Winners

Feelings of emotional distress such as anxiety and depression are becoming increasingly prevalent in modern society. Without the proper resources, these feelings can escalate to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as self-harm and suicidal ideation. With the increased use of online communication, some people choose to express their feelings on social media platforms with the purpose of seeking help. However, in using this approach, a user may not receive relevant support. The purpose of this project was to create a solution to this problem: EzerBot – an intelligent chatbot. EzerBot uses a neural network to detect instances of emotional distress within online platforms. My Projectboard.

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Early cancer detection is one of the most researched topics in the medical field. Yet, despite notable progress, 20% of cancer diagnoses are incorrect, with 28% of inaccurate or delayed diagnoses leading to death. The most common diagnostics rely on physical examinations, MRI or CT scans, all conducted by doctors. We attempted to revolutionalize cancer diagnosis by combining two of science’s newest innovations: artificial intelligence and genetic sequencing. Using our AI, cancer detection can be faster, more accurate, and automated using gene expression data too large and complex for humans to analyze. Our Projectboard.

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Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS) are issues related to the bladder system, affecting over 80% of men above the age of 60. Symptoms are caused by having an obstruction in the urinary tract or a weak bladder. To distinguish between the two diseases, an invasive procedure called cystometry is performed where pressure sensors are inserted in the bladder, going through the urinary tract to gauge the strength of the muscle. To solve this issue, a new non-invasive device was invented that accurately measures bladder pressure as the patient urinates on it (like urinating in a urinal) by performing stream analysis. It combines a multitude of scientific principles like Bernoulli's principle, Newton's numerical method, and projectile motion to safely and accurately measure bladder pressure. My Projectboard.

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With 1.25 million deaths and approximately 20-50 million injured a year as a result of distractions on/off workplaces, the numbers are only increasing. As technological advancement leaps forward drastically in 2022 and beyond, with the addition of a new workforce to the existing one, safety regulations are proving to be a great challenge! The purpose of this project was to investigate human behaviour and develop an advanced wearable-aid that will solve the issue of distractions causing deaths and injuries. The system is able to detect a person's brain waves through sensors placed on the head, all the information is sent to the computer which reviews the data from the sensors and makes a decision whether the individual is distracted using its own automated brain. My Projectboard.

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In response to the abundance of microplastics in aquatic environments, this research developed a novel way to continuously, quickly and effectively harvest aquatic microplastics. Using only a small scale rotating magnetic drum and modified Fe nanoparticles, there was a 68% removal efficiency of the aquatic microplastics, with a 8.1L per hour flow rate. This research successfully created a way to continuous remove aquatic microplastics using magnetic extraction. My Projectboard.

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Wound infections are a rising global health concern, and with the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the risks of wound infections are increasing. Hydrogel films have been used to treat wound infections, due to their “artificial skin” like characteristics. Previous years of this research discovered the antibacterial properties of A.muricata (soursop) leaves and identified Smiglaside-C to be the bioactive compound. This research investigates the use of High-Pressure Extraction (HPE) to extract Smiglaside-C. Further, this study investigated the mode-of-action of Smiglaside-C using phase-contrast microscopy. Finally, this study developed a hydrogel film containing Smiglaside-C. Using bacterial assays, this study discovered that HPE was an effective method in extracting Smiglaside-C. Hydrogel films were developed using a mixture of low-methoxyl pectin (LMP), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), and gelatin; Colony Forming Unit assays determined that Smiglaside-C treated films were effective against bacterial strains. Phase-contrast microscopy determined that Smiglaside-C stops the growth of bacterial colonies. My Projectboard.

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J’ai créé un dispositif qui se place sur le dessus de la chaussure d’un coureur et qui analyse sa foulée. Le système est basé sur un accéléromètre et un gyroscope qui décomposent le mouvement et fournissent ces données à un algorithme exécuté sur un microcontrôleur. Le dispositif est connecté par Bluetooth à une application Android que j’ai développée et qui permet de visualiser les analyses et d’accéder à des rétroactions. La position du capteur sur le soulier ouvre de nouvelles possibilités d’analyses difficiles à obtenir avec un appareil porté au poignet ou à la cheville, comme l’angle du pied au contact du sol ou le temps au sol à chaque pas. Ce dispositif vise les coureurs débutants et avancés qui pourront perfectionner leur technique dans le but de limiter le risque de blessure liée à la course et d'augmenter l’efficacité de la foulée. Mon tableau de projet.

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Improving the efficiency of airfoil design is key to the creation of more fuel-efficient airplanes, reducing their carbon footprints. Unfortunately, currently component optimization is inaccessible due to its reliance on iterative Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), which is expensive, computationally costly, and difficult to use, resulting in inefficient designs. Rapid advancements in machine learning techniques open new avenues to streamline this process. We investigated the simulation runtime and accuracy of generating airfoil designs through the construction of a series of machine learning models. Models utilizing ensemble methods, and K-Nearest Neighbors Bagging, as well as the multilayer perceptron, produce highly accurate and efficient predictions for familiar data, though error increases substantially when assessed with completely unseen data. Our Projectboard.

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Does your household recycle plastics, glass, metal tins? Probably. Do you compost? Maybe. Do you capture your carbon dioxide as it escapes from your chimney? Well… you could! Homes that burn natural gas for heating (about 350,000 homes in Vancouver, BC alone) emit millions of tonnes of carbon emissions from their chimneys every year. I set out to tackle this problem, and have created a prototype for small-scale carbon capture called RESeTCO2. My Projectboard.

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If our loved ones are undergoing cardiac arrest at home - the heart stops beating suddenly, you call 911 immediately, since they may die within 10 minutes. However, the average EMS response time is 9 minutes or longer, only 10.6% survive. It could be worse if they are home alone unwitnessed, only 4% survive. Can we use a drone to save cardiac arrests? Sounds fictional? I innovated a pre-hospital indoor rescue drone to help. My Projectboard.

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With the advent of the CubeSat, a standardized small satellite specification, and the availability of inexpensive commercial off the shelf components, it is now possible for small organizations with limited budgets to engage in space research that was previously considered impossible. My Projectboard.

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How do blind people find objects around them? This issue prompted the creation of our Machine This issue prompted the creation of our Machine Learning software that uses speech to text and shows the place of any object that is needed. The main problem with walking sticks is that it does not account for moving objects or smaller higher-up objects. This software solves that, by saying any object, the software scans the surrounding area on the camera and finds where that object is in the picture. It tells you whether it is in the middle of the camera, to the left, or to the right through text to speech and updates frequently. It recognizes almost any object and can vastly help those who are blind. Check out how the technology works! Our Projectboard.

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Have you ever wondered why people tell you not to let your dog lick your face? Well, I have. I was interested in investigating the transfer of microbes, specifically bacteria and fungi, from dogs to humans when a dog licks a person. I went about this by asking people to swab their dog’s mouth, and their arm after their dog licked their arm, then culturing the microbes present in the samples. As a control, I requested that people disinfect and swab their arm, before their dog licked them. I discovered that, in the majority of cases, not all of the microbes present on the mouth sample were transferred to the licked-arm sample, and that there were more bacterial colonies present when compared to fungal colonies. This work is important because it sheds light on the unintended consequences of your pet’s seemingly harmless love. My Projectboard.

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What makes some music universally popular? Rhythm is one of those elements. Musical rhythms can be mathematically defined using the temporal sequence of notes, called inter-onset intervals (IOIs). IOIs can be used to draw phase space plots (PSPs) and reveal the geometric "shape" of music. The goal of this project is to explore geometric patterns in music through a compare and contrast approach. My Projectboard.

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Asteroid collision risks are real and unpredictable. 66 million years ago the Chicxulub asteroid impact wiped away the dinosaurs. My project strengthens planetary defense by using robotic telescopes, open data, math, and python to find unknown asteroids. My Projectboard.

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E-coal is a cheap, easy-to-make crayon that is a reusable alternative to your average art supplies. We utilize and recycle leftover powder from old toner which can contain chemicals that may be harmful to the environment to create a new and innovative art supply. Our Projectboard.

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