Insect pests pose a major threat to forestry in Canada, the UK and globally, particularly in the context of a changing climate and global trade. Effective survey and detection tools are needed to provide early warnings of pest outbreaks and provide information to guide decisions about the need for management action. For eruptive and invasive […]

The use of cocaine and heroin among young Europeans and Americans has been steadily increasing over the past decade (UN World Drug Report, 2018) and as such it has never been more important to understand the mechanisms whereby some individuals switch from recreational controlled drug use to compulsive drug seeking, the hallmark of drug addiction. […]

Atmospheric ice formation can alter cloud properties, impacting precipitation and cloud lifetimes. Understanding the microphysical processes which control ice formation in clouds is vital for reducing climate uncertainties. For example, ice nucleating particles (INPs) induce the freezing of water droplets in clouds, therefore, understanding the nature and abundance of these particles in the atmosphere is […]

Land-use change and invasive species are two of the three major drivers of biodiversity decline globally, however, interactions between these drivers in their impact to whole community diversity and ecosystem function are relatively understudied. This proposal serves to fill this knowledge gap through collaboration with the long-term ecological monitoring data from the Toronto and Region […]

This project will investigate the presence of links between mid-latitude large-scale atmospheric waves (Rossby waves) and the occurrence of extreme rainfall events in Europe. These links would be in the form of spatial and/or temporal co-occurrence of the Rossby waves and the rainfall events. It is expected that there may be connections between the occurrence […]

Candida is a fungus that is often found in healthy mouths, but can also cause infection. Such infections are common in denture wearers where Candida grows on the acrylic denture surface. My PhD is determining what factors on the denture promote infection. The research will measure attachment of Candida and certain bacterial species which live […]

Max Yan from Sheffield will be visiting Dr Dasog’s lab in Dalhousie University to undertake a knowledge exchange-based project. Max will learn how to carry out the low-temperature process developed by Dr Dasog’s group to produce porous silicon. This material can be used as a catalyst to convert sunlight into energy and Dr Dasog’s is […]

A common assumption about gentrification is that it displaces poor and minority residents, their local businesses, and even neighbourhood crime. However, questions remain about displacement and the social control mechanisms of gentrification–especially on non-violent crimes. Drawing on this work, we will explore what happens to illicit markets, such as sex work and drug sales, and […]

Seafloor avalanches of sediment, known as turbidity currents, can be exceptionally powerful and travel 100s km into the deep sea. These flows pose a significant hazard to seafloor infrastructure such as telecommunication cables, which carry the internet. Understanding the processes that trigger turbidity currents is therefore essential to predict when and where they occur. Detailed […]

This project is a computational corpus study that considers harmonic integration in the 31 works of Anton Webern (1883–1945). Harmonic integration concerns the relationship between combinations of notes that sound simultaneously (vertical) and consecutively (linear). During the project, I will write code in Python to analyze the 31 works in the corpus and establish empirically […]

Porous materials have more internal surface area relative to the external surface area (e.g., a sponge can store more water in it than you would expect based on the external dimensions). Porous materials have applications in gas storage, gas separation, and gas reactivity. As such, they are the ideal material for the reduction of emissions […]

Contemporary society faces a number of information processing challenges. As human lives and digital technology are increasingly connected, our understanding of how we process information and make decisions must keep pace. Philosophy can help with challenges like AI development or fake news by clarifying what we mean by concepts like “knowledge” or “fact”. This project […]