Projets novateurs réalisés

Experimental and Numerical Investigation on Effect of Manufacturing Defects on Propeller Cavitation and Efficiency Performance

The objective of the proposed research is to carry out numerical and experimental studies on the performance degradation of propeller blades in three different scales with leading-edge (LE) manufacturing tolerances. In the experimental studies, three single propeller blades in three scales (1:1, 1:2 and 3:4) will be tested in a cavitation tunnel. Flow velocities and pressures in the upstream and downstream will be measured. The evolution of cavitation will be recorded using a high-speed camera. Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations will be performed for single propeller blades in three scales with base sections without defect (as designed) and sections with LE defects (as built). Focus will be on the effect of grid quality, resolution and turbulence modeling on numerical solutions. Validation studies will be carried out by comparing the CFD results with the experimental data. Scale effects will also be determined based on the experimental and numerical results.
After the validation studies, CFD simulations will be extended to KCS propellers with and without LE defects in three different scales. Conclusions will be drawn on the effect of LE defects on the performance of full-scale propellers.

Role of CD82 in the Pathophysiology of DMD

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a genetic disease that causes skeletal muscle degeneration. As the disease progresses, the affected individuals lose their ability to breathe and walk. Currently, there is no definitive cure for this disease. Previous research found CD82, a protein expressed on the surface of skeletal muscle cells, to be decreased by 2.5 times in muscle tissues from DMD patients. The purpose of this project is to test the hypothesis that a decrease in CD82 levels plays an aberrant role in DMD. CD82 will be delivered to the muscles of dystrophic mice and after 3 months, muscle biopsies will be taken from the treated mice to assess, through techniques such as immunostaining and Western blotting, how changes in CD82 levels alter muscle health. It is expected that the CD82-positive mice will have more intact muscle fibers with fewer tears and scarring compared to CD82-negative mice.

Defining the Transmission Season and Determining the Gastropod Intermediate Hosts of Crenosoma vulpis, the Fox Lungworm

Crenosoma vulpis (Fox Lungworm) is a metastrongyloid nematode parasite infecting the lungs of wild and domestic canids. It is a frequent cause of chronic respiratory disease in dogs in Atlantic Canada. Dogs and foxes acquire the infection from ingesting terrestrial gastropods which contain the infective third larval stage (L3) of the parasite. Nothing is known on which gastropod species serve as a source for natural infections. Determining the gastropod species involved in natural infections and defining the transmission season will further our understanding of the parasite epidemiology which is important in devising preventive control strategies.

Risk Attribution for Large Portfolios with Illiquid Assets

The key question addressed by this research project is: what sources of risk drive the volatility of the portfolio

held by the business partner? To answer this question, this project employs a set of recently proposed risk

management techniques. The business partner is a large institutional investment fund management company

with an investment portfOlio that includes assets from several countries and is composed by an array of diverse

investment vehicles (e.g., stocks and bonds, but also real estate, and private equity). Large and diversified

portfolios are vulnerable to several sources of risk, including (but not limited to) unexpected shocks to the

exchange rate, unexpected changes in monetary policy, or commodity price volatility. The aim of this project is

to attribute the overall portfolio riskiness to the different sources of risk. This means providing an answer to the

following, and similar, questions: “How much of the overall portfolio volatility is due to the shocks of monetary

TOBECONTINUED

Selenium remediation in contaminated soils using biochar amended phytoextraction

Selenium-contaminated Soil remediation could be achieved using a cost-effective technology using a combination of biochar and phytoextraction. Selenium will be uptaken from soil and accumulated in different plant species with the support of biochar amendments. The potential of phytoextraction of Salix sp. and Phleum sp. plant species in a selenium contaminated soil amended with biochar will be tested. Selenium levels and speciation in soil and plants will be assessed in order to identify the plant specie having the best selenium phytoextraction potential. The influence of Selenium chemical speciation on soil-plant transfer and phytoextraction will be assessed. Then, the efficiency of biochar in enhancing the Selenium phytoextraction from soil will be determined in order to identify the most efficient combination of plant phytoextraction amended with biochar which will later be considered for phytoremediation of Se-contaminated soils.

Her Own Boss! Entrepreneurial Opportunities for Newcomer Visible Minority Women

This community-based action research project seeks to support visible minority newcomer women in establishing and succeeding in entrepreneurship activities, while identifying the challenges and opportunities they face while trying to start their own businesses. The benefits that this research is expected to bring to the Women’s Economic Council are to better understand visible minority newcomer women wishing to be self-employed; the local self-employment services, including any gaps and barriers for visible minority newcomer women in accessing these services as well as the challenges faced by service providers in reaching out to these women; and the impact of the training sessions on all participants in achieving their economic goals.

In vivo and ex vivo-in situ study of the human brain using MRI and histology: comparison with standard ex vivo-ex situ brain banks’ methods

The study the nervous system using brains that people donate to science after they die is called ex-vivo study. The microscopic study of ex-vivo brains allows to understand the structure of a given region. However, we cannot study the brain of healthy living people (in-vivo) using microscopy. One method to study the brain in-vivo is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using powerful machines that provide very high image resolution. The downside of using MRI alone is the lack of certainty of which cells are responsible for a given contrast (color) on the MRI. To solve this, we study first the brain ex-vivo using MRI, and then microscopy. Our study will assess four different ways to conserve the brain, to avoid the inevitable decay over time, so we can best study the brain using MRI and microscopy.

Gestion optimisée des ventes et des stocks chez Groupe JSV Inc

Le Groupe JSV Inc. est un distributeur d’outillage, de boulonnerie, de quincaillerie et de produits de sécurité. L’objectif de ce projet est de supporter les managers du Groupe JSV Inc. et de développer des outils d’aide à la décision qui permettraient de valoriser les données disponibles afin d’identifier des opportunités intelligentes de ventes croisées. Le projet est composé de quatre sous-projets interreliés visant à i) développer et tester des modèles de prévisions des ventes, ainsi qu’un système prototype de recommandation de produits complémentaires; et ii) développer des processus et des outils prototypes permettant au Groupe JSV Inc. d’optimiser les processus de gestion et de satisfaction de la demande.

Re-design of a Greenhouse System

The project to be undertaken is to establish a flexible tool to help Paul Boers Ltd. remain

competitive in the market, especially with the introduction of greenhouses that are made in

China. The tool will help Paul Boers Ltd. reduce the cost of their greenhouse stru ctures

based on engineering principles. This will help the company remain competitive in the

market, mainly the larger than one acre greenhouse market, through providing competitive

prices and innovative designs. The project will also support the current community by

securing manufacturing jobs in Canada rather than being outsourced for cheaper labour cost

Building ecologically robust lakes for offsetting fisheries productivity – part 2

Canada is among the world’s largest producers of energy derived from resource extraction. Canada’s Oil Sands Region produces 70% of Canada’s crude oil, and ranks third, after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, in terms of proven global crude oil reserves. In order for Canadian industry to continue to meet this high demand for energy they must adhere to the social and environmental pressures to reclaim and restore the extraction sites to their original condition, and to offset potential environmental destruction. Offsetting is a key component of Canada’s Fisheries Protection Policy under the Fisheries Act. When habitat that is deemed is destroyed, and mitigation is not possible; offsetting measures are required to ensure No Net Loss in fisheries productivity. The Fisheries Act (s 6.1) enshrined offsetting measures into law, with the goal of “sustained yield of one or all … fish species that comprise a fishery in a specified fishing area (Randall et al. 2013)”; including “sustained productivity, as experienced by participants in the fishery at and just before the time of interest (Randall et al. 2013)”.

“Gowganda-hosted deformation veins as source of indicator minerals for underlying mineralization at the Young-Davidson Mine”.

The goal of this project is to develop a new technique to identify zones of potential gold mineralization hosted in Archean syenites that lie beneath overburden rocks of the Gowganda formation at the Young Davidson Mine, Matachewan, Ontario. Extensive field mapping of veins, fractures and deformation structures will be conducted to better understand the deformation and fluid interaction history of these rocks and how this may have redistributed gold from the underlying Archean basement. This will be accomplished by geochemical analysis of veins and their minerals including rutile, which where associated with gold mineralization, has specific chemical components.

Etude et réalisation d’un système photonique pour la détection de polluants de l’eau

Ce travail de thèse, mené en cotutelle entre le laboratoire IMS (Univ. Bordeaux) et l’UMI CNRS LN2-3IT (Univ. Sherbrooke), concerne le développement d’un capteur optique de polluants afin de détecter des traces de métaux lourds ou pesticides dans l’eau. Le capteur photonique intégrée réalisé en oxynitrure de silicium (SiON) sur substrat de Silicium, se base sur une transduction par résonateur optique en anneau (OMR) et présente une sensibilité optimisée dans le domaine du visible où les signatures spectrales des polluants sont répertoriées. L’utilisation du SiON constitue une alternative aux travaux sur polymères, qui sont actuellement conduits à l’IMS dans l’infrarouge mais qui impose de travailler avec des guides de taille submicronique dont la fabrication ne peut se faire qu’avec des équipements de salle blanche. L’IMS entretient une collaboration active avec le LN2-3IT de Sherbrooke depuis 2013 ; ce dernier détient une expertise reconnue notamment dans la fabrication de guides optiques SiO2 sur Silicium en s’appuyant sur 1600m2 de laboratoire en nanofabrication. La thèse de Théo Rouanet (démarrage nov 2019) se consacre à la simulation et la caractérisation du capteur à l’IMS Bordeaux et envisage la phase de fabrication au LN2-3IT à Sherbrooke.