The blown plastic film industry is constantly evolving, and the simpler products of just a few years ago are being displaced by new technical films. Market pressures have demanded a lower cost of plastic film with higher quality and thinner gauges. As a result of these trends, the demand for improvements in gauge control of the film increases dramatically, especially for manufacturers with older generations of equipment.

Treatment of wastewater from refineries removes toxic compounds prior to the water being released into the environment. Treatment could be made more efficient and done more cheaply if we knew how to promote the growth of bacteria that enable toxin breakdown. The aim of this project is to identify which bacteria are present and active when the treatment plant is working as expected, and which are present when the treatment plant is ‘disrupted’.

Brickeye has developed its optical data acquisition (ODAQ) system in conjunction with partners primarily in environmental remediation, for whom the system was optimized for supporting temperature measurement across multiple parallel channels (up to 48) at low speeds (0.2 Hz). Brickeye’s technological advancements have been primarily focused on system ruggedization for harsh environments and developing user-friendly hardware and software for non-expert users. The jump to include high-speed data acquisition, monitoring transient phenomena, and performing more complex data analysis (e.g.

Fort Nelson & its surrounding area have been devastated economically by recent changes to their Gas Industry leaving more than 1000 well sites abandoned and not restored. Currently, the area is looking to explore other natural resources in an attempt to save their livelihoods. A previous MITACs partnership with Mindbody Networks Inc. (2018-2020) revealed several clay deposits distributed throughout the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality (NRRM), are very efficient adsorbents for potential environmental application, which are believed to hold answers to the economic future of the region.

Quantum computers have the potential to perform computational tasks which are impossible to solve on classical computers. One natural application of quantum computing is to use them for predicting how quantum mechanical systems (e.g., models of quantum magnetism or chemical molecules) evolve in time. However, existing quantum computers – so-called noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices – are not yet powerful enough to generally outperform classical computers. Scaling up is possible by connecting multiple quantum processing units (QPUs) together.

Future scarcity of phosphorus supply, increasing cost and issues of eutrophication are potential drivers promoting nutrient recovery from wastewaters. The proposed project aims to develop cheap and environmentally friendly technology for the recovery of phosphorus and nitrogen from municipal, agricultural, dairy, food processing, petrochemicals, and biomass processing industries wastewaters. Successful completion of the project will benefit the partner organization by helping them solve the technical challenges associated with their patent-pending adsorbent.

Neurological conditions such as stroke are a major cause of disability in Canada, estimated to affect 1.5 million Canadians. Canadians living with neurological conditions face many ongoing challenges with reduced functioning and activity limitations. According to the World Health Organization, one in six people worldwide have a stroke. Two out of three survive, but up to 85% suffer from paralysis and only 5% fully restore.

Developing new high performance steels using pilot scale facilities such as those available at CanmetMATERIALS laboratory in Hamilton is more efficient and cost effective than using industrial lines. However, some recent projects carried out for Stelco Inc revealed unexpected discrepancies between pilot scale results and real industrial data. The aim of this project is to identify the best strategies to minimize these discrepancies between the pilot scale and industrial processes so that our laboratory simulations more closely approach the final product in terms of structure and properties.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the world’s leading causes of death and disability, leading to over 500 billion Canadian dollars in societal costs annually. Impaired blood flow to the brain has be recently identified as a main cause for ongoing brain damage after TBI. Control of brain blood flow is termed cerebral autoregulation (CA). Our ability to accurately measure CA in patients at the bedside in the intensive care unit (ICU), is limited to invasive techniques that require neurosurgery expertise and carry risk.

Indoor environments have became a predominant habitat for modern individuals. Physical spaces can have meaningful effects on how we feel, how we interact with others, and how we perceive our experiences. Comfort in physical spaces encompasses different facets including thermal comfort, visual comfort, noise nuisance, as well as indoor air quality. Combination of these make a built environment a healthy environment for its occupant.