The study, published today in the online journal PLoS ONE, is the first to estimate seafood production using satellite imagery.

“Our colleagues have repeatedly shown that accurate reporting of wild-caught fish has been a problem, and we wondered whether there might be similar issues for fish farming,” says lead author Pablo Trujillo, an Oceans Science Advisor for Greenpeace International, who conducted the study while a research assistant at the UBC Fisheries Centre.

“We chose the Mediterranean because it had excellent satellite coverage and because it was of personal interest,” says Chiara Piroddi, co-author and an ecosystem modeler at the UBC Fisheries Centre. “We hand counted 20,976 finfish cages and 248 tuna cages, which you can differentiate due to their extremely large size – each tuna cage measured at more than 40 metres across.”

Almost half the cages were located off the coast of Greece and nearly one-third off of Turkey – and both countries appear to underreport their farmed fish production. The researchers note that not all areas had full satellite coverage – for instance, images were missing for large portions of the coasts of France and Israel, for reasons the authors do not fully understand.

Combining cage counts with available information on cage volume, fish density, harvest rates, and seasonal capacity, the research team estimated ocean finfish production for 16 Mediterranean countries at 225,736 tonnes (excluding tuna). The estimate corresponded with government reports for the region, suggesting that, while there are discrepancies at the level of individual countries, overall, the Mediterranean countries are giving accurate counts.

“The results are reassuring, and the methods are inspiring,” says co-author Jennifer Jacquet, a post-doctoral researcher with UBC’s Sea Around Us Project. “This shows the promise of Google Earth for collecting and verifying data, which means a few trained scientists can use a freely available program to fact-check governments and other large institutions.”

Trujillo adds that Google Earth, with its high-resolution images and consistent time series, can be a powerful tool for scientists and non-governmental organizations to monitor activities related to ocean zoning and capture fisheries.

The University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre, in the College for Interdisciplinary Studies, undertakes research to restore fisheries, conserve aquatic life and rebuild ecosystems. It promotes multidisciplinary study of aquatic ecosystems and broad-based collaboration with maritime communities, government, NGOs and other partners. The UBC Fisheries Centre is recognized globally for its innovative and enterprising research, with its academics winning many accolades and awards. For more information, visit www.fisheries.ubc.ca and www.cfis.ubc.ca.

Leading researchers at the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria will explore issues raised by Orgasm Inc, the hit documentary by Liz Canner about the drive for profits and the medicalization of sex.

Event:   Orgasm Inc. film screening and panel discussion
Date/Time:    Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012, 7 p.m. -9 p.m.
Location: Royal Bank Cinema, Chan Centre, UBC
For a map and closest parking, visit http://maps.ubc.ca?130

EDITORS: The following participants are available for comment prior to the event. Please arrange media interviews with Cindy Masaro at 604.376.6723, cindy.masaro@gmail.com

Prof.  Joy Johnson, UBC School of Nursing
Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Institute of Gender and Health

“The film Orgasm Inc. underscores the importance of ensuring that the identification of disorders and their corresponding treatments are based on the best research evidence and not simply motivated by profits.”

Asst. Prof. Lori Brotto, UBC Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
“Approximately 30 per cent of women experience sexual difficulties that are distressing. Despite the fact that there are no Health Canada-approved medications, physicians’ “off-label” prescribing practices are a huge problem given the unknown, long-term impact of these unregulated drugs.

“Some critics believe that pharmaceutical companies are behind this trend towards pushing viagra-like medications, by making women believe that they suffer from a medical disease known as ‘Female Sexual Dysfunction’.”

Asst. Prof. Thea Cacchioni, Women’s Studies, University of Victoria
[An expert witness for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on proposed drugs to treat “hypo-active sexual desire disorder” in women.]

“The search for the ‘pink Viagra’ is not the only way that science and medicine have intervened in sexuality. We have seen this with medical theorizing on sexual orientation and with the rising trend of vaginal cosmetic surgeries such as labiaplasty and vaginal “rejuvenation.”

View a trailer of Orgasm Inc. at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUY-iTf2T1A

To register for the event, visit: http://bit.ly/xU2ckA

Date/Time: 6-7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012

Location: Plaza Lounge, UBC Robson Square, 800 Robson Street, Vancouver

Details: Everyone welcome. Admissions free, no RSVP necessary. Talk will be followed by Q&A and light refreshments. Visit innovation.ca or aaas.ubc.ca for more info.

As aging baby boomers create a growing market for brain-teaser games and memory improvement workshops, two University of British Columbia researchers are uncovering new evidence that childhood remains the most crucial period for enhancing – or undermining – a person’s cognitive abilities.

Adele Diamond and Clyde Hertzman, both Canada Research Chairs, are experts in the factors and activities that determine whether a person thrives or struggles in the face of challenges that require a nimble, resilient and creative mind. They will share their perspectives in a public lecture sponsored by UBC and the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

Diamond, a professor in UBC’s Department of Psychiatry, is one of the world’s leading researchers on the development of executive functions – reasoning, working memory, self-control, flexibility and problem-solving. Executive functions are key to children’s academic success, Diamond says; improving them will reduce the number of diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, cut school dropout rates and slash the incidence of crime and drug addiction.

With help from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Diamond is conducting a pilot study in British Columbia of a program called Tools of the Mind, which aims to promote the development of executive functions in young children. Diamond found that the program, with its use of props and dramatic play, significantly improved children’s academic performance.

“While it seems logical that if you want to improve academic success you should concentrate on academic teaching, that’s not correct. You also have to address children’s social, physical and emotional needs,” she says.

Hertzman, meanwhile, examines how the conditions of early childhood, including parents’ stress levels, stability of a neighbourhood or availability of books, can leave permanent marks on a person’s brain – or on an even deeper level, the functioning of their genes.

“Even 40 years later, there’s an imprint on their DNA,” affecting up to five per cent of their genes, Hertzman says.

B.C. was the first jurisdiction in the world to carry out a complete population-based monitoring of children by neighbourhood.

“We have demonstrated here in B.C. that when you go from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, there’s a huge difference in children by the time they reach school age,” he says. “In some neighbourhoods less than five per cent of the children are behind where we’d like them to be in physical, social, emotional and cognitive development. And in other neighbourhoods it’s more than 60 per cent.”

The survey’s data have affected hundreds of policies and projects, Hertzman says. Victoria’s library system, for example, built a new branch in a neighbourhood with particularly low scores in language and cognitive skills, and started an outreach program to families living there.

In the lead-up to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting this month in Vancouver, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the University of British Columbia are teaming up to present a four-part lecture series celebrating Canadian innovation. These lectures will cover a range of Canadian research, from brain imaging, to child development, to quantum computing. Details are available at www.innovation.ca and aaas.ubc.ca.

About the Canada Foundation for Innovation

The Canada Foundation for Innovation gives researchers the tools they need to think big and innovate. By investing in state-of-the-art facilities and equipment in Canada’s universities, colleges, research hospitals and non-profit research institutions, the CFI is helping to attract and retain the world’s top talent, to train the next generation of researchers, to support private-sector innovation and to create high-quality jobs that strengthen the economy and improve the quality of life for all Canadians. For more information, visit innovation.ca.

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Canadians want to make family a priority – 85 per cent want to spend more time with their families and 60 per cent want governments to support policy changes that make it easier to raise a family, according to a national poll by McAllister Opinion Research about research led by University of British Columbia professor Paul Kershaw.

“Despite having all the amenities of modern life, two-thirds of Canadians resist the idea that today’s families have it easier than in the past,” said Kershaw. The McAllister poll examined public attitudes about the degree to which we prioritize family time and responsibility in this country. This is the second set of data to come out of the poll; earlier data examined Canadians’ attitudes about public funding priorities.

The poll shows that 60 per cent of Canadians ‘agree’ or ‘somewhat agree’ that ‘compared to what is spent in other areas, Canadian governments do not do enough for families raising young kids today.’ Accordingly, 60 per cent indicated they would ‘vote for a politician who has publicly committed to fighting for better government policies for families with young children.’

Kershaw, an associate professor at UBC’s Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP), said, “it is far more common that today both parents need to work in order to eke out a standard of living that is often lower than one salary could achieve a generation ago.”

The poll reveals that 62 per cent of Canadians think it’s a good idea to invest in ‘New Mom and New Dad benefits,’ which would make it affordable for all parents, including the self-employed, to spend up to 18 months at home with newborns – splitting the leave between moms and dads.

Sixty-six per cent of Canadians think it’s a good idea to ‘subsidize $10-a-day quality child care’ and 80 per cent of Canadians think it’s a good idea to invest in more flex-time, allowing parents more flexibility and time at home.

Recognizing that Canada is experiencing tough economic times, the poll shows that Canadians are willing to make hard choices to pay for these programs and services including revisiting sacred cows like medical care increases, or tax cuts.

When asked specifically about reallocating recent spending increases from medical care and investing it in family policy instead, only 37 per cent of Canadians responded that this was a ‘bad idea,’ compared to 42 per cent that thought it is a ‘good idea,’ and 21 per cent that were unsure.

More Canadians also think it is a ‘good idea’ than a ‘bad idea’ for all Canadians to contribute to new family policies through their income taxes, including a slim majority of Canadians under 45.

Kershaw noted that combined federal, provincial, and municipal revenue is down more than $90 billion as a share of our economy today compared to 1980, while over the same period, medical care spending is up $47 billion.

“When we choose to cut the total revenue pie by $90 billion, but increase the slice for medical care by $47 billion, we leave $137 billion less for other priorities.  The generation raising young kids is definitely feeling this pinch, because it now means Canada has very weak family policy by international standards.”

Kershaw released this data on February 7 in Ottawa following an invited presentation to the Government of Canada Standing Committee on Health.

BACKGROUNDER

Last fall, UBC Professor Paul Kershaw and colleagues at HELP compared the costs of living, household incomes and services available to families in Canada today with those during the 1970s and found that young couples today are raising families with less money and time than the Baby Boomer generation.

Kershaw has proposed policy changes to make it easier to raise a family, called the ‘New Deal for Families.’ These changes include enabling mothers and fathers to stay at home with newborns until they reach at least 18 months of age, providing quality child care services that cost no more than $10 per day, and allowing employees and employers to use flex-time to better balance time spent at work with time spent at home.

These most recent polling data shows that the majority of Canadians support the ‘New Deal for Families.’ Recognizing that Canada is experiencing tough economic times, the poll also shows that Canadians are willing to make hard choices to pay for these programs and services including revisiting sacred cows like medical care increases, or tax cuts.

“The cost of the New Deal for Families would amount to less than a cup of coffee and doughnut at Tim Hortons: $1.67 per day and the poll showed us that more than half of Canadians are willing to spend that on investing in families,” said Kershaw.

In partnership with YMCA across Canada, Kershaw has embarked on a national speaking tour asking communities across the country: Does Canada Work for All Generations? Kershaw will be in Ottawa on February 8 as part of the tour, hosted by the National Association of Children and Youth and the YMCA-YWCA of the National Capital Region. For more information, visit: http://www.ymcaywca.ca/whats-happening/314/

Funding and community partners in BC helped to launch the national tour, including the Vancouver Foundation, United Way of the Lower Mainland, YWCA Metro Vancouver and the YMCA of Greater Vancouver.

The author of such beloved works as David Copperfield and Tale of Two Cities, Dickens remains a potent literary touchstone and still speaks to audiences today. Marked by his own experience of child labour, Dickens was a tireless social campaigner. His books exposed the glaring inequalities of the Victorian age while capturing its hurly burly creative force.

Assoc. Prof. Suzy Anger
Dept. of English; President, Northeast Victorian Studies Assoc.
Email: suzy.anger@ubc.ca

• Dickens was the most popular novelist of his day, a literary celebrity. He was a man of almost superhuman energy, able to write two novels at once, while also editing a journal, acting in amateur theatricals, establishing a home for fallen women and giving virtuoso public readings of his novels.
• Dickens was one of the first urban novelists, documenting a newly industrialized society. He was also one of the first writers to introduce the figure of the detective in the novel.

Prof. Ira Nadel
Dept. of English
Tel: 604.264.4431
Email: nadel@interchange.ubc.ca

• Victorian Dickens is still a modern and very relevant to 21st century life.
• Dickens portrayal of women is more important than ever for his documentation of subjection and abuse. For a male writer, he understood the opposite sex.
• Dickens’ style adopted by many writers of today from Nabokov to Pynchon and David Foster Wallace: dense, detailed, descriptive.

The discovery of the role played by the molecule CD74 could help immunologists investigate treatments that offer better immune responses against cancers, viruses and bacteria, and lead to more efficient vaccines.

The findings are published in this week’s edition of Nature Immunology.

“This could ultimately lead to a blueprint for improving the performance of a variety of vaccines, including those against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria,” says UBC biologist Wilfred Jefferies, whose lab conducted the study. “This detailed understanding of the role of CD74 may also begin to explain differences in immune responses between individuals that could impact personalized medical options in the future.”

CD74 is an important piece of cellular machinery inside dendritic cells – which regulate mammalian primary immune responses. Dendritic cells possess specialized pathways that enable them to sense and then respond to foreign threats. Until now no one has been able to piece together the circuitry which enables a cellular receptor – Major Histocompatability Class I (MHC I) – inside the cells to find and ‘collide’ with foreign invaders.

The key finding of this work is the discovery of the guiding role played by CD74 to link MHC I receptors to compartments containing invading pathogens within the immune cell. This sophisticated circuit allows the immune cell to recognize and signal the presence of a pathogen in the body and to alert T immune fighter cells. The T-cells respond by dividing and attacking infected cells, destroying the pathogen.

Jefferies’ team used ‘knock-out’ mice that had been genetically modified to lack the CD74 function to uncover the role of the molecule. The team–which includes research associate Genc Basha, postdoctoral fellow Anna Reinicke, graduate students Kyla Omilusik and Ana Chavez-Steenbock1, undergraduate student Nathan Lack, and technician Kyung Bok Choi –then confirmed their findings using biochemical analysis.

Jefferies is a professor with UBC’s departments of Microbiology and Immunology, Zoology, and Medical Genetics and with UBC’s Michael Smith Laboratories and Biomedical Research Centre. He is also a member of the Centre for Blood Research and the Brain Research Centre at UBC.

The research was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.

The Nature Immunology study is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ni.2225.

Buszard is currently Professor of Environmental Science at Dalhousie University, and has held a variety of academic and leadership positions at Dalhousie University and McGill University. In her new role, she will be the senior leader at UBC’s Okanagan campus and a core member of the University’s executive leadership team.

“We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Buszard to UBC,” said Prof. Stephen Toope, President and Vice Chancellor. “She is a distinguished scholar and an effective leader who will provide strong support and guidance to this extraordinary campus.”

Buszard succeeds Doug Owram, who has held the position since July 1, 2006. A historian who held senior leadership roles at the University of Alberta before coming to UBC, Owram has helped establish and grow the new campus since just after its creation.  The student population at the Okanagan campus has doubled to more than 7,900 this year.

“I am thrilled with the opportunity to join UBC in this role,” said Buszard. “There is something special happening at UBC’s Okanagan campus and I feel it has exceptional potential. I look forward to the chance to serve this dynamic learning and research campus in this beautiful community.”

At Dalhousie University, Buszard served as Director of Environmental Programs and has been a driving force behind the creation of Canada’s first College of Sustainability. Prior to joining Dalhousie in 2006, she was Professor of Plant Science at McGill University and she served as Dean of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and Associate Vice-Principal of the Macdonald Campus from 1996-2005.

Buszard was born in the U.K. and received her PhD from the University of London.  She has published research on plant physiology, strawberry breeding and horticultural crop management. She has been an active member in her community, including serving as Chair of the Board of Vanier College and President of the Canadian Society for Horticultural Science.

Date/Time: 6-7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012

Location: Room C150, UBC Robson Square, 800 Robson Street, Vancouver

Details: Introduction by Prof. Raymond Cole, UBC School of Architecture. Everyone welcome. Admissions free, no RSVP necessary. Talk will be followed by Q&A and light refreshments. Visit innovation.ca or aaas.ubc.ca for more info.

John Robinson, Executive Director of the UBC Sustainability Initiative, thinks much of the green movement misses the point. The traditional thinking on sustainability focuses on the need to reduce human activity in order to save the environment from ruin. But what if human activity could actually heal the environment? What if the commercial and residential buildings popping up around the world could improve the well-being of their inhabitants while making positive contributions to the environment?

Robinson and collaborator, UBC architecture professor Raymond Cole, will share their unique vision in regenerative sustainability Feb. 1 at the Canada Foundation for Innovation Dialogues at UBC Robson Square lecture series.

“The implications of this approach are profound,” says John Robinson, director of UBC’s Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS). “If human activity can be regenerative, then it need not necessarily be minimized. The focus shifts from reducing harm to improving benefit.”

Robinson and his team at UBC are walking this talk. In November 2011, with support from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, UBC opened CIRS, North America’s greenest building. This structure is designed to restore the environment and improve the wellbeing of its inhabitants. Its “net positive” environmental impacts include:

• Energy: By capturing energy from the sun, the ground and the nearby Earth and Ocean Sciences (EOS) building, CIRS heats itself and returns 600 megawatt hours of surplus energy back to campus.
• Operational carbon: CIRS’ operations require no fossil fuel and the surplus energy CIRS returns to EOS removes an additional 150 tonnes of GHG emissions annually through reduced natural gas use.
• Structural carbon: CIRS’ wood structure locks in more than 600 tonnes of carbon, offsetting GHG emissions from non-renewable materials used in the building’s construction, including cement, steel and aluminum.
• Water: CIRS will satisfy the water needs of 200 inhabitants, plus hundreds of auditorium and café users, by capturing rain and treating it onsite. Water that can’t be used for drinking will recharge the local aquifer.

“We also want CIRS to be net positive in human terms,” says Robinson. “We are measuring productivity, health and happiness of the building inhabitants with a goal of improvement in all these areas over time.”

CIRS is a test-bed for how organizations can implement regenerative sustainability. The CIRS website reports in real-time on key sustainability indicators and the team hopes that others can benefit from the best practices developed at the centre.

In the lead-up to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting this month in Vancouver, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the University of British Columbia are teaming up to present a four-part lecture series celebrating Canadian innovation. These lectures will cover a range of Canadian research, from brain imaging, to child development, to quantum computing. Details are available at www.innovation.ca and aaas.ubc.ca.

About the Canada Foundation for Innovation
The Canada Foundation for Innovation gives researchers the tools they need to think big and innovate. By investing in state-of-the-art facilities and equipment in Canada’s universities, colleges, research hospitals and non-profit research institutions, the CFI is helping to attract and retain the world’s top talent, to train the next generation of researchers, to support private-sector innovation and to create high-quality jobs that strengthen the economy and improve the quality of life for all Canadians. For more information, visit innovation.ca.

UBC announced today that Aeos Biomedical will receive a $50,000 equity investment from the entrepreneurship@UBC Seed Accelerator, an investment fund created in partnership between UBC, UBC alumni and the Province of British Columbia through the B.C. Innovation Council to support early-stage companies from the UBC community.

“The fund is a cornerstone of our overall entrepreneurship@UBC initiative,”  says Carol Leacy, program director for entrepreneurship@UBC. “Making our first investment marks a significant milestone in moving the whole initiative forward.”

This first investment comes as a result of Aeos Biomedical winning the inaugural seed funding competition, which saw five startups pitch in October to a panel of seasoned investors and entrepreneurs led by Haig Farris, a well-known Canadian venture capitalist.

It was Aeos Biomedical’s product, Target Tape, that won over the competition’s judges.  Target Tape is a medical adhesive tape developed to allow doctors to make more precise incisions during surgery. The tape is inscribed with locational markings that show up on medical imaging, such as x-rays. It is applied to the patient’s skin over an area of interest, and when Target Tape is removed, it leaves behind an ink imprint of locational markings, allowing doctors to be more accurate in matching the image with the patient’s skin.

“Starting a company out of university can seem very daunting,” says Aeos biomedical co-founder Nick Seto. “Programs like entrepreneurship@UBC provide invaluable assistance with their connections and resources. Aeos Biomedical is grateful for UBC’s continued support with this investment, and we hope that many other student-founded companies continue to benefit from this program.”

Moira Stilwell, parliamentary secretary for Industry, Research and Innovation to the Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation, says, “It takes investment capital to turn great ideas into great products, which is why our government through the B.C. Innovation Council contributed $800,000 to help create the entrepreneurship@UBC Seed Accelerator fund.

Stilwell adds, “We’re looking forward to Aeos Biomedical’s success in bringing its products to market, and strengthening B.C.’s bio-economy.”

Aeos Biomedical emerged from UBC’s New Venture Design course, a collaborative entrepreneurial course which partners undergraduate students from UBC Engineering and the Sauder School of Business.  Between 2009 and 2010, undergraduate engineering students Patricia Backlund and Colin O’Neill and commerce students Nicholas Seto, Wylie Spencer and Emi Yamada developed the concept of Target Tape.

The venture was first supported by entrepreneurship@UBC in August 2010, when it was selected as one of six companies to present their business idea to venture capitalists and distinguished UBC alumni in Silicon Valley. Now alumni O’Neill and Seto have incorporated the company to bring Target Tape to market.

Entrepreneurship@UBC is providing the next generation of entrepreneurs with mentorship, pre-and post-incorporation services, incubation space, course work, events and unique opportunities for relationship building and learning.

Using data the university submits to the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC), this latest release details six different purposes of animal inclusion and provides the number and percentage of animals for each category.

This complements the 2010 data UBC released October 28, 2011 on the total number of animals, the species groups to which they belong, and the degree of invasiveness entailed by the research.

Vice President Research and International John Hepburn stated:  “With the new data we are making public today, we take another step towards responsible transparency on the critical research we conduct at UBC.”

Hepburn says the university is committed to provide the information needed to foster a respectful academic dialogue and common understanding on animal research.

More detailed information that could affect “the integrity of the research, intellectual property rights, the safety and privacy of researchers and staff, or the security of campus facilities will not be divulged,” said Hepburn.

Animal research at UBC is strictly controlled.  All projects involving animals go through ethics reviews. UBC adheres to CCAC guidelines, has upgraded facilities to ensure best practices in humane care, and submits to CCAC inspections. The university and its scientists are accountable for research projects through publication in peer-reviewed academic journals.

For more information, visit www.animalresearch.ubc.ca

NB: Helen Burt, Associate Vice President Research and International, is available for media interviews from 1-2:30 p.m., Jan. 30, 2012. Please contact Lucie McNeill at 604.822.2064 or 604.312.0845.

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Date/ Time: Friday, January 27 to Sunday, January 29, 2012

Game deadline, review Game Jam Vancouver:
Sunday, January 29, 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Presentation of Game Jam Vancouver favourites:
Sunday, January 29, 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Location: UBC Life Science Centre Atrium, 2350 Health Sciences Mall
For a map and closest parking, visit: http://www.maps.ubc.ca?529

Vancouver’s hottest young video-game talents face off this weekend at Vancouver’s Global Game Jam 2012, part of a 48-hour, world-wide programming marathon.

Video-game developers, artists and sound engineers from local universities and colleges will race the clock to create playable, polished games. Scott Jones, host of Reviews on the Run and Electric Playground, and Blaine Kyllo of the Georgia Straight will help review the final products.

The weekend is a semi-competitive, soft drink- and pizza-fuelled celebration that closes with a grand presentation of crowd favourites and a professional review of the games.

With 150 participants, the UBC-hosted event is the largest of over 90 concurrent Global Game Jams being held worldwide. More than 80 of the participants are UBC students. This is the third year that Vancouver has participated in Global Game Jam.

To review footage from last year’s Vancouver Game Jam, visit: www.ggjvancouver2012.com

For more information, contact:
Kimberly Voll
Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science
kvoll@cs.ubc.ca
Cell: 778-996-2235
Office: 604-822-2563

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At UBC’s Vancouver campus, Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification, unveiled the pan-western Composites Research Network (CRN) which aims to provide businesses the necessary skills and knowledge in a rapidly expanding and evolving industry.

Composite materials, reinforced with carbon and glass fibre, are undergoing significant innovations that impact sectors including aerospace, shipbuilding, sports equipment and industrial products.

“This investment in the Composites Research Network advances important collaborations between researchers and businesses,” said John Hepburn, VP Research & International at UBC. “These partnerships drive innovation by developing and implementing manufacturing solutions faster and more efficiently than would otherwise be possible.”

The CRN will be led by UBC Materials Engineering Prof. Anoush Poursartip, a composites expert who has received global recognition for his work on process design software and the aerospace industry.

“The Composites Research Network will focus on bridging the strengths of academia with the needs of business,” said Poursartip. “CRN will strengthen existing western Canadian businesses and attract international collaboration and involvement.”

The CRN will establish nodes in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba where highly qualified composites experts will work with businesses. CRN participants will be able to access knowledge-based, best practice documents, training facilities, materials and events as well as linkages to key national and international organizations and institutions.

“Investments like this are key in furthering our goal of creating jobs and growth,” said Yelich. “By supporting this initiative, our Government is helping to provide western Canadian businesses with the means to capitalize on the evolving composites industry, and the associated economic benefits.”

“The CRN will provide western Canadian industry with a significant advantage in further understanding and refining their composites manufacturing processes,” said Sean McKay, executive director of the Composites Innovation Centre. “Developing the necessary science and hence fundamental understanding of manufacturing issues and being able to assimilate them into every day operations to reduce defects and improve efficiencies are essential to remain competitive in today’s global market place.”

BACKGROUND
Currently, the most important and most commonly used composites are fibre-reinforced plastics which can be shaped into stiff, strong and complicated shapes at a reasonable cost. Composites are found in everyday objects such as bathtubs, shower stalls and mouldings. Industrial applications include cars, trucks, gas station forecourts and amusement park water slides.

For more demanding applications, glass fibre is replaced with expensive carbon fibre. Increasingly, manufacturers are using carbon-fibre reinforced epoxies and other special plastics for building airplanes, high performance sports equipment and high-performance cars.

Creating safe, effective and sustainable composites
Although glass fibre has been commercially available since the 1930s and carbon fibre since the 1960s, the composites industry has yet to reach its full potential in designing and manufacturing products that are not only affordable, safe and effective, but also sustainable for the environment.

In recent years, however, aerospace innovations have been seeding industry changes that will soon transform how composites are produced and used.  For example, both Boeing and Airbus are building their next-generation, large twin-aisle aircraft primarily out of carbon-fibre reinforced composites, shifting away from the current aluminum aircraft. Given these radical changes, manufacturers in Canada and globally are looking to increase their composites capabilities so they can compete internationally across myriad industry sectors.

For more information about UBC research on composites, visit: http://www.composites.ubc.ca/

Accredited newsroom registrants of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2012 Annual Meeting are invited to an exclusive media tour of two research facilities and meet scientists at the University of British Columbia on Feb. 15.

The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) is North America’s “greenest” building and one of only a handful worldwide that provides net positive benefits to the environment.

Led by Prof. John Robinson, who was part of the team that shared the 2007 Nobel Prize with Al Gore for their work on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, the tour will cover:

• A net positive energy system that includes solar collectors and photovoltaic panels, a geo-exchange system that scavenges heat from a neighbouring building, a living wall, green roof, and an on-site rain water collection and waste water treatment system featuring solar aquatic plants
• “Living laboratory” features that monitor, test and advance new technologies in sustainable, regenerative building design
• A Decision Theatre outfitted with simulation technology (to be presented at AAAS 2012) that helps scientists, policy makers and communities find solutions to the impacts of climate change

The Beaty Biodiversity Museum and the adjoining Biodiversity Research Centre are home to Canada’s largest blue whale skeleton exhibit and more than two million specimens in six research collections.

Guests are invited to meet museum curators and biodiversity researchers to:

• Learn how scientists and articulators exhumed a 25-metre blue whale carcass from Canada’s Atlantic Coast and immortalized it in the species’ signature lunge-feeding pose on the country’s opposite coast – and in the process, solved a 20-year mystery of its cause of death
• See the only specimen of Lapsias lorax, a jumping spider discovered in 2010 in Eucador by UBC Prof. Wayne Maddison and to be named after a well-loved Dr. Seuss character
• See some of the 30 species of fish that were first documented by UBC researchers, and some of the “youngest” fish species on Earth that are giving scientists new insights into evolution

For an itinerary, to RSVP and to learn more about UBC research being presented at AAAS, visit http://aaas.ubc.ca. To register as a newsroom attendee at the AAAS Annual Meeting, visit http://meeting2012.aaas.org/pressreg/default.aspx.

Date/Time: Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012
1 – 2 p.m. Exhibit of student-designed vehicles
2 – 5 p.m.  Competition: energy-relay race

Location: Room 1180, Kaiser Bldg, 2332 Main Mall
For a map and closest parking, visit http://maps.ubc.ca?313

UBC Mechanical Engineering students will be showcasing their vehicle design and manufacturing talents in an energy-relay race.  The 130 second-year students, divided into 20 teams, were given only three weeks to come up with four prototypes using different energy sources such as solar, battery or wind power.

Following an open-house showcase of the different designs, the teams will face off in four rounds of competition. Each team runs its four vehicles in a relay along the 12-metre long track.  The winning team must complete all 4 legs of the relay in the shortest time.

In April, the top three finishers will be able to take part in an international student competition sponsored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineer in Ellensburg, WA.

“This project challenges students to apply creativity, engineering insight, and practical skill to tackle very complex problems,” says course coordinator, Peter Ostafichuk.

The event is open to the public.

NB: Space is limited. Please contact Jennifer Pelletier to attend the competition, 604.827.4090, jennifer@mech.ubc.ca.

That is a key finding of a new University of British Columbia-led study that explores the global rise of monogamous marriage as a dominant cultural institution. The study suggests that institutionalized monogamous marriage is rapidly replacing polygamy because it has lower levels of inherent social problems.

“Our goal was to understand why monogamous marriage has become standard in most developed nations in recent centuries, when most recorded cultures have practiced polygyny,” says UBC Prof. Joseph Henrich, a cultural anthropologist, referring to the form of polygamy that permits multiple wives, which continues to be practiced in some parts of Africa, Asia, the Middle East and North America.

“The emergence of monogamous marriage is also puzzling for some as the very people who most benefit from polygyny – wealthy, powerful men – were best positioned to reject it,” says Henrich, lead author of the study that is published today in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. “Our findings suggest that that institutionalized monogamous marriage provides greater net benefits for society at large by reducing social problems that are inherent in polygynous societies.”

Considered the most comprehensive study of polygamy and the institution of marriage, the study finds significantly higher levels rape, kidnapping, murder, assault, robbery and fraud in polygynous cultures. According to Henrich and his research team, which included Profs. Robert Boyd (UCLA) and Peter Richerson (UC Davis), these crimes are caused primarily by pools of unmarried men, which result when other men take multiple wives.

“The scarcity of marriageable women in polygamous cultures increases competition among men for the remaining unmarried women,” says Henrich, adding that polygamy was outlawed in 1963 in Nepal, 1955 in India (partially), 1953 in China and 1880 in Japan. The greater competition increases the likelihood men in polygamous communities will resort to criminal behavior to gain resources and women, he says.

According to Henrich, monogamy’s main cultural evolutionary advantage over polygyny is the more egalitarian distribution of women, which reduces male competition and social problems. By shifting male efforts from seeking wives to paternal investment, institutionalized monogamy increases long-term planning, economic productivity, savings and child investment, the study finds. Monogamy’s institutionalization has been assisted by its incorporation by religions, such as Christianity.

Monogamous marriage also results in significant improvements in child welfare, including lower rates of child neglect, abuse, accidental death, homicide and intra-household conflict, the study finds. These benefits result from greater levels of parental investment, smaller households and increased direct “blood relatedness” in monogamous family households, says Henrich, who served as an expert witness for British Columbia’s Supreme Court case involving the polygamous community of Bountiful, B.C.

Monogamous marriage has largely preceded democracy and voting rights for women in the nations where it has been institutionalized, says Henrich, the Canadian Research Chair in Culture, Cognition and Evolution in UBC’s Depts. of Psychology and Economics. By decreasing competition for younger and younger brides, monogamous marriage increases the age of first marriage for females, decreases the spousal age gap and elevates female influence in household decisions which decreases total fertility and increases gender equality.

View the study, The Puzzle of Monogamous Marriage, at: http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/367/1589/657.full.pdf

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Yves Tiberghien
Dept. of Political Science, Liu Institute for Global Issues
Email: yves.tiberghien@ubc.ca (best contact method)

• Future of the world economy and its governance
• Euro crisis
• The role of China and Japan in the global economy
• Globalization and inequality

Kurt Huebner
Institute for European Studies, Director
Tel: 604-822 9439, Cell: 778-994 8313
Email: kurt.huebner@exchange.ubc.ca

• European Union
• Global currencies, including the Euro
• Canada-EU trade and investment, including Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) negotiations

Paul Beaudry
Canada Research Chair in Macroeconomics
Dept. of Economics, Fellow of the Bank of Canada
Tel: 604-822-8624; Cell: 778-866-0038
Email: paulbe@mail.ubc.ca

• Canada’s economy and its relationship to the world (note: not provincial issues)
• Banking, finance, regulation and monetary issues
• Labour, unemployment and wages (national and international)
• Occupy Wall Street and increasing wealth disparity

James Brander
Sauder School of Business
Tel: 604-822-8483
Email: brander@sauder.ubc.ca

• Canada/B.C. economy and their relationship to the world
• International trade
• Banking, finance, regulation
• The EU

Keith Head
Sauder School of Business
Tel: 604-822-8492
Email: keith.head@sauder.ubc.ca

• International trade
• Canada’s economy and its relationship to global events
• The EU, the Euro and national debt issues

Werner Antweiler
Sauder School of Business
Phone: 604-822-8484
E-mail: werner.antweiler@ubc.ca

• International trade
• Trade liberalization
• EU-related questions

Thomas Davidoff
Sauder School of Business
Tel: 604-822-8325
Email: thomas.davidoff@sauder.ubc.ca

• Banking and finance regulations

Thomas Lemieux
Dept. of Economics
Phone: 604-822-2092
Email: thomas.lemieux@ubc.ca,

• Labour economics
• Occupy Wall Street and increasing wealth disparity
  

James Tansey
Sauder School of Business
Cell: 604-562-4546
Email: james.tansey@sauder.ubc.ca

• Climate change, carbon markets and the world economy

Visit the UBC newsroom for updates to this list at: www.ubc.ca/news.

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The move requires applicants to answer four to six “personal profile” questions in addition to providing secondary school marks. The questions give applicants the opportunity to talk about their learning, experiences, and goals. The application deadline for the 2012/13 academic year is January 31, 2012.

“The inclusion of personal profile questions is an example of taking an existing good practise and extending it to a broader group of students,” said UBC Associate Vice President and Registrar James Ridge, noting that the process has already been used successfully in individual programs at UBC.

Broad-based admissions have been used by the Sauder School of Business since 2004 and other faculties have made partial use of the system in recent years. In 2011, 25 per cent of all new first-year UBC students on the Vancouver campus were admitted with broad-based admission.

“By allowing us to consider the full range of our applicants’ accomplishments, broad-based admissions has allowed Sauder to build a more diverse and engaged student body,” said Daniel Muzyka, Dean of the Sauder School of Business. “The feedback from the business community about the calibre of our graduates has been tremendous. Focused, bright and collaborative, the students have the dynamic qualities necessary to find success and take on leadership roles.”

Paul Harrison, Associate Dean for Students in the Faculty of Science, who has been involved in expanding the broad-based admission system, said, “a successful UBC science student needs a strong academic background and high school marks will continue to be important for admission decisions.”

“Success at university requires students to engage with their learning at a deep level and to learn from the challenges they encounter as they work toward attaining their goals. We’ll use the personal profile to gather a broader range of indicators to assess an applicant’s potential for success.”

To demystify the process and to help students understand this new step in the application process, the university has created a video featuring students and staff explaining how to complete the personal profile questions.

The questions do not ask for a “laundry list” of activities in which the applicant has had the chance to engage. Instead, applicants are invited to reflect on the lessons they’ve learned from their life experiences.

“The application process ultimately challenged me to be reflective about the experiences and challenges I had faced that contributed to my individuality,” said Flora Wu, a third-year Faculty of Arts student who was admitted using a process similar to the personal profile. “It gave me greater perspective on what experiences I would want to pursue in university.”

“UBC wants to improve our ability to select students who will really engage in the life of the university because university is about so much more than getting a degree,” said Ridge.

UBC offers students the opportunity to take part in community service learning projects, international service learning projects, undergraduate research, co-op programs, study and research abroad programs and more.

UBC typically receives more than 30,000 applications to undergraduate programs each year. Last year, UBC welcomed 5,913 new first-year students to its Vancouver campus.

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Duanduan Li
Chinese Language Program, Department of Asian Studies
Tel: 604.822.5186
Email: duanduan.li@ubc.ca

• Significance of Chinese New Year and the Year of the Dragon in Asia and North America
• History of the Chinese zodiac and characteristics of the Year of the Dragon
• Social and cultural impacts of the Year of the Dragon

Diana Lary
Department of History
Email: lary@interchange.ubc.ca

• Significance of Chinese New Year and the Year of the Dragon
• Expansion of celebrations in China
• The world’s largest seasonal migration of millions of workers returning home for celebrations
• The Year of the Dragon: a good year to give birth to boys, a bad year to give birth to girls?

Peter Newbury
Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Tel: 604.836.8998
Email: newbury@phas.ubc.ca
Twitter: @polarisdotca

• Blog post: The Astronomy of Chinese New Year
• The astronomical origins of the date of Chinese or Lunar New Year and its relationship to the cycle of the Earth’s orbit around the sun and the moon’s orbit around the Earth

Events

2012 Chinese New Year Gala
Time/Date: Saturday, January 21, 4 – 8 p.m.
Location: Thea Koerner House, GSS Ballroom, 6371 Crescent Rd.
Map: http://www.maps.ubc.ca/?408

• The Graduate Student Society and the Chinese Graduate Student Associate are hosting a Chinese New Year gala featuring singing, dancing and instrumental performances, a traditional Chinese dinner and more
• Contact: Ling Zhang, President, Chinese Graduate Student Association
  Email: president@ubccgsa.org

Chinese New Year Lion Dance
Time/Date: Wednesday, January 25 at noon
Location: UBC Bookstore, 6200 University Boulevard
Map: http://www.maps.ubc.ca/?081

• UBC’s Kung Fu Association will perform the traditional Lion Dance that is accompanied by drum, cymbal and gong. The performance will finish with spitting of lettuce from the lion which means spreading of good luck
• Contact: Jessica Chan, President, UBC Kung Fu Association
  Email: ubckungfu@gmail.com

Chinese New Year Party
Time/Date: Friday, January 27, 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Location: Asian Center Auditorium, 1871 West Mall
Map: http://www.maps.ubc.ca/?046

• Hundreds of students learning Chinese at UBC participate in this traditional festival annually, showcasing their mastery of the language in a creative performance. The event is organized by the Chinese Language Program in the Department of Asian Studies at UBC
• Contact: Duanduan Li, director of the Chinese Language Program
  Email: duanduan.li@ubc.ca ; Tel: 604.822.5186

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In the first initiative of its kind, a multidisciplinary team of Canadian and Australian scientists will explore the genomics of the world’s most planted grape variety, red or white.

Considered to be the principal international white wine standard, Chardonnay is Australia’s dominant white variety and is the second most planted white variety in British Columbia. However, not many wineries know the type  they have planted.

“Despite its popularity, not much is known about the Chardonnay genome,” says project co-lead Prof. Hennie van Vuuren, director of the UBC Wine Research Centre at the Faculty of Land and Food Systems. “Our goal is to help wineries identify their Chardonnay varieties so they can plant the most appropriate type for their climate, leading to improved quality of wine.”

The researchers will examine 15 different varieties of the Chardonnay grape, looking at their distinct properties such as early or late ripening, loose or small bunch sizes and seedless or large berries.

“We’re delighted to have secured this partnership with UBC for the benefit of Australian grape and wine producers,” says Managing Director Dan Johnson of the Adelaide-based Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI).  “Assembly of the Chardonnay genome will produce a foundational data resource that will underpin many such projects and, with time, will assist in developing practical game changing strategies for the growing of this variety.”

Johnson adds, “Our work will benefit from the development of linkages with other groups working on grapevine sequencing initiatives for other varieties.”

Also heading the project are Prof. Joerg Bohlmann from the UBC Michael Smith Laboratories and Prof. Sakkie Pretorius at the University of South Australia.

To date, the initiative has received a total of $585,000 in funding from Genome British Columbia, UBC, the UBC Wine Research Centre, Bioplatforms Australia Ltd. and the AWRI.

About the UBC Wine Research Centre (WRC)
WRC’s pioneering research bridges the sciences of grape growing (viticulture) and winemaking (enology). Established in 1999, the WRC attracts world-renowned scientists whose work on grape genomics and the yeast fermentation process is helping growers and winemakers improve wine production techniques. For example, the WRC has patented the world’s first genetically enhanced wine yeast that makes drinking wine possible for the 30 per cent of the world’s population that is sensitive to bioamines. These compounds are released during the fermentation process and can cause headaches.

As well, the WRC has established a state-of-the-art Wine Library that houses more than 22,000 bottles under ideal conditions. B.C. wines are carefully aged in the library and tested annually over a period of up to 24 years in order to discover which grape varietals thrive best in different regions.

From January 17 to 26, students will once again “camp” at the Learning Centre in order to raise funds to build one or more libraries in a developing country.

The organizers also welcome book donations of any kind.

Place: Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, 1961 East Mall
Date/Time: January 17 – 26
Parking: Rose Garden Parkade, 6278 North West Marine Drive, http://www.maps.ubc.ca?528

This year, the goal is to raise up to $3,000 at UBC over the 10-day event through a series of fundraisers. The program is running at 10 Canadian universities, which have set a goal of $27,000 for projects in India that support local language publishing, education equality for girls and a library reading room.

Find out more about this inspiring initiative at UBC on Twitter (aRoomtoReadUBC), on Facebook and at blogs.ubc.ca/literacy.

Past Live-in for Literacy events at UBC have helped raise money to construct libraries in Nepal and India.