Innovative Projects Realized

Sustainably Extracted Agri-Food Waste as a Diet Ingredient for Production of Black Soldier Fly Larvae

This project seeks to add value to agri-food waste by extracting natural chemicals from the waste for use in new crop protection applications and then using the leftover material as a diet ingredient for producing black solider fly larvae. Multiple products can be obtained from black solider fly larvae including fertilizer, protein and oil. The objectives of this project are to optimize the sustainable extraction of bioactive natural chemicals from agri-food waste, to determine the best larval diet using post-extracted agri-food waste as an ingredient and to pilot an automated unit for growing and harvesting the larvae. Finding new uses for agri-food waste is an important step in improving the sustainability of food production. This benefits the long-term success of our partners, George Weston Ltd and Cerca Trova, and also delivers social and environmental benefits which directly support our future well-being and the health of the planet.

Brainstem and cerebellar seizures: novel measures, modulations, and relationship to SUDEP

Epilepsy-related sudden death occurs following uncontrolled recurrent seizure which are usually non-responsive to antiepileptic drugs. These patients found dead in bed usually following heart and respiratory arrest. It is not known whether seizure-affected brain regions regulating cardiorespiratory function play a role in this complication and if so, what is the mechanism underneath in order to treat early to prevent death. In this project, we aim to understand (1) which cardiorespiratory brain regions(s) are involved or whether the brain sensors for elevated CO2 are impaired and, if the regional alteration can be fixed by injecting selected drugs, (2) if the brain waves activity alteration can predict seizure- ending to death events, (3) If stimulation of selected brain regions can inhibit seizure occurrence and prevent death.

Simulation of Thermal radiation coupled with conduction or/and convection by lattice Boltzmann method

The purpose of Research Project contributions is to analyze the coupled radiation-conduction and/or convection heat transfers in a 2D enclosure contains an absorbing, emitting and non-scattering real medium (CO2, H2O, or their mixture) using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). The usage of this method makes it possible to assess the effect of real media radiative behavior on the heat fluxes and radiative powers dissipated in these media. for this reason, the mathematical formulation model of the LBM with a global model of radiative properties will be developed to use in the resolution of the radiative transfer equation in the combustion application. The LBM method will be also used to simulate the radiative behavior of real gases and the effects of its spectral structure on the dynamic and thermal fields.

Drivers of Time to Resolution, Application of LASSO Regression and Random Forest

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for loss allowances are changing, and financial institutions are proactively adapting existing methodologies and developing new ones to remain compliant. The main ingredient in the myriad of evaluations that banks are required to perform for compliance is risk assessment. The first goal of this research project is to review best practice risk models, with a special focus on modeling the evolution of default probabilities. In particular, the project evaluates how firm and loan characteristics and macroeconomic conditions explain time to resolution of a portfolio of loans. The approach draws from the classical statistical approach of survival models and from two machine learning methodologies (LASSO regression and random forest).

Risk measures – Their accuracy and stability in a practical implementation

The primary research objective is to determine the accuracy and stability of risk measures as they are
developed and put into practice. The intern will be required to develop and implement testing
strategies to help ensure new models exhibit comprehensive risk coverage and seamless integration to
the existing CMRM risk-measurement framework. While focusing on a specific product and
measures, the incumbent will work to assess the risk measure accuracy. The work will require a
review of current techniques and best practices in this area, followed by the implementation of selected
assessments of accuracy and stability. The intern will first develop a comparison of the assessment
strategies. Following that, the intern is expected to develop what is intended to be the most effective
methodology based on these existing assessments and their own original research and development.
Results of these assessments will be compiled, analyzed, and documented…

Réseaux de neurones à décharges avec contraintes matérielles pour applications en périphérie

Ce projet de recherche a pour but d’améliorer la technologie des réseaux de neurones, pilier important de l’intelligence artificielle moderne, en s’inspirant du cerveau. Le but principal est d’être capable de réduire la consommation énergétique suffisamment pour pouvoir en profiter sur des appareils à énergie limités, tel que des téléphones cellulaires. Le cerveau, malgré ses milliards de neurones, ne consomme que très peu d’énergie comparativement à un processeur. Nous voulons donc connecter les ponts entre l’apprentissage machine et les modèles inspirés de la biologie pour pouvoir reproduire cette faible consommation d’énergie. Pour ce faire, il faut tout d’abord adapter les algorithmes d’intelligence artificielle pour pouvoir être capable de les utiliser sur du matériel spécialisé. Par la suite, nous testerons ce matériel spécialisé sur divers problèmes et nous évaluerons son potentiel en tant que technologie du futur.

Innovative coagulator design for the production of advanced compositematerials.

This unique approach to product and process design involves 2 intimately associated activities:

development of novel structured composite materials (SCM) in the form of latexes; and the related

design of a coagulator to tailor the final particle size distribution of the composite latex particles. If

produced correctly, SCM can provide society with useful, valuable products at a reasonable price that

are made in water-based reaction medium rather than in organic solvents. They allow us to

synergistically combine the novel properties of nanocomposite materials with the low price, ease of

production and flexibility of polymeric materials. In the current project we will be focusing on nanoand

micro-fibre reinforced elastomers. Once produced in the reactor, these aqueous dispersions need

to be coagulated in order to obtain them in a useful form, and this project will also contribute to the TBC

Obstacles and Opportunities in Improving Social Service Intake Referral Processes

When people seek help from a social service, the assistance they need may be best provided by another service in the community. In these cases, they should be referred to the appropriate service. At this stage, things sometimes go wrong: Sometimes the service agent misunderstands the person’s needs or misunderstands the kind of help provided by other local services. Or sometimes the agent doesn’t explain enough about why another service would be helpful. The result is that the person who needs help might not follow up on the referral or, if they do, they might end up thinking that it wasn’t helpful for them after all.

To help improve this situation, I will do research at a social service agency in Edmonton. The agency makes referrals to many other agencies in the community. The purpose of the research is to learn more about how referrals are made and why problems sometimes occur. By watching agents make referrals and interviewing people at the agency, I will help create a new approach to their referral process. We will test out the new approach to see if it helps avoid some of the problems listed above.

Constrained Variational Ehrenfest

A first principles approach to molecular dynamics is crucial to understanding photo-chemical reactions. These reactions take place involving multiple electronic states, in other words, they undergo non-adiabatic dynamics. The problem is analogous to the many body problem where significant entanglement between the motion of electrons and nuclei is present. In this project we will develop a computational scheme that efficiently takes both motions into account. The key to this efficiency will be using multiple electronic states and a finite number of nuclear wave-packets that can evolve on these states. One of the arising problem in such setups is conservation of energy, we will address this issue by imposing necessary constraints implemented via the Lagrangian multipliers method. The developed method will be implemented in two widely used computer programs, Quantics and NewtonX, and will be used to simulate photochemical processes in atomistic details, which should facilitate understanding biologically (e.g., vision) or technologically (e.g. singlet fission in organic photovoltaics) relevant processes.

Healthy Student Initiative

Background information: York University is committed to helping students adopt

evidence-based health practices associated with reduced disease risk. The Healthy Students

Initiative (HSI) will evolve as a volunteer, health promotion cohort accessible for serial studies

linking risk markers, self report measures and health outcomes. Given the high prevalence of

mobile/smartphone/online computer access in university youth, it is a highly valuable testing

ground for online programming assisting health practice adoption. York University researchers

(P. Ritvo, N. Cercone) have assisted Nex J Systems, Inc. in developing the online HealthCoach

program which uses smartphones/computers to guide adoptions of healthy exercise/dietary

regimens and is subject to continual revision with improvements based on user-testing and

scientific evidence. This MITACS cluster will involve: 1) health promotion coaching to

students, coordinated with HealthCoach use; 2) collection and analyses of subject self report

Supporting broadband, transportation, and trade policy using quantitative and qualitative tools

There is a disconnect between the development of advanced research methods in academia, and their use to inform real-world policies. The purpose of this research is to apply rigorous tools to support real-world policy questions at the local, regional, and global level, and assist various types of institutions meet their strategic objectives. At the local level, interns will work on an analysis of equitable access to broadband connectivity in Kingston, ON, as part of the City’s plan to expand broadband access. At the regional level, interns will support the Eastern Ontario Leadership Council, who is trying to understand and overcome transportation barriers across municipal boundaries. The interns will describe and quantify commuting patterns across municipal boundaries, project commuting patterns according to demographic and technological shifts, and identify and rank solutions to address regional transportation needs. At the global level, the interns will support the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), one of the largest donors of foreign assistance globally, who is trying to understand the role trade policy plays in improving resilience and food security in East Africa. While all projects focus on different sectors, they each leverage novel tools to answer policy-relevant research questions.

Évaluation cinématique et dynamique pour mesurer l’effet du port d’une orthèse de genou

Médicus développe et fabrique des orthèses dont une orthèse de genou pour réduire les douleurs associées à une rupture du ligament croisé antérieur (LCA) en modifiant la biomécanique du genou. Les techniques et modèles couramment utilisés en biomécanique ne permettent pas d’évaluer l’effet de cette nouvelle orthèse puisque certaines parties du genou sont cachées par l’orthèse en compliquent la capture du mouvement (motion capture). L’objectif est de développer un modèle cinématique personnalisé au patient portant l’orthèse qui ne soit pas influencé par l’absence de marqueurs réfléchissants sur le genou. L’approche utilisée se base sur l’optimisation de systèmes multicorps. Par la suite, nous évalueront l’effet de l’orthèse sur la cinématique et dynamique du genou de 15 patients. Il est attendu que l’orthèse réduise le moment abducteur du genou.