UBCO Professor Wendy Wong is one of two professors who will discuss the government’s role in the ever-changing digital era at a public talk Friday.

As artificial intelligence starts acting more human, could it change the way governments understand their relationships with citizens?

This is one of many questions up for discussion on Friday night, says Dr. Wendy H. Wong, a Professor of Political Science in UBC Okanagan’s Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Dr. Wong is a world-renowned author and researcher who has organized a public talk called Virtual Realities: States and Territory in the Digital Era. On Friday, she and fellow AI researcher Dr. Louise Amoore will discuss government’s role in the digital era.

Why are you hosting this event?

I’m the founder of the Governance of Emerging Technologies group, which is primarily a collection of scholars who’ve been brought together through a shared interest in the political and social impacts of technology, and how those impacts might be managed.

We understand that the public has an important stake in these issues as well as scholars, so this event is about creating a space where we can all have honest conversations about the impacts of technology.

What is the goal of this event?

Our goal is to educate the public on how the logics created by deep learning technologies—like ChatGPT and other forms of artificial intelligence—impact the way governments are able to understand themselves and their relationships to citizens. For example, what are the social benefits and costs of either “leading” or “falling behind” on AI?

Can you tell us about the evening’s guest speaker Dr. Louise Amoore?

Dr. Louise Amoore is a widely celebrated scholar of political geography from Durham University in the United Kingdom. Dr. Amoore has published several books on technology and algorithms, most recently one called Cloud Ethics. Her work is wide-ranging and showcases how changing technological landscapes can impact our political futures.

What can people expect?

Guests can expect a brief, publicly oriented lecture by Dr. Amoore, followed by a conversation between myself and Dr. Amoore. I will ask exploratory questions that follow up on her lecture. I expect Dr. Amoore to explain how AI changes the way that governments think about themselves in relation to their citizens.

This shift in the “logic” of sovereignty means that there is potential for states to change the way they govern. How do existing rules apply when the logic of AI, which runs on extensive data collection and high levels of computing power that run sophisticated algorithms, becomes part of what government does?

Are states more or less powerful as a result?

As this talk is designed to be open-ended and broad, guests can also expect discussions on AI-related topics like data and data collection. Following the presentation, there will be a Q&A session.

Who is welcome to attend this event?

Thanks to sponsors, this event is free and open to everyone. Due to space restrictions, pre-registration is required.

The event takes place, Friday, May 5 at 5 pm at the Kelowna Innovation Centre, at 460 Doyle Ave. To register or find out more, visit: events.ok.ubc.ca/event/virtual-realities-states-and-territory-in-the-digital-era

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New UBCO research can help decision-makers in the real estate industry forecast future regional house prices and better explain pricing.

A group of UBC Okanagan researchers is trying to take the mathematical mystery out of what could be a person’s biggest investment—buying a home.

While the real estate market changes rapidly and is connected to the fluctuations of the economy, there are many other considerations to make when purchasing a property, says UBCO School of Engineering Professor Zheng Liu.

Dr. Liu and his doctoral student Junchi Bin, along with Faculty of Management Associate Professor Eric Li, have created a regional house price mining and forecasting framework (RHPMF) and recently published research that tests the tool they created.

“Real estate is always one of the largest expenses throughout a person’s life,” says Dr. Liu. “Before making decisions on house transactions, people consult real estate agents to obtain knowledge of the market. And these days, people are more cautious than ever about costly failures such as a real estate investment.”

The idea behind the RHPMF is to help people understand the population, growth and historical background of a specific community or even a neighbourhood based on real-world housing data including history, social dynamics and housing costs.

“The real estate market has a significant impact on people’s daily life,” adds Bin, who notes there is not a lot of empirical research about the real estate industry. “Therefore, it is crucial to understand real estate from both the spatial and historical perspectives. What’s going on in the neighbourhood where you want to buy?”

To fully understand a local market, Bin says people must “mine” the area for data—learn about supply, the location of expensive or affordable houses, the history and current dynamics of an area including crime rates—before they can assess and forecast the house prices and then finally determine if the area is right for them.

Specifically, the RHPMF framework introduces a series of filtering algorithms to extract spatial and historical factors about a particular neighbourhood. For example, the users can input a street address into the web-based or mobile matrix tool. The algorithm can analyze the data and release a comprehensive report to users with all the corresponding information. The result, explains Bin, is to assist estate brokers in visualizing, analyzing and forecasting the spatial and progressive evolution of estate prices from multi-source information.

The researchers tested their matrix using exploratory trials and experiments in Virginia Beach, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Dr. Li says the forecasting accuracy of the matrix worked well and their series of tests demonstrate the RHPMF’s considerable capability and robustness.

“These case studies indicate that the RHPMF framework can accurately capture the market’s spatial distribution and evolution and then forecast future regional house prices compared with recent baselines,” says Dr. Li. “The results suggest the great potential of the proposed RHPMF in real estate industries.”

Dr. Liu says the proposed framework can help decision-makers in the real estate industry as it can forecast future regional house prices and also provide explainable price factors for in-depth analysis.

“The RHPMF successfully integrates exploratory analysis and price forecasting as a framework,” he adds. “With accurate and explainable analysis, the clients can make smart and reliable decisions related to the estate market.”

The research was published recently in Information Fusion.

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UBCO researchers are testing reconfigurable intelligent surfaces—smart surfaces—that can serve as reflectors to improve cell service with existing wireless networks.

It’s happened to anyone with a cell phone—dropped calls or dead air because suddenly there is no service available. Or worse, the location pin drops on the navigation app.

Researchers at UBC Okanagan are looking at ways to improve cell phone connectivity and localization abilities by examining “smart” surfaces that can bounce signals from a tower to customers to improve the link. A smart surface involves installing reflective elements on windows or panels on buildings in dense urban environments.

The goal, says Dr. Anas Chaaban, is to improve wireless services for millions of Canadians. Currently, he says, there are more than 12,000 wireless antenna towers. And yet, a lack of cell service is a common problem.

“The increasing use of mobile technologies across the world is necessitating research that unlocks potential new approaches within our existing infrastructure,” says Dr. Chaaban, an Assistant Professor at UBC Okanagan’s School of Engineering. “Even though cellphone towers line the rooftops of major cities, and handle the data and phone traffic of millions of Canadians each day, there are still gaps in service.”

Dr. Chaaban and his team at UBCO’s Communication Theory Lab have developed transmission schemes that would incorporate reconfigurable intelligent surfaces—smart surfaces—throughout urban centres to serve as reflectors within existing wireless networks.

A reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) is a panel of many individual reflective elements, each of which can modify an incoming signal and reflect it. This modification can be controlled with an electrical signal, which enables the RIS to improve the connection or generate signals that are useful for locating users in the network.

The researchers developed a new localization system where an RIS can work as a satellite to improve accuracy. By making a surface smart, it can bounce signals to cell phones which in turn can use these signals to generate an accurate estimate of location, he says. An accurate location estimate is not only useful for location services but also to improve transmission from the tower to the phone using optimized location-aware transmission schemes that also leverage the RIS.

“Users never expect to have a call drop, and they also expect lightning-fast data speeds,” he says. “But to accomplish this, the networks require constant updating.”

The researchers tested their theory using multiple modulated RISs that allow for the simultaneous localization of multiple users with low complexity for each RIS. They also developed and tested RIS-enabled transmission schemes that outperform existing schemes.

“We simulated the proposed localization protocol and demonstrated its effectiveness in an urban micro-cell street canyon scenario as an example,” he explains. “And the protocol works for multiple users simultaneously. Even in areas with intermittent service, data can be shared and users can be located and enjoy a reliable connection.”

Dr. Chaaban and his team have published several papers on this work, which appear in the IEEE Communications Letters, IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, and IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.

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UBCO’s History and Sociology Department is hosting a four-part speaker series, bringing in experts to discuss issues facing the globe today. Friday’s event examines international borders, migration, transnational feminism and their combined impact on international asylum law.

UBC Okanagan’s History and Sociology Speaker Series will return to the Okanagan Regional Library this week following a hiatus due to COVID-19.

The speaker series is known for bringing leading thinkers from around the world to Kelowna to discuss some of the big issues of today, tomorrow and the past, explains Dr. Jessica Stites-Mor, a Professor of History in the Department of History and Sociology.

As organizer of the upcoming events, Dr. Stites-Mor explains the history behind the public lectures and what people might learn from the four highly respected speakers coming to Kelowna.

What is the History and Sociology Speaker Series?

I’m glad to say it’s back as an annual event put on by the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. We aim to present a series of public lectures by leading historians and sociologists in their respective fields.

What is the goal of the series?

These public lectures explore new and important issues within the field. They also introduce research approaches and theories to our partners in the community, and give an inside look at how academics move through the investigative process.

What can a participant expect?

Each event will open with a presentation from our guest speaker and lead into a welcoming and inclusive Q&A session.

This series is comprised of four lectures—does the content of each talk stand on its own or do they build off each other in some way?

Each talk has a unique theme, so people can attend whatever sessions they’re able to. The series is a showcase of the broad research and teaching interests of faculty members in the department and provides an opportunity for community members to interact with the academic community. I encourage anyone with a keen interest in policy and social change to attend this series.

All events take place at Okanagan Regional Library’s downtown location, at 1380 Ellis Street, open to the public and free to attend. No pre-registration is required.

The first lecture takes place this Friday, February 17 with the following events taking place on March 9, March 23 and April 9.

• Friday, February 17, 4 to 5:15 pm
  Dr. Martha Balaguera Cuervo, University of Toronto
  Frontier Caravans: Protest Performativity and the Making of Transnational Political Subjects
• Thursday, March 9, 6:30 to 7:45 pm
  Dr. Emmanuelle Bernheim, University of Ottawa
  Class, Gender and Race on Trial: An Ethnography of mental-health courtrooms in Quebec
• Thursday, March 23, 5 to 6:15 pm
  Dr. Lauryn Oates, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
  From Rabia to Fatima: A History of Female Education in Afghanistan
• Thursday, April 13, 6 to 7:15 pm
  Drs. Tara Milbrandt, University of Alberta, and Ondine Park, University of British Columbia, Okanagan
  Multidimensional Social: A Multidimensional Social Inquiry into ‘the Loneliness Problem’

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A UBCO researcher is calling for better ways to assess, diagnose and provide proper treatment for people who have mental health or substance use disorders.

While the federal government has pledged to help fund the expansion of free mental health services across Canada, UBC Okanagan’s Dr. Lesley Lutes says this is just the tip of the iceberg.

And she is not talking about money.

With the first ministers’ meeting on health care taking place in Ottawa this week, the Canadian Psychological Association has provided recommendations to help with federal and provincial collaboration regarding mental health and substance use health. Dr. Lutes says while this is positive news, more needs to be done.

She is the Director of the Centre for Obesity and Wellbeing Research Excellence in UBC Okanagan’s Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. While the pledge for funding is positive news, she says that still won’t bring parity between mental and physical health care.

You’ve been working for years to bring mental health care to the same level of funding as physical health care. Can you explain why you are so passionate about this?

Let me say that we are in a landmark moment in history. After decades of advocacy and talking about mental health, the stigma surrounding it and the need for treatment—it is now front and centre in almost every conversation. Which is phenomenal. And is something to appreciate, savour and celebrate. However, when it comes to funding, mental or physical health care is treated like apples and oranges. In reality, there should be no difference between access to this care.

For example, patients undergoing cancer treatment have access to a multidisciplinary team with trained health-care professionals at all levels of expertise and focus. However, the existing structure and funding of care does not afford patients the same access to care that could provide lifesaving mental health treatment.

Can you imagine a patient needing a heart transplant having that surgery done by just one nurse in the operating room? Of course not. But that’s the reality when it comes to mental health care.

Other than funding, how can this be fixed?

Currently, when people need mental health help it is said that they just need “support” or “counselling” or “someone to talk to.” They are all lumped together and people believe that they all mean the same thing.

People need timely screening, focused assessment, diagnosis and treatment—targeted to their presenting issue, illness or disease—that can be tracked and evaluated across time.

On a very personal level, I know how lack of access to treatment impacts and shatters lives. I have lost an aunt to suicide. And some of the people I love and care about most in this world suffer from anxiety, depression and substance misuse.

The Canadian government is working toward establishing transfers to the provinces to expanding the delivery of comprehensive and accessible mental health services. Is this what you want to see?

While this investment would be the largest for mental health care in recent history, it is only the first step. Currently, there is a lack of a consistent definition of mental health or who is qualified to provide this care and the metrics for success. This lack of clarity threatens the foundation upon which we are creating and the very funding we need for this national mental health transformation.

So, it isn’t just about the money?

It is partly, but patients who need mental health care shouldn’t have to be burdened with understanding the training, regulatory oversight or scope of practice of each provider. That is the government’s job.

Our government ensures that our nurses and physicians and medical specialists are all providers that are regulated and performing duties consistent with their training and skills. That is currently not the case with the provision of mental health care.

Patients need proper assessment and diagnosis which in turn are critical to ensuring the right evidence-based treatment is offered and implemented with its outcomes evaluated. While programs can and do offer a range of services and supports, the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of mental and substance use disorders can only be performed by or under the supervision of regulated providers that have specialty training.

Without a clear determination of the services offered, who provide those services, and the evaluation and public reporting of meaningful service outcomes, mental health care will continue to be a blunt intervention that lacks the patient-centred precision we have come to expect for physical illness.

And it is the patients who continue to suffer.

Anyone with any health concerns, whether it be general wellness, mental health or mental illness needs to be treated in a timely, professional and equitable manner. It is possible. There are working models around the globe who have been doing this for decades. We just need to do it here in Canada. Until this is the case, I will continue to lobby for change.

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UBCO researcher Haroon Mian has developed a framework that can help water distributors supply safe drinking water, while dealing with issues of climate change and sustainability.

While residents in California are still dealing with damage from last month’s floods—after years of devastating droughts—UBC Okanagan engineers are looking at better ways to manage the delivery of safe drinking water to homes.

Things to consider include a changing climate, costs and sustainability.

Dr. Haroon Mian, a Postdoctoral Research Associate with UBCO’s School of Engineering, says municipalities and water utilities all have drinking water management strategies to ensure the water they provide is safe and plentiful. However, a natural disaster, a breach in the supply or contamination at the treatment plant can put water supplies—and human health—at risk.

“Freshwater is essential to sustain ecosystem health and our survival,” says Dr. Mian. “But Earth’s once plentiful freshwater resources are now under increasing pressure due to population growth, urbanization and climate change.”

As water supplies become more threatened, not only is providing safe water a priority, but suppliers must also ensure that doing so will have low environmental and economic implications.

“The quality of drinking water is contingent on several important attributes such as water extraction, treatment, delivery, cost and the disposal of used water,” says Dr. Mian who conducts research in UBC’s Life Cycle Management Lab. “Those factors can all be impacted by climate change. And they have a significant environmental influence in terms of natural resource depletion, waste generation and greenhouse gas emissions.”

Dr. Mian and his fellow researchers have developed an integrated assessment framework that combines water quality with lifecycle assessment techniques. Working with data from small and medium-sized communities, they provided a way to assess the long-term applicability of water systems that can provide safe drinking water to people.

According to Dr. Mian, the framework provides a different lens into a more holistic view of drinking water management and its components.

“We measure factors such as water quality, changes to the environment and potential costs to determine performance data and benchmarking, thereby providing important tools to ensure these systems experience long-term effectiveness and sustainability,” he adds.

By considering these key factors, water can flow to a community at a reasonable cost while conserving natural resources and ensuring environmental protection.

The study evaluated the overall performance of several water distribution systems by combining the above-mentioned criteria. Water distributors can apply the framework to determine the best distribution management system that will provide safe drinking water to their consumers with minimal environmental and economic costs.

The framework continues to be tested to ensure it is flexible based on any setting, community or system.

“There are no perfect decision-making techniques. The results often vary based on the available data and assumptions,” Dr. Mian adds. “But this framework can be useful for all water distributors.”

The research was conducted in the School of Engineering’s Life Cycle Management Lab in collaboration with Universite Laval with funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. It was published in the January edition of the Journal of Environmental Management.

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As many as 92 per cent of women who experience violence at the hands of a partner may experience brain injury, which can lead to chronic physical, cognitive and emotional symptoms.

Lingering trauma from a brain injury can increase challenges facing survivors of intimate partner violence in child custody and access cases, according to new research from UBC Okanagan.

Dr. Paul van Donkelaar, a Professor in the Faculty of Health and Social Development, oversaw the research conducted as part of UBC’s Supporting Survivors of Abuse and Brain Injury Through Research (SOAR) project. Researchers explored the ethics of how a woman with a brain injury, sustained through partner violence, might be treated in Canada’s justice system.

“A brain injury will contribute to the way the person behaves in fairly predictable ways, and that needs to be considered during legal proceedings between survivors and perpetrators of intimate partner violence,” he says. “This paper is the first of its kind that looks at how the legal system might use a brain injury diagnosis in parenting disputes, and how women are unfairly treated—including during a custodial challenge.”

As many as 92 per cent of women who experience violence at the hands of a partner may experience brain injury, which can lead to chronic and sometimes debilitating physical, cognitive and emotional symptoms, including headaches, dizziness, memory issues, trouble with sleep and difficulty regulating emotions.

The research, published in the Journal of Law and the Biosciences, was conducted by Quinn Boyle, a doctoral student working with Dr. Judy Illes at Neuroethics Canada. While there have been recent improvements when it comes to mental health issues in custody disputes, Boyle says this is not the case with a brain injury.

“If a lawyer raised the diagnosis of depression, anxiety or PTSD as a reason why a woman would be unfit to parent, they would be scoffed at,” says Boyle. “For the most part, basic mental health disorders are no longer used against a woman during a parenting dispute where intimate partner violence is involved because evidence has shown that they can be managed effectively.”

There is a lot of overlap between mental health symptoms and those of a brain injury, he adds.

“If we’re now saying there is a likelihood of brain injury, we may have a situation in the Canadian justice system where that brain injury is used against the woman during a legal challenge for custody of her children,” he says. “A lawyer could hypothetically say the brain injury is a concern and that the woman is unfit to parent.” More specifically it is the lack of gold-standard treatment for brain injury that creates uncertainty about a woman’s recovery trajectory and timeline. It is this uncertainty that will likely be weaponized against women.

Current legislation and confidentiality laws surrounding health information leave these women vulnerable as the brain injury can be disclosed in court regardless of their preference, and also be critically examined and weaponized by opposing counsel. The lawyers interviewed unanimously expressed their strategy as opposing counsel would include using a brain injury to argue the mother is unfit to parent, as their professional duty is to represent the best interests of their client. This is despite them acknowledging it as abhorrent, immoral behaviour earlier in the interview.

Dr. Deana Simonetto, Assistant Professor with the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and co-author of the paper, says this research provides good insight into a family’s experience of parenting with a brain injury and what the legal system does in terms of parenting disputes.

“It’s important to think through how the legal system is structured and how women have been historically treated in parenting dispute cases,” she says. “We want to do the best for them, so our solutions need to change these structures. However, they are not easily changed.”

In a crime that is under-reported, and where there are often no witnesses, it’s already difficult for survivors of intimate partner violence to receive the supports they need. Given brain injury often goes unrecognized and undiagnosed, the challenges facing survivors are even greater.

“A brain injury can leave a person seeming out of sorts and confused. The police might think they are acting erratically, and interpret the behaviour as being caused by substance use or mental health issues, rather than a physical injury to the brain,” says Dr. Simonetto.

Current and previous SOAR research has focused on developing education and training for frontline workers—including police, paramedics and shelter workers—to better recognize and respond to brain injury from intimate partner violence.

The next step, says Dr. van Donkelaar, is to raise awareness in the legal system of brain injuries caused through intimate partner violence. This latest paper provides four recommendations, including training lawyers and judges about brain injury and its effect on survivors of intimate partner violence. The authors also propose organizations conduct brain injury assessments on survivors of intimate partner violence to prioritize allyship with medical experts who are willing and able to advocate for women in parenting disputes. Lastly, they recommend that women are offered complete transparency so they know how a brain injury diagnosis might be used against them in court.

“We need to work with the relevant agencies at the provincial levels—those that work with lawyers and judges—and help them recognize that brain injury is likely occurring in victims of intimate partner violence,” says Dr. van Donkelaar. “When a brain injury is involved, we need to better understand the injury and do the right thing both from a medical and legal perspective.”

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UBCO engineers are conducting research using ultrasonic sensors to examine buried residential gas lines.

A team of UBC Okanagan researchers is investigating a new method to monitor underground gas pipelines with high-tech sensors that can make it easier to find weaknesses, discrepancies and even a diversion in residential natural gas lines.

While there has been considerable research into diagnosis methods for steel pipes such as radiography, ultrasonic testing, visual inspection and ground penetrating radar, Master of Applied Science student Abdullah Zayat says little has been done on the commonly used high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe, which carries natural gas to homes.

“Early detection of structural degradation is essential to maintaining safety and integrity. And it lowers the risk of catastrophic failure,” he explains.

Zayat and his supervisor Dr. Anas Chaaban, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, tested a technique that allows for the inspection of HDPE pipes with ultrasonic sensors—which transmit ultrasound signals through the pipe.

The new monitoring method limits the likelihood of gas diversions—where gas is siphoned to an unmetered location for unmeasured consumption.

“This tampering with the pipe poses many risks since it is unrecorded, violates pipeline quality standards and can lead to potential leaks and possibly explosions. This can pose a significant risk to public safety, property and the environment in the vicinity of the altered gas line,” says Dr. Chaaban. “Such diversions have been discovered in the past through word of mouth, leaks or unexpected encounters with an unrecorded natural gas pipe in a construction site.”

Previous research has studied the inspection of metallic structures using ultrasonic-guided waves (UGWs). But this type of testing has not been done to inspect non-metallic structures such as HDPE pipelines.

“Given the concealed nature of underground pipes, it is very challenging to inspect them. Existing solutions include ground penetrating radar and endoscope cameras, which are both invasive and expose inspectors to potential risk from the suspects. As a result, it is better to use non-invasive methods to inspect pipes.”

This method enables the inspection of buried, insulated and underwater pipelines using ultrasonic sensors. It also provides a larger range of inspection than traditional ultrasonic testing because it uses the structure of the pipe itself as a waveguide, explains Zayat.

“UGW sensing is getting a lot of attention from the industry because of its long-range inspection capabilities from a single test location. They can inspect more than 100 metres of pipeline from a single location,” he adds.

This type of detection system is unique because the sensors clamp onto the exposed portion of the pipe and connect to the section of pipe that emerges above the ground where it connects to the metre.

While the technology is still in the early stages, Dr. Chaaban notes the majority of this current research involved the development and assessment of a deep-learning algorithm for detecting diversions in pipes. The results suggest that the method has 90 per cent accuracy when one receiving sensor is used and nearly 97 per cent accuracy when using two receiving sensors.

Future use of the sensors may include the inspection of buried, insulated and underwater pipelines.

“By combining classical signal processing with machine learning, we can more efficiently and accurately determine if there is an issue,” adds Dr. Chaaban.

The research appears in the latest edition of the journal Sensors, and was funded in part by Fortis BC and Mitacs.

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UBCO’s concrete toboggan, before decorated in its theme for the year, gets tested on the slopes at Big White to ensure it’s ready to perform.

While research at a university can take on many shapes and forms, students, faculty and staff with UBC Okanagan’s School of Engineering have found a way to combine winter sports and the thrill of competition into their daily work.

This year, UBCO’s School of Engineering is hosting the Great Northern Toboggan Race—a multi-day, student-led event where universities from across Canada race their hand-built concrete toboggans down steep hills. UBCO also hosted the event in 2015.

Though the competition is heavily focused on the design and manufacturing aspects of engineering, faculty supervisor Dr. Ahmed Rteil says lots of learning and professional development takes place during the design, construction and eventual race event.

“There is a lot of business and logistics planning that goes on behind the scenes so the teams recruit students from other areas of study,” he says. “The experience of participating in this event has helped students make connections with industry and round out their resumes which will potentially help them find employment after graduation.”

So, what exactly is a concrete toboggan?

It’s not completely concrete, says event co-chair Kyle Lessoway, who is working on his doctorate in mechanical engineering. In fact, the only parts of the toboggan that must be concrete are the actual runners that contact the snow during the downhill race.

Competing teams must design and build a custom-made toboggan capable of steering, braking and, most importantly, able to safely carrying five people down the mountain. The toboggan with concrete skis, metal roll cage, and steering and braking mechanisms must weigh in at less than 350 pounds, explains Lessoway.

“The competition is unique compared to other engineering competitions in that it adds a spirited side to the event with themes designed into the toboggans,” he says, adding UBCO’s toboggan this year has a cow theme. “The event also allows competitors to also practice their soft skills such as communicating with industry partners and members of the public who are not engineering experts.”

For months the students have been preparing budgets, writing funding proposals and engaging with stakeholders. Even getting the team, and the sled, from their home to the competition city is a massive undertaking that a lot of undergraduate students don’t have experience with, explains co-chair and UBCO alumna Janessa Froese. She joined the team while studying sciences at UBCO.

“The skills I developed while I was on the concrete toboggan team were the reason I got my first job when I completed university,” she says.

First established in 1975, the Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race is the largest and longest-running engineering student competition in Canada. This year, there are 15 competing teams, plus four non-competing teams, meaning there will be more than 385 participants arriving in Kelowna this week. Events kick off with a competitor interaction day where the students will participate in downtown tours including the heritage museums along with some events on campus.

Students will also participate in a concrete testing demonstration at UBCO’s campus and the Tech-Ex display at the host hotel the Delta Hotels by Marriott Grand Okanagan Resort on January 27. Race day takes place January 28 at Big White’s Tube Town.

Before hitting the slopes, each toboggan will be judged on a number of categories, such as the design of the toboggan as a whole, the level of ingenuity and innovation as well as how well it performs on race day. Each toboggan must pass a safety inspection prior to racing and any entries that fail will not be permitted to race.

The UBCO team has a track record of success in the event, including podium finishes at several events and placing second overall the last time the competition was held in Kelowna.

More information about the 2023 Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race can be found at: www.gnctr2023.ca

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New UBCO research takes a closer look at the physiological changes that occur within the motor pathway from the brain to the muscle as a result of sleep deprivation.

Most people, whether they are shift workers, first responders, students, new parents or those working two jobs, have experienced feelings of fatigue through sleep deprivation. And many also know if they are overtired, even the simplest tasks may seem more difficult than usual.

Brian Dalton, an Assistant Professor in UBC Okanagan’s School of Health and Exercise Sciences, says despite the high prevalence of sleep deprivation, little is known about its effects on perceived and performance fatigability.

Perceived fatigability, he explains, refers to how a person feels about the amount of effort required to do a task, such as curling a dumbbell. It’s different than performance fatigability, which is an actual decline in the physical execution of a task. Both can be negatively impacted by lack of sleep, which raises important health, safety and performance concerns for sleep-deprived people.

Dr. Dalton and his team of researchers, including Dr. Chris McNeil and doctoral student Justine Magnuson, recently published an exploratory study that takes a closer look at the physiological changes that occur within the motor pathway from the brain to the muscle as a result of sleep deprivation.

“A person’s perception of the effort needed to perform a physically fatiguing task might be markedly different from that person’s true performance capacity,” says Dr. Dalton. “This is an important consideration given that work and daily life activities are typically carried out based on perceptions of effort and fatigue.”

The research was designed to independently assess excitability at the level of the brain and spinal cord during a fatiguing task after sleep deprivation, explains Dr. McNeil. The team also examined the effects of sleep deprivation on the actual performance—monitoring maximal strength of the muscles that bend the elbow and the capacity of the brain to drive these muscles maximally—and a person’s perceived fatigue.

Nine participants visited the lab in the late evening, remained onsite overnight and engaged in sedentary activities, such as reading and watching movies, until testing began about 25 hours from their reported wake time the previous day.

For the physically fatiguing task, participants completed a sustained, moderate-intensity elbow flexor contraction, like curling an arm with a dumbbell, for 20 minutes. Before, during and following the task, participants performed maximal effort contractions to test the capacity of their neuromuscular system, while also rating their perceived effort throughout the task.

On a separate day, the participants performed the same procedures but in a well-rested state. By comparing data across the two sessions, the researchers were able to determine the effects of sleep deprivation on the physically demanding task.

The researchers determined that performance-based measures were not affected by sleep deprivation, before, during or after the fatiguing task. However, sleep deprivation increased the perceptions of effort, task difficulty and overall fatigue—making the task seem more difficult than it is when well-rested. Therefore, a person’s perceived fatigability is different than their performance fatigability, especially when they are sleep deprived, adds Dr. McNeil.

“A person might be able to maintain their maximum strength when sleep deprived, but sustained or repetitive tasks can be more affected as motivation decreases and perception of fatigue increases,” he explains. “These findings could have important implications for workplace safety and everyday tasks.

“Despite our novel findings, owing to the limited sample size, further research is needed to investigate the relationship between the underlying mechanisms of fatigue and determine the potential functional consequences of the incongruent sleep deprived-related effects on performance and the perceived fatigability.”

The paper, published last fall in the European Journal of Sport Science, was supported by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

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