Projets novateurs réalisés

Non-intrusive assessment of vigilance in drivers based on eye movement and blinking

Due to lifestyle and work demands, chronic sleep deprivation is now experienced by many people, leading to increased drowsiness and fatigue which can have a negative influence on health, safety and work performance. Drowsiness, in particular, can influence fitness to drive and put people at significant risk. With this in mind and in response to increasing demand from market and public domains, Alcohol Countermeasure Systems (ACS) has launched innovative research into methods and technology for improving driver and vehicle safety. The main objective of this research is to develop non-intrusive techniques for real-time assessment of the state of vigilance of drivers based on behavioural patterns (particularly, eye movements and blinks). In this project, advanced machine learning and signal processing techniques will be used to develop appropriate methodologies for real-time monitoring of drowsiness.

Development of Feed Blocks for Livestock

BNTrading Inc., located in Alberta, is interested in developing a more efficient form (block) of densified feed material compared to small-size cubes and pellets currently available. This new form of densified material is to provide an easier handling, storage, and transportation. The target is firstly to convert the pellet or cube forms to block in trials. If there is a possibility of this transformation to blocks, the work will be conducted for the conversion of these conventional densified feed to feed blocks. Otherwise, the crushed form of feed will be used for production of feed blocks. For this purpose, different types of binding agents (chemical or natural based) will be used in densification process. Parameters of binder concentration, moulding pressure and residence time will be optimized to obtain desired quality attributes. The optimal combinations will be determined based on the quality attributes which are important in the feed industry.

Design, Analysis and Optimization of an Aircraft Seat

Business aircraft seats are typically designed to provide maximum comfort to the occupant, while adhering to strict certification requirements. This tends to result in the designed seat becoming heavy and costly due to conservative tradeoff analysis, and a dependence upon legacy design techniques. With the advent of more powerful computer aided design techniques – it is possible to design a seat that meets both the comfort requirements of the occupant, and strict regulatory requirements. This project leverages advanced computer engineering design tools to optimize comfort and stress analysis to produce a mass and cost efficient design for a business aircraft seat.

Development of In-Situ Characterization tools for Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition System

Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) is a popular tool for the deposition of thin film materials that are common in solar cells, sensors and display technologies. However, the need for a vacuum environment and slow material growth rates restricts ALD applicability in large scale commercial and industrial materials production. Atmospheric Pressure Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition (AP-SALD or SALD) is a variant of ALD in which thin film materials are deposited without the need of a vacuum environment and with the added benefit of quicker deposition rates. While SALD mitigates the problem of scalability, it also presents a unique opportunity for the learning of material properties as the film is deposited. This in-situ characterization, allows for quantitative tuning of the material property to an optimal value in real time via SALD process parameters. TO BE CONT’D

Advancing Waveform Tomography of Crosswell Data with Applications in the Sulphide Environment

Crosswell seismic tomography is a geophysical survey method in which the propagation of sound waves through the Earth’s crust is used to infer geological structure. An array of acoustic sources and receivers are placed into separate boreholes, and full waveform recordings are made of the response to each source, measured at each receivers, the objective being a “cross-section” of the geology between the two boreholes. Traveltime tomography is used initially to image cross-sectional structure by examining the times at which the receivers first detect seismic waves generated by the sources. Waveform tomography then uses the frequency domain components to improve the model resolution by taking into account the scattering and distortion of seismic waves at different frequencies. Software developed by the University of Western Ontario is used to create these models, which are useful in commercial geophysical exploration. For this project, data from Vale’s Voisey’s Bay property will be examined.

New consensus ranking heuristics to rank big biological data

Ranking biological data is a difficult task for various reasons. Hence several ranking methods have been proposed, but none of them has been deployed on systems currently used by the scientific community. This is why a good solution is, given a set of rankings, to find a consensus ranking that reflect their common points while not putting too large an emphasis on elements that are classified as “good” by only one or a few rankings.

In computer science, we know that this problem is hard to solve when we have to find the consensus of more than 3 rankings and gets even harder when the rankings are getting bigger. Thus, we are interested in designing efficient algorithms to solve the problem and quick heuristics that can give a good quality approximate results on big data. We will also explore mathematical properties of the problem to have a better understanding of its mechanics and to accelerate computational calculations.

KINARM Standard Tests’ Task Scores: towards a validated and effective tool for communicating to clinical communities KINARM measures of brain function

KINARM Labs™ provide robust and objective measures of brain function and dysfunction by the precise measurement of human behavior with robotics. Created by neuroscientists, KINARM Labs allow clinician-scientists to detect and quantify the sensory, motor and cognitive impact of a diverse range neurological impairments caused by stroke, cardiac arrest, TIA, mTBI, concussion, MS or Parkinson’s – all in a short <1h assessment. The MITACS intern will enhance the normative modelling of healthy performance of KINARM Standard Tests – a standardized assessment protocol for identification and quantification of neurological impairments. These contributions will be critical to ensuring that KINARM Labs become an essential tool in the management of patients with brain injuries.

Automated Aerial Inspection of Wind Turbines

Wind turbines need to be regularly visually inspected, notably their blades, in order to detect as early as possible potential cracks and thus minimize downtime and repair costs. The goal of this project is to develop a vision-based navigation system for a multicopter, enabling automated inspection of wind turbines. The navigation system will be integrated with the flight control system and on-board sensors, and will provide relative positioning of the multicopter with respect to the structure to the path planner and trajectory tracker. A component will also be added to perform automated detection of cracks on the captured images. Finally, a simple reactive path planner will be developed to follow the structure based on the vision system outputs, and attempt to provide full coverage of the turbine. A parallel Engage grant application focuses more deeply on the trajectory optimization aspects of the problem. TO BE CONT’D

Standardisation des protocoles de mesures de traits d’alimentation des collemboles

L’utilisation de l’approche par traits fonctionnels dans les études de biodiversité connaît une popularité croissante étant donné son utilité dans la compréhension des mécanismes expliquant l’assemblage des communautés et les processus des écosystèmes. Il s’agit de décrire les espèces non pas que par leur nom taxonomique, mais par des caractéristiques morphologiques, physiologiques, phénologiques et comportementales influençant le « fitness » au niveau de l’individu. Ayant été développée initialement pour les végétaux, il y a de plus en plus d’intérêt à appliquer cette méthode aux niveaux trophiques supérieurs (p.ex. : les invertébrés). Ce stage a pour but de standardiser les protocoles de mesures de traits d’alimentation (reliés aux pièces buccales) chez les collemboles, petits arthropodes bioindicateurs vivants en grande abondance dans la litière et le sol. L’optimisation de la méthodologie permettra d’outiller la communauté scientifique à la collecte de données madibulaires chez ce taxon étant donné l’absence de littérature sur le sujet.

Development of Novel Cellulose Bioprinting Materials Using Thilo-ene Click Chemistry for Application in 3D Printing/Structuring

Recently, new development of 3D printing and patterning technologies offering advantages such as low cost, rapid prototyping, and high resolution have captured the attention of consumers, producers, and scientists alike. Although 3D printing and structuring methods have evolved over time, the materials used have not.
Cellulose is a natural material that exists all around us in familiar forms such as trees, notebooks, and clothing. Its high abundance and biodegradability make it ideal for use in 3D bioprinting. Scientists have been working extremely hard to understand the properties and functions of cellulose in order to find a greener alternative to current synthetic polymers. TO BE CONT’D

Optimisation du contro?le en attitude d’un drone convertible VTOL de type tail-sitter a? l’aide d’un syste?me de commande pre?dictive mesurant le flux d’air re?el vu par les surfaces de contro?le

Aujourd’hui, l’utilisation de drones dans différents secteurs d’activités tels que l’agriculture et la surveillance est en train de s’implanter. Depuis quelques années, les entreprises privées s’intéressent vivement au potentiel de ces machines volantes afin d’effectuer des livraisons. Toutefois, la majorité de ces drones possède une autonomie limitée allant de 30 à 60 minutes et ils sont constamment appelés à parcourir de plus grandes distances dans les airs et à naviguer dans des environnements plus hasardeux comme les milieux urbains. Il est essentiel de trouver une solution permettant d’augmenter l’endurance de vol des drones tout en conservant l’agilité qui leur est propre. La solution retenue consiste en un aéronef convertible alliant l’agilité du vol stationnaire de l’hélicoptère et l’endurance du vol d’avancement de l’avion. TO BE CONT’D

Impact of Physical Activity on Older Sedentary Adults: Role of Oxidative Stress

As individuals age, there is not only a decrease in physical fitness and health, but mental fitness and health as well. Therefore, certain measures must be taken in order to slow down this mental health decrease, as it can lead to devastating life events, such as dementia, Alzheimer’s and strokes. Oxidants are normally found in the body at low levels. These levels remain small by the efforts antioxidants, which can be considered the body’s natural defense to cellular stress. Antioxidants work to keep this balance in check, thereby keeping the human body free of any harmfully high levels of stress. However, when the ability to maintain a balance is disrupted, the amount of oxidants within the body increases, causing damage to cells, organs and most importantly the brain. TO BE CONT’D