With the increasing numbers of economically motivated food adulteration, sensitive, rapid, portable, and cost-effective detection techniques for food fraud is highly demanded. Ground beef products have the potential to be adulterated by the livestock’s by-products, such as beef and pork offal. Traditional techniques failed to meet the requirements by government, food industry, and consumers (i.e. […]

Contamination of marine ecosystems with microplastics (particles

The present dependence of human society on fossil fuels indicates the inevitable increase of energy de-mands and emissions of greenhouse gases, most notably carbon dioxide (CO2). These problems need to be resolved with sustainable energy solutions, including the idea of capturing CO2 to synthesize renewa-ble or sustainable hydrocarbon, and carbonaceous fuels. Our proposed research project […]

Using the case of Chengdu, this research is about neighbourhood redevelopment and residential relocation in post-reform cities of China. In this project, the key process is defined as state-facilitated, new-build gentrification. The thesis attempts to understand why politicaleconomic actors initiate gentrification in the inner city, how consensus building is achieved, conflicts are mediated, and what […]

This project targets the design of a highly accurate proximity sensing system that is capable of operating in a wide distance range under wide variations in temperature and for different sensor characteristics. The system is based on passive inductive proximity sensors that can withstand harsh environments, and, therefore, are widely used in avionic applications. Our […]

Blood is composed primarily of cells (red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, etc.) and plasma (the fluid in which the cells are suspended). Health care providers commonly require the components of blood to be separated before performing tests; currently, this requires blood samples be taken to a medical laboratory for processing. Recent advances in […]

The Intern will develop a tablet based version of a test that identifies French-speaking children at school entry who are at risk for problems learning to read and write. The project will provide an opportunity for a doctoral candidate with a dual academic background in computer science and linguistics to gain skills and experience in […]

Healthy ocean food webs are key to the socio-economic viability of coastal communities in British Columbia. The Vancouver Aquarium’s Coastal Ocean Research Institute (CORI) was established in 2014 to provide an ongoing assessment of the health of Canada’s oceans. This project supports this strategic priority of the CORI initiative and advances the organization’s mission to […]

Wildlife populations are frequently affected by human influences on the landscape. Freshwater turtles have been heavily affected, with 7 of 8 Ontario turtles now listed as species at risk. Individual animals may be stressed by human disturbance, causing reduced fitness. Chronic stress hormones in turtles can be measured analyzing claw clippings in a lab. This […]

Currently in North America, biodiesel is mainly produced from vegetable oils such as soybean and canola using a homogenous catalyst, KOH or NaOH. Two associated challenges are: 1) using edible oils as feedstock may impact food and feed supply adversely; 2) a great amount of water is needed to wash off the homogeneous catalysts dissolved […]

Commonly used hot air drying results in non-uniform shrinkage due to significant thermal gradients, especially at the last stage of drying. In this project we will study two-stage drying of apple slices with hot air at beginning and microwave at the end to minimize effect of non-uniform heat transfer. The goal of the project is […]

3D indoor scenes are ubiquitously needed in the virtual world, e.g. 3D games, movies and virtual reality. These scenes provide the essential virtual environments for 3D characters to perform daily activities and tasks. Current scenes on public available datasets, e.g. Trimble 3D warehouse, are usually clean and well organized, and might not be sufficient to […]