Innovative Projects Realized

Development of Zn, Co, Ni, As, Sb and Free Cyanide Speciation Protocol Using Capillary Electrophoresis For Cyanidation Processes

The recovery of gold from its ores normally involves a leaching process with cyanide, resulting in the formation of gold cyanide along with a range of other metallocyanides from the crude ore. Therefore, monitoring of the different cyanide species at various stages of the process and in waste solutions is crucial for providing the optimal conditions for the leaching procedure and for environmental protection. AEM wishes to extend the recently developed protocol (or develop new one(s)) in order to analyze the speciation of Zn, Ni, Co, As and Sb complexes in the cyanidation process water. In addition, the identification and quantification of free cyanide ion (CN) in complex cyanidation process water solutions will be the goal of this project. For this reason, Capillary Zone Electrophoresis (CZE) is used as an analytical method for the separation of metallo-cyanides specious.

Comparing Native Mobile Applications To Embedded Browser Applications On Next Generation Smartphone Technology

Textile Traditions on the Great Northern Peninsula: Craft, Creativity, and Life Stages

Textile traditions have for generations been a vibrant part of Newfoundland culture, with a wide range of objects being made to meet the needs of everyday life. This project documents a number of these traditions on the Great Northern Peninsula, looking at how textiles are designed, who makes these objects, and what role they play in the community. Through a series of audio and video interviews,textiles such as rug-hooking, knitting, embroidery, sealskin boot making will be studied. Research on these textiles will provide a basic inventory for the French Shore Historical Society (located in Conche), a resource that will be utilized by the proposed Textile Arts Learning Centre for the region.

Numerical Implementation of a Nonlinearly Viscoelastic Constitutive Theory in a Finite Element Code Used in the Industry

This project consists in implementing into a commercially available finite element package a nonlinearly viscoelastic constitutive theory that represents the mechanical behavior of a polymer. The first step will be devoted to learn the software used by the industrial partners. Then, the constitutive theory will be implemented into the software and intensively tested. Finally, the procedures for using this code will be documented. This project is part of a larger Collaborative Research and Development project and is therefore of considerable interest to the industrial partners.

Investigation of Sustainability Strategies for Battle Harbour Historic Site

The proposed research project that will be undertaken by the intern will be a six (6) month on the basic operations of the Battle Harbour Historic Trust. The primary and secondary research conducted by the intern will be utilized as a mean of (1) developing a comphrensive framework of private]public partnerships that will be of use to historical trust initiatives such as Battle Harbours, (2) identifying similar organizations' initiatives in order to benchmark fundraising activities and find other means of financial sustainability, (3)identifying potential national and international foundations for Battle Harbour that have matching objectives, core values and funding eligibility criteria (4) profiling current sponsors and visitors with respect to motivations behind donations and/or visitation. The stated information will be of benefit to future efforts by the company to seek available forms or funding for operations, as well as to identify strengths,weakness, opportunities and possible threats to BHHT.

Economic Growth and Development in Saskatchewan: Re-examining and Updating Input/Output Measurements for the Changing Business Climate

The July 2009 issue of Maclean's magazine published an article pertaining to 'Canada's Best and Worst Managed Cities.' The City of Saskatoon received an overall C- ranking in terms of economic development, and failed to meet relative national average standards.Since the 2007 year however, the provincial economy has undergone substantial gains in economic growth and productivity, as commodity prices have surged in response to increased demand for local resources. As a direct result of these favourable market conditions, Saskatchewan's GDP and productivity rates have dramatically risen since the 2007 fiscal year. Given the substantial business climate changes Saskatchewan has encountered since 2007, a closer examination of the efficiency and effectiveness measurements used within the Maclean's study is needed, as it is not clear why Saskatchewan has fared so poorly in terms of economic development. The following research project will assist The Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce in reaching a decisive verdict surrounding the state of economic growth and development the city of Saskatoon is exhibiting.

Development of Imaging Algorithms for an Automated Specimen Processing Robotics System

Dynacon Inc. is a company that specializes in applying automation and robotics technology to the microbiology industry. Their complete robotics control systems automate the repetitive and time consuming process of sample handling and labelling, which were previously performed by lab technicians. The current project aims to enhance the reliability and overall value of the robotics system by developing intelligent imaging and vision algorithms to aid in the automation process. The proposed enhancements include, but are not limited to verifying the conditions of various apparatus and ensuring the completion of several essential tasks. Finally, implementation of the corresponding imaging algorithms must be optimized and seamlessly integrated into the complex control software of the existing system. The achievement of this objective is essential in order to maintain the fast throughput of the current system.

Design and Development of a Usable User Interface for a Search Engine in the Oil and Gas Domain

Currently, in the oil and gas industry, document handling tasks are performed manually. Intellog is developing a search engine for handling the documents to various users in this domain. Due to complexity of the search task and variety of the users, development of a usable user interface for the search engine is challenging. In this project usability engineering methods will be used to develop a user interface, which will be integrated into the intellog's software. Additionally, this project will serve as a case study for evaluation of effectiveness of a tool-set named ActiveStory Enhanced, which was developed in University of Calgary. The ActiveStory Enhanced is a tool-set that supports creation of web-based prototypes and conducting usability testing without having the user on-site. The data about the usability flaws that are discovered by using the toolset,as well as the usability flaws that remain uncovered will be gathered. This data will be analyzed to provide suggestion for enhancement of the tool-set.

Potential Tree Growth and Silvicultural Options for Maintaining Management Unit Productivity After Catastrophic Natural Disturbance

The central interior of British Columbia has experienced the largest mountain pine beetle epidemic in history and the government of BC is contemplating changes to silvicultural practices. As members of a collaborative group of government, industry and academia, the partner companies require research into two areas: forest productivity measures and economic performance measures. By analyzing the forest productivity outcome and the cost of current silvicultural regulations, the partner companies can create a benchmark for comparison with more flexible and innovative company-based silvicultural regimes. An optimization model will be used to minimize silviculture costs while maintaining forest land productivity. The research is broken into two internships, the first focusing on creating the bench mark data and initial company objectives and the second extending this work by incorporating changes in forest productivity due to climate change and creating additional silvicultural regimes to address the productivity shift.

Pacific North West Energy Model

Electricity generation is one of the largest sources of carbon dioxide production in Canada. The combustion of fossil fuels (coal and natural gas) release carbon dioxide which contributes to rising global temperatures. Wind energy is considered to be an alternative to the traditional methods of generating electricity, producing electricity when the wind blows strong enough to move the turbines but not so strong that the turbines shut down for safety reasons. Although wind energy can be used to produce energy, its production is both variable and uncertain. The purpose of this study is to determine how effective wind energy is at displacing traditional generation sources. How much wind energy capacity can be added to the existing electricity grid while ensuring system stability? To what extent are carbon dioxide emissions abated with the addition of wind energy to the grid?

Identification of Protein Targets for a Proprietary Antibody Generation Technology

Amorfix Life Sciences has had success producing highly specific antibodies, which can be used to diagnose disease. The company has recently gained access to an algorithm (ProMISTM) which allows to predict antibody targets on proteins in their diseased state, allowing development of very specific antibodies with diagnostic and therapeutic potential. The proposed project involves a comprehensive approach of identifying suitable protein targets involved in disease for the new algorithm by extensive database and market report mining. Subsequently, the putative targets will be evaluated based on scientific evidence and the business merit of the potential therapeutic. This meticulous evaluation of the first targets for ProMISTM is critical for the validation of the technology and expanding Amorfix’ pipeline of therapeutically relevant antibodies. Thus, the proposed project has clear benefit to the partner organization

Geometallurgy of IOC Iron Ore Deposits

The project will employ geological and geochemical methods to distinguish the various generations of iron-rich minerals, principally magnetite and hermatite, present in rocks that are mined for iron ore by the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) in Labrador City/Wabush. The geologic history of the magnetite and hermatite is complex, having originally formed in the rocks during deposition in seawater, but later modified when the rocks were buried deep in the crust, uplifted, and flushed with groundwaters near the Earth's surface. Once identified, we will characterize some of the properties of each variety of magnetite and hermatite that are relevant to metallurgical processing such as grain size, shape, density, mineral inclusions, and associations with other minerals, particularily minor phases that carry signficant quantitities of elements that are known to reduce the quality of finished iron ore pellets. The study will assist IOC in understanding how geological factors at the mine site result in variations in ore recoveries in the processing plant.