Innovative Projects Realized

Leacock Museum National Historic Site – Conservation Study

The research project will investigate and analyze a range of existing site and building conditions that may require upgrading and/or conservation at the existing Leacock Museum, former home of Canadian humourist, Stephen Leacock. The site is a National Historic Site, located in Orillia, Ontario. Research will be focused on: barrier free accessibility; exterior cladding; exterior historic woodwork condition; energy savings; and assessment of the site as a cultural heritage landscape. The research will provide +VG Architects, the sponsoring partner, site condition data and options for potential energy conservation strategies. This will assist +VG Architects in preparing a comprehensive planning document to assist in prioritizing future capital maintenance projects for this National Heritage Site.

Intégration des contraintes légales sur les horaires des chauffeurs de camion dans une solution de planification de la chaine logistique

“Afin d’assurer la sécurité des transports, de nombreuses réglementations existent autour du temps de travail pour les chauffeurs de camion. Elles définissent en particulier des durées maximums de conduite, et des périodes minimums de pause et de repos. Ces réglementations, souvent complexes, varient d’un état et d’un pays à l’autre. Pour que la chaine logistique soit efficace et donc que les livraisons se fassent à moindre coût, il est essentiel que les logiciels de planification des transports puissent tenir compte de ces contraintes afin de trouver les parcours de livraison les plus efficaces dans les limites de la réglementation.Le but de ce projet est double. Il s’agit d’une part de proposer une modélisation unifiée des principales réglementations existant à l’échelle mondiale, et d’autre part d’intégrer ces restrictions dans la suite logicielle de planification des transports de JDA Software.”

Development of new generation of tool steels by modification in chemical composition, grain refinement, and cryogenic treatment – Year two

DK SPEC is a major producer of blades, cutters, and saws, made of tool steel, for the Canadian wood industry. In order to keep up with the stiff competition, the company has acquired some state-of-the-art heat treatment furnaces for cryogenic treatment. They have a complete cycle for machining, hardening, cryogenic and tempering cycles. They will shortly acquire a rolling machine in order to do deformation either cold or warm on the as-annealed materials before machining and final advanced heat treatment cycle. In this project new alloy will be designed and the developed knowledge and documentation during this project will help the industrial partner to implement the findings into its manufacturing process. The commitment, technical and operational contributions of company is clear indication of its interest to increase its technological level and produce high value added products.

Development of new generation of tool steels by modification in chemical composition, grain refinement, and cryogenic treatment

DK SPEC is a major producer of cutting tool steels for the Canadian wood industry. A combination of High strength, good toughness, and wear resistance determines the quality of a tool steel. In the framework of Engage, EngagePlus and MITACS acceleration projects, an advanced heat treatment cycle by cryogenic cooling at temperatures as low as -100 °C was developed. The application of the above cycle resulted in a 75% reduction in processing time and improvement in wear resistance (+20%). However, in-depth thermodynamic and microstructural studies in the last three years showed that the chemical composition and microstructure of conventional tool steels do not meet the entire requirements for the cryogenic treatment. Therefore, the main objective of the project is to study new alloys compositions as well as new microstructure modification methods (e.g. cold or warm deformations) prior to the cryogenic treatment to achieve the superior mechanical properties required by industry.

Approches génétiques à haut-débit appliquées au métabolisme microbien pour la prévention et le traitement des défauts de saveur du sirop d’érable

“Des métabolites présents dans la sève d’érable sont responsables d’un défaut de saveur de plus en plus préoccupant pour l’industrie acéricole, le défaut de « bourgeon ». Les objectifs du projet sont d’explorer les voies de traitement microbiologique possible dans la sève ainsi que dans le sirop d’érable:1. Étudier par des approches de séquençage à haut-débit, le métabolisme de divers microorganismes dans de la sève de qualité en contraste avec de la sève de « bourgeon » pour identifier les microorganismes ayant le meilleur potentiel pour métaboliser les précurseurs de défauts de saveur et ainsi neutraliser ces défauts avant leur apparition.2. À l’aide d’outils génétiques, utiliser le métabolisme de la levure comme rapporteur pour identifier des enzymes capables de dégrader les molécules responsables de divers types de défauts de saveur dans le sirop d’érable.”

Primary care nursing and prenatal education amongst pregnant woman in rural India

In India, maternal mortality rate is one of the highest in the world. It is therefore crucial to improve health care for pregnant women to prevent pregnancy complications, premature births and maternal and infant deaths. As the nurse is one of the key health professionals interacting with pregnant women, it is essential to redefine her role in health education and prevention of
infectious diseases. Infectious diseases such as hepatitis A and E are transmitted through the consumption of contaminated water. Therefore, the nurse and other health professionals should educate women to healthy water sterilization habits. Given this context, the outcomes of this project will be to define the role of the nurse in rural maternal health care, identify the major
barriers to access clean water for pregnant women in rural areas of Gujarat, and develop a health promotion intervention proposal for pregnant women of Gujarat raise awareness about the benefits of using clean water.

Using Mobile Phones for Compliance to TB Medication: Applying a Gender Perspective

India is the country with the greatest burden of tuberculosis (TB), a very deadly infectious disease. Yet, TB is treatable with a drug regimen. However, as the treatment is very demanding, it is challenging even the most enthusiastic patient to remain compliant. Innovative strategies, such as the use of mobile phones, could complement existing methods used to increase TB
compliance. Nurses may emerge as leader in the development and pilot test of such populationbased interventions. As gender is one of the factors that may influence adherence, the expected outcomes are to identify best practices, highlighting the role of primary care nursing associated with improved TB treatment compliance while using mobile phones, with a gender perspective, and to have a better understanding of the challenges in the application of the best practices identified, in rural settings.

Primary care nursing practice in maternal health, Mumbai, India

Maternal and under-five mortality are still high in India but it could be reduced by strengthening the access to quality maternal health services. Given the importance of primary care nursing as mediators with families, home care nursing is among one of best options for quality maternal and child health in countries such as India. However, post-natal care coverage remains low. This project will allow me to contribute to quality primary care nursing by enhancing my understanding of the Indian context in regards to the challenges of early post-natal home followups in urban settings such as Mumbai. This project will include field observation, a critical review of literature, individual interviews with health professionals and students as well as focus group.

A semi-automatic computer aided system for spine diagnosis

This project aims at developing a semi-automatic computerized system for spine diagnosis. It improves the efficiency and the efficacy of the image based spine diagnostic procedure. The development of the system is grounded on the state-of-the-art computer vision algorithm “Optimally Oriented Flux”. Based on this algorithm, I tailor various mathematical formulations to mimic human experts to perform, or help perform image-based spine diagnosis.

To best of our knowledge, this is the first system in the world focusing on semi-automatic computerized spine diagnosis. The contribution of this system is twofold. It gives significant technical advancement in the computer vision and mathematics aspects. It also offers a practical diagnostic system which can greatly reduce radiologists’ time for diagnosis, suppress human errors and provide more clinical information to facilitate the current diagnosis work-flow.

Management of Head and Neck Cancer: Transition to Home-based Care in Mulund, Mumbai – Contributing to Quality Primary Care Nursing Practice

People affected by head and neck cancer go to the oncology outpatient clinic to receive their chemotherapy treatment in Fortis Institute of Nursing in Mulund, Mumbai, India. After their treatment, they go back home. How can nurses potentialise the transition between the clinic and homebased oncology care? What are the best practices regarding these kind of transitions?

A Novel Approach to the Design of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Humanitarian Initiatives

Development of an engineering model using data from a piloted aircraft to facilitate the creation of a flight controller for the aircraft, allowing automated flight.

The Future of Mandatory Charging for Intimate Partner Violence: Status quo or alternative direction?

According to the Ontario Domestic Violence Advisory Council (DVAC, 2009), legislative responses to violence against women were introduced across Canada in the 1980s. These policies included provisions for mandatory police-laid charges against perpetrators of domestic violence. The DVAC report noted numerous unintended negative consequences of these policies and recommended an impact study which was never conducted. This four-month project will (i) conduct an international literature review on mandatory charging, and (ii) create an Ontario-specific survey to be used with women who have experienced violence in a future phase of the project. This project provides a first step for police and partners (e.g. Violence Against Women Coordinating Committees across Ontario such as OCTEVAW, Crown Attorneys) in developing more effective responses to domestic violence and reducing associated costs.