Advanced analytical technologies for controlling medical cannabis production

Hyperspectral imaging and machine learning are used to make the non-invasive classification of cannabis chemotypes in situ

UNIVERSITY OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY

 

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ADVANCED ANALYTICAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR CONTROLLING MEDICAL CANNABIS PRODUCTION

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CREDIT: MARKEL SAN NICOLAS

Recent years have seen a growing acceptance of the idea that the use of cannabis may be of great help in certain diseases or as pain relief. Some European countries, for example, have opted to use cannabis as a therapeutic substance. Cannabinoid compounds in cannabis are the ones that have aroused the most interest in medicine, as they have the capacity to influence the regulation of brain plasticity, neural development, energy balance and appetite.

In any case, cannabis synthesises different types of cannabinoids that have different effects on the receptor, both therapeutic and psychoactive. So accurate, efficient methods need to be developed to ensure quality control in the plant production process. “Medical cannabis must be produced in a very controlled way and there is as yet no clear regulation in this regard,” explained Markel San Nicolas, researcher in the UPV/EHU’s IBeA group of the University of the Basque Country.

Researchers in the UPV/EHU's Department of Analytical Chemistry have proposed an advanced analytical technology to rapidly classify the plants on the sites where cannabis is grown. “We have confirmed that cannabis plants can be classified by chemotype using hyperspectral imaging and machine learning,” explained Markel San Nicolás. Cannabis chemotypes I, II and III are differentiated according to the concentration of cannabinoids THC and CBD. THC is the main psychoactive component of cannabis, while CBD is non-psychoactive and is of therapeutic use. “Cannabis plants can be classified as chemotype I, II or III depending on the concentration of the two cannabinoids,” he explained.

Non-invasive method

The techniques currently used to analyse cannabis plants are very accurate, but they are much slower processes: “The samples require pre-treatment: they are dried, extracted and then analysed using analytical techniques such as chromatography. In this work we have shown that the hyperspectral camera allows us to differentiate between plant chemotypes using a much simpler system.”

The researcher explained that hyperspectral imaging is characterised by the fact that “this type of photo has three dimensions. In other words, it has the two dimensions of normal photos, distributed in pixels, but each pixel has a full spectrum instead of a single colour. That way a three-dimensional data cube is obtained. A full near-infrared spectrum corresponds to each pixel and allows us to make a non-invasive analysis of the plants”.

Implementing this technology at the production site itself would “automatically and rapidly ensure the traceability or quality control of the chemotype”, said San Nicolás. And, although the researchers believe that more studies still need to be done, this work could be the starting point to begin using techniques of this type in cannabis production. However, “for this to happen, cannabis-related regulation would have to be established and progress would have to be made in this industrial sector”.

Additional information

Markel San Nicolás-Oruetxebarria wrote up his PhD thesis in the Department of Analytical Chemistry of the UPV/EHU; his thesis supervisors were Dr Aresatz Usobiaga-Epelde and DrOier Aizpurua-Olaizola.

 

Referencia bibliográfica

• M. San Nicolas, A. Villate, I. Alvarez-Mora, M. Olivares, O. Aizpurua-Olaizola, A. Usobiaga, J.M. Amigo
• NIR-hyperspectral imaging and machine learning for non-invasive chemotype classification in Cannabis sativa L
• Computers and Electronics in Agriculture
• DOI: 10.1016/j.compag.2023.108551

 

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JOURNAL

Computers and Electronics in Agriculture

DOI

10.1016/j.compag.2023.108551 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

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ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

14-Mar-2024

MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M

Canada's airline market consolidates, raising risk of fare hikes

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press

After entertaining new entrants for several years, Canada's airline market is once again on the path to consolidation, raising the likelihood of higher fares and fewer flight options.

Since May, newer low-cost carriers Swoop and Lynx Air have disappeared from the skies and WestJet has scooped up Sunwing Airlines.

The latter two made up 37 per cent of seat capacity on direct flights to sun destinations and 72 per cent from Western Canada last year, according to an October report from the Competition Bureau. It said eliminating the rivalry between WestJet and Sunwing would likely suppress competition around the sale of vacation packages.

"We’ve lost 40 per cent of the players in the space of the last 12 months," said John Gradek, a lecturer at McGill University's aviation management program.

“The question is, are we done?”

The shrinking airline tally could mean less service and higher prices, particularly in the West and smaller markets across the country.

“The fewer competitive entities you have in Canada, the less pressure you have to be price-competitive," Gradek said.

Air Canada and WestJet have strengthened their grip on the domestic market over the past year, even as rival Porter Airlines rapidly expands in a bid to become the country's third major airline.

Canada's two largest carriers commanded 79 per cent of domestic traffic this month versus 74 per cent a year earlier, statistics from aviation data firm Cirium show.

The diminishing set of operators coincides with a nearly seven per cent decrease in domestic flight volume between March 2023 and this month, though that may be due in part to a renewed focus on international trips.

While big cities remain amply served, smaller ones have fewer options, which can also result in higher prices and, when things go awry, stranded passengers.

The Edmonton-Winnipeg route saw flight numbers plummet 82 per cent to 44 in December from 242 in December 2019 after Air Canada and Swoop ceased to ply it. Only WestJet remains, and it makes less than half as many trips per month as it did four years earlier, according to Cirium.

Between Calgary and Saskatoon, flight figures fell by over 50 per cent to 349 in December from 702 in December 2019, now that the airspace between Alberta and Saskatchewan's biggest cities is served with non-stop flights by WestJet only — Air Canada pulled out over a year ago to shore up further east. In the same period, the average price of a ticket on the route rose 27 per cent, Cirium data reveals.

Ironically, the COVID-19 pandemic that hammered the travel industry opened the gate to new entrants. And now that business is booming again, ownership is concentrating.

"In recessionary periods, there's a lot of airplanes suddenly on the market at a low cost," said Barry Prentice, director of the University of Manitoba's transport institute.

The glut of jetliners abruptly available for lease along with the 20-month grounding of the Boeing 737 Max 8 due to two fatal crashes made those aircraft particularly cheap. "So that's what Flair picked up, and Lynx and others," Prentice said.

"People are free to get in — that's what free enterprise is. And they're free to go broke."

Calgary-based Lynx, which shut down last month after filing for creditor protection, marks at least the eighth budget airline to take off and then fizzle out since 2000, joining the ranks of Roots Air, CanJet and Swoop.

Last fall, Calgary-based WestJet folded its Swoop subsidiary under its main banner. It also aims to wind down Sunwing and integrate the discount carrier into its mainline business by October after buying the Toronto-based company last May.

High airport rents, security fees and fuel taxes raise the baseline cost of flying, making it harder for budget airlines to coax budget-conscious Canadians on board — and thus to sustain themselves and a broader base of competition.

Pearson's "airport improvement fee" on a no-frills, one-way Flair flight booked this week between Toronto and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for April amounts to $35, or one-third of the $107 ticket (most U.S. airports charge US$4.50). A security charge tacks on another $12. For a family of four, that adds nearly $200 to the journey.

“That makes a difference between travelling and not travelling,” said Flair CEO Stephen Jones. “It's a big deal.”

The market's decades-long domination by Air Canada and WestJet can also stifle competition, he said.

"There is no interest by the big carriers in having low-cost carriers succeed, and they'll use the tools that they've got in the toolkit to try and bring carriers like Lynx to an end," Jones claimed.

In late 2018, the Competition Bureau opened an investigation into predatory pricing tactics allegedly deployed by WestJet and Swoop on some routes flown by Flair, which had launched the previous year.

The regulator wound down its probe nearly five years later without taking further steps. The decision came despite then interim competition commissioner Matthew Boswell accusing WestJet and Swoop in 2018 of "engaging in ... predatory pricing by significantly decreasing the prices of their passenger tickets to a level that appears to be below their avoidable costs."

"I am unable to comment on any findings," said spokesman Jayme Albert in an email Wednesday, noting that federal law requires the agency to work confidentially.

"That said, we take action whenever we find evidence of conduct that is prohibited by the Competition Act," added spokeswoman Georgia Simone Fakiolas.

Lynx, which launched its first flight in April 2022 and halted operations on Feb. 26, said in court filings that rising costs, airports charges and "a competitive aviation landscape have proved disastrous."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 13, 2024.

Thousands of Edmonton city workers expected to strike over contract demands

The last strike by the Civic Service Union was in 1976

The Canadian Press

More than 5,000 Edmonton civic workers are expected to walk off their jobs this morning in a strike that will affect services from criminal record checks to recreation centres. 

Members of the Civic Service Union are slated to begin their strike over contract negotiations at 11 a.m.

Edmonton's public libraries have announced plans to close during the strike, which would involve library staff as well as administrative staff for the Edmonton Police Service and the municipal government.

Those preparing to strike include emergency 9-1-1 operators as well as those who conduct criminal record checks and firearms renewals.

Affected city staff include help-line operators, recreation centre staff, accounting employees and clerks. 

The union has not had a contract since 2020 and is looking for a three-year deal that would cover up to 2023 with a five per cent raise.

The city has said service disruptions are expected. However, fire and rescue, transit, construction, snow-clearing and waste collection will continue.

The last strike by the Civic Service Union was in 1976. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 14, 2024.

Alberta First Nations want Ottawa to class oilsands tailings component as toxin

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

Two Alberta First Nations have asked the federal government to examine whether a component of oilsands tailings pond water known to harm fish and other animals should be classed as toxic.

The move could force a long-awaited human health study into development impacts, bring the industry under new regulations and affect its ability to release treated wastewater.

"There are big gaps in science on the human health side," said Bronwyn Roe, lawyer for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, which uses lands adjacent to oilsands development. "If the ministers do this assessment, they could create new regulations."

That First Nation's request is supported by the Mikisew Cree.

"Under federal legislation ... fish have more rights than humans," it wrote in a March 11 letter to federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault. "The government of Canada cannot wait for more research to make this assessment."

The two nations are concerned about naphthenic acids, found in tailings and other oilsands wastewater. Peer-reviewed research has found the complex hydrocarbons are toxic to fish, affect hormone function in humans and other mammals, and may be carcinogenic.

Oilsands producers are required to report releases of those chemicals. But allowable limits for their presence in surface or groundwater are guidelines, not regulations.

In January, Environment and Climate Change Canada and Health Canada released a report that concluded naphthenic acids shouldn't be classified as toxic. However, that report only dealt with commercially produced versions, not those found in tailings.

"(Oilsands) naphthenic acids differ in source, composition, properties and use compared to commercial naphthenic acids," the report says.

The First Nations are using recent changes to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act to request Guilbeault review that January finding. A review would include research into the health effects of oilsands naphthenic acids both on their own and in conjunction with other chemicals -- a long-standing goal of both the Athabasca Chipewyan and Mikisew.

"A huge piece is that human health study," said Roe. "They've been asking for that for years.

"They want better studies of the human health impacts of oilsands operations, including releases from tailings ponds."

A ruling that naphthenic acids should be considered a toxin would also affect regulations governing the substances, Roe said.

"Once the impact on human health is better understood, I think the government will be compelled to take action to mitigate the human health effects and the environmental effects."

Roe notes the finding could affect plans to release treated tailings pond water into the Athabasca River. Industry and the federal government are currently developing rules that would govern how water from those ponds can be treated and released into the river.

Those regulations are expected in 2025. Roe said classifying naphthenic acids as toxic could affect those plans.

"It would have an effect on tailings pond management," she said.

Kendall Dilling, president of the oilsands industry group Pathways Alliance, said further research on naphthenic acids is underway.

"We respect the leaders' desire to seek information for the health of their community," he said in an email. "We will continue to co-operate with government should additional research be advanced in response to this request."

A spokesman for Environment and Climate Change Canada said Guilbeault and Health Minister Mark Holland are considering the request. The department is conducting further studies on naphthenic acids.

Oilsands tailings ponds now store about 1.4 trillion litres of water, or 1.4 cubic kilometres. Some evidence suggests the water has already entered the environment.

A 2017 report from the environmental watchdog of the North American free trade deal found "scientifically valid" evidence that tailings have escaped the ponds, although not the oilsands leases. That finding is echoed by recent groundwater reports from industry.

That seepage may now be off lease.

Alberta's Oilsands Monitoring Program shows a common proxy for oilsands residue at a sampling station in the Muskeg River began climbing drastically in March 2022 and was 18 times higher than the 2021 average within a year.

Guilbeault and Holland have until June 7 to respond to the First Nations' requests.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 14, 2024.

 

Shopify's surge saw 85% of Canadian stock pickers trail targets

Geoffrey Morgan, Bloomberg News

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For Canadian stock pickers, success in 2023 hinged almost entirely on whether they held Shopify Inc.

That was the finding from an S&P Global analysis of active fund managers in Canada last year, when the e-commerce company’s 119 per cent surge was the single biggest contributor to the S&P/TSX Composite Index’s total return of 12 per cent. 

In short, if a fund manager picked Shopify, she was more likely to beat the benchmark for Canadian equities. Most of the 71 actively managed Canadian equity funds did not, leading to 85 per cent of those tracked by S&P Global underperforming for the year, according to the S&P Indices Versus Active Canada Scorecard, released Thursday.

“Bright spots abounded, yet many active funds missed their moment in the sun,” S&P Global’s Joseph Nelesen said in an email. “Ultimately, strong index performance, positive skew among constituent returns and falling dispersion all contributed to conditions that were welcomed by many index-based investors, but which the vast majority of managers found difficult to beat.”

Shopify’s outsized contribution to the index’s gains underscores the challenges facing actively managed funds that track capitalization-weighted gauges. That’s because the distribution of returns in the stock market is bizarrely lopsided, according to academic research. Often, equity benchmarks are so reliant on gigantic gains in just a handful of stocks that missing them — as most managers do — consigns the majority to futility.

Last year, Shopify and software company Constellation Software Inc. were the top contributors to the S&P/TSX Composite Index’s rise. On the other side of the ledger, fertilizer producer Nutrien Ltd. was the biggest drag on the index last year, followed by First Quantum Minerals Ltd., which had to shutter a major copper mine in Panama.

 

European cloud firm to take over former Blackberry facility

Ben Cousins , BNN Bloomberg

A European tech firm focused on cloud computing is taking over a former Blackberry building and opening a new data centre outside Toronto.

OVHcloud is planning to spend $145 million over the next eight years to build the new facility in “the heart of the Toronto-Waterloo Innovation Corridor” in a building formerly owned by Blackberry in Cambridge, Ont. according to a release from the company. 

"This new data centre marks a major turning point in the history of OVHcloud in Canada, enabling our customers and businesses in the Toronto area to strengthen their infrastructure while retaining full control of their cloud journey, free from any form of technological or pricing lock-in,” Estelle Azemard, OVHcloud’s vice president of Americas, said in the release on Wednesday.

“We're also looking forward to making a difference by continuing to innovate for a sustainable digital environment.”

The facility would mark OVHcloud’s second Canadian data centre, after first expanding into Montreal back in 2011. The Montreal facility employs 250 people and operates 90,000 servers, the company said. 

 

'My job is not to be popular,' Trudeau says after pressed to ditch carbon price hike

Bill Graveland and Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pushed back Wednesday on growing demands from premiers to dump the planned April 1 hike to the consumer carbon levy, saying leaders must tackle both affordability and climate change.

"My job is not to be popular,” Trudeau said, briefly pausing and adding with a wry smile, "Although it helps."

"My job is to do the right things for Canada now and do the right things for Canadians a generation from now."

Trudeau made the comments to reporters in Calgary after meeting earlier in the day with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith for the first time since last summer.

She and six other premiers have called on Trudeau to abandon the 23-per-cent hike to help Canadians already dealing with squeezed household budgets.

Conservative Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre has also railed against the levy and in a statement Wednesday said his party plans to force multiple votes in Parliament next week to nix the hike.

Trudeau told the news conference it's easy for governments to put off taking action on climate change so that it’s not their problem while they're in office, and for "short-term thinker politicians" to fight putting a price on carbon.

"Why are so many people still against (the carbon levy)?” he asked rhetorically at an unrelated announcement about the government's dental care program.

“Well, you know, that's a question we all have to ask.”

He said using market mechanisms, like a carbon price, to lower greenhouse gas emissions is the best way to address the issue, rather than with the "heavy hand of government" through measures like regulations and subsidies.

"I prefer a cleaner solution, a market-based solution, of saying, 'You know what? If you're behaving in ways that are gonna cause pollution, that is going to impact the whole community, you should pay for that pollution, so the community then doesn't suffer the negative sides of it or have to clean it up on their own dime.'"

Earlier Wednesday, as the premier and prime minister smiled and shook hands for the cameras, Smith thanked Trudeau’s government for pushing through the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion to the B.C. coast.

Smith, who said she'd requested a meeting with Trudeau after learning he'd be in Calgary, told a news conference in Edmonton later Wednesday that she reiterated her opposition to the carbon levy.

"I went so far as to suggest to the prime minister that he could achieve a win if he listened to the growing calls against the carbon tax and reversed his decision to increase the tax,” said Smith.

Trudeau said there are measures to ensure those who don't have the means to meaningfully shrink their carbon footprint aren't punished.

As the levy rises, so do rebates. For example, the average family of four in Alberta would get $1,800 a year.

Poilievre, in a statement, said it’s time to force votes in the house to help families.

"The ability of Canadians to put food on the table and fuel in their cars is more important than protecting Justin Trudeau’s fading political career," he said.

Canada's carbon price is set to rise by $15 to $80 a tonne on April 1.

In addition to Alberta, the governments of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Ontario and Saskatchewan have spoken out.

This week, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey wrote to Trudeau urging him to "pause" the carbon levy hike, "at least until inflation stabilizes, interest rates lower and related economic pressures on the cost of living sufficiently cool."

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston also wrote to Trudeau, calling for a different solution to fight climate change and “cancel the carbon tax before any more financial damage is done.”

P.E.I. Premier Dennis King wrote to Trudeau that his government is committed to reducing greenhouse gases, acknowledging how susceptible the island province is to extreme weather, but saying "a sustained period of inflation has significantly increased our cost of living."

In Winnipeg, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew was asked by reporters whether he will join the list of premiers dissenting on the carbon levy.

Kinew replied that Manitoba is focused on convincing Ottawa that Manitoba's investments through its hydroelectric grid should suffice in lieu of the federal levy.

"We've been very clear that Manitoba has a really strong case to make in terms of the carbon backstop not being applied in our province, and that's because Manitobans have made huge investments in renewable power," Kinew said.

"We're going to continue to make that case."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 13, 2024.

With files from Bob Weber in Edmonton and Steve Lambert in Winnipeg

 

Tribunal rejects Montreal port employers' bid to rule dockworkers as essential

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press

Shipping containers are shown at the Port of Montreal, Sunday, April 25, 2021. A general strike at the port is set to begin on Monday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

A federal tribunal on Thursday reiterated its stance that Montreal port employers cannot require employees to work during a strike, paving the way for negotiations to resume ahead of potential job action.

In a summary decision, the Canada Industrial Relations Board rejected a request by the Maritime Employers Association to deem port work an essential service in a bid to prevent a strike on the waterfront.

The employers and the union representing 2,100 port workers failed to secure a new collective agreement before it expired on Dec. 31, but the case was before the tribunal at that time, postponing possible labour action.

Explaining its ruling, the board cited a 2020 decision that the employers association failed to demonstrate “imminent and serious risks to the health and safety of the public” — the criteria for essential activity — in the event of a work stoppage.

"In this decision, the board concluded that no longshoring activity should be maintained at the Port of Montreal in the event of a strike," board vice-chairwoman Louise Fecteau wrote in French (a ruling upheld by the Federal Court of Appeal). 

"There is nothing in the employer's observations which leads the board to review its previous decision," she stated.

The Maritime Employers Association said its priority is to reach a negotiated collective agreement, aided by federal mediators.

"Although (the ruling) does not correspond to our expectations, we remain convinced that the continuity and stability of the supply chain is of the utmost importance," said spokeswoman Isabelle Pelletier in an email.

In the summer of 2020, Montreal longshore workers launched a 12-day strike that left thousands of containers languishing on the dock at Canada's second-largest port. 

Last summer, a strike by 7,400 B.C. dockworkers dragged on for 13 days, shutting down the country's biggest port and costing the economy billions of dollars.

During the 2020 strike in Montreal, Canadian Union of Public Employees members said they would continue to provide mooring services during work stoppages only for supplies to Newfoundland and Labrador and for grain vessels in order to comply with the federal labour code and tribunal decision, respectively.

The strike followed a 21-month battle before the labour board over whether port employees fell under the definition of essential work.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 14, 2024.