Innovative Projects Realized

The Canadian National DNA Databank: The International Context

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) is a contributing member of the National DNA Data Bank Committee, which provides an annual report related to the operations regulating the National DNA Data Bank (NDDB). The NDDB holds genetic samples of individuals and is searched during the course of a criminal investigation when genetic evidence is found at the scene of a crime. The Committee is responsible for meeting and discussing issues related to the use of the NDDB by Canadian law enforcement.

The more samples that are held on the NDDB, the more useful the database becomes as an investigatory tool; however, it is important to ensure that collection practices are in line with legal and ethical norms and expectations. It is particularly important to balance the need for a maximum number of samples with the privacy concerns that are implicated in the collection and retention of genetic information…

A Multi-modality Detection And Volumetric Assessment Of Dental Caries.

The aim of this in vitro study is to explore demineralization detection abilities and conduct a volumetric assessment of caries in extracted teeth using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), ultrasound and Scanning Acoustic Microscopy (SAM), and x-rays imaging (micro CT). Sound and carious extracted human molars were collected under ethical approval at the Eastman Dental Institute (N>12). Four groups were created using ICDAS score 2 to 4 (incl. control). Following comparative analyses of the ranked ICDAS lesions, we identified unique SAM and OCT scattering markers which could be correlated to tooth histology. Following this, the methods for caries volumetric assessment based on the multi-modality imaging techniques have been examined. The calculated concordance coefficients between estimated volumes show a good correspondence. Finally, volumetric correlation between SAM & OCT scans and ICDAS were reviewed as a potential clinical diagnostic approach.
The optical and ultrasonic methods used in the study proved to be a possible alternative to ionizing radiation techniques used in current clinical settings. The further improvements in the experimental design will eliminate necessity of surface exposers so the OCT and ultrasound could be used as complementary technologies.

Researching Rochberg’s 50 Caprice Variations in New York

Doctoral candidate Yung-Yu Lin is hoping to visit New York to conduct a complete research on George Rochberg’s 50 Caprice Variations for solo violin with Professor Janette Tilley at Lehman College, the City University of New York (CUNY). 50 Caprice Variations draws on a vast array of historical stylistic references from the Baroque to the modern musical periods. Given that the piece is long, difficult to play, and less than 50 years old, a performance guide to assist violinists is a useful contribution to the pedagogical literature. However, there is little literature contributed to the field collaborating with the musicians who had worked with Rochberg during his lifetime. Lewis Kaplan, a renowned violinist who is currently teaching at the Juilliard School in New York, not only edited the work but also gave the first complete performance of it over radio station WBAI in New York in April 1970. Lin hopes to work closely with Prof. “TO BE CONT’D”

Development of electrospun micro/nano fibrous strain sensors with temperature sensing capabilities for wearable textile applications

Piezoresistive strain sensors respond to a mechanically induced deformation with a change in their electrical resistance. Large strain flexible strain sensors have been adopted for numerous applications including rehabilitation, health and sport performance monitoring as well as physiology and kinesiology applications. Although development of these flexible strain sensors has reached a level of maturity, design of a multifunctional strain sensor with temperature sensing capabilities and its integration with wearable textiles and electronics have still remained a challenge. In this project, a flexible strain sensor with high sensitivity and durability will be manufactured to be integrated within Myant’s knitted textiles while maintaining their already existing passive and active sensing features. A temperature sensing aspect will also be included in the device by using polymers with shape memory properties. For this purpose, an electrically conductive polymeric matrix will be fabricated to form a micro/nano fibrous flexible substrate.

Les caractéristiques des emprunteurs et leur influence sur le processus de défaut

Ultimement, suite au développement de modèles micro-économique de gestion intégrée des risques avec l’entreprise, l’objectif visé est d’intégrer à ces modèles les différents biais comportementaux et erreurs cognitives entretenus par les milléniaux au Québec via les résultats provenant de la littérature et les résultats empiriques de mon travail de maîtrise. La finalité est donc l’intégration pratique des modèles développés à la politique de gestion des risques de l’entreprise. Le but est de minimiser l’impact et optimiser la gestion des risques financiers. L’intégration des biais comportementaux est essentielle afin de bien comprendre les différentes décisions des emprunteurs et établir quels sont les comportements qui sont le plus à risque de se traduire par un défaut.

Analyste SEM chez Click & Mortar

Le projet consiste à optimiser les pratiques SEM et SEO de l’agence numérique Click & Mortar. Pour vulgariser les termes, SEM signifie le « Search Engine Marketing » et SEO le « Search Engine Organic ». Le SEM/SEO est le placement publicitaire en ligne sur les moteurs de recherche comme Google. Les placements publicitaires permettent aux entreprises de bénéficier d’un meilleur positionnement de leurs annonces sur les pages Google. La valeur ajoutée d’un meilleur positionnement est la notoriété de la publicité qui va ensuite influencer les utilisateurs interagir avec la marque et augmenter les bénéfices d’un client. L’optimisation des pratiques SEM et SEO de Click & Mortar permettront à l’agence d’offrir un service optimal à leurs clients. Avec un guide de pratique optimisé SEM, Click & Mortar pourront par la suite offrir des meilleurs résultats en termes de marketing électronique aux PME et autres entreprises du Québec.

Development of a biological production technology of terpenes in lemon aspen for skin lightening application

-Lemon Aspen is an indigenous plant of Uncandy and its extract contains terpenes (FPA and its derivatives) which have high efficacy such as skin whitening, pore contraction, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial.
-It is necessary to develop production technology based on biological process in order to solve the problem of delays in commercialization because it is currently produced by plant extraction method which has environmental destruction and is difficult to obtain economical efficiency.
-It is possible to produce microbial cell plants that produce lemon aspen terpenes (FPA and derivatives) in large quantities through Optimization of the expression of FPA (farnesyl diphosphate) biosynthetic pathways and related genes, and the introduction and overexpression of phloretate O-farnesyltransferase enzyme, which binds FPP to PA. TO BE CONT’D

Acceptance Testing Framework for Robotic Software Solutions

Modern robots depend on numerous hardware devices and human interaction in order to perform their task. These dependencies, in addition to the distributed nature of these systems, make automated full-system testing difficult. Current testing practices are insufficient as they only test a single component of the system or require costly manual labor. Many companies have also adopted continuous integration in order to speed up their pace of development and increase software reliability. However, since full-system testing cannot be easily automated, these kinds of tests cannot be added to continuous integration. Therefore, there is a clear need for automated full-system testing of robotic software, specifically acceptance testing, despite its difficulties. The focus of this research will be to develop an acceptance testing framework for robotic software that can be run with or without physical hardware and human interaction. This will be accomplished through the examination and implementation of research in the area of simulating hardware devices and human interaction for robotic systems.

Investigation of changing of peroxisome and Mitochondria in metabolic change

Metabolic disorders are growing into a large health crisis worldwide. One common fact shown in these diseases is impaired function of mitochondria. Several treatments for metabolic diseases therefore aim to normalize or even boost up the activity mitochondria. The role of peroxisomes, on the other hand, is relatively neglected, despite its close connection with mitochondria. This project will be one of a kind, investigating the changes in peroxisomes in metabolic diseases and discovering a novel anti-metabolic disease pathway via peroxisomal activity. The cooperating functions between mitochondria and peroxisomes will give us a hint for deal with the major health threat of metabolic disorders. The world class peroxisome research lab led by professor Peter K. Kim has both the ability and eagerness to launch this project. My specialty as a brown adipocyte metabolism researcher can also support his work, as his past work has solely focused on the roles of peroxisomes.

Methods for efficient and effective multi-document reading comprehension in the legal domain

ROSS enables legal professionals by providing tools that harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to make the research process more efficient. Advances within machine learning and natural language computing enable systems to achieve close to human performance. Many state-of-the-art methods have not been applied to the legal domain, leaving opportunity to enable development for the legal field and bring improvement to the efficiency and effectiveness of legal research. This project evaluates multiple approaches to multi-document comprehension and their performance in legal domain.

Modelisation de la thermodynamique et de la cinetique de formation etde stabilisation de I’austenite de reversion dans un acier inoxydable martensitique parI’approche CaiPhaD.

Les proprietes des materiaux sont intimement Hees a leur organisation interne ou

microstructure. Pour les aciers constituant les ailes de turbines de centrales

hydrauliques, on pense que la microstructure ideale pour augmenter leur duree de vie,

consiste dans Ie melange de deux phases: martensite et austenite. Cependant,

I’austenite n’existe pas dans Ie materiau de depart et doit etre formee par un traitement

thermique dont on souhaite connaitre les caracteristiques afin d’aboutir a la quantite

et a la repartition souhaitee d’austenite. En s’appuyant sur les resultats

experimentaux, nous voulons realiser sur ordinateur, en utilisant les logiciels de calcul

thermodynamiques Thermo-Calc et DlCTRA, un modele physique de cet acier, ainsi

que d’autres aciers de la meme famille qui permettra de predire la formation de

I’austenite afin de mieux connaitre Ie processus et d’optimiser les traitements

thermiques et les performances des aciers.

Metabolic Engineering of Retinoid and Phytoene Synthesis Pathway in E. coli.

Phytoene is a colorless carotenoid that absorbs light in UVA(286nm). It has powerful antioxidant and UV blocking effect and is used as a useful cosmetic material that can cope with the urban aging of skin in modern people. The purpose of this study is to construct and optimize phytoene biosynthetic pathway using E. coli. To make a microbial cell factory which is capable of mass production of phytoene in E. coli, redesign and optimze the core metabolic pathways that efficiently support it.