Going beyond genomics: Applying gene editing to the bovine industry

A new revolution in life science research is ongoing since the discovery of the CRISPR/Cas system. With this technology is now possible to specifically and efficiently manipulate the genome of cultured cells, embryos and animals. The technology has many applications in agriculture including the dairy genetic industry to generate the next generation of elite animals […]

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Radio Acoustical Virtual Environment: from Lab to Field

Verbal communication in noise while wearing hearing protection devices (HPDs) is often difficult. Recently, a “Radio Acoustical Environment” (RAVE) was developed within the EERS-ETS Industrial Research Chair in In-Ear Technologies (CRITIAS) to enhance communication for people wearing HPDs in noise. With RAVE, speech is captured from inside the ear, denoised, and enhanced to be sent […]

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Development of low-cost feeding strategies for group-housed gestating sows

Feed restriction in gestating sows is required to prevent excessive body weight gain and the associated negative consequences on lactation, locomotion, farrowing, and feed intake during lactation. Aggression and stereotypies associated with restricted feeding become a welfare and production concern when the sows are housed in groups. Delayed gastric emptying, increased swelling of contents in […]

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Fast and robust real-time precise point positioning

Current real-time precise point positioning (PPP) systems still suffer significant challenges. One is its long position convergence time necessary before precise position solutions become obtainable. Another is its sensitivity to the loss/latency of high-frequency precise orbit and clock corrections, resulting in degraded performance. Those challenges have limited PPP’s adoption in many applications. This project aims […]

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Evolved Radio Access for Wireless Cellular Communication Systems – Year Two

The continuously increasing demand for wireless access, driven by the increasing requirements of our connected society, is pushing current wireless cellular communication systems to the limits of their capacity. The objective of this project is to continue the successful collaboration with our industry partner (Telus Corporation) to further contribute to the evolution of current generation […]

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Development of an advanced modeling platform for assessing chemical and mechanicalmembrane durability in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells – Year Two

Hydrogen powered polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are a clean energy technology that generates electricity without harmful emissions at the point of use. To accelerate commercialization, current R&D efforts mainly target reduced cost and increased lifetime. The proposed research project addresses both aspects by developing a unified chemical and mechanical modeling platform for evaluating […]

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Long-Term Ecosystem Monitoring of the British Columbia Coast across a Gradient of Human Stressors – Year Two

Proposed developments (pipelines, super-tankers) along the coast of BC have the potential to negatively impact (shell)fisheries. Direct monitoring of fisheries can only detect negative impacts which have already occurred; therefore, indicator species (meiofauna) and environmental variables are monitored to detect disturbances before productivity is impacted. Our project will monitor intertidal ecosystems (numerous species and environmental […]

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Early warning indicators as tools for freshwater monitoring

A myriad of environmental stressors are threatening freshwater ecosystems. However, monitoring the impacts of these stressors on economically and culturally important native fish populations remains a challenge. Ontario is a large province with hundreds of thousands of lakes, yet knowledge of ecological structure across lakes is limited, particularly for remote lakes in the Far North. […]

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Design of Polar Codes for Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Communication Systems: Constellation and Code Design

Reliable communication over wireless channels has been an active research area for decades. By employing multiple transmit and receive antennas, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems increase the capacity of a wireless channel, bringing significant gain over single-input single-output (SISO) systems. One of the main tools to achieve the improved capacity are error correction codes. During the […]

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Improving signal processing in hearing aids to support music and emotional speech

Hearing aid research has traditionally focused on improving speech intelligibility for people with hearing loss, but there is increasing interest in addressing other aspects of hearing that contribute to quality of life, particularly music and other non-linguistic information. Listening to music through hearing aids is often dissatisfying due to distortions introduced by current algorithms. Hearing […]

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