Innovative Projects Realized

Innovation, Design, and Development of a Novel Snoring and Obstructive Sleep Apnea Prevention Device

Individuals suffering from sleep-related breathing disorders, such as sleep apnea, exhibit moderate to excessive snoring which is often ignored or neglected. This neglect can increase the risk of more severe health problems such as stroke, hypertension, chronic heart failure, diabetes, and many others. Moreover, an Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) episode – characterized by periodic and repetitive collapsing of the upper airway during sleep – can be life threatening. Although solutions exist to treat sleep-related breathing disorders like OSA, such as Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) and oral appliances including Mandibular Advancement Devices (MADs), there are several issues relating to cost, comfort, and convenience with the products that are on the market today.

This applied design research project will explore the continued development of a novel snoring and obstructive sleep apnea prevention device that will address these issues. It will build upon initial concepts previously explored to advance a design solution that addresses the needs of the target user, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements of the business. This project will also explore ways to increase awareness of such issues along with the new solution being proposed. Both objectives will be addressed through an iterative, cyclical methodology including four main

Safe Reinforcement Learning for Robot Manipulation

In recent years, reinforcement learning has shown great promise in solving sophisticated decision-making problems and has also demonstrated impressive results in robotic settings since it provides robots with novel skills without tedious modeling from human engineers. The objective of this research project is to develop a pipeline that autonomously generates a control policy for a given task through reinforcement learning. This pipeline should feature: (1) a reinforcement learning strategy that learns a control policy while guaranteeing the stability of the learnt policy, (2) efficient learning strategies such as curriculum learning which automatically increments the complexity in simulation, and (3) the rapid deployment and integration of new robot skills.

Investigating the Influence of Trenching/Backfilling on Pipeline Response and Seabed Failure Mechanisms to Ice Gouging

The research project aims to make pipelines in the Arctic safer and more cost-effective. It’s like finding the best way to protect a vital lifeline underwater from ice bumps. By studying how the ice, the seabed, and the pipeline interact, we’ll figure out the smartest way to bury the pipeline and the material to put around it. The partner organization, like an oil and gas company, will benefit greatly. Our research will help them optimize burial depths, avoid costly damage to their pipelines, reduce environmental risks, and keep energy resources flowing smoothly. In simpler terms, we’re working to make sure their pipelines stay strong, safe, and also cost effective in the challenging Arctic conditions.

The Effects of A Novel Outdoor Naturalistic Enclosure On The Welfare Of The Sumatran Orangutans Of The Toronto Zoo

Will a new outdoor enclosure make zoo orangutans more active, visible, and behave naturally? We aim to answer this question using behavioural observations as the Toronto Zoo introduces their orangutans to a new outdoor habitat. The Toronto Zoo has invested a significant amount of resources on a new outdoor exhibit to ensure that their orangutans are healthy and have good welfare. It is important to understand how the orangutans adapt and use the habitat to identify if any adjustments are required to ensure the animals have choice and control of their environment.
The Toronto Zoo orangutans have never been outside. Monitoring how orangutans will react to an entirely new outdoor enclosure will help keepers and other zoos manage orangutans when they get introduced to other new enclosures. Additionally, comparing the orangutans’ use of the new habitat and the existing habitat will help assess how big and complex exhibits improve the welfare of zoo orangutans.

Developing an Advanced Vessel Relocation Tool for Extending Subsea Riser’s Lifetime

Subsea steel catenary risers (SCR) transfer the hydrocarbons from seabed reservoirs to floating vessels
for processing, storage, and eventual transportation to shore. These risers are under wave and current
loads and have a limited lifetime. There is strong demand from oil and gas companies to safely prolong the
operational life of steel catenary risers. “Vessel relocation plan” is the repositioning plan that can be
implemented to extend the riser lifetime by distributing the fatigue damage in the seabed zone, which is the
area where the riser comes into repeated contact with the seabed soil. This project will employ advanced
techniques to incorporate the realistic riser-soil interaction mechanisms as observed by subsea surveys to
the vessel relocation strategies. Additionally, our research introduces an innovative technique referred to
as the “Hybrid Trench Model,” which offers a reliable means of incorporating the trench profile beneath
subsea risers.

Assessing emergency shelter patterns to inform solutions to homelessness

The mandate of the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness is to end homelessness in the Capital Region by 2018. Significant progress has been made, 162 units of supportive and 129 units of affordable housing have been built since 2009, yet homelessness remains a significant problem in Victoria, BC (Pauly et al., 2013). There continues to be a constant number of people using the emergency shelters annually (approximately 1650 for the past three years) and the number of people waiting for social housing has remained high (Pauly et al., 2013). Thus, a better understanding of the needs of people using emergency shelters would provide key information to inform action that could contribute to stopping the flow into homelessness. The results from this research will provide the Coalition with a more nuanced understanding of individuals using emergency shelters in Greater Victoria. This result will provide the Coalition with clearer estimates of how much of what type of housing is still needed to solve homelessness in Greater Victoria.
? To develop a deeper understanding of shelter user groups in Greater Victoria’s emergency shelters through the development of typologies based on shelter use patterns.
? To identify the particular housing needs of each user group….

Investigation of antifungal properties of thiazolidine derivates

Infections, caused by the Candida species have emerged as a significant global health concern. These diseases can range from superficial to life-threatening, affecting various body parts. However, the effective management of Candida infections is increasingly challenged by the growing issue of drug resistance.Focusing on that problem, our research project aims to investigate the antifungal properties of thiazolidine derivatives, a class of organic compounds. Thiazolidines have shown promising potential in various biological applications, but their specific antifungal properties remain underexplored.
We will use a variety of laboratory techniques such as detection of MIC concentrations, screening of synergetic action with fluconazole, biofilm and worm assays to establish potencial antifungal activity and possible mechanisms of action. This work will help us in research of new potencial medicines to treat diseases caused by Candida species.

Using scintillation to measure to explore pulsar’s orbit and explore the interstellar medium

My research project at ASIIA would focus more on the properties of the ISM for PSR J0621+1002. Scintillation is caused by inhomogeneity in the ISM, known as scattering screens. The main objective of the project is to map the scattering screen between us and the pulsar and how it changes over 8-10 years of observed data. To do this, we plan to use the data from The Large European Array for Pulsars (LEAP) which consists of five telescopes ( the Effelsberg Telescope, the Nançay Radio Telescope, the Sardinia Radio Telescope, the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, and the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank) and VLBI techniques. Using VLBI, we want to directly measure the extent of the scattering screen between us and the pulsar across the sky.

Unintended consequences of elemental sulfur induced soil acidification on bacterial and fungal communities in Okanagan vineyard soil

Elemental Sulphur (So) is a natural crop input commonly used in organic farming. It can be used to fertilize soil, make soils more acidic or control pathogens. These multiple uses make So a unique organic input that can improve growth conditions for crops. The effect of So on soil microbes is largely unknown, despite the wide spread use of So in horticultural systems, particularly viticulture. Studies have shown that fungi are especially sensitive to So. Bacteria live in specific ranges of pH and may be affected by the change in acidity following use of So. It is likely that application of So for a desired use may have unintended consequences on soil microbes. Given the importance of soil microbes for sustainable soil and ecosystem health, it is important to understand how this practice affects soils. Our lab will test the sensitivity of fungi and bacteria collected from vineyard soil to So and pH changes. We will also measure changes to bacterial and fungal communities in the soil following So application. This study will be important for informing local growers on the potential consequences of using So on their crop yield and quality.

Development of mass spectral methods for the detection sulfide modification sites in proteins.

Proteins are large molecules found in all tissues they are composed of amino acids. Proteins perform most of the function in our bodies. Diseases are the result of changes to specific amino acids in proteins that result in alteration or complete loss of protein function. Pharmaceutical interventions in controlling or eliminating diseases depend on the identification the altered amino acid residues. The proposed project is designed to develop new mass spectrometry based methods for the identification of the amino acid residues in proteins that are susceptible to modification/alteration. The techniques being developed will be of interest to biothechnology, pharma and medical device industries both in Canada and in Turkey.

Développement d’un modèle de cécité corticale chez la souris

Les déficiences visuelles, dues à des lésions cérébrales, touchent les nouveau-nés et les personnes âgées des pays industrialisés, en raison de l’allongement de la vie. Ce projet de recherche va utiliser la souris pour étudier la récupération des fonctions visuelles après un AVC. Il va explorer les modifications neuronales et de connectivité grâce à des techniques avancées telles que l’imagerie calcique et l’inactivation optogénétique. Cette étude pourrait ouvrir la voie à de nouvelles thérapies pour les troubles visuels cérébraux.

MTY Group : Amélioration de l’infolettre clients

MTY Group est une entreprise spécialisée dans le franchisage de restaurants et la gestion de multiples franchises au Canada et aux États-Unis. Ce stage s’inscrit dans un contexte de preuve de concept pour une des premières
marques de MTY : Yuzu Sushi.
L’objectif de ce stage est de concevoir et rendre opérationnel un outil permettant de proposer des offres et communications personnalisées par client du programme de fidélité de Yuzu Sushi, en étroite collaboration avec
les équipes d’opérations de marketing et de data.
Pour répondre à cet objectif, l’étudiant aura à sa disponibilité plusieurs bases de données pertinentes sur les ventes et profil des clients fidèles et sur le domaine opérationnel de la marque.