Posts in Research
The implications of generative AI for hospitality, travel and tourism

The introduction of the ChatGPT by Open AI has created a major disruption to the entire economy around the globe. In its short tenure, ChatGPT and alternative generative artificial intelligence (GAI) tools showed tremendous opportunities as well as challenges for overall economy and all industries. Certainly, hospitality, tourism, and travel industries are not immune to this major disruption.

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Enhancing Physical Activity in Solid Organ Transplant Recipients: Insights from Healthcare Professionals

Solid organ transplantation is a life-saving procedure for individuals with end-stage organ failure. However, after transplantation, recipients often face challenges in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, including engaging in regular physical activity. Digital health interventions have emerged as a promising tool to support and enhance physical activity in this population.

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Equity, Access, and Inclusion: ADA’s Promise 30 Years in the Making

On a hot summer day in July 1990, President George H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) into law with a crowd of onlookers on the South Lawn of the White House. It was a momentous day. The first broad reaching civil rights law that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability, not limited only to entities receiving government funding.

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Transforming Bridge Maintenance: The power of digital twins for smarter infrastructure management

Bridges are vital for keeping our transportation network running smoothly, but they need careful attention to stay safe and functional as they age. By using cutting-edge technologies like sensors, computers, and data analysis, we can create a digital version of a bridge that helps us keep an eye on its condition and make smart decisions about maintenance.

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Improving sleep quality for rotating shiftworkers

The 24/7 operations at oil refineries require continuous coverage of nights, weekends and holidays, adding hardship to this demanding work schedule.  Process operations at refineries are typically staffed by rotating shiftworkers, most of whom transitioned to two 12-hour shifts on rapid rotation schedules in the 1990s.  The 12-hour shift, originally proposed as a compressed work week, provides little recovery time when an additional shift or two is added each week.  How have these schedule changes influenced worker health and well-being? 

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The human behavioural crisis: A critical intervention point for ecological overshoot

In a year beset by record high air and ocean temperatures, wildfires and floods, and manifest across the globe, the reality of climate change is undeniable. However, dangerous climate change is but one of many interconnected symptoms of human ecological overshoot, along with relentless degradation of the natural environment, loss of biodiversity, and a host of social, economic and political trends.

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Why do romantic relationships matter?: An account of Chinese young people in high schools

In recent decades, the UN Sustainable Development Goals have been influential in emphasizing the crucial interdependence of equity and sustainability. However, through worldwide research, researchers have noticed that there is still an existing risk of reproducing discrimination and exclusion against certain groups. Some key topics also lack sufficient discussion due to a series of limitations caused by local contexts. Sex and heterosexual romantic relationships are two culturally sensitive topics in Chinese society, especially among young people. Pre-adulthood heterosexual romantic relationships are often constructed as 'inappropriate' and 'unacceptable' due to being shaped by traditional sexual morality and constructions of 'how a good child/student should behave' in China. Consequently, understandings of sex and heterosexual romantic relationship experiences before adulthood are biased and limited.

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Automated prompts to efficiently screen for HPV and shingles vaccination status

Technology and automation have contributed to efficiencies in many sectors, and healthcare is no exception. The need to rapidly vaccinate millions of people against COVID-19 has led to the development and widespread adoption of online booking platforms for scheduling vaccination appointments. Our team was interested in testing the coupling of a brief vaccination screening to an online scheduling platform.

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World Politics in the 21st Century: The New Cold War?

World politics undeniably changed over the last 30 years. Our new book, World Politics. International Relations & Globalisation in the 21st Century, examines and explains what has happened over the last three decades: how the complexities, contestations and uncertainties of world politics has taken us to where we are today.

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Exploring Identity and Politics: Northeast India's Muslim “Othering”

The threads of culture, religion, and history are interwoven in the Northeast Indian tapestry of identity politics. Understanding the “othering” of Muslims in this region is not just an academic exercise, it is about recognizing the real-world implications of how we define “us” versus “them” and the impact this has on people's lives.

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Rising Prevalence and Incidence Trends in children and youth with ADHD in Ontario, Canada

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a childhood-onset neurodevelopmental disorder. This condition can impair academic, social, and/or occupational functions. For these reasons, it is important to conduct surveillance of ADHD trends over time for the purpose of planning for healthcare services and resources. Yet, studies on the prevalence and incidence rates for ADHD in Canada have largely used case-finding algorithms applied to health administrative data that have not been adequately validated so it is unclear how accurate these algorithms are at detecting cases of ADHD.

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Hyper-doing? Hyper-don’t

Is your to-do list growing longer and controlling your life? Do you measure the success of a day by how much you have achieved? Are you finding it difficult, or guilt-provoking, to take rest? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you are almost certainly “hyper-doing”. In fact, I think that many academics, authors, researchers, and health-care professionals are “hyper-doers”. I’m so good at hyper-doing that, ironically, I wrote an article on it.

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Who is looking after our student-athletes?

In the world of collegiate athletics this year, there are major shifts occurring in the alignment of Athletic Conferences: e.g., the Big 10 now includes 14 teams from coast to coast.  In the reporting about these discussions, deals, and decisions there has been no public consideration of the consequences for the student-athletes.  With the initial announcement in June 2022 that USC and UCLA were joining the Big10, many of us sleep and circadian rhythm scientists and clinicians were concerned about the negative effects of increased cross time-zone travel on the health and performance (athletic and academic) of the student-athletes. 

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Civic Education in a Time of Democratic Crisis

Democracy has been on the decline globally for 16 consecutive years. U.S. democracy mirrors a similar trend, with increasing public distrust in government, rising polarizations, and growing disinformation and other threats from rapid advances in technology—all of which sound the alarm bell that such division has made it difficult for diverse peoples living in the U.S. to listen to each other and find common ground. And amid these democratic challenges, the 2022 NAEP Civics assessment results show a persistently low level of civics knowledge – a warning sign that our younger generation is not adequately prepared for these complex challenges

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Brief mental health support for Ontario healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

There is considerable research now, showing the negative mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Across many countries, about one in three people in the general population reported psychological distress. Those at higher risk for being infected with COVID-19, reported more depression and anxiety symptoms. But the healthcare system needed to keep functioning, as many people were sick and dying. How could HCWs be supported to continue their vital work? The current study looked at whether a brief coping-focused psychotherapy treatment, would be associated with positive changes in Ontario HCWs’ mental health during the pandemic.

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Rumours of the demise of blood glucose monitoring are premature!

It may seem a provocative statement, but it seems to us that blood glucose monitoring (BGM), a technology that has taken care of the vast majority of people with diabetes for the past 40+ years, is being ushered to an untimely grave. Companies like LifeScan are bucking this trend and innovating for people using BGM. OneTouch® Bluetooth® connected BGMs with a companion OneTouch Reveal® (OTR) mobile app put powerful diabetes management tools right in the phones in the hands of people with diabetes. The app shows glucose trends, provides insights, and allows people to share data directly to their nurse or doctor.

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Beyond the sensational headlines, predatory marriage is real – and doctors should be paying attention.

In a well-publicized case of predatory marriage in Canada , Hunt v. Worrod, a 50 year old man who sustained a severe brain injury in an ATV accident, making him incapable of managing his finances and personal care. He married a woman with whom he had been in an on again off again relationship only a few days after being discharged from hospital and unbeknownst to his two sons. By the time they discovered their father missing and found him later the same day, a wedding had already happened, orchestrated, and attended by the bride and her relatives. His sons challenged the marriage on the grounds that their father did not have the capacity to make a decision to marry. The marriage was voided in a ruling helped by an unusually large (compared to similar cases) amount of medical evidence describing Mr. Hunt’s cognitive problems.

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