In this project, we attempt to investigate the feasibility of using behavioral synthesis technology for large scale chip project. The project will be completed in Metabacus Inc, an Ontario startup company that develops and markets behavioral synthesis technology, which automatically converts software into chip designs. Although promising, one obstacle for the wide deployment of behavioral synthesis as the next generation chip design methodology is demonstrating the success of the technology on large-scale chip project.

This project is in partnership with AUTO21. This proposal is to help perform knowledge and technology transfer activities to implement the proposed techniques for vehicular communications on real systems and demonstrate their capabilities to our industrial partner. The techniques regard first a scalable solution for authentication and authorization of communicating entities in vehicular networks to secure exchanges of information while preserving the privacy of parties; and second an interference management medium access control for safety message transmission in vehicular networks.

The City of Hamilton and McMaster University School of Engineering Practice are developing a proposal for environmentally friendly technologies that will eliminate the need to send the soiled diapers to a landfill. The project will recommend the most effective technologies and estimate the costs of building such a facility. The City has set a goal of diverting 65% of the waste from a landfill to other uses. The residential diversion rate has increased from 20% in 2002 to 40% in 2006.

Mining products are frequently transported as slurries, which causes considerable wear within pipes. Large rubber mining hoses were found to have excellent wear properties. However, these hoses are still subject to wear, and wear monitoring is thus required. Unfortunately, systems currently available for this purpose have shortcomings. An improved rubber hose design with wear monitoring system is thus sought to increase inspection intervals, reduce cost and improve safety. A novel approach to wear monitoring is the focus of this project.

Concerns regarding the quality of the electric power are becoming a crucial factor in modern power systems. Historically, most electric/electronic system equipment has been able to operate successfully when electric power was disturbed. However, the emerge of sensitive electronic equipment and devices which require highly-reliable electric power has created whole new areas of power quality consideration. It is well known that lightning, as a high energy phenomenon, is a source of severe disturbance.

This project involves the development of a prototype circuit that determines the ratio of glycol to water in an aircraft deicing fluid mixture. The prototype circuit consists of a wave guide probe that is submerged into a fluid mixture and a transceiver that transmits and receives ultra-short pulse signals. As different ratios of glycol to water will result in different values of relative permittivity, pulse signals will be reflected back to the transceiver and they will experience amplitude and phase variations.

The objective of this project is to assess the performance of engineered instream structures and observe changes in bed morphology that occurred on a side-channel restoration project on the Seymour River in British Columbia through field work and 2D modelling. Field work includes the collection of velocities using an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP), several ground surveys and collecting sediment samples.

In a Healthcare setting, multiple potential interactions, directions and decisions significantly affect the patientfs path throughout the system. It is difficult to determine which changes would be beneficial to patient flow and care prior to making the decision. A decision support tool will allow the decision maker to assess the consequences and effects of a number of possible choices, before implementation. This will allow creating more informed decisions, where the effects are known and understood ahead of time.

Workers in pig production barns can be exposed to hazards such as hydrogen sulphide (H2S) gas which is emitted from stored pig manure. In the oil industry where H2S is also a serious concern, a treatment approach was successfully developed for controlling H2S emissions. This project will evaluate the applicability of the treatment in swine barns. Room]scale tests will be conducted at Prairie Swine Centre Inc (PSCI) which will involve comparison of H2S levels in two rooms, one operated as a control and the other with the treatment applied.

This project is in partnership with the Canadian Water Network. Endocrine disrupting compounds or chemicals (EDCs) generally refer to chemical substances with the capacity to disrupt the endocrine system of animals. Scientific studies on the impacts of EDCs on aquatic wildlife in Canada, particularity studies on fish in the Great Lakes, have brought the issue of EDCs in the aquatic environment to the forefront. Efforts are now ongoing to comprehensively understand the fate of EDCs in wastewater treatment processes and develop effective ways to remove them to satisfactory levels.