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An identification card facilitates access to municipal services for migrants with precarious status (MPS) in Montreal. The purpose of this study was to explore from MPS’ perspective the utility of the identity (ID) card and its influence on social inclusion for MPS.

A sequential explanatory mixed methods design was used. First, a descriptive phone survey was administered (n = 119). Associations between ID card use and levels of social inclusion were assessed using ordinal logistic regression. Second, semi-structured interviews (n = 12) were done with purposely selected participants. Results were mixed using a statistics-by-theme approach.

Results showed that ID card users compared to nonusers reported higher levels of participation in society and more control/independence in daily life. No statistical associations were found between card use and sense of belonging nor sense of safety. Interviews highlighted that the ID card enabled participation in socio-recreational activities and perceived empowerment. A heightened sense of belonging was also found. Interview participants expressed fear of police despite owning the ID card.

Overall, although the municipal ID card promoted social inclusion for MPS, there is a need to render the ID card official to fully achieve this goal. Findings can inform the creation of public policies that foster inclusion and health of MPS in cities around the world.

Evaluation from MPS’ perspectives of the first ID card program of its kind in Canada.

People who use drugs (PWUD) have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to examine changes in illicit opioid use and related factors among incarcerated PWUD in Quebec, Canada, during the pandemic.

The authors conducted an observational, cross-sectional study in three Quebec provincial prisons. Participants completed self-administered questionnaires. The primary outcome, “changes in illicit opioid consumption,” was measured using the question “Has your consumption of opioid drugs that were not prescribed to you by a medical professional changed since March 2020?” The association of independent variables and recent changes (past six months) in opioid consumption were examined using mixed-effects Poisson regression models with robust standard errors. Crude and adjusted risk ratios with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated.

A total of 123 participants (median age 37, 76% White) were included from January 19 to September 15, 2021. The majority (72; 59%) reported decreased illicit opioid consumption since March 2020. Individuals over 40 were 11% less likely (95% CI 14–8 vs 18–39) to report a decrease, while those living with others and with a history of opioid overdose were 30% (95% CI 9–55 vs living alone) and 9% (95% CI 0–18 vs not) more likely to report decreased illicit opioid consumption since March 2020, respectively.

The authors identified possible factors associated with changes in illicit opioid consumption among incarcerated PWUD in Quebec. Irrespective of opioid consumption patterns, increased access to opioid agonist therapy and enhanced discharge planning for incarcerated PWUD are recommended to mitigate the harms from opioids and other drugs.

The purpose of this paper is the design and experimental investigation of compact hybrid sound-absorbing materials presenting low-frequency and broadband sound absorption.

The hybrid materials combine microchannels and helical tubes. Microchannels provide broadband sound absorption in the middle frequency range. Helical tubes provide low-frequency absorption. Optimal configurations of microchannels are used and analytical equations are developed to guide the design of the helical tubes. Nine hybrid materials with 30 mm thickness are produced via additive manufacturing. They are combinations of one-, two- and four-layer microchannels and helical tubes with 110, 151 and 250 mm length. The sound absorption coefficient of the hybrid materials is measured using an impedance tube.

The type of microchannels (i.e. one, two or four layers), the number of rotations and the number of tubes are key parameters affecting the acoustic performance. For instance, in the 500 Hz octave band (α₅₀₀), sound absorption of a 30 mm thick hybrid material can reach 0.52 which is 5.7 times higher than the α₅₀₀ of a typical periodic porous material with the same thickness. Moreover, the broadband sound absorption for mid-frequencies is reasonably high with and α₁₀₀₀ > 0.7. The ratio of first absorption peak wavelength to structure thickness λ/T can reach 17, which is characteristic of deep-subwavelength behaviour.

The concept and experimental validation of a compact hybrid material combining a periodic porous structure such as microchannels and long helical tubes are original. The ability to increase low-frequency sound absorption at constant depth is an asset for applications where volume and weight are constraints.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and cities and how the relationship between multinational enterprise (MNEs) and local firms facilitates regional cleantech innovation.

Using a combination of social network analysis, regression analysis and interview analysis, the authors map and analyze a cleantech cluster to investigate the relationship between MNEs and local firms and the resulting effects on cleantech innovation.

The findings of the paper indicate that FDI plays a crucial role in cities and their local clusters by acting as a broker between a diverse set of actors: firms, institutions, universities, financial and other intermediaries. Additionally, connectedness to MNEs improves local firms’ innovation.

This study is not free of limitations, mainly, because of the aspects that the analysis is based on one city and one cleantech hub. Further research could verify whether the findings of this paper hold in other cities and industries.

The findings, elucidating the connection between MNEs and local firms, as well as MNEs being important brokers in the local system, and the resulting impact, will help policymakers to take appropriate actions and support the local cleantech innovation. It is important to not only attract high-quality FDI into local clusters, but also to create and support collaborations between foreign firms and local actors, because colocation does not automatically leads to positive spillovers and a lot depends on how MNEs are integrated into the local milieu.

The present paper argues that FDI plays an important role in local cleantech innovation and it is important to integrate foreign firms in local social networks.

The authors analyze FDI patterns in an emerging industry at the city and local cluster level using a unique database containing the information on relationships between MNEs and local firms, as well as interview data.

The Covid-19 pandemic generated significant changes in the operating methods of hospital logistics departments. The objective of this research is to understand how these changes took place, what collaboration mechanisms were developed with clinical authorities and, to what extent, logistics and clinical care activities should be decoupled to maximize each area's contribution?

The case study is selected to investigate practices implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic in hospitals in Canada. The pandemic presented an opportunity to contrast practices implemented in response to this crisis with those historically used in this environment.

The strategy of decoupling logistical tasks of an operational nature from clinical activities is well-founded and helps free clinical staff from tasks for which they are not trained. However, the decoupling of operational tasks should be combined with an integration of the clinical information flow to the logistics hub players. With this clinical information, the logistics hub can generate its full potential enabling better inventory management decisions to be made.

The concept of decoupling is studied to identify configurations that offer the best benefits for clinical staff.

Alain Bouchard was born in 1949. He bought his first convenience store in 1978, when he was almost 30 years old. By then, he already had nearly 10 years of experience in the sector. He had already been involved in the start-up of more than 200 convenience stores. He understood that if he was to transform his newly acquired store into a chain and build something big, he needed to set up a team of people with complementary skills to help him make acquisitions.

In 2023, there are roughly 15,000 convenience stores operating under the Circle K/Ingo/Couche-Tard banners, employing 130,000 people in more than 30 countries. Annual sales are more than US$60 billion. Alain Bouchard officially retired from his position as President and CEO in 2014 and became Founder and Executive Chairman of the Board. He continues to be a major shareholder. He is still actively involved in strategic orientations and in identifying potential acquisitions. He has become a ‘Chief Culture Officer’ involved in executive leadership mentoring. He has never stopped communicating the importance of innovative, creative and intrapreneurial behaviour at all levels of the enterprise.

This case study presents Alain Bouchard, the man and the entrepreneur. It shows how he learned and mastered the craft of starting, acquiring, managing and developing convenience stores. It looks at how he encouraged the people around him to act as facilitators and intrapreneurs. It describes his values, how he works and learned to live with risk.

Pierre Nelis joined a small group of artists working for a creative entrepreneur who had invented software to produce movies. He brought a great deal of marketing expertise to a team of technology creators, and it was this that ultimately allowed the firm to sell its software to movie industry leaders throughout the world. The firm – Softimage – was bought by Microsoft, which hired Pierre Nelis to oversee the integration process, and later to develop new communications products. Nelis has an outstanding ability to identify the elements needed by a firm to become more effective, and this led him to set up a one-of-a-kind external facilitation programme that went on to become a model for many business growth support organizations throughout the world, but especially in North America and Europe.

This paper aims to present affective computing or Emotion AI in the context of work and how organizational leaders such as managers and human resource (HR) professionals can implement this technology to foster an emotionally healthy workplace.

The authors provide a current overview of affective computing technology through definitions, examples and general use cases. This is in light of the current scrutiny on artificial intelligence (AI) use broadly across society. The authors address this from a research perspective and show how this advanced AI tool can be implemented in organizations for the benefit of employees.

Affective computing or Emotion AI is still relatively unknown, and yet, it is already part of our daily lives. Emotion AI platforms have the potential to be an essential part of HR tools. It is crucial, however, to use this technology in an ethical and responsible manner.

There is little awareness and understanding of use cases of affective computing tools in organizations, particularly for the well-being of the workforce. This paper provides HR leaders, managers and researchers with an overview of the origins of the field and major considerations for responsibly implementing Emotion AI to support employee mental health.

The purpose of this study was twofold. First, the authors analyzed how a major Canadian university sport brand was interpreted by its stakeholders and why the perception was so negative. Second, the researchers investigated how a dormant university sport brand could be revitalized.

A mixed-methods approach was designed. During the first year, a qualitative methodology was established. Researchers conducted 14 different focus groups, with students-athletes, students, coaches, university administrators, support staff and professors. In the second year, based on the initial findings, the researchers elaborated a quantitative protocol and built a multidimensional questionnaire which was administered to groups that were gravitating around the varsity brand. There were a total of 1,757 completed questionnaires.

The conclusions highlighted the weakness of the varsity brand and the limitations in leveraging the latter for the benefit of the institution. Contradictions in the marketing and branding decisions were noted, for which strategic recommendations were formulated.

In essence, the contributions of the paper relate to the strategic management of the brand and the mixed-methods approach borrowed in this research. Understanding how a brand is perceived is essential for managers in elaborating their strategy and, therefore, being able to connect effectively with their audience.

The potential strategic leverage of branding for universities becomes even more valuable as these institutions are increasingly using their varsity programs to compete with one another. This study specifically analyzes the case of a Canadian varsity brand whose values and resources differ greatly from other North American institutions.

This paper examines user generated social media content bearing on consumers’ attitude and belief systems taking the domain of natural food product as illustrative case. This research sheds light on how consumers think and talk about natural food within the context of food well-being and health.

The authors used a keyword-based approach to extract user generated content from Twitter and used both food as well-being and food as health frameworks for analysis of more than two million tweets.

The authors found that consumers mostly discuss food marketing and less frequently discuss food policy. Their results show that tweets regarding naturalness were significantly less frequent in food categories that feature naturalness to an extent, e.g. fruits and vegetables, compared to food categories dominated by technologies, processing and man-made innovation, such as proteins, seasonings and snacks.

This paper provides numerous implications and contributions to the literature on consumer behavior, marketing and public policy in the domain of natural food.

The authors’ exploratory findings can be used to guide food system stakeholders, farmers and food processors to obtain insights into consumers' mindset on food products, novel concepts, systems and diets through social media analytics.

The authors’ results contribute to the literature on the use of social media in food marketing on understanding consumers' attitudes and beliefs toward natural food, food as the well-being literature and food as the health literature, by examining the way consumers think about natural (versus man-made) food using user generated content of Twitter, which has not been previously used.