canada Archives

Using thermal imaging to prevent and forecast particulate emissions from mine tailings

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Fugitive dust emissions from dry mine tailings surfaces is an environmental concern that undermines the mining industry’s social acceptability. Aluminium refining waste material management involves intensive mud farming activities intended to accelerate drying prior to the residue’s permanent storage and site remediation. Throughout this process surface evaporation occurs much faster, requiring continuous and in-situ monitoring of mine tailings’ drying state […]

Frailty screening: Doing good and avoiding harm

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Worldwide, the number and proportion of older people in the population is increasing.

Ageing populations bring both opportunities and challenges for the economy, services and society. Screening for frailty aims to match the healthcare offered with a person’s needs, circumstances and capacity to benefit. Professors Mary McNally, Lynette Reid and William Lahey from Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada, explore the legal and ethical implications of frailty screening to ensure concerns with both doing […]

Protein as a Unifying Metric for Carbon Footprinting Livestock

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The GHG-protein indicator can be used to inform consumers and producers about the impact of red meat consumption on GHG levels in Canada.

Agriculture and livestock production contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. To reduce these emissions, some environmental groups advocate reducing the amount of red meat that we consume. James Dyer and Raymond Desjardins, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), were interested in the impact that reducing red meat, diversifying meat consumption and changing cattle diets could potentially have on […]

New pipelining method for heavy oil: Stabilising the flow of high viscosity fluids during transportation

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Minimising the losses during heavy oil transportation is of tremendous importance for the industry.

Professor Ian Frigaard and Dr Parisa Sarmadi from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of British Columbia specialise in industrial applications of non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics and mathematical modelling of Complex Fluids. They developed a method to overcome interfacial instabilities of lubricated pipeline flow during the transportation of higher viscosity fluids, such as heavy oil, coatings, and cements. They […]

Reconciling forest and tree conservation with food security

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Forests and trees are a critical resource for human communities. However, conservation efforts to prevent biodiversity loss increasingly conflict with the rights and access of communities using forests for their livelihoods and crucially to meet their nutritional needs. Prof Terry Sunderland of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, has long pointed to the importance of forests in contributing to food […]

Classic biomolecules continue to surprise with unexpected reactivity

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Biological hydrides like NADH and folates were identified by early biochemists for their importance in fermentation and hydrogen transfer and are today some of the most thoroughly studied biomolecules. Dr Michael Denk, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Guelph, PhD candidate Nicholas Milutinovic and PhD candidate Katherine Marczenko have been performing research which has shown that these old biomolecules […]

Energy futures: A new equilibrium model for resource extraction and investment decisions

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Prof David’s equilibrium model considers the investment decisions made by oil producers.

Increasingly sophisticated technologies developed in the current century to extract natural resources from costlier fields have changed the current and expected futures prices of resources, with important consequences for energy self-sufficiency and economic growth stability. In a recent paper, Alexander David, Professor of Finance at the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary in Canada, develops a new model that […]

Brand governance in National Sport Organizations

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How can non-profit National Sport Organizations in Canada create effective brands, especially on social media, from which they can co-create value with stakeholders such as athletes, fans, sponsors, and the media? In a three-phase project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Marijke Taks, Benoit Séguin (University of Ottawa) and colleagues examined the challenges faced in […]

Trans-actional autopoiesis: A relational view of human language

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Language plays an important role in shaping our existence.

Throughout history, and even now, our decisions and worldviews are continually sculpted as we share knowledge with each other by means of language. Dr Mónica Sánchez-Flores at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia argues that the nature of these exchanges is ‘trans-actional’ in the Deweyan sense and rooted in ‘autopoiesis’. Her ideas present important new questions about how we conceive […]

Moving toward climate-resilient crops and sustainable agriculture

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Forage crops like alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) comprise a fundamental component of the agricultural industry. The consumption of forage species by livestock is far from energy-efficient, resulting in implications for livestock health and the health of the environment through the release of greenhouse gases. Additionally, the prevalent force of climate change challenges crop resilience and sustainability. Research scientist Dr Stacy […]