Innovative Projects Realized

War remote from physical contact: the ideology, form and strategy in Chinese and Japanese visual propaganda during WWII

During WWII, unlike radio programming, electronic visual media were not widely popular in Chinese and Japanese citizens’ personal lives. However, visual print media provided sources from which both government and civilian organizations could develop effective platforms for publicity and propaganda. In this project, I would visit Japan and China to retrieve war period visual media products such as Japanese Manga, Kamishibai, as well as Chinese Manhua produced by Manhua resistance artists during the war of resistance against Japanese aggression. By accessing such materials, I would reveal war period China and Japan’s contrasting ideologies, their functions and the dichotomy of their audiences’ responses to wartime Manhua, Manga and Kamishibai. During the process of gathering war time visual media products, I have become aware of the significance of connecting the “past” and “present” to acquire a clearer cognizance of the bilateral relationship between China and Japan. Hence, I would follow my passion through research in Japan and utilize my language and research abilities to share my findings with those who also have an enduring interest in the Sino-Japanese relationship.

An International City of News: Shanghai as a Site of Competing Spheres of Foreign Influence

This project will explore the history of how British, French, American, German, and Soviet news suppliers competed to supply international news to Shanghai in the 1930s and during World War II. While researchers have explored Western provision of news, they have yet to understand these processes from the Chinese perspective. This project will examine newspapers in Chinese from Shanghai to understand how Chinese editors and journalists selected news and how Shanghai functioned as an international city of news. It will also try to find records about how editors and journalists chose to select and present certain types of international news. By putting the city of Shanghai at the centre of the research, this project pushes back against Western-centric notions of news. It creates connections between the research of the two supervisors: Professor Tworek has written about international news, while Professor Tang has focused on Chinese media. Finally, the project provides important methodologies for how researchers might explore contemporary media by looking at particular cities as sites of competition for international news.

Properties and behaviours of Mesenchymal Stem Cells in response to lung microenvironment in human Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a life-threatening condition with a high mortality. Currently, there are no proven pharmacological therapies available for the management of ARDS patients. Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) have been shown to be interesting candidates for treating ARDS. But their therapeutic effects as demonstrated in animal models and clinical trials have been inconsistent. The observations that MSC treatment may result in unwanted effects under certain conditions suggest a need for identifying biomarkers in ARDS patients to guide MSC therapy. This project seeks to investigate whether the lung microenvironment plays an important role in determining MSC function in ARDS. Plasma will be collected from ARDS patients and divided into 2 groups. TO BE CONT’D

Implantation d’un système expérimental de réfrigération naturelle (freecooling)

Ayant l’intention de promouvoir un nouveau modèle économique centré sur la coopération, l’innovation

continue et la protection de l’environnement, je propose à l’industrie brassicole de former des partenariats de

recherches dans le but de réaliser des projets de R&D en efficacité énergétique. C’est dans cette optique que

j’ai rencontré M. Pierre-Paul Carpentier, cofondateur de la coopérative brassicole de travailleur À LA FÛT

(Saint-Tite) ainsi que M. Bruno Blais, cofondateur de la coopérative brassicole de travailleur La Barberie

(Québec). Ayant accepté d’établir une alliance stratégique pour un projet de recherche & développement, j’ai

proposé un projet d’intervention qui permettrait d’utiliser les basses températures de l’air extérieur, c’est-àdire

le froid, afin de refroidir un liquide de réfrigération tel le glycol pour maintenir la température d’une

chambre froide en hiver. La technologie du « free cooling » permettra de réduire les coûts élevés de l’énergie

qui sont dus en grande partie aux compresseurs de réfrigérations conventionnels qui sont très énergivores.

Downstream purification of RNA therapeutics

Gene therapy is an expanding field that shows promise in the long term treatment of many genetic disorders. CRISPR-Cas9 technology is one way of editing the existing genome when trying to treat genetic disorder, or engineering genetic therapeutics. One area of interest is RNA therapeutics based on this technology. The Zydney and Salis lab groups at Penn State have been producing Cas9 protein using the CSL Behring Fermentation Facility. These proteins are then coupled to guide RNA for the specific gene therapy application. One of the challenges is that there is often residual guide RNA that needs to be removed after the coupling reaction. This project will explore the potential for using ultrafiltration systems for the separation of the protein-RNA complex from the free RNA. This work will focus on determining the effect that factors such as filtrate flux, pore size, product size, and surface chemistry have on RNA transmission.

Selection and Characterization of DNA aptamers for macrolide ring closure reactions

A class of compounds the work will be done are tetrahydrofuran-incorporating polyketide macrolides. This class of compounds are natural products found in diverse marine and terrestrial environments, and it has been found to show potentially useful activity in a variety of biological assays. In order to explore and expand this family of macrolides, it is required to vary the chemical space around the core structure of these compounds. The synthetic pathway involves a ring closing olefin metathesis reaction.
The primary objective is to select for DNA aptamers that bound one or the other isomer of the macrolide shown in the proposal specifically. And, then to see if the ring closure experiment was carried out in the presence of the aptamer, (1) one isomer would be preferentially formed, and (2) the rate of formation of that isomer may be accelerated. TO BE CONT’D

The response of subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) growth along topographically-controlled climate gradients in interior British Columbia

Forests of BC are under stress due to changing climates. This introduces uncertainty in the wood properties and resulting wood products that will be derived from these forests. Subalpine fir trees contribute to a significant portion of wood that is manufactured into pulp in Canada, and little is known about how these trees respond to climate pressures. With climate dynamics changing, wood properties of subalpine trees may become unstable resulting in tree dieback and changes to wood quality. A better understanding of subalpine fir resilience to extreme climate events, and of the growth–climate relationship in general, is needed.
The goal of this study is to better understand how growth of subalpine fir in interior BC is related to climate parameters along elevation gradients and between changes in slope aspect, and to identify under what conditions subalpine trees show the highest and lowest levels of resilience. TO BE CONT’D

Développement d’un Abribus Intelligent (AbI) en misant sur l’Internet des objets (IdO) : analyse des options de connectivité

Ce projet de recherche ancré dans la tendance des « villes intelligentes » vise à contribuer au développement d’un Abribus Intelligent (AbI) en misant sur les technologies de l’Internet des Objets (IdO). Il s’agit de transformer un abribus en un environnement connecté qui permette de détecter automatiquement et en temps réel les usagers à proximité en vue d’améliorer l’expérience transport de ces derniers (offre de services à valeur ajoutée). Ce projet se fera au sein du Lab-VI du quartier de l’innovation (QI) en collaboration avec Vidéotron. Ce projet contribuera au développement de l’écosystème d’innovation technologique initié par le QI favorisera l’exploration de domaines de recherche porteurs et d’explorer des modèles d’affaires novateurs en misant sur la téléphonie sans fil.

GIS-based Wildfire Catastrophic Risk Economic Capital Modelling

Models used for Wildfire catastrophe insurance as of today are not considering substantial information, such as geographic information and environmental constraints. The objective of the project is to establish a theoretical framework and an empirical process to enhance Aviva Canada’s current Wildfire Economic Capital (EC) model, to be able to determine the amount of capital needed to be allocated to ensure the company remains solvent, in case of occurrence of risks. The new model will incorporate spatial Geographic Information System (GIS)-based information and other non-spatial information and it will cater for the nature of the heavy-tailed data. It is expected that this approach can be adapted and extended to Aviva Canada’s other natural and man-made Catastrophe risk EC models with similar needs.

An examination of post-compulsory education for migrant children in urban China

Migrant workers are an important source of labor, becoming the engine of rapid development in urban areas in China. Despite the fact they have made a significant contribution to China’s economic prosperity, they and their children have limited access to social welfares in the host cities due to their lack of local urban hukou (household registration). This study aims to investigate migrant children’s access to senior secondary education in urban areas. I will conduct the study in Suzhou which is an economically-developed city on China’s east coast that offers job prospects and therefore appeals to the migrant population. I intend to conduct individual interviews with five migrant children and five teachers working with this group of children in junior high school. This project will make policy recommendations to the municipal and central governments to increase migrant children’s participation in high school in urban areas.

Smart TECHnology for better shared decision making about prenatal testing for pregnant WomEn (TECH4WE)

Whether or not to undergo prenatal screening to assess the risk of certain genetic conditions in the fetus, and if so deciding among available prenatal screening tests, is a difficult decision faced by all pregnant women and their partners. However, few are aware of the implications of the various options. With shared decision making (SDM), patients and doctors share health decisions based on the pros and cons of all the options and on what matters most to the patient, so decisions reflect this knowledge and the preferences of those involved. SDM reduces decision regret and reduces overuse of diagnostic testing. A mobile app could be a cost-effective, and efficient way to help patients make decisions. My research (Rahimi.2017,PMID:28838306) found little evidence of the use of mobile apps to support SDM, and none that support prenatal testing decisions. I plan to: (a)assess the needs and preferences of pregnant women regarding using smartphones for information seeking and decision making; (b)develop an analytical decision making model that incorporates and processes information, preferences and choices (e.g. screening options, decision criteria and weighting of decision criteria); (c)with my technological partner, Greybox Solutions, develop an analytical app and pilot test it. TBC

Évaluation de l’effet d’un éventail de traitements sylvicoles sur la régénération desprincipales essences feuillues dans les érablières en Estrie afin de développer un modèlede prédiction de la régéné

Ce projet de stage s’inscrit dans un projet de recherche plus vaste

ayant pour objectif de compléter, pour les érablières de l’Estrie (Québec), l’étalonnage du

modèle de simulation de la dynamique forestière SORTIE-ND. Ce dernier est un modèle

spatialement explicite qui sera utilisé pour évaluer et comparer l’effet d’un large éventail

de traitements sylvicoles susceptibles d’être utilisés dans un contexte d’aménagement

écosystémique (AÉ) des forêts de feuillus tolérants. Le présent stage a pour objectif de

déterminer comment la densité de la régénération (semis de 1 à 5 ans) des principales

essences feuillues de la région varie selon i) le traitement sylvicole utilisé; ii) le nombre

d’années écoulées depuis la coupe; et en fonction iii) des conditions lumineuses; iv) des

lits de germination; et v) des semenciers présents dans le peuplement résiduel. Ces

résultats permettront d’obtenir i) une meilleure connaissance de l’effet des traitements

sylvicoles utilisés au cours des dernières années sur l’établissement de la régénration dans

les secteurs d’étude; ii) une meilleure…………………

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