Projets novateurs réalisés

Stadium Siting in European Cities: Interaction, Integration and Placemaking

In contemporary city building, large sports venues are seen as a means to prompt urban development. Despite a plethora of studies suggesting sport events and stadium construction have little appreciable effect on income, employment and economic development at a municipal scale, governments continue to promote them, often in partnership with higher levels of government and private investors. It is thus essential to identify conditions associated with stadiums’ positive impacts on the surrounding built and socio-economic environment; among the relevant factors, stadium location and links to transit are of likely key importance. This project looks to analyze and understand how, in selected European cities, stadium siting lends itself to placemaking, positive interactions, and beneficial integration with the surrounding environment. TO BE CONT’D

Evolution of resource revenue sharing in resource-rich countries: characteristics and implementation

This research intends to equip the stakeholders with better understanding of the successful applications of revenue sharing mechanisms at national and local levels in resource-rich countries. The work will identify the “new norms” of the industry and government in resource revenue sharing arrangements and provide a description of the model approach on resource revenue sharing with a long-term implementation and benefits. The lessons and priorities of the international practices around the resource revenue sharing would help to find the common ground on the evolving topic.

La Barra, Colombia: Post-Disaster Relocation Planning

Many cities around the world and specifically Latin America are now being forced to relocate due to the effects of climate change. This is the case of La Barra, a small village located on Colombia’s Pacific coast. Due to its destruction by rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and increased erosion, the village is in the process of relocation and has already acquired land to do so. This research aims to identify factors that allow displaced people to successfully re-establish their homes, livelihoods, and crucial services. During my stay in Colombia, I will help La Barra residents and other stakeholders develop a vision and master plan for La Barra’s new location through a participatory approach. TO BE CONT’D

Assessing traumatic brain injury knowledge and awareness at community organizations serving women who have experienced intimate partner violence

It is clear that TBI affects a large proportion of survivors of IPV, yet the supports and services provided to this population typically do not take TBI into account. Gaining a better understanding of the barriers and facilitators to TBI knowledge and awareness for staff working in this sector and using this knowledge to inform the development of a sector specific knowledge tool has the potential to reduce the emotional, social, and financial costs of IPV to Canadian society

Today’s digital family: Patterns of technology use and wellbeing in families with young children

Across Canada, there are widespread and growing concerns about the impact of screen time on the wellbeing of families and young children. Yet research on this topic, particularly that which is specific to mobile technologies (e.g., smartphones, iPads), remains in its infancy. The proposed research will involve a detailed survey of screen time in families with young children (ages 2–5), as well as an assessment of child, parent, and family wellbeing. In addition to self-reporting screen time, families will install an app on their mobile devices to obtain a more detailed and objective measure of technology use in the home. Using advanced statistical methods, we will identify different patterns of technology use and wellbeing. Findings will be used to develop best practices and inform existing interventions employed by our partner organization, Project Literacy, and affiliates, Kelowna Child Care Society and United Way, to encourage healthy technology use among families.

Intégration de technologies innovantes pour l’optimisation du positionnement des cyclistes

La collaboration entre l’Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières et Laferté Bicycles aura pour but de mettre à l’essai en laboratoire du matériel novateur pour l’évaluation fonctionnelle pré-positionnement ainsi que du matériel de prise de mesures lors du positionnement pour appuyer les décisions et avancements. Les données recueillies en laboratoire seront traitées et évaluées afin de valider la fiabilité, l’utilité d’interprétation et la pertinence du transfert en entreprise. La mise en place d’une méthode simplifiée est envisagée de la part du partenaire.

Living under construction. Tourism development and informal housing: stories from migrant tourism workers in Los Cabos, Mexico.

My research will be looking into the relationship of migrant workers in the tourism industry is with current levels of governance in Los Cabos, Mexico. The objective of this work is to identify how to reduce vulnerabilities for migrant workers in the tourism industry that have traveled to Los Cabos from other parts of Mexico in search for better opportunities. Despite the lack of urban policy in the area, there are ways to mitigate the damaging impacts of tourism developments on the livelihoods of migrant workers who sustain the city’s main economic industry. The intent of this project is to create a document of personal narratives using examples from the inland communities living in informal settlements as a result of limited access to housing. TO BE CONT”D

Microstructural analysis of through-thickness compaction in dry fibrous reinforcements

The project aims to analyze the through-thickness compaction of dry fibrous reinforcements at the mesoscopic scale. Predicting how fiber tows deform during the compression of woven fabrics is important in resin injection processes because textile deformation plays an important role on permeability. Fiber orientation governs also mechanical performance. Hence, compaction represents a key issue that will be investigated experimentally by X-ray microtomography. Fibrous specimens will be scanned to produce 3D voxel images of the textile architecture. Then, by using the image processing software CompoCT under development at Polytechnique Montreal, the fiber tows and the polymer matrix will be classified and the tows in contact separated to reconstruct the geometric stucture of the composite. The geometric model represents precisely the details of the fabric before and after compression with a description of the mesopores between fiber tows, and the geometric dimensions and weave pattern of the yarns. TO BE CONT’D

Creating a New Standard for Vision Loss Rehabilitation in Canada

Approximately nine million Canadians live with vision loss that, even when wearing corrective lenses, impedes their ability to perform everyday tasks. Canadians with vision loss are at greater risk of social isolation and reduced community participation. Vision loss rehabilitation (VLR) is a multi-disciplinary service that includes orientation and mobility training, independent living skills and low vision technology. These services are effective for improving the lives of people with vision loss. However, these services are varied and lack coordination in Canada. The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) has been active in changing VLR services and has established Vision Loss Rehabilitation Canada. CNIB has set an ambitious goal of fully integrating VLR into the health care system. This research will contribute to this goal by first providing a clear understanding of how and where vision loss rehabilitation services are provided and the factors influencing the provision of services.

A comparative study of high school mathematics curriculum and pedagogies in Canada and China: A case study of mathematics in the south-west region

During my research, I want to evaluate the Chinese high school mathematics system. Looking at the mathematics curriculum in China and comparing it to Canada. Doing this will help my research connect the two curriculum to see what works and what is different. While doing this assessment, I want to also look at the teaching pedagogy in China. I want to get a better understanding of how teaching is done in China and point out the similarities and the differences. After my research is done, I want to implement what I have learned in China and bring it back to Canada to help improve mathematics education in my country.

Diluted mean field spin glass models

I want to master the modern mathematical theory of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick and related spin glass models. The field spin glass models originate in theoretical statistical physics. After learning current results, I plan to start working on some open problems, such as in the setting of the diluted Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model, which is not completely understood today. The Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model was introduced in order to understand unusual magnetic properties of some metal alloys, in which the magnetic spins of the component atoms were not aligned in a regular pattern. Diluted version of this model turns out to be related to various combinatorial optimization problems, and make progress in this direction could lead to application in computer science. I will work with Dmitriy Panchenko, who is a leading researcher in this field.

Investing in our Youth: Community Safety and the Role of the Toronto Police Service in Building Healthy Communities

The objective of the project is to develop a framework that will bring police, community agencies and young people in Toronto?s 14 and 51 Divisions together to create, deliver and evaluate a progressive intervention matrix that includes existing and new initiatives designed to promote positive police-youth relations and thereby enhance impact on community health.

Nonprofit organizations are under tremendous pressure to demonstrate outcomes and “value for money” as resources shrink. While this is challenging even in the context of direct service delivery, it is even more difficult when assessing the outcomes of prevention programs whether in public health or crime prevention. There are numerous tricky technical challenges regarding measuring programs? effectiveness, such as establishing a secure counterfactual, attributing responsibility for observed changes to the measures initiated, identifying short and long-term impacts, identifying substantial side-effects, and attaching numbers to costs and benefits of interventions. Many organizations tend to measure before and……..