Caffeine, genetic variation and athletic performance

Caffeine is among the most widely consumed performance enhancing substance used by athletes at all levels. However, studies that have investigated the effects of caffeine on athletic performance report inconsistent findings and the role of an individual’s genetic make-up in influencing how a person processes caffeine is becoming increasingly important. As a result, there is […]

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Genetic variation in 9p21, dietary patterns and cardiovascular disease risk

Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death in Canadians and expected to claim nearly 65 000 lives in 2015. Approximately 75% of these deaths are preventable by having a healthier lifestyle, including a better diet. Another risk factor is having a family history of heart disease, mainly because of inherited genetic risk factors. A […]

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Autonomous Modeling of High-Resolution X-ray Spectra Using Robust Global Optimization Methods

High-energy astrophysics is a young, fast-growing field that has opened a new window to the “invisible” universe. X-ray spectroscopy is a particularly powerful tool to discover the nature of highenergy sources, since their physical properties are inferred by comparing physical models to observations. Therefore, methods for fitting models to data are of crucial importance. The […]

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The benefits of hemp protein supplementation during resistance training

Hemp powder is an increasingly popular supplement with body builders. Hemp contains many of the essential building blocks of proteins (i.e. amino acids) and also contains oil helpful to prevent swelling. It may also be beneficial for building muscle mass and increasing bone health. Despite these possible benefits, the effectiveness of hemp powder during a […]

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Development of lighting system optimized for photosynthetic plant and algae growth

The photosynthetic performance of certain desirable plants and algae depend strongly on the exact spectrum and light/dark cycle of their illumination. Several modern and emerging technologies have the energy efficiency, and the spectral and temporal characteristics to provide optimal lighting in an amenable form factor. This project aims to compare the costs and benefits of […]

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The impact of the physical and social environment on epigenetic modifications, telomere length and the development of breast cancer

Recent studies have shown that interactions between beings and the environment, including social practices and human behavior, have an impact on the susceptibility to develop chronic diseases such as cancer, through epigenetic modifications or telomere shortening. The term epigenetic applies to the modifications that regulate gene expression without modifying the DNA sequence. Furthermore, telomere is […]

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Assessing Social Cognition in Autistic Youths and Adults

The goal of the project is to develop a series of standardized, performance-based computerized assessment tools for use in the examination of social cognition deficits in ASD. Drawing on the available experimental literature a number of potential assessment tasks will be identified, reviewed and configured for computer-based administration to children / youth with ASD. Programming […]

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Automatic Spam Alert System for Online Social Media

Online discussion forums are examples of social media that are becoming popular. The goal is to develop efficient and scalable techniques that work on large amounts of conversational text to separate the posts that truly matter from irrelevant ones, as well as techniques that are easily adaptable to new domains and forums. VerticalScope, Inc. is […]

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Distributed Control Strategy Development for Demand-Side Energy Management in Commercial Buildings With Photo-Voltaic and Energy Storage

Increasing global energy demand coupled with efforts to reduce our carbon emission has pushed for improved energy efficiency in many areas. One area in need of improvement is residential and commercial buildings. Specifically, the demand-side energy management of commercial buildings can be improved significantly with improved control. With the addition of on-site renewable energy generation […]

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Methods to improve high-resolution airborne thermal infrared (TIR) imagery in support of urban waste heat mapping, monitoring and metrics

This proposal builds on 5 years of research in the award winning HEAT (Heat Energy Assessment Technologies) project. Every year, billions of GJ of wasted heat leave millions of buildings in thousands of cities world-wide. In an effort to support urban energy efficiency, this research proposes four novel image post-processing techniques to improve/verify the geometry, […]

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Spelling Correction for Improved Detection of Malicious Chat Messages

Cyberbullying, sexting, profanity and other forms of malicious chat messages have become increasingly common in online virtual worlds and social networks that are used by children and teenagers. These conversations are dangerous to children. The partner organization has already implemented a rule based filtering system to filter out malicious messages. However, not all the malicious […]

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