This project aims to 1) identify and understand the unique social and psychological burdens that vulnerable older adults face during the pandemic, 2) explore and identify successful and unsuccessful digital interventions that has been done at the West End Seniors Network (WESN) to help raise social connectedness, and 3) develop strategies and design future interventions […]

To decarbonise, the participation of the oil industry is key. Rather than process crude oils, refineries are able to co-process biogenic feedstocks alongside their fossil fuel to reduce the carbon intensities of the fuels they produced. Our project will evaluate what’s the impact of adding these biogenic feedstocks to the existing refining units by long […]

Many animals undertake seasonal migrations in order to access habitats that are critical for activities such as breeding, feeding, or overwintering. In BC, western rattlesnakes undertake small-scale migrations between their overwintering dens and their summer grounds, allowing them access to critical food resources and mates. The migratory patterns of adult rattlesnakes are relatively well studied […]

Identity is one of the most fundamental aspects of our daily lives. From depositing money into a bank account, to attending a friend’s party, almost all of our activities go through some kind of identity relation. Current systems for managing this vast volume of identity “transactions” are mostly central, causing them to be targets for […]

The main goal of this research project is to study if a protein named SEMA3C can be a biomarker for early detection of an aggressive and lethal form of prostate cancer, named Double Negative Prostate Cancer (DNPC). To test if SEMA3C is a contributing factor in the progression of DNPC, we will compare SEMA3C level […]

This proposed Mitacs project will investigate and further develop EIS (Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy), or AC-impedance-based measurement hardware used for diagnosing faults in PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) fuel cell systems (FCS), and incorporating the on-board EIS function in the fuel cell dc/dc converters used to transfer power from the fuel cell to the vehicle traction drive. […]

This project enhances scholarly and public understandings of how technical scientific knowledge shapes legal outcomes, especially through the process of finding facts. Fact determination is an unregulated yet enormously consequential task for courts. Yet the law of evidence remains widely conceptualized as an essentially rule-bound domain, including in legal pedagogy. Meanwhile, despite judicial efforts at […]

Throughout Western North America with few exceptions all species of Pacific Salmon stocks have been in steady decline for over 50 years. On the West Coast of Vancouver Island, Chinook salmon stocks are of particular concern. These fish provide ecological, cultural and economic value to the region and current numbers are at an all-time low. […]

This research project will suggest guidelines that can be used by practitioners to formally represent the business benefits of blockchain. The business benefits focused on in this study are the increased financial value and the improved productivity. Formal methods will be applied to communicate these business benefits in unambiguous ways. Specifically, financial methods will be […]

Parkinson’s disease is most highly recognized by tremors of the hands that occur in those afflicted with the disease. Though the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease involving motor function begin with very slight tremors of the hands, they further develop into issues such as difficulty swallowing, severe postural problems and extremely limited mobility. In this proposal, […]

Mental illnesses, particularly depression, is one of the leading causes of global disease burden. In addition to reducing the quality of life of patients and their relatives, it costs billions of dollars annually to the Canadian economy. Unfortunately, current antidepressant drugs are barely satisfactory and have numerous side-effects. The goal of this project is to […]

Current testing for SARS-CoV-2 focuses on detection of the pathogen via isolated nucleic acids, routinely from nasopharyngeal swabs. To our knowledge, no approved clinical SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests using nasopharyngeal swabs incorporate measurements of host responses at the time of diagnosis. Monitoring host responses during SARS-CoV-2 infection is important, as stratification of COVID-19 patients based on […]