1. B.C. ports lockout update: Union says it will challenge Ottawa’s intervention in work stoppages  Vancouver Sun
2. Union says it will challenge Ottawa's intervention in B.C. port work stoppages  CTV News
3. Labour minister forcing end of negotiations at Quebec ports marks 'dark day for workers' rights,' union says  CBC.ca
4. Canada orders ports to restart as labour disputes choke trade  Financial Post
5. Opinion: Stuck in the middle, and risking union support  The Globe and Mail

1. Niagara Health offering free parking after delays reported  News Talk 610 CKTB
2. Implementation of new Niagara Health patient info system resulting in long wait times  St. Catharines Standard
3. Temporary delays impacting registration at emergency departments  Thorold News
4. Niagara Health Working Through Delays  101.1 More FM
5. Niagara Health experiencing temporary delays impacting registration and EDs  Niagara Health

1. Food bank usage in Toronto is higher than its ever been, says new report  CP24
2. More than 1 in 10 Torontonians now rely on food banks, 2024 saw highest number of visits ever recorded: report  NOW Toronto
3. 4 in 5 newcomers to Canada relying on food banks, Toronto report finds  National Post
4. One in 10 Toronto residents now relies on food banks: Report  Toronto Sun
5. Food bank use in Toronto breaks records — again  CBC.ca

Inquiet par le coronavirus ? Vous pouvez appeler le numï¿œro vert 0 800 130 000. C'est Emmanuel Macron lui-mï¿œme qui en a fait la promotion dans un tweet en avril 2020, en plein confinement. Ce 0 800 fait partie de la longue liste...

Physiological indicators are an important basis for reflecting the physiological health status of the human body and play an important role in medical practice. Association rules have also been one of the important research hotspots in recent years. This study aims to create a data mining system of association rules and artificial intelligence in biochemical indicators of sports training. This article uses Markov logic for network creation and system training, and tests whether the Markov logic network can be associated with the training system. The results show that the accuracy and recall rate obtained are about 90%, which shows that it is feasible to establish biochemical indicators of sports training based on Markov logic network, and the system has universal, guiding and constructive significance, ensuring that the construction of training system indicators will not go in the wrong direction.

Electronic portfolios (e-portfolios) have a positive impact on the learning process in a broad range of educational sectors and on learners of all ages. Yet because most e-portfolio-related studies are about their implementation in higher education, this type of research is less usual in the early childhood context, and there is no available research for Greek schools. This study aims to investigate the impact of e-portfolios on learning in a Greek primary school and to provide a resource regarding the educational benefits of e-portfolio in primary education. To do that, it employs the qualitative naturalistic method to collect data, along with mixed methods which were used to achieve triangulation and strengthen confidence in the outcomes. Participants in the research were fourteen 8-year-old pupils, and one of the researchers was their regular teacher. Data evaluation revealed that the e-portfolio added value in pupils’ learning, acted as a medium to involve parents, promoted pupils’ self-esteem, and was acknowledged as a valuable assessment tool and a challenge for the school community. Based on the experience of the e-portfolio implementation, the authors provide some suggestions that would possibly help researchers and primary school teachers adopt and develop e-portfolio systems in their particular settings.

Aim/Purpose: To examine the early perceptions (acceptability) and usability of EASEL (Education through Application-Supported Experiential Learning), a mobile platform that delivers reflection prompts and content before, during, and after an experiential learning activity. Background: Experiential learning is an active learning approach in which students learn by doing and by reflecting on the experience. This approach to teaching is often used in disciplines such as humanities, business, and medicine. Reflection before, during, and after an experience allows the student to analyze what they learn and why it is important, which is vital in helping them to understand the relevance of the experience. A just-in-time tool (EASEL) was needed to facilitate this. Methodology: To inform the development of a mobile application that facilitates real-time guided reflection and to determine the relevant feature set, we conducted a needs analysis with both students and faculty members. Data collected during this stage of the evaluation helped guide the creation of a prototype. The user experience of the prototype and interface interactions were evaluated during the usability phase of the evaluation study. Contribution: Both the needs analysis and usability assessment provided justification for continued development of EASEL as well as insight that guides current development. Findings: The interaction design of EASEL is understandable and usable. Both students and teachers value an application that facilitates real-time guided reflection. Recommendations for Practitioners: The use of a system such as EASEL can leverage time and location-based services to support students in field experiences. This technology aligns with evidence that guided reflection provides opportunities for metacognition. Recommendation for Researchers: Iterative prototyping, testing, and refinement can lead to a deliberate and effective app development process. Impact on Society: The EASEL platform leverages inherent functionality of mobile devices, such as GPS and persistent network connectivity, to adapt reflection tasks based on lo-cation or time. Students using EASEL will engage in guided reflection, which leads to metacognition and can help instructors scaffold learning Future Research: We will continue to advance the application through iterative testing and development. When ready, the application will be vetted in larger studies across varied disciplines and contexts.

Aim/Purpose: This paper presents the findings of an Activity-Oriented Teaching Strategy (AOTS) conducted for a postgraduate level Software Engineering (SE) course with the aim of imparting meaningful software development experience for the students. The research question is framed as whether the activity-oriented teaching strategy helps students to acquire practical knowledge of Software Engineering and thus bridge the gap between academia and software industry. Background: Software Engineering Education (SEE) in India is mainly focused on teaching theoretical concepts rather than emphasizing on practical knowledge in software development process. It has been noticed that many students of CS/IT background are struggling when they start their career in the software industry due to inadequate familiarity with the software development process. In the current context of SE education, there is a knowledge gap between the theory learned in the classroom and the actual requirement demanded by the software industry. Methodology: The methodology opted for in this study was action research since the teachers are trying to solve the practical problems and deficiencies encountered while teaching SE. There are four pedagogies in AOTS for fulfilling the requirements of the desired teaching strategy. They are flipped classroom, project role-play for developing project artifacts, teaching by example, and student seminars. The study was conducted among a set of Postgraduate students of the Software Engineering programme at Cochin University of Science and Technology, India. Contribution: AOTS can fulfil both academic and industrial requirements by actively engaging the students in the learning process and thus helping them develop their professional skills. Findings: AOTS can be molded as a promising teaching strategy for learning Software Engineering. It focuses on the essential skill sets demanded by the software industry such as communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and understanding of the software development processes. Impact on Society: Activity-oriented teaching strategies can fulfil both academic and industrial requirements by actively engaging the students in the SE learning process and thus helping them in developing their professional skills. Future Research: AOTS can be refined by adding/modifying pedagogies and including different features like an online evaluation system, virtual classroom etc.

Aim/Purpose: This paper describes the context, development, implementation, and the potential transferability of an integrated online research environment that allows its users to conduct all aspects of research online. Background: While the content of most traditional courses can be delivered online and learning outcomes can be achieved by adopting equivalents to face-to-face pedagogic approaches, certain courses, such as those that require a substantial research component, present significant constraints for delivery online. To overcome these limitations, Australia’s largest university developed and implemented a Research Portal. Methodology: The development team conducted a functional requirements analysis, identified the components that would be necessary to meet user needs, and reviewed existing solutions. The Monash University Psychology Research Portal was designed, tested, developed, tested for user experience, implemented, and reviewed. The Research Portal is structured according to the usual research sequence and provides users with access to supporting information and integrated capacities including research supervision, participant acquisition, and data collection, analysis, and storage. Contribution: This integrated online research environment is equivalent to and, in some ways, superior to an on campus/non-online research capacity. Findings: The usage of the Research Portal has grown rapidly and has satisfied the requirements and met the research needs of students of an online course that includes a research project, providing a common, ubiquitously accessible, and integrated online research environment. Recommendations for Practitioners: Further refinement, personalization, and expanded implementation and dissemination of the Research Portal components are required. The formation of networks and working partnerships to operate, maintain, and promote Research Portal initiatives is recommended to reduce operational costs, increase access, and create an impact. Impact on Society: The Research Portal is an efficient resource that provides easy access to a standard interface at any time and from anywhere and can potentially be used by other online research courses, as well as by online and non-online researchers.

Aim/Purpose: This study investigates the variations in student participation patterns across different types of instructional activities, learning modes, and with different instructional guidance approaches. In the current study, different variables, modes of learning (guided versus unguided), and types of guidance (social versus cognitive) were manipulated in a series of microblogging-supported collaborative learning tasks to examine to what extent and in which aspects instructional guidance affects the effectiveness and student perception of microblogging-supported learning. Background: Despite the overwhelming agreement on the importance of instructional guidance in microblogging-supported learning environments, very few studies have been done to examine the specificity of guidance, such as how to structure and support microblogging activities, as well as what types of guidance are appropriate in what learning contexts. Methodology: This semester-long study utilized a case-study research design via a multi-dimensional approach in a hybrid classroom with both face-to-face and online environments. Tweets were collected from four types of activities and coded based on content within their contextual setting. Twenty-four college students participated in the study. Contribution: In response to the call to improve social media learning environments under-scored in contemporary education, the current case study took an initial step aiming at deepening the understanding of the role of instructional guidance in microblogging-supported learning environments. Findings: This study showcases that with instructor facilitation, students succeeded in being engaged in a highly participatory and interactive learning experience across a variety of tasks and activities. This study indicates that students’ perspectives of social media tools rely heavily on what instructors do with the tool and how the instructional activities are structured and supported. Instructors’ scaffolding and support is instrumental in keeping students on task and engaging students with meaningful events, thus ensuring the success of microblogging-based learning activities. Meanwhile, students’ perception of usefulness of instructional guidance is closely related to their own pre-perception and experience. Recommendations for Practitioners: When incorporating social media tools, it is important to examine learner’s prior knowledge and comfort level with these tools and tailor the design of instructional activities to their attributes. It is also vital to monitor student progress, adjust the type and amount of guidance and scaffolding provided as they progress, and eventually remove the scaffolding until students can demonstrate that they can perform the task successfully without assistance. Recommendation for Researchers: Due to many other potential factors in place that could potentially influence student learning, no conclusive remarks can be made regarding the superiority of either one type of guidance approach. Future researchers should continue to develop robust research methodologies to seek ways to better operationalize this variable and strive to understand its effect. Future Research: Future replication studies in other settings, with a larger sample size, and different populations will certainly provide further insights on the effects of instructional guidance in microblogging-based learning. Alternative coding methods may also shed light on differences in student interaction in terms of content diversity and depth of learning when analyzing the tweets. Advanced data collection techniques may be explored to ascertain the completeness of data collection.

Aim/Purpose: Students tend to learn best when an array of learning styles is used by instructors. The purpose of this paper is to add, to introduce, and to apply the concepts of kinesthetic learning and learning structures to university and STEM education. Background: The study applies the concept of kinesthetic learning and a learning structure called Think-Pair-Share to an experiential exercise about Moore’s Law in an introductory MIS classroom. The paper details the exercise and each of its components. Methodology: Students in two classes were asked to complete a short survey about their conceptual understanding of the course material before and after the experiential exercise. Contribution: The paper details the benefits of kinesthetic learning and learning structures and discusses how to apply these concepts through an experiential exercise used in an introductory MIS course. Findings: Results indicate that the kinesthetic learning activity had a positive impact on student learning outcomes. Recommendations for Practitioners: University educators can use this example to structure several other learning activities that apply kinesthetic learning principles. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers can use this paper to study more about how to incorporate kinesthetic learning into education, and about teaching technology concepts to undergraduate students through kinesthetic learning. Impact on Society: The results of this study may be extremely beneficial for the university and STEM community and overall academic business community. Future Research: Researchers should consider longitudinal studies and other ways to incorporate kinesthetic learning activities into education.

Aim/Purpose: This paper describes a technologies education model for introducing Simulation Learning and Extended Reality (XR) solution creation skills and knowledge to students at the tertiary education level, which is broadly applicable to higher education-based contexts of teaching and learning. Background: This work is made possible via the model’s focus on advancing knowledge and understanding of a range of digital resources, and the processes and production skills to teach and produce playable educational digital content, including classroom practice and applications. Methodology: Through practice-based learning and technology as an enabler, to inform the development of this model, we proposed a mixed-mode project-based approach of study within a transdisciplinary course for Higher Education students from the first year through to the post-graduate level. Contribution: An argument is also presented for the utility of this model for upskilling Pre-service Teachers’ (PSTs) pedagogical content knowledge in Technologies, which is especially relevant to the Australian curriculum context and will be broadly applicable to various educative and non-Australian settings. Findings: Supported by practice-based research, work samples and digital projects of Simulation Learning and XR developed by the authors are demonstrated to ground the discussion in examples; the discussion that is based around some of the challenges and the technical considerations, and the scope of teaching digital solutions creation is provided. Recommendations for Practitioners: We provide a flexible technologies teaching and learning model for determining content for inclusion in a course designed to provide introductory Simulation Learning and XR solution creation skills and knowledge. Recommendation for Researchers: The goal was to provide key criteria and an outline that can be adapted by academic researchers and learning designers in various higher education-based contexts of teaching and inclusive learning design focused on XR. Impact on Society: We explore how educators work with entities in various settings and contexts with different priorities, and how we recognise expertise beyond the institutional interests, beyond discipline, and explore ‘what is possible’ through digital technologies for social good and inclusivity. Future Research: The next step for this research is to investigate and explore how XR and Simulation Learning could be utilised to accelerate student learning in STEM and HASS disciplines, to promote knowledge retention and a higher level of technology-enhanced learning engagement.

This study focuses on the importance of monitoring student attendance in education and the challenges faced by educators in doing so. Existing methods for attendance tracking have drawbacks, including high costs, long processing times, and inaccuracies, while security and privacy concerns have often been overlooked. To address these issues, the authors present a novel internet of things (IoT)-based self-lecture attendance system (SLAS) that leverages smartphones and QR codes. This system effectively addresses security and privacy concerns while providing streamlined attendance tracking. It offers several advantages such as compact size, affordability, scalability, and flexible features for teachers and students. Empirical research conducted in a live lecture setting demonstrates the efficacy and precision of the SLAS system. The authors believe that their system will be valuable for educational institutions aiming to streamline attendance tracking while ensuring security and privacy.

To assess a country's economic outlook and achieve higher economic growth, econometric models and prediction techniques are significant tools. Policymakers are always concerned with the correct future estimates of economic variables to take the right economic decisions, design better policies and effectively implement them. Therefore, there is a need to improve the predictive accuracy of the existing models and to use more sophisticated and superior algorithms for accurate forecasting. Deep learning models like recurrent neural networks are considered superior for forecasting as they provide better predictive results as compared to many of the econometric models. Against this backdrop, this paper presents the feasibility of using different deep-learning neural network architectures for trade forecasting. It predicts export trade using different recurrent neural architectures such as 'vanilla recurrent neural network (VRNN)', 'bi-directional long short-term memory network (Bi-LSTM)', 'bi-directional gated recurrent unit (Bi-GRU)' and a hybrid 'bi-directional LSTM and GRU neural network'. The performances of these models are evaluated and compared using different performance metrics such as Mean Square Error (MSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE) Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), Root Mean Squared Logarithmic Error (RMSLE) and coefficient of determination <em>R</em>-squared (<em>R</em>²). The results validated the effective export prediction for India.

This research was carried out with an objective of studying the existing mushroom value chain, identifying demand-supply gap, carrying out SWOT analysis to explore challenges, proposing action plan and presenting finally standard operating procedure for enhancing value chain effectiveness. Data was collected from 71 actors identified in the oyster mushroom value chain in Tumakuru Taluk, Karnataka State, India and analysed. Analysis showed that there were five different models of value chain, and the shortest value chain was the most profitable one. Based on the respondents' perceptions, mushroom cultivation offers many opportunities such as creating employment, improving economic condition and diet. Meanwhile they face challenges like, pest attack, hike in input materials' prices, lack of technical guidance during farming, finance support, inefficient marketing system. There is a need to address demand-supply gap, invest more in facilities and related research, integrate all the actors in value chain to enhance productivity.