Projets novateurs réalisés

Novel applications of technology to Arctic wildlife research and management

The Arctic can be a challenging place to conduct wildlife research and thus a difficult place for scientists and wildlife managers operate. However, technological advances are constantly being made that could have applications in the north. These new technologies, improvements in existing technology, or novel applications have the potential to make Arctic research less expensive, safer for researchers, animals and the environment, and improve data quality or coverage. With any new process that involves wildlife there is a need for extensive validation. Our research will explore these novel applications to study Arctic species and provide managers of these resources valuable practical tools.

Stability of a commercially available phytase enzyme product during pelleting

Enzymes play an essential role in the animal nutrition industry and are used to increase the nutritional value of feedstuff, resulting in improved production cost, feed efficiency, and animal performance. Many manufacturers choose to pelleting feed, for reasons such as increased feed intake and feed efficiency. However, many enzymes become deactivated when exposed to the high temperatures used during the pelleting process, and the feed will no longer provide benefits to the animal. There is a need to identify enzyme products that can withstand temperatures used during the pelleting process. This project will investigate the ability of a commercially available enzyme product to withstand temperatures used during pelleting by determining if enzyme activity is similar between mash and pelleted forms of food. TO BE CONT’D

Evaluating Low Carbon Technologies and Best Practices

The intent of this project is to demonstrate the GHG and electricity use savings of a range of low carbon heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) technologies in the multi-unit residential building (MURB) sector.
Technologies to be studied include:
• ductless mini-split air source heat pumps (ASHP)
• gas absorption heat pumps
• smart thermostats
As part of a broader program of work that will include long-term performance monitoring studies of these technologies, this MITACS project will involve a qualitative study identifying other barriers presented to the technologies and strategies for mitigating them. Project outputs will include the development of materials, incorporating case study results and other important guidance, specifically designed for MURB building owners to facilitate their decision to perform retrofits to install low carbon HVAC technologies.

Energy and Seismic Retrofit of Buildings

In Canada, being one of the coldest countries in the world, buildings consume about 40% of national energy demand and in the western part of the country, particularly on Vancouver Island, many buildings do not meet current seismic code requirements. Hence, simultaneous building energy and seismic retrofit options can produce significant savings for building occupants and also help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, earthquake damage potential and associated environmental impacts. Retrofitting existing buildings for enhanced energy efficiency and seismic resistance has many unique engineering, economic, as well as environmental challenges which can be addressed only through adequate strategic research and planning. The proposed research project will work on the engineering, economic and environmental challenges, and benefits of simultaneous energy and seismic retrofit of existing buildings.

Advanced Analysis Setup of Next Generation XRT Algorithms

The research project will include a study using dual energy X-ray transmission (DE-XRT) technology to investigate how to improve the current DE-XRT analysis. To conduct the research, large amounts of samples will be taken from different types of deposits and operations. The research will evaluate various data mining methods to generate algorithms using the data from DE-XRT technology and hence improving the sorter efficiency. The findings from research can help benefit SDE by providing solutions to improve algorithm generation using DE-XRT technology and benefit the mining industry. A few direct benefits include removing sulphide material from acid generating stock piles and finding a solution to uneconomic/unprofitable operations by improving their profitability using DE-XRT technology.

Large-scale production and photostabilization of microparticle and nanoparticle-based delivery vehicles for plant immune aids

New approaches are required to secure our food supply in response to the growing world population, rapid diversification of pests, and accelerating weather-related impacts of climate change. Suncor has recently developed a new category of plant immune aids that activate a plant’s native immune system to induce a range of beneficial responses, including greater resistance to both pest-based and weather-based environmental stresses, while avoiding some of the downstream challenges associated with existing pesticide and fertilizer use. Through this collaboration with Dr. Todd Hoare’s lab at McMaster, these immune response triggering chemicals will be formulated into nano/microparticle-based controlled release vehicles that can provide longer-term protection for the plant (minimizing the dose required and the frequency of required re-application for the farmer) while overcoming some of the current challenges with promoting immune aid transport into plants and stabilizing the immune triggering chemicals in sunlight. TO BE CONT’D

Cultural Food Security: Building connections and capacities for new immigrants in Nova Scotia

Recent immigrants and refugees to Canada bring knowledge and skills that strengthen the economies, sociocultural aspects, and food systems of their new communities. However, challenges associated with being a newcomer, including access to culturally preferred foods compounds food insecurity – inadequate or insecure access to food due to financial constraints – experienced by new immigrants. Food insecurity data in Canada does not, however, capture cultural perspectives on food; newcomers’ access to food is not solely an issue of constrained financial access, but also an issue of the cultural appropriateness of available and accessible food. TO BE CONT’D

Defining the effects of pineal compounds in longevity and cystogenesis using a Drosophila melanogaster model

Promoting healthy ageing and prolonging life span has become a global priority to improve quality of life and reduce caring costs for age-related diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Pineal gland extract was shown to increase longevity in many organisms and protect against age-related degeneration. We will systematically analyze the life-extension properties of components of the pineal gland using the short-lived fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Despite their different appearance, humans and flies share deep similarities and, remarkably, similar molecular mechanisms of ageing, enabling efficient, rapid, whole animal experimentation which would be ethically and/or economically prohibitive in humans or vertebrate models. Using normal flies and our first-in-kind model of polycystic kidney disease characterized by decreased survival and hallmarks of ageing, we will probe for possible novel avenues for healthy life extension and PKD therapy, which will be further developed by the industrial partner.

Characterizing wetlands of different restoration ages in central Alberta using drone-based information (an extension to current Mitacs project: Advanced mapping techniques applied to wetland drone base information; IT08204)

Wetlands provide important ecosystem services to human communities, such as groundwater recharge, storing floodwater, and supplying fishery resources. In Alberta, wetlands cover ~21% of the province, forming one of the Canada’s largest wetlands reserves; however, many of these wetlands have been impacted or lost through human activities. Over the past 30 years, there have been efforts made by the government and partner agencies to restore wetlands, but little is known about the rate of recovery and the state of these restored wetlands, relative to a natural reference condition.. The aim of this research is thus to understand how well wetland ecosystem function recovers after restoration using new and emerging technologies, including Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). Results of this research will help the public and policy-makers better understand the effectiveness of wetland restoration methods in Alberta.TO BE CONT’D

Design Tool for the Thermal Performance of Stormwater Ponds

This project will develop a design tool that can be used by consultant engineers who design these ponds and by the regulatory agencies, including our partner organization (the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority) to assess if a stormwater management pond will meet the thermal objectives for the protection of sensitive aquatic life, including the permanent pool volume, drawdown time, length-to-width ratio, number of berms, optimal depth, and the bottom-draw outlet position for a given pond.

Embedding Project

The Embedding Project is a public-benefit research project that relies on strong social science research methods to bring together thoughtful sustainability intrapreneurs from across industries and around the world, and harnesses their collective knowledge to develop rigorous and practical guidance that benefits everyone. This internship will offer an MBA student the opportunity to gain experience in both practice and research, while learning from leaders in the field. The Intern will spend approximately 75% of their time implementing employment engagement initiatives at Quadreal, a global real estate management company, and 25% of their time documenting and translating their learned experiences in the form of a tool or resource that can then be made publically available to sustainability practitioners more generally.

A Novel 3D Sensor based Gesture Controlling System for Video Games

This project will develop a novel sensor based gesture controlling system aiming at significantly improving

game player’s satisfaction via realistic playing engagement/experience. With such interface technology, the

player can control the game directly via his/her natural gestures and body movements which are translated into

game interface parameters in real time. The objectives of this project include the followings. 1) Help the partner

convert an existing proof-of-concept sensor-based Dart game (developed in a previous MITACS project) into a

full featured prototype which includes enhancing the system’s performance, in particular with respect to

robustness and accuracy; and conducting a user validation. 2) Evaluate and compare various recently released

hardware sensor systems. 3) Develop advanced predication functions for full body gesture recognition and

tracking. 4) Adopt machine learning technology for model construction. 5) Apply the above results to build new

gesture controlling modules for other games. This MITACS project will bring substantial R&D results to the

partners, and as well…