Timber-harvesting is an important industry for Canada. For tree-cutting specifically, the industry employs large heavy-duty machines with crane-like manipulator arms which are driven by trained operators. The work involved in operating these machines is tiring, involves long hours in harsh conditions and as a result, there is presently a labour shortage for operators. It is therefore imperative to introduce AI and robotics into the operation of these machines in order to reduce the workload on the operators.

In quantum key distribution (QKD), the twin-field has been proposed as a means to overcome the linear key ratebound, and hence the key generation rate, as well as to enable repeaterless QKD transmission. Despitesignificant progress in TF-QKD and its variations in recent times, the key rates are still significantly low comparedto practical optical fiber networks.

This project aims to improve how people with Parkinson Disease (PD) walk. Typically, people with PD develop a shuffling gait and limits walking for health and fitness and can also lead to falls and fractures. This project is based on a SMART sensor, Heel2ToeTM, that attaches to the outside of the shoe and gives a “beep” when the wearer makes a good step, one in which the heel is the first point of contact with the surface. Starting a step with a strong heel strike, changes a stooped shuffling gait to one that is upright and striding.

Microwave energy combined with a vacuum environment can be used for rapid low temperature dehydration and produce high quality food products. Industrial processing of tomatoes involves various treatment steps that affect the final profile of antioxidants in commercial food products. The goal of this project is to evaluate the retention of antioxidants in grape tomatoes using microwave vacuum drying. The influence of retention of antioxidants in grape tomatoes by microwave vacuum drying will be compared with air drying and freeze drying.

There is a permanent demand for technological advances in the automotive sector that allow the timely detection of drivers under the influence of alcohol. Although there are technologies to estimate alcohol in blood such as breathalyzers with a mouthpiece, the suspect individual needs to breathe through the mouthpiece as enough to reach the sensor threshold. This is inconvenient for people. Tools to reliably assess the state of sobriety of the individual behind the wheel and timely identify alcoholized ones are still missing.

The rapid advancement of wireless communications has drastically transformed the world over the last few decades. The next-generation wireless communication systems are expected to support a wide variety of requirements for diverse applications (e.g., the Internet of Things (IoT), industrial IoT (IIoT), autonomous driving, healthcare, virtual/augmented reality). Meeting such stringent requirements will bring significant challenges and require the exploration of new enabling technologies.

The COVID-19 vaccination is now widely available for children aged 5 and older, and has been shown to be both safe and effective at preventing serious health outcomes from COVID-19. However, most children in the United States are not vaccinated. In order for public health to identify sub-groups to target immunization campaigns and other efforts towards, they need to know who to target. To this end, we seek to determine what community-level characteristics predict underimmunization in children.

For the past several years Haply Robotics has been developing high-performance, inexpensive, haptic devices that can be used in a variety of applications, such as medical simulation for the purposes of training. Haply is currently interested in the use of commercial off-the-shelf manipulandums, such as the Valve Index (Valve Index, 2022), that measures the user’s applied grip force to characterize the user’s grip as gentle or forceful.

North American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius L.) is a medicinal crop that was used by indigenous people in North America to treat aliments from headache to indigestion. Today, most of the North American ginseng is produced in shaded gardens in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is a prized health supplement in traditional Asian medicine, making this an economically valuable crop for growers. However, the sustainability of the commercial ginsen crop is in jeopardy due to a soil-inhabiting fungal pathogen that causes a deadly root rot in the crop.

G protein coupled receptors (GCPRs) are proteins found at the surface of cells are responsible for activating numerous intracellular signaling pathways and thus are involved in regulating about every physiological response. Activation of GPCRs occurs via a diverse array of stimuli as varied as photons, lipids, ions, small hormone or neurotransmitters through to larger peptidic and protein molecules. Currently, GPCRs are currently the target of up to 40% of marketed drugs.