Innovative Projects Realized

Development of a drug loaded degradable embolic particle capable of locally deliveringtherapeutic agents for transarterial chemoembolization

Liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer and has the third highest death rate
world-wide. Patients are usually diagnosed once the disease has progressed to a
point where a cure is not possible. An emerging treatment to help manage this type of
cancer uses small particles to block blood from reaching the cancer while also
providing local chemotherapy. One of the problems associated with this method is
that the doctors have trouble directly seeing the particles. This lack of visibility can
lead to serious clinical problems such particles being delivered to non-target tissue.
ABK Biomedical, a Halifax based company, has developed a platform technology,
OccluRad, which is a fully visible particle for blocking blood flow in blood vessels.
This research will adapt the current technology so that it can be used to treat mid to
late stage liver cancer by blocking blood flow to the tumor and delivering a drug to at
the same time.

Enhancement of an AI-driven space situational awareness platform for more robust predictions

As transportation to space becomes more accessible, space debris pose increasing risk to operational satellites. Objects orbiting the earth can have a detrimental effect on space travel and threaten the
spacecraft and its personnel. These objects can be anything from active and passive satellites, orbital debris, space junk, asteroids and fragments from their disintegration and collisions. The first step toward
mitigating the adverse effects of these objects is to be able to predict their motion. Since the motions of these objects are very complex and not independent of each other, conventional techniques and directly
derived physical models fail. In this project, machine learning techniques are used to predict the motions of objects in space. Because machine learning techniques rely on a learning process, their accuracy can
wildly vary. This project specifically focuses on improving the prediction accuracy of two techniques implemented by Columbiad Launch Services Inc., by enhancing the data, and the training procedure that
leads to the machine learning.

Canadian History Through the Lens of Indigenous Women: Indigenous History and Cultural Awareness Training

This proposed research project pairs two students with expertise in branding, digital design and user experience with a partner organization that offers training in Indigenous cultural awareness, specifically Canadian history as seen through the lens of Indigenous women. The students will address research questions, assist with finding ways to expand the awareness training to a wider audience via digital outreach, and explore possibilities for building an online educational platform. The students will also evaluate the partner organization’s positioning and brand identity and advise on ways in which this can be strengthened to reflect the growing scope of the business.

Self-tuning servers within IBM cloud

Modern cloud-based applications are deployed as isolated processes in containers or virtual machines. These applications frequently require tuning by the application developer (or a DevOps engineer) in order to extract the requisite performance. For example, a Java application executing within a Docker container may have radically better performance if the host JVM runs with a specific garbage collector policy, or if the Docker container has the appropriate amount of memory and virtual CPU resources. This application-specific tuning is today a manual process. And, it may be unwieldy for engineers to perform this tuning for complex applications that execute across multiple machines and communicate through message passing.

In this project we will work with the IBM hybrid cloud product team to develop new algorithms and systems to improve the automatic tuning and management of cloud-based applications. Our focus will be initially on improving the performance of Java applications. We may later branch out to consider clusters of applications (e.g., Microservices) that must be tuned in aggregate to optimize overall system performance.

Connected Communities in a time of Physical Distancing: Community-led responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in the city of Toronto.

CCPD will explore the ways that 6 Toronto communities have responded to the health, psycho-social and economic stresses that are exacerbated, amplified or created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on interviews with grassroots leaders, social service agencies, NGOs, and City staff engaged in each of 6 Neighbourhood Improvement Areas in Toronto, CCPD will explore the social infrastructure that was in place prior to COVID-19 that has enabled some communities to act together during and subsequent to the pandemic, and what communities identify as a lack of social infrastructure that made community-led responses difficult or impossible during and post COVID-19.

Rapid Implementation of a Shared COVID-19 Tracking and Response Platform for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Populations in Canada

As COVID-19 rapidly spreads across Canada, the morbidity and mortality rates are likely to follow the same patterns as H1N1, and be significantly higher in First Nation, Inuit and Métis (FNIM) populations compared to non-Indigenous Canadians. Thus, there exists an urgent and currently unmet need to track and respond to incidences of COVID-19 in these populations. Any effort to do so will need to bridge persistent gaps in Indigenous health information system infrastructure while also acknowledging distinct, nation-based FNIM data sovereignty. With these core requirements and key challenges in mind, this project will build on existing networks of Indigenous health information partnerships with FNIM, Indigenous, federal, provincial/territorial (P/T) and allied governing bodies to rapidly implement a shared COVID19 tracking and response platform for FNIM populations in Canada. This research will, 1) rapidly implement the development of a FNIM COVID-19 database, visualization platform and modelling of predicted FNIM case surges and service needs; and 2) progress rapid application of emerging FNIM COVID-19 evidence to content and scope of FNIM community responses, advance quality and comprehensiveness of databases and engage and support FNIM who are hospitalized with COVID-19.

Nanophosphor-based coatings for high resolution microLED displays.

MicroLED displays are of growing interest and are seen as a next generation display technology for leading-edge displays of all sizes, from head-mounted displays for virtual reality through portables (watches and cell phones) to televisions and wall-size displays.
Red, green and blue light emission from blue-emitting Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) would replace the use of discrete red, green and blue-emitting LEDs to simplify the construction of microLED displays. Currently, such LEDs are made using gallium indium nitride, gallium indium aluminum phosphide and gallium arsenide compounds that are expensive to produce. Instead we are seeking to use low cost blue light emission from gallium indium nitride LEDs only, combined with phosphor colour conversion nanophosphor pastes to be used in this project.

Caboodl

This is a Business Strategy Internship focused on 2 business function, finance and marketing. The intern will conduct an assessment of the tolls available to assist with Customer Relationship Management and Ticketing, to replace outdated systems. The intern will also assess the profitability and break-even options of the company to help decide direction of future growth.

DrumFIT- Canadian Situational Market Analysis

DrumFIT’s current product is sold in two markets in Canada, to schools as a physical education curriculum, and to senior living facilities as an activity program designed to aid residents mental and physical agility. The main issue that they are facing at the minute, is that the school physical education market has not been as profitable in Canada as it has been in the US. One of the primary objectives for this project, is to examine the market capabilities, conduct competitor and customer research and to find a new market for DrumFIT to enter into in Canada, which would be more profitable than the school’s market. One market which has shown to be very relevant in the US is the recreation market. DrumFIT has begun to sell into community centres and gyms. This market is very interesting to DrumFIT, as the budget limitations of the Education Department will not feature here. I want to examine the feasibility of DrumFIT selling into chain recreation centres across Canada.

Engaging Seniors as Knowledge Mobilizers in the En-AGE Portal Project

Despite acknowledging the importance of service user participation and inclusive approaches to planning and development of public services, effective ways to engage senior citizens from historically marginalized/underserved social groups is poorly understood. This study explores how diverse groups of senior citizens are enabled to contribute to a knowledge mobilization study, how they experience their contributions, and the facilitators and barriers to their participation. In addition to informing the development of a diverse and sustainable network of seniors to advise the ongoing work of the Ontario Society of Occupational Therapists, this knowledge can improve efforts to engage senior citizen stakeholders in health and social services more generally.

Optimal Design of Switch Reluctance Motor Drives

The main goal of this project is to develop a platform that helps to optimal design of a power converter for switch reluctance motors. The research will focus on multi-domain models and multi-objective optimization routines. Due to the high complexity of developing such a tool, the component models will include loss, thermal, and cost aspects, and the optimization routine will aim to optimize the efficiency and cost of the motor drive design.

Weed and Crop Leaf Area Estimation for Variable Rate Applications

Precision agriculture practices increase productivity while rationalizing farm inputs. It mitigates the adverse impacts of chemical inputs on the environment. The variable rate is one of the commonly used precision agriculture practices where inputs are applied based on site-specific needs. CropPro Consulting uses soil properties like electrical conductivity, topography, and water flow patterns to generate a single layer SWAT map categorizing land into 10 zones. These SWAT maps are used for variable rate seeding and fertilizers. The goal of this research project is to develop deep learning models for variable rate herbicide using limited ground imagery and SWAT maps. A pilot study had already been conducted to explore this potential. This research project will extend the concept for a wide range of crops in Prairies and integrate the developed solution in the SWAT map workflow. The developed workflow will help CropPro Consulting in commercializing variable rate herbicide application.