Innovative Projects Realized

Health equity, road safety and the built environment (BE): Examining barriers and facilitators to BE change decision-making, the impact of Vision Zero, and COVID-19

The goal of this proposed project is to increase the safety of vulnerable road users (pedestrians & cyclists) by examining factors that help or hinder the process of making changes to the built environment (BE) for this purpose. By examining data collected from municipal, transportation, police services, public health, NGOs, and schoolboard sectors in the Cities of Calgary and Toronto the deliverables of this project aim to inform policy and decision-makers so that more resources and tools are allocated to BE changes that increase vulnerable road user safety. This project will also specifically focus on factors relating to the Vision Zero road safety plan and COVID-19. The partnership with Parachute, Canada’s leading injury prevention organization, is paramount to the analysis and development of deliverables for this project as they have a breadth of expertise and legacy of meaningful contributions to injury prevention strategies.

Performance Enhancing Effects of Altering Blood Flow Patterns

The vision of Own The Podium is for Canada to be a world leader in high performance sport. With this vision comes the required investment into our understanding of how athletes adapt to training and how this understanding can be leveraged to provide our national level athletes a competitive edge on the world stage. This project aims to understand the adaptations that lead to the incredible improvements in aerobic fitness in high-level endurance athletes observed following blood-flow restriction training. Current research demonstrates profound improvements in aerobic fitness following blood-flow restriction training, even in already trained athletes. However, the mechanisms leading to the improved fitness are unclear and understudied. Understanding the types of adaptations that are occurring and in what timeframe they occur will inform how our international level endurance athletes can incorporate this type of exercise into their already busy training programs.

Delineation and phenology of the invasive box tree moth (BTM) in Toronto

The box tree moth (BTM) (Cydalima perspectalis) is an invasive insect pest from Asia that was confirmed to be present in Etobicoke, Ontario by the CFIA in November, 2018. This is the first known introduction of BTM to North America. BTM attacks boxwood (Buxus spp.), a popular broadleaf plant used in residential and commercial gardens, hedges and topiary in Canada. For the nursery sector, boxwood represents a very high value, slow-growing crop in Ontario, Quebec and BC. BTM is a distinct threat to this industry causing severe defoliation that quickly leads to death of the plant in both young and mature specimens. This proposed project will help inform current IPM programs for BTM in Ontario by (1) surveying and monitoring to define the spread of BTM from confirmed locations in the Greater Toronto Area and (2) investigating the ecology, behaviour, and phenology of BTM populations in Ontario. This research is part of the ongoing research which is the first to focus on management of box tree moth in Canada, and more specifically in Ontario.

Durable, temperature resistant omniphobic and dustphobic coatings

This project will investigate how to develop a multifunctional surface coating which exhibits both dust and liquid repellencies for industries like wood mills where fire hazard is a major challenge caused due to the accumulation of liquid contaminants and dust particles. The U of T / Eclipson Technologies team will develop durable coatings possessing these properties along with high temperature resistance that could be readily applied on application of various substrates (metals, glass, ceramic). This involves developing surface coatings, characterizing them. evaluating their performance and adopting approaches to improve their durability and high temperature resistance. Moreover, this coating will be tested in a wood mill industry to understand practical challenges and devise strategies to overcome those challenges.

AI-Enabled Satellite Communication Networks

Due to the fast mobility of LEO satellites, ground users need to switch between LEO satellites frequently to keep the connection with the satellite network. The process of switching between satellites is called the handover process. Every handover process is associated with signalling overhead, processing delays, and data packet losses. The optimization of the handover process is crucial for an efficient and resilient satellite network. In this regard, intelligent resource allocation can reduce the handover rate while maximizing the network utility and ensuring the satisfaction of users. Hence, the first sub-project aims at jointly optimizing the resource allocation and handover management processes in future satellite networks. Various ML-enabled techniques will be developed to implement these resource allocation-based mobility management schemes in an intelligent and computationally efficient manner. Data packet routing is the process of relaying and forwarding a data packet originated from a source to a certain destination. In satellite networks, the source and destination points are distant terrestrial endpoints/users located thousands or tens of thousands of kilometers away from each other. TOBECONT’.

Development of Hormone At-Home Testing Kits

The ability of couples to conceive is highly dependent on hormonal levels. With age, conception becomes more challenging and there is a direct need for women to control their fertility by monitoring their hormone levels, mostly Estradiol. The purpose of this project is to develop an at-home testing kit for estradiol monitoring. By developing a sensor which is hyphenated to a wireless data transmission system, estradiol in saliva can be detected and the measurements made by the sensor can be transmitted through Wi-Fi to an app that can track estradiol levels over periods of time. In turn, women will be able to monitor their hormone levels from home, eliminating the need to go to
clinics on a more periodic basis and allowing them to take better control of their fertility decisions.

Analysis of Salmonid Spawning and Rearing Habitat in the Seymour River in North Vancouver, British Columbia

Salmonid populations are increasingly challenged by interruptions in watershed connectivity, and limited access to critical habitat. For spawning and rearing, salmonids require diverse habitat features, including gravel beds and large streamwood. However, many watersheds are deficient in large streamwood and gravel, in part due to dam structures limiting downstream transport. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate whether gravel and large streamwood deficiencies are occurring in the lower Seymour River (River) downstream the dam. Furthermore, there is a need to address whether these deficiencies can be mitigated to improve salmonid spawning and rearing habitat. This project will provide the Seymour Salmonid Society with an assessment of spawning and rearing habitat availability in the River. Based on these findings, habitat restoration recommendations to restore limiting factors will be provided. The Seymour Salmonid Society can use the results of this study to recover wild salmonid populations, including the River’s summer-run steelhead population.

Intelligent Autonomous Mobile Robots with Safe Navigation in Dynamic Environment

With the global pandemic effect, the market is experiencing a significant transformation, with robotics to adopt the roles of delivery vehicles and personal assistants. Atlantic Business Express is looking at bring the service robots to Canada, starting in Nova Scotia through working with Dalhousie University. The project is to develop intelligent path planner for mobile robots with safe navigation through obstacles in indoor dynamic environment. The interns will develop an intelligent motion planner as well as efficient collision and obstacle avoidance modules. The company will benefit from having well-tested autonomous robots which can safely and smoothly navigate without interventions. The results will help the company to improve their competitiveness and have larger share of the market in service robots. The Canadian community will benefit from the state-of-the-art research project. Autonomous service robots offer improved capability in freeing up people from unsafe tasks and allowing people to handle more complex workload.

Bipolar Electrodialysis Flow Battery

Aqua-Cell Energy, the partner organization, is developing low cost batteries that utilize safe chemicals and have a unique design. The technology being developed can enable large amounts of energy to be stored at a low cost. When using lithium ion batteries, the current industry standard technology, it is expensive to store large amounts of energy and there are significant fire safety concerns. Aquacell’s technology is safer and lower cost than lithium ion batteries but requires more development before being commercially viable.
The research being performed by the intern, which would be supported in part by the Mitacs funding, concerns the testing of a prototype battery. The protype has been designed and constructed, and performance testing will be used to validate the results of simulation work that has already been completed, as well as to understand how different operating parameters effect the battery’s performance.

The results of this research are a critical step in the development process for the Aquacell’s battery designs. The work will allow Aquacell to understand what parameters are most critical in optimizing cell performance, and larger “scale up” designs can be engineered to maximize desirable parameters and minimize detrimental characteristics.

A Story-Based Positive Youth Development Program For Young Hockey Players

Despite the numerous benefits of participating in child and youth sport, they not guaranteed. Purposeful efforts must be made to ensure that sport offerings are age appropriate, promote engagement and enjoyment, and involve quality social relationships. This project represents a partnership with the objective of finalizing and delivering a story-based positive youth development (PYD) program—The 1616 Program—for young hockey players (10 years of age) in North America. The aim of the 1616 Program is to use elite hockey players as role models—through story-telling—to serve as motivating agents to introduce and engage young athletes with important concepts pertaining to PYD. This Mitacs funded project aligns with knowledge translation frameworks that ensure that the creation and evaluation of the 1616 Program pilot are based on the research literature, while also aligning with the founder’s vision for the program.

Sediment Budget of the Lower Fraser River

Sediment processes are regularly disrupted in large sand-bedded rivers and deltas as a result of human development. Development of the Fraser River delta and estuary, associated with sediment dredging, dykes, and flow diversions has been linked to reduced volumes of sediment delivered to the delta front and systematic channel degradation. As a result, the delta may be sediment starved and transitioning from a growing to an erosional state, increasing its vulnerability to oceanic forces (e.g., waves, tidal forces). However, the impacts of a reduced sediment load to the delta front and the extent of riverbed degradation of the lower Fraser remains unknown. The proposed project will examine existing bathymetry surveys, dredging records, and sediment inputs at Mission to determine the modern sediment budget of the lower Fraser River. The results will allow Northwest Hydraulic Consultants (NHC) to make recommendations related to sediment management of the lower Fraser River.

Effects of a novel probiotic supplement on bone health in postmenopausal women

Menopause is the natural cessation of a woman’s menstrual cycle. During this transition, low levels of estrogen and associated pro-inflammatory state stimulates a rapid decline in bone tissue which may ultimately increase the risk of fragility fractures. Prevention strategies are warranted to maintain bone mineral density and a strong skeleton after menopause and use of probiotics may serve as a promising approach. Probiotics may modulate bone via regulation of the gut microbiome and subsequent anti-inflammatory pathways in a bacterial strain-specific manner. The objective of this study is to examine the effects of a novel probiotic supplement on attenuating a loss of BMD, modulating fracture risk, and improving markers of bone cell activity and inflammation compared to no intervention in postmenopausal women.