The Central Route of South to North Water Diversion (SNWD) project in China aims at transferring water from Yangtze River Basin to Beijing and Tianjin via a 1276 km open water canal across China. This represents a great risk for the accepting water bodies to be biologically invaded. The home university, University of Windsor, has been involved in the International project assessing the bio-risk of the SNWD.

This study will explore narrative perspectives from Canadian teacher candidates’ cross-cultural experience in Chongqing, China from March 2015 to June 2015, and will be built on participant experiences during the Teacher Education Reciprocal Learning Program between University of Windsor and Southwest University China.

The automotive industry is striving towards greater fuel efficiency, and one of the ways in which it is trying to achieve this is through light weighting. The use of aluminum alloys in engine blocks to reduce weight is part of the solution for better fuel efficiency. However, the automotive sector is always striving for innovation and greater engine performance. Consequently, another possible solution for fuel-efficiency was proposed.

Due to abundant reserves and environmental cleanliness, natural gas has introduced the environmentally friendly vehicles - natural gas-powered vehicles (NGVs), which have the potential of providing a solution to air quality problems. However, low volumetric energy density of natural gas results in NGVs’ short-range driving, inhibiting them from widespread adoption. A conformable pressure tank is considered as a solution to the issues of energy density and onboard fuel storage capacity and therefore, the driving range for NGVs.

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) recently introduced stringent regulations for the treatment of ballast water. Ultra-violet (UV) light is a useful technology in a ballast water treatment system (BWTS), for inactivating phytoplankton which could be invasive and harmful to humans and the environment. UV damages DNA and prevents replication, but the vital stain methods mandated in the USCG protocol do not detect UV damage. Alternative culture-based measures of reproductive capacity are yet to be approved, time consuming, and have limitations (not all species may grow).

Substantial research has been implemented to delineate the efficacy, mechanism of action and identification of the medicinal components of natural extracts for clinical use, especially in the field of cancer. This project is aimed at identifying all biologically active components of dandelion root extract (DRE), a natural health product (NHP) that has shown potential as an anticancer agent. The identification of these components will enable the development of quality control standards for DRE.

Recent developments in cancer treatment have greatly improved patient survival and quality of life; however, tumour cells that invade and migrate to vital organs, such as lung and brain, are very difficult to treat successfully. We will develop and validate a 3D in vivo zebrafish model that will allow us to inject human cancer cells into the yolk sac of the fish and monitor how invasive the cancer cells are. We will test the accuracy of the model by comparing cell behavior in the zebrafish to those in standard invasion assays.

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) recently introduced stringent regulations for the treatment of ballast water. Ultra-violet (UV) light is a useful technology in a ballast water treatment system (BWTS), for inactivating phytoplankton which could be invasive and harmful to humans and the environment. UV damages DNA and prevents replication, but the vital stain methods mandated in the USCG protocol do not detect UV damage. Alternative culture-based measures of reproductive capacity are yet to be approved, time consuming, and have limitations (not all species may grow).

Dye wastewaters from textile industries is toxic and often causes serious environmental damage. In this study, an eco-friendly photocatalytic degradtion process which involves the use of a Ag-ZnO catalyst and solar energy will be used to degrade toxic dyes. Therefore, the main objectives of my reserch over the three month period will be to synthesize a solar active photocatalyst and optimizing the photocatalytic degradation process to treat textile dye wastewater. The findings from this research will assist textile industries to meet the wastewater discharge standards.