Rare butterfly on campus

This giant swallowtail (Heraclides cresphontes) was found in the R.S. Dorney Ecology Garden last week by ERS student Richard Dong. It was photographed by Joe Bevan, a staff member in mapping, analysis and design.

According to environmental studies lecturer Larry Lamb, this swallowtail is the largest butterfly species in North America, measuring up to 140 millimetres (5.5 inches) across. “It is a threatened species and therefore normally quite rare, especially at the northern limit of its range in southern Ontario,” he adds.

“Because of global warming, the butterfly has recently expanded further north into southern Ontario and is now more commonly seen in the K-W area,” Lamb says. “Its caterpillars feed on citrus plant species, two of which surprisingly occur in Canada; the hop tree (Ptelea trifoliata), seen in this photo, and prickly ash (Zanthoxylum americanum), which also occurs in the R.S. Dorney Garden. The caterpillars look like large bird droppings. If we are lucky, the butterfly may have laid eggs and will successfully breed in the garden.”

Business centre has 'grown so much'

The Centre for Family Business, based at UW's Conrad Grebel University College, "has undergone a dramatic transformation", an announcement this week says, "in order to meet the needs of its increasingly sophisticated membership."

CFFB describes itself as "one of Canada's largest organizations dedicated to helping family businesses succeed both personally and professionally . . . and serves Central Ontario family businesses."

Says Barney Strassburger, president of the centre's board: "We've grown so much since our beginning in 1997, it was time to implement a new wave of strategic initiatives that involved offering more MBA-quality educational opportunities, increase business skills training, provide more opportunities for professional advisors to become involved and to complete a marketing overhaul to reflect our new brand. We've also brought on David Schnarr as our new executive director to help us continue to offer relevant education and a support network for family businesses."

Family businesses are the backbone of the Canadian economy, the centre says, employing 4.5 million people -- about 50 per cent of working Canadians -- and accounting for more than 45 per cent of the country's gross domestic product. "Yet two-thirds of family businesses don't make it to the second generation; of those, only 10% make it to the third because of the unique challenges that face family businesses," says Strassburger, whose family business, TwinCorp Inc., has three family members actively involved in its operations.

The CFFB provides educational seminars, skills workshops, roundtable peer-to-peer support groups and conferences designed to help family businesses tackle issues such as succession planning, conflict management, improved communication skills and essential business skills.

Some of the most respected family business experts in the world are brought in for monthly seminars and workshops, says Strassburger. "We are extremely fortunate in being able to attract authors and consultants such as Jim Harris, Ken Kaye, David Irvine, Doug Crowne, John Fast, John Dinner and Mark Weber as instructors and speakers. They excel at providing relevant information in a practical format that our members can use immediately in both the workplace and at home."

For CFFB membershp, a family business is defined as "three members of an extended family, or at least two generations working together in a business." Says Strassburger: "Our membership reflects every strata of Central Ontario's family businesses, from start-up organizations just finding their feet to fifth generation businesses who have left a lasting imprint on the Region's economy."

Sivak and graduate students continue work in his optometry lab.

Research on humane eye irritancy tests

A research program in UW's optometry school, aimed at finding more humane ways to test products safely without the use of live animals, is summarized in a research profile issued recently by UW's media relations office.

The lead researcher is Jake Sivak, who left office as UW's dean of graduate studies in 2002 to concentrate on research as holder of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Bausch & Lomb Industrial Research Chair in In-Vitro Ophthalmic Toxicology.

"We are developing a method that will help to replace the 1944 Draize eye irritancy test where large numbers of rabbits are often subjected to discomfort," Sivak explains. "Draize results are obtained subjectively and require high concentrations of foreign substances to cause reactions and do not always correlate well to the human eye, with results between different laboratories varying all too frequently."

Sivak has been working for a number of years on tests based on bovine lenses acquired from dead animals at abattoirs. There has been some confirmation the proposed bovine lens test is a more accurate reflection of the toxicological effect on the human eye.

The research represents an effort to use these cow lenses to reduce and possibly replace the use of live animals in ocular irritancy testing for businesses that develop new cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and other chemical products.

The approach and technology developed in Sivak's lab are unique in the field of toxicology. Currently, there is no reliable in-vitro method that adequately predicts the performance of chemicals and materials used in the eye. This is especially true of agents that are mild irritants. The Canadian Council on Animal Care reports more than 400,000 animals are used annually for regulatory testing and product development.

This program is the result of many years of fundamental research on the adaptive radiation of the vertebrate eye, and represents an example of the integral relationship between basic and applied research. Sivak developed the scanning laser technology as well as the lens culture cells. Results are expected to be applicable around the world, allowing cosmetic and pharmaceutical producers to streamline their in-house product development while improving customer safety and satisfaction.

NSERC and Bausch and Lomb are currently funding the research to a total of $1.85 million over five years. Those involved, besides Sivak, include optometry faculty member Vladimir Bantseev, research associate Kelley Moran, and students in optometry, as well as more than 50 collaborators in UW's biology department and at other institutions in Canada and abroad.

What’s going on here

Correction: Friday’s list of where you can still get a bite to eat in late August was incomplete, I’m told. The Engineering C&D, located in the foyer of Carl Pollock Hall, is open 7:30 a.m. – 3 p.m., Monday to Friday; the Math C&D, on the third floor of the Math and Computer building, is open 8 a.m. – 4 p.m., Monday to Friday.

Conrad Grebel is humming. Through this week and the next, 38 children from 12 to 16 years old will be living in the college residence and taking part in the Ontario Mennonite Music Camp, now in its twenty-second year. “The camp’s mandate is to develop musical performance and church leadership skills in a small community environment,” says Ian Carruthers, director of OMMC 2005. “As a Mennonite camp, it includes spiritual activities such as chapel services, Bible studies, and service projects with an emphasis on Mennonite faith and practices. As a music camp, its campers participate and perform in a choir, a musical and master classes…. Thirdly, it serves as a typical summer camp, replete with campfires, games of Capture-the-Flag, swimming, crafts, and anything else possible on the Conrad Grebel campus.”

Two new volunteer opportunities with the City of Waterloo: A Waterloo seniors’ performing group is looking for people 55 or older with a talent for playing the piano, singing, or dancing, and time for weekday rehearsals and weekend performances. Waterloo’s Sable Camp planning committee needs volunteers to help plan indoor and outdoor activities for older adults through the fall and winter. For both, call 888-6588.

Computational mathematics seminar: Rob Knight, University of Colorado at Boulder, "A New Markov Approach to Finding Correlated Modular Patterns in Random Sequences, with Applications to RNA Structure", today at 3:30, Math and Computer room 5158.

 

 

 

 

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