Green roof and water cistern technologies are increasingly becoming important components of sustainable building practices and urban water management. However, the two technologies are rarely designed as an integrated system. This goal of this project is develop an experimental design to test the reuse of cistern water for irrigation in green roofs. This experiment will […]

The student will work in a drinking water engineering research laboratory at the University of Toronto to explore an aspect related to the novel use of ultraviolet light and chlorine to destroy hard-to-treat contaminants in drinking water. Previous work by this lab has shown that this form of treatment can be effective, but it is […]

Li-ion batteries (LIBs) are currently the most important power source for a wide variety of applications such as cell phones, laptops, computers and other portable electronics. They are also considered as very promising storage/power systems for future electric/hybrid-electric powered transportation. Although clever cell design and improvements in cell subcomponents can bear potential for volume and […]

Li-ion batteries (LIBs) are currently the most important power source for a wide variety of applications such as cell phones, laptops, computers and other portable electronics. They are also considered as very promising storage/power systems for future electric/hybrid-electric powered transportation. Although clever cell design and improvements in cell subcomponents can bear potential for volume and […]

Improving the durability of superhydrophobic surfaces is of significant interest in the surface engineering community. We have recently developed a novel superhydrophobic coating with a hard nanocrystalline nickel matrix and embedded hydrophobic polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) particles. To further improve the mechanical robustness of the non-wetting coating, the soft polymeric PTFE particles were replaced with hard, hydrophobic […]

The research project examines how social and political groups make critical policy choices in a challenging economic context. Focusing on the sub-provincial cases in China, the project aims to examine the process of financial reform during a period of declining economic growth. Examining the government-business relations, the research addresses the challenges that the Chinese political […]

With increasing rates of economic and forced migration globally, there is a great need to deepen our understanding of the relationship between health and family separation due to migration. Under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program, farm workers from Mexico are hired to work in Canada for up to eight months a year. From a social […]

Proteins can exist in two forms: left-handed (L) or right-handed (D); however, for indeterminate reasons life on this planet only uses the L-form. When studied in more detail, both protein forms possess identical physiochemical and biological properties. Yet, D-proteins show minimal proteolytic degradation and fail to elicit immune responses in animals, due to their unnatural […]

Higher levels of income inequality is associated with poor mental and physical health. Often stress is considered the underlying factor creating poorer health outcomes in regions of higher inequality. Even with peaked interest in investigation of income inequality and health there has been no study of the association between income inequality and brain development. Moreover, […]

Software failures are catastrophic. For example, a software failure resulted in the 2003 northeast blackout which lasted 7 hours and took over 55 million people in Ontario and U.S. out of power. Unfortunately, it is dauntingly difficult to diagnose such failures because the underlying software systems are extremely complex. This research is the first to […]

Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into electrical power through an electrochemical reaction, producing water and heat. These fuel cells have been considered for automotive powertrain applications. In this proposed work, a set of varying PEMFC materials will be investigated to advance the performance of PEM fuel cells. The fuel cells […]

A new film coating that can respond appropriately to different pH conditions of the stomach and small intestine (GI tract) was successfully prepared by combining pH-responsive nanoparticles with ethylcellulose polymer. However, the performance of the composite membrane has not been optimized for controlling drug release in the GI tract. Therefore, improvements are to be made […]