Friday March 4, 2011

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Ted Talks

Wadah Khanfar: A historic moment in the Arab world

As a democratic revolution led by tech-empowered young people sweeps the Arab world, Wadah Khanfar, the head of Al Jazeera, shares a profoundly optimistic view of what's happening in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and beyond -- at this powerful moment when people realized they could step out of their houses and ask for change.

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Union

INTERNATIONAL PADDLING FILM FESTIVAL COMING TO Waterloo, Ontario

Waterloo - The Princess Cinema presents the 6th Annual Reel Paddling Film Festival at The Princess Original Cinema, 6 Princess Street West for 3 days - Thursday March 17 to Saturday March 19.

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Health Sciences

Communitech’s First Life & Health Sciences Conference Focuses on Business Elements of Health Sector

Waterloo - Applying best business practices in enterprises involved in the health sector – from market development, to reimbursement and regulatory issues – will be the focus of the first Communitech Life & Health Sciences Conference being held March 8 at The Communitech Hub.

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Traditional Culture

Powwow Helps Aboriginal Youth Define Identity

Waterloo - Fighting for identity in mainstream Canada is an ongoing battle for aboriginals. But at the first ever traditional aboriginal powwow held at Conestoga College on Saturday, Longboat saw young people youth connecting with their traditions.

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Careers

WSIB Students Succeed with Courage & Support

Waterloo - Being forced to make a career change is not easy under any circumstances, but needing to re-train because of an accident at work is one of the hardest. Not only are there financial and family worries, but dealing with physical rehabilitation and pain in addition to mental stress requires courage and perseverance.

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Highways

Province and City Collaborate to Build Noise Barriers near Kitchener Senior’s Residence

Kitchener – John Milloy, MPP for Kitchener Centre, was joined by Kitchener Mayor Carl Zehr at Senioren Haus Retirement Residence to meet with residents and discuss the installation of noise barriers on Highway 7/8.

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Convention

Local MEDA Convention Looks at the New Barn raising

KITCHENER – What does Barn raising look like in a digital era? What does it mean to lead in a “Connected World”? These questions are the focus of MEDA Waterloo Chapter’s Convention on Saturday, March 26, 2011, 12:00 p.m. at Steinmann Mennonite Church in Baden.

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Health Care

GRH opens extra beds and cancels some elective surgery to deal with high patient volumes

Kitchener - Grand River Hospital has taken steps to deal with a high number of very ill patients coming to the hospital in recent days. GRH has opened extra beds and cancelled five elective surgeries to make room for patients who need to be admitted for care.

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Technology

A Canadian first using the strongest MRI in the country

London - Canada’s only human 7Tesla MRI, located at The University of Western Ontario, has scanned its first clinical research case. A patient with temporal lobe epilepsy was put through the scanner to study whether it can be used to better pinpoint where seizures originate. The 7T scanner provides images of the brain with much stronger resolution and contrast compared to common 1.5T MRIs found in most hospitals.

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Research

Killam Fellow sets sights on superbugs

by Laura Thompson

Hamilton - McMaster researcher Gerry Wright will dedicate the next two years to an ambitious project in antibiotic resistance after being awarded a prestigious Killam Research Fellowship.

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Real Estate

Largest apartment complex sale in Canadian history - Tenant satisfaction key to deal

LONDON - ESAM Construction sold Cherryhill Village in London, Ontario to the Minto Group Inc. for $215 million, in the largest sale of an apartment complex in one location in Canadian history. Brokered by Derek Lobo of Burlington-based Rock Advisors Inc., this blockbuster deal included 2,326 apartment units in 13 buildings, the 150,000 square foot Cherryhill Village Mall and a 30,000 square foot office building.

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Investor Purchase

STARZ ANIMATION TORONTO SECURES ITS FUTURE WITH SALE OF MAJORITY STAKE TO NEW CANADIAN INVESTOR GROUP

Starz, LLC, Partners With Canadian Buyers to Keep The Studio That Animated Gnomeo & Juliet and 9 At the Forefront of High-End Digital Animation

Toronto – Starz, LLC, has completed a transaction resulting in a Canadian investor group purchasing a majority stake in the award-winning Starz Animation Toronto. This transaction will bolster the CG-animation and VFX company as it continues its growth in the digital media industry.

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Health Research

York U researchers uncovering how ovarian cancer resists chemotherapy

TORONTO – York University researchers have zeroed in on a genetic process that may allow ovarian cancer to resist chemotherapy. Researchers in the university’s Faculty of Science & Engineering studied a tiny strand of our genetic makeup known as a MicroRNA, involved in the regulation of gene expression. Cancer occurs when gene regulation goes haywire.

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Distillation

How iceberg harvesters make Canada’s premium vodka

TORONTO – The process of making a bottle of Iceberg Vodka started 12,000 years ago in the last Ice Age when pristine snow formed the Arctic glaciers, creating icebergs.

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Entertainment Technology

Government-funded 3D gaming initiative enters new dimension

Ontario universities, game developers and associations to bolster S-3D game development

Toronto – The building blocks for the next generation of stereoscopic three-dimensional gaming are being put in place thanks to a major funding announcement by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture through the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Entertainment and Creative Cluster Partnerships Fund along with support from Ontario Centres of Excellence.

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Act Amendments

Government of Canada Takes Action to Ensure Fairness at the Pumps

OTTAWA - The Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Industry, announced that the proposed Fairness at the Pumps Act, which is designed to protect Canadian consumers from inaccurate measurement at gas pumps and other such measurement devices, was passed in the Senate.

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Achievement

Aerospace Student’s Rare Achievement Earns 2010 Co-op Student of the Year Award

Ottawa – The Carleton University Co-operative Education Office is pleased to announce that fourth-year Aerospace engineering student, Andrew Savage, has been awarded Carleton’s 2010 Co-op Student of the Year Award.

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Environment

For the Sake of Our Lakes: Lecture by the Inaugural David Schindler Professor Addresses the Future of Ontario’s Water

Dr. Paul Frost and esteemed panellists respond to questions from members of the community

Oshawa - For the Sake of Our Lakes: Lecture by the Trent University officially announced Dr. Paul Frost as the new David Schindler Professor in Aquatic Science at a lecture and panel discussion, “For the Sake of our Lakes: Global Change and Its Effects on the Lakes of Ontario” at Traill College’s Bagnani Hall.

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Economy

Foreign control in the Canadian economy

Statscan - Corporate assets, revenues and profits of Canadian-controlled firms all increased at a faster pace than those under foreign control in 2008. As a result, the share of foreign control in the Canadian economy declined in the case of all three measures.

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Guest Column

The darker side of tourism - invasive species

Troy Media

The global village predicted by Marshall McLuhan inadvertently brought with it global problems and sometimes they're the most mundane and ineradicable. Particularly on isolated islands, invasive species are wiping out native plants and animals, destroying the environment and causing massive financial headaches to cash-strapped governments.