Projets novateurs réalisés

Use of Jetti Catalysts in Waste Rock/Tailings Treatment

Bio-heap-leaching is a hydrometallurgical process used to process low grade chalcopyrite ore as the cost of alternative routes of processing and refining are not economically viable. However, a viable solution has been found: to add a catalyst that dramatically enhances the kinetics of leaching while not being too expensive, environmentally detrimental or affecting downstream processes. Jetti resources is using this technology to enhance the heap-leaching rate of chalcopyrite.
This new catalyzed leaching technology can also be applied in tanks and other reactor configurations. The current project aims at applying the Jetti technology to the re-processing of waste rock and tailings. The goal is to incentivize the cleanup of legacy tailings and waste rock dumps, thus reducing the potential for acid mine drainage and required site maintenance, by providing a revenue stream of saleable metal from the re-processing.

An Investigation into the viability of Porcupine Crab-based Food Products

Porcupine Crab (Neolithodes grimaldii) is harvested off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador and in the eastern Arctic as a by-catch in deep water during the turbot fishery. Its dark red color and long sharp spines make handling and processing very difficult. Preliminary experiments have shown that quality crab meat products can be produced from porcupine crab however no commercial fishery, processing procedures or markets, have been established. This research project focuses on processing methods/procedures of the porcupine crab and an investigation into the development of new porcupine crab food products.

Oxygen tolerant SIP for OLED device preparation

The proposed project will involve the development of a method to grow polymer brushes from a surface using oxygen tolerant controlled radical polymerization approaches. This method will allow for the growth of block copolymer brushes that can be used for the grafting of specialized monomer species capable of forming an efficient organic light emitting diode (OLED) device. The high grafting densities achieved by surface initiated polymerization methods will allow for this block copolymer brushes to possess high charge transfer efficiencies. The oxygen tolerance of this proposed method will allow for the techniques to be readily applied industrially. The success of this project would mean that OLED devices could be prepared without the use of expensive equipment and thus could be become more widely available.

Development of high precision microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based vacuum encapsulated resonators

Rapid development of micro-fabrication technology, once considered exclusively for aerospace navigation, is now regarded for a wide range of applications, including autonomous vehicle navigation, underwater and industrial applications. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based gyroscope employs a resonating mass (resonator) to detect changes in motion, which is the central element of the gyroscope. MEMS resonator energy loss is the primary barrier towards achieving navigation-grade precision, so predicting resonators’ vibration characteristics is critical for minimizing energy loss. MEMS high-precision resonators also need to keep operating in high vacuum to ensure no energy loss due to air damping. This project will seek a MEMS high-precision and ultra-low damping resonator design that can operate in wafer-scale vacuum-sealed environment and packaging. This design is expected to create a major technological shift in motion sensing; at an attractive unit cost, it is expected to create a ripple effect in other MEMS inertial sensing applications.

The Physical Conditions of Gas In Ultra-Luminous Infrared Galaxies

The single most important factor in determining a star’s brightness, evolution and ultimate fate is its mass. For this reason, the determination of many intrinsic galaxy properties – including star formation rate – must assume an initial distribution of birth masses for stars.

If we are to develop a general theory for star formation in galaxies, we must determine whether the star formation process (and the initial distribution of stellar masses) is fundamentally different between galaxies and, if so, pinpoint the physics driving this variation. This is the underlying motivation for my research.

My program uses highly detailed observations of molecular gas in 40 nearby merging and post-merger galaxies to obtain new insights into the physics of star formation. By measuring chemical abundances in the star-forming gas, I will probe the fossil record of galaxy formation that is imprinted by galaxy evolutionary history and the distribution of the star masses at birth. These observations will be compared with advanced theoretical modeling to yield the best ever constraints on this fundamental star mass distribution, allowing for the most definitive tests yet of star formation and star populations in galaxy mergers.

Shipping Noise Characterization in Shallow Water Environment

Underwater acoustic propagation modeling was largely advanced by the world’s Navies from WWII until the early 2000’s. Growing evidence of the effects of sounds from human activities on marine life has made propagation modeling relevant to a much broader community including marine biologists, ecologists, regulators and environmental non-governmental organizations. In this project we aim to advance the state-of-the-art in application of underwater acoustic propagation modeling by integrating it to three problems: understanding changes to the arctic soundscape from climate change and increased vessel traffic, detection and localization of vessels, and understanding how sound propagates in turbulent environments around tidal turbines and how that affects turbine-animal interactions.

Assessment of impacts of upstream developments and climate change on Carp River Watershed

There are plans for residential/commercial/industrial developments in upstream sections of Carp River Watershed (CRW). This will have impacts on the quantity and quality of the river water downstream as well as the sediment loads. In addition, due to climate change it is expected that both quantity and quality of the Carp River will deviate from the norms. Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority (MVCA) is in charge of managing and protecting Carp River Watershed. Due to expected future impacts, MVCA is interested to conduct a research study on this watershed, which involves collecting field data through sampling and developing water quality/hydraulic models using numerical models (e.g., CE-QUAL-W2/QUAL2K, SWAT) in GIS environment. After calibrating the models with field data, different scenarios, for example with and without low impact development components and/or restoration plan details, can be assessed. In addition, different climate change scenarios and sensitivity and uncertainty analysis will be another spinoff from this project. Outcomes of this research project will help MVCA with planning and decision-making in management of the CRW.

L’optimisation de la culture du cannabis par le contrôle de l’environnement intérieur

Les Canadiens et Québécois peuvent maintenant se procurer des produits du cannabis en plusieurs variétés. Le pourcentage du taux de THC et CBD qui se retrouve dans les divers produits proposés procurent aux consommateurs des effets reliés à la variété. Par exemple, certains produits offrent une expérience plus énergisante et d’autres un effet plus relaxant. L’augmentation et la diminution du pourcentage en THC et CBD offriront donc une sensation plus ou moins intense pour le consommateur.
Il est donc impératif de mieux connaitre le développement des plants et leurs évolutions afin de mieux standardiser et gérer adéquatement les taux de THC et de CBD.
Une collaboration avec la compagnie Verdélite bénéficiera à toute l’industrie québécoise. L’objectif est d’optimiser et de standardiser les paramétrages de croissance du cannabis à l’aide de technologie innovante et de domotique programme. Le tout, afin que le Québec puisse bénéficier des nouvelles recherches pour les installations futures.

The cultural identity in the Buddhist thought of modern China and Japan — taking the Buddhist reform movement of Taixu rabbi as the research object

The outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War undoubtedly made Master Taixu’s Buddhist Movement Renovation a mirage. The Japanese Buddhists have turned to believe that the cruelty of the war lies in China’s tenacious resistance. The staged achievements of the “East Asian Buddhist Conference” have also been declared bankrupt.
The purpose of this lesson is to use horizontal comparison method to select a representative and typical modern Buddhist master, Master Taixu. Through sorting out his memoirs, diaries, autobiographies, works and other documents, this lesson focuses on the modern Sino-Japanese relations and analyzes whether East Asian Buddhism in the same civilization circle has the internal unity beyond the nation, the relationship between religion and politics and the causes behind it.

Affect Recognition of Human Players in VR Games

Recent research has shown that people can perceive which affective state one is in simply by looking at body movements (without facial expression). Because of this, it has been possible to train machine learning algorithms to automatically recognize the affect of users from their body movements, to be used in human-computer interaction. This project consists in trying to adapt and deploy the same type of algorithms in a VR environment, where only partial movement information is available (hands and head positions of the user). A collaboration between the Metacreation Lab for Creative AI and Vancouver-based VR studio Inscape, this project deliverable is an AI that can predict the affective state of the VR user in realtime.

Impact du patron d’oscillation du faisceau laser dans le procédé de soudage hybride laser-arc sur la qualité, la robustesse et la métallurgie du joint de soudé.

Le projet de recherche se concentre sur l’étude de l’impact de l’oscillation du laser dans le procédé de soudage HLAW. En effet, l’utilisation de l’oscillation du faisceau laser dans les procédés de soudage laser ont montré des avantages en termes de qualité et de résistances mécaniques des soudures tout en maximisant l’écartement entre deux pièces en soudage laser.[9] Il est donc légitime de penser qu’un impact similaire sera observé dans le cadre du soudage hybride laser-arc. Si c’est le cas, l’entreprise partenaire gagnera en compétitivité (réduction des coûts de positionnement, de taux de rebus, d’utilisation machine) et en productivité (diminution du temps de production tout en augmentant la qualité) ce qui constitue un atout important.

Novel and efficient approaches of converting volatile fatty acids (VFAs) topolyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs)

Genecis Bioindustries makes bacteria that enables production of premium materials cost-competitively. Their first product line is a biodegradable plastic resin (PHAs) used for high-end applications, like 3D printing filaments and personal care products. Genecis can reduce production costs by 40% by using organic waste as the feedstock, lowering the barrier for plastic manufacturers to create healthy and affordable products. This project will be able to provide Genecis with the foundation of their 2nd generation synthetic bacteria – one that offers a higher conversion efficiency with guaranteed PHA production consistency. The consistency especially, is a huge step forward to ensure Genecis’ customers are able to receive high quality bioplastic to produce their end products in a consistent manner. This project would also ensure that Genecis is able to make a wide variety of PHAs that find application in various domains.