The goal of the research undertaken as part of this project is to develop a system to measure soil properties in the field based on near infrared light reflectance. Using machine learning, the complex near infrared data can be turned into valuable soil analytical data. By supporting this research, Route 7 Inc. will obtain an innovative portable soil measurement system that will provide data on soil immediately in the field for much cheaper than currently used laboratory analytical testing. Using this system, Route 7 Inc.

This project aims to advance local/regional food systems in Alberta, as part of a 5-year SSHRC Partnership titled Food: Locally Embedded, Globally Engaged (FLEdGE). Local food systems generate opportunities to capture economic value (e.g., income and employment) within local communities, and can also result in indirect economic, social and environmental benefits. However, current resources within Alberta are fragmented and insufficient to meet increasing demand.

This project aims to provide much needed evidence to service providers and program managers working in the field of early childhood development (ECD). Early childhood programs are required to provide evidence of tangible outcomes to validate the impacts of their programs. Organizations, though, do not always have the knowledge, resources, or capacity to support such processes and the intent of gathering such evidence is interpreted differently depending on the individual sector.

The way banks account for potential losses are changing, and financial institutions are proactively adapting existing methodologies and developing new methodologies to remain compliant with regulation. The key ingredient of the myriad of evaluations of bank’s activities that are required for compliance is risk assessments. The purpose of this research project is to review the best practice risk models and adapt them to the financial profile of the business partner, and to the economic reality in which it operates.

The conversion of low value lipids, including tall oil, brown grease, and yellow grease, to hydrocarbons without the use of hydrogen or catalyst has been patented and scaled up by our group (Forge Hydrocarbons). This project seeks to develop an improvement to the existing process by incorporating microwave heating to the reactor configuration. The process is expected to help reduce the acid number and improve the process economics by decreasing the undesirable side reaction leading to coke formation.

Properties of metallurgical coke are very important in production of iron using blast furnace. About 90% of the coking coals produced are used for this purpose. Coal rank was historically used to evaluate coal for production of metallurgical coke. Coke reactivity index (CRI) and coke strength after reaction (CSR) with carbon dioxide are now routinely used rank and value coking coals. The properties of the other components present in the ash may be the controlling parameters defining coke properties, which has not been studied well.

The pipeline transport sector is facing the issue of precipitation of unwanted heavy molecular compounds namely asphaltene and wax eventually leading to deposit along the inner walls of the pipeline. This consumes a lot of energy and maintenance cost. The objective of this work is to provide a solution to inhibit the precipitation of these compounds by theoretically investigating the root cause of the problem. The present study focuses on investigation at both molecular scale level involving Nucleation kinetics and macroscopic level by studying bulk/interfacial properties of the system.

Color-based sensing enables sensors to be utilized in more places and by more people, particularly those who do not have access to or required training for sophisticated and expensive sensing technologies. This cost-effective sensing process is based on the change in an indicator’s color in response to the stimulation that is being sensed. This project seeks a novel
application for a color-based sensing method (Optical Liquid Fingerprinting technology), previously developed by the project’s partner organization.

Often, a single employment notice may receive hundreds of applications. Manual inspection of applications is extremely time-consuming, and may be approximated by a computer program. Such a program would automatically extract a number of features from each application. For example, relevant work experience, skills, and qualifications might represent appropriate features. After extracting these features, the system would be able to score and rank applications in an effort to reduce the number of applications that would then need to be reviewed.

Long-term effects of forest harvest and other land uses on boreal forest birds are unknown, because most studies of forestry practices on boreal birds occur over short periods, while effects of habitat fragmentation may be realized over longer periods and affected by climate change. I will analyze >20 years of forestry treatment and bird abundance data from Alberta forest sites that were revisited yearly to survey birds, and use results from these analyses to predict bird abundance within future land use scenarios created by timber supply and land use simulation software.