Innovative Projects Realized

Farms of the Future – Evaluating the impacts of regenerative farming practices on soil biodiversity

Complex communities of bacteria, fungi, and invertebrates are known to be involved in the preservation and enhancement of soil fertility, nutrient cycling, crop productivity, and carbon sequestration, but the details have been lacking. This knowledge gap can now be addressed through new methods, such as DNA metabarcoding, which make it possible to monitor the diversity and dynamics of entire soil communities. McCain Foods Ltd., a global producer of potato products, launched its ‘Farms of the Future’ project in early 2020 to demonstrate the scalability and economic viability of regenerative farming practices that protect both soil health and biodiversity, factors key to the sustainability of potato production. A 400-acre farm in New Brunswick was acquired to test conventional farming practices against regenerative methods such as green manure, rotational livestock grazing, and strip cropping. By using metabarcoding to quantify the impacts of different agricultural practices on soil organisms, my research will identify practices that foster biological communities that enhance soil productivity. While my results will be important to McCain Foods, they will have broader impacts on the long-term vitality of Canada’s agricultural sector by advancing understanding of factors influencing soil biodiversity and the practices that regenerate and protect it.

Improving the capability, precision, and durability of the Ignition Quality Tester (IQT™) in the renewable diesels Cetane number range

This proposal aims to improve the capability, precision, and durability of the Ignition Quality
Tester (IQT™). This project includes an experimental investigation of the following areas;
Testing of new primary reference fuels, PRFs, and Check fuels, CFs to expand the range of
ASTM D6890-11a standard from (33 to 65 DCN) to (15?100 DCN); Investigate experimentally
the impact of the oxygen concentration in the charge air on the response of a fuel sample in
the IQT™ system. The study also covers the characterization of renewable diesels (HDRDs)
and their petroleum diesel blends using the IQT™; Qualitative and quantitative evaluation of
the IQT™ fuel injection system performance under different test conditions with different fuels
will be conducted utilizing the IQT™ combustion visualization system (AVL-Visio-Scope
system). The ultimate goal of this project is to establish a world class research Centre at
Carleton University in renewable fuels and fuel atomization, exploring fundamental issues
and solving technical industrial problems.

Genomic studies for fertility, health, and efficiency traits in dairy cattle – Year two

The advent of genomic selection in the dairy industry has increased genetic progress; however, new challenges are emerging. Rapid population growth and associated demographic and economic changes are increasing global demand for dairy products. Moreover, the industry must address several societal and consumer issues such as human health, animal health and welfare, and the environmental footprint (e.g., greenhouse gases, antibiotic and hormone use). These new challenges require an animal that is capable of adapting to changing environmental conditions without compromising its productivity, health or fertility while becoming more resource-efficient and reducing its environmental burden.
Improvement in overall animal resilience will reduce costs for the Canadian dairy industry and provide wider benefits to society. This project aims to identify genomic markers (e.g., copy number variants) and perform genetic association analyses with traits related to resilience such as health, fertility and efficiency traits. The results will assist Lactanet (our industry partner) with the implementation of novel genomic tools for a selection index to increase dairy cow resilience in Canadian herds.

Genomic studies for fertility, health, and efficiency traits in dairy cattle

The advent of genomic selection in the dairy industry has increased genetic progress; however, new challenges are emerging. Rapid population growth and associated demographic and economic changes are increasing global demand for dairy products. Moreover, the industry must address several societal and consumer issues such as human health, animal health and welfare, and the environmental footprint (e.g., greenhouse gases, antibiotic and hormone use). These new challenges require an animal that is capable of adapting to changing environmental conditions without compromising its productivity, health or fertility while becoming more resource-efficient and reducing its environmental burden.
Improvement in overall animal resilience will reduce costs for the Canadian dairy industry and provide wider benefits to society. This project aims to identify genomic markers (e.g., copy number variants) and perform genetic association analyses with traits related to resilience such as health, fertility and efficiency traits. The results will assist Lactanet (our industry partner) with the implementation of novel genomic tools for a selection index to increase dairy cow resilience in Canadian herds.

Evaluating the Impact of Cannabis Legalization in Canada on Risk-Taking Behaviours – Year two

The proposed research will focus on changes in cannabis use patterns and sources of supply following cannabis legalization, and on how these changes produce and/or reduce cannabis-related harm. The research will involve statistical analyses of Statistic Canada’s National Cannabis Survey (NCS). Some key areas of consideration will be: cannabis-impaired driving, cannabis dependence, and youth cannabis use. The partner organization (the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction [CCSA]) will benefit by having a researcher with expertise in the substance use and addiction field who can conduct analyses on cannabis trends and patterns before and after legalization, and who can write reports for the organization and update the organization’s resources based on these findings. Some examples of resources I will update include: the Cannabis Drug Summary (see, for example, CCSA 2018) and the Clearing the Smoke on Cannabis series (see, for example, Beirness and Porath 2017). The research findings will also be used by CCSA knowledge brokers to create resources such as infographics to help disseminate the findings and by policy analysts to incorporate into policy briefs with the goal of influencing future program and policy development and implementation.

Evaluating the Impact of Cannabis Legalization in Canada on Risk-Taking Behaviours

The proposed research will focus on changes in cannabis use patterns and sources of supply following cannabis legalization, and on how these changes produce and/or reduce cannabis-related harm. The research will involve statistical analyses of Statistic Canada’s National Cannabis Survey (NCS). Some key areas of consideration will be: cannabis-impaired driving, cannabis dependence, and youth cannabis use. The partner organization (the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction [CCSA]) will benefit by having a researcher with expertise in the substance use and addiction field who can conduct analyses on cannabis trends and patterns before and after legalization, and who can write reports for the organization and update the organization’s resources based on these findings. Some examples of resources I will update include: the Cannabis Drug Summary (see, for example, CCSA 2018) and the Clearing the Smoke on Cannabis series (see, for example, Beirness and Porath 2017). The research findings will also be used by CCSA knowledge brokers to create resources such as infographics to help disseminate the findings and by policy analysts to incorporate into policy briefs with the goal of influencing future program and policy development and implementation.

Simultaneous Functional Calcium Imaging with Quartet® for studying odor memory circuits and developing second generation Quartet® – Year two

Episodic memory refers to an ensemble of memory processes and is the capacity to recollect where and when past events occurred, which involves subjective consciousness and a sense of time in retrieving past experiences. The hippocampus is essential for representing spatiotemporal context and establishing its association with the sensory details of daily life to form episodic memories and the olfactory cortex shares exclusive anatomical connections with the hippocampus as a result of their common evolutionary history. This makes olfaction a privileged sense for accessing memories. The AON receives unidirectional, monosynaptic inputs from the CA1 and it has been shown that hippocampal inputs to the AON can alter olfactory perception and odour-guided behaviors. The HPC-AON pathway provides a novel circuit model for studying fundamental aspects of human episodic memory. Here we propose to develop optical imaging methods for studying odor memory circuit. simultaneous image acquisition using Quartet® to monitor neuronal activity between the ventral hippocampus and AON. This will help to understand the circuit mechanisms between the ventral hippocampus and olfactory cortex and also demonstrate that odour memory information is delivered by hippocampal inputs to the AON. We also propose to develop second generation Quartet® (Ver.2) with improved accessories.

Simultaneous Functional Calcium Imaging with Quartet® for studying odor memory circuits and developing second generation Quartet®

Episodic memory refers to an ensemble of memory processes and is the capacity to recollect where and when past events occurred, which involves subjective consciousness and a sense of time in retrieving past experiences. The hippocampus is essential for representing spatiotemporal context and establishing its association with the sensory details of daily life to form episodic memories and the olfactory cortex shares exclusive anatomical connections with the hippocampus as a result of their common evolutionary history. This makes olfaction a privileged sense for accessing memories. The AON receives unidirectional, monosynaptic inputs from the CA1 and it has been shown that hippocampal inputs to the AON can alter olfactory perception and odour-guided behaviors. The HPC-AON pathway provides a novel circuit model for studying fundamental aspects of human episodic memory. Here we propose to develop optical imaging methods for studying odor memory circuit. simultaneous image acquisition using Quartet® to monitor neuronal activity between the ventral hippocampus and AON. This will help to understand the circuit mechanisms between the ventral hippocampus and olfactory cortex and also demonstrate that odour memory information is delivered by hippocampal inputs to the AON. We also propose to develop second generation Quartet® (Ver.2) with improved accessories.

Experiences and perceptions of newcomer women navigating sexual and reproductive health in Metro Vancouver: Facilitators and barriers to access for screening, treatment and care of HIV & STI

As the number of im/migrant women in British Columbia (BC) continues to grow – the majority of whom are of reproductive age- there is a need to ensure that im/migrant women have adequate access to healthcare, including sexual health services. While BC is one of Canada’s top destinations for im/migrants, robust evidence regarding im/migrant women’s access to sexual health screenings (e.g., HIV, sexually transmitted infections) is particularly lacking. This study will assess the experiences and perceptions of im/migrant women on access to HIV & STI services, and will elucidate im/migration-related structural barriers and facilitators to inequities in navigating and accessing these services. The partner university for this work is Simon Fraser University and the partner organization is the Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity (CGSHE), an independent research centre at Providence Health Care whose mandate is to advance gender and sexual health equity for marginalized populations by informing policy and practice with the best available science. CGSHE is comprised of a diverse team of researchers, clinicians, community-based staff, trainees, and policy and community-based partners with diverse expertise in the areas of im/migrant health, HIV/STIs, clinical and community-based im/migrant support, and clinical practice.

Nuclear Generation Emissions and Aquatic Biota

The interns will improve the scientific understanding of the biological effects of thermal and

radiological emissions that may have impacts on aquatic environments. Thermal emissions fi-om the

generating station may have impacts on developing fish embryos in local populations. Research will

include development offield monitoring as well as laboratory experiments. Additionally, low-levels of

historic and current radiological emissions may be detectable in aquatic organisms; if concentrated in

the food chain, these emissions may have unrecognized impacts. Post-doctoral fellowship interns will

develop a research program to determine potential environmental impacts that will suppOli Bruce

Power’s objectives to maintain the lowest levels of environmental impacts.

Understanding how river bank side slopes and sediment size control failure thresholds in steep streams – Year two

Northwest Hydraulic Consultants Ltd. (NHC) is often involved in the restoration and design of steep streams. To date when assessing these river channels, NHC has relied upon experimental results conducted with fixed vertical river banks and a series of assumptions have been used to figure out how to make river channels with sloped banks. These assumptions introduce risk into the design process and likely result in the rock used to make the channel banks being over-sized. We plan to address this issue through a combination of physical experiments and field data collection. In this project we will (a) run experiments in the UBC laboratory facilities under different channel geometries (such as channel width and bank angle) and particle size conditions, (b) inform and validate experiments with field data collected in British Columbia and (c) update the design tools used by NHC to design steep channels. As part of this research project the water velocity, water depth, river bank angles, and range in sediment size will be evaluated. The project will increase our knowledge on the factors that influence stability of mountain streams and produce a quantitative design tool readily available for fluvial geomorphologists.

Understanding how river bank side slopes and sediment size control failure thresholds in steep streams

Northwest Hydraulic Consultants Ltd. (NHC) is often involved in the restoration and design of steep streams. To date when assessing these river channels, NHC has relied upon experimental results conducted with fixed vertical river banks and a series of assumptions have been used to figure out how to make river channels with sloped banks. These assumptions introduce risk into the design process and likely result in the rock used to make the channel banks being over-sized. We plan to address this issue through a combination of physical experiments and field data collection. In this project we will (a) run experiments in the UBC laboratory facilities under different channel geometries (such as channel width and bank angle) and particle size conditions, (b) inform and validate experiments with field data collected in British Columbia and (c) update the design tools used by NHC to design steep channels. As part of this research project the water velocity, water depth, river bank angles, and range in sediment size will be evaluated. The project will increase our knowledge on the factors that influence stability of mountain streams and produce a quantitative design tool readily available for fluvial geomorphologists.