Sexual dysfunction is pervasive in our society and is associated with a blend of biological, psychological, relational and contextual risk factors. In this project we will apply machine learning algorithms on a set of known risk factors of sexual dysfunction to predict whether a new patient suffers from sexual dysfunction and whether sexual dysfunction will improve based on specific patient treatment plans.

Champion Pet Foods is a prominent pet food manufacturer in Canada. They manufacture high-end high quality dry pet food products. They are interested to use new processing technologies to eliminate the harmful bacteria from their products without damaging their quality. At University of Alberta, we are testing the effectiveness of new technologies such as atmospheric cold plasma to eliminate harmful bacteria from food products. As consumers do not like low quality foods, it is important to understand the quality changes in foods during processing of foods using new technologies.

The presence of harmful bacteria in drinking water sources can seriously harm the population that receives the contaminated water. The current standard methods for testing drinking water for bacteria heavily rely on using central laboratories. For small rural communities that are far from these laboratories, this scheme may represent 2-7 delays until they find out about the quality of their drinking water sources. This can be catastrophic if the residents of these communities drink contaminated water while waiting for the results.

This research aims at better understanding the performance of Wireline Applied Stimulation Pulse (WASP) technique in formation damage reduction in oil and gas wells. Hydrocarbon production rate decreases as a result of plugging the sand control devices located in the wellbore region. Shock waves generated by the WASP technique help breaking the sources of formation damage into smaller pieces; As a result, small particles can be carried to the surface.

Title: Design and development of a grating-based flow-cytometer
“Flow cytometry is a technique used to detect and measure physical and chemical characteristics of a population of cells or particles. A sample containing cells or particles is suspended in a fluid and injected into the flow cytometer instrument. The sample is focused to ideally flow one cell at a time through a laser beam and the light scattered is characteristic to the cells and their components. Cells are often labeled with fluorescent markers so that light is first absorbed and then emitted in a band of wavelengths.

The project is a demonstration of Advanced Energy Technologies (AET)’s patented refining process for upgrading heavy oil products without diluent or extreme heat treatments. This produces lighter, higher value oil that is easier to work with throughout the process stream, with greater efficiency and less cost. AET will be conducting demonstration runs of the Hydrogen Activator Technology (HAT) on Albertan feedstock, partnering with local oil companies to secure heavy oils, bitumen and refinery residues.

Thermal insulation of buildings and storages reduces the energy consumption for heating. Polyurethane foams are one of the efficient material for insulation. Currently, polyurethane foam industries use raw materials derived from petroleum. This research project aim to replace some of petrochemical-based materials used in polyurethane foam with biobased materials. This can reduce the dependency on petroleum oil and create new market for biobased materials. The development of biobased polyurethane foam is a challenging exercise.

Pipelines are often subjected to longitudinal stresses due to ground movements such as moving slopes and discontinuous permafrost areas. In these cases, numerical models are used to calculate strain demand which is then compared to tensile and compressive strain capacities (TSC and CSC) which are functions of the pipeline and girth weld material properties. In terms of strain demand, we have shown that current numerical models are inappropriate as they neglect the Bourdon effect–the tendency of pressurized pipes to straighten–at the location of bends and elbows.

The research project would involve developing and executing an experimental program to optimize the application of electrokinetic dewatering technology for oil sands tailings called EKS-DT developed by ElectroKinetic Solutions (EKS). This research will involve conducting a series of high priority experiments for process optimization and innovation. Three main research categories involving electrokinetic tailings consolidation modelling, optimum electrode design and optimum power sequencing have been identified as crucial areas for improving the technology.

The Operational Excellence (OpEx) team at Spartan Controls is actively involved in several initiatives for developing advanced process control (APC) solutions to the oil sands industry. The OpEx team collaborates with Professor Biao Huang’s research group through the NSERC Industrial Research Chair (IRC) in the Control of Oil Sands Processes program for solutions that require extensive research and development.