This Mitacs Acelerate proposal is the first of three-phase project of Adriana’s Goncalves master’s thesis. For this present MITACS proposal, it will be investigated routes to extract gold, mercury and other possible valuable minerals from a representative sample of AGM tailings from Costa Rica. The tailings belong to a small Canadian company, Newlox Gold that […]

This project will investigate how software developers work with structured information. It will use information about that interaction to improve tools needed by developers. It will assess whether those tools improve the productivity of software developers. The project will also compare the access patterns of users of business intelligence applications to those of developers to […]

The objective of this project is to develop lipid nanoparticle (LNP) reagents for the delivery of nucleic acids to turn off, or turn on target genes in “hard-to-transfect” neurons and stem cells in vitro and in vivo. A recent report (BCC Research, April 2011) observed that “51% of researchers employ cell-based techniques to perform transfection […]

The project is aimed at implementing real-time processing techniques for video acquisition, compression and transmission. The project focuses on defining solutions in order to solve constraints within the system related to bandwidth and the battery energy of the sensor. Depending on the application, the acquisition and compression procedures could be based on extracting significant features […]

In Early 2013, an NSERC Engage grant and a Coop term project enabled collaboration between Mercedes-Benz Canada Inc. Fuel Cell Division (MBFC) and Dr. Merida’s group at the University of British Columbia (UBC). A test-bench apparatus for the evaluation of fuel cell material properties during manufacturing processes was designed. The present proposal builds on the […]

There are currently tens of thousands of locations throughout North America where pipelines cross stream channels. At these locations, instability of the stream bed and banks poses a serious risk to pipeline infrastructure, and has the potential to cause environmental harm. The objective of this internship is to improve the numerical models used to monitor […]

Ionada has developed a patented marine exhaust gas cleaning system utilizing the latest in membrane technologies to provide the marine industry with a simple solution to save money and satisfy new International Marine Organizations (IMO) emission requirements. The intern will implement (install/retrofit/integrate) Ionada’s product onto existing ships with the aim of improving and optimizing the […]

Rain-on-snow events, where rain falls on pre-existing snow, cause some of the highest peak flows in mountainous coastal regions, such as Southwestern British Columbia. Operational hydrologists have a difficult time predicting runoff during these events because of an incomplete knowledge of the energy fluxes into and within the snowpack over large areas, and because of […]

This project aims to develop a standard that relates the loss of functionality in the porous transport layers (PTL) due to the presence of defects to the performance of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell. This work attempts to screen defects in the PTL using previously developed testing protocols. Currently there are no existing protocols […]

In this project, a methodology for controlling the distributed generation resources connected to the distribution system level will be developed. This control strategy will improve the efficiency and reliability of the operation by decreasing the losses, managing the assets, and increasing the system reliability. There are currently several feeders in the BC Hydro distribution system […]

The proposed research project is around re conducting feasibility studies on the purification and conditioning of industrial hemicellulosic C5 sugars from a number of potentially commercial wheat straw liquor fractions. The research will propose experiments where data for the ultimate evaluation of enzymatic hydrolysis vs. a selected comparative list of acid hydrolysis can be included. […]

This is the first time that leading edge technologies are being put together: a microwave (MW) treatment process, a struvite crystallizer and an anaerobic digester, as a total manure treatment system for typical dairy farm operations. The new 915 MHz microwave unit will provide efficient nutrient solubilization and the resulting solution is suitable for generating […]