Innovative Projects Realized

Christianity and Social Mobility in Late Qing and the Republic China, 1880-1950

The fact that Christian Chinese missions promoted some Chinese individuals’ upward social mobility has not been studied in a focused manner by either Western nor Chinese scholars.

The missionaries went to China at the time of Western imperialism expansion, and determined to “save China”. Some of these Christian missionaries made efforts to emphasize education and the idea of women’s freedom. These efforts helped some Chinese individuals, both men and women, to access education, became professionals, and gained upward social mobility, although that was not the missionaries’ original intention.

Mainly based on an extensive Canadian-Chinese family archive this study aims to shed light on how missionary-based education helped some individual Chinese Christians gain social mobility between the 1880s and 1950.

Applying scholarly studies in the fields of feminism, the social history of religion, and transnationalism, from a cross-cultural perspective, this study explores the drastically changed social status of some Chinese individuals as a result of their close ties with Christian missionaries and their educational efforts.

Improving Agricultural Initiatives in Northern and Remote Settings through Region-Specific Agricultural Best Management Practices

The project seeks to compile data from previous and current agricultural initiatives in northern and remote regions of Canada to determine which agricultural practices are most effective in these regions and to identify the knowledge gaps that hinder the efficacy of such initiatives. These practices and knowledge gaps will be elaborated upon using local knowledge as well as relevant research from other northern regions (ie. Greenland, Scandinavia, Siberia). The information will then be compiled into a set of agricultural best management practices which will be made available via an online platform comprised of various modules, a discussion forum, case studies and links to relevant webinars and resources.

Shape deviation quantification and tolerancing for Metal AM

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a fast growing technology with application areas in automobile, biomedical, and aerospace etc. The technology is moving rapidly from polymers to metal AM due to advantages in terms of shape complexity, and minimum material and energy wastage. The major challenge in Metal AM is the shape deviation modeling, and quantification. Shape deviation modeling and quantification is usually done experimentally by printing test artifacts using designed experiments and then quantifying the parts to reach meta-models and regression models. These test artifacts can then be later used for other AM systems and will help in quick and easy quantification of geometric quality parameters for an AM system. The project will focus on the research gaps in the design methodology for the geometric test artifacts and will come up with a systematic design methodology for the same to facilitate constraint based design and to avoid over-designing of the artifacts.

A New Microfluidic-nanoelectronic Platform for Alzheimer’s Disease

The main objective of this project is developing a novel technology to understand Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The main cause of AD has not been clearly discovered, and therefore the effective treatment to stop the disease has not yet been established. This technology which is an integration of microfluidic, nano-electronics, and optical imaging techniques would provide a systematic platform to study AD. Fabrication and integration of nano-structures for electrical recording and optical imaging is the main goal of this project during my Visit at Harvard University. This new technology addresses unanswered questions related to AD and sets the stage for the identification of novel pathways and therapeutic avenues in AD.

Counselling During Probe Microphone Measures: The Clients’ Perspective

Probe microphone measurement (PMM), which uses a small tube inside the ear canal to measure sound from hearing aids, is the most reliable way to ensure hearing aids are fitted to a client’s hearing loss (Katz et al., 2015). Providing counselling within PMMs procedures would allow clients to increase their knowledge about amplification and increase their participation within the relationship between the client and clinician. This project will present a demonstration of counselling during PMMs to experienced hearing aid users and then gather their perspectives through a group discussion. Through the discussion, thoughts on how to optimize counselling will be discovered. The thoughts and perspectives of the participants will be grouped into categories and presented to the audiology field. These findings will be used to develop client-centred guidelines for teaching clients about this important process.

Marine Technology Research

In this project I will be working with Aalto university’s Marine Technology research group at the Aalto ice tank. The purpose of such an ice tank is to explore the function of arctic marine structures in pack ice conditions. For example, this could include structural testing of oil and gas facilities or model testing of ice-breaking vessels.

My work will be in the field of data measurement processes and equipment design. It will therefore involve research regarding ice tank functionality, experimental design, and ice tank equipment. In other words, the project that I will undertake will include literature review, hands-on use of experimental equipment, research into state-of-the-art ice tank techniques, and possible data analysis and CAD design.

Developmental Planning of A Rural Area in China under Conflicting Objectives and Interval Uncertainties

Population growth and economic development exert significant threats on ecological and environmental systems of rural areas in China. Integrated socio-economic and eco-environmental management is desired for addressing these threats, but is challenged by the conflict of multiple developmental objectives and the intervalness of uncertain system characteristics. Therefore, this project aims to provide scientific support for long-term sustainable development of a representative Chinese rural area through developing an advanced approach (i.e., interval multi-objective rural sustainable programming). The aim will be achieved through three interrelated tasks: (1) system identification, (2) system optimization, and (3) scenario analyses. In addition to methodological advancement, academic achievements, and other outcomes, this project will help identify the optimal economic and environmental management measures and enable sustainable development of rural areas in China (or developing countries).

Technological [in]accessibility: Digital Literacy in STEM Education in the Philippines

This research arises from the need to find out how Canada’s expertise could improve science education in rural areas in the Philippines and in turn, how this collaboration could generate understandings that would also advance Canada’s public science education system. It is based on the deliberate use of technology and local knowledge frameworks. It will use a case study method by conceptualizing select science teachers’ situations to create a detailed understanding of their experiences. I will gather data to summarize these experiences through interviews, video recordings, and reflections during video creation and teaching. I will manage the over-all training with proper coordination with select school principals. The training will gather select science teachers as participants to initially share their teaching experiences including issues regarding inaccessibility and inequity of resources. The experiences shared by the science teachers will be incorporated with the video creation training. Teachers are expected to make 5-7 minute science videos. The whole training will last for three months. The outcome of this research will provide an alternative approach to improve the learning and teaching in 5,000 rural high schools in the Philippines that do not have science labs […]

Caractérisation d’huiles essentielles issues de la nordicité

Les huiles essentielles sont remplies de produits naturels qui peuvent avoir des utilités variées. Malgré tout, les recherches portant sur la composition moléculaire d’huiles essentielles demeure limitées. Les plantes du nord sont exposées à des stress environnementaux particuliers, qui enrichissent et rendent leur composition moléculaire intéressante. Elles peuvent renfermer des produits naturels inédits, retrouvés nulle part ailleurs. Dans le cadre de ce projet de maîtrise, trois plantes collectées dans le nord seront étudiées pour connaitre la composition de leurs huiles essentielles. Les huiles essentielles seront donc extraites puis analysées afin de connaitre toutes les molécules qu’elles renferment. Ces études visent donc à étendre les connaissances sur les huiles essentielles en plus de valoriser la biodiversité du nord. Le potentiel des huiles essentielles va de leur emploi dans les domaines cosméceutique, comme fragrance, alimentaire, comme arôme ou agent de conservation naturel, pharmaceutique, les huiles essentielles contenant des produits bioactifs, ou encore scientifique, avec la possibilité de renfermer des molécules inédites.

Extended panel methods for computation of flows around solid objects for computer graphics applications

The proposed research aims to develop methods for efficiently computing visually realistic turbulent flows around solid objects for graphical applications in the film and video game industries. These methods would extend traditional techniques employed in aerodynamics to

compute flows around airfoils. The extended method would address general solid objects in cases where the traditional techniques fail. The extension would be based on modifications of the solid’s shape to enable the application of the traditional methods leading to results

suitable for visual simulation in the computer graphics industry. The partner organization benefits from this work through the development of novel technology that can be incorporated into commercial software aimed at the computer graphics industry. This would give the

partner organization a commercial advantage over its competitors and strengthen its position in the market of software products for visual effects production.

pH-sensitive behavior of Switchable liposomes by monitoring the phase separation on giant vesicles

Nanomaterials have revolutionized biomedical and pharmaceutical technology in the past decades. Several nanomedicines have reached the clinics but the overall clinical translation is still low. Precise delivery of the pharmaceutical agent at the right time and space remains a challenge. Responsive materials can overcome this limitation by modulation of their behavior according to internal (e.g., pH) or external triggers (e.g. light). We have recently developed pH-sensitive switchable liposomes which specifically release bioactive compounds within the cell upon acidification. The endosomal escape of nucleic acids and hydrophilic compounds was significantly improved as compared to commercial agents, accompanied with a lower toxicity. In this project, we want to investigate the pH-sensitive behavior of such switchable liposomes to mechanistically understand the governing factors behind the pH-sensitive liposomes destabilization. The outcome of this research could positively contribute to the pharmaceutical field by clarifying the intracellular drug delivery mechanism of pH-sensitive liposomes.

Feature-based and unified surface geometry processing for product modeling

With the combination of reverse engineering, shape modeling and feature-based design, there could be a huge opportunity in industry to achieve highly efficient and rapid design of products, such as car and aircraft bodies as well as the derived modules and parts. Modern CAD technology has enabled sophisticated surface modeling tools and application which are well adopted in industrial product development. However, the surface models created in industry and those created from scanned points are fundamentally different. To support industrial design practice where clay models are used as a way to reflect industrial and artistic design elements, scanned surfaces have to be incorporated (typically by importing point clouds) into CAD design model as the initial input and further propagated into downstream models of products, modules and parts. This proposed research is aiming to apply surface feature modeling approach with explicit context constraints in a specific product field and enable feature-based modeling embedded with advanced geometry processing methods, which will realize rapid complex geometry’s creation, modification and manipulation in product modeling processes and also extend computer graphics techniques to be adopted to practical engineering cycles.