Public Works and Government Services Canada

This paper examines including Indigenous perspectives into data ethics strategies and artificial intelligence practices as part of a corporate reconciliation commitment. Through three workshops with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples, the research explored Indigenous Knowledge, data ethics, and responsible AI use.The study identified three key themes: respecting Indigenous data sovereignty, ensuring Indigenous involvement in AI development, and implementing distinctions-based approaches. Case studies demonstrate practical applications, including the OCAP® principles learning circle, AI image declaration, and partnerships with Indigenous-owned technology companies.Key findings emphasize the importance of distinctions-based approaches, including Indigenous data sovereignty principles, and involving Indigenous Peoples across multiple levels of AI development and governance. The findings conclude that prioritizing Indigenous involvement in emerging technologies is crucial for ethical innovation and advancing reconciliation while fostering sustainable, community-driven outcomes.

In Canada, there has been an effort to address youth mental health through various initiatives and investments, although mental health struggles among young Canadians continue to increase. Despite these challenges, there is also recognition of the strength and resilience of youth, as well as the increasing empowerment and engagement of young people in shaping mental health support systems. In this article, the authors explore the role of leadership in facilitating the co-design and implementation of a comprehensive continuum of care, leveraging the Stepped Care 2.0 framework, to facilitate effective and sustainable youth mental health support systems.

What does privilege look like today?How do the advantaged perform "ease"?And why do some of us feel at home in elite spaces, while others feel awkward?Princeton sociologist Shamus Khan joins Uncommon Sense to reflect on elites, entitlement and more.Reminding us that "poor people are not why there's inequality; rich people are why there's inequality", he highlights the importance of studying elites for studying inequality, as the gap between the two grows.Being the author of Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St Paul's School (2011), Shamus tells Rosie and Alexis about how the way in which elites justify and see their position has shifted -and how a disability studies perspective helps us to cast a critical eye on the "ease" with which the few seem to nimbly navigate elite institutions.What seems like some of us "have it" and others "just don't" is, suggests Shamus, socially produced -and what appears to be a "flat" and open world, ripe for the bold to seize, is really far more complex.Plus: why might two people who share the same knowledge be valued differently when that knowledge is held in different -racialised and minoritised -bodies?Also: why TV shows and movies about elites don't stop at Saltburn, Succession and The Kardashians?With discussion of Pierre

In 2012, the International Commission on Radiological Protection issued new recommendations, in publication 118, regarding the dose limits to the eye-lens. New analyses of historical exposure data had indicated that radiation-induced cataracts may appear at lower doses than previously assumed. This spurred largescale efforts in a variety of fields including dosimetry, radiation effects simulations, and the review of national regulatory limits. On the simulation side, much work led to the publication of dose rate conversion factors (DRCFs), to calculate the dose to the radiosensitive part of the eye-lens, and to the whole eye-lens as functions of the incident fluence of electron, photon, positron, and neutron radiation. The standard, ISO-15382 (2015 Radiological Protection—Procedures for Monitoring the Dose to the Lens of the Eye, the Skin and the Extremities), from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), stated that the direct contact of a hot radioactive particle on the eye-lens represents a special contamination condition that must be considered. The aim of this work was to produce tabulated data of eye-lens dose rates, per activity (MBq), for a variety of radionuclides. In this work, the dose to the eye-lens from contamination directly in contact with the cornea, expressed in terms of DRCFs for eye-lens, in units of Gy h−1 MBq−1, are presented for 102 radionuclides of interest. These radionuclides were selected as they had been considered by the International Atomic Energy Agency of importance for skin dose. The method consisted of two steps. The first was the determination of the DRCFs for mono-energetic electrons and photons for a hot particle in contact with the eye-lens, followed by the folding of these quantities with the emissions of the radionuclides of interest. Contributions from spontaneous fission neutrons were considered separately. Exposure geometries for spherical hot particles of different dimensions, materials and locations on the cornea were considered. In addition, partial surface coverage of the cornea, consistent with an accidental exposure to a contaminated liquid, was also modelled. Resulting radionuclide DRCFs were verified, for a few specific geometries and radionuclides with dedicated Monte Carlo simulations. The final data are presented in several tables included in this paper.

This thesis examines the Ottawa Public Surveillance Project announced in July 2019 as planned for the ByWard Market, but never implemented. The thesis relies on frame analysis of news articles and public documents, 11 open-focused interviews with people supporting or opposing the initiative, and social media data. The project was framed as a response to violent crime, but many Ottawa residents understood and promoted surveillance in the ByWard Market as a deterrent for the presence of marginalized people from the area more generally. Other nuances in public support for and opposition to CCTV are examined. My research unearthed that the Ottawa police quietly dropped the project, and, in an internal document, stated CCTV was not an evidence-based best practice, although the provincial government and other Ontario police forces continue to promote CCTV. Organized resistance in Ottawa likely played a role in stopping the project, and implications of this are discussed.

Executive Summary The year 2020 will go down in the annals of history as the year of COVID-19, the year the whole world was left devastated. Even in 2021, countries are being ravaged by the virus, with no immediate end in sight. In fast-moving and uncertain situations, leaders face many questions for which they might not have any answers ( Argenti, 2020 ). Therefore, the question is how leaders can manage the communication environment with clarity, consistency and empathy during this period of extreme disruption ( Glinska, 2020 ). Crisis communication is generally defined as the accumulation and dissemination of information during crisis situations to alleviate the severity of the crisis. This study outlines and analyses the communication strategies and measures adopted by the management of one of the biggest manufacturing industries of the country, the Steel Authority of India Limited, Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), during this ongoing COVID-19 crisis. A survey on the efficacy of the communication measures adopted by the management was conducted on 345 employees. The results showed a high level of support for all the implemented communication measures. Yet employees at the junior level articulated a need for better communication exchange with the top management. They perceived their voices as going unheard and sought additional communication channels connecting them to the highest authority. Considering the feedback received from the employees, additional communication measures were adopted. RSP’s Mass Contact Exercise was revived in an online format. A mobile app was developed containing all information and guidelines that an employee would need regarding precautions, prevention, testing and treatment of COVID-19. Quick and clear communication at every juncture let RSP tide through arguably the toughest pandemic period. Thus, it should always be ensured that appropriate communication channels are effectively implemented for vital information to reach every corner of the organization.

Abstract Aimβ‐diversity is often measured through incidence‐based dissimilarity indices, such as the Simpson and Sørensen indices. Multiple‐site versions of these indices, which have been recently developed, enhance the accountability of global heterogeneity relative to the original formulations. However, they are known to be sensitive to the number of sites, which hinders the comparison of β‐diversity between two populations of unequal sizes. Moreover, the populations are never completely measured and the dissimilarity must be estimated from a sample of sites.InnovationIn this study, we propose adapted multiple‐site versions of the Simpson, Sørensen and nestedness indices that are population size‐independent as well as estimators of these indices. The properties of the indices and their estimators were tested through simulation studies. These simulation studies show that the adapted indices were population size‐independent. The estimators and their estimated standard errors were nearly unbiased for moderate sample sizes (n ≥ 25).Main conclusionsThese estimators of these adapted multiple‐site dissimilarity indices now make it possible to compare the β‐diversity of two populations of unequal sizes.

To determine if construction and trades workers employed at U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear sites facilities are at significant risk for diseases associated with occupational exposures, we compared the mortality experience of participants in the Building Trades National Medical Screening Program (BTMed) to that of the US population. The cohort includes 24,086 BTMed participants enrolled between 1998 and 2016 and 5203 deaths. Cause-specific standardized mortality ratios were calculated based on US death rates. Mortality was elevated for all causes, all cancers, cancers of the trachea, bronchus, and lung and lymphatic and hematopoietic system, mesothelioma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asbestosis, transportation injuries, and other injuries, particularly those caused by accidental poisoning, suggesting a possible effect of the opioid epidemic. Apart from other injuries, mortality patterns were very similar to those reported in the past in this population. Construction workers employed at DOE sites have a significantly increased risk for occupational illnesses. Risks are associated with employment during all time periods covered including possibly after 1990. The cancer risks closely match the cancers identified for DOE compensation from radiation exposures. The high risk of lung cancer supports the value of early lung cancer detection. Continued medical surveillance is important.