Europe
EUROPE
RISK OF BRAIN CANCER FROM EXPOSURE TO RADIOFREQUENCY FIELDS FROM WIRELESS TELECOMMUNICATION DEVICES IN CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE
Faculty: Faculty of Medicine
Unit: Institute of Population Health
Funding Agency: Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR); European Commission
Description: In Canada, the widespread use of mobile phones has drawn public attention to their possible human health and safety effects. A substantial body of experimental evidence has demonstrated that radiofrequency radiation affects biologic processes that are believed to influence the development of cancers. The present Canadian study is to conduct a national epidemiologic case-control study in major Canadian metropolitan cities of brain tumours (malignant and benign) diagnosed in young people aged 10 to 24 years in relation to electro magnetic frequencies (EMF) exposure from mobile telephones and other environmental exposures. Results of this project are expected to be of great importance in the assessment of potential health risks from mobile telephones as well as from EMF in general.
Project website: http://www.creal.cat/programes-recerca/en_projectes-creal/view.php?ID=39
FRANCE
ARCHITECTURE AND HEMODYNAMICS OF MICROCIRCULATORY NETWORKS
Faculty: Faculty of Engineering
Units: Department of Mechanical Engineering
Description: The rheological properties of blood in microcirculation cannot be adequately predicted with simple viscometers, because the network is composed of segments of various lengths, diameters and outputs. In addition, the microcirculatory network’s vascular architecture adapts (angiogenesis) depending on the number of factors such as hemodynamic forces or the presence of a tumor. This project aimes to advance knowledge of microcirculation, essential to understand the many pathologies and to examine therapeutic solutions.
THREE DIMENSIONAL VISUALIZATION OF FRACTURE IN ANISOTROPIC MATERIALS
Faculty: Faculty of Engineering
Unit: Department of Mechanical Engineering
Description: Improving the mechanical properties of materials is an important issue in our society in the current context of decreasing the human impact on the environment. For instance, improving the strength of materials used in cars would allow to have a lighter cars, and hence decrease its fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. These considerations have pushed manufacturing and transportation industries to consider materials with better strength to weight ratio such as titanium and magnesium. However, the mechanical properties of these materials are not well understood, mainly because of their anisotropic behaviour in deformation induced by their hexagonal compact crystal structure. As a result, it is difficult to manufacture Titanium and Magnesium parts and to predict their resistance to damage once they are in service. The project aims to enhance the use of Mg and Ti in the manufacturing and transportation industries by enhancing knowledge about the deformation and fracture of hexagonal compact structures.
FRANCE, GERMANY, UNITED KINGDOM
JEWISH AND MUSLIM WOMEN NEGOTIATING DIVORCE IN WESTERN EUROPE AND CANADA
Faculty: Faculty of Law
Unit: Civil Law Section
Funding Agency : Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)
Description: This project deals with the handling of minority religious laws in Western Europe and Canada by examining two types of religious divorce: the Jewish Get and the Islamic Talaq. The project aims to explore the complex relationship of Jewish and Muslim women between the religious and secular worlds; the private and public spheres; the family and the commercial interests. The research work attempt to determine how courts in France, Germany, Great Britain and Canada handle religious divorce.
NORWAY
OTTAWA-OSLO-SVALBARD TERRESTRIAL CRYOSPHERE EXCHANGE (CRYOEX)
Faculty: Faculty of Arts
Unit: Department of Geography
Funding Agency: Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Higher Education
Description: The Canadian cryosphere is more continental than the extremely maritime Norwegian cryosphere but few researchers and still fewer students currently have the opportunity to learn about these differences first-hand. CryoEX is an exchange program between universities in Oslo and Ottawa for students and faculty who study the terrestrial cryosphere (glaciers and permafrost). The main objective is to establish closer, formal linkages and exchange arrangements expected to lead to long-term collaborative ties between researchers, and graduate and undergraduate students in both countries.