UNews - McMaster ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ

Wieden headlines talk

trevor.kenney — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 18:18:23 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Dr. HJ Wieden is one of four experts who will present a Cafe Scientifique talk at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery on Thursday, Mar. 21.

Wieden will be joined by Dr. Eric Brown of McMaster ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, Dr. Frank Schweizer of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Manitoba and Dr. Tim McAllister as they discuss Antibiotic use in Agricultural Practices: Implications on the Health of Canadians.

In areas such as southern Alberta, the issue of antibiotic resistance can have a huge impact not only on human health but on industries such as agriculture.

In order to ensure the production of safe food products, the agricultural industry has utilized antibiotic protection of animals for many years. While this ensures quality food control, there are implications for the health of Canadians especially with respect to the efficiency of current antibiotic therapies.

Attend this talk to hear about current research being conducted in Canada. Areas of focus will include: how antibiotics work; pharmaceutical research necessary to develop new antibiotics; testing of antimicrobials; and the agricultural use of antibiotics in livestock populations.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with the talk scheduled from 7 to 9 p.m. Please RSVP due to limited seating to penny.dagnone@uleth.ca or 403-382-7198.

The presentation will also be available remotely at the following link: http://uleth.adobeconnect.com/cafe-scientifique/. The first 100 people to log in can view the Cafe remotely.

Hunting and gathering in the casino

trevor.kenney — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 15:02:50 +0000

Study looks at how human evolutionary history may dictate decision-making in activities of chance

Humans, for survival reasons, are designed to react and make decisions within the context of their surroundings.

In the real world this serves people well. In artificial, random environments, like those associated with gambling, a person's inherent desire to react to past experiences is a fruitless exercise.

In a recent study published by Frontiers in Psychology, researchers from McMaster ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and Liverpool John Moores ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ suggest that betting decisions made by gamblers may be linked to the basic attention inhibitory processes used by early humans for their search activities (i.e. food).

Dr. Dan Weeks, a psychology researcher at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, says humans tend to inhibit their responses to targets which they have already responded to. In other words, humans have evolved to modify their behaviour based on what they experience in certain locations.

"Humans make rational decisions on a day-to-day basis based on experience. Think about someone picking apples in an orchard. Once the apples from the first tree are picked, it is a rational decision to move on to the next tree," says Weeks. "We decided to undertake this study to see if there was a correlation in an artificial environment like a casino. How do gamblers react if they win? What about if they lose?"

Researchers conducted two experiments to test this theory.

First, participants were asked to take part in a reaction test in which one of two targets was illuminated. The lighting of these targets was random but participants were able to react to lights after the fact. Researchers then gave the participants two dollars worth of nickels and asked them to bet on the outcome before the targets were illuminated. Researchers found that participants maintained the amounts of their bets regardless of whether they won or lost. But in instances where they won, they were more likely to move their bets to the other target for their next wager.

In a second test, participants took turns undertaking the same test with a partner. As was the case in the initial experiment, players maintained the amount of their bets regardless of whether they won or lost. What was interesting is that after observing their partner guess right on a certain target, participants were more likely to move on to the next target when their turn came.

Lead author, Dr. Jim Lyons, a kinesiology researcher at McMaster ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ notes that there are several exciting implications resulting from the study.

"The results suggest, perhaps for the first time, that certain aspects of problem gambling behaviour may be related to basic, neurobiological factors that drive the orienting of attention," says Lyons. "Of even greater interest perhaps is how this relationship is strongest in social settings where watching whether another person wins or loses influences how you bet."

Co-author Dr. Digby Elliott comments that "these are also important findings because they suggest that, at least in some cases, these behaviours might be resistant to current behavioural intervention strategies."

The research team plans to continue this research by looking at how this sort of behaviour may change as people age,, since there is considerable evidence to suggest that problem gambling can be particularly acute in elderly populations.

The Frontiers article can be found at http://www.frontiersin.org/Cognition/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00072/full

Miller sisters hit it big with Top Ad Exec

trevor.kenney — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 22:09:47 +0000

Sisters and Faculty of Management classmates Brittany and Amanda Miller placed third overall in the prestigious Canada's Next Top Ad Exec competition, which wrapped up at the end of March.

"All of us in the Faculty of Management are very proud of Amanda and Brittany's success in this prestigious national business case study competition," says Faculty of Management Dean Dr. Bob Ellis.
"Amanda and Brittany possess the creativity, confidence, and leadership skills to transform the organizations in which they will work and the communities in which they will live following graduation."

Brittany and Amanda Miller with the new Chevy Sonic.

The contest, sponsored by McMaster ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's DeGroote School of Business, tasked students with creating an advertising campaign for an actual product from a real business – in this case, Chevrolet Canada's new Sonic compact car.

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta team placed first, and the sponsoring group, McMaster ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, was second. For finishing third, both Amanda and Brittany receive $1,000 scholarships from Chevrolet Canada, as well as a Fuji camera gift package.

The marketing majors were initially selected to the top 25 from a field of 167 teams from universities across Canada. The contest was open to both
undergraduate and MBA students. CNTAE's top 10 teams then faced off in a pitch or perish final presentation to a panel of expert judges from advertising, marketing and communications.

Judges evaluated each team by looking at participants' overall strategy, creativity and attention to detail.

"Submissions this year were some of the highest quality our judges have ever seen," says Meghan Brennan, co-chair, CNTAE.
"While each of the top-10 contestants submitted a top-tier entry, the three winning entries displayed a professional level of strategy, creativity, research and feasibility within the $1 million budget provided. These entries showed judges that marketing on campuses across Canada can be taken to a new level by using a mix of new and traditional media tools."

The Faculty of Management provided financial support to both Amanda and Brittany to assist with their travel expenses to and from Toronto.

For a look at the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Understanding reasons behind risk taking

trevor.kenney — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 23:18:35 +0000

Sandeep Mishra is an idealist with a realist's background.

The PhD candidate in the Department of Psychology has a keen understanding of what has led to his educational success, and a desire to better society as a result. He'll use his science to do so.

"So much of my education is funded by taxpayers, so I felt a really strong obligation to choose a topic of study that benefits taxpayers and makes society a better place," says Mishra, who is set to defend his PhD thesis in December. "I'm particularly interested in gambling, risk taking and crime, but more specifically, the social and environmental factors that increase or decrease these behaviours."

Studying under the guidance of Dr. Martin Lalumière, Mishra has been working on the well-established concept of inequality and its link to criminal activity. While there is a large body of evidence that has linked inequality with any number of society's ills, there has never been a causal analysis of the relationship – until now.

Sandeep Mishra is excited about the possibility that his research could play a vital role in developing policy.

"The empirical research has been done and it has been shown repeatedly that inequality is linked to crime, but this is research at an aggregate level and does not address causal mechanisms," says Mishra. "I decided that a productive line of research would be inducing inequality in a lab setting. Laboratory experiments, involving random assignment to experimental conditions, offer the only conclusive way to determine whether a variable has a causal effect or not. After introducing conditions of inequality in this setting, I then asked what happens to their responses to risky behaviour?"

His findings could shape public policy for years to come.

"All of the evidence suggests that systemic inequality and competitive disadvantage facilitate risk taking, of which criminal activity is an extreme form," says Mishra. "I've found that reducing risk taking is possible by reducing inequality. All of this has enormous policy implications."

Mishra's study invited students to participate in a series of experiments. One such experiment saw pairs of students tasked to answer a series of questions that tested their risk-taking attitudes. Prior to the test, one student was given $10 for his effort, the other none, under the guise that funding only allowed for one party to be compensated.

In almost every instance, the student who had suffered a perceived inequality chose risky options at a substantially higher level. Further, when students were tasked again to perform the tests, except on this occasion another $10 in funding was found midway through the exercise, thus evening out the imbalance, risk taking behaviour significantly declined.

"If something as simple as $10 can influence risky behaviour in healthy, well-educated, socially higher class undergrads, then you can imagine how this mechanism is just compounded in the real world," says Mishra. "What is remarkable is that as soon as the students realize that their environment isn't actually inequitous, that overall things are pretty fair, presumably, they see no reason to engage in elevated risk taking."

Mishra says his findings are directly relatable to public policy, and points to the current political climate where government policy in general is built around punitive action to deter criminal behaviour.

"They are not really investing in root social issues that facilitate conditions that produce risk taking and crime," says Mishra. "Even though it is costlier and you don't see direct implications, investing in infrastructure and better education for those who are underserved is a more prudent approach. Helping people help themselves out of inequitous situations is the best thing we can do to lower crime rates."

Mishra, who is off to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Guelph to pursue a post-doctoral fellowship, is a Delhi, Ont. native who began his post-secondary career at Hamilton's McMaster ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. Excitable and passionate, he credits the U of L and Lalumière for allowing him to grow his research portfolio.

"Martin's one of the most generous human beings you will ever meet," says Mishra. "He consistently puts his graduate students' well-being above his own and he's allowed me to take control and lead my own research program. The facilities I've had to work with go well beyond what most grad students could dream of, and the feedback he gives me is always excellent and very supportive."

GET THE FACTS

· Mishra sees himself as a future policy analyst or university professor.

· He graduated from high school when he was just 15 and studied biochemistry at McMaster for three years before switching to psychology.

· His undergraduate advisor at McMaster recommended Lalumière and the
U of L's Department of Psychology for graduate studies.

· Mishra's other inequality experiment tested examples of competitive disadvantage and used bogus IQ tests as a means to create situations of inequity amongst his experimental participants.

· All the participants in Mishra's study were thoroughly and carefully debriefed about the aims and hypotheses of the study.

This story originally appeared in the Legend. For a look at the full issue of the November Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Weeks looks at taking research to new heights

trevor.kenney — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:03:08 +0000

Dr. Daniel J. Weeks knows he's inherited a very good situation as the new vice-president (research) for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge. He also understands that, as far as the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ has progressed as a research institution, only the surface has been scratched.

"The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ has established a world-renowned reputation in specific areas such as neuroscience, epigenetics and water research and I'm committed to trying to reach out to all parts of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ with respect to research," says Weeks. "We have yet to really showcase our people in health sciences, the arts, social sciences and the humanities and their time is now and it's my job to do that."

Weeks comes to the U of L after more than a decade at Simon Fraser ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, where he was professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology, and operator of the Psychomotor Behaviour Laboratory located on the Burnaby campus. He looks at the U of L as an incredible opportunity.

"Part of the lure for me has to do with the fact that my own strengths, with a background in psychology, kinesiology and to some degree neuroscience, seem to match up well with the current strengths here," he says.

"What sold me completely on this place is when I came for an interview and met the senior administration team. They are fantastic and truly operate with a team mentality. My impression is they aren't so much worried about their own individual accomplishments as they are concerned about the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge doing well, and that told me I could get something accomplished here."

His successes at Simon Fraser, where he guided a research portfolio that grew 10-fold during his tenure, mirror the groundbreaking growth that his predecessor, Dr. Dennis Fitzpatrick, achieved at the U of L. Now, Weeks will strive to build on that foundation.

"These are big shoes to fill, Dennis has done a phenomenal job," Weeks says. "I think he did what was so necessary at the time, carving out niche areas of strength, for which Lethbridge now is both a national and international player.
"We're at a point in our development where there's enough expertise distributed across campus that I don't need to get out in front of these initiatives, rather I need to facilitate the fantastic people who have been hired."

While post-secondary education across the country struggles with the reality of difficult economic times, Weeks says the U of L is uniquely prepared for such challenges and will not pull back to protect its assets. Furthermore, well-designed growth is sustainable through any economic difficulty.

"Lethbridge has been very mindful and very careful in its growth, and it has been solid growth," says Weeks. "The economy is tough, but I think we're going to come out the other side of this a better institution."

He likes where the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ is in its development, still young and small enough to react quickly to changing circumstance but on the verge of something much broader.

"I think we're right on an interesting tipping point. We probably grew and got to the place we are by being more of a nimble, handshake kind of place. We're at the point now where we need the kinds of policies and practices that allow us to move into that larger university role, because we're right there," Weeks says.

"There's a balance between trying to stay small but thinking big."

GET THE FACTS

• A native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., he earned his undergraduate degree at Windsor ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, a master's at McMaster ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, his PhD from Auburn ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and did his post-doctoral work at Purdue ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

• An avid sailor, Weeks owns a sailboat that he takes out on the waters of the Georgia Strait. He just welcomed his dog, a sheltie, to Alberta after friends were able to bring her out from the west coast.

• New to the workings of post-secondary education in Alberta, he says he's amazed at the interaction between the provincial government and the U of L. "There is a great interplay between government and higher education. Everything here is an Alberta strategy, whereas in other jurisdictions it's more a university strategy. Here, it's how does the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's priorities fit into where the province wants to go?"

Herschel Space Observatory research to keep Naylor busy for years

trevor.kenney — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:56:42 +0000

When you talk to Dr. David Naylor (Institute for Space Imaging Science, Department of Physics and Astronomy), it is easy to get excited about his research, space exploration and the thought of imaging the unknown stars and galaxies that SPIRE, an instrumental concept he has been working on for 30 years will help to discover as it sits, 1.5 million km from Earth, bolted securely to the recently-launched Herschel Space Telescope.

The European Space Agency (ESA) Herschel mission, launched successfully from French Guiana on May 14, 2009 seeks to observe stars and galaxies at long-wavelengths (far-infrared).

Dr. David Naylor.

These wavelengths are able to penetrate interstellar dust, but are difficult to observe from Earth because the far infrared signals can't penetrate the Earth's atmosphere.

As the lead Canadian researcher for the Canadian Space Agency's contribution to the Herschel project – an international project involving eight nations -- Naylor has played a key role in the big science of space imagery by designing a device that has to function at a chilly -270C, collects infrared data from the far end of the light spectrum, and turns it into valuable information about the creation of stars and galaxies.
Naylor's instrument, called the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver ("SPIRE"), is one of three devices attached to the Herschel telescope system. SPIRE picks up heat signals that are not visible by optical telescopes, and will help to answer the age-old question astronomers have been asking for centuries: "What's out there?"

However, even with all his curiosity about what, in fact, might be 'out there,' it's hard to believe that Naylor can maintain that level of excitement for a project that that has faced financial and administrative hurdles, taken more than 15 years, many long days, about 100 students (in Lethbridge/Canada) and other researchers across the world to help develop.

And then there's the cost: approximately $100M to fit all that research into a box about as big as a toaster oven.

He's excited because it works. Finally.

"The mission control operators started the telescope up in stages," Naylor said. "Our instrument was the first brought on-line for performance verification. That means more than 250 tests to put it through its paces. And it is working flawlessly. The last time we had our hands on it was more than two years ago when SPIRE was sent from the UK for final testing and installation at ESA, so that was good news. To process the data to make it operate there are almost 2 billion lines of code involved, so to see a successful operation from this first test was a huge relief."

The next step, which also passed without a hitch, was to pop open the hatch -- officially called a 'cryocover', or the equivalent of a camera lens cap -- and reveal the giant 3.5m telescope mirror to the outer reaches of space.

But does Herschel do what it is supposed to do? The answer, of course, is yes – and much quicker and with more accuracy than any telescope launched to date. "Initial images reveal a level of detail never before seen from the ground or from space through the Hubble telescope, which sits only 400km from Earth," Naylor said.

"This isn't even the telescope operating at full capacity. These are initial 'test' images – like driving a racecar very slowly around the track… you know it works and is quite impressive, but wait until the driver opens the throttle!

"I am particularly proud of the first image that was released by the European Space Agency of a galaxy called the Whirlpool Galaxy. Prof. Christine Wilson, a research colleague from McMaster ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, is leading this study of nearby galaxies. Wilson is one of five scientists who have access to the guaranteed observing time awarded to Canada in recognition of its contributions to the mission, contributions that are led from the U of L."

On July 10, the European Space Agency released even more images which clearly show the additional clarity the Observatory brings to knowledge about galaxies and star formations (See the "First Light" images, at this website: http://www.uleth.ca/notice/display.html?b=13&s=12367)

Also, gratifying -- and possibly a bit overwhelming -- are the unique research collaborations that Naylor sees happening in the future, as data from the Herschel mission starts to flow.

"Approximately one-third of the time available to researchers is guaranteed to those involved in key projects, and our time is included in that. We see the data here in Lethbridge before anyone else does," Naylor said.

"This means we will be in the best position to extract the most information from the astronomical data. Scientists will be seeking our help in analyzing their data and the U of L group will be an important Canadian and international resource."

With an estimated output of up to 7,000 hours per year of data, there should be enough information to keep researchers collaborating on current – and future -- projects busy for years.

To that end, Naylor is involved in several projects with physics and astronomy researchers across the country with diverse organizations such as the Canadian Space Agency, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies and a host of partner universities.

Worldwide, his research partners include Rutherford Appleton Labs in Oxford (UK) and other research institutions in Europe.

In Alberta, a recent and significant collaboration has been launched with the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary, where the U of L and the U of C have formed the Institute for Space Imaging Science (ISIS) to work together on projects that take space research further than Herschel technology, whether on the ground or in the atmosphere.

As well, Blue Sky Spectroscopy, a local high tech spin off company founded by Naylor in 2003, and now privately owned and operated, is rapidly developing a name for itself.

Its highly qualified staff, all with postgraduate degrees, specialize in custom hardware and software spectroscopic solutions. Customers include NASA, ESA, and CSA, and many leading research institutes such as Harvard, Berkeley, Chicago, Max Planck and Cardiff to name a few.

Moreover, Blue Sky is one of the three international Data Processing and Science Analysis Software centres for the SPIRE instrument. Data are downloaded daily from the spacecraft and stored on the Blue Sky's servers. While their research might be "blue sky," down to Earth the company has an active astronomy education and outreach program within the local community.

What's next?

According to Naylor, more research that refines his current SPIRE device to make it suitable for yet another space mission which is currently under review by the Japanese,European and Canadian Space Agencies.

"Because the SPIRE device is so versatile – and is now proven to work – we expect it will be in demand for future space astronomy missions such as SPICA – the SPace Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics."

Put on the coffee; it seems that more sleepless nights in the lab are on the horizon.

Reinhartz featured in Speaker Series

trevor.kenney — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:35:55 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Ottawa professor, Dr. Adele Reinhartz, is the featured speaker Wednesday afternoon at the latest edition of the Women Scholars Speaker Series.

Reinhartz will present her lecture, Mary Magdalene Goes to Hollywood, 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. in Anderson Hall (AH100).

A Professor in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Ottawa, Reinhartz is a specialist in the history and literature of Christianity and Judaism in the Greco-Roman period, the Gospel of John, early Jewish-Christian relations, literary criticism including feminist-literary criticism, and the impact of the Bible on popular cinema and television.

Reinhartz joined the McMaster ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ faculty in 1987. She was dean of graduate studies and research at Wilfrid Laurier ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ before being appointed associate vice-president, research at ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Ottawa in 2005. Since 2007, Reinhartz has been developing an Honours Bachelor of Arts and Science program for the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Ottawa, in addition to teaching and conducting research in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Ottawa.

In 1997-1998 she was the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies president, and in 2005 she was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Lunch will be served with the Reinhartz lecture, which will be followed by a discussion period. The event is free and everyone is welcome to attend.

Any large groups planning on attending should call 403-329-2482 to ensure that there is enough seating and refreshments.

UNews - McMaster ��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ

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