App / en ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ researcher develops mobile rehab tool to help concussion patients manage their recovery /news/u-t-researcher-develops-mobile-rehab-tool-help-patients-manage-their-concussion-recovery <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ researcher develops mobile rehab tool to help concussion patients manage their recovery</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/concussion.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Z9ATr0R2 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/concussion.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=0V-kecHq 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/concussion.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=JwISbtDr 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/concussion.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Z9ATr0R2" alt="Photo of girl with concussion"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>noreen.rasbach</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-10-02T00:00:00-04:00" title="Wednesday, October 2, 2019 - 00:00" class="datetime">Wed, 10/02/2019 - 00:00</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">(photo by SDI Productions/Getty Images)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/jelena-damjanovic" hreflang="en">Jelena Damjanovic</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/resarch-innovation" hreflang="en">Resarch &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/app" hreflang="en">App</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/concussion" hreflang="en">Concussion</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-kinesiology-physical-education" hreflang="en">Faculty of Kinesiology &amp; Physical Education</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/utest" hreflang="en">UTEST</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Individuals suffering from a concussion who lack the resources, time or knowledge to handle their condition expertly&nbsp;will soon have access to a low-cost path&nbsp;to recovery.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Michael Hutchison</strong>, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Kinesiology &amp; Physical Education, has developed a mobile rehabilitation tool called RHEA, after the mother of Olympian gods and goddesses.&nbsp;</p> <p>The mobile tool, developed with support from UTEST, a ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ program that helps to commercialize research, draws on Hutchisonā€™s clinical and research experience. He has found that starting graded aerobic exercise early following concussion can speed up recovery and improve functional outcomes ā€“ more than just resting.<br> &nbsp;<br> ā€œDespite such evidence, there still remains a lack of awareness and education regarding the initial medical management of concussion,ā€ says Hutchison, who is director of the concussion program at the David L. MacIntosh Sport Medicine Clinic.</p> <p>ā€œThe situation is further complicated by the fact that appointments with physicians and specialists occur approximately every one to two weeks, leaving patients at times to navigate and manage their symptoms without having the required knowledge or skills to do so.ā€</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/rhea-assessment.jpg" alt></p> <p><em>RHEA is an app&nbsp;designed to assist patients with their concussion recovery (images provided by Michael Hutchison)</em></p> <p>He believes mobile health technologies or apps have the potential to help fill this void, as they are well-suited to serve as platforms for the self-management of various health conditions.</p> <p>ā€œThey are ubiquitous, have great computational capabilities and are commonly carried on the person. RHEA will utilize these benefits through novel machine learning algorithms that will leverage user-reported feedback, as well as data acquired from the wearable technology, to provide users with recommended, personalized exercise programs over a three- to five-day period to assist with the rehabilitation process.ā€</p> <p>What is unique about RHEA is that it is not a static system, another implication found in its name, which etymologists say means to ground and flow, much like what patients are required to do when navigating the road to recovery.</p> <p>ā€œAlthough RHEAā€™s starting point is grounded in well-established empirical evidence and clinical guidelines, moving forward RHEA will benefit from the environment of Big Data,ā€ says Hutchison, ā€œand as the community of people using the app grows, we will leverage that feedback to fine-tune the exercise prescriptions for a wide variety of people and profiles.ā€</p> <p>Hutchison is looking forward to having the app available on both Apple and Android devices in the new year, following beta testing that is currently underway. Down the road, the plan is for RHEA to be tailored to health conditions beyond concussion, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety.&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œThe benefit of structured and individualized exercise is a very promising, low-risk and cost-effective intervention,ā€ says Hutchison.<br> &nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 02 Oct 2019 04:00:00 +0000 noreen.rasbach 159360 at Renaissance-era Florence comes alive through immersive, location-based storytelling app /news/renaissance-era-florence-comes-alive-through-immersive-location-based-storytelling-app <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Renaissance-era Florence comes alive through immersive, location-based storytelling app</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-1145040590.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=0cYQD_ur 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/GettyImages-1145040590.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=dgFIUysb 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/GettyImages-1145040590.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=sgCPt750 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-1145040590.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=0cYQD_ur" alt="Photo of Florence"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>noreen.rasbach</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-09-04T16:11:25-04:00" title="Wednesday, September 4, 2019 - 16:11" class="datetime">Wed, 09/04/2019 - 16:11</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Florence during sunset: A new app takes visitors on a walking tour through Florenceā€™s rich past by linking locations around the city to the lives of 15th- and 16th-century characters (photo by Suttipong Sutiratanachai/Getty Images)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/jovana-jankovic" hreflang="en">Jovana Jankovic</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/app" hreflang="en">App</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-students" hreflang="en">Graduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/history" hreflang="en">History</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/humanities" hreflang="en">Humanities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/jackman-humanities-institute" hreflang="en">Jackman Humanities Institute</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/technology" hreflang="en">Technology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-libraries" hreflang="en">³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Libraries</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/undergraduate-students" hreflang="en">Undergraduate Students</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>ā€œEvery time I crack a skull or chase down a thief, I do it as Duke Cosimoā€™s right arm,ā€ says Ercole, a 16<sup>th</sup>-century birro, or police officer, assigned to clean up the streets of Florence under Cosimo deā€™ Mediciā€™s stern rule.&nbsp;</p> <p>Ercole is one of five historically based, fictional characters in a new location-based app called&nbsp;<a href="https://hiddenflorence.org/">Hidden Florence</a>, the brainchild of an international team of historians specializing in Renaissance Italy, including&nbsp;<strong>Nicholas Terpstra</strong>, a professor of history and interim chair of the department of Italian studies in&nbsp;the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science at the University of Toronto.</p> <p>The iconic Italian city was one of the most prosperous and powerful cities in Europe during the Renaissance ā€“ a key centre of politics, culture and industry. The app takes visitors on a walking tour through Florenceā€™s rich past by linking locations around the city to the&nbsp;lives of 15<sup>th</sup>- and 16<sup>th</sup>-century characters&nbsp;who narrate their daily experiences as users navigate the city streets.&nbsp;</p> <p>For his part, Ercole&nbsp;takes app users on a tour of what he calls ā€œthe darker side of Florence,ā€ including locations where criminals were interrogated, imprisoned and executed.&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œIā€™ll show you a side of Florence very few people ever see,ā€ he promises.&nbsp;</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/inset.jpg" alt></p> <p><em>Hidden Florence is an app that is the brainchild of Nicholas Terpstra (left), a professor in ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ's department of history, and&nbsp;an international team of historians specializing in Renaissance Italy&nbsp; &nbsp;</em></p> <p>The appā€™s characters ā€“ voiced by professional actors, including&nbsp;James Faulker of <em>Game of Thrones</em>&nbsp;ā€“ range from a labourer in the bustling textile industry to an aristocratic widow whose sons were executed for plotting a murder. The players even include Cosimo deā€™ Medici, the ruler who laid the foundation for generations of the Medici familyā€™s reign over the Florentine Republic.</p> <p>ā€œThe humanities are all about setting individual experiences into the broader contexts of where people live, who they engage with, and what their lives are like,ā€ says Terpstra. The kind of digital mapping on which the app is based ā€œallows us to see connections that we might never perceive when just looking at the words in a manuscript.ā€&nbsp;</p> <p>Hidden Florence works with a larger ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ project called&nbsp;<a href="https://decima-map.net/">DECIMA, the Digitally Encoded Census Information &amp; Mapping Archive </a>ā€“ a robust geographic information systems (GIS) mapping tool that collects, digitizes and analyzes historical data on things like human movement and economic activity in Florence during the Renaissance.&nbsp;</p> <p>The project uses data from three censuses of Florence conducted in 1551, 1561 and 1632, which together comprise one of the richest stores of human data available before the 18<sup>th</sup> century.&nbsp;</p> <p>DECIMA is the product of collaboration and innovation by a variety of senior scholars, working with undergraduate and graduate students as well as ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ staff at the&nbsp;Map and Data Library&nbsp;and the&nbsp;GIS Mapping Office, and supported by Canadaā€™s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).</p> <p>ā€œIā€™ve always been interested in spaces and places, and how people live in them,ā€ says Terpstra, whose work has delved into GIS as a research and teaching tool, particularly in exploring the spatial, kinetic and sensory dimensions of early modern cities like Florence.</p> <p>ā€œDigital mapping allows us to take something purely quantitative ā€“ like a tax census ā€“ and make it a very rich tool for seeing what made a vibrant city work. Weā€™ve been able to draw out voices that are otherwise often obscured, like women, the poor and children.ā€</p> <p>Asked whether there is something we can learn from Renaissance Florence, a powerful city-state from more than five centuries ago, Terpstra advises that ā€œamoral and self-serving people will always be around, but individuals can still make a difference. If you want a better society, you have to get involved. Just remember that politics will always be equal parts chess game and knife fight.ā€</p> <p>Terpstra credited highly skilled students who transcribed 16<sup>th</sup>-century Latin and Italian manuscripts, assembled the database and geo-referenced the data since 2011.</p> <p>ā€œThe greatest resources at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ are the people,ā€ he says. "Two people in particular who have been absolutely vital are <strong>Colin Rose</strong>, now an assistant professor at Brock University, and <strong>Daniel Jamison</strong>, who will be continuing to work on DECIMA as a postdoctoral fellow this year. Weā€™ve also benefited from places like the&nbsp;Jackman Humanities Institute, where we had&nbsp;a digital mapping working group&nbsp;running for two years.ā€</p> <p>In addition to ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ, partners in the app include scholars from the University of Exeter and the University of Cambridge, as well as funding from the U.K.ā€™s Arts and Humanities Research Council and SSHRC.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 04 Sep 2019 20:11:25 +0000 noreen.rasbach 158085 at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ student team places third in national competition for app that helps children with autism spectrum disorder /news/u-t-student-team-places-third-national-competition-app-helps-children-autism-spectrum-disorder <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ student team places third in national competition for app that helps children with autism spectrum disorder</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Overlook%202.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=8ovpTeZd 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Overlook%202.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=3z33cYb8 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Overlook%202.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Yi2sV9Lx 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Overlook%202.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=8ovpTeZd" alt="Inside Ripley's Aquarium in Toronto"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>noreen.rasbach</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-07-29T09:37:35-04:00" title="Monday, July 29, 2019 - 09:37" class="datetime">Mon, 07/29/2019 - 09:37</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Ripley's Aquarium of Canada is one of the locations looked at by the MuseGO app designed by three ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ graduate students (photo courtesy of Ripley's Aquarium)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/amanda-hacio" hreflang="en">Amanda Hacio</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/resarch-innovation" hreflang="en">Resarch &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/accessibility" hreflang="en">Accessibility</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/app" hreflang="en">App</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-information" hreflang="en">Faculty of Information</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-students" hreflang="en">Graduate Students</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A team of three University of Toronto graduate students has designed an app for caregivers that can help improve the accessibility of museums for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).</p> <p>The innovation earned the team third place at the 2019 Universities Canada <a href="https://www.univcan.ca/meet-the-2019-idea-competition-winners/">Innovative Designs for Accessibility (IDeA)</a> student competition, which aims to inspire university students to develop innovative, cost-effective and practical solutions to everyday accessibility-related barriers.</p> <p>For their entry, <strong>Keren He </strong>and<strong> Yifan Zhang, </strong>both masterā€™s students in engineering,&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>Christina Park, </strong>a masterā€™s student of museum studies in the Faculty of Information,&nbsp;decided to focus on the barriers faced by children with ASD when visiting community spaces such as museums.</p> <p>Children with ASD can experience sensory defensive challenges, meaning they have a low threshold for response to stimuli and tend to avoid certain kinds of sensory input. However, some children with ASD experience the opposite, referred to as sensory seeking challenges, meaning that they have a high threshold for response to stimuli and tend to seek out extra sensory input.</p> <p>The app, named MuseGO, maps out the indoor environment according to sensory criteria, such as noise level, lighting and temperature. The virtual map then informs an augmented reality interface that places icons on the screen describing sensory experiences visitors can expect to find in each area.</p> <p>This additional information helps visitors decide whether to avoid or visit certain areas. By making sensory information visible, the app improves overall guest experience, minimizing stress, exhaustion and confusion.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/MuseGo-gif.gif" alt></p> <p><em>MuseGO is an app that overcomes systemic barriers in museums&nbsp;</em></p> <p>ā€œMuseGO was inspired by a guest speaker in a museum studies course I took at the Faculty of Information,ā€ says Park. ā€œThe speaker discussed their institutionā€™s sensory-friendly programming, so we decided to explore the potential of using a personal mobile device as a tool to break barriers for children diagnosed with ASD in accessing cultural institutions as well as other community spaces such as universities, hospitals, libraries, museums, and shopping malls.ā€</p> <p>Park took the idea to Creative Applications for Mobile Devices, a course&nbsp;taught by <strong>Jonathan Rose</strong>, a professor in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering, in which students work in multidisciplinary teams to design and develop smartphone apps for a wide range of uses.</p> <p>By the end of the semester, He, Park and Zhang had a working prototype of MuseGO.</p> <p>After completing the course, the team decided to pit their creation against 55 other projects in the national IDeA competition. Their third-place finish in the attitudinal/system barriers category comes with a $1,000 prize. They were also encouraged by the positive feedback they received from the IDeA judges, industry and peers.</p> <p>ā€œItā€™s been very rewarding to have put our learning and skills together to create this app which has been recognized by the greater community,ā€ says Zhang. ā€œWeā€™re currently working on improving the technical and design aspects of the app to create more intuitive and accurate indoor navigation. On-site user testing in public spaces is one of our key next steps.ā€</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 29 Jul 2019 13:37:35 +0000 noreen.rasbach 157384 at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ students create app for carpooling /news/u-t-students-create-app-carpooling <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ students create app for carpooling</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2018-10-29-WeavTeam-resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=m5HoKO_R 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2018-10-29-WeavTeam-resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=lFgzC6E2 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2018-10-29-WeavTeam-resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=sqjwclRu 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2018-10-29-WeavTeam-resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=m5HoKO_R" alt="Photo of team developing app"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>noreen.rasbach</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2018-10-29T12:55:22-04:00" title="Monday, October 29, 2018 - 12:55" class="datetime">Mon, 10/29/2018 - 12:55</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Seven ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Scarborough students are working to change the way people in the GTA carpool with a new app (photo by Antony Xia)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/alexa-battler" hreflang="en">Alexa Battler</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/hub" hreflang="en">The Hub</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/app" hreflang="en">App</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cities" hreflang="en">Cities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/computer-science" hreflang="en">Computer Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startup" hreflang="en">Startup</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/technology" hreflang="en">Technology</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-scarborough" hreflang="en">³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Scarborough</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">ā€œWeavā€ aims to match riders with drivers to make carpooling easier</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>During his first year as a student at University of Toronto Scarborough, <strong>Peter Meng </strong>regularly spent $40 on gas to visit his girlfriend in Waterloo, Ont.</p> <p>Frustrated with the high cost, he looked for an alternative and discovered Facebook groups where thousands of university students co-ordinate carpooling.</p> <p>ā€œMy immediate question,ā€ says Meng, ā€œis why there wasnā€™t anything specializing in this?ā€</p> <p>The Facebook groups didnā€™t eliminate what Meng saw as the main problems with carpooling: co-ordinating rides is tedious and there are too many drivers with no incentive to become riders. &nbsp;</p> <p>So last summer Meng began developing <u><a href="https://letsweav.com/">Weav</a></u>, an app to take the pain out of carpooling.</p> <p>He soon entered <u><a href="http://www.utscthehub.ca/">The Hub</a></u>, ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ Scarboroughā€™s entrepreneurship incubator, where he connected with six other students and worked with director <strong>Gray Graffam</strong> to bring Weav to life. ā€œI think they can actually hit this out of the park,ā€ says Graffam. ā€œThis is a wonderful service for people.ā€</p> <p>Mengā€™s team moved temporarily to the Hatchery, a ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ incubator with an engineering focus, where they spent this past summer developing a unique algorithm. (³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ has nine incubators across its three campuses for companies at various stages of development.)</p> <p>The teamā€™s goal was to make the app as simple as possible. To find a driver or rider, Weav users input their destination and preferred time of travel. The app sends an update when a match is made. Users can view information on the driver or rider and accept or decline the ride with a tap.</p> <p>ā€œThereā€™s a beauty in the simplicity of the algorithm,ā€ says <strong>Sean van Wyk</strong>, a third-year student in computer science and Weavā€™s project manager. ā€œThe matching process is really the core of the app.ā€</p> <p>Matches are not dependent on the same start or end location ā€“ the app recognizes when riders are on a driverā€™s route. If there are too many drivers taking the same route, the app encourages drivers to become riders instead.&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œOur vision for the Toronto area would be to fill every empty seat on the road,ā€ says <strong>Brady Vallbacka</strong>, a fourth-year student in management and information technology, and Weavā€™s marketing operations specialist. ā€œIf we could do that, we could solve a lot of traffic problems.ā€</p> <p>Weav tracks usersā€™ locations, then sends payment through the app once riders and drivers reach their destination. Drivers set the fee, but Weav encourages them to charge only enough to cover expenses such as gas and insurance.</p> <p>Location tracking is part of the appā€™s safety features, along with tools that allow users to report terms-of-use violations such as damaging a car.</p> <p>The name Weav is a play on the idea of weaving through traffic and a reference to bringing people together. Imagine, van Wyk says, several people who meet through Weav because they are going to the same hockey game. ā€œIt provides a lot of value and a lot of ways for people to actually connect.ā€</p> <p>While the team members initially targeted long-distance journeys, they began looking at commuting after Vallbacka learned that many ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ co-op students wonā€™t travel between east and west campuses, even if it means having a greater number of placements to choose from.</p> <p>ā€œI guarantee thereā€™s one student doing that commute every day and they probably have four empty seats,ā€ he says. ā€œIf they could get connected easily, theyā€™d have more job opportunities.ā€</p> <p>Weav created a ā€œscheduled commuteā€ feature to help connect these students and other regular travellers. The team is working to release a prototype of the app by early next year.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 29 Oct 2018 16:55:22 +0000 noreen.rasbach 145997 at Daily planning app from ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ entrepreneur helps children with behavioural and learning challenges /news/daily-planning-app-u-t-entrepreneur-helps-children-behavioural-and-learning-challenges <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Daily planning app from ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ entrepreneur helps children with behavioural and learning challenges</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-03-21-brili.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=EQ_3Z8zT 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2017-03-21-brili.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=4K1wDnM6 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2017-03-21-brili.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=dys4ZE0m 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-03-21-brili.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=EQ_3Z8zT" alt="Brili"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-03-21T16:19:48-04:00" title="Tuesday, March 21, 2017 - 16:19" class="datetime">Tue, 03/21/2017 - 16:19</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Pierre SĆ©guin (left) and his son, Leo (right), show off Brili, a daily planning app for kids</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/dan-haves" hreflang="en">Dan Haves</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Dan Haves</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/medicine" hreflang="en">Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/children" hreflang="en">Children</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-information" hreflang="en">Faculty of Information</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/app" hreflang="en">App</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/behaviour" hreflang="en">Behaviour</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/learning" hreflang="en">Learning</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>For children with behavioural and learning challenges, getting ready for the day can be a struggle. Waking up, getting dressed, eating breakfast and heading out the door on time is never a guarantee.</p> <p><strong>Pierre SĆ©guin</strong>, whose son faced some of these challenges, knew all too well how difficult it could be for kids to organize their day, even with the help of their parents and caregivers. His solution?</p> <p>He took some of the features of project management software he was using every day at work in the tech industry and used them to create&nbsp;<a href="https://brili.com/">Brili</a>, a mobile-based daily planner that makes a game out of routine tasks. Brili&nbsp;is part of the Faculty of Medicine's Health Innovation Hub and the Faculty of Information's Semaphore Research Cluster.&nbsp;SĆ©guin is an expert-in-residence&nbsp;with Semaphore.&nbsp;</p> <h3><a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/entrepreneurshipweek/">Learn more about Entrepreneurship@UofT Week March 27-31&nbsp;</a></h3> <p>He spoke with ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ's<strong>&nbsp;Dan Haves</strong> about how Brili works and the future of this software. &nbsp;</p> <hr> <p><strong>Where did you get the idea for Brili?</strong></p> <p>My son had various behavioral challenges when he was very young and daily routines were awful for our family. We spoke to many experts as we tried to help him. They advised us to give our son structure and consistency, and use lists, pictures and timers to help him remember steps in the routine.</p> <p>I was a software product manager working with teams that used big LCD dashboard screens to show a projectā€™s status and keep multimillion-dollar technology jobs on track. So&nbsp;I thought, ā€˜Why canā€™t we create something like this for kids?ā€™&nbsp;Daily routines are just little projects that happen every day, and our son needed a dashboard of his own. That realization unleashed a flurry of ideas to gamify routines.</p> <p><strong>What are some of the challenges that Brili helps children overcome?</strong></p> <p>Brili is especially helpful to kids who have trouble with executive function (EF). EF is the role our brain plays in impulse control, keeping us focused, aware of time passing, remembering what weā€™re supposed to be doing and other functions many people take for granted. ADHD, autism and other learning challenges directly impact EF.</p> <p>Brili gives kids gentle and consistent prompts to start regular routines like getting ready for school or bedtime, and helps them stay on task with audible reminders and visual cues.</p> <p>For example, parents can program Brili to give their kids reminders to do things like get dressed or brush their teeth during the morning routine before school. The app also factors in the time available to complete each item on the list. The prompts can also help parents check in with their kids to ensure they get help when they need it.</p> <p><strong>Whatā€™s next for Brili?</strong></p> <p>Weā€™re building new features into Brili that will make it helpful in a classroom environment so kids can benefit from the program at school.</p> <p>We started Brili to give every child and parent access to fun, stress-free daily routines so families can just enjoy being families. As mobile technology becomes more accessible, itā€™s exciting to see our goal become reality. Next, we want to help people of all ages in more contexts to manage and use their time better.&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 21 Mar 2017 20:19:48 +0000 ullahnor 106006 at Aspiring entrepreneurs combine artificial intelligence and medicine at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ /news/aspiring-entrepreneurs-combine-artificial-intelligence-and-medicine-u-t <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Aspiring entrepreneurs combine artificial intelligence and medicine at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lanthierj</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-04-01T10:11:33-04:00" title="Friday, April 1, 2016 - 10:11" class="datetime">Fri, 04/01/2016 - 10:11</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Didier Landry and Raad Yameen (photo by Carolyn Morris)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/carolyn-morris" hreflang="en">Carolyn Morris</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Carolyn Morris</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/medicine" hreflang="en">Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/app" hreflang="en">App</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/joseph-ferenbok" hreflang="en">Joseph Ferenbok</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/didier-landry" hreflang="en">Didier Landry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dustin-kut-moy-cheung" hreflang="en">Dustin Kut Moy Cheung</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/raad-yameen" hreflang="en">Raad Yameen</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">ā€œWe want to help get these creative ideas for improving health care off the groundā€</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Imagine youā€™re one of the 50,000 people in Ontario addicted to opioids. You have a panic attack in the middle of the night. You may live in a remote area with little access to counselling services ā€” but even if you have regular access to a therapist, no oneā€™s around at that moment to talk you through it.</p> <p>Instead of reaching for pills, though, you turn to the support of your ā€œpocket counsellor,ā€ right on your smartphone. This virtual counsellor will have an actual conversation with you ā€” asking questions, and ā€œlisteningā€ to your responses.</p> <p><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; font-size: 11.0819px; line-height: 13.6418px;">[quote (class="additional class" | author="Raad Yameen")]</strong><span style="line-height: 20.8px;">ā€œIt asks intelligent questions depending on your answers just as any human would do in a real conversationā€</span><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; font-size: 11.0819px; line-height: 13.6418px;">[/quote]</strong>ā€œIt asks intelligent questions depending on your answers just as any human would do in a real conversation,ā€ says Dr.&nbsp;<strong>Raad Yameen</strong>, a recent medical school graduate and masterā€™s student in the Faculty of Medicineā€™s new Translational Research Program. Yameen is one of three ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ students in medicine and engineering working on the artificial intelligence counselling app through their startup dubbed Project MIToc. By recognizing ā€œchange talkā€ ā€” any expression like ā€œI really need to,ā€ ā€œI should,ā€ ā€œI have to do somethingā€ ā€” the app can pick up on that and even remind you of some of the reasons youā€™d given in the past for wanting to stop using.</p> <p>Yameen and his team now have $5,000 to help develop their idea further. They were one of a selected group of young innovators gathered at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ this week to pitch their ideas as part of the HealthEDGE initiative, led by ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ-based accelerators in medicine, engineering and computer science. With a panel of judges including entrepreneurs and industry leaders in health ā€” and six fellowships of $5,000 each for the top ideas ā€” it was akin to a ā€œDragonsā€™ Denā€ competition for health care.&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œWe want to help get these creative ideas for improving health care off the ground,ā€ says Professor&nbsp;<strong>Joseph Ferenbok</strong>, co-director of the Health Innovation Hub (H2i), the Faculty of Medicineā€™s accelerator. ā€œWe started the year-long initiative with an open call for people to submit challenges, ingenuity gaps, or ā€˜bugsā€™ in the health care system. Then we invited students and other innovators to find solutions.ā€&nbsp;</p> <p><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; font-size: 11.0819px; line-height: 13.6418px;">[embed_content nid=7701 (class="additional class")/]</strong><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; font-size: 11.0819px; line-height: 13.6418px;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; font-size: 11.0819px; line-height: 13.6418px;">[item (class="additional class"|id=item id|type=div,d,span,s)]</strong><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__556 img__view_mode__media_preview attr__format__media_preview" height="180" src="/sites/default/files/styles/square_thumbnail/public/2016-04-04-Shutterstock_robot_600x400.jpg?itok=etKBs2X2" typeof="foaf:Image" width="180" loading="lazy"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; font-size: 11.0819px; line-height: 13.6418px;">[/item]</strong><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; font-size: 11.0819px; line-height: 13.6418px;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p>Yameen, along with Project MIToc co-founders ā€” software engineers and computer engineering masterā€™s students&nbsp;<strong>Didier Landr</strong>y&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>Dustin Kut Moy Cheung</strong>&nbsp;ā€” hope their theory-driven, evidence-based and patient-centric technology will lead to better support for addicts, and cost-savings to the health system.&nbsp;</p> <p>Other winning ideas included a tool for the early detection of diabetes-related vision loss dubbed ā€œiProbe,ā€ which allows psychiatrists to monitor patients with schizophrenia for worsening symptoms based on their social media and other online communications; a personalized drug profiling technology for patients with cystic fibrosis and other conditions serving as a personalized ā€œclinical trial in a dishā€; a mobile video health program that would connect rural youth with mental-health support; and a robotic rehabilitative exoskeleton for kids with cerebral palsy. The iProbe project also won the community choice award.</p> <p>With iSchool entrepreneurship instructor and HealthEDGE 2016 coordinator Adriana Ieraci moderating the event, the judges challenged each presenter with questions on feasibility, privacy concerns, pricing and competitors. Leading up to the event, mentors from H2i, The Entrepreneurship Hatchery and the Department of Computer Science Innovation Lab (DCSIL) coached the teams and helped them refine their pitches.&nbsp;</p> <p>But the work doesnā€™t end here. A central goal of the HealthEDGE initiative is to help turn these ideas into reality. With the fellowship money, along with a network of contacts and potential backers through community, health care and industry partners ā€” including the University Health Network, Rouge Valley Health System Foundation, Johnson &amp; Johnson Innovation (JLABS), Autodesk and IBM ā€” the winning innovators are given resources to put their smart solutions to work. Theyā€™ll be presenting their proofs of concept at a HealthEDGE demo day in the fall.</p> <h2>Winning Projects:</h2> <p>ReX: a robotic exoskeleton suit to help children with cerebral palsy learn to walk<br> VideoHealth: a new mobile way to connect rural youth with little access to mental health care to urban mental health providers, including psychiatrists using asynchronous video communication.&nbsp;<br> Project MIToc: a mobile solution for motivational counseling and commitment enhancement for people suffering from opioid addiction.&nbsp;<br> XVIVOS Biosciences: &nbsp;a high-throughput, personalized drug profiling technology for patients with certain rare &amp; neglected diseases<br> Project Nash: a modular tool that allows psychiatrists to collect feedback from members of a patient's support network, as well as automatically analyze patient's audio logs and social media for inconsistencies that could be a warning sign of relapse<br> iProbe: a sensing device for pre-symptomatic ocular disease detection</p> <h2>Judges:</h2> <p>Professor&nbsp;<strong>Paul Santerre</strong>, co-director, Health Innovation Hub<br> Andris Lauris, mentor-in-residence, Health Innovation Hub<br> Merry Wang, senior research Scientist, Autodesk<br> Gail Garland, president and CEO, Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBio)<br> Jonathan Rezek, business development, IBM Canada&nbsp;<br> Kendra Delicaet, managing director, OpenLab, TGH<br> Katherine Schwenger, co-chair, Institute of Medical Science Students Association (IMSSA)</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 01 Apr 2016 14:11:33 +0000 lanthierj 10488 at Google Demo Day for women gives top prize to Bridgit startup /news/google-demo-day-women-gives-top-prize-bridgit-startup <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Google Demo Day for women gives top prize to Bridgit startup</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-12-10T08:45:50-05:00" title="Thursday, December 10, 2015 - 08:45" class="datetime">Thu, 12/10/2015 - 08:45</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">To develop their startup, Lauren Hasegawa and Mallorie Brodie sought help from Creative Destruction Lab and The Next 36 at the University of Toronto</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/olivia-tomic" hreflang="en">Olivia Tomic</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Olivia Tomic</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/top-stories" hreflang="en">Top Stories</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startup" hreflang="en">Startup</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/rotman-school-management" hreflang="en">Rotman School of Management</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/google" hreflang="en">Google</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/bbcie" hreflang="en">BBCIE</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/app" hreflang="en">App</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Construction app developed with help from ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ entrepreneurship experts</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Bridgit ā€“ a communications app for construction workers ā€“ is the winner of the first womenā€™s edition of Googleā€™s Demo Day for entrepreneurs. &nbsp;</p> <p>Out of more than 450 applications from 40 countries, Bridgit was selected as one of just&nbsp;11 startup teams to pitch at the event, held at Googleā€™s headquarters in Mountain View, California. &nbsp;</p> <p>They were the only Canadian team pitching alongside entrepreneurs from Brazil, Israel, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.</p> <p>ā€œGoogle Demo Day was an amazing opportunity to share the stage with entrepreneurs from around the world,ā€ said <strong>Lauren Hasegawa</strong>, co-founder of Bridgit. ā€œWe're extremely thankful for the opportunity to present and it felt great to bring home the win to Canada.ā€</p> <p>For generations, construction workers have been building our cities. But while architecture, tools and materials have changed, communication between teams has largely remained the same.</p> <p>ā€œFrom the day a project breaks ground to the day that it is completed, a team is expected to communicate mission-critical information with post-it notes, excel spreadsheets, email and walkie-talkies,ā€ said <strong>Mallorie Brodie</strong>, co-founder of Bridgit.&nbsp;</p> <p>The Canadian startup is bringing construction sites into the 21st century with an app that allows developers, general contractors and subcontractors to access clear and documented information about a project.&nbsp;</p> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/spotlight-startups-bridgit-app-lifts-construction-sites-cloud">Read more about Bridgit</a></h2> <p>The female founder duo first met thanks to The Next 36, headed by ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻā€™s <strong>Ajay Agrawal</strong>, and designed to foster the entrepreneurial spirit of high-potential undergraduates. &nbsp;</p> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/tags/next-36">Read more about The Next 36</a></h2> <p>After graduating from the University of Western Ontario, they moved on to hone their partnership and business concept at Rotmanā€™s Creative Destruction Lab, one of ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻā€™s nine campus-linked accelerators.&nbsp;</p> <p>Bridgit impressed all three demo day judges with their business solution marketed to&nbsp;both commercial and residential builders. Based on judging criteria including business model, team and traction to date, Hasegawa and Brodie won the judges' vote for the top prize of the day.&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œOverall, the judges commended Bridgit on both our traction and our approach to customer acquisition and sales growth,ā€ said Hasegawa. ā€œWe believe these two things are core to building a successful company in Canada and are excited to continue to build on the strong foundation we already have in place.ā€</p> <p><strong>Karen Sievewrigh</strong>t, managing director of ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻā€™s Banting &amp; Best Centre for Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship, said&nbsp;ā€œNot everyone effectively leverages the many different opportunities and supports available for entrepreneurs in their school or region, but that cannot be said of Bridgit.</p> <p>ā€œThese two young women have worked to turn their potential as student leaders into a viable business with huge applications in the construction industry, a traditionally male-dominated field,ā€ Sievewright said.&nbsp;ā€œWhile they would likely have gotten to this stage on their own, weā€™re proud to have been able to help accelerate their growth through two ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ supported initiatives.ā€&nbsp;</p> <h2><a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/">Learn more about startups and entrepreneurship at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ</a></h2> <p>Google Demo Day is held each year but this was the first time&nbsp;Google for Entrepreneurs chose to create a second event dedicated to female founders, addressing the fact that the vast majority of funding is invested in male-led ventures.&nbsp;</p> <p>ā€œWe know that women around the world are creating and building incredible tech companies,ā€ said Mary Grove, director of Google for Entrepreneurs. ā€œWe aim to help connect them with mentors, access to capital and shine a spotlight on their efforts.ā€&nbsp;</p> <p>While Google Demo Day doesnā€™t offer any immediate prizes, Bridgit will reap the benefits of getting the tech giantā€™s stamp of approval. This could include getting their foot in the door with investors, attracting the attention of potential large corporate partners and being able to hire more quickly.&nbsp;</p> <p>Startups who have pitched at the previous two Demo Days have gone on to raise approximately $3.5 million dollars in funding from investors who attended the pitches, followed by an additional several million dollars after the event.&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt="photo of Bridgit co-founders with judges" src="/sites/default/files/2015-12-10-Judges-and-Bridgit.jpg" style="width: 630px; height: 420px; margin: 10px 25px;"></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-12-10-bridgid-lead.jpg</div> </div> Thu, 10 Dec 2015 13:45:50 +0000 sgupta 7522 at Stuck in traffic? These pedometer apps think you're walking /news/stuck-traffic-these-pedometer-apps-think-youre-walking <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Stuck in traffic? These pedometer apps think you're walking</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-12-07T08:03:06-05:00" title="Monday, December 7, 2015 - 08:03" class="datetime">Mon, 12/07/2015 - 08:03</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Researchers found several popular pedometer apps have an ā€œan unacceptable error percentageā€ (photo by iStock)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/valerie-iancovich" hreflang="en">Valerie Iancovich</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Valerie Iancovich</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/app" hreflang="en">App</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/exercise" hreflang="en">Exercise</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-kinesiology-physical-education" hreflang="en">Faculty of Kinesiology &amp; Physical Education</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/more-news" hreflang="en">More News</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research" hreflang="en">Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Study finds flaws in popular downloads for phones</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>GPS navigator, recipe finder, camera, music player: the phones that most of us use today go well beyond voice-to-voice communication.</p> <p>However, if you thought your smartphone could also serve as a pocket-sized personal trainer, newly-published research has found that three of the most popular free apps designed to track fitness are seriously flawed.</p> <p>The evaluation, led by Professor <strong>Guy Faulkner</strong> of the Faculty of Kinesiology &amp; Physical Education and KPE masterā€™s student <strong>Krystn Orr</strong>, appears in the journal&nbsp;<em>BMC Research Notes</em>.</p> <p>ā€œWe know that more and more Canadians want to take their health into their own hands and these apps seem like a good way to do just that,ā€ Orr says.</p> <p>ā€œSelf-evaluation can be very effective in lifestyle change as well, so itā€™s important that people are getting the most accurate information possible and using tools they can trust.ā€</p> <p>The work was inspired by Rise at Work, a larger project intended to evaluate workplace physical activity at the University of Toronto. (<a href="http://physical.utoronto.ca/News/2014/12/09/rise@work-for-health-and-happiness">Read more about the project</a>.) Researchers looking for a cost-effective, accessible way to track steps noted that there had been few published research papers looking into commercial smartphone pedometer applications.</p> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/tags/walking">Read more about ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ&nbsp;research on the importance of walking</a></h2> <p>Accupedo, Moves and Runtastic were the most popular free pedometer apps, so researchers&nbsp;ran each through a series of tests to measure their accuracy. Each is compatible with Android and Apple smartphones and gathers step stats via the phonesā€™ built-in accelerometers, GPS navigation tools or a combination of both.</p> <p>Subjects used the apps in a variety of scenarios. Most basic was a simple, 20-step test during which they wore a traditional pedometer on their hip and held the phone in their hand. In each instance, the pedometer was pretty much bang-on, but the phone apps were off by about five per cent. Similar results were found after a 40-step stair climb test, a treadmill test and three days of unstructured regular activity.</p> <p>The team also found that the tools werenā€™t quite as smart as they claimed. When one researcher found her phone tallied steps when she was actually stuck in traffic, the team was inspired to add a driving test. The researchers&nbsp;found that with each app, the GPS tool interpreted slow car motion as walking.</p> <p>Their conclusion was that&nbsp;there is ā€œan unacceptable error percentage in all of the applications when compared to the pedometer.<span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">ā€</span></p> <p>If youā€™re looking for a tool to help keep your fitness goals on track and your New Yearā€™s resolutions in sight, Orr suggests investing in wearable technology designed specifically for tracking movement.</p> <p>If these options seem pricey, there is always the old-fashioned route. ā€œReally, thereā€™s no reason you canā€™t just stick to a traditional pedometer,ā€ Orr says. ā€œItā€™s probably the most reliable and cost-effective tool for tracking your steps.ā€</p> <p><em>Read ā€œ<a href="http://www.biomedcentral.com/1756-0500/8/733/about">Validity of smartphone pedometer applications</a>ā€ by Krystn Orr, Holly S. Howe, Janine Omran, Kristina A. Smith, Tess M. Palmateer, Alvin E. Ma and Guy Faulkner.</em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-12-07-phone-pedometer-app.jpg</div> </div> Mon, 07 Dec 2015 13:03:06 +0000 sgupta 7509 at Using iPod apps to help diagnose, treat alcohol withdrawal /news/using-ipod-apps-help-diagnose-treat-alcohol-withdrawal <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Using iPod apps to help diagnose, treat alcohol withdrawal</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2014-09-02T12:29:46-04:00" title="Tuesday, September 2, 2014 - 12:29" class="datetime">Tue, 09/02/2014 - 12:29</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">(photo by CarbonNYC via Flickr)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/marit-mitchell" hreflang="en">Marit Mitchell</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item"> Marit Mitchell</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/top-stories" hreflang="en">Top Stories</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/women-s-college-hospital" hreflang="en">Women's College Hospital</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/st-michael-s-hospital" hreflang="en">St. Michael's Hospital</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mount-sinai-hospital" hreflang="en">Mount Sinai Hospital</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/medicine" hreflang="en">Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/hospital" hreflang="en">Hospital</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/engineering" hreflang="en">Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/collaboration" hreflang="en">Collaboration</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/app" hreflang="en">App</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research" hreflang="en">Research</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p> Itā€™s a common scenario in emergency rooms across Canada: a patient suddenly stops regular, excessive alcohol consumption and develops withdrawal ā€“ a potentially fatal condition.</p> <p> The most common clinical sign of withdrawal is tremor, especially in the hands and arms. But judging tremor severity is harder than it sounds; it requires considerable medical expertise and even experienced doctorsā€™ estimates can vary widely.</p> <p> To assist physicians in determining the severity of a patients withdrawal, researchers from the University of Toronto have developed the worldā€™s first app to measure tremor strength, providing objective guidance to direct treatment decisions. The app also shows promise in making solid predictions about whether the tremor is real or fake.</p> <p> ā€œThereā€™s so much work to do in this field,ā€ said <strong>Narges Norouzi</strong>, a PhD candidate in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical &amp; Computer Engineering (ECE). ā€œThere is other work out there on Parkinsonā€™s tremors, but much less on tremors from alcohol withdrawal.ā€</p> <p> Although withdrawal is a potentially fatal condition, physicians are often reluctant to prescribe benzodiazepines ā€“ a class of sedatives used to treat conditions such as alcohol withdrawal, anxiety, seizures and&nbsp; insomnia. Thatā€™s because theyā€™re frequently abused and can be dangerous when mixed with other drugs, especially alcohol and opiates.</p> <p> ā€œThe exciting thing about our app is that the implications are global,ā€ said <strong>Bjug Borgundvaag</strong>, a professor at ³Ō¹Ļ±¬ĮĻ's&nbsp;Faculty of Medicine and an emergency physician at the Schwartz/Reisman Emergency Centre at Mount Sinai Hospital.</p> <p> ā€œAlcohol-related illness is commonly encountered not only in the emergency room, but also elsewhere in the hospital, and this gives clinicians a much easier way to assess patients using real data,ā€ he added.</p> <p> Experts say chronic alcohol abusers often go to the emergency department claiming to be in withdrawal in an effort to obtain benzodiazepines and it can be difficult for inexperienced clinicians to determine if the patient is actually in withdrawal or ā€œfakingā€ a withdrawal tremor. Front-line healthcare workers have no objective way to tell the sufferers from the fakers. But researchers hope to change that.</p> <p> "Our app may also be useful in assisting withdrawal management staff, who typically have no clinical training, and determining which patients should be transferred to the emergency department for medical treatment or assessment. We think our app has great potential to improve treatment for these patients overall," said Borgundvaag.</p> <p> Researchers tested their app on 49 patients experiencing tremors in the emergency rooms at Torontoā€™s Schwartz/Reisman Emergency Medicine Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital, St. Michaelā€™s Hospital and Womenā€™s College Hospital, as well as 12 nurses trying to mimic the symptom.</p> <p> Their study shows that three-quarters of patients with genuine symptoms had tremors with an average peak frequency higher than seven cycles per second. Only 17 per cent of nurses trying to ā€œfakeā€ a withdrawal tremor were able to produce a tremor with the same characteristics, suggesting that this may be a reasonable cut-off for discriminating real from fake. The app uses data from an iPodā€™s built-in accelerometer to measure the frequency of tremor for both hands for 20 seconds.</p> <p> In the emergency room, clinicians filmed their patientsā€™ hand tremors while using the app and showed the footage to doctors afterward. Norouzi found that her appā€™s ability to assess tremor strength matched that of junior physicians, while more senior doctors were able to judge symptoms with better accuracy. Norouziā€™s next move is to continue honing the tool and comparing its performance to doctorsā€™ subjective assessments, and to further study the effects of left- or right-handedness.</p> <p> ā€œWe have just begun to scratch the surface of what is possible by applying signal processing and machine learning to body-connected sensors,ā€ said Professor <strong>Parham Aarabi</strong> of ECE. ā€œAs sensors improve and algorithms become smarter, thereā€™s a good chance that we may be able to solve more medical problems and make medical diagnosis more efficient.ā€</p> <p> Norouzi and the team presented this work on August 29, 2014 at the International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society in Chicago.</p> <p> <em>Marit Mitchell is a writer with the Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering at the University of Toronto.</em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2014-08-28-alcohol-tremors_0.jpg</div> </div> Tue, 02 Sep 2014 16:29:46 +0000 sgupta 6453 at