Nowadays, the sustainable supply of energy is challenging due to growing concerns over climate change and increasing global demands. This leads to an urgent need for developing sustainable and renewable biofuels and bioenergy. Biomass gasification is a very promising route for bioenergy production. However, syngas from this process normally contains unacceptable level of tar. Tar […]

Kidney cancer is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. The number of patients with kidney cancer is increasing every year due to aging of the population, obesity, diet, and lifestyle. The death rate due to kidney cancer is also increasing despite the introduction of new and advanced detection devices; also these methods are expensive, […]

Modern distributed applications are becoming increasing large and complex. They often bring together independently developed sub-systems (e.g., for storage, batch processing, streaming, application logic, logging, caching) into large, geo-distributed and heterogeneous architectures. Combining, configuring, and deploying these architectures is a difficult and multifaceted task: individual services have their own requirements, configuration spaces, programming models, distribution […]

In the backcountry, avalanche risk is managed by first assessing avalanche hazard and subsequently carefully choosing terrain and travel procedures accordingly to mitigate the identified hazard. What are suitable terrain choices under different types of avalanche conditions and how are choices made? With this project, we quantitatively examine large-scale terrain choices in two commercial backcountry […]

Natural disasters are a global concern with each region experiencing unique risks and vulnerabilities. Using concepts from risk research, we can examine how the general public perceives and understands the risks that they face. However, further research is needed to understand how people comprehend risk when faced with competing hazards to see how satisficing and […]

The Nsyilxcn (Syilx Okanagan Interior Salish) language is critically endangered; fewer than fifty Elder speakers remain, no young people are learning at home and no effective school programs. Syilx people are highly invested in creating language opportunities, including teaching positions in schools, daycares, and adult programs, however no young speakers exist to staff them. Questions […]

Erythropoietin is a protein with attached sugars that stimulates the production of red blood cells. As such, it can be used by athletes to enhance their competitive performance, an act that is called doping. Erythropoietin that us used for doping is typically produced in animal cells, which functionalize the protein with sugars that differ from […]

Our laboratory has developed an improved model of large scale offshore wind turbines systems for controller design. This model captures all the important dynamics involved in the system such as the 3 dimensional motion, wave disturbance and wind effects, allowing to design advanced control techniques to enhance the efficacy of the wind turbines and increase […]

A previous mathematical model of an offshore wind turbine was established and then, a positional controller was designed and simulated for a single Wind Turbine in order to provide movement around an area using the force of air that acts on the wind turbine. The goal of my research project is to validate this Position […]

Pressure ulcers (PUs) are a major health problem in people with spinal cord injuries (SCIs). PUs increase hospital admissions, with 25% of SCI treatment cost linked to PU management. Currently, treatment is limited and new therapeutic options are required. Wound fluid from PUs is invaluable for researchers as it allows a detailed study of the […]

The proposed research will be focused on eliminating fugitive emissions from liquefied natural gas (LNG) transmission, storage, and distribution operations. LNG can be used as fuel for transportation, and for combined heat and power generation in remote locations. We will study transmission, storage, and distribution operations by developing quasi-steady-state and time-dependent thermodynamic models. These models […]

In this project, we will develop nanostructured coatings for panels that collect water from moisture in the air. Water is the most important resource for humanity, yet many parts of the world do not have access to potable water due to their environmental and economic limitations. Collaborative development with SkyTap Technologies and the Gates Research […]