Beginning Feb. 17, Research Matters is launching a , a two week, province-wide contest that takes the public on a journey to learn about Ontario university research that impacts their daily lives.

For the last two weeks of February, students, staff and faculty can answer daily clues and be entered in a draw to win daily prizes. There will be 21 clues in all – one from each of Ontario’s 21 universities.

Ontario university students, with a valid student ID from an Ontario University, who complete the scavenger hunt, will be eligible to win one of five cash grand prizes of $500 each. New this year, Ontario K-12 classrooms that complete the hunt will be eligible to win one of five pizza lunches with a researcher.

The Scavenger Hunt is part of a collaborative project called Research Matters, hosted by the Council of Ontario Universities. The project, a multi-platform endeavour in its third��year, is designed to give Ontarians unprecedented access to the wealth of ideas and innovations happening at Ontario universities.

The contest is open to all Ontarians. Members of the general public who answer all 21 clues correctly will be able to unlock a secret message that they can then submit to be entered for a draw of 21 grand prizes of gift bags filled with Research Matters merchandise.

“The Research Matters Virtual Scavenger Hunt is a fun contest that enables Ontarians to learn more about the impact of university research and the many important contributions of Ontario’s leading university researchers,” said Robert Haché, vice-president research & innovation.

To participate, register at or visit the website for contest details.

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Anton Tabuns (MES/JD '11), now an articling student at Willms & Shier Environmental Lawyers, discussed his major research paper on community-based renewable power and how it could be established in Ontario. He looked at three European examples and investigated how a feed-in tariff system could foster the development of renewable energy and community power projects in this province. ��In contrast to public or privately owned power plants, community power refers to renewable energy installations that are completely or partially owned and controlled by residents.

Right: From left,����Ian Rice, Faculty of Environmental Studies Dean Barbara Rahder, Mark Winfield, Anton Tabuns and��Sarah Martin at the conclusion of the 2011-2012 Sustainable Energy Initiative seminar series

He also made several recommendations on how Ontario’s energy system could be amended to promote investment for renewable energy projects. Tax deductions, curtailing the province’s dependence on nuclear energy and public education/awareness campaigns for renewable energy were strategies he encouraged.

Tabuns was one of several alumni from 91��ɫ’s master in environmental studies (MES) program who presented research to students, faculty and industry professionals. ��The 2011- 2012 Sustainable Energy Initiative seminar series drew to a close with a showcase of the best of student and faculty accomplishments in recent sustainable energy research.

The seminar series kicked off in September with Harry Lehmann, setting the bar high as the SEI inaugural keynote speaker. Presenters for the remainder of the season did not disappoint, as the SEI delivered a of monthly seminars, discussing relevant and timely issues in a rapidly developing field.

At the final SEI seminar, Sarah Martin (right) (MES '11) also discussed her research from her MES degree, along with internship experiences at the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) and World Resources Institute (WRI). Her major paper examined the case for community power projects, applying her own sustainability assessment criteria to assess Ontario’s history with community power. In her Bonn, Germany internship as a WWEA working group coordinator, Martin spoke directly with those involved in community power projects around the world. She learned about the successes and challenges of newly implemented programs in Japan, Australia, South Africa and India.

Martin laid out specific recommendations for India’s energy policies, which resulted from her internship research. Recommendations included consumer rebates and education programs on energy efficient appliances, tax deductions for business-sector energy audits and consumer awareness on the negative effects of coal as an energy source. Martin currently works as a research assistant with WRI’s Electricity Governance Initiative, where she continues to evaluate electricity policies in developing countries.

Ian Rice (MES '11), a policy analyst at the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario’s (ECO) office, also presented at the seminar. His major paper focused on a cap-and-trade system in Ontario – a program involving partnerships with several other provinces and US states under the auspices of the Western Climate Initiative.

Left: MES student Sindy Singh was one of several students at the event to learn about recent student and faculty research in sustainable energy

Rice suggested that while it is likely that current policies in Ontario will help it achieve the 2014 target of reducing greenhouse gases to six per cent below levels in 1990, the longer term goal of decarbonizing the economy is unlikely to be achieved without renewed policy effort. According to Rice, this effort should consist of a new Climate Change Action Plan focused on four key tenets: economy-wide carbon pricing; infrastructure investment; public support for research and development; and aggressive regulatory standards to reduce energy demand.

91��ɫ Faculty of Environmental Studies Professor Mark Winfield concluded the seminar, discussing his new book , which examines the evolving relationship between environmental and economic policy in Canada’s largest province. Winfield also discussed the current political climate. He noted parallels between the current federal government’s approach to environmental issues, and those seen during the “Common Sense Revolution” period from 1995 to 1999 in Ontario.

“In both cases, the governments involved have regarded the environment as unimportant, and as an area where major budgetary reductions and ‘streamlinings’ of regulatory frameworks can take place without serious consequences,” Winfield said. “Both governments have tended to be repeatedly blindsided by environmental issues as a result.” Winfield stated this to be a factor in the 2003 provincial defeat of the Progressive Conservative government and he further cautioned “it remains to be seen how the same dynamics will play out at the federal level.”

With the conclusion of its 2011-2012 seminar series, SEI is hard at work assembling a lineup for 2012-2013 to present additional issues at the forefront of sustainable energy research and development.

For future events and updates, visit the Sustainable Energy Initiative website.

Submitted by Imelda Nurwisah, FES communications graduate assistant

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The commissioner visited the Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES) on Dec. 2 to speak with students about energy conservation initiatives and to present his newly published report, . The report, submitted annually to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, was released only days before Miller’s visit to students in Fundamentals of Energy Efficiency, a fourth-year environmental studies class connected to the FES Sustainable Energy Initiative. In his visit, Miller shared a number of ideas on how government agencies, regulators, companies and the government could strengthen and support energy conservation.

Right: Gord Miller discusses strategies for the future of energy in Ontario with students in the Faculty of Environmental Studies

In his presentation, Miller noted that Ontario’s Smart Grid program “has not been well communicated to the public, and thus it is not understood.”

The Ontario Ministry of Energy describes the Smart Grid system as an “intelligent electricity infrastructure” using sensors, monitors, communications, automation and computers to “improve the flexibility, reliability and efficiency of the electricity system.” The Ministry website states the program will allow utilities to identify and repair outages more quickly, enable consumers to better manage and monitor their electricity usage and allow more renewable electricity generation, such as wind and solar power, to connect to the electricity grid. The switch to a Smart Grid, however, will require a series of integrated initiatives over a number of years.

Left: Gord Miller

Because of this, the program received criticism in the October 2011 provincial election, along with public resistance to the need for new meters to be installed on all homes and businesses. But Miller said, “People who are resistant to change, they state and retell a narrative to convince themselves and others of their case. You have to change that narrative and accumulate case studies where meters did not have an adverse effect.”

In addition, Miller identified another vital concern: “the absence of leadership at the systems level means there is not one single organization with an overall perspective who will ensure that this program succeeds.” Still he was optimistic, saying, “Energy conservation starts with smart metering, [which will allow us to] find out the waste in transmission in the system.”

Another conservation initiative that has had considerable criticism, said Miller, is (TOU) electricity pricing. TOU pricing breaks down electrical consumption into demand-based categories: on-peak (time of day when electrical demand is highest), mid-peak (demand is moderate) and off-peak (demand is lowest). Consumers pay higher rates for electricity consumed during higher demand periods. According to the Ontario Energy Board, the TOU plan was developed “to provide stable and predictable electricity pricing, which ensures the price consumers pay for electricity better reflects the actual cost of producing the electricity.”

Right: Several students parted the event with expanded minds as well as pockets, having received USB keys from the commissioner

Miller thinks the negative media and public response towards the plan was overblown. “TOU pricing was viewed as a ‘tax’,” he said, as if to suggest that “old people would have to do laundry in the middle of the night.”��He said peak demand determines the amount of energy which power plants must generate. He further suggested that if Ontarians could lower their peak consumption, fewer power plants would be required in the future, having a direct environmental impact.

Miller, excited about his upcoming climate change report, also spoke about transportation, road pricing and electric vehicles. He promised this report would include further analysis of greenhouse gas emissions, along with a necessary update on the science of climate change.

“Last year’s report was very critical of the government's actions [on climate change]. Since then, the programs have fallen apart,” he said, adding that Ontario won't be able to meet its��. But he said, “If there’s a concerted, sincere effort, I won’t judge everything negatively.”

Miller feels it is his job “to address the white elephants in the room,” tackling difficult subjects and getting closer to solutions in energy conservation. In sharing his insight and optimism with 91��ɫ’s environmental students, Miller says he hopes to strengthen the future in preserving Ontario’s environment.

Submitted by Imelda Nurwisah, FES communications graduate assistant

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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, which will take place throughout downtown��Toronto, features the work of more than 500 local, national and international artists��

Theatre Professor Shawn Kerwin collaborated with Laurel McDonald to create "", an “art-app” for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. The app is one of five interactive installations featured in Technological Displacement, a production of the Canadian Film Centre’s Media Lab, at the Bata Shoe Museum on Bloor Street.

��

Above: Professor Shawn Kerwin has developed a new art-app for the BlackBerry PlayBook. It will debut at Nuit Blanche.

"Alone Together" uses poetic wordplay and expressive videos to remind us that we can always reframe our relationships. Kerwin developed the piece during her five-month residency at the CFC Media Lab earlier this year.

Technological Displacement is one of the 38 projects in Zone A, whose overarching theme, Restaging the Encounter, attempts to capture the fleeting moment when the political become poetic.

Another project in Zone A is by 91��ɫ visual arts��alumna and multimedia artist (BA ‘73), located in Barbara Ann Scott Park at the heart of College Park. The work transforms a memorable phrase from Canada's national anthem into a giant haiku poem, made from flowers and cut wood floating in a water-filled pond.

Left: True Patriot Love by visual arts��grad Chrysanne Stathacos

The theme of Zone B is The Future of the Present. The works on view in this sector use new technologies to form a vocabulary for a non-pictorial art.

Visual arts grad (MFA ‘96) and her collaborator Lance Winn are contributing , a multimedia work that addresses the nature of surveillance, mechanization and control. Installed at Ryerson University’s loading dock on Gerrard Street, Projektor resembles a prison tower, with a roaming spotlight video projection that exposes a barren prison yard and a prisoner who attempts to escape the light.

Collaborators since 2002, Jones and Winn share a common interest in the mechanisms of reproduction and the impact they have on representation. Their work focuses on the edges of the two-dimensional image and a desire to see beyond the limits of the frame.

Also in Zone B is , an installation at 62 Bond Street by film alumnus (BFA Spec. Hons. ‘02). ��Reibling argues that the dolly shot (where the movie camera glides along rails) is the most revered, powerful and evocative moment in the making of a film.�� To create 12 Hour Dolly, a film crew will set up a circular dolly track and shoot film continuously for 12 hours straight. Located in the centre of the track is a makeshift stage with a single stool.�� One by one, spectators are invited to sit centre-stage and participate in the making of the film, which will be streamed live onto an adjacent wall.

Right: Dylan Reibling's take on the dolly shot took 12 hours to film

Reibling is an award-winning filmmaker whose work, exploring the mechanics of narrative,��ranges from stop-motion animation and drama to interactive prototypes.

Two other 91��ɫ film alumni, (MFA ‘11) and (MA ‘09) co-created , a sound, video and interactive performance installation in the form of a "silent disco" on the P1 floor of The Atrium on Bay’s underground parking lot.��The work grew from the artists’ desire to explore the troubling policies entrenched in national and territorial border politics, and to question access and mobility within those borders. Participants are invited to listen with headphones to musical tracks��with lyrics referencing the text inside passports, and to watch related video projections.��

Bamboat��is a film and video artist whose work centres around aspects of diasporas, critiques of nationalism, and the ways in which the queer body relates to sites of mobility.�� Mitchell is a documentary filmmaker and media artist whose work explores performativity, memory, statehood, space and architecture.

Left: Border Sounds is a sound, video and interactive performance installation by two 91��ɫ film alumni

Maria Coates, a graduate student in art history and curatorial studies, is interning with the curator of Zone C, 91��ɫ art history alumnus Nicholas Brown (MA ‘08), who comes to Nuit Blanche after a two-year stint as curator of Toronto’s Red Bull 381 Projects.

Brown’s theme for Zone C is You had to go looking for it. Convening in the wake of the recent civil unrest around the G20 meeting in the city, the project invites the masses to transform and occupy Toronto's financial district. Artists will open up the area as a place of otherworldly encounter, ambivalent assembly and enthusiastic competition, inverting and misusing the symbolic language of corporate capitalism.

Coates, whose research centres on contemporary Latin American art, is working on , an installation by Mexican-born, Los Angeles-based artist Camilo Ontiveros. The project is a large-scale vigil that invites audience members to light a candle in commemoration of the lost lives of migrant workers in Ontario. It reaches out to individual passersby as well as organizations that represent the interests of labour, including United Food and Commercial Workers Canada and the Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts.

“What attracts��me to Camilo's project in the context of this international, corporate-sponsored, city-run festival is how it offers a space for pause and reflection in honour of something that we tend to overlook,” said Coates.

Coates appreciates the opportunity to intern with Brown – a relationship brokered by Art History Graduate Program Director Anna Hudson. “It’s been great to work with a recent grad whom I could relate to through discussions of contemporary art and what’s entailed in becoming a curator in Toronto. Nick has been a great mentor in guiding me through the process and leaving room for me to perform in a meaningful way,” she said.

Also in Zone C are a performance installation by visual art alumnus (MFA ‘10) and Tibi Tibi Neuspiel, and by John Notten, a visual arts and education graduate (BEd ’87, BFA ‘87).

Right: The Tie Break is a performative re-enactment of the most riveting episode in the history of tennis

Pugen, whose work has been featured in publications such as Artforum and Adbusters, is a recipient of the K.M Hunter Award for Interdisciplinary Art. His collaborative piece, The Tie Break, is a performative re-enactment of the “most riveting episode in the … history [of tennis]” (ESPN): the legendary fourth set tie-break at the 1980 Wimbledon men’s singles finals between Björn Borg and John McEnroe. The matches will take place hourly at 25 minutes after the hour at Commerce Court, North Plaza on King Street.

���dzٳٱ��’s Intensity invites the audience to explore the presentation centre for a luxury condominium development, but delivers a vast and sprawling tent city.��As in the 2002 eviction of Toronto’s waterfront tent city, viewers are forced to move out of their temporary tent homes every few minutes. Installed in the Arnell Plaza of the Bay-Adelaide Centre, this all-night drama echoes the realities of makeshift communities around the world that rise up in the wake of human tragedy.

Left: John Notten's Intensity delivers a vast and sprawling tent city. Viewers must move out of their temporary homes every few minutes in a re-enactment of the 2002 eviction of residents from Toronto's waterfront tent city.

Toronto’s sixth annual Nuit Blanche kicks off at 6:59pm on Saturday, Oct. 1 and runs to daybreak on Sunday, Oct. 2.

With 134 installations, the celebration covers the city’s entire downtown area, from Roncesvalles Avenue in the west all the way to the Distillery Historic District in the east, and from Bloor Street to the Lake Shore. Admission to all events is free.

Photos courtesy��of Scotiabank Nuit Blanche

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Next Monday, retired geographer Conrad Heidenreich kicks off this year’s 91��ɫ Geography Alumni Association Lecture Series with a talk about how this 250-acre ecosystem on Cook's Bay has been preserved and restored.��

Right:��Red and white oak woodland in De Grassi Point��

The De Grassi Point property is owned in common by the descendants of Sir Edmund Walker (1848-1924). It has been designated an Area of Natural and Scientific Interest and been restored with financial support and advice from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.��

The lecture takes place in 205 Accolade West Building, Sept. 26 at 7pm.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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“Dr. Victor brings a wealth of knowledge, experience and insight to the Greenbelt Council,” said Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rick Bartolucci, who announced Victor’s appointment Tuesday. “I look forward to working with Dr. Victor and Council as they provide advice on the ongoing implementation of the Greenbelt.”

A professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at 91��ɫ, Victor is an economist who has worked on environmental issues for 40 years as an academic, public servant and consultant. He was Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Studies from 1996 to 2001, following several years as an assistant deputy minister in Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment. Prior to that he worked in the private sector, where he undertook many policy-related economic studies in Canada and abroad.

“I look forward to working with the Council as we consider and make recommendations to the Minister,” said Victor. “We have come to understand economies as subsystems of the biosphere and realize that a healthy environment and a strong economy go hand in hand.”

Victor continues to provide public, private and non-governmental organizations with technical advice on air pollution and health, emissions trading, emerging issues and full cost accounting at national and corporate levels. He is author of .

By Janice Walls, media relations coordinator.

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is available on CBC's website and begins at the 11:15 mark. It runs to the 30:11 mark.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Please note that only resumes submitted through the described process will be considered.

The posting closes May 31, 2011.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer

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Researchers explored multiple strategies to increase referrals to cardiac rehabilitation programs at 11 hospitals across Ontario, including using a discharge checklist for doctors, electronic referral in medical records and talking with patients at the bedside.

According to the study, “Effect of Cardiac Rehabilitation Referral Strategies on Utilization Rates”, published in the Feb. 14 edition of the journal , a combined approach – a checklist or electronic referral and talking with patients – can increase referrals by 45 per cent. By targeting both health care providers and patients,��more than��70 per cent of patients enrol in cardiac rehab.

“Every patient discharged from the hospital with a heart condition should be referred to a cardiac rehab program,” says��91��ɫ kinesiology &��health science��Professor Sherry Grace, principal investigator and director of research for the Cardiovascular Rehabilitation & Prevention Program at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, which is part of the��University Health Network in Toronto.

“Cardiac rehab is a key component of the continuum of cardiac care. We shouldn’t just discharge patients from the hospital without ensuring there is a link to these proven rehab services to support patients in their recovery,” says Grace.

Cardiac rehabilitation offers a comprehensive approach to health by combining medical treatments and lifestyle modification.��Patients are able to benefit from a variety of services, including: education sessions, nutritional assessment with a dietitian, risk factor treatment (hypertension, cholesterol and smoking cessation) by physicians and nurse practitioners, medication review with a pharmacist, targeted exercise prescription by an exercise physiologist, nurse or kinesiologist and supervised exercise.

indicate that participating in cardiac rehab after a cardiac illness, such as a heart attack, can reduce the risk of death by approximately 25 per cent, a reduction similar to that of other standard therapies such as cholesterol-lowering medications (statins) and aspirin. In spite of this evidence, only 20 to 30 per cent of patients are referred to a cardiac rehabilitation program after hospital discharge, a phenomenon observed in many countries.

Joe Walters, 55, lost 30 pounds through the centre’s Cardiac Rehabilitation Program at Toronto Western Hospital (TWH) after having being diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat in August 2009.

“The cardiac rehab program was truly motivational. It opened my eyes to the number of people who have heart problems like me, and it was refreshing to know it came with a built-in support network,” says��Walters, who notes work-related stress contributed to his weight gain and heart trouble. “I highly recommend a cardiac rehab program for anyone with a heart condition.”

Walters graduated from the program in April 2010, but continues to attend classes to keep the weight off.

Dr. Caroline Chessex, medical doctor and clinical director of the Cardiovascular Rehabilitation��& Prevention Program at the centre, is part of a multidisciplinary team who treats patients like��Walters by developing a personalized exercise program tailored to each patient's cardiac risk profile.

“Our goal is to develop strategies for patients to reduce or eliminate their risk of coronary artery disease, prevent or minimize hospitalization, decrease mortality and improve quality of life,” says Chessex, noting that patients can prolong their life and reduce their risk of having a second heart attack, or needing a second heart surgery.

Beyond the physical and psychological benefits, cardiac rehabilitation saves money.��Cardiac bypass surgery, the most common type of open-heart surgery, costs approximately $23,000 for each patient, but rehabilitation costs $1,000 to 1,500 per patient.

“The return on investment is obvious. Focusing on expensive cardiac interventions and then discharging patients without a systematic approach for support just doesn’t make sense,” says Grace. ��“Cardiac rehab is the right step towards prevention and it saves money.”

The (CIHR) and the �� funded this study.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin

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Beyond their shared talents, what these names have in common is a little-known initiative of Ontario’s [former] NDP government: a program called Fresh Arts. Fresh Arts was developed under the umbrella of JobsOntario Youth, part of the larger JobsOntario training and employment program the NDP government introduced to address the labour market fallout of the early ’90s recession.

The spirit of the now legendary program lives on in the Remix Project, a community arts hub that provides space for Toronto’s new generation of urban artists to flourish. Remix participants come primarily from the city’s priority neighbourhoods.

Remix’s funding is neither stable nor predictable, which makes long-term planning difficult.

Indeed, as policy wonks trumpet the idea of the “creative city” and the economic benefits of a vibrant cultural sector, it’s confounding why projects like Remix should have to struggle for every dollar. The city and the province must do more to support such proven successes.

Yet visions of what we can achieve collectively through government are threatened by promises of cutbacks and tax savings. As the latest city budget demonstrated, cuts to services are the order of the day, with our new mayor promising more in the near future.

This is short-sighted. Fresh Arts demonstrated the potential of community-driven programs partnering with government to improve the lives of the city’s marginalized youth. Remix is now doing the same.

Programs like these are not part of a “gravy train.” As the success of Fresh Arts and Remix graduates demonstrates, they are smart social investments that benefit us all.

Moreover, they are central to building a strong, socially inclusive city that is creative, prosperous and just.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin

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