Innovative Projects Realized

Pre-arrival services: The missing piece in the immigrant integration puzzle?

Although the education level of immigrants arriving in Canada has been steadily increasing, finding appropriate employment has remained a constant challenge for many newcomers. In an effort to improve some of the barriers that immigrants face, immigrant service organizations (ISOs) have started providing pre-arrival services for immigrants before they set foot in Canada. Pre-arrival services include orientation sessions, language classes and workshops on various topics such as job search strategies and occupational licensing. This research study will examine whether and how pre-arrival services may play a role in improving the labour market experiences of skilled immigrants and their families after they arrive in Canada. The internship will focus on collecting interview data from immigrants who have received pre-arrival services within the past five years with the aim to understand how pre-arrival services can be expanded and optimized to improve newcomers’ labour market outcomes.

Who’s at the Top? How racialized female newcomers ascend to top management teams

our overall objective is to explain the process by which FRNs move beyond attaining starter
jobs to advancing into senior leadership positions. Employment within a top management team means
newcomers are likely to make a strategic impact on business. We focus on the Greater Vancouver area
to leverage earlier research conducted in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), allowing for cross-provincial
comparisons of quantitative data (Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council, 2019). The project
will focus on two research questions to further our overall objective:

1. To what extent are female newcomers represented in senior leadership positions in Greater
Vancouver?
2. What factors at the firm and individual levels explain any gaps or patterns revealed by the first
question, especially focusing on career progression of female racialized newcomers?

Relier identité et sécurité: élaboration d’un cadre analytique

De nombreux conflits sont aujourd’hui envisagés sous l’aspect identitaire. Ainsi, chiite contre sunnite, Européen ou Occidental contre immigré, Baltiques européens contre Baltiques russes, etc. Pourtant, les littératures sur la sécurité d’une part et sur l’identité d’autre part se parlent très peu. L’objectif du présent projet est dès lors de faire dialoguer ces littératures afin de mieux comprendre la manière dont fonctionnent l’identité et la sécurité et surtout le lien qui les unit. Plus concrètement, il s’agit de comprendre comment le processus de construction de l’identité et le processus de construction de la sécurité fonctionnent de pair et s’influencent mutuellement. En effet, nous postulons que la définition des frontières de l’une influence la définition des frontières de l’autre. Dès lors, l’étude d’une seule des deux variables ne donnerait qu’un aperçu partiel du “problème” et c’est pourquoi nous jugeons nécessaire la combinaison des deux littératures. En réalisant cette unification, nous avons pour objectif de proposer un cadre d’analyse unifié qui sera à la fois plus complet, plus précis et plus fin.

Engineered Polymers for Nucleic Acid Therapies

Nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA offer exceptional opportunities to fight against infectious and genetic diseases. To use nucleic acids effectively in a clinical setting, one needs to use effective delivery vehicles that can deliver the nucleic acids into the diseased cells. This project will develop effective delivery systems for this purpose. The delivery systems will be used to deliver RNA and DNA based therapeutic agents in 2 diseases, namely Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and hematological cancers. We will develop specific drugs against these diseases and test them in culture and animal models of the diseases. Successful completion of this project will advance the therapies towards clinical testing.

Developing cultural practices to produce dry beans in Quebec

It is critical for farmers to have the information necessary so that they can make decisions on the best practices to undertake when growing a new crop. Pulse production is growing in demand and is an established market in Canada. In addition, plant based protein products are growing in popularity. We are working on developing a set of tools and information that will enable farmers to grow more pulses in Quebec. We will determine basic agronomic parameters that will maximize crop yield and minimize risk of crop failure. These will be planting date, space between rows, number of plants per hectare and cultivar selection.

Statistical Analysis of Truckload Transportation Rates

Times series freight rates for trucking is notoriously difficult to obtain. The industry is comprised of different kinds of trucks (e.g., vans and flatdecks), serves different traffic lanes and has a very large number of carriers and shippers. Moreover, the data varies with the tempo of the general economy and seasonal variations. Aggregate data is generally not meaningful or comparable.
This project will provide access to a unique data set based on actual transactions for a multiple of origins/destinations and different truck configurations. The analysis will enable study of some accepted by not proven concepts, such as the tapering of freight rates with distance, the general traffic flows as illustrated by fronthaul/backhaul rates, and the differences for transport by different trailer types. A further benefit is economic forecasting. Trucking is known to be an early indicator of economic change, and these data will permit the development of accurate forecasting models.

Identification des exigences d’information et des activités de contrôle qualité des projets BIM pour les propriétaires et les gestionnaires d’installations

L’utilisation des processus et des technologies de modélisation des informations du bâtiments (BIM) se développe rapidement dans les pays de L’industrie de l’architecture, de l’ingénierie et de la construction (AEC). Il est largement mis en œuvre lors des phases de conception et de construction. Toutefois, les modèles de construction créés au cours de ces phases ne sont pas adaptés à l’opération et Phase de maintenance (O&M). Dans ce travail, nous aimerions fournir un guide qui présente des lignes directrices plus pratiques et détaillées pour les propriétaires immobilières et les exploitants. Principalement pour les points suivants (1) comment ils peuvent formuler leurs besoins et exigences (pour créer le AIR et le EIR) (2) comment assurer la qualité des modèles destiné au gestion d’actifs.

The effect of privacy upon online health disclosure

How much medical knowledge is stored in each of our own family trees? When family members share health information with one another, does this lead to higher rates of genetic health screening and better health outcomes? Do perceptions about the privacy of health information affect the rate at which we share this information? This work seeks to understand the role played by perceptions of online privacy in the facilitation of health information disclosure among family members. An online family tree web application will permit participants to enumerate close relatives and their health conditions. This online tool will fulfills two roles 1) as a health information tool it will be a valuable resource for discovering potential health risk factors; and 2) as an online laboratory it will provide critical insight into the utilization and sharing of health information by a diverse online population

Mise au point d’une technique de dosage pharmacologique de l’alpelisib par Chromatographie Liquide à Haute Performance (HPLC) chez les enfants porteurs de syndrome d’hypercroissance dysharmonieuse.

Les syndromes d’hypercroissance sont un groupe de maladies rares caractérisées par une croissance excessive généralisée ou d’un membre. Dans la plupart des cas, ils sont liés à des anomalies génétiques affectant des gènes contrôlant le signal de croissance au sein des cellules (la voie de signalisation PI3K-AKT-mTOR). L’Alpelisib (autrement appelé Piqray®) est un médicament émergent. Il inhibe l’activité du PIK3CA et donc la croissance excessive. L’utilisation de ce médicament est rendue difficile chez l’enfant par le manque de données dans la littérature médicale, notamment la dose minimale à administrer pour une bonne efficacité sans effet indésirable reste à déterminer. L’objectif premier de cette étude est de développer le dosage de l’alpelisib dans le plasma humain par une technique de laboratoire spécifique appelée chromatographie liquide à haute performance (HPLC). Une fois la technique de dosage établie, le travail pourra être poursuivi en collaboration avec l’équipe française afin d’établir des modèles pharmacologiques c’est à dire des équations mathématiques permettant de faire un lien entre la dose administrée, les concentrations plasmatiques mesurées et l’effet obtenu. L’objectif final est d’améliorer l’utilisation de l’Alpelisib chez les enfants porteurs de syndrome d’hypercroissance.

The State of Bonne Bay: An Historical and Contemporary Study of the Littoral and Marine Ecology

This project will contribute to an assessment of the historical and contemporary “state of the environment” of Bonne Bay. The aim is to establish the extent to which its marine and littoral ecosystems are resilient and “healthy”, and what changes, if any, have occurred in recent decades to its physical, biological and ecological components. These would include pelagic and demersal fish, marine plants, tides, water temperature and chemistry. Particular attention will be paid to the diversity and habitats of fish and other marine organisms, as well as to estuaries, shorelines and deltas. An historical picture will be developed to show, where present, the ecosystem effects of human-induced activities around the Bay, as well as changes related to weather and climate. The study will be based on existing documents and databases, as well as interviews with local fishers and scientists familiar with Bonne Bay.

Power Quality and Performance Analysis of Power Electronic Components of Water Electrolysis Hydrogen Production System (PEM Technology)

Hydrogen production technologies have strong potential to play a significant role in the new energy system that must be defined in the coming years. Water electrolyzing offers opportunities for Hydrogen production for the whole chemical industry to reduce its CO2 footprint and become more competitive. It is a promising technology for energy storage coupled with renewable energy sources. This project aims to develop an expertise in power electronics technologies for water electrolyzer plants and conduct onsite performance tests to understand the influence of the electronic component on the lifetime of electrolyzer. This will contribute to a better understanding of power electronic components effects on the electrolyzers and utility grid.

Investing in Recovery: Strengthening Employer and Policy Roles in Labour Market Integration of Canada’s Immigrant Women in STEM

The goal of our project titled Investing in Recovery: Strengthening Employer and Policy Roles in Labour Market Integration of Canada’s Immigrant Women in STEM will be to produce new research rooted in a power analysis around the specific challenges that Canada’s immigrant women in STEM face, including the perspective of STEM employers on the opportunity costs for their growth if these barriers are not addressed (particularly in a time of pandemic recovery) as well as exploring and documenting the various kinds of support employers may need in order to sustainably improve the labour market outcomes of highly-skilled immigrant women in STEM. The strategic partnership between University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information and TechGirls Canada aims to produce research that is relevant and actionable, while inspiring the stakeholders to envision more equitable and economically just alternative futures in this fiercely competitive global environment.