Innovative Projects Realized

Exploring patient motivations for wanting to stop an abortion

Recent campaigns by anti-abortion activists in the United States have centered on the claim that medication abortion with mifepristone, a highly effective regimen for early pregnancy termination, can be “reversed”. Despite the fact that this is not supported by medical evidence, multiple states have incorporated this information into state mandated counselling materials for abortion patients. While the trend of abortion reversal is alarming for a number of reasons, to date no research has specifically examined the experiences of patients who begin – and then want to stop – a medication abortion. The anti-abortion movement argues that this is a common experience. This study will use qualitative, in-depth interviews to explore patient motivations for wanting to stop an abortion. We anticipate that the findings from this study this will have implications for abortion counselling and patient care. As well, we hope that the findings from this project can be used to inform policy discussions surrounding so-called abortion reversal.

Exergoeconomic Optimization of Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage Technology (A-CAES)

Development of energy storage has been identified as one of the most important features of our rapidly evolving energy grids. While the significance of flexibility it provides is well understood, commercialization remains non-trivial. Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage (A-CAES) is founded on well-known scientific principles that have been combined and applied in a novel way. These innovative systems are complex, each component with its own opportunity for optimization. Two new A-CAES facilities are being built for connection to Ontario and Australian power systems; this proposal will use advanced thermodynamic analyses to determine how each of the A-CAES systems can be operationally optimized. These energy storage systems can perform many different services for energy grids, each often with its own value proposition. In addition to optimizing the engineering performance of these systems, analysis will be undertaken to determine how each system should be operated to maximize profit for these fledgling businesses.

Inférence causale pour mesurer le retour sur les investissements publicitaires

Même si les compagnies d’assurances investissent des sommes considérables en publicité, il leur est souvent difficile, voire impossible, de répondre précisément et avec confiance à la question « Combien de nouvelles soumissions d’assurances par des clients potentiels sont générées grâce à ces investissements publicitaires ? » Pourtant, des données sur les efforts publicitaires et les soumissions reçues dans chacune de plusieurs régions pour chacune de plusieurs périodes de temps sont disponibles. Ceci suggère que des analyses statistiques appropriées devraient permettre de trouver une réponse à cette question. Dans ce projet, nous allons développer des outils d’analyse statistique qui permettent d’estimer séparément les effets de la saisonnalité et ceux des investissements marketing afin de voir quelle proportion des nouvelles soumissions peuvent être attribuées aux efforts publicitaires de la compagnie.

The effect of a self-guided neurofeedback mindfulness program on selective attention in autism: a feasibility study

Research has found that mindfulness-based meditation practice, when guided by professionals, can improve emotional well-being and attention. This has led to interest in offering meditation practice to autistic people. Indeed, whilst autistic people are able to process more sensory information than non-autistic people, which can lead to strengths in some areas, it can also lead to difficulties concentrating.

Some studies have found that autistic people benefit from meditation programs, both in their mental health and an increased ability to concentrate. These studies involve regular in-person sessions taught by experienced meditation instructors. For this project, we would like to see if the same effects can be obtained using a self-guided program, which the person can complete at home with minimal supervision. The program involves a meditation headset and corresponding phone application. These headsets pick up on brain activity associated with deep relaxation, and are able to detect when a meditative state is achieved, and offer this feedback to the user. Researchers will test autistic and non-autistic participants on a range of attention tasks, as well as measuring brain activity and changes in mood, in order to determine whether this self-guided meditation program is effective to improve attention and well-being in autistic adults.

Varieties of Climate Governance: Germany Case Study

States have built their climate institutions in a diversity of ways, rooted in their traditions of governance. Our collective thinking in responding to climate change lacks an understanding of the effects created by these institutions; they incentivize certain forms of politics and diminish others. This research project aims to understand the institutional architectures that create effective climate policy. The multinational project consists of case studies from seven countries with unique governance approaches in an effort to distill what sort of policies are effective at managing climate change. Through inclusion of evidence from several countries, we aim to consolidate a normative foundation of the best ways to structure these institutions and facilitate international policy diffusion. The project is timed to inform the “National Policies and Institutions” chapter of IPCC AR6 (to be released in 2021). This part of the project, managed by Professor Christian Flachsland at the Hertie School of Governance, examines the case study of Germany.

Étude de faisabilité d’une solution « Blockchain » pour la sécurité et la ges-tion de l’information dans l’industrie du jeu

Axes Network Solutions Inc. est une entreprise québécoise offrant des services de gestion des informations en infonuagique qui octroie des licences d’intelligence et d’applications exploitables pour l’industrie mondiale du divertissement et des loisirs.
Dans un souci de se moderniser et d’offrir des solutions plus variées et plus conviviales à ses membres clients, Axes souhaite explorer les capacités des technologies émergentes et ce qu’elles peu-vent apporter lorsqu’il est sujet de services de gestion des informations en infonuagique pour l’industrie du divertissement et des loisirs. Plus précisément, Axes veut investiguer la possibilité de migrer son ar-chitecture de données vers un modèle distribué Blockchain. Cela garantira l’intégrité et la disponibilité des données, et permettra également de développer des contrats intelligents et des applications décen-tralisées afin d’offrir de nouvelles possibilités aux acteurs du secteur.

La reconversion de bâtiments inustriels – Étude comparative d’un cas montréalais et brummi

Le projet de recherche proposé s’intéresse aux éléments caractérisant la reconversion architecturale de bâtiments industriels à Montréal ainsi qu’à Birmingham. À cette fin, je réaliserai une étude de cas comparative me permettant de comparer le recyclage du Centre Phi à un cas brummi qu’il me faut encore sélectionner.

Je me pencherai, d’une part, sur le processus ayant permis la reconversion des deux bâtiments. J’étudierai, d’autre part, le rapport entre l’écosystème patrimonial et le projet afin de mieux saisir comment l’encadrement institutionnel, le projet privé et les pressions extérieures ont été arrimés autour du projet de reconversion. Je m’appuierai à la fois sur une recherche documentaire et sur des entretiens semi-dirigés auprès d’acteurs clés.

L’intérêt de cette recherche exploratoire est à la fois scientifique et sociétal. Scientifique parce qu’elle cherche à mieux définir un phénomène complexe et peu étudié au Québec soit la reconversion de bâtiment industriel. Sociétal parce que ces retombées pourraient faciliter la reconversion de bâtiments québécois et ainsi favoriser une meilleure conservation et mise en valeur du patrimoine tout en encourageant un développement immobilier plus durable.

Self-Assembly of Nanoparticle-based Colloidosomes via Click Chemistry for the Formation of Inorganic Prototissues

The concept of artificial cells, or protocells, serves to provide researchers with deeper insights into primitive cellular functions and behaviours through the study of non-living cellular analogues. Protocells are synthetic, cell-like microcompartments designed to mimic key aspects of living cells. Recently, Dr. Pierangelo Gobbo made a remarkable step forward in this research field and utilized biocompatible click chemistry (clean and simple chemical reactions with minimal purification required) to assemble protocells into tissue-like constructs, termed prototissues. These chemically-interlinked prototissues displayed collective temperature-regulated contractibility and expansion. Most importantly, his work opened up the first synthetic route to the synthesis of tissues-like materials capable of collective behaviours. Among the different protocell models, inorganic protocells are receiving increasing attention because they can offer relevant benefits compared to their biological counterparts such as increased chemical, thermal and mechanical robustness. While inorganic protocells have been prepared from silica nanoparticles or magnetic nanoparticles, the use of functional gold nanoparticles (AuNP) remains essentially unexplored. In recent years the Workentin Group demonstrated that the AuNP surface can be engineered to undergo a plethora of surface biocompatible click reactions to add function to these materials. TO BE CON’T

The Effect of Accumulation of Cerebrovascular Senescent Endothelial Cells in Vascular Cognitive Impairment and Dementia

Cognitive functions decline with aging and a vascular contribution to neuronal damage has been proposed. Accumulation of senescent cells (SnC) is associated with age. SnC remain metabolically active and release numerous factors of Senescence-Associated Secretory Phenotype potentially harmful. Our hypothesis is that accumulation of cerebrovascular senescent endothelial cells (SnEC) contributes to vascular cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID). We pose that elimination of SnEC maintains cerebrovascular homeostasis and prevents cognitive dysfunction. To test our hypothesis we will eliminate SnEC by targeting angiopoietin-like 2 (angptl2), a new target in SnEC that leads to their death by apoptosis upon inactivation. A shRNA targeting angptl2 will be delivered to endothelial cells using AAV1 in a mouse model of VCID, severely dyslipidemic/atherosclerotic. Cognition will be assessed three months post injection, cerebral blood flow measured by 7T-MRI, followed by brain immunohistochemistry and molecular determination of SnC load. This novel therapeutic concept called senolysis is emerging and promising.

Developing clean dual-fuel natural gas engines for heavy-duty trucks

Dual-fuel diesel-natural gas engines have the potential to be an economical and low-emission alternative for heavy-duty transport applications. These engines combust pre-mixed natural-gas/air mixtures by ignition with a pilot injection of diesel fuel. The fraction of energy provided by each fuel can be varied for engine operating conditions. Natural gas is less expensive than diesel so higher amounts of natural gas is generally preferred. However, if natural gas substitution rates become too high (e.g. ~>50%), methane emissions may be significant.
The primary research objective of this research project is to determine the tailpipe emissions of methane and particulate from a modern dual-fuel engine (Paccar MX-13) with stock emission aftertreatment with varying amounts of natural gas substitution. This will be used to optimize the industrial sponsor’s fuel and combustion control strategy so that the Paccar engine can meet emission regulations while maximizing natural gas substitution

Beaver Hills Biosphere Communications: Advancing place-based heritage appreciation and stewardship

The Beaver Hills Biosphere is a newly established biosphere reserve that needs to communicate why it is a special place to its residents and visitors. The UNESCO Biosphere program wants biosphere reserves to promote the exchange and transfer of knowledge on environmental problems and solutions, and to foster environmental education for sustainable development. Research related to environmental education, public history, Indigenous histories and communications efficacy can highlight the importance of personal place-relationships within a biosphere. This research can address a fundamental biosphere-related objective — to understand the stories of citizens and visitors of the area and to develop community connections to the biosphere, contributing to sustainability, resilience, and knowledge mobilization goals. TO BE CONT’D

A mixed-methods pilot pragmatic randomized controlled trial examining the real-world effectiveness of the MOVR mobile application

There are thousands of mobile apps available for download that are geared towards health and fitness, yet limited research evaluating the real-world effectiveness of such apps exists. The MOVR app is designed specifically to enhance one’s functional abilities, fitness, and functional well-being through personalized exercise prescriptions based on individual needs. While MOVR has had anecdotal success, the app’s effectiveness at influencing physical function, fitness, and wellbeing, and its ability to enhance the quality and enjoyment of physical activity has not yet been established empirically. The objective of this research will be to examine the real-world effectiveness of MOVR for improving functional movement and perceptions of health, and to better understand individual experiences with using the MOVR app. The study will involve an 8-week pilot pragmatic randomized controlled trial (RCT) whereby participants will be randomly assigned to either 8 weeks of use of the MOVR app or 8 weeks waitlist control.