A life cycle impact assessment methodology based on planetary boundaries

Planetary boundaries can be understood as limits for the Earth’s tolerance towards environmental impacts in the form of, for example, greenhouse gas emissions, water use and the release of nitrogen and phosphorous. This project aims at making planetary boundaries useful to the environmental management within companies. This will happen by developing a method that quantifies […]

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Novel Approaches for Practical Machine Learning

Machine learning is a subfield of artificial intelligence that aims at producing computing models from observations (data), with no explicit coding made by humans. Recent advances have illustrated a strong potential of machine learning, with the potential of being a disruptive technology in many domains. For the current project, we are investigating techniques for making […]

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A new flow cytometry platform to evaluate the efficacy of immunotherapies and vaccines

The development of effective immunotherapies, vaccines and immunomodulatory drugs are the main success stories from the last years in drugs development for cancer, infectious diseases and chronic disorders. We are developing a simple and robust new platform to evaluate the next generation of immunotherapeutics treatments at pre-clinical stage. This platform is called Immune Complex Phagocytic […]

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Evaluation of a Multi-Factor Retirement Planning Tool: The Reliability and Validity of the Retireability Score (RS)

Created by senior wealth advisor David Allard, Retireability Score (RS) is an innovative web-based retirement readiness assessment survey that plays an integral part in the retirement planning service operated by the Navigation team of ScotiaWealth. Unlike majority of retirement planning services, which focus exclusively on financial readiness, the RS and its associated program address non-financial […]

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Evaluation of Pre-Participation Screening and Cardiovascular Risk Assessment in Masters Athletes in British Columbia

Regular physical activity has well known health benefits. Paradoxically, exercise can increase the risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in those with underlying disease. Sports-related SCDs account for approximately 90% of all SCDs. Pre-participation screening can detect underlying disease and decrease sports-related SCD. Optimal screening methods have not been universally agreed and Canadian Masters athletes […]

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Impact of a cognitive intervention program for adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI)

Cognitive impairments are the most common long-term challenges after traumatic brain injury (TBI). There is very little research on interventions to improve cognitive function after brain injury. The goal of this project is to evaluate whether and how an intensive cognitive intervention program (Arrowsmith program) may stimulate positive changes in the brain. We have already […]

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Developing a novel solar cell incorporating graphene and collaborative technologies

The rapid depletion of fossil fuels (such as Coal, Natural gas, Oil etc.) and the escalation in environmental pollution have prompted increased investigations in the field of alternative energy sources. In this context, solar cells are being studied to satisfy the increasing power needs of today’s society as photovoltaic power uses pollution-free energy source, solar […]

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Mortality rate modeling: applications to the pricing of longevity-linked financial derivative instruments and a study of the effectiveness of these hedging instruments in a pension risk management str

We are all well aware of the spectacular improvement in life-expectancy around the world since the 1990’s. While most people would agree that living longer is a good thing, it nonetheless increases the risk of having people outlive their assets so that they become forced to accept lower standards of living in old age. People […]

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Review of Effectiveness of Investments in Renewable Energy for Social and Affordable Housing

This research will identify best practices for the design of renewable energy investment programs targeting the social housing sector. Involving mixed methods of research, including literature review, interjurisdictional scan, and strategic interviews with third party experts, the research will result in a set of actionable recommendations for provincial and federal governments, municipal social housing authorities, […]

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Constructing data-adaptive dictionaries for robust sparse feature selection in classification of noisy electro-dermal activity data

Hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli causes overstimulation, inducing overwhelming emotional distress in individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Reveal is a wearable device designed by Awake Labs that monitors anxiety levels in ASD children and interfaces with parents and caregivers. It predicts behavioural “meltdowns” by tracking and classifying key physiological markers of anxiety using machine […]

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Hardware in the loop simulation for model scale wave energy converters

Ocean wave energy converters (WECs) are devices that utilize ocean energy to produce electricity or fresh water. A key stage in developing these devices is scale model testing in wave tanks, as it allows the power generation capabilities of a design to be evaluated at a much lower cost and with no environmental risk compared […]

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Modelling transient flow in a hydropower station

Modelling the movement of water through a hydropower station is an important tool for understanding this very complex behaviour, where water is pushed and pulled through long tunnels and spinning turbines, resulting in a vast range of pressures and speeds. There are generally two types of models: 1-dimensional (1D) models, which are simple and cost-effective, […]

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