Development and validation of a semi-automated in-situ soil sensor using Vis-NIR spectroscopy

Soil health and fertility has important long-term implications on farming practices. However, farmers and agronomists have difficulties to integrate soil assessment into farming decisions, mainly due to the tedious and long soil sampling process. This project aims at providing an innovative tool for agronomists and farmers to determine instantaneously and accurately several soil characteristics such […]

Read More
Evaluation of low-lignin alfalfa in mixtures with grasses

Forage nutritive value is a key component of profitable dairy production with forage fiber concentration and digestibility being critical, as high quality forages can reduce requirements for high-cost concentrated feeds. One approach and new technology developed to increase forage quality has been the release of high digestibility/lowlignin alfalfa cultivars, as alfalfa is the main forage […]

Read More
Crude Utopia: The Performance of Energy Transition in Canada

A wave of energy-related theatrical productions and performances has emerged in Canada in the past decade. “Crude Utopia: The Performance of Energy Transition in Canada” analyzes eight such cultural and artistic productions, ultimately arguing that moments of utopia within them gesture toward possibilities beyond human dependence on oil. Such utopic moments allow audiences to “practice” […]

Read More
Spatiotemporal travel behavior modeling and analysis for better public transport systems

The public transportation system is crucial in alleviating urban congestion. The widespread of smart card automated fare collection (AFC) system produces massive data recording passengers’ day-to-day transport dynamic, which provides unprecedented opportunities to researchers and practitioners to understand and improve transit services. This project aims to make full use of the transit operational data (mainly […]

Read More
Neuroimaging biomarkers of Parkinson’s disease identified through brain, brainstem and spinal cord imaging

In the current functional and structural neuroimaging project, we aim to identify functional and structural changes that correlate with disease presence and its severity (staging) and that can serve as a basis for future development of PD neuroimaging biomarkers. To achieve this objective we will use our expertise in functional neuroimaging of the cervical spinal […]

Read More
Farrow Memory Training Study

The goal of this project is to assess the effectiveness of a novel memory training program developed by Dave Farrow, 2 time Guinness World Record winner for best memory. The cornerstone of this program is the concept of memory personalities which posits that 1) the optimal way of processing and organizing information to be remembered […]

Read More
Guidance and Control of Hybrid Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with Thrust Vectoring Capabilities

Quadrotors are one of the most popular choices for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in situations where fast disturbance rejection, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capabilities, and maneuverability are required. However, the quadrotor is inherently underactuated, and as a result, it is impossible to independently control the orientation and position of the vehicle. One solution to […]

Read More
Constrained Kalman filtering for train position estimation

Just like for the automotive industry, there is growing interest in the development of fully autonomous trains. One of the key steps in the creation of a fully autonomous solution is optaining an accurate estimate of the train position and velocity. Accurate estimates are critical component of the train safety during operation and better estimates […]

Read More
How We Build Housing: Exploring Baugruppen in Berlin as Scalable, Participatory Co-production in Berlin

This research project will explore the German Baugruppe model of housing development—literally ‘building group’—through which multiple households organize themselves into an association and pool resources to purchase land and engage an architect to design a multi-unit complex of dwellings to suit their needs. This model removes the land developer from the equation, thus giving households, […]

Read More
Deep learning-based approaches for text to speech application

The proposed research project is aimed at the development of text-to-speech systems that leverage the power of deep neural networks. Our goal is to leverage powerful generated models for speech and combine them with mechanisms to incorporate text information. We hope to explore several such techniques and propose novel methods to achieve this goal. The […]

Read More
Improving Caregiver Mental Health with the Use of a Smartphone App

Many of those dealing with anxiety and/or depression are frequently in the care of a friend, partner, or family member known as an informal caregiver. This important role can be very taxing both physically and psychologically, yet few resources are available to specifically target individual caregivers’ needs. The proposed project will contribute to our understanding […]

Read More