Innovative Projects Realized

Variation du microbiome des mésanges bleues Corses, en relation avec le microbiome de leurs proies (les chenilles tordeuses du chêne) et celui des feuilles de deux espèces de chênes dont elles se nourrissent

Les études récentes ont démontré que le microbiome d’un organisme (l’ensemble des organismes vivants dans ou sur cet hôte) influence beaucoup ce dernier. Les connaissances sur le microbiome des oiseaux en milieu naturel demeurent encore minces. Un suivi à long terme des mésanges bleues en Corse a permis de déceler des adaptations morphologiques, comportementales et démographiques entre des populations selon l’environnement dans lequel elles vivent : forêt de chêne aux feuilles persistante ou caduques. Est-ce que le microbiome de l’espèce d’arbre dominant diffère entre ces environnements? Si oui, est-ce que cette différence se répercute jusqu’aux mésanges via leur principale proie: la chenille tordeuse du chêne? Est-ce que les individus d’une même famille ont des microbiomes plus similaires? Est-ce que le comportement des individus pourrait être corrélé à la composition de leur microbiome? Mon projet de maîtrise tentera de répondre à ces questions dans le but de mieux comprendre ce qui fait varier le microbiome de populations d’oiseaux.

La place des droits fondamentaux à l’aube de l’ère informatique au sein des sociétés canadienne et française

Le projet de recherche propose un sujet actuel et important pour la conciliation des droits fondamentaux de l’être humain à une défense pleine et entière, en rapport avec l’utilisation des éléments de preuve incriminants provenant des méthodes d’enquête policière faisant appel à des nouvelles technologies. La réalisation d’une cotutelle entre l’Université de Sherbrooke et l’Institut de Sciences Criminelles et de la Justice de l’Université de Bordeaux est essentielle au présent projet, favorisant la mobilité de l’étudiant, la coopération entre des équipes de recherche canadienne et française, permettant d’effectuer une analyse de droit comparé entre l’état de droit des deux pays et d’examiner les remèdes apportés par chacun à la violation de droits fondamentaux du citoyen. L’étudiant aura les moyens de participer aux conférences organisées à l’Université de Bordeaux sur le sujet proposé et de consulter des nombreux experts et intervenants dans le domaine. TO BE CONT’D

Design and Development of Unmanned Air Systems

Quaternion Engineering Inc. (QEI) is developing a series of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)

optimized to address the growing demand for low cost, turnkey commercial and military

solutions. Recent market research has shown an emerging commercial market for UAVs in

applications such as small scale surveillance, remote sensing and inspection. As this market

emerges there will be a large demand for affordable application specific unmanned systems that

are easy and inexpensive to operate. Currently, Canada has relatively modest capabilities in

terms of UAS and UAV development. However, there appears to be significant opportunities for

Western Canada to progressively establish a strong niche position in the UAV industry in specific

areas that could even include original UAV designs that are conceived from the ground up, to

respond specifically to emerging regulatory requirements and to current and future sensor

characteristics. At the end of the project QEI will have commercially available and operationally

tested unmanned systems with a high technology readiness level and several…

Inventing Law: Legitimating Post-World War Two Political Regimes in Romania and France

I am a third-year PhD student in Sociology and Jewish Studies at the University of Toronto, and my research is a comparative study of post-Holocaust trials in France and Romania. My dissertation aims to illuminate the political contexts within which policymakers decide to pursue legal responses to atrocities. In order to complete my PhD research, I need to access documents at a variety of archives in Paris, especially the Archives Nationales. These documents are not available anywhere else, and studying post-World War Two trials in France is an integral part of my dissertation. Professor Liora Israel, a leader in the study of legal responses to atrocity, has agreed to supervise me in Paris, at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales. Prof. Israel would be a highly qualified mentor and supervisor who can help me with both academic and methodological matters. TO BE CONT’D

Collision avoidance behaviours of previously concussed athletes with another athlete

During obstacle avoidance tasks, the cyclic relationship between perception, cognition and action implies that changes to the environment affect a person’s behaviour; however, changes to the observer may also affect this behaviour. Individuals who have experienced a concussion (traumatic brain injury induced by biomechanical forces) display multifaceted deficits during their recovery. Researchers recently investigated the nature of these deficits and how they affect an individual’s abilities. The proposed project aims at studying the strategies used by previously concussed symptom-free athletes when avoiding a collision with another athlete walking along crossing trajectories. Contrarily to non-concussed adults, we expect that behaviours will not be performed collaboratively because recently concussed athletes possess delays in visual-motor processing resulting in poor and delayed path selections. These deficits persist beyond the recovery of concussion symptoms; however, it is unknown how long they persist. It is hoped that the proposed study will narrow the gap in knowledge.

Structure and Function of Heteroenzymatic Complexes Involved in Storage Starch Biosynthesis in Maize

The proposed research project aims to gain novel insight into the mechanism of action of a key protein complex involved in the synthesis of plant starch. This aim will be achieved through the interdisciplinary collaboration of researchers at Guelph and Lille, having complementary expertise in both protein biochemistry and structural biology. The PhD student from Guelph will prepare maize recombinant starch synthase (SS) and starch branching enzyme (SBE), enzymes which form protein complexes crucial for the biosynthesis of starch in maize endosperm. The reconstituted protein complex will be used for structural analysis by the host laboratory in Lille. Understanding the structural and spatial relationships between the enzymes in the protein complex will provide valuable information on the mechanistic action of these protein complexes, and help to solve long-standing questions about their biological role. TO BE CONT’D

Understanding the Interplay Between Membrane Curvature and Conformational States in ABC transporters

ABC-transporters is a superfamily of membrane proteins that are expressed in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. One of the most studied ABC transporters is P-glycoprotein (Pgp). Pgp remove chemotherapy drugs from inside the cancer cell. Therefore, higher concentrations of toxic chemotherapy drugs are needed to kill cancer cells. This has an adverse effect: cancer cells develop resistance the longer the patient undergoes chemotherapy treatment, and chemotherapy will eventually not be effective. This phenomenon is called multidrug resistance (MDR) and the mechanisms that leads MDR remain unclear. A similar behavior is present also for the bacterial multidrug resistance ABC (BmrA), who plays a key role in infectious diseases and resistance to antibiotics.
In this project, we aimed to investigate the physical properties of the membrane curvature for the ABC transporters BmrA and Pgp. TO BE CONT’D

Fabrication et étude des comportements mécaniques des éprouvettes par impression 3D à base de composites à fibres de bois

Les polymères thermoplastiques renforcés de fibres naturelles s’ offrent une gamme intéressante de propriétés mécaniques spécifiques combinées à une empreinte environnementale maîtrisée. Mais, en raison de la faible résistance thermique des fibres végétales, la plupart des voies de traitement appliquées à ces biocomposites, y compris, le moulage par injection, etc., ont un effet important sur l’intégrité des parois cellulaires . Les FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) sont actuellement les techniques de fabrication additive (impression 3D) les plus communément utilisées en raison de la large gamme de matériaux disponibles.
En effet, le procédé FDM n’implique pas de niveaux de pression comparables à ceux rencontrés dans les procédés courants de moulage par injection. Le matériau (polyéthylène +fibre de bouleau à pourcentage varié+ agent de couplage) est déjà développé et caractérisé par les tests mécaniques (traction, flexion, impact, Charpy, dureté, DMA) à l’UQTR. TO BE CONT’D

Study of Bi-functional Metal Oxide Electro-catalyst for Oxygen Evolution/Oxygen Reduction Reaction and Formic Acid Oxidation / Carbon Dioxide Reduction Reaction

Bi-functional metal oxide electro-catalyst for energy application are a novel area of research with application mainly in energy storage and conversion device. They enable a single device to perform oxidation and reduction reaction subsequently, which reduces the cost and increase the versatility of energy storage and conversion technology such as fuel cell, electrolyser and flow battery. This project will focus on bi-functional catalyst for two pair of reaction:oxygen evolution/oxygen reduction reaction and formic acid oxidation / carbon dioxide reduction reaction. These two pair of reaction are chosen because they can be the basis of carbon utilization technology to create value added products. The reaction mechanism of the electro-catalysis of these reaction on metal oxide catalyst is not currently well studied. Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) will be the main equipment used in this project. TO BE CONT’D

Stress Regulation in Modern Times: Technologically Mediated Reduction of Coldness and Stress

Numerous studies have shown the necessity of supportive close relationships in our lives, and how the presence of social support can greatly protect us against stress, depression, and also enhance our perceived quality of life. Furthermore, previous studies have suggested that – throughout evolutionary time – our need for close relationships has primarily developed the burdens of stress and of temperature regulation.
However, past studies have been developed via relatively “low tech” means. Furthermore, what has not been addressed in the literature is whether people need to be in each other’s physical presence to regulate stress and temperature. This notion becomes even more pressing considering the fact that more and more couples are engaging in long-distance relationships. TO BE CONT’D

The Effects of Mild Bilateral Jugular Vein Compression on Cerebrovascular Physiology

This project will investigate the effects of using the Q collar to apply gentle pressure to the jugular veins of the neck to monitor changes in brain (cerebrovascular) physiology during exercise and postural changes. Specifically we will investigate changes in brain blood flow velocity, relative changes in blood volume and oxygen levels, and changes in the space between the skull and the brain called the subarachnoid space. We will also monitor the heart and blood pressure. Following baseline resting data collection, postural changes will include lying down, sitting and standing. Then steady state exercise will be performed at a moderate-intensity for 30 minutes. All participants will perform these procedures with and without the Q collar on. This research will assist Q30 Sports Canada Inc. to validate the safety and efficacy of their collar device. TO BE CONT’D

Finding innovations to improve calf gastrointestinal health

The neonatal and pre-weaned periods are the most challenging in dairy production, resulting in the highest mortality and morbidity rates, with diarrhea proving the most common cause of calf health problems. In order to treat and control this diarrhea, producers often rely on antibiotic therapy. An alternative is to provide living microorganisms (probiotics) that minimize pathogenic bacteria colonization of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), without producing drug residues, when directly fed to animals. The aim of the proposed project is to examine whether the addition of one specific yeast probiotic, Saccharomyces cerevisiae boulardii (SB), impacts gastrointestinal function, structure, and microbiota, as well as GIT health on gut function in early-life calves. This will be the first large study to explore the molecular and physiological mechanisms behind how probiotics affects GIT health in calves.