The industrial agri-food system is a major contributor to global environmental and social problems. One alternative with the potential to jointly address these issues is agroecology, defined as the application of ecological principles to the design of agricultural systems in a way that respects diverse local contexts. Yet farmers’ uptake of agroecological management practices has […]

This project will assess the value in measuring sustainability outcomes according to place-specific baselines rather than universal thresholds set by rating systems and frameworks. It seeks a stronger foundation for sustainable design that can acknowledge place-specific factors. Ultimately, this work will lead to the establishment of a decision-making protocol about sustainable design options and outcomes […]

Advances in medical image scanning technologies has allowed for great improvement in medical care, from early tumor detection, to trailered treatments and predicting treatment outcome. However, this has resulted in the generation of huge medical image databases, with thousands of medical image scans per patient that need to be examined by clinicians, making it impractical […]

A helmet and its components such as chin strap are designed, tested, and certified for compression force only while neglecting sharp twisting of the brain. The goal of this project is to develop and integrate a Force Sensitive Mechanism (FSM) to a chin strap of a football and bicycle helmet. FSM offers a controlled tightness […]

n power generation and delivery systems, there are always a number of control/design parameters and set-points that should be tuned to some optimum values for maximizing efficiency and output power. For example, in photovoltaic cells, there is an optimum load value that maximizes the output power. This value may change over time depending on the […]

Since the 19th century, Chinese men and women have migrated to small towns and cities throughout places such as Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and North America in search of better opportunities, bringing with them many traditional cultural practices, values and customs that evolved over time and space. How did early migrants retain cultural heritage […]

Plants produce a blend of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) quickly in response to various growing conditions and plant stressors. These compounds are released well before there are any obvious signs of stress, such as wilting or loss of chlorophyll. Blueberry and other crops with thicker leaves, are slow to show obvious signs of stress and […]

In order to further enhance the productivity of mines, it is crucial to optimize mining operations. Motion Metrics Int. Corp. offers a wide range of machine vision based products to monitor mining excavators, and to generate actionable information for the mine management board. Performance of the current Motion Metrics’ products can be improved by intelligent […]

SemiosBIO is developing biopesticide technologies for the pest control industry. The products are intended for several markets, including agriculture, home and gardens, professional pest control operators (eg for hotels and commercial spaces) and forestry. semiosBIO has intellectual property that is being developed and tested in collaboration with 7 different organizations across Canada. The role of […]

Bacterial biofilm formation on medical devices remains an unsolved medical challenge. Biofilms are communities of bacteria within which bacteria are able to become highly resistant to antibiotics and the host’s immune system. Developing materials that prevent biofilm formation is limited by a lack of understanding about how bacteria attach to and form biofilm on surfaces. […]

This project will combine filtration characterization and advanced 3D imaging and modelling of material structures to find ways to improve the recovery of process water from difficult-to-treat tailings that are the by-product of mining and mineral processing. This process is called solid-liquid separation and it is a critical area for the reduction of oil sands […]

Resource extraction, including mineral exploration and mining, is an important part of Canada’s economy. There is currently a great interest in finding the minerals that are needed for batteries; arguably the lack of minerals is the biggest impediment to cutting the price of electric vehicles and weaning society off fossil fuels. Artificial intelligence has great […]