Innovative Projects Realized

Sustainable Urban Development: Homebuyer Expectations and Implementation Challenges

The main objective of this research project is to synthesize and evaluate the published and grey literatures on consumer perceptions of green real estate development and sustainable community design features. Current research on homebuyers perceptions, priorities, motivations, and willingness-to-pay has yet to be consolidated. The complex nature of these topics scatters research across several disciplinary sectors, making it difficult to integrate the data and make an informed decision for sustainable real estate investment. This synthesis will offer a comprehensive organizational model through which consumer engagement can be visualized, analyzed, and better understood. This research will seek to identify demand-driven incentives for sustainable community development that will hopefully act as a catalyst for the adoption of these sustainable development ideals in Canada. Arbutus Properties will use this research to inform future investigations into the ways in which sustainable real estate development can appeal to suburban buyers in Saskatoon.

Planned Communities: Theories and Practices in Sustainable and Ecological Site Design

Mitigating climate change is arguably one of the most pressing issues facing humanity; changing development patterns is a key part of the solution. While alternatives to the traditional automobile suburb exist, they have not become a part of mainstream practice. In part, this is due to lack of clarity on what the alternative options exist. The purpose of this project is to synthesize what the current methodologies in sustainable and ecological site design of planned communities are. This research will inform the site planning and design guidelines to be developed by Arbutus Properties for their next project in Saskatoon.

Think-Move-Play: Towards personal health and rehabilitation monitoring using wearable devices

The Think-Move-Play project’s purpose is to study the feasibility and acceptability of utilizing smart insoles to collect health information and interact with patients suffering from hip fracture and neurological diseases. We propose a unique solution by combining personal health monitoring and coaching that is augmented with a virtual play environment aimed to maintain constant high level of motivation. This clinically oriented virtual play environment will be developed and tested by a multidisciplinary team that includes academic and clinical researchers from McGill and Laval Universities and Canadian companies. While Ubisoft will assist with the gaming concept,

Cloud-based RealTime Energy Monitoring with Wireless Sensors

Long-term monitoring and modeling energy consumption behaviors is a daunting task for decades. This project aims to achieve efficient energy consumption data collection and processing using wireless sensors and cloud platform together, focusing on large scale enterprises that consume large amount of energy, e.g., electricity, gas. By tackling the challenges through algorithm design and system integration, a prototype system will be delivered, which can effectively gather data from distributed sensors and efficiently analyze real time data on the cloud platform. With optimized network design and real time analysis tool, this project will greatly help the partner deeply understand the key points that drive the large portion of energy consumption. Furthermore, this can also help with upgrading the manufacturing processes and optimizing the management for production.

How to Say “Spay”: BC SPCA Rural and Semi-Rural Cat Spay/ Neuter Program Messaging Research Project

Canada is currently experiencing a cat overpopulation crisis, fed in large part by the uncontrolled breeding of domestic animals. While homeless and feral cats may add to the problem, much of the population explosion is being driven by unsterilized cats, whose owners have chosen to leave them intact. A single unaltered female cat and her offspring, can produce up to 420,000 cats over a 7- year period, an unneutered male cat can father hundreds of kittens each year of his life. These rising cat numbers represents not only a pressing animal welfare concern but also a serious drain on the resources of local municipal departments and humane societies such as the BC SPCA. This research aims to significantly reduce the problem by persuading more cat owners to fix their cats through a targeted pro-social messaging campaign that will draw on recent work in the fields of consumer behaviour and sustainability marketing. The goal of the research is to develop a messaging toolkit that is able to work across a variety of real-world situations. TO BE CONT’D

Dynamic dune restoration for endangered species in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, Ucluelet, B.C.

As part of ongoing collaboration with Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, the intern will engage in a 5-year dune restoration effort at Wickaninnish Beach near Ucluelet, B.C. Invasive beach grass (Ammophila spp.) was introduced to stabilize the dunes in the 1940s and has since colonized the foredunes, reduced active windblown sediment transport, and lowered species diversity. The research will assess morphological and sedimentological responses of the dunes to mechanical removal of the beach grasses using remotely sensed data (LIDAR), onsite experiments of wind flow and sand transport, and repeat topographic surveys within restored (mechanically cleared) vs. non-restored areas. The ultimate objective of the larger program is to restore an active, dynamic foredune ecosystem that will host viable populations of federally-recognized endangered species including Pink Sand-verbena (Abronia umbellata). The research will provide a scientific assessment of the dynamic restoration strategy and will inform future restoration efforts by Parks Canada.

Modélisation de la mégacaryopoïèse par équations différentielles avec retard dépendant de l’état

Le projet consiste a? de?velopper un mode?le d’e?quations diffe?rentielles pour la production des plaquettes sanguines, et des me?gacaryocytes qui sont les cellules a? partir desquelles sont cre?e?es les plaquettes. Ce processus est controle? par une hormone nomme?e thrombopoie?tine (TPO), dont la pre?sence augmente le nombre de plaquettes : la quantite? de TPO pre?sente de?pendant elle-meme du nombre de plaquettes et de me?gacaryocytes, on peut repre?senter ce syste?me par un mode?le d’e?quations diffe?rentielles a? retard (EDR). Cela a de?ja? permis a? de pre?ce?dentes
e?tudes d’explorer les facteurs pouvant provoquer l’apparition d’oscillations du nombre de plaquettes, responsable de la pathologie connue sous le nom de thrombocytope?nie cyclique, qui ame?ne le malade a? alterner un nombre de plaquettes trop important (pouvant causer des caillots) et trop faible (a? l’origine d’he?morragie). Au cours de ce projet de recherche nous allons tenter de re?pondre aux me?mes questions tout en explorant le me?canisme d’interaction entre les me?gacaryocytes et la TPO, peu connu aujourd’hui, et cela a? l’aide d’EDR de?pendant de l’e?tat, une classe d’e?quations qui s’est re?cemment dote?e de nouveaux outils d’analyse. On espe?re donc pouvoir, en collaboration avec des he?matologistes, explorer diffe?rentes hypothe?ses biologiques pouvant mener a? des propositions the?rapeutiques.

First Nations Planning and Communication: managing and presenting complex data

Provinces have been mandated to consult with First Nations on a broad spectrum of

planning issues in the last decade. First Nations engaging in these processes should be

empowered with an array of communication tools that (a) enable their decision-making, and

(b) enhance their capacity to communicate their values, suggestions or concerns. The

purpose of this study is to evaluate and apply communication tools for inclusive community

planning processes and local economic development. More specifically, already

collected video interviews, digitized archival documents, photos and geo-data for two

Aboriginal communities will be published in interactive digital formats to reflect community

priorities. To develop the most appropriate digital format, the intern will work with the EPI

team to identify the main communication needs over a variety of

stages in the planning process. Also, Formats such as maps, films, interactive digital formats,

and charrettes being used in a planning context will be evaluated.

Effects of Pulse Lighting Regimes on Microalgae Growth

Algae are microorganisms present in all aquatic environments with the ability to grow using sunlight as energy source. This ability can be harnessed to produce biomass for various purposes of industrial interests such as biofuel, animal feed, nutrients, etc. This project seeks to improve the productivity of an algal growth facility while reducing energy costs by exploring alternative illumination methods.

Modelling the response of glaciers in Western Canada to climate change

The costs of future climate change to the Canadian economy and society are likely to be very large. Meltwater from glaciers is an important source of freshwater throughout Western Canada, while freshwater carried by rivers to oceans plays a critical role in the global climate system. The overall goal of this project is to improve our understanding of glacier response to climate change in Western Canada. In particular, this internship project will develop and test a model that simulates surface melting on a study glacier in Yukon. This glacier is selected due to its long record of observations (e.g. mass balance, weather conditions, snow accumulation, snowline changes) necessary for the model development and validation. The results of this project will improve our predictions of glacier changes in this region and its impacts on Canadian freshwater resources. A better understanding of what is happening to the freshwater stored in mountain glaciers will enable policy makers to make more informed regional, national and international water supply decisions.

Cost Analysis of Smart Energy Network at residential to community levels: integration of natural gas, electricity and heat with end-use devices

There is growing pressure from intergovernmental organizations, governments and consumers to reduce the quantity of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere. Investments in green technology such as renewable energy sources, battery technology and carbon capture and sequestration can often yield significant reductions in carbon emissions. However, the corresponding economic costs of these projects can regularly result in a balancing act between environmental benefit and affordable energy consumption. Smart Energy Network, SEN, systems could provide a solution to this dilemma. This proposal is about cost analysis of integration of the energy sources electricity (E), natural gas (NG), heat (or thermal, T) and end use devices at a community to residential level. Economic justification of integration of advanced storage, on-site generation, end-use devices, and large penetration of renewable energy sources will be studied. The main reason for integration of the energy sources is to deliver end-user services in the most affordable, reliable and sustainable way and to relieve grid congestion by conversion of energy sources, storage and multifunctional/multifuel end-use devices.

Human Motion Inverse Optimal Control Constraint Learning and Inertial Measurement Unit Sensor Design for Rehabilitation

During physiotherapy a continuous assessment and progress tracking of a patient’s performance is of clinical interest. In this project, based on the promising results from the initial prototype, we will redesign the wearable sensors to improve tracking accuracy, communication speed and
robustness, incorporate onboard data storage and computation, and minimize cost and size. Furthermore, we will develop automated algorithms for the analysis of the measured data to help physiotherapists identify the causes of changes to the patients’ movement profile.