Friday was the national day of the United Arab Emirates, and that was the occasion for an open house at the Waterloo International offices in Needles Hall, organized by Eman Al Abadleh (second from right), a graduate student in management sciences. Dean of engineering Adel Sedra, centre, was among the guests.

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Conference highlights vision research

from the UW media relations office

The latest research on vision in healthy and frail elderly people, as well as the impact of infant epilepsy on vision, will be among the diverse topics discussed at the sixth annual Canadian Optometry Conference on Vision Science, to be held at UW Friday through Sunday. The event celebrates the 40th anniversary of Waterloo's optometry school, the university's 50th anniversary and the approaching start of the centennial year of the Université de Montréal optometry school.

About 150 faculty and graduate students are expected to attend the conference, hosted by UW's school of optometry.

"The conference will highlight research carried out by the two Canadian optometry schools at Montréal and Waterloo," says Jake Sivak, conference co-chair and a professor of optometry. Also participating will be researchers from University of Toronto, York University and the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

"The conference will emphasize graduate student work at both schools," Sivak says. "We are going to have 70 research poster presentations by graduate students."

The event will be held in UW's Optometry building and at the Delta Kitchener-Waterloo Hotel. Saturday night will bring a dinner-dance featuring the optometry-based band The Lost Faculties. Among the weekend's research highlights:

• Saturday afternoon, "Vision in the Healthy and Frail Elderly", by Hélène Kergoat, Université de Montréal. She notes that the normal aging process is accompanied by physiological decline in many organs, thereby increasing their susceptibility to disease. Therefore, aging is linked with an increased prevalence of pathologies, including ocular and neurodegenerative diseases. The research features clinical as well as experimental data on visual systems in healthy and frail elderly people.

• Also Saturday, "Epilepsy during Infancy: Disrupted Plasticity in Visual Development", by Carol Westall, University of Toronto. The research investigates electrophysiological markers of visual dysfunction attributed to the anti-epileptic drug vigabatrin among children with infantile spasms, an age-specific epilepsy. The drug results in an increase of gamma-aminobutyric acid in the brain and retina, which is associated with visual toxicity in adults.

• Sunday morning, "Useful Field of View, Mobility and Visual Impairment", by Susan Leat, UW. The useful field of view is a composite measure of visual attention and the ability to detect objects amid clutter, along with such basic visual functions as visual field loss and contrast sensitivity. The study explores whether people with visual impairment show greater losses of useful field of view than conventional fields. Results indicate that attention, visual function and age are key factors in orientation and mobility performance.

• Also Sunday, "Unmet Needs for Aids, Devices and Supports for People with Vision Loss in Canada", by Deborah Gold, CNIB. There is a growing need in Canada for information on the estimated 600,000 people with significant vision loss. Disability increases with age and limits the participation of older persons in society. The study describes the findings of the 2001 Participation and Activity Limitations Survey on adults with sight impairment in Canada. It examines needs for devices and supports in adults.

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Motivating employees with prizes

from the engineering faculty's e-newsletter

When it comes to performance incentives, two management scientists have discovered employees would rather work towards a piece of jewellery, a game system or a new camera than extra cash in their pockets.

Management sciences professor Scott Jeffrey (at right in photo) and PhD candidate Gordon Adomdza gathered performance data on 441 call centre employees who worked for a large financial services organization collecting past-due accounts. About 75 per cent of the employees were women and most had been with the organization for less than two years. Employees were able to choose one of three incentive levels — low, medium or high — set by the organization.

In each of the levels half of the employees worked toward acquiring points to be redeemed for money and the other half were part of a tangible incentive program. Employees in the tangible benefits program were given a catalogue with pictures of various prizes and their point values.

Halfway into the two-month program, Jeffrey and Adomdza asked employees in both groups to agree or disagree on a five-point scale to the following statement: "I regularly thought about the potential rewards from this program while working." They also asked the employees to report on their commitment to achieving the performance target they had selected.

What Jeffrey and Adomdza discovered was that a larger percentage of employees in the tangible benefits group focused on the rewards they chose, such as a trip or new golf clubs. Fewer employees in the other group regularly thought about topping up their bank accounts. Members of the tangible benefits group were also more committed to their performance targets.

Adomdza says being able to picture a reward and refer to it in a catalogue helps employees zero in on their goals. “With so many changes occurring in the workplace today, having something to concentrate on keeps people both motivated and focused. The mind is a very powerful and imaginative tool,” he says.

The two management scientists say there are several reasons more employees choose to work towards a reward other than money. “When someone receives extra cash they tend to pay bills or spend it on practical, non-frivolous things like groceries and gas," says Jeffrey, who specializes in research on goals, incentives and other aspects of employee performance management. “Choosing an incentive from a catalogue to work towards provides many with the opportunity to end up with something they wouldn't have otherwise.”

A tangible benefit also has ‘trophy value,’ says Jeffrey. “It can make for a great conversation piece at work or home.” But he doesn't think money should be totally eliminated as an incentive. “There needs to be a mix of both. But if employers find their staff are depending on financial incentives to make ends meet, then the employers probably aren't paying enough to begin with.”

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Shorter days and fiercer winds

Maybe it's a new ice age? Last month was "the coldest November in ten years", says Frank Seglenieks of the UW weather station in his monthly review, adding that it was "the first below-average month since July". The high temperature for the month, he says, was 13.5 Celsius, and the low was minus-10.9 C (registered on Friday, November 23, which just happened to be the day of the Out in the Cold anti-poverty sleepout). "For only the second time this year," the weather report adds, "we had more than the average amount of precipitation. We got 83.7 mm, which is just above the average of 82.3 mm. Half of the precipitation for the month came during a three-day period."

A memo from the registrar's office: "Fall 2007 OSAP student funding and out-of-province student funding is available from the Student Awards and Financial Aid office only until December 20. Winter 2008 OSAP student funding and out-of-province funding will be available beginning Wednesday, January 2. The Student Awards and Financial Aid office is located on the second floor of Needles Hall. Office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday."

The school of planning sends word that its Pragma Council, an advisory body of professional planners, met November 29 and 30, and that the theme this time was "Implementing the Provincial Government's Places to Grow Plan". Among the speakers were Brad Graham, assistant deputy minister in the provincial ministry of public infrastructure renewal, and Jeff Walker, vice-president of Harris Decima Research. The chair of Waterloo Region, Ken Seiling, and the mayor of Kitchener, Carl Zehr, also appeared to provide "Political Responses" to the provincial plan. Faculty members Murray Haight, John Horton and Pierre Filion were among other speakers.

Some of my colleagues here in Communications and Public Affairs are working to update the "Speakers and Sources" database on the UW web site — a listing of "resources the University of Waterloo offers that are available to the public", as well as faculty and staff members who are available to speak to community organizations on topics from road safety to terrorism. Everybody who's currently listed in the database has received an e-mail message asking them to check the listing and report any updates, says Karen Mason of CPA, suggesting a deadline of November 16. "We would like to add any new sources that might have come along since the original list was developed," she adds. Information can be sent to her at k3mason@uwaterloo.ca.

John B. Capindale, who served for three decades in UW's department of chemistry before his retirement in 1992, died on Monday at his Waterloo home. After earning undergraduate and graduate degrees at Oxford, he spent three years at Berkeley and a year at what was then called Northeastern University — now Nipissing University in North Bay — before joining the UW faculty as a lecturer in 1961 and gradually moving up the ranks. He worked in such areas as the chemistry of photosynthesis, cosmetics testing, and the development of waterless hand cleaner; after hours he was active in church music. Visitation is scheduled for tonight (6:00 to 8:00) and Friday (2:00 to 4:00 and 7:00 to 9:00) at the Erb & Good Funeral Home on King Street. A memorial service will be held Saturday at 11:00 at the Church of the Holy Saviour on Allen Street East.

Brubakers cafeteria in the Student Life Centre is offering a Christmas dinner today, 4:30 to 7:00. • Cam McIntyre of the basketball Warriors, already recognized as the Ontario University Athletics athlete of the week, has received the same honour on a national level from Canadian Interuniversity Sports. • The human resources office notes that with December's monthly payday coming early, on Friday the 21st, today is the cutoff for paperwork for changes to be reflected in that payroll.

CAR

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