Innovative Projects Realized

SWAT modeling for permafrost watersheds

The Cape Bounty Watershed Observatory (CBAWO) is in the Canadian High Arctic, where the soil is frozen and river discharge is zero, except for the summer months (June – August). Given the higher climatic sensitivity of polar regions to climate change, understanding changes in watershed function in these locations is important for assessing land-to-sea fluxes of carbon and nutrients. SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) is regarded as a strong tool for hydrological modelling and water chemical fluxes; however, it has its limitations for Arctic environments, because of the dynamic evolution of the soil profile. The active layer (the seasonally thawed layer of soil in permafrost catchments), expands during the thaw season allowing water to infiltrate deeper and ground ice to thaw, which changes both the subsurface and surface hydrology. Therefore, hydrological modeling in permafrost watersheds requires coding a new algorithm in SWAT that incorporates a dynamic soil profile by introducing a dependent proxy variable for the active layer thickness.

Investigation of impact of predatory bacteria in simulated gut microbiome, Robogut

Gut microbiome stability appears to be essential for keeping health nowadays. Then, the needs to develop proper tools to modulate microbiome become important issue. In this proposal, we suggest predatory bacteria as microbiome modulator. Predatory bacteria are ubiquitous in the environment and non-toxic to mammalian cells. Recent researches proved the existence of predatory bacteria inside 92 humans’ gut and found relatioship between disease and their existence. Also, one groups added predatory bacteria into gut of rats for 7 days, beneficial microbes are increased. However, this researches are in early stage and we need to find good model to analyze impact of predatory bacteria inside gut microbiome by controlling many of factors.
Robogut, chemostat with simulated gut microbiome, is perfect model to simulate impact of predatory bacteria inside gut microbiome without animal model. TO BE CONT’D

Reversible assembly state of plasmonic nanoparticles driven by controlling liquid crystalline defect under multi-stimuli system

The main research theme of the project is to achieve reconfigurable assembly state of plasmonic NPs by controlling its trapping agent, LCs, under multi-stimuli system. There are two kinds of multi-stimuli LC control platform; one is static system in which anchoring, rubbing, and confinement can be modified, while the other is dynamic system which is subjected under electric field plus the three stimuli of the previous system.
As the fabrication method for LC control template is based on soft-imprinting technique, it offers an advantageous aspect, simple and cost-effective manufacturing process, compared to the fabrication process of contemporary research. The change in assembly state will be analyzed via various optical spectrometers including Polarized Optical Microscopy(POM), Fluorescence Microscopy(FM), and Surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy(SERS).

Utilizing Virtual Reality as a Tool for Research on Environmental Behavior Study

My main field of interest is environmental behavior, which deals with interrelations between physical environments and human behaviors regarding urban- and architectural safety planning. I am currently planning to conduct an experimental research on public safety issues (fire/escape, terror/crimes) in urban- and architectural environments utilizing Virtual Reality technologies, and although I have recently acquired fundamental knowledge on VR technologies for the experiment, I am still in great need of technical assistance from professionals and detailed know-hows for more profound research and research performance. Professor Andrew Park, with whom I got acquainted at a research subject workshop, works at Thompsons Rivers University in Kamloops, Canada. Professor Park specializes in computer modeling and scientific visualization and conduct diverse studies on human behaviors in urban environments using Virtual Reality and Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation. TO BE CONT’D

Development of skin-humanized mouse model for psoriasis

The objective of my research is to generate self-assembled artificial skin and humanized mouse model for study of various skin diseases. The artificial skin is made using human derived skin cells, which are then grafted to mice. This humanized mouse model is most similar to the environment in the human body, and the self-assembled artificial skin implantation can give benefit to overcome the differences between human and mice. For that reason it is useful for researching various skin diseases greatly.
My project generating artificial skin and humanized mouse model for skin disease is considered to have significant academic values, because so far, there is no humanized mouse model representing psoriasis, one of the skin immune diseases. Moreover, there is no case in Korea for self-assembled artificial skin production. TO BE CONT’D

Estimating the benefit of green infrastructure to urban ecosystems: A synthesis and case-study

Globally cities are expanding and this has a negative impact on natural systems. Green infrastructure (GI), such as green roofs, retention ponds, or urban tree canopies, is used to mitigate the impacts of extreme weather and provide resources for people in the city. However, GI can also provide a benefit for native species and wildlife by providing a habitat for them to live. Although this is commonly suggested, to our knowledge, no one has attempted to quantify the effects of GI on natural systems. Within this project, we will conduct a literature review and use available data to quantify the response of natural systems to different levels of GI implementation for the City of Toronto and region. Implications from this research will reduce the human impact on ecosystems and contribute to sustainability in the world.

Motif dynamics on a growing network model for various open evolving systems

In this research, we construct an open evolving network model and study growing conditions of the model. We construct a simple network model that changes the structure and evolves according to time, and we examine the causes of macroscopic phenomena (e.g. earthquake and meteorological phenomenon, brain activity, etc.) through the characteristics of motif dynamics constituting the system. We measure the number of motifs in the model and investigate how the size of the system varies with the number of motifs. The motif is a subgraph of the network. We calculate Z score, which measures the number of motifs measured in the model, as compared to the null model. A motif with a large Z score means that it is abnormally large compared to the null model. We expect that the increase/decrease of certain motifs will help the growth of the network.

Recolouring Locally Injective Homomorphisms and k-Frugal Colourings

I am working on graph Recolouring in reflexive digraphs and the host supervisor is working on Locally Injective Homomorphisms and k-Frugal Coloring. I and the host supervisor will work on graph graph Recolouring in Locally Injective Homomorphisms and k-Frugal colourings so our objectives is calculating complexity of graph recolouring in Locally Injective Homomorphisms and k-Frugal colourings.

The Sherbrooke Personalized Cancer Avatar Model Initiative: A Feasibility Study of Treatment Guided by the Combination of DNA Profiling and Next-Generation Medical Avatars in Patients with Advanced Kidney Cancer

We recently developed a rapid and cost-effective pre-clinical technology that is well suited for precision medicine –the ex ovo chicken embryo ChorioAllantoic Membrane (CAM) assay. Our goal is to perform a pilot study that combines tumor genotyping data and the use of personalized CAMavatars, to predict drug sensitivity in renal cancer patients and to test newly developed cancer therapies. We also propose technical advances to the CAM technology and the development of a humanized CAMavatar model that can be used for testing immunotherapy. We expect to establish this next-generation Avatar model as state-of–the-art screening facility for personalized cancer drug development and in patients’ treatment options. For IBio, the development of an improved CAMavatar technology proposed herein will increase the number and scope of new partnerships in the field of therapeutic and diagnostic antibodies, resulting in at least one to two jobs created per new agreement. TO BE CONT’D

The Minds in Motion Initiative: An Evaluation

Homes for Mental Health, Inc. This initiative has three main goals: to assist mental health

consumers in the recovery process by providing access to physical health activities, to raise

awareness in the community at large about mental health issues, and to provide a unique

walking race experience for athletes and amateurs alike. The study will evaluate the

effectiveness of this project in reaching these three goals through the collection and analysis

of both numerical and narrative data from key participants in MIMI. The project will be guided

by a steering committee composed of mental health consumers, their family members, staff

members of Waterloo Regional Homes, and members of the community at large. This

research aims to contribute both to the development of MIMI and to the literature regarding

community-based mental health.

From the Griffin to the Axolotl: The Resurgence and Reimagining of the Medieval Bestiary in Contemporary Hispanic Literature

The bestiary, derived from the Latin bestiarium, was a medieval genre comprised of animal catalogues, each providing descriptions, anecdotes, and illustrations of real and imaginary beasts. Often plotless, targeting women and children, decorated with lavish imagery, and laden with Catholic allegory, medieval bestiaries exploited animals’ appeal and rhetorical plasticity to educate and enforce conformity in medieval societies. Centuries later, Latin American authors took up the bestiary during the literary avant-garde and Boom periods and remolded it by embracing beasts beyond the European imagination, replacing religious doctrine with diverse ideologies, at times revelling in the nonsensical. Juan José Arreola, Jorge Luis Borges, Augusto Monterroso, and Pablo Neruda adapted the medieval bestiary, each writer infusing his work with his philosophies and idiosyncrasies. These four authors’ works serve as an origin point from which dozens of other authors take inspiration, culminating in a revival of the bestiary in contemporary Hispanic literature. Because the genre is new and can prove elusive, I will use the MITACS Global Link travel grant to hunt bestiaries through Mexico City in the hopes of expanding my current corpus.

Tracing the Historical Plays of Power in Alberta’s Recreation System

When we research the knowledge of the past, we also research the conditions of possibility for different futures (Foucault, 2003; Peers, 2015). Therefore, the purpose of this research project is to use the traces of the past to question the practices that have come to be naturalized within Alberta’s recreation system (e.g., providing pay-per-use recreation opportunities in big box facilities). Using an intensive archival research process, as well as a series of ongoing community conversations, we hope to uncover what is problematic and dangerous in recreation’s practices and discourses. In doing so, we hope to learn how recreation professionals specifically, and society more broadly, might think about and practice recreation differently.