Monday June 20, 2011

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Ted Talks

Onyx Ashanti: This is beatjazz

Musician and inventor Onyx Ashanti demonstrates "beatjazz" -- his music created with two handheld controllers, an iPhone and a mouthpiece, and played with the entire body. At TED's Full Spectrum Auditions, after locking in his beats and loops, he plays a 3-minute song that shares his vision for the future of music.

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Tourism Spending

2011 Montreal Grand Prix is a Clear Winner in Consumer Spending

The Moneris Spending Report Confirms Dramatic Increases in Hospitality and Retail Sectors

TORONTO - Despite the rain delay and unpredictable race conditions, the 2011 Montreal Grand Prix drove a major win for Montreal area merchants. Data released by Moneris Solutions, Canada's largest credit and debit card processor, showed a 5.38 per cent increase in overall dollars spent on a week-over-week basis, with a considerable boost in the hospitality sector.

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Medicine

The Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine: New Partnership to Mass-Produce Stem Cells for Patient Therapies

Current Bottleneck Limits Testing and Development of Regenerative Medicine

TORONTO - The Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine and the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine have joined forces to relieve an industry bottleneck in the mass production of stem cells needed to bring therapies to patients. The McEwen Centre will provide $1 million in support of specific projects that are ready to be commercialized by CCRM.

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Arts Fund

Arts Fund invests $125,300 to make art happen in Waterloo Region

The Jazz Room, a shared-space performance venue organized by recently-established Grand River Jazz Society

Kitchener – The Region of Waterloo Arts Fund announces that it has awarded grants totaling $125,300 to artists and arts organizations in response to proposals submitted from throughout the Region of Waterloo.

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Arts and Culture/ Carreer Change

Composer/Pipe-Fitter makes music with Timeless Waves

Kitchener - Ron Van Dam, a Kitchener local musician has recently released Timeless Waves, a relaxing one-hour, musical CD. "It's a reflection of Ron’s instrumental abilities and creations" said Van Dam. As he navigates a musical journey with his engaging guitar and piano style, his wife Barbara, accompanies him on cello.

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Recognition

Kitchener Company awarded Business Take Action Award

The Making Cent$ of Abilities Coalition nominee Dolphin Digital Technologies Inc. of Kitchener, Ont. has won the Business Takes Action 2011 Canadian Innovation Award.

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Education

Concordia University’s Goodman Institute of Investment Management Celebrates a Decade of Success

Toronto – This year marks a decade of success for the Goodman Institute of Investment Management, Canada’s first MBA Program with CFATM Program Partner status. Since its creation in 2001, the Program has often doubled the worldwide CFA pass rate and continues to make a significant impact in the investment management community, providing education to future global leaders in the industry.

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Climate Change

UN Climate Talks Make Scant Progress To Save Kyoto

World Bank - “About 180 nations took small steps to help combat climate change at UN talks ending on Friday, without breaking a deadlock over the fate of the Kyoto Protocol that risks collapsing at the end 2012.

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Infrastructure Investment

KITCHENER CELEBRATES UPGRADES TO FOUR AQUATIC FACILITIES

KITCHENER, ON - The City of Kitchener held an official ceremony on Saturday to celebrate the completion of four local infrastructure projects, including upgrades to the Harry Class Aquatic Facility; upgrades to the Breithaupt Centre Aquatic Facility; upgrades to the Wilson/Kingsdale Aquatic Facility; and upgrades to the Chicopee Aquatic Facility.

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Graduation

Laurier Brantford to graduate 337 students at its 2011 spring convocation

BRANTFORD – Wilfrid Laurier University’s Brantford campus will hold its spring convocation ceremonies June 21 and 22 at the Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts, and incorporate new community elements into the ceremony.

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Award

Student Wins Prestigious Scholarship

Guelph - A University of Guelph student is among four Canadians to receive a 2011 Mackenzie King Memorial Travel Scholarship. Yvonne Su, who is graduating this week with a degree in international development, will use the $11,000 award to support her studies at Oxford University.

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Education

Waterloo Stratford Campus announces Master’s program approval

Stratford – The University of Waterloo Stratford Campus is proud to announce the approval of the Master of Digital Experience Innovation program. Final approval for the program was received from the Ontario Council on Graduate Studies on Friday, June 17, 2011. The program will admit students in the coming weeks to start classes this September.

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Education Research

New study says university dropout rates tied to preparedness, not laziness

London - According to new research from The University of Western Ontario, approximately 40 per cent of students who drop out of university do so because of what they learn about their own academic ability, based primarily on the grades they receive after arriving on campus.

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Research Study

Cognitive impairment linked to reduced brain size in children with MS: York U study

TORONTO – Children who suffer cognitive impairment from Multiple Sclerosis (MS) are more likely to have less brain matter, according to a study by researchers from York University, The Hospital for Sick Children, and McGill University.

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Partnerships

Government funding supports partnerships between Queen's researchers and local businesses

Kingston - Fourteen Queen’s researchers have partnered with local businesses in areas such as manufacturing, engineering, and life sciences on projects that will accelerate innovative products to market and increase their competitiveness. The partnerships are funded by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) under the Applied Research and Commercialization Initiative.

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Geriatrics

Summer institute challenges future doctors to specialize in caring for the elderly

London - Seniors make up the fastest-growing age group, with an estimated 5 million Canadians now 65 years of age or older. And that number that is expected to double in the next 25 years to reach 10.4 million seniors (Statistics Canada). Having enough geriatric specialists to meet the demand is already a challenge, which is why the Canadian Geriatrics Society and The University of Western Ontario’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry are sponsoring the Summer Institute of Geriatrics.

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Research Funding

University of Ottawa receives $1.5 million towards high impact research on greenhouse gases

OTTAWA - The University of Ottawa has received over $1.5 million from Carbon Management Canada in support of two major projects that could help significantly reduce the contribution of fossil fuel emissions to global warming.

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Innovation

Internationally Recognized Scientist at Age 15, with Help from Trent University

Oshawa - A Trent University professor provided major support and world-class facilities to a scientist not yet of university age.

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Air Travel/Security

Could New Technology Reduce Airport Pat-Downs?

New Device That Can Detect Security Risks Without Invading Privacy

Clearwater, FL. In the pre-9-11 world, getting on a plane was as easy as emptying your pockets and walking through a metal detector. In the post-9-11 world, airline passengers must take off their shoes, their belts, empty their pockets and be subjected to invasive body scans and pat-downs that add dignity and privacy to the price of an airline ticket.