Projets novateurs réalisés

A low-power remote IoT device to sense ultrasonic signals for multiple channel system

In the end of this project, the proposed design will be published in two peer-reviewed journals. Also, the measure the data will be saved and analyzed in the UW-STREAM lab. After the analysis, the data converter speed, the channel selection capability and also the power consumption will be summarized and reported. From those data, both the partner and we can make a commercialized strategy. The desired applications and also the way to integrate the proposed design with the current product can be decided. In conclusion, this design can be commercialized into a product which will help the ocean monitoring consumers build up a dynamic monitoring system.

Forecasting Single Detached Residential Heat Demand byMonitoring Central Thermostat Response to Weather Conditions

This research seeks to find a method of predicting how much heating is required to maintain comfort in homes. By collecting information such as outside weather conditions and inside temperatures along with thermostat ontime, a method of predicting the needed heat for the home will be determined. Research involves installing devices in homes that record this information which will then reported to the researcher to create a mathematical representation of how unique home heating systems respond to outside conditions. This research would lead to the development of control devices that will reduce heating costs for homeowners while maintaining comfort, especially in homes that use multiple heating devices or take advantage of time-of-day power rates.

Polynomial Process and Polynomial Regression Model with Interactions of Electricity Prices

Electricity is vital to our modern life. Different from other commodities, electricity prices show seasonal patterns with mean reversion and ‘short-lived’ spikes. It is significantly important for market participants to model power prices (both spot prices and forward prices) for risk management. Polynomial process is a class of time-homogenous Markov processes with the property that expectations of polynomial functions (of degree n, say) of the future state of the process, conditional on the current are given by another polynomials (of degree <=n) of the current state. Once we could model the observed factors such as market demand and unit costs of generating power by different energy commodities with polynomial processes, then we could apply polynomial regression to model the spot prices of electricity and this great property enables us to find the explicit formula for forward prices. Finally we expect to conveniently capture the dynamics of electricity market and price the related derivatives.

Harnessing the potential of land-based Aquaculture by-productsthrough the use of aerobic bioreactor technology

The overall project goal is the adoption of ensiling and aerobic bioreactor system used within recirculating aquaculture systems, a developing industry within aquaculture. RAS, produce waste streams incorporating various fish wastes. Some RAS operations integrate fish processing facilities onsite, further increasing waste products. Currently waste products form these systems are disposed of through outside contractors at cost. Through ensiling and aerobic processing, the overall aim is to bring control of waste processing in-house and create additional revenue stream from the waste. While the technology is proven, the adoption of the technology from a financial, operational and technical acceptance perspective is yet to be explored, this project aims to answer the question of whether such technology would be accepted by RES operators. This project aims to achieve this through conducting market research with the RES industry and other stakeholders as well as conducting a waste analysis to understand waste flow throughs from individual operations, through generalized data obtained through interviews and through an aon-site evaluation of a Nova Scotia RES operator.

Statistical perspectives on the use of pharmacovigilance data and electronic health records to verify predicted chemical hazards of drugs from in-vitro toxicological data

The liver is considered as one of the organs that are highly susceptible to drug-induced toxicity, leading to a diverse set of responses such as acute liver injuries, black-box warnings, and possible market withdrawal of medications in spite of having first appeared non-toxic and effective in animal and clinical studies. Over the last few decades, drug safety assessment have been limited to animal studies and human clinical trials. These types of drug safety studies have suffered from low rates of predicting drug-induced toxicities with animal/human concordance less than 60% in major human organs. Screening electronic health records (EHR) and spontaneous reporting systems (SRS) for adverse drug reactions has gained a lot of attention recently. This project will explore a novel approach to use EHR from large population hospital data and SRS as principal human data to verify drug safety data from in-vitro toxicology studies. The main focus will be on assessing how much these laboratory data can truly predict drug induced hepatic toxicity in humans, while examining two case study drugs: Rosiglitazone and Troglitazone.

Modular Energy Storage and Control Systems

The excessive burning of fossil fuels into our atmosphere is causing our climate to change rapidly. This change in climate will have detrimental effects on home security, crop yield, energy security, and water scarcity. Many geopolitical and social pressures are present to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As of now over 70% of electricity in Nova Scotia is being generated by fossil fuels, more specifically over 50% of all electricity in Nova Scotia is coming from coal fire power-plants, one of the heaviest GHG emitting sources of energy. Renewable energy is emerging as the best solution to mitigate the amount of fossil fuels burned for production of electricity. Throughout the last few decades Nova Scotia has implemented a variety of renewable, most abundantly wind from wind turbines. Nova Scotia has ideal conditions for wind generation; however, the weather and environmental patterns are very difficult to predict which lead to high intermittency in generation of wind.

Due to the intermittency or renewables, energy generation does not always coincide with energy consumption. Thus, with an energy mix heavily favoring renewables it is necessary to use energy storage.

Managing Shared State for Video Games in a Networked Multi-coreEnvironment

Video Games require a vast array of different computations to present the desired experience. These
computations must be completed consistently to make the software responsive to the user. The
industry trend towards many separate processors (multi-core) in the same physical device and the
emergence of network based ‘cloud’ computing have created many opportunities, but also many
challenges for the game industry.
The goal of this project is to create efficient techniques to organize and schedule the com putations to
take advantage of all the processors available. These techniques must ensure that the results
produced correctly and are obtained quickly enough to satisfy responsiveness. Each of these
techniques will have a corresponding aspect that allows them to be used by programmers who are not
experts in util izing multiple processors.
While this project focuses on games, the benefits will be applicable to many domains, especially in the
emerging field of mobile consumer-oriented applications

Modélisation de la coulée de l’érable à sucre à l’échelle de l’arbre

L’érable à sucre est exploité depuis plusieurs siècles en raison de la concentration particulièrement élevée en sucre de sa sève. Malgré son importance économique, notamment au Canada, les paramètres qui régulent le mécanisme de la coulée à l’échelle de l’arbre sont encore mal connus. Des études précédentes ont mise en évidence l’influence des nombreux paramètres climatiques, édaphiques et intrinsèques à l’arbre influence le volume et la teneur en sucre de la coulée. Cependant, de nombreuses lacunes persistent, ce qui ne permet pas de comprendre les interactions entre les différents facteurs.
L’objectif de ce projet est de prendre en compte différents facteurs susceptibles d’influencer la coulée à l’échelle de l’individu. Il se focalisera à la fois sur des paramètres intrinsèques et extrinsèques. Ces résultats aideront les acériculteurs à mieux aménager leurs érablières afin d’optimiser la production d’eau d’érable.

Repurposing poultry industry wastes to generate high value microbial metabolites for plant growth promotion

The global population is projected to rise from about 7.2 billion in 2014 to 9.6 billion people in 2050 as predicted by the World Resources Institute. With a rapid growth of world’s population, there is a dire need for food. To cope with this ever-increasing demand for food, the use of large amounts of fertilizers, chemical pesticides and antimicrobial agents are being adopted. Although the use of agrochemicals increased plant productivity, they come at the cost of damage to the environment, agro-ecosystems and living organisms facing harmful residual effects. A more sustainable, environmentally conscious soil amendment to use as a replacement to synthetic chemicals is a bio-stimulant. Poultry industry waste consists of, blood, feathers and other body parts which cannot be sold. Poultry waste can be converted to protein hydrolysate, which will be used as a medium to grow bacteria which synthesize metabolite biostimulants. These biostimulants enhance seed germination, plant growth, nutrition uptake, and tolerance to stress conditions. The partner organization will train the graduate and post-graduate researchers to be entrepreneurs, thus encouraging new companies to be established in the region.

Polarity Reversal Electro-Oxidation for Water Treatment

Treating contaminated water is an energy intensive and costly process. Traditional methods such as biological reactors that require continuous aeration and temperature control, or chemically intensive disinfection processes are widely employed. These methods require addition of reagents and produce large amounts of sludge and hazardous byproducts. The development of more environmentally and economically sustainable treatment technologies is desirable. Electrochemical advanced oxidation processes have emerged as promising alternatives. In these systems, a current is applied to electrodes submerged in contaminated water. In electro-oxidation, electrochemical reactions produce strong oxidants that mineralize organics and inactivate pathogens. However, material precipitation on the electrodes in polluted waters reduces the contaminant removal efficiency and increases cell resistivity. It is suggested that intermittently reversing electrode polarity may remove the passivating electrode surface layer, while enhancing treatment performance. This study is designed to explore this idea, which ultimately could aid the transition to more sustainable water treatment practices.

Project Rescuers

This project will help small- to medium-size businesses move to online, allowing them to remain in business during the pandemic, as well as providing them with the opportunity to create a competitive advantage by leveraging local supply networks and the current sentiment to ‘buy local ‘during the pandemic. Creating strong local businesses also contributes to the development of a strong local economy making the Island less vulnerable to supply chain disruptions during an economic shock such as the second wave of COVID-19. In terms of contribution to the organization, I will be developing the client personas and initiate sales funnel activities, developing marketing plans, increasing brand awareness through implementing marketing plans, and participating in online networking events to build relationships with potential clients.

4-H Saskatchewan Internship

4-H Saskatchewan Council Inc. is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to provides learning, growing, and developing experiences to youth across the country. The organization is currently looking to modernize its registration process for the club’s next year (2021). Around seven years ago, 4-H Saskatchewan worked alongside a local Saskatoon firm to create a a revised registration software. However, despite these progressive changes, the organization is currently seeking a new registration software. Implementing a revised registration system will ultimately benefit the organization by being more efficient and fitting 4-H Saskatchewan’s unique needs. 4-H Saskatchewan club leaders presently use manual data entry modes and the organization as a whole largely relies on paper for managing data. This Mitacs business strategy internship will provide the partner organization with a student seeking alternative software programs to revamp its registration process. The student intern will be responsible for researching varying softwares that may be beneficial to 4-H Saskatchewan’s current strategic plan. Another responsibility of the student intern will include comparing each of the softwares to surface the pros and cons of each, as well as determine the functioning and cost.