This project explored the effectiveness of an educational technology called peerScholar, which is an online peer-assessment tool used to enhance student learning. To date, all of the findings on peerScholar have focused on the development of critical thinking skills at the University level. However, given that learning begins earlier, the proposed research will examine the […]

The proposal research concerns the creation of innovative tools to improve the quality and effectiveness of modeling in software development.  Specifically, the research will focus on three areas: how to express the relationships between models to make sure that models are properly synchronized with each other; how to express different variations within the model so […]

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are poised to have increasingly larger roles in health care systems globally and one possible scenario is that Ontario emerges as a leader in providing eHealth innovation and service delivery.  Although ICT-based methods of service delivery are well established in particular areas of health care, the potential benefits for hearing […]

Pyrolysis uses high temperatures, in the absence of oxygen, to crack long and complex molecures into smaller molecules.  It has been successfully and separately applied to both (a) heavy oils, to produce lighter liquid fractions and solid coke byproduct in conventional oil refineries, and to (b) biomass, to convert solid residues into liquid bio-oils.  Pyrolytic […]

The proposed project aims to reduce emissions and fuel consumption in the next generation of aircraft engines.  Better aerodynamics, higher efficiency and reduced weight are possible by improving the performance of the core engine components (ie. Compressor, combustor and turbine).  Advances in the understanding of the flow field are needed to achieve this goal.  Velocity […]

This research project is directed towards the assessment and development of technologies that will complement the UV technologies provided by Trojan Technologies for water/wastewater treatment.  A novel liquid-solid circulating fluidized bed bioreactor (CFBBR) developed at the University of Western Ontario in collaboration with Trojan Technologies has generated a wide interest for commercial application for biological […]

Solid pharmaceutical dosage forms such as tablets and beads used in capsules are currently coated by liquid coating technology, which incurs high environmental risk and high capital and operation costs. Prof. Zhu's research group has developed an ultratine powder coating technology for the auto industry. Our previous studies have shown that the same technology can […]

Scisense is a medical device company focused on Micro Sensor technology used to monitor cardio dynamics in animals as small as mice. Scisense's existing production process l-Or building the micro sensor probes is a tedious process that requires a high degree of skilled labour and ultimately results in a low yield of marketable devices. The […]

The objective of this research is to develop methods for protection and restoration of critical infrastructure and services in face of large scale failures resulting from natural or man-made disasters, multiple equipment failures, or security attacks.  The impact of such failures on Ontario’s ever-increasingly wired economy can be enormous, and the proposed solutions so far […]

Nowadays, most of cell biomechanics studies based on cell stretching have focused on small stretching magnitude, without the ability to visualize cell behavior and morphology during stretch. We therefor decided to build a cell stretcher/incubator providing the physiological conditions of cell culture (37°C, 5% CO2) while also allowing the application of a wide range of […]

Micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) refer to integrated mechanical & electrical systems in micron scale that are now growing in numbers due to a miniaturization trend. An advanced actuation method proposed for MEMS in University of Toronto and Ryerson University will be applied for an auto-focus mechanism in cell phone cameras. This research will build on work […]

Breast cancer tumors spread to the rest of the body through the sentinel lymph nodes (the first lymph node to receive lymphatic drainage from a tumor). The metastases of breast cancer can be controlled by the detection and removal of these nodes.  The surgical removal of the auxillary lymph nodes and perform biopsy tests is […]