Projets novateurs réalisés

A new tool for managing introduced Phragmites australis in Ontario: assessing invasion impacts and implementing biological control – Year two

Introduced Phragmites australis (common reed) is one of the most invasive plants in North America. Existing management is costly, can negatively affect other species, and is often only effective for small infestations. Classical biological control (i.e., introducing herbivores from the weed’s native range) is a promising tool for P. australis management that can contribute to a broader program of integrated pest management (IPM). Our goal is to partner with Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) to implement biological control of introduced P. australis in southern Ontario. Our first objective will be to document the impacts of introduced P. australis to inform effective management and monitoring, locating and describing the different lineages of the species found in southern Ontario (native, introduced, hybrid) and their ecological interactions. Our second objective will be to develop and experimentally test the protocols needed to implement biological control of introduced P. australis in southern Ontario at a pilot scale, including methods for rearing, storing, releasing, and monitoring biocontrol agents at experimental nurse sites. As leaders in wetland conservation, DUC will be able to participate in the first biological control program for introduced P. australis and gain a promising new tool for managing this challenging, widespread, and costly invader.

A new tool for managing introduced Phragmites australis in Ontario: assessing invasion impacts and implementing biological control

Introduced Phragmites australis (common reed) is one of the most invasive plants in North America. Existing management is costly, can negatively affect other species, and is often only effective for small infestations. Classical biological control (i.e., introducing herbivores from the weed’s native range) is a promising tool for P. australis management that can contribute to a broader program of integrated pest management (IPM). Our goal is to partner with Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) to implement biological control of introduced P. australis in southern Ontario. Our first objective will be to document the impacts of introduced P. australis to inform effective management and monitoring, locating and describing the different lineages of the species found in southern Ontario (native, introduced, hybrid) and their ecological interactions. Our second objective will be to develop and experimentally test the protocols needed to implement biological control of introduced P. australis in southern Ontario at a pilot scale, including methods for rearing, storing, releasing, and monitoring biocontrol agents at experimental nurse sites. As leaders in wetland conservation, DUC will be able to participate in the first biological control program for introduced P. australis and gain a promising new tool for managing this challenging, widespread, and costly invader.

Development of a novel cost-effective microfluidic platform for screening ophthalmic drugs and novel ophthalmic materials

The successful development of new drug formulations, delivery vehicles, and devices for the eye requires testing in physiologically relevant in vitro eye models. The use of cell tissue culture plates provides a good model for testing toxicity, but they lack some of the important factors present on the eye. There are microfluidic chips that have been developed for toxicity testing, but they are too expensive for use in early screening protocols.

This project aims to develop a cost-effective microfluidic chip for rapid assessment of cytotoxicity of ophthalmic formulations and devices. The design, fabrication, and sterilization of the chips will use scalable methods. The chips will be designed using CAD software, and the resulting designs will be laser cut on acrylic. The resulting pieces will be laminated using double-sided medical adhesive and sterilized using hydrogen peroxide plasma.

Conventional cell culturing methods will be employed to seed and grow human corneal epithelial cells on the chips. Validation studies will examine cell growth on the chips in comparison to an established control. Several toxicity studies will also be examined using the microfluidic chip, including the effects of flow, benzalkonium chloride at various concentrations, and contact lens materials exposed to preservatives.
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Advanced Video Broadcasting Applications for Mobile Devices

To broadcast a video across the internet, digital video is first encoded to remove the
spatial and temporal redundancy. The encoded video data is then transmitted at a lower
bit rate or stored in a smaller hard disk without sacrificing too much displaying quality.
Various video encoding standards have been developed in last decades. H.264/AVC is
the most updated one among them. In order to accelerate the encoding and decoding
process and reduce resource usages, graphical processing units (GPUs), which are
traditionally dedicated to 2D or 3D graphic acceleration, are considered in the encoding
and decoding processes. However, the optimization in terms of bit rate and computational
complexity for such a highly parallel processing structure is a difficult problem. One
objective of this project is to develop optimized coding algorithms to minimize the time and
resource usage while maintaining a reasonable display quality in a parallel processing

Assessment and Validation of a Controlled Indentation Probe for Intraoperative Measures of Bone Quality and Humeral Implant Stability

This research seeks to finalize the design of an indentation tool to help shoulder surgeons determine bone density more accurately during joint replacements. Bone density is an important characteristic used to select the type and size of implant needed; and is also related to how stable an implant remains after surgery. Unfortunately, there aren’t tools currently available to shoulder surgeons for determining bone density objectively during surgery. Through a collaboration between Exactech, a shoulder implant manufacturer, and researchers from Western University’s Biomedical Engineering department, an indentation tool design has undergone preliminary testing, and will now be further refined for human tissue by measuring how well the tool’s results relate to bone density and primary implant stability. This collaboration provides researchers with access to commercially available implants for testing and a faster path to market to ensure the proposed tool can eventually be used by surgeons across Canada and beyond.

Investigating the mechanistic links between cannabinoid and pain-related gene variants and functional measures of musculoskeletal pain – Year two

Pain is a combination of mental, physical and social factors. This makes it difficult to understand and even more difficult to treat. Chronic pain is unique to the individual, and to treat it effectively requires a better understanding of how pain is generated in each person. The goal of this study is to describe the relationships between inherited genes and the factors that affect pain, recovery, and people’s response to medication. The first phase of this study has 2 aims. The first aim is to describe the relationship between genes, pain, and recovery time. The second aim is to see if there are any differences between the drugs that people were prescribed and the ones that are recommended based on their genes. The second phase of this study is to look at the effects of cannabis medications on pain in the context of the underlying genes. This study will not only help to refine the use of gene-based strategies for drug prescription, but it will increase our understanding of how to prescribe cannabis medications.

Investigating the mechanistic links between cannabinoid and pain-related gene variants and functional measures of musculoskeletal pain

Pain is a combination of mental, physical and social factors. This makes it difficult to understand and even more difficult to treat. Chronic pain is unique to the individual, and to treat it effectively requires a better understanding of how pain is generated in each person. The goal of this study is to describe the relationships between inherited genes and the factors that affect pain, recovery, and people’s response to medication. The first phase of this study has 2 aims. The first aim is to describe the relationship between genes, pain, and recovery time. The second aim is to see if there are any differences between the drugs that people were prescribed and the ones that are recommended based on their genes. The second phase of this study is to look at the effects of cannabis medications on pain in the context of the underlying genes. This study will not only help to refine the use of gene-based strategies for drug prescription, but it will increase our understanding of how to prescribe cannabis medications.

Évaluation de la performance de librairies Python de prédiction permettant l’analyse de séries chronologiques de transactions et soldes bancaires afin d’alerter précocement les clients/membres Desjardins d’une possible insuffisance de fonds et éviter de charger des NSF fees

La prédiction est un domaine récent qui connaît de grandes avancées grâce à la démocratisation des connaissances via le web et l’augmentation de la puissance de calcul des ordinateurs modernes. Dans le cadre de ce projet effectué au Mouvement des Caisses Desjardins, ces techniques seront évaluées, documentées et testées vis-à-vis différents cas d’utilisation financiers (gestion de portefeuilles, de risques, etc.) Une implantation finale permettant d’alerter précocement les clients d’un possible manque de fonds sera effectuée au sein du Mouvement afin de tirer parti des plus récentes avancées du domaine.

Next Generation Canadian Satellite-based Positioning Technology – Year two

Present navigation applications rely mostly on the integration of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and Inertial Navigation Systems (INS). However, GNSS signals are prone to interruption due to various disturbances, including signal interference and jamming. On the other hand, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations from several providers are becoming rapidly accessible. LEO-based communication systems offer much stronger signals with higher satellite availability than GNSS. Thus, it could provide an opportunity for integration with INS for reliable positioning during GNSS signal outages. Telesat Canada, my prospective partner in this project, plans to have its LEO satellite constellation operational in 2022. This project explores integrating signals from the LEO satellite constellation with the on-board inertial sensors to provide a robust navigation system in denied GNSS environments. All facilities, equipment, and simulation tools required for this research are available at both Telesat and my university’s research lab. In addition to enriching my practical experience, this project work will help Telesat to investigate the feasibility of using their LEO satellite constellation for positioning services, which is a large market sector that Telesat could enter if LEO-based positioning can be demonstrated to offer superior performance.

Next Generation Canadian Satellite-based Positioning Technology

Present navigation applications rely mostly on the integration of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and Inertial Navigation Systems (INS). However, GNSS signals are prone to interruption due to various disturbances, including signal interference and jamming. On the other hand, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations from several providers are becoming rapidly accessible. LEO-based communication systems offer much stronger signals with higher satellite availability than GNSS. Thus, it could provide an opportunity for integration with INS for reliable positioning during GNSS signal outages. Telesat Canada, my prospective partner in this project, plans to have its LEO satellite constellation operational in 2022. This project explores integrating signals from the LEO satellite constellation with the on-board inertial sensors to provide a robust navigation system in denied GNSS environments. All facilities, equipment, and simulation tools required for this research are available at both Telesat and my university’s research lab. In addition to enriching my practical experience, this project work will help Telesat to investigate the feasibility of using their LEO satellite constellation for positioning services, which is a large market sector that Telesat could enter if LEO-based positioning can be demonstrated to offer superior performance.

State-of-the-art Battery Cycle Life Extension

The ever-growing demand for energy storage, especially with high density and low-cost, has both academia and industry research communities working hard to develop and optimize energy storage technologies. Among the top energy storage technologies are Lithium metal batteries (LMBs) which have an exceptionally high specific capacity (3860 mA h g?1) in comparison to that of the conventional graphite-based LiC6 batteries (372 mA h g?1). In spite of these advantages, uncontrollable dendritic Li growth and limited coulombic efficiency during the charging process hinders the practical applications of LMBs. In response to this challenge, a myriad of engineering strategies have been developed to ensure the largest usable capacity, longest cycle-life and dendrite-free systems. Pulse charging has a great potential for inhibiting dendrite growth, thereby increases the likelihood for the development of practical LMBs.
Gbatteries wishes to gain insight on state-of-the-art battery operational dynamics and degradation mechanisms. Therefore, during the proposed project, the Post-doc will research the optimum charging profiles that mitigate dendrite growth and extend the battery’s cycle life. Additionally, they will develop and customize an electrolytic cell that will allow operando dendrite growth observations during cycling to have real-time feedback without having to disassemble the cell.

Conception et optimisation du reseau logistique d’ELECTROBAC

Electrobac Inc. est nee afin d’apporter une solution innovante et durable aux consommateurs souhaitant se departir
ecologiquement de leurs objets electroniques desuets. L’entreprise a developpe des bacs de recyclage uniques en leur
genre afin que la collecte des dechets electroniques puisse se faire dans des etablissements frequentees par les
consommateurs, tel que les centres d’achat, les universites et plus encore.
L’entreprise genere ses revenus avec les frais de service charges aux etablissements hebergeant Ie bac et avec les
ristournes issues de la revente des dechets electroniques a des recycleurs specialises.
Electrobac doit se doter d’un reseau logistique permettant de supporter ses operations dans I’optique d’un marche en forte
croissance. La conception d’un tel reseau doit reposer sur des analyses quantitatives (prevision, modelisation et
optimisation) et des analyses qualitatives (analyse de scenarios et recommandations) dont sera charge Ie stagiaire durant ce
projet de recherche