Research News
Quality assurance standards could improve service dog industry
Photo provided by: Anne Wilcock
By Mya Kidson
Consensus standards exist in many fields – but not for service dogs. They’re trained to meet the needs of their handlers, but universal standards about what constitutes an effective service dog are vague or non-existent. A student research team at the University of Guelph says the efficiency and effectiveness of producing such dogs could be greatly enhanced if such standards were implemented.
University of Guelph B. Comm. students Kayla McLaren and Andrew Forgeron from the Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies, found that...
Retirees feel guilty about food waste in their communities
Photo credit: Dianne Priamo
By Ariana Longley
Food waste weighs heavily on the minds of retirement community residents who have experienced food insecurity at some point in their lives, according to University of Guelph researchers.
Prof. Bruce McAdams in the Department of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management and his team at the University of Guelph interviewed elderly people in two Ontario facilities to determine attitudes toward food waste. They wanted to help develop creative ways to help alleviate potentially negative emotions about food waste.
They found...
Dairy consumption in kids. Study encourages preschoolers to consume calcium-rich foods.
Photo courtesy of Milk Producer, April 2019 edition
Study encourages preschoolers to consume calcium-rich foods
By Mya Kidson
Dairy is a staple food group in a child’s daily diet. However, despite attempts to increase kids’ consumption, dairy may be lacking in their everyday routine. Since the new Canada’s Food Guide further steers consumers toward a more plant-based diet, new concerns are being raised that children might lack key nutrients dairy offers.
Master’s student Victoria Srbely and undergraduate student Imtisal Janjua, along with professors Andrea Buchholz from the department...
U of G pet nutrition expert receives research excellence award
Dr. Adronie Verbrugghe demonstrates how to check pet body composition score with DVM students.
An Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) researcher, who specializes in pet nutrition, has been recognized for research excellence and innovation.
Dr. Adronie Verbrugghe, a professor in OVC’s Department of Clinical Studies, has received a Research Excellence Award from the University of Guelph. Professor Verbrugghe, who is also Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Endowed Chair in Canine and Feline Clinical Nutrition, focuses her research on canine and feline nutrition.
“The impact of nutrition on health is a crucial, incredibly timely area of research,...
Open Access
By Amber Wood
Open Access, a free and unlimited online access framework to scholarly publications, is a way by which to improve knowledge, accelerate discovery and encourage innovation.
In May 2015, Canada introduced the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on publications to mandate open access to research articles funded by Canada's three major research agencies: the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
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Predatory journals
istock.com/serdjophoto
By Amber Wood
As predatory journals become increasingly common in the scholarly publishing landscape, major media outlets like CBC and CTV News have broadcasted cautionary tales to researchers.
The growing concern with predatory journals is that they do not reflect the quality present in the scholarly publishing landscape and can be exploitive of researchers. Predatory publishers exploit the author-pays business model for their own profit. They conduct little to no peer review or editing work thereby hindering the scientific process and...
Vegan liqueur, skin exfoliant and aluminum foil substitute win big in Project SOY
Vegan liqueur, skin exfoliant and aluminum foil substitute win big in Project SOY
A cream liqueur for vegan- and lactose-intolerant consumers, a soybean-based skin exfoliant and edible soy protein substitute for aluminum foil are this year’s first-place projects at the University of Guelph’s 23rd annual Project SOY competition.
Project SOY (Soybean Opportunities for Youth) is an annual contest that harnesses students' creative power to develop new products and marketing strategies for soybeans. The event, held at the...
Dairy Performance Related to Calf Health
Photo courtesy of Caitlin MacLeod
Dairy performance related to calf health
By Alicia Bowland
Poor lung health in calves implicated in long-term negative impacts to dairy production. To maximize productivity and profitability, and to facilitate managerial decision-making, dairy producers need to look at their calves’ lung health. Tricia Dunn, graduate from the department of population medicine at the University of Guelph, and Theresa Olivett from the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine used thoracic ultrasound technology, a non-invasive chest ultrasound, to analyze...
U of G-Led Network Gets $2 Million to Link Cultural Researchers
Prof. Susan Brown
U of G-Led Network Gets $2 Million to Link Cultural Researchers
By Owen Roberts
A unique University of Guelph-based network designed to enhance the usefulness of online materials in cultural research has received a $2-million grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). The Linked Infrastructure for Networked Cultural Scholarship (LINCS) project is led by Susan Brown, a professor in the School of English and Theatre Studies and Canada Research Chair in Collaborative Digital Scholarship.
Read more: ...
The next frontier
Soil sampling in the field. Photo Courtesy of Laura Van Eerd.
The next frontier
By Owen Roberts
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN agriculture and food is a natural one — at least for producers, who nurture it daily. But the agri-food connection is increasingly becoming a “eureka moment” for the public, too. People are waking up to the realization that agriculture precedes food, and that what they see on their plate comes from complex agri-food systems. As they dig deeper into food production, they’re realizing these agri-food systems depend to a great degree on soil health and preservation.
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