Prescribed fire and mechanical removal of woody vegetation have become popular disturbance methods for restoring globally rare alvar and grassland habitats that support many species at risk, such as reptiles. However, the effects that these restoration efforts have on rare reptiles is largely unknown. This study will identify alterations in habitat usage of endangered snake […]

This project aims to develop a pneumatic (compressed air) powertrain to be used in a 40-feet bus for municipal transit and school buses. Since the transportation sector is one of the prior contributors of Canada’s GHG emissions ( 24%), any alternative solutions to conventional vehicles carries significant importance to reach the GHG target that Canada […]

Humans have a finite capacity for hard exercise. Sports scientists can mathematically determine this capacity by using multiple tests to exhaustion at different exercise intensities and looking at the relationship. However, the current testing protocols assume that once the initial point of fatigue is reached, exercise must be stopped. In the proposed study, we aim […]

Analyzing customer behavioral patterns and attrition aids organizations in understanding its core customers and improve its decision-making processes in regards to customer attrition and targeted marketing. In this research project, we will develop behavioural analytics super network models and algorithms for behavioural customer segmentation and attrition prediction in the presence of big data. Our models […]

Introduced Phragmites australis (common reed) is considered one of the most invasive plants in North America. European genotypes spread widely and can form dense stands with undesirable ecological impacts. Conventional management approaches have proved largely ineffective, leaving classical biocontrol (i.e., introducing herbivores of the plant from its native range) as the most promising alternative. The […]

Wollastonite(CaSiO3) and diopside(CaMgSi2O6) are silicate minerals occurring in the mining operation near Kingston. Quantity of each mineral in the deposit vary from 30 to 40%. An efficient separation of wollastonite from diopside represents a challenge in processing this ore. Efficiency of flotation separation at high levels diopside is not consistent since both silicates respond the […]

The intent of this research is to study fire dynamics and the threats it imposes on people, property, business continuity and environments, namely at wildfire-urban interfaces (WUI). Worcester Polytechnic Institute of Boston, MA, is equipped with modern technologies, not yet available at my home institution, that can be used to build a comprehensive analysis of […]

The main concern for helmet performance is the reduction of skull and brain injury risk during impact events. Combinations of shell materials, foams, and three-dimensional engineered structures are used to design hockey helmets. Using current helmet evaluation techniques, the contributions of each of these components cannot be directly assessed. In the proposed work, high-speed X-ray […]

The impact of seizures on the life of an epilepsy patient is significant. How they start, propagate and terminate remains unknown. Our hypothesis is that seizures develop in the brain when populations of neurons lose their ability to efficiently parse incoming inputs, known as decorrelation. When these neurons are not able to sufficiently decorrelate incoming […]

The origin of Supermassive Black Holes that are observed to exist in the early Universe is one of the key questions in astronomy. There are different models that try to explain how these black holes formed and grew in a short period of time. One such model is the collision of protostars resulting in massive […]

The proposed project will provide characterization of the pneumatic transport system used at the St Marys Cement plant using an approach based on Computational Fluid Dynamics combined with selected experiments. The commercial softwares ICEM and FLUENT will be used to develop the computational model and run the simulations of the flow. The model will be […]

Small nuclear reactors (SMRs) are a major option for electricity production in remote areas. Environmental impact assessment and monitoring will be needed, however this might be difficult because of the remoteness and the anticipated low levels of radiocontaminants, especially that laboratories with modern instrumentation might not be available on-site. We are proposing (1) to adapt […]