programmes aimed at supporting PPTs' development of their CRP-related knowledge, skills, and dispositions.

Since the medium entropy alloy (MEA) was proposed, it has become one of the key areas of material research. Due to the multiple components in the MEA, it has a variety of combinations, and it usually shows high strength, high plasticity and excellent fracture toughness at low temperature. However, at high temperature, its comprehensive mechanical properties and toughness are significantly reduced, which greatly limits its application in engineering. This paper reviews the mechanical properties of MEAs, and discusses the effects of transformation strengthening, solution strengthening and plastic deformation on the fracture toughness of MEAs at high temperatures. It is found that the MEA has competitive impact fracture toughness at low temperature, but with the increase in temperature, the comprehensive mechanical properties of MEA materials will continue to decline, and the impact fracture toughness value will also reduce. The mechanical properties of high/medium entropy alloy can be improved obviously by introducing carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, boron and other interstitial elements. By introducing alloying elements into MEA systems, additional strengthening effects such as solution strengthening, grain boundary strengthening and precipitation strengthening can be achieved, thus improving the fracture toughness of materials at high temperatures. The gradient twin structure constructed by plastic deformation will not change the stacking fault energy (SFE) of MEAs, which is an effective method to improve the quasi-static and impact toughness of MEA.

My chapter focuses on the impact of the quantification of digestive processes on conceptions of the self. I concentrate on the medical experiments of Sanctorius (1561–1636), who used a specially designed weighing chair to weigh himself, his food, and his excreta to measure what was evacuated through “insensible perspiration” under various conditions. After introducing the digestive theory inherited by the early moderns, I highlight key findings presented by Sanctorius in his Ars de statica medicina (as well as John Quincy’s 1712 explanations of them), focusing particularly on those addressing the mind-body relationship. I then consider the impact of quantification in medical discourse on self-experience, and the interaction of mind and body in quantifying methodologies themselves, touching briefly on the use of weighing metaphors to describe thought processes.

Many‐body expansion (MBE) fragment approaches have been applied to accurately compute nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) parameters in crystalline systems. Recent examples demonstrate that electric field gradient (EFG) tensor parameters can be accurately calculated for ¹⁴ N and ¹⁷ O. A key additional development is the simple molecular correction (SMC) approach, which uses two one‐body fragment (i.e., isolated molecule) calculations to adjust NMR parameter values established using ‘benchmark’ projector augmented‐wave (PAW) density functional theory (DFT) values. Here, we apply a SMC using the hybrid PBE0 exchange‐correlation (XC) functional to see if this can improve the accuracy of calculated ³⁵ Cl EFG tensor parameters. We selected eight organic and two inorganic crystal structures and considered 15 chlorine sites. We find that this SMC improves the accuracy of computed values for both the ³⁵ Cl quadrupolar coupling constant ( C Q ) and the asymmetry parameter ( ) by approximately 30% compared with benchmark PAW DFT values. We also assessed a SMC that offers local improvements not only in terms of the quality of the XC functional but simultaneously in the quality of the description of relativistic effects via the inclusion of spin–orbit effects. As the inorganic systems considered contain heavy atoms bonded to the chlorine atoms, we find further improvements in the accuracy of calculated ³⁵ Cl EFG tensor parameters when both a hybrid functional and spin–orbit effects are included in the SMC. On the contrary, for chlorine‐containing organics, the inclusion of spin–orbit relativistic effects using a SMC does not improve the accuracy of computed ³⁵ Cl EFG tensor parameters.

Recent research has introduced the concept of leader‐member exchange (LMX) ambivalence and has shown that it can be detrimental to employee task performance. Drawing on self‐determination theory and models of LMX development, this research investigates whether LMX ambivalence may also negatively influence employee well‐being. In a two‐wave field study with 278 employees in a large police organisation, we found that LMX ambivalence was significantly associated with two focal measures of work‐related well‐being: work engagement and emotional exhaustion, through its influence on psychological need fulfilment. Perceived positive meaning in work was found to buffer the negative effects of LMX ambivalence on psychological need fulfilment and well‐being. Overall, these results contribute to the occupational health literature by demonstrating that psychological need fulfilment helps explain why LMX ambivalence negatively affects work related well‐being outcomes and underscores the important role of positive meaning in work as a buffer for these relationships.

Background Despite experiencing adverse drug reactions (ADRs) more often than men, the proportion of women participating in clinical drug trials is low. Thus, evidence for sex differences in the incidence of ADRs is limited. Aim To determine sex differences in incidence of self-reported ADRs after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Further, to determine whether receiving information about ADRs is associated with sex. Methods CONCARDPCI is a prospective multicentre cohort study (N=3417) conducted at seven referral PCI centres in two Nordic countries. Clinical data were collected from patients’ medical records. Socio-demographic characteristics were obtained by self-report after PCI. Two questions from the Heart Continuity of Care Questionnaire (HCCQ) were used to determine if information about potential ADRs was received before hospital discharge. De novo created questions were used to determine if patients reported ADRs from prescribed therapy. Questionnaires were distributed two- (T1), six- (T2), and twelve months (T3) after hospital discharge to assess the incidence of self-reported ADRs in a longitudinal perspective. Logistic regression was utilised to scrutinize the aims, reported as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results Patients were predominantly male (78%), with a mean age of 65 years (SD 11). Female patients were older (68, SD 10). Acute coronary syndrome was the most frequent cause of admission for PCI (62%). At T1, 2656 of the included patients responded to the questions from the HCCQ. Of these, 1019 patients (39%) reported being informed of potential ADRs from prescribed therapy, 1075 patients (42%) reported not having been informed, 511 patients (20%) reported ‘Hard to decide’, and 51 (2%) reported ‘Not applicable’. Patients reporting ‘Hard to decide’ or ‘Not applicable’ were excluded from further analysis. Women were less likely to receive information than men (OR 0.58, CI 0.45 – 0.75, p<0.001). For the total study population, 42%, 49% and 40% reported ADRs at T1-T3 respectively. After adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical variables, the incidence of self-reported ADRs were significantly higher in women compared to men at T1 (OR 1.71, CI 1.36 – 2.15, p<0.001), T2 (OR 1.89, CI 1.49 – 2.38, p<0.001), and T3 (OR 1.79, CI 1.40 – 2.28, p<0.001). Conclusion Women report significantly more ADRs from prescribed therapy than men after PCI. However, they are less likely to receive information about potential ADRs compared to men. Efforts to improve communication on ADRs and gender equity should be a priority.

Consider the Macdonald groups G ⁢ ( α ) = ⟨ A , B ∣ A [ A , B ] = A α , B [ B , A ] = B α ⟩ G(\alpha)=\langle A,B\mid A^{[A,B]}=A^{\alpha},\,B^{[B,A]}=B^{\alpha}\rangle , α ∈ Z \alpha\in\mathbb{Z} . We fill a gap in Macdonald’s proof that G ⁢ ( α ) G(\alpha) is always nilpotent, and proceed to determine the order, upper and lower central series, nilpotency class, and exponent of G ⁢ ( α ) G(\alpha) .

Requirements of proof of COVID-19 vaccination were mandated for nonessential businesses and venues by Canada's ten provinces throughout the fall of 2021. Leveraging variations in the timing of these measures across the provinces, we applied event study regression to estimate the impact the announcement of these measures had nationally on age-specific first-dose uptake in the subsequent seven-week period. Proof-of-vaccination mandate announcements were associated with a rapid, significant increase in first-dose uptake, particularly in people younger than age fifty. However, these behavioral changes were short-lived, with uptake returning to preannouncement levels-or lower-in all age groups within six weeks, despite mandates remaining in place for at least four months; this decline occurred earlier and was more apparent among adolescents ages 12-17. We estimated that nationally, 290,168 additional people received their first dose in the seven weeks after provinces announced proof-of-vaccination policies, for a 17.5 percent increase over the number of vaccinations estimated in the absence of these policies. This study provides novel age-specific evidence showing that proof-of-vaccination mandates led to an immediate, significant increase in national first-dose uptake and were particularly effective for increasing vaccination uptake in younger to middle-aged adults. Proof-of-vaccination mandates may be effective short-term policy measures for increasing population vaccination uptake, but their impact may differ across age groups.

This study analyses future changes in temperature and precipitation over the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) throughout the twenty-first century by developing a regional factorial cluster analysis (RFCA) model on the basis of bias correction and spatial disaggregation (BCSD), cluster analysis and multilevel factorial analysis (MFA). In detail, BCSD is presented to downscale climate variables (i.e., daily mean temperature, maximum temperature, and total precipitation) of multiple global climate models (GCMs) under four shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs). Evaluations shows BCSD can reasonably reproduce high spatial resolution climate predictions, especially temperature variables with great spatial correlation coefficients (i.e., larger than 0.9). Future climate changes are quantified by the Standard Euclidean Distance (SED), indicating climate change over YRB would spatially and seasonally undergo uneven distribution. Temperature changes have an overall south-to-north trend, with high variations in winter and summer. Precipitation changes over the upper reaches in winter and summer have larger variations than lower ones. Two hotspots are clustered with SED stabilities greater than 1.8, distributed in the Tibetan Plateau and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, respectively. The effects of uncertainties (i.e., periods, GCMs and SSPs) and their interactions on predictions are analyzed through MFA. The individual effects of SSPs factor and its interactions with periods are worthy of consideration. The largest variation is observed under SSP585, with a total SED of 1.050; the smallest variation is observed under SSP370, with a total SED of 1.034. The interaction of SSPs and periods leads to a relatively stable interdecadal total SED under SSP126, which remains around 1.040.