Riverview Health Centre (RHC) plans to renovate their special care units and grounds, which accommodate 60 residents with intermediate and advanced stages of dementia. The main purpose of this study is to examine the effects of the renovations on residents, family and staff using a multi-methods research approach and a multi-disciplinary team of researchers (i.e., architecture, sociology, kinesiology, clinical psychology, pharmacy, nutrition, nursing, and health sciences).

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), also known as glioblastoma and grade IV astrocytoma, is the most common and most aggressive cancer that begins within the brain. There is no clear way to prevent the disease. Typically treatment involves surgery after which chemotherapy and radiation therapy is used. The medication Temozolomide (TMZ) is frequently used as part of chemotherapy. Cholesterol lowering drugs (statins) is recently being considered as a novel and safe approach for combination therapies in many cancers.

The proposed study will develop seismic design guidelines for retrofitting deficient concrete bridge columns with sprayed fiber reinforced plastic (FRP). Seismically deficient bridge columns (with different aspect ratios and transverse reinforcement ratios) retrofitted with composites will be tested under reverse cyclic loading. The tests will determine various damage states in terms of strain and drift.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) includes both Crohn’s disease (CD), and ulcerative colitis (UC). Approximately 230,000 Canadians are affected by these diseases and they have important repercussions on quality of life and on both personal and societal direct and indirect costs. The cause(s) are poorly understood, and treatment is largely symptom-based and not curative. Commonly used drugs may have potentially important adverse effects such as cancer and serious infections. Moreover, some patients are resistant to these drugs. Therefore, safer and more efficient therapies are needed.

According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, many of Canada's increasing aging population experience physical and cognitive impairments that necessitate moving to a care facility, with 44% of these residents having or indicating symptoms of depression. Social isolation is a contributor; 22-42% of these residents reported feeling severe loneliness. Video chat sessions have been found to be valuable augments to in-person visits. However, for adults with impairments such as dementia, operating the associated technologies might be impossible.

After introducing deregulated power markets and small scale distributed generation (DG) in power distribution systems, the probabilistic evaluation gained much attention to quantify the uncertainties due to parameters such as wind speed, solar irradiation, power market price etc. Meanwhile, due to increasing penetration of electric vehicles (EVs), the load demand due to EV charging has become very relevant information needed for power system planning studies.

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are proteins present on the surface of a cell that are the targets of >30% prescription drugs. These GPCRs are involved in various diseases ranging from hypertension, airway diseases to taste disorders. Detection of antibodies for GPCRs in various disease states is a challenging task. The main goal of this project is to develop novel methods and improve existing methods to overexpress a couple of GPCRs for potential use in diagnostic assays. The industry partner, Acudex Inc.

The chicken egg represents an excellent source of nutrients, and the composition of the egg yolk can further be enhanced through modifications to the laying hen diet. While enhanced shell eggs are primarily sold as specialty eggs, an opportunity exists to add further value through the use of novel extraction technologies. The proposed research project will combine existing expertise in egg yolk enhancement with expertise in liquid/protein processing and extraction techniques.

A parallelized electromagnetic transient (EMT) simulation tool for power system transients will be developed in this research to accelerate the internal computation process. An EMT simulator uses a highly detailed representation for the power systems components. Conventional EMT simulators typically execute sequentially on a single processor; and computational effort increases significantly with network size. Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have massively parallel architecture and can accelerate EMT simulation. The investigator’s recent Ph.D.

Biomass combustion is used to generate combined heat and power (CHP). The combustion furnace of this study (WiseWay) has been providing heat in small scales using wood pellets. The target of this project, however, is to upgrade the stove’s design (for larger scale purposes and other biomass types) and integrate it with a steam microturbine (NextGrid). The resulting system is attractive to the environment and economy because it provides heat and electricity in one package, at a cheaper price compared with oil and gas, with less pollutants emitted.