L’offre de formation à distance au collégial : état des lieux et enjeux socioéconomiques

Ce rapport de recherche a été réalisé pour le compte de la Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec (FECQ)Comprend des références bibliographiques et webographiques"Dans ce rapport en quatre volets, Éric N. Duhaime dresse un portrait global des enjeux socio-économiques de la formation à distance dans le réseau collégial. Le rapport se divise en quatre chapitres : 1. Le premier chapitre fait état de la nature et de l’historique de la formation à distance au Québec. Il s’intéresse plus particulièrement aux développements récents qui entourent le Plan d’action numérique en éducation et en enseignement supérieur et la mise en place du Campus numérique. Il problématise enfin le caractère idéologique de certains discours qui prennent la forme d’une injonction à l’adoption des technologies numériques. 2. Le deuxième chapitre établit un état des lieux quant à l’offre de formation à distance de niveau collégial au Québec. Il s’appuie sur les quelques données disponibles en la matière, en complétant le portrait par l’analyse de trois instances névralgiques : Cégep à distance, Humanis et Cégep virtuel. 3. Le troisième chapitre aborde les enjeux socioéconomiques qui se rattachent à la formation à distance. Il s’intéresse aux coûts et au financement de la formation à distance, à ses impacts sur les conditions de travail pour le personnel enseignant et aux contraintes technologiques d’accessibilité qu’il entraîne pour la population étudiante. 4. Le dernier chapitre comporte un ensemble de recommandations qui visent une utilisation judicieuse et optimale de la formation à distance dans le cadre du réseau des cégeps du Québec"-- IRÉ

Exploring the Role of Human Judgment in Making Discount Decisions in the Lodging Industry

This study assesses the process of making pricing decisions, specifically discounts, in the lodging industry. The study applied a qualitative technique employing structured interviews of hotel managers in the United States. The assessments included the narration of events, stages, and cycles of choices made by hotel managers. The findings of the study enhanced the understanding of how management’s discount choice was constructed. In addition, this study identified the habitual management practices in the lodging industry such as “less-than-35 rule,” “trial and error,” and “follow suit.” To confirm the findings from the interviews, a follow-up study was conducted. The survey was designed to learn what kinds of information managers rank highly when considering price adjustments in their operations. Different rankings on information attributes among departments were investigated; results show that managers from different departments rank some information elements differently. Learning the process of a discount choice provided new insights on managerial resources and capabilities required to set and change prices in the lodging industry

A Framework for Understanding Firms’ Foreign Exit Behavior

Although research on foreign market entry and expansion behavior has attracted significant interest in the literature, there is a general lack of research (either conceptual or empirical) on the exit behavior of international companies. To address this issue, the authors develop a conceptual framework to understand firms’ foreign exit behavior. The objective is to lay the conceptual foundation for subsequent empirical research in this area. A series of research propositions have been advanced that can guide hypothesis generation for future research

Cross-Hemisphere Study Reveals Geographically Ubiquitous, Plastic-Specific Bacteria Emerging from the Rare and Unexplored Biosphere

While it is now appreciated that the millions of tons of plastic pollution travelling through marine systems carry complex communities of microorganisms, it is still unknown to what extent these biofilm communities are specific to the plastic or selected by the surrounding ecosystem. To address this, we characterized and compared the microbial communities of microplastic particles, nonplastic (natural and wax) particles, and the surrounding waters from three marine ecosystems (the Baltic, Sargasso and Mediterranean seas) using high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We found that biofilm communities on microplastic and nonplastic particles were highly similar to one another across this broad geographical range. The similar temperature and salinity profiles of the Sargasso and Mediterranean seas, compared to the Baltic Sea, were reflected in the biofilm communities. We identified plastic-specific operational taxonomic units (OTUs) that were not detected on nonplastic particles or in the surrounding waters. Twenty-six of the plastic-specific OTUs were geographically ubiquitous across all sampled locations. These geographically ubiquitous plastic-specific OTUs were mostly low-abundance members of their biofilm communities and often represented uncultured members of marine ecosystems. These results demonstrate the potential for plastics to be a reservoir of rare and understudied microbes, thus warranting further investigations into the dynamics and role of these microbes in marine ecosystems

What we talk about when we talk about "global mindset": managerial cognition in multinational corporations

Recent developments in the global economy and in multinational corporations have placed significant emphasis on the cognitive orientations of managers, giving rise to a number of concepts such as “global mindset” that are presumed to be associated with the effective management of multinational corporations (MNCs). This paper reviews the literature on global mindset and clarifies some of the conceptual confusion surrounding the construct. We identify common themes across writers, suggesting that the majority of studies fall into one of three research perspectives: cultural, strategic, and multidimensional. We also identify two constructs from the social sciences that underlie the perspectives found in the literature: cosmopolitanism and cognitive complexity and use these two constructs to develop an integrative theoretical framework of global mindset. We then provide a critical assessment of the field of global mindset and suggest directions for future theoretical and empirical research

Viral to metazoan marine plankton nucleotide sequences from the Tara Oceans expedition

A unique collection of oceanic samples was gathered by the Tara Oceans expeditions (2009-2013), targeting plankton organisms ranging from viruses to metazoans, and providing rich environmental context measurements. Thanks to recent advances in the field of genomics, extensive sequencing has been performed for a deep genomic analysis of this huge collection of samples. A strategy based on different approaches, such as metabarcoding, metagenomics, single-cell genomics and metatranscriptomics, has been chosen for analysis of size-fractionated plankton communities. Here, we provide detailed procedures applied for genomic data generation, from nucleic acids extraction to sequence production, and we describe registries of genomics datasets available at the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA, www.ebi.ac.uk/ena). The association of these metadata to the experimental procedures applied for their generation will help the scientific community to access these data and facilitate their analysis. This paper complements other efforts to provide a full description of experiments and open science resources generated from the Tara Oceans project, further extending their value for the study of the world's planktonic ecosystems

Defining neurotrauma in administrative data using the International Classification of Diseases Tenth Revision

Abstract Background It is essential to use a definition that is precise and accurate for the surveillance of traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and spinal cord injuries (SCI). This paper reviews the International Classification of Diseases 10th revision (ICD-10) definitions used internationally to inform the definition for neurotrauma surveillance using administrative data in Ontario, Canada. Methods PubMed, Web of Science, Medline and the grey literature were searched for keywords "spinal cord injuries" or "brain injuries" and "international classification of diseases". All papers and reports that used an ICD-10 definition were included. To determine the ICD-10 codes for inclusion consensus across papers and additional evidence were sought to look at the correlation between the condition and brain or spinal injuries. Results Twenty-four articles and reports were identified; 15 unique definitions for TBI and 7 for SCI were found. The definitions recommended for use in Ontario by this paper are F07.2, S02.0, S02.1, S02.3, S02.7, S02.8, S02.9, S06, S07.1, T90.2, and T90.5 for traumatic brain injuries and S14.0, S14.1, S24.0, S24.1, S34.1, S34.0, S34.3, T06.0, T06.1 and T91.3 for spinal cord injuries. Conclusions Internationally, inconsistent definitions are used to define brain and spinal cord injuries. An abstraction study of data would be an asset in understanding the effects of inclusion and exclusion of codes in the definition. This paper offers a definition of neurotrauma for surveillance in Ontario, but the definition could be applied to other countries that have mandated administrative data collection

Minimum information about an uncultivated virus genome (MIUVIG)

This is the final version. Available on open access from Nature Research via the DOI in this recordNOTE: the full list of funders and grants is in the acknowledgements section of the articleWe present an extension of the Minimum Information about any (x) Sequence (MIxS) standard for reporting sequences of uncultivated virus genomes. Minimum Information about an Uncultivated Virus Genome (MIUViG) standards were developed within the Genomic Standards Consortium framework and include virus origin, genome quality, genome annotation, taxonomic classification, biogeographic distribution and in silico host prediction. Community-wide adoption of MIUViG standards, which complement the Minimum Information about a Single Amplified Genome (MISAG) and Metagenome-Assembled Genome (MIMAG) standards for uncultivated bacteria and archaea, will improve the reporting of uncultivated virus genomes in public databases. In turn, this should enable more robust comparative studies and a systematic exploration of the global virosphere.Simons Foundation InternationalNatural Environment Research Council (NERC

A systematic autopsy survey of human infant bridging veins

In the first years of life, subdural haemorrhage (SDH) within the cranial cavity can occur through accidental and non-accidental mechanisms as well as from birth-related injury. This type of bleeding is the most common finding in victims of abusive head trauma (AHT). Historically, the most frequent cause of SDHs in infancy is suggested to be traumatic damage to bridging veins traversing from the brain to the dural membrane. However, several alternative hypotheses have been suggested for the cause and origin of subdural bleeding. It has also been suggested by some that bridging veins are too large to rupture through the forces associated with AHT. To date, there have been no systematic anatomical studies on infant bridging veins. During 43 neonatal, infant and young child post-mortem examinations, we have mapped the locations and numbers of bridging veins onto a 3D model of the surface of a representative infant brain. We have also recorded the in situ diameter of 79 bridging veins from two neonatal, one infant and two young children at post-mortem examination. Large numbers of veins, both distant from and directly entering the dural venous sinuses, were discovered travelling between the brain and dural membrane, with the mean number of veins per brain being 54.1 and the largest number recorded as 94. The mean diameter of the bridging veins was 0.93 mm, with measurements ranging from 0.05 to 3.07 mm. These data demonstrate that some veins are extremely small and subjectively, and they appear to be delicate. Characterisation of infant bridging veins will contribute to the current understanding of potential vascular sources of subdural bleeding and could also be used to further develop computational models of infant head injury