Projets novateurs réalisés

Capacity Planning and Optimization of WiMAX for Smart Grid

There are many international efforts to modernizing the current aging power grid towards an efficient grid known as “smart grid” (SG). To implement SG, many sensors are attached to different points of the power grid infrastructure. These sensors collect data and can be used for controlling, protecting, and monitoring the status of the grid by receiving comands from the utility control center. Hence, communication is a keypoint in realizing smart grid. With the recent advances in wireless technologies, there is a preference to use new standards for the communication in SG.

One of the smart grid companies in Ontario is aiming at modernizing their power grid and our task is to design a wireless infrastructure given the number of end-user devices and the system specifications. The architecture will be modeled by applying the real network data. We optimize the system performance in terms of delay, relaibility and capacity using a network simulator before the implementation.

Rapid detection and surveillance of antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella using microfluidic device and internet of things

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been recognized as one of the top three major threats to public health besides cancers and climate change. In response to the AMR crisis, there is an urgent need to establish a standardized, user-friendly, on-site testing method for real-time data collection, analysis, and integration. Drug-resistant Salmonella is a representative foodborne pathogen and listed as a severe threat to public health. In this project, we aim to develop an internet-of-things (IoT) framework for real-time AMR surveillance. This project will improve efficiency, affordability and automation of AMR detection. The IoT-based AMR surveillance system will offer more timely reporting and a better understanding of the health risks caused by AMR Salmonella in the food supply chain.

Changes to the Aquatic Community of Boundary Reservoir Associated with the Phase Out of Fossil Fuels

Boundary Reservoir near Estevan, SK has warm water from a coal plant released into it and this warm water created suitable conditions for the reservoir to support the only largemouth bass fishery in the province. In the coming years, the power plant is significantly reducing its operations and it is unknown what will happen to the aquatic community when the warm water input is halted. This project will take an in-depth look into the current environmental conditions and the fish community, with a focus on largemouth bass, in order to understand what changes are going to occur as coal power production is ramped down across Canada.

Towards designing a bioreactor for the BioLogix™ Product: Identification of microbial communities and their optimal growth conditions for in situ and ex situ hydrocarbon bioremediation

In this project, the intern will determine the identity of the bacterial species present in the BioLogix consortium, as well as determine how to best grow these bacteria in the lab and in the field. The intern will also use this information to aid in the design of technology and equipment to effectively grow BioLogix in the field. By the end of this research Delta Remediation can expect to have received information regarding the species present in their product, how to best grow those species in the lab and design help for technology to grow their product in the field.

Monitoring of Multiclass Organic Pollutants in Waters by Use of Thin-Film Microextraction (TFME) Coupled with Comprehensive Two-dimensional Gas Chromatography Time-of-flight Mass spectrometry (GCxGC-TOFMS)

Organic compounds in water can be potentially hazardous. We will develop a green and solvent-free method for screening the organic pollutants in different water samples. Also, we will study the changes in water during the different treatment process. This research will benefit the community and provide a protection protocol.

L’impact de la pandémie de COVID-19 sur le développement de carrière : de nouvelles compétences à acquérir pour les professionnelles et professionnels en counseling et développement de carrière

Ce projet consiste à mener une recherche visant à éclairer le phénomène inédit qu’est la pandémie de la COVID-19 comme choc de carrière et dont les résultats probants seront valorisés par une action de formation auprès des professionnelles et professionnels en counseling et développement de carrière. Une approche quantitative par questionnaire adressé aux adultes anglophones et francophones entrés sur le marché de l’emploi depuis au moins 5 ans et ayant consulté une professionnelle ou un professionnel en counseling et développement de carrière durant la pandémie (objectif de 100 personnes répondantes) permettra de comparer les caractéristiques des chocs de carrière déjà documentés à celui lié à la pandémie de COVID-19. Les résultats permettront d’identifier des éléments concrets liés au choc de carrière qui ont la capacité de remettre en cause le sens au travail ainsi qu’un processus de changement allant du déclencheur du choc de carrière au changement de carrière.

Percer la chambre d’écho de la recommandation pour stimuler la découvrabilité et l’exportation des enregistrements sonores : analyse de la relation entre les métadonnées d’enrichissement et l’écoute globalisée en streaming.

La survie de l’industrie de la musique du Québec est menacée par la perte possible des revenus provenant de la radio satellite. Elle doit réagir. Nous verrons si la promesse du numérique de pouvoir transcender les barrières géographiques physiques afin de développer de nouveaux marchés se confirme ou non. Le projet consiste à travailler avec le partenaire lnTempo et une importante cohorte artistique afin d’étudier le phénomène algorithmique de la chambre d’écho que nous estimons être une barrière à l’exportation. La méthodologie consiste à faire un suivi analytique et stratégique des pistes en matière d’adoption de nouvelles pratiques d’affaires qui permettront aux acteurs du secteur de s’y soustraire. Ce projet est d’intérêt public tant pour le Québec que le Canada, puisqu’il pourra renforcer la production et le rayonnement de produits culturels identitaires dans un contexte de globalisation des marchés et de réduction de la concurrence.

Woolwerx Wool Pellet Project: A collaborative Elizabeth Fry Society – UBC exploration of the potential of waste wool as a soil additive to enhance plant growth and retain water for slow release

The Woolwerx Wool Pellet Project is a collaborative project between the Elizabeth Fry Society (EFry) of Greater Vancouver and Prof. Sue Grayston, a soil scientist in the Faculties of Land & Food Systems and Forestry at UBC, to evaluate the potential of using waste wool as a method to enhance soil structure, retain moisture and increase nutrient availability in soil, stimulating plant growth. BC farmers donate waste fleece that is otherwise landfilled. Fleece is pelletized at Woolwerx’s New Westminster, BC facility. Woolwerx is EFry’s social enterprise that trains and employs criminalized women in the Lower Mainland. As such, workers are predominantly Indigenous and racialized, over half are sole-caregiving mothers. Women process fleece into wool products, master new skills and increase their standard of living. UBC has expertize in soil analytical techniques and plant growth skills that can help EFry potentially create a new product. Under the supervision of Sue Grayston, the UBC intern will undertake the project through a collaborative design to engage and understand the needs of criminalized women EFry supports.

Trajectoires d’utilisation des services chiropratiques parmi une cohorte rétrospective de 1300 patients chiropratiques

Ce projet de recherche sur les services de santé vise à améliorer la compréhension de l’utilisation des soins chiropratiques. Cette étude constituera une cohorte rétrospective de 1300 patients ayant consulté pour la première fois à la clinique universitaire de chiropratique en 2017. Une période de suivi de deux ans sera ainsi disponible pour l’ensemble des dossiers avant la pandémie de COVID-19. Une extraction de données massive sera effectuée à partir des formulaires standardisés (caractéristiques des patients, pronostic, contre-indications, correspondance interprofessionnelle, capacité fonctionnelle, évolution clinique, soins prodigués, évolution clinique, etc.) des dossiers patients en format papier de la clinique universitaire de chiropratique. En plus d’analyser la qualité des soins prodigués, les données de cette cohorte permettront de répondre à une multitude de questions de recherche visant à améliorer la prise en charge des patients souffrant de conditions musculosquelettiques.

Laneway Revitalization in Canada: Possibilities, Challenges & Solutions

This partnership between Simon Fraser’s Centre for Sustainable Community Development (represented by Mark Roseland and Larissa Ardis) and Vernacular Design is hoped to be the first of many between Vernacular and sustainability researchers in academia for the advancement of community development. It will produce a research report and related communications products that help the public, stakeholders and municipalities understand laneways in residential neighbourhoods as an important public asset with largely unrealized possibilities to achieve integrate communities’ social, economic, and environmental planning objectives. The work will show how communities are successfully preserving the traditionally utilitarian functions of laneways and reducing costs for municipalities while integrating additional uses, such as pedestrian and cyclist travel, play areas, neighbourhood gathering spaces, primary and secondary access to residences, and stormwater management. It will offer a collection of legislative and policy tools that municipalities can use to advance laneway redesign locally, and through related communications products, create interest in these possibilities among residents and other stakeholders. The research will further distinguish Vernacular Design, an award-winning residential and commercial design firm, as an innovator in sustainable design and thus help to extend Vernacular’s operations across Canada.

Development of Low-Cost Sensor and Flexible Electronics using a Versatile Roll-to-Roll Magnetron Sputtering System

The proposed project aims to construct a robust and versatile roll-to-roll (R2R) magnetron sputtering system for thin film deposition. That system will favor the production of thin films of different materials with tailored properties and functionality onto flexible substrates in a single step. This will be made through a system composed of different stations with different targets and masks inside the process chamber, without the need for any hand manipulation during the manufacturing or any post-processing deposition. The R2R unit is very versatile in design (not fabricated yet), which can be used for different objectives in the electronic and optoelectronic industries. It is expected that the proposed approach could benefit PLASMIONIC Inc. which has its activities focused on the sector of plasma processing systems manufacturing. The company can commercialize this versatile equipment and increase its competitiveness in that commercial sector.

Route choice, passage success, and migration survival of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) smolt through the White Rock Hydropower Generating Station and Gaspereau River, Nova Scotia.

In collaboration with Acadia University and Nova Scotia Power, Innovasea inc. proposes an intern to determine route choice, and measure survival of Atlantic salmon smolt as they descend the Gaspereau River past the White Rock Hydropower Generating Station. This project will be completed in full collaboration with Fisheries and Oceans Canada Scientists. The results will both test new V3 tagging technology and inform mitigation efforts that will reduce negative impacts of dam passage on inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon as they begin their migratory journey to the ocean.