Anaerobic digestion is an environmentally-friendly process that breaks down biomass into simpler, more stable components, while simultaneously capturing energy in the form of a methane-rich biogas.  Digesters are usually used to treat wastes, such as at municipal waste facilities, or from livestock farms.  However, anaerobic digesters are not very reliable, suffering from occasional “digester upsets”.  […]

The key challenge of condition monitoring is to predict, based on non-destructive inspection and operating data, whether or not a piece of equipment needs replacing or not. In this case the piece of equipment is an overhead power conductor – a critical element in electrical power supply. Measuring the voltage level of an overhead conductor […]

Pre-cast prestressed hollow core (HC) slabs are special design components that have not received much research attention. Several structures where deterioration due to chloride penetration is problematic often contain concrete slabs. Multi-story parking structures, bridges, commercial and industrial buildings are common examples of structures exposed to adverse chemical environments. A strengthening technique resistant to such […]

The Kothe research group studies the structure and function of small ribonucleoproteins which are involved in ribosome biogenesis, in particular in modification of ribosomal RNA, with the aim of better understanding how the cell assembles large RNAprotein complexes such as the ribosome. My basic research investigates the mechanism of the early stages in ribosome biogenesis […]

Over the last ten years, the needs of industry have made data mining one of the most important facets of Information Technology (IT). In simple terms, data mining is the automatic process of extracting interrelationships and patterns of interest from data. Today, companies around the world rely on data mining not only to discover knowledge […]

The goal of the project is to implement specific numerical algorithms for rendering high resolution seismic images, using a parallel processing framework. Seismic imaging is the standard technology used for creating accurate images of the earth’s subsurface, which is applied to the commercial exploration of oil and gas resources, monitoring carbon dioxide sequestering sites, and […]

The objectives of this proposed research are the development of a piezoelectric actuator system to assist nano machining by minimizing forces and the generation of nano-patterns to achieve the desired surface characteristics. The objectives shape the comprehensive technologies required to achieve flexibility, productivity and accuracy in manufacturing miniature systems through a judicious combination of experimental […]

Advancements in wind-turbine design are currently limited by the unsteady, gust-induced structural loadings incurred on blades. By studying how animals swim and fly in unsteady environments, improvements to wind-turbine gust performance can be achieved. Such biomimetic research takes advantage of millions of years of evolutionary optimization. One elegant example is found in the efficient flapping […]

Water resources worldwide have recently appeared as vulnerable to climate change that may both reduce water supply and increase water demand, leading to frequent and/or severe water shortages. Water resources in Canada are also at risk posed by climate change. Sustainable water resources management plays a vital role in reducing the vulnerability of the water […]

Brain to machine interface (BMI) is a research topic aiming to develop more direct interface between a human brain and a machine. The research is primarily motivated by desire to help humans who are in need of assistance or repair of theircognitive, sensory, or motor functions. In general, BMI is designed to be either invasive […]

In this project we analyze how a government healthcare provider should negotiate a risk-sharing contract with pharmaceutical drug manufacturers. The objective of the study is to examine how a government healthcare payer should set the terms of pay-for-performance contracts with multiple drug or pharmaceutical manufacturers. The study builds on existing work by Mahjoub, Odegaard, and […]

Software testing and debugging take up between 30 and 50% of the development cost in embedded systems. Despite this large percentage and the associated enormous costs, only little attention has been devoted to debugging of embedded real-time systems. Apart from in-circuit emulators for standalone systems, ad-hoc methods such as blinking lights to indicate errors and […]