Innovative Projects Realized

A comparison of neurocognitive performance in individuals with advanced Parkinson’s disease in Hong Kong and Canada

Over 100,000 Canadians are living with Parkinson’s disease. Difficulties with cognition such as memory, fluency saying words, controlling impulses, and processing visual information are very common. Accurate cognitive assessment is critical and directly affects key decisions about the patient’s eligibility for medical and surgical care. However, a problem is that most cognitive tests are developed by and for people from Western cultures who speak English as their first language. The issue is deeper than simple translation, because the content may also be biased towards the Western cultural context (e.g. education, language, societal values). Therefore, my plan is to compare cognitive test scores in patients with Parkinson’s disease at the Prince of Wales Hospital (Hong Kong, China) and the Foothills Medical Centre (Calgary, Canada). Findings from the project will contribute to a better understanding of how culture is related to cognitive performance, so that Chinese patients with Parkinson’s disease and other ethnic minorities who have low acculturation to Canada are not at a disadvantage.

Probiotics for Animal Health – neonatal and pre-weaned calf

This project aims to develop a novel collection of probiotics for animal health, specifically newborn and pre-weaned calves. Probiotics are a safe and sustainable way of ensuring the health of animals in the agricultural industry. The probiotics will be designed to decrease the morbidity and mortality rates in pre-weaned calves, and to increase the long-term health of the animal, which will directly affect production (both beef and dairy). DoseBiome is a new start-up in the microbiome health sector, and this project will help the company increase their probiotic portfolio to develop a variety of probiotics with clinical benefits.

AlterNative Waterscapes: Indigenous Eco-polyphony in North American and Sinophone Literatures

North American Indigenous and Chinese/Taiwanese Indigenous peoples have long shared an intimate relationship with water. For them, water is not only a commodity or substance for physical survival, it is closely and deeply related with their spiritual lives as well. This research project aims to explore the subtle affinities between East Asian (specifically Sinophone) and North American Indigenous literatures in terms of water philosophies, water pedagogies, and other metaphysical or practical water issues as discussed in water narratives. I argue that in addition to their spiritual and/or philosophical affinities, offer important alternatives to the current dominant exploiting human attitude towards nature and antidotes to modern environmental crises. My research questions how the two distinct cultures have been developing a sense of environmental humanism centered around water issues; what the two cultures share in common in terms of their attitudes and philosophies concerning water and how those ideas differ and vary across time and space; how water permeates through and partly shapes some common characteristics of the two cultures, both philosophically and practically, and how they are concerned with protecting nature in general and water in particular.

Rôle des capacités cognitives dans la planification des activités occupationnelles à la retraite

L’allongement de l’espérance de vie au Québec pose d’importants défis à la société. Au-delà des enjeux économiques que posent le financement des retraites, le coût de la dépendance augmente considérablement. L’une des causes de la perte d’autonomie des aînés est liée au déclin des facultés intellectuelles. Si les maladies neurodégénératives sont, en grande partie, responsables de ce déclin, des facteurs environnementaux tels que la prise de retraite pourraient contribuer à un déclin anticipé de ces facultés. Une priorité serait d’identifier les facteurs qui pourraient limiter le déclin de ces facultés suite à la prise de retraite. Dans cette optique, ce projet de recherche se donne pour objectif d’évaluer si l’état des facultés intellectuelles au moment de la prise de retraite est associé à des degrés différents de planification des activités qui occuperont le quotidien lors de la retraite. Pour y parvenir, des travailleurs, ayant décidés de prendre leur retraite dans les deux années à venir, recevront une évaluation de leurs facultés intellectuelles et rempliront des questionnaires mesurant le degré de planification des activités occupationnelles à la retraite.TBC

The Expression of Depressive Symptoms Across Cultures

Depression is a debilitating mental disorder that affects people across many cultures. However, people from different cultures may display their depressive symptoms in different ways. For example, depressed people from one culture may display their symptoms through the inability to think or concentrate. People from another culture may show their depression through poor physical health . The first goal of this project is to understand whether there are cultural differences in how depressive symptoms are expressed. Our second goal is to study the risk factors that cause depression, and whether these differ across cultures. Lastly, we will investigate whether particular depressive symptoms are associated with particular cultural factors. Depressive symptoms of Asian-Americans will be compared to European Americans. We expect to find that shame and cultural isolation will predict depression in Asian Americans, but not in European Americans. We also predict that European Americans will have more physical symptoms of depression than Asian-Americans.

Optimization of equine oocyte vitrification

Interest in the preservation of gametes (spermatozoa and eggs) by freezing has increased in the last years. In the stallion, freezing semen is a widespread technique that can assure preservation of valuable male genetics. In the mare, however, there is currently no efficient method for gamete preservation. The technique utilized is vitrification, and this has been associated with excellent viability in human eggs. Effective vitrification of mare eggs would have many advantages for the horse industry, both for research and clinical use and also for the preservation of rare and endangered breeds. The objective of this program is to develop methods for successful vitrification of equine eggs, with the aim of providing a method for preservation of female genetics for both clinical and research application and to protect endangered breeds around the world by conserving their genetic material.

Photon conversion via optomagnonic interaction within yttrium iron garnet

My current research at the University of Alberta focuses on the development of new quantum information systems. Specifically, my work aims to utilize the ferromagnetic resonances within a soft magnetic material yttrium iron garnet to achieve this goal. Currently, the University of Alberta has several groups working experimentally on magnetic materials similar to and including yttrium iron garnet; these include Dr. Davis and Dr. Freeman in the department of physics. Unfortunately, at this time there does not exist any dedicated theoretical groups focusing specifically on the physics of these magnetic materials at the University of Alberta. This research award would provide me with an opportunity to travel and work with Dr. Viola-Kusminskiy, a world expert on the theory describing these ferromagnetic materials.
An effective experiment relies heavily on input from theoretical physicists, not only to develop the experiments but to provide theoretical predictions of experimental outcomes and additionally to help analyze the results. The Globalink Research Award would provide me with the opportunity to develop these theoretical skills, skills that would be difficult to develop without collaboration opportunities such as this award. TBC

Amélioration de la performance en fatigue de l’alliage INC0718 avec du grenaillage à deux étapes

L’objectif est d’augmenter la vie du matériau en fatigue par traitement de surface. Le grenaillage consiste à bombarder la surface du matériau par des particules dures afin de générer des contraintes résiduelles. Par contre, le grenaillage conventionnel induit un mauvais fini de surface en raison de l’empreinte laissée par les particules. Par conséquent, le deuxième grenaillage serait fait avec des particules plus fines afin d’améliorer le fini de surface. L’équipe japonaise d’accueil est spécialiste dans l’utilisation du grenaillage en deux étapes, en particulier du grenaillage par microbilles (deuxième étape).

Afin de mener à bien le projet, l’étudiant devra faire les essais en fatigue sur des échantillons plats et cylindriques ayant subit différents tests. Par la suite, il sera nécessaire, d’évaluer les paramètres optimaux quant à la variation des microstructures et la variation des contraintes résiduelles.

Social Purpose Real Estate: Understanding Non-profit and Community Owned Real Estate

With some of the least affordable spaces in the country, Vancouver, parts of the Lower Mainland, Sea to Sky and the Victoria area are at risk of losing or compromising their non-profit and social enterprise organizations. This Internship, offered by the Social Purpose Real Estate Collaborative (SPRE) and Vancity Community Foundation, is intended to bolster the data and research available and contribute to a growing awareness of the situation and potential solutions. SPRE seeks to mitigate the impacts of the real estate market on non-profits and social enterprises. This Internship will help advance the knowledge and discourse, connect to the academic and non-profit community, and articulate the issues and solutions for community real estate in BC.

Analyzing the IMPACT of Mass Gatherings on Individuals and Local Communities

The Royal Columbian Emergency Physicians’ Association – Academic Group along with the Mass Gathering Medicine Interest Group conduct research in mass gathering medicine that measures the local community burden incurred by MGM events and develops appropriate medical response planning and curricula for MGM events. This project focuses on further developing an existing MGM data registry, data model, and theoretical approach for analyzing the impact of MGM events using a retrospective and prospective cohort study design. The intern will work with partner and research mentors to refresh the literature review, assist in analysis of data, and review, validate, and extend data collection tools and processes. In addition, the intern will participate in MGM planning and events. The intern and partner organizations will develop experience and skills in conducting multidisciplinary research, literature reviews, and mixed modes of data collection and analysis, including statistical analysis and thematic analysis of qualitative data.

The Effect of CIB Lensing on CMB Lensing

The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) is the oldest light we can observe. CMB observations have told us a lot about the universe, from the conditions in the early universe to how the universe will expand in the future. As CMB propagates towards us, its path is altered by the gravity of everything in between the CMB and us by a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. By investigating this lensing, we can learn about the matter between us and the CMB. As CMB observations are becoming more accurate, it is becoming increasingly important to accurately model the lensing. CIB or Cosmic Infrared Background is one factor that affects CMB lensing, and it is also lensed. TO BE CONT’D

Dutch Green Farms: A systematic review of dementia care in the Netherlands

This project will be an in-depth Systematic Review of the current literature surrounding the topic of Dutch Green Care Farms. Dutch Green Care farms are a new, innovative approach to Dementia Care primarily in the Netherlands, which work to address a person-centered approach while maintaining and improving the functional abilities of residents with dementia through involving them in daily routines.These daily routines focus on the capabilities of the residents rather than the limitations and involve tasks such as walking, agriculture (for example gardening, feeding animals etc.), and plenty of outdoor activities to increase the physical activity of this vulnerable population. During this systematic review, we will address the literature gaps in this subject, that are a result of scarce research being done on Green Care Farms and will address how these farms may help to improve the quality of life of individuals living with dementia, while also comparing them to the traditional model of dementia care which is primarily focused and based on the medical model. TBC