Informatics Research Institute (IRIS) June 2001 newsletter

Welcome to the first edition of the Information Systems Institute's Research Newsletter. This Newsletter will be published four times a year (March, June, September and December), and will be published on the ISI research web page. The aim of the Newsletter is to facilitate the exchange of information related to research activities in ISI. Submissions are welcome from staff and research students

Introduction: The Archaeology of Nineteenth-Century Farmsteads in Northeastern Canada and the United States

This introduction to this joint volume discusses the importance of 19th century farmstead sites as discussed at the 1997 annual CNEHA meeting in Altoona, Pennsylvania. This meeting examined the current issues associated with the approach to archaeological investigations of 19th-century farmsteads

Artistic creation and computer interactive multisensory simulation force feedback gesture transducers

International audienceThe team built up from 1976 with fundamental aims motivated by the computer entering in several fields of artistic creation. The deep mutation represented by the computer, regarding the technology history, required a new and fundamental analysis of the role of the material tools in artistic creation as well as the role of the computer itself as tool. New concepts and theories were necessary that cannot be simply deduced from the previous. The computer was then envisaged to introduce explicitly a new mediation level in the creation process, through the paradigm of the interactive and multisensory simulation (IMS) of physical objects. This principle and its correlated techniques are the core of the computer creation tool envisaged. The higher level functionality being built from this base

Developing community-driven quality improvement initiatives to enhance chronic disease care in Indigenous communities in Canada : the FORGE AHEAD program protocol

BACKGROUND: Given the dramatic rise and impact of chronic diseases and gaps in care in Indigenous peoples in Canada, a shift from the dominant episodic and responsive healthcare model most common in First Nations communities to one that places emphasis on proactive prevention and chronic disease management is urgently needed. METHODS: The Transformation of Indigenous Primary Healthcare Delivery (FORGE AHEAD) Program partners with 11 First Nations communities across six provinces in Canada to develop and evaluate community-driven quality improvement (QI) initiatives to enhance chronic disease care. FORGE AHEAD is a 5-year research program (2013-2017) that utilizes a pre-post mixed-methods observational design rooted in participatory research principles to work with communities in developing culturally relevant innovations and improved access to available services. This intensive program incorporates a series of 10 inter-related and progressive program activities designed to foster community-driven initiatives with type 2 diabetes mellitus as the action disease. Preparatory activities include a national community profile survey, best practice and policy literature review, and readiness tool development. Community-level intervention activities include community and clinical readiness consultations, development of a diabetes registry and surveillance system, and QI activities. With a focus on capacity building, all community-level activities are driven by trained community members who champion QI initiatives in their community. Program wrap-up activities include readiness tool validation, cost-analysis and process evaluation. In collaboration with Health Canada and the Aboriginal Diabetes Initiative, scale-up toolkits will be developed in order to build on lessons-learned, tools and methods, and to fuel sustainability and spread of successful innovations. DISCUSSION: The outcomes of this research program, its related cost and the subsequent policy recommendations, will have the potential to significantly affect future policy decisions pertaining to chronic disease care in First Nations communities in Canada. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current ClinicalTrial.gov protocol ID NCT02234973 . Date of Registration: July 30, 2014

Workshop L: From a Language-Only Approach to a Broader View of Communicative Competence for Intercultural Communications in Aviation

During the last 10 years of the ICAO Language Proficiency Requirements (LPRs) we have seen a focus on the training and assessment of pilots and controllers, mainly regarding their language proficiency. However, as aviation has grown in complexity and aeronautical communications have turned into a globalized and intercultural enterprise, training these professionals for effective communication requires a more comprehensive approach. Aiming to explore the real-world communication needs and the several competencies required by this multicultural workplace, a study was conducted (Monteiro, 2019) giving voice to aviation stakeholders from diverse ‘linguaculture’[1] backgrounds. This paper reports on results from the second phase of this study. First, drawing on a review of theoretical and empirical research on Aviation English, English as a Lingua Franca, Intercultural Awareness, and Interactional Competence, models of language use accounting for the aviation workplace were developed. Then, a preliminary matrix, specifying what is relevant to the context of radiotelephony (RT) communications was generated and validated by 128 aviation stakeholders. Participants’ comments on authentic RT scenarios were categorized according to what they perceived as necessary to improve the effectiveness of communication in terms of awareness, knowledge, skills and attitudes, and then organized along with the four inter-related domains: Aviation English, English as a Lingua Franca, Intercultural Awareness and Interactional Competence. Findings disclose what aviation stakeholders found as most relevant for successful RT communications and confirm the narrow view of proficiency defined by the current ICAO LPRs